Carlos María de Pena

“ The only thing we are sorry for, is not to have received all the particulars and information we had asked for, so as to give to the present work a greater novelty and a more seducing form—that, with a greater number of facts and particulars, might reveal what is, what can be, and what is to be, one day or other the Oriental Republic, with all its economical and social elements, and with all the new elements that will be created, owing to the benefits of peace and owing to the work and energy of the inhabitants, under the protecting shield of a severe and provident Administration. ”

“ At a distance of some 140 kilometres from Montevideo, by land, and 50 miles by river, over a superficies of 1,992 hectares, among very picturesque hills, watered by the River Plate and bounded northward by the ridge of hills of Pan de Azucar, lies the new establishment called Piriapolis, divided into two large fractions, one of which is devoted to general culture and various industries, and the other intended to be a bathing town, with its own port, a beautiful bay, and a large, neat and secure harbor. ”

“ In nearly every department in the Republic, and above all in Montevideo, exist a great many good schools belonging to the above mentioned nations.
The foreigner who treads the Uruguay soil does not miss the customs of his own country, since the ones he meets here are nearly the same as in the principal European cities.
A great many years of continuous communication with all the nations of the world has made, that the customs of all the civilized nations are quite familiar to the natives. ”

“ The territory of the Republic being abundant in all natural resources and elements necessary to make easy any kind of work or industry one chooses to undertake, and the immigrant getting very soon accustomed to a climate and customs very little different from those of his own country, the Oriental Republic of Uruguay offers therefore all kinds of advantages to the honest and laborious immigrant who comes here in search of a remuneration greater than that he can earn in his own country. ”

“ The territory does not only count with its native trees the wood of which is employed in the industries and the rural economy; but all over its fertile soil do grow, reproducing themselves, and perfectly accustomed to the climate, nearly all the trees of the other regions. ”

“ In spite of the political disorders, the time of which, it may be said, has passed, and in spite of the economical crisis that, with more or less intensity, are common to all the countries that rapidly advance and progress, the Oriental Republic has always seen a great and constant affluence of arms and capital, that have contributed in a few years to display powerfully its productive energy, to create establishments and manufactures which, with their products, have increased the relations of exchange with all the markets of the world. ”

“ An important fishery is already established on the coasts of Maldonado. The bringing up of salmon has already been tried. The only things wanting still are money and technical directions for the reproduction of the richest kinds of fishes, so as to supply with great advantage the Montevideo and Buenos Ayres markets.
The principal industry in the country is the cattle and horse-breeding, which, as will further on be seen, produces in a prodigious way. This industry was introduced into the country in the time of the conquest by the Spaniards. ”

“ The port of Montevideo is not only the anchoring ground of the ships that have to load and unload, but it is also the port where all of the ships stop on their way to the Pacific Ocean, and also all the men-of-war of the nations which have a naval station in the River Plate. ”

“ The last two years have not been very favorable to cattle industry; but the present year shows itself as if going to be very propitious to that industry, which is in such a perfect harmony with the excellent qualities of our natural fields and meadows. ”

“ Great companies established abroad, above all in England, and others in the Republic have purchased great tracts of land in order to improve cattle breeding, agriculture, sand and stone extraction along the banks of the River Plate and Uruguay, and other important rural industries.
During these last two years the agricultural industry has notably spread itself, above all that of cereals, forage, firewood trees, vine, olive trees, tobacco and oleoginous and textile plants.
The lowest rate at which a suerte of land for cattle feeding can be hired is $400 a year. ”

“ It is 10 kilometres distant, eastward, from Colonia del Sacramento. The first settlers have paid for all the land they had bought, being now the sole owners of it.
The formation and improvements of this colony are owed to the mere intelligence and work of the settlers. The land is of a [23] very good quality and especially fit for wheat. The other plants like maize, barley, beans, potatoes, etc., give also a very good result. The settlers are mostly foreigners; and most of them are Italians. The colony possesses a large public building, which is destined to be the school and the church ”

