The greater part of the materials for this volume were collected during a long official residence in the country to which they relate: containing, as I believe they do, some information which may be interesting, if not useful, I feel that I ought not to withhold them from the public, in whose service they were obtained.

The chapters which give an account of the settlements made by the old Spaniards on the coast of Patagonia, and of the explorations of the Pampas south of Buenos Ayres, both by them and their successors in the present century, will be found to throw some new light on the progress of geographical discovery in that part of the world. Our occupation of the Falkland Islands, in the first instance, and the work shortly afterwards published by Falkner in this country, pointing out the defenceless state of Patagonia, joined to the enterprising character of the British voyages of discovery about the same period, appears to have stimulated the Spaniards, in alarm lest we should forestall them, to examine their coasts, to explore their rivers, and to found settlements, of which every record was concealed from public view, lest the world at large should become better acquainted with possessions, all knowledge of which it was their particular care and policy to endeavour to keep to themselves.

Thus, though Spain, at an enormous cost, acquired some better information relative to countries over which she claimed a nominal sovereignty, the results were not suffered to transpire, but remained locked up in the secret archives of the viceroys and of the council of the Indies; where probably they would have been hidden to this day had not the South Americans assumed the management of their own affairs.

In the confusion which followed the deposition of the Spanish authorities, the public archives appear to have been ransacked with little ceremony, and many documents of great interest were lost, or fell into the hands of individuals who, like collectors of rarities in other parts of the world, showed anything but a disposition to share them with the public at large. I will not say that this was always the case, but the feeling prevailed to a sufficient extent to enhance materially the value of those which were either offered for sale or obtainable by other means.

Some few individuals were actuated by a different spirit, amongst whom I ought especially to name Dr. Segurola, the fellow-labourer with Dean Funes in his historical essay upon the provinces of La Plata, whose valuable collection of MSS. (from which that work was principally compiled) was always accessible to his friends, and to whom I have to acknowledge my own obligations for leave to take copies of many an interesting paper. Others, also, whom I do not name, will I trust not the less accept my thanks for the facilities they afforded me for obtaining such information as I required. The government, I must say, was always liberal, in giving me access to the old archives, and in permitting me to transcribe documents[1] which I could not have obtained from other quarters.

With these facilities, and by purchase, I found myself, by the time I quitted South America, in possession of a considerable collection of MS. maps and of unedited papers respecting countries of which the greater part of the world is, I believe, in almost absolute ignorance.

Amongst the most interesting perhaps of these I may mention—

The original Diaries of Don Juan de la Piedra, sent out from Spain, in 1778, to explore the coasts of Patagonia.

A series of papers drawn up by his successors the Viedmas, the founders of the settlements at San Julian and on the Rio Negro.

The original Journal of Don Basilio VillariÑo, who, in 1782, explored the great river Negro, from its mouth in lat. 41° to the foot of the Andes, within three days' journey of Valdivia, on the shores of the Pacific.

The Narrative, by Don Luis de la Cruz, of his Journey through the territory of the Indians and the unexplored parts of the Pampas, from Antuco, in the south of Chili, to Buenos Ayres, in 1806.

The Diary of Don Pedro Garcia's Expedition to the Salinas, in 1810, given me by my most estimable friend, his son, Don Manuel.

Together with a variety of other unpublished accounts of the Indian territories south of Buenos Ayres, principally collected by order of that government, with a view to the extension of their frontiers.

The substance of these papers, all which relate to the southern and least known parts of the New Continent, will be found in Chapters VII., VIII., and IX.

Respecting the eastern or Littorine provinces of the Republic, as I have ventured to call them, the most valuable data existing are, first, those collected by the Jesuits, and next, the various reports and memoirs drawn up by the officers employed to fix the boundaries under the treaties between Spain and Portugal of 1750 and 1777. The especial qualifications of the individuals, particularly of those employed in the last case, the length of time spent upon the service (more than twenty years), and the enormous expenses incurred by Spain in the endeavour to complete that survey, led to a large accumulation of invaluable geographical data respecting extensive ranges of country never before properly examined, much less described.

Nor were the labours of the officers in question confined to the frontiers. They fixed, as I have stated in Chapter VIII., all the principal points in the province of Buenos Ayres, made surveys of the great rivers Paranà and Uruguay, and of their most important tributaries; and drew up many notices of great interest respecting the countries bordering upon the higher parts of the Paraguay, which the pretensions of the Portuguese in that direction rendered it requisite for them to explore with more than ordinary care and attention[2].

