that an estancia becomes distinctly visible to the naked eye, although so much beyond the horizon as not to be properly visible even through a telescope. Yonder flock of sheep, by another optical delusion, exactly resembles a long stone wall. In spring these plains are covered with thistles 10 feet high, so thick that a horseman cannot make his way through them. Sometimes there are dreadful camp fires, accidentally caused by throwing the remains of a lighted cigar among the thistles. Messrs. Van de Velde of Buenos Ayres, and others, have invented machines for mowing down these thistles.

The estancias of Laurence Kelly, Mrs. Kenny, and James Maguire are seen on the left, before reaching Freyre. This station is close to the estancia-house of an old Spanish family of the same name: old Señor Freyre died last year, very wealthy, and his death-sickness was said to be caused by vexation at having 200 sheep killed by the train. It is found. expedient not to fence the railways in this country, but rather leave the sides open, for cattle to scamper off on either side when the train approaches. When a cow or sheep, however, is run over, the iron fender in front of the locomotive quietly throws the dead animal off. At Freyre station there is a sagacious mule employed in turning the wheel of the water-tank, and whenever he hears the approach of the train he goes to work of his own accord. As we traverse the Barrancos estancia the line steadily declines towards Las Saladas, a stream or rather swamp, which has its origin in the Encadenadas lakes some distance to the north, near the estancias of Thomas Carney and Michael Allen. In wet seasons this swamp is very much flooded, and the first railway bridge put across the Saladas was partly carried away: this caused Mr. Allen, the engineer, to invent two supplementary bridges instead of earthworks, which he constructed of two railway bars placed one on the other, leaving free passage beneath for the flood. The total bridge now measures 150 feet across. Ten leagues lower down, to the left, Las Saladas falls into the River Salado, not far from the fine estancia of Mr. John Smith, the wellknown broker. We now enter the great estancia of Dr. Gorostiaga, Finance Minister; it comprises nine square leagues of land, forming four distinct establishments, viz., San José, San Bernardo, San Patricio, and Santa Trinidad, each of which has a lagoon of the same name, an estancia house and plantation, and a quantity of farming stock: the chief estancia house is far on the right, with a large peach-mount; the stock of the Gorostiaga estancia numbers 10,000 cows and 60,000 sheep. The station at this point is midway between Freyre and Chivilcoy. The land is still low, and as we pass Cerrito Averias we get a view of the «chacras» and plantations of the town of Chivilcoy.

Chivilcoy, the temporary terminus of the Western line, is 100 miles from Buenos Ayres, and is the great agricultural district of the province: it had long been the dream of Don Domingo Sarmiento, now President of the Republic, and, in the 14 years since its foundation, the progress of the place has been rapid and prosperous. Abundant crops of grain and potatoes are raised here, but previous to the railway reaching Chivilcoy (September 1866) the farmers had no market for their Indian-corn and were obliged to burn it for fuel in making bricks. The «chacras» cover a great extent of ground, and are famous for excellent peaches. The streets are wide, and many houses are of two stories. There is a first-rate club and reading-room; also a handsome school-house. The plaza is 200 yards on each side. At Messrs. Torroba, Standard agents, the stranger can procure any necessary information. The train takes 54 hours to make the journey from town: there are two trains daily each way.

The line is being prolonged to Bragado, 25 miles further west, for which purpose the Legislature of Buenos Ayres recently voted an emission of 6 per cent. bonds. The route will traverse the «chacras» of Chivilcoy, cross the Arroyo Hinojo and San Antonio, then through Mr. White's large wheat farm down to the Rio Salado. This river is crossed in 35 degrees S. lat., and just 2 degrees of longitude W. of Buenos Ayres. The estancias of the Cranwell family and of Biaus intervene before reaching the lagoons of Bragado-grande and Cassio. Then there is a «loma» or gentle rise, and on the far side lies the frontier town of Bragado, near the Saladillo lagoon.

THE SOUTHERN-TO CHASCOMUS.

The first sod was turned on March 8th, 1864, by President Mitre, and the line was completed to Chascomus in December 1865, the distance being 723 miles, and the cost £725,000. The contractors, Messrs. Peto & Betts, adopted the Barlow rail, and the construction of the road, the rolling-stock, &c. are highly creditable. The line may be considered very successful, from the following official returns:

Thus it will be seen that the working expenses diminished, while the nett proceeds increased, from 24 in 1866 to over 5 per cent in 1867. The prolongation to Dolores is indefinitely postponed.

There is a tramway connecting the Plaza Constitucion terminus with the city; at present it stops in Calle Lima, but it will be prolonged to the Custom-house. The terminus has every accommodation for passengers and goods, the sheds affording ample storage for wool. The line leaves the Convalecencia on the right, and Langdon's and Saenz-Valiente's quintas on the left, after which there is a rapid decline towards Barracas, while the view takes in a varied landscape of country-houses and gardens, with the Boca in the distance. The station of North Barracas is close to Pereyra's saladero, in the midst of a little colony of industrious Basques. The Riachuelo is crossed by a great iron girder bridge, supported by six cylinders, and having a span of 52 yards: the cylinders are sunk 60 feet, and the bed of the stream is so slimy that some of them stand in 32 feet of mud; each cylinder was tested with a weight of 125 tons of rails: the bridge was made in England by Messrs. Bridgeworth, and is a noble work. On the south bank of the Riachuelo are the Company's workshops; that for repairing locomotives and doing other iron works has room for a dozen large forges, with flues of massive brickwork; the shed for mending carriages is equally spacious, and has a turning-table; then follow two large depots, for carriages and engines. The station of South Barracas is at some distance from the village: we see the church towers on the left, as we traverse a region of kitchen-gardens to Lanuz station, and then speed away towards the picturesque thickets of