“ During the years hereafter mentioned the government has given the following number of passages to immigrants who required them:
The immigrant enjoys here a complete and perfect liberty. Being a foreigner he owes no service whatever to the state. Dedicated to work, he is always respected, and wherever he may go in the Republic, he is always sure to find some of his countrymen who, knowing well the country and talking his own language, will give him all the information and references he may require. ”

“ The national language is the Spanish tongue. However, nearly all the languages are known in the Republic, on account of the great number of foreigners established here, and the great number of them who have continuous relations with the country.
Nearly every native who has received a fairly good instruction speaks some foreign language. In Montevideo, where continually stop boats of all nations, the practice of French, Italian, English and German is quite general. ”

“ With what a workman or settler pays monthly for the rent of the land, he makes himself, after a short time, the owner of the land and of the house he lives in, as the monthly rent redeems with a small interest the value of the property. ”

“ All the inhabitants of the state may undertake any work, industry or commerce they like, provided they do not harm the public order or the other citizens' rights.
Art. the 147th. The entrance into the territory of the Republic is free to any one, as also his staying in it or going away with his goods, provided he respect the police laws and do not harm any third person. ”

“ Here, no pest, no contagious disease is to be feared for the cattle. The forage and water are wholesome, nutritive and pure; the climate cannot be better.
With such conditions as these, it will be easily understood why cattle industry gives a profit of more than 20 per cent. and why it is generally a sufficient compensation to the scarce production of the bad years produced by an excessive dryness or a transitory diminution in the consumption of Brazil and Europe. ”

“ The members of the municipality are elected by the people, and they are entrusted with the care of the municipal interests. The Montevideo municipality has a very great importance, being entrusted with the care of all the municipal services except that of the police.
Citizenship.—The citizens of the state are either natural or legal. Natural are all those born in the territory; legal, all the foreigners who ask for citizenship, [14] after having proved their residence in the country for a determined time. ”

“ Agriculture, however, has already reached a high degree of importance in the departments of Montevideo, Canelones, Colonia, San Jose, Soriano, Paysandu, Salto, Florida, Durazno, Maldonado. It is not quite so important in the other departments as in the three first ones. However, in the environs of the villages and centres of population, there are great many farms and agricultural centres that produce cereals and vegetables for local consumption. ”

“ Actually they improve and refine the cattle and horses by the crossing with the pure blood animals which continually come from Europe and the Argentine Republic. Already there exist important establishments with thoroughly pure blood animals born in the country, having already begun the wholesale of oxen and cows for consumption, and of horses for races and coach. The sheep are now a great deal finer. The improvement began in the year 1832, with two Negretti and Rambouillet rams, and this is the reason why the wool, for its good quality, is so much valued in European markets. ”

“ There arrive daily to the Montevideo markets, by railroad and by the rivers, great quantities of skins, (oxen, horses, sheep) wool, horns, bones, tallow, ostrich feathers and other products of cattle industry, and among rural products great quantities of corn, wheat, flour, canary-seed, barley, mustard-seed, potatoes, garlick, French beans, onions, pumpkins, eggs, butter, fowl, cheeses, paving and lime stone, spirits and many other goods it would be too long to mention here. ”

“ In La Paz, near Montevideo, there exist quarries of red and blue granite, some beautiful pieces of which are employed as columns in some important buildings.
Stone is abundant in the Republic. Everywhere in Cerro, La Paz, Sauce, Colonia and other places they continually open new quarries which permit a considerable exportation for the works undertaken in Buenos Ayres and La Plata.
The Colonia quarries alone employ over two thousand workmen. ”

“ The improvement of the varieties, in order to obtain better flesh, fat, milk, butter, wool and hides, and the taming of all the native animals, is absolutely necessary, and therefore is a powerful attraction for those who would come over to this country and dedicate themselves to cattle feeding and breeding, being sure, beforehand, of getting good profits by exporting live animals and also dead animals, by the frigorific system, to the Brazilian and European markets. ”

