it is curious to witness, and if they can get at the stalk will pull it down, and devour its juicy contents till they become apparently quite intoxicated. It is well known what a quantity of liquor may be collected in the sockets of these plants by removing the flower-stalks when they begin to sprout; from which in Mexico the spirit called Pulqué is made, the principal drink of the lower orders in that country, and the source of a very large revenue to the government.

It is amidst the sweet flowers and orange-trees which abound in the gardens around Buenos Ayres that the humming-birds delight to take up their abode. We had a vast number of them always in ours. One with a brilliant violet-coloured breast was the most common. Many were the attempts we made to rear the young birds, but in vain ; I believe, because we did not know their proper food. All we could do was to keep them in their own nests in cages for some weeks hung up in the trees in which they were taken, where the parent bird would continue to visit and to feed them till they were supposed to be old enough to provide for themselves; then, nature's duty done, she invariably abandoned them, and they as surely died.

It is not, however, impossible to tame a humming-bird, of which a remarkable case came under my observation, which is deserving record in the history of this class of birds. The lady of General Balcarce, one of the Buenos Ayrean Ministers, with whom I was well acquainted, had one of these little birds so completely tamed and under her command, that she used to carry it about in her bosom when she visited her friends, and would then let it loose to fly about the room, and even out of the window into the garden, as it has done in mine, where it would rush from flower to flower disporting itself till recalled by the well-known voice of its mistress, to be returned to its resting-place and carried home again. Azara relates a similar story of one which belonged to the Governor of Paraguay, Don Pedro de Melo, "qui en conserva un chez lui, déjà adulte, pendant quatre mois; il y voloit en toute liberté, et il connoissoit fort bien son maître, auquel il donnoit des baisers, et autour duquel il volti

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geoit pour demander à manger. . alors Don Pedro prenoit un vase de sirop très clair, et il le penchoit un peu afin que le 'bec-fleurs' pût y plonger la langue; il lui donnoit aussi, de tems en tems, quelques fleurs: avec ces précautions ce charmant oiseau vécut aussi bien que dans les campagnes, jusqu'à ce qu'il périt par la négligence des domestiques pendant l'absence de son maître."

In each of these cases the bird had sufficient liberty to feed itself, which may account for its preservation in a state of domestication. I now understand that they are supposed to live principally upon minute insects; but as they appeared to us, as they probably did to those who first gave them the name of pica-flora, or "bec-fleurs," always to take most delight in sucking honey, like bees, from fragrant flowers, we used to supply them chiefly with sugar and sweets which may not have suited them, and perhaps was the real cause of our repeated failures to rear them and to reduce them to a state of contented captivity.

I never heard of but one instance of a humming-bird being brought alive to Europe, and that was by the cabinboy of a vessel from the West Indies, who is said to have succeeded in keeping one alive in a ship's lantern till he reached the Thames. If that be true, with the passage from all parts of South America now so very much shortened by the power of steam, we may yet hope to see some of these bright gems of the feathered creation brought to us in a living state, as well as the flowers and fruits with which they are associated in their native climes.

CHAPTER IX.

Comparative Statistics of the Population in 1778, 1800, and 1825- Decrease of the Coloured, and Increase of the White Classes Slaves Their kind treatment and devotion to their Masters - How emancipated, and made useful and industrious Great influx of Europeans - Religious Toleration English Church Manners and habits of the Buenos Ayreans - Influence of the Military Class-Abundance of Work for Mechanics Living - Everything done on Horseback by the Gauchos.

Cheap

IN 1778 Don Pedro Cevallos, the first Viceroy of Buenos Ayres, ordered a census to be taken of the population, from which it appeared that the inhabitants of the capital, and of its Campaña or country jurisdiction, amounted to 37,679 souls, of which 24,205 belonged to the city, 12,925 to the country, and 549 were members of religious communities. To these numbers some addition should be made for short returns, particularly from the country districts, not only from the difficulty of collecting them, but from the disposition of the people to evade any such attempt of the authorities to take a particular account of them, lest it should be the prelude to some fresh exaction for the service of the mother country. The military, too, are not included in the numbers above given, although only two years previously no less than 10,000 men were sent from Spain to carry on the war against the Portuguese, in addition to the troops already in the

country.

Making allowance for these deficiencies in the census of 1778, the total numbers of the population at that time were probably rather above than under 50,000.

In 1800 Azara, on official data, calls it 71,668, giving 40,000 for the city and 31,668 for the country towns and

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villages within its jurisdiction. -a great increase since 1788 compared with the past, and attributed to the relaxation by Spain of her old regulations with respect to the trade, and the fresh impulse thereby given to the colony.

This, however, was but an indication of the further results to be expected from the removal of those remaining restrictions which still hampered the energies of the community, and retarded the development of the commercial capabilities of Buenos Ayres.

In 1810 the trade was opened to all nations.

In 1824-25, from returns given in the Statistical Register,* published by authority (upon the assumption that the annual measure of mortality is 1 in 32 in the city, and 1 in 40 in the country), the population of the city of Buenos Ayres was estimated, from the Tables of Mortality of 1822-23, at 81,136, and that of the country districts at 82,080, making a total of 163,216. The results of 1823 alone give nearly 183,000; but as these calculations are founded upon the supposition that all the deaths which had occurred in those years were duly registered by the authorities, which is not likely to have been possible, especially as regards the country, some addition must be made to the numbers quoted for short registrations; making fair allowance for which I should assume the total population of the province of Buenos Ayres at the time mentioned to have been at least 200,000 souls, or nearly treble what it was twenty-five years before.

I am not aware that any census has been taken of the population since 1825, but it must have increased vastly, from the influx of foreigners since that time, added to natural causes. The population of the city alone is now estimated to be 120,000 souls.

The annexed plan of the city of Buenos Ayres, as it was in 1835, exemplifies the increase of the population since 1767; the black line marking its limited extent in that year.

* For the details of these Returns, see Population Tables in Appendix.

(Plan showing extent of Buenos Ayres in 1767 and in 1835.)

From the numbers, if we turn to the changes which have taken place in the general composition of the population, the results are not less interesting in a statistical point of view.

Upon reference to the official returns in the Appendix, it will be seen that in the first census of 1778 the population was divided into five castes.

1st. The Spaniards and their descendants born in America, generally known as Creoles.

2nd. The Native Indians.

3rd. The Mestizoes, offspring of the Spaniard and Indian. 4th. The Mulattoes, offspring of the Spaniard and Negro.

5th. The Negroes or Africans born.

Of these five castes, however, the Indians and their Mestizo offspring formed a very small and insignificant class, and can only be regarded as accidentally domiciliated at Buenos Ayres in consequence of its being at that time the principal channel of communication between Peru, their native soil, and Spain. The original Indians of Buenos Ayres were a hostile race, who withdrew from all intercourse with their conquerors: no mixture, therefore, of Spanish and native blood took place in that