is a Republic; the State has had wars, has got a large unsettled foreign debt, and a forced paper currency at home, but nevertheless is in a better condition than most Spanish Republics. Sect. LXVI. LA PLATA. 690. La Plata, called also the Argentine Confederation, is bounded on the West by Chili; on the North by Bolivia; on the South by Patagonia; on the East by Paraguay, Brazil, and Uruguay. Its physical boundary on the west is the crest of the Andes, on the east the rivers Paraguay, Parana, and Uruguay. La Plata is generally a plain; the Andes have no great plateau next them on the eastern side, as they have northwards in Bolivia and Peru. La Plata comprises more especially the vast treeless plains called the Pampas, on which cattle and herds of wild horses roam in vast numbers. The exports are mainly wool hides and tallow. The climate being temperate, many Italians and Englishmen have come as settlers. The climate is liable to prolonged droughts, and in the north of the State there is a large area called the Great Desert, one of the barrenest tracts in South America. The territory being 1,000 miles from north to south, contains a considerable variety of climate. While wheat and barley succeed well near Buenos Ayres, rice, sugar-cane, and manioc are grown in the northern provinces. Of railways 700 miles are open for traffic, and 200 other miles are approaching completion. The Andes of La Plata are rich in gold, silver, and copper, but little mining is carried on. The population of La Plata is mainly Mestizo, but is said to contain more white blood than that of any other part of South America except Chili. The government has been, since the country has become independent of Spain, a republic, which means in Spanish America a succession of military dictators. The national debt is heavy,; there have been wars and government murders in abundance, but the condition of the country is now tolerable and improving. The capital, Buenos Ayres (Good Air), contains a population of 150,000; the port is poor, there are no trees, nor any fresh water, except what can be brought in carts from a distance, but it is healthy. Mendoza, population 18,000, though so near the Andes, is less than 3,000 feet above the sea: we thus see that the Andes here is reduced to a narrow ridge, and such it continues to Cape Horn. Sect. LXVII. CHILI. 691. Chili is bounded by La Plata on the East, by Bolivia on the North, by the Pacific on the West, by Patagonia on the South. But Patagonia has no political existence, and a great part of it is claimed by Chili. Chili is thus a strip of seaboard, whence the land rapidly rises to the Andes crest, which is its boundary inland. The climate is dry, and the country generally open, without forests. In the south there is heavy rain and dense forest. The highest mountain in America is the extinct volcano Aconcagua, 23,910 feet high. There are many other high volcanic peaks in Chili, some active. Earthquakes are here common, as on the western edge of La Plata. The centre and south of Chili is an agricultural and grazing country wheat, barley, and vineyards flourish; large flocks and herds are kept. The north is almost a desert, but very rich in mineral treasure: silver, copper, lead, iron, antimony, arsenic, and quicksilver. The government of Chili is such that capital can be embarked in the country, and Chili has been and is far the most successful of the Spanish colonies of America: 1,668 mines of copper, and 268 of silver are at work. Many English, French, and Germans are colonists, or at least denizens of Chili. The principal exports are copper, wheat, silver, cotton and wool. Of railway Soo miles are open. The population of Chili is more white than that of any other part of South America, but yet is said to be more than half Indian. The capital is Santiago, population 115,000; the chief port, Valparaiso, population, 70,000. The island of Juan Fernandez lies opposite it, but 350 miles off; on this island the sailor Alexander Selkirk was left his adventures suggested the story of Robinson Crusoe. Chili has suffered little from internal convulsions, and is the most prosperous and solvent among the South American nations. Sect. LXVIII. PATAGONIA. 692. Patagonia is bounded by La Plata on the North; the Atlantic on the East; the Andes on the West. It is a southern continuation of the Pampas. The ground rises from the sea westwards to the foot of the Andes, but so gradually that the country seems level. It is a bare and generally barren plain. Though in a temperate latitude, the climate, especially of the southern portion, is bleak, windy, rainy, and chilly. Patagonia contains no towns or civilised inhabitants. The plains contain herds of wild horses, and the savage Indians who thinly people Patagonia live almost on horseback. They are very ill-disposed towards the whites. They are of tall stature, but not giants, as once believed. Volcanoes extend along the Andes even to Terra del Fuego. Sect. LXIX. THE FALKLAND ISLES. 693. The Falkland Isles are occupied by a few settlers (chiefly from Buenos Ayres), whose business it is to supply fresh provisions to ships coming round the Horn. They are recognised as a British colony. The islands abound in seals, and penguins, and are the home of tussack-grass. Sheep succeed well. There are no trees. LONDON R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR. A CATALOGUE OF EDUCATIONAL BOOKS, PUBLISHED BY MACMILLAN AND CO., MACMILLAN'S CLASSICAL SERIES, for COLLEGES and SCHOOLS, being select portions of Greek and Latin authors, edited, with Introductions and Notes at the end, by eminent scholars. 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