“ The private actions of men, that do not by any way attack the public order nor harm any third person, belong only to God, and, therefore, remain beyond the authority of the magistrates. No inhabitant of the state will be obliged to do what the law does not bid, neither prevented from doing what the law does not forbid. ”

“ All around the town will run the great boulevard General Artigas. The whole town consists in 1,600 manzanas or square cuadras, more than 600 of which are already edificed; it must be added that every day new buildings are begun everywhere about the town. In all directions new streets are opened and new houses are built and new suburbs created, making Montevideo larger and larger every day. ”

“ As for the cereals and vegetables, all kinds of them grow here perfectly and abundantly. Wheat, maize, barley, lucerne, are the principal rural products. The chick-pea, the French bean, the gray pea, the bean, the sugar-pea, the hastings, the lentils, the potatoes, the Spanish potatoes, the carrot, the radishes, the turnips, the pumpkins, the beet root, etc., and all kinds of pot herbs, the watermelons, the melon and the strawberry grow also abundantly. ”

“ Families of work-people that had arrived here with nothing but the means of facing the very first necessities have become, after a few years, owners of the land they had bought, payable monthly, and having increased their possessions by buying new land, they have enlarged the sphere of their operations and are now able to work over their own properties in a fully independent and easy situation. ”

“ Groves of eucalyptuses, acacias and other quick-growing trees have already been planted all around the town, covering an extension of 400 hectares.
Two hundred and sixty hectares have been sowed with wheat, beans, French beans, Spanish beans, potatoes and other vegetables.
Great plantations of fruit trees have also been made, and the culture of tobacco has been tried over 80 hectares.
Next year 50 houses more are going to be built, and also a church, a school, a municipal house and a police office. ”

“ The middle temperature may be calculated to be, in winter-time of 11 degrees, in spring-time of 17 degrees, in summer of 21 degrees, and in autumn of 16 degrees.
The maximum of heat in the month of January is 36°, and that of cold in the month of July is 3° above naught.
The climate is a little dryer in the interior than on the coast. Along the coasts watered by the salt waters of the great mouth of the river Plate, the climate is thoroughly a sea climate, and the seasons never get to any extreme. ”

“ General Artigas does all he can that the Banda Oriental be one of the confederate provinces among the united ones of the River Plate. There occur some difficulties and the general government is obliged to surrender Montevideo, and the troops retire on the 23d of February, 1815.
The Portuguese, who greedily sought after possessing this territory, invades it then with a powerful army. Fortune is first favorable to them ”

“ To all these hills join a great many others less high, the declivity of which form the lakes, ponds and rivers that give a great variety to the hydrography of the country.
The climate all over the Republic is mild and notably healthy; there exist no malignous, endemical disease whatever. Neither the cold nor the heat is excessive. ”

“ Executive Power.—The executive power is represented by the President of the Republic, who is elected in a general assembly of the two chambers by nominal voting, being required the absolute majority of suffrages expressed on ballots which are publicly read out by the secretary. ”

“ Thoroughly free is the communication of thought, by words, private writings, or publications in the public papers, whatever be the subjects, without requiring any previous censure; the only responsible person is the author, or, in his stead, the printer, whenever the writing be abusive, according to the law. ”

“ The common sewer has an extension of 93,000 metres and more than 7,500 are directly its conduits.
The drinkable water comes from Santa Lucia (61 kilometres from Montevideo) ; the various conduits have an extension of over 180 kilometres.
All the streets and even the suburbs have the electric light; some others have still the gas light.
Three gasometres, two of them 100,000 cubic feet and one 70,000, are employed for the preparation of the gas. The gas pipes represent an extension of 128 kilometres. The power of each light is equivalent to that of 18 candles. ”