The environs of the city for about three leagues, pre sent a beautiful and well cultivated country, full of gar dens and groves, and diversified with fields of wheat and maize. Here almost every person in easy circumstance has his country house, called pinta, a large garden which supplies him with many necessaries of life, and a variety of fruits and plants : all their wine, however, is brought ei ther from Spain or Mendoza. Beyond these fields are im mense tracts of meadow, covered with continual verdure, and filled with innumerable flocks of wild horses and ox en, which renders provisions here very cheap. Accord ing to Estalla, a thousand head of cattle are daily slain in the neighbourhood for the use of the city, which are brought in carts to the market, where they are examined by a sworn provcditor ; and Helms tells us, that the lar gest ox is often sold for a piastre, or 4s. 6d. and a good horse for two piastres.
The greatest inconveniences under which the inhabi ants of Buenos Ayres labour, are the difficult and dan gerous navigation of the La Plata, and the want of a safe and commodious harbour. On account of the numerous islets, shoals, and rocks, with which this river abounds, and the frequency of the pamperos, which render a storm here more dreadful than upon the ocean, vessels making for this city must come to anchor every night ; and in the most moderate weather, it is necessary to send a pilot to sound the way for the ship. But the danger does not even
end with the voyage ; for there is no part on the coast where vessels of any burden can enter nearer than the bay of Barragan, which is about seven leagues distance ; and the anchorage ground opposite to Buenos Ayres is nearly three leagues from the shore. All their goods must consequently be landed in lighters or boats, which enter a small creek at the mouth ofthe Rio Chuclo, about a quarter of a league from the town, to which they are conveyed in carts ; and the vessels generally fall down to the bay of Barragan to refit and wait for their cargoes. It was to remedy these inconveniences, that the court of Spain ordered a settlement to be established at Monte Vi deo in 1726, where nature has formed one of the finest havens in the world. At this port, the merchandise which is imported from Spain is debarked, and carried in boats to Buenos Ayres, from whence it is disseminated throughout the viceroyalty. l'or an account of the commerce of this city, see vol. iv. part ii. p. 790.
The number of inhabitants in Buenos Ayres has been estimated very differently by different travellers. Helms makes it from 25,000 to 30,000 : while Sir Home Pop ham carries it so high as 70,000. Fort) thousand is the estimate of Azara, which we suppose to be the most eor rect. South Lat. 34° 36' 28", West Long. 58° 31' 15". (/2)