M. Walckenaer's publication at Paris, in 1809, of the Travels of Don Felix Azara, one of the King of Spain's commissioners on that service, contains a general review of the labours of those officers, and is perhaps the best work in print upon the countries which it describes; still it can only be regarded as a very imperfect sketch of the information collected by one of many able men employed upon that particular service.

Another of the commissioners, Don Diego Alvear, drew up an historical and geographical work upon the provinces of Paraguay and the Missions, quite equal in interest, if not more so, than that by Azara, for a MS. copy of which I have to thank his son, the present General Alvear.

Colonel Cabrer, the only surviving officer of all those employed on this important survey, was living during the time I was at Buenos Ayres, and for many years had, to my knowledge, been engaged in drawing up an elaborate account of the whole progress of the survey from first to last; in his possession I saw a complete set of all the beautiful maps executed by the Spanish officers, the originals of which are deposited at Madrid. He is lately dead, and I understand that the authorities of Buenos Ayres have been in treaty for the purchase of his papers, which will be of the greatest importance, not only to them, but to the governments of the Banda Oriental, of Paraguay, and of Bolivia, whenever the time comes, as it must ere long, for definitively fixing their respective boundaries with Brazil. I considered myself fortunate in obtaining copies of several detached portions of these surveys, and particularly of an original map, drawn from them by Colonel Cabrer himself for General Alvear, when commanding-in-chief in the Banda Oriental in 1827.

There is no doubt that, so far as the Spanish frontiers extended, these maps are the best existing data respecting the countries which they delineate: on the other hand, we must look to the Portuguese authorities for materials for the adjoining provinces of Brazil. The most perfect map of that part of the continent perhaps ever made was drawn at Rio de Janeiro in 1827, for the use of the Marquis of Barbacena, when appointed to command the Emperor's army in the war with Buenos Ayres, and was taken with his baggage at the battle of Ituzaingo, and afterwards given to me. It comprises, on a large scale, all the country lying east of the Uruguay, from the Island of St. Catharine's to the River Plate. On my return to England I placed it in the hands of Mr. John Arrowsmith, with the rest of my geographical materials.

As regards the greater part of the interior provinces west of the Paraguay, the information obtainable is very imperfect; indeed of some vast portions of those regions, it may be said that nothing but the general courses of the principal rivers is as yet known. The immense tract called the Gran-Chaco is still in possession of aboriginal tribes, and other extensive districts are inhabited by people who, though of a different race, seem little beyond them in civilization.

It was not the policy of Spain to take the trouble of accurately examining her colonial possessions, except when obliged to do so in furtherance of measures of self-defence, or in the expectation of some profitable return in the precious metals, the primary objects of her solicitude: and, but that the high road from Potosi to Buenos Ayres ran through them, I believe in Europe we should hardly have known, till recently, even the names of the capital towns of the intermediate provinces: it is only since their independence that they have brought themselves into notice, and that any information has been acquired of the nature and importance of their native products.

When I arrived at Buenos Ayres in 1824, in hopes of obtaining the best existing accounts of their statistics, I addressed myself to the governors themselves; and I have every reason to believe, under the circumstances, that they were desirous to meet my wishes. I received from them all the most civil assurances to that effect; but, excepting from the Entre Rios, Cordova, La Rioja, and Salta, I found the authorities themselves utterly unable to communicate anything of a definite or satisfactory nature; and, although they promised to set to work to collect what I asked for, I soon found they had most of them other matters on hand which had more urgent calls on their attention.

Of the information which I did so obtain, the most complete by far was from General Arenales, the Governor of Salta, who not only forwarded to me an interesting report upon the extent and various productions of that province, but, what I less expected, a very fair map of it, drawn by his own son Colonel Arenales; an individual who has since distinguished himself amongst his countrymen by the publication of a work[3] wherein he has with great pains collected all the information he could obtain to elucidate the geography and capabilities of a province which nature seems to have destined to be one of the most important of the Argentine Republic. Were his good example followed by equally intelligent individuals in other parts of the interior, the natives, as well as foreigners, would be greatly assisted in learning not only what are the productions of their own country, but in what manner they might be rendered available in furtherance of its prosperity.

He has done his duty, and rendered a service to his country, by pointing out the great importance of the possibility, now proved beyond a doubt, of navigating the river Vermejo throughout its whole course, from Oran in the heart of the continent to its junction with the ParanÃ, and thence to the ocean.