Lomas de Zamorra: there are several pretty quintas in the neighbourhood of the Lomas, and among the contributors to the village church were Messrs. Peto & Betts and some other Protestant friends. It would be difficult to find in the environs of Buenos Ayres a more delightful place for country-houses than hereabout. The air is peculiarly fresh and invigorating the ground high and dry, the plantations affording agreeable shade, and forming green lanes lined with poplars. Mr. Temperley's quinta is the most charming that can be imagined, being finished in the best English style, with handsome grounds, through which the railway runs. This property acquired great value by the line, and Mr. Temperley sold a part of his «<chacra>> in building lots for country-houses. Messrs. Green, Drabble, Grigg, and others, have lands near the line. The Lomas station is exceedingly neat: it may be mentioned here that the stations on the line cost the sum of £64,000. Mr. Temperley's house is a little way beyond the station, on the right, and opposite to it is Mr. Livingstone's

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«<rus-in-urbe»> with a neat summer house. Emerging from the woods of Zamorra we get a view of the open camp, the eye taking in on the right a faint glimpse of the far-famed Santa Catalina, and on the left the shrubbery of Mrs. Kidd's rustic hotel. Santa Catalina was the site of Robertson's Scotch colony, 1826, and has the finest plantations in Buenos Ayres. Mr. Fair projected a branch-line from the Lomas to his estancia of Monte Grande, via Santa Catalina, but it has not much prospect of being realized. Next we come on the grounds of Don Roque Correa covered with peach. and paradise trees, and then on the Hunt property, after which there are some large grain «chacras,» belonging to Bell, Boyd, and others, including an industrious native farmer.

Excellent fresh butter is sent into town from the next station, which is called Bursaco. There are some fine estancias within easy reach "of Bursaco station; those of Robson, Young, Brown, and Boyd; and near the Conchitas river is Santo Domingo, the property of Mr. Davidson. The line of railway is as straight as an arrow.

In a few minutes we reach Mr. Glew's estancia: the farm house is surrounded by a peach mount, and close at hand is the Glew station. Up to this point the country wears a lovely aspect; smiling gardens, thickets of peach trees, and fields full of golden promise; but henceforth the landscape grows dull and uninteresting. Leaving Glew's estancia on the right, and Ojeda's and Gowland's on the left, we begin to enter on what may be called the fens of Buenos Ayres, a low-lying country of lagoons and «bañados.»> We are now close to San Vicente, those two ombù trees being only a league from that village.

San Vicente station is reached in two hours from Buenos Ayres, and a diligence plies to the neighboring town. As the line pushes on to Donselaar, we pass the widow Campos's estancia, a snug farm-house, and further on Mrs. Flora Lavalle's; the land about here is very low: we cross the Arroyos Campos and Donselaar by small iron bridges. The estancias of Donselaar and Freers are on the left, and not far off is the splendid German model-farm of Oldendorff & Co.: this is worthy of a visit, being unrivalled in the River Plate; the grain farms, meadow lands, fences, farm yard, and sheds are admirable of their kind, and there is a fine breed of horses from the King of Wurtemburg's stables. President Sarmiento visited this farm lately and complimented Mr. Oldendorff as «the first German in the River Plate.» We next cross the estancia Godoy, and on the right is a large estate belonging to Mr. George Bell. Not far off is the property of a thrifty Scotchman, Mr. MacFarquhar, and then follows that of Señor Udaquiola. On the left is Mr. Temperley's estancia, and then come those of Wilkie and

Faulkes; the latter is a valuable property, which the owner (an old Englishman) fenced in at great expense. To the right of the line lies the estancia of the late Mr. Harratt, who was one of the first settlers that imported fine sheep from Europe, about thirty years ago. The estancia of the late Bryan Thorp is some distance on the right.

Sanborombon is famous for its great iron viaduct, 900 feet long, supported by fifteen solid buttresses of masonry, the bricks for which were made by the Company, near Ferrari station. The whole country hereabout is an impassable swamp in winter, and in summer it is usually dry, and swarming with grasshoppers: as many as a dozen people usually lost their lives every winter in attempting to cross the Sanborombon. This immense <«cañada» or valley extends for thirty leagues down to the coast of the River Plate, and in its vicinity there are some fine estancias, including those of Bell, Buchanan, Graham, Plowes, Brown, and Newton. The last named family possesses a great quantity of real estate in the province. There is nothing of interest till we reach Ferrari, and a little beyond this is Jeppener station, so called from a German estanciero who is lord of the soil; an ineffectual attempt was made to establish a town here, but there is a very good English hotel, and numbers of diligences ply hither from all the southern districts. Near Jeppener station is the estancia of Los Galpones, the residence of Mr. Welchman: the Jockey Club holds races here at intervals. A little further we come to the Wild bridge, which was singularly unfortunate during the building of the line; no fewer than three bridges to cross the «arroyo» were lost in the Atlantic, coming out from England, and this is the fourth. Mr. Wild has a comfortable farmhouse on the left: further on is Mr. Cowan's estancia, and now we approach the Altamirano station: a diligence here takes passengers for Ranchos. On the right are the estancias of the Alegre family. Next comes that of

Señor Correa.

The Gandara station is on the fine estate of the same name; the late Mr. Gandara was an industrious old Spaniard, and his family still reside here; they have a «graseria» for melting down sheep, close to the station. The estancia extends on either side of the line; the house, surrounded by a large «monte,» is seen about two miles distant on the left. Near the Vitel «laguna» are the Twaites estancias. Passing the lands of Figuerroa we traverse a series of «chacras,» and come in sight of Chascomus. We have now travelled over 70 miles from town, and it will be remarked that we have hardly seen an Irishman along the route. The foreign population is not at all so thick as in the north and west, but there are some English, Scotch, and German establishments of the first order. In the wool season