Mr. Arrowsmith has adopted his delineation of the course of that river, as laid down from the diary of Cornejo, who descended it in 1790. Soria, who came down it in 1826, was deprived of all his papers in Paraguay; and although, on reaching Buenos Ayres, five years afterwards, he not only published a short account of his voyage, but a map also to illustrate it, being entirely from memory, it is little to be depended upon; neither is it reconcilable with the distance from Oran to the Paraguay, as estimated either by himself or Cornejo.

Of Soria's voyage, besides his own account, I had a much more full and curious narrative from an Englishman of the name of Luke Cresser, who was one of the party, and whose personal adventures would form an entertaining episode in any history of that enterprise. He was a Yorkshireman by birth, and originally a watchmaker, in which trade, after making a little money at Buenos Ayres, he had found his way into the upper provinces, and had finally become a grower of tobacco in the province of Oran. Having a large stock on hand about the time Soria was about to descend the Vermejo, he was induced to ship it, and to embark with him for Buenos Ayres. He was of the greatest service to the party on the voyage, and was severely wounded, in the skirmish they had with the Indians, by an arrow, which pierced his arm, and occasioned him much and long suffering afterwards. On reaching the Paraguay, had Soria listened to his urgent advice and entreaties, he never would have placed himself in Dr. Francia's power; for which, indeed, there does not appear to have been the slightest necessity. When the vessel was detained by that despot's orders, Cresser, like the rest, was stripped of all he possessed; and, after much suffering, was sent to Villa Real,—a wretched establishment on the Paraguay, about 150 miles above Assumption.

There, whilst his companions were bewailing their fate, the more enterprising Englishman obtained leave to proceed into the interior to the forests, where the yerba or tea is gathered, to work for his livelihood; and with such success, that, from beginning without a dollar of his own, by the time he was allowed to leave Paraguay, five years afterwards, he found himself in comparative affluence; and, though only permitted by the dictator to carry out of the country a portion of the yerba he had by his industry collected, he had still enough left when he sailed for Buenos Ayres to compensate him for the loss of all the tobacco with which he had originally sailed from Oran. The narrative of this person contains such curious details, not only respecting his residence in Paraguay, but also regarding the country about Oran, where he had passed some years previously to his voyage with Soria down the Vermejo, that I have thought it worth communicating to the Geographical Society for insertion, if they please, at length, in one of their periodical journals.

If it was difficult to collect the most ordinary statistical data relative to the interior, it may easily be supposed how much more so it was to obtain information of any interest in a scientific point of view; nevertheless, in this respect, I was not altogether without resources; and the accidental residence of two or three observing and intelligent individuals of our own countrymen in the remotest parts of these widely-spread regions laid open to me sources of information even upon such matters as I little expected. The results of that portion of my correspondence will be found in various parts of this Volume, where I have had the satisfaction of acknowledging my obligations to the individuals from whom they were derived.

From the materials to which I have above alluded, and other papers in my possession, my original intention was to have attempted a work of a more extensive nature; but any necessity for this has been since superseded by the publication, which has been commenced by M. de Angelis, at Buenos Ayres, under the auspices of the Government, of an extensive collection of unedited historical documents relative to the provinces of La Plata.

In the course of the last three years five folio volumes, and portions of two more, have already appeared, in which not only many of the most interesting of the papers in my own collection are given, but a variety of others throwing great light upon the history and geography of the countries to which they relate[4].

I cannot hesitate to say that it is infinitely the most important and interesting publication which has as yet appeared in any of the new states of Spanish America, to the great credit of the enlightened editor, who has illustrated it with his own learned notes and observations, the fruits of a long study of the history of his adopted country.

Upon the appearance of the first volumes I gave up my own design, as a work of supererogation where one so much more valuable was attainable.

It became however manifest, as M. de Angelis' work proceeded, that its extent would rather render it available as a book of reference and authority than for general purposes; and, as it was in the Spanish language, particularly so for the general purposes of English readers. I was again, therefore, induced to resume my task, though with the essential change in its character from my original plan, to the brief and general sketch of the Republic, and of the progress of geography in that part of the world during the last 60 years, which now appears; referring those who desire more detailed information to the invaluable collection of original memoirs now in course of publication by Don Pedro de Angelis: it has been of great use to me in enabling me to complete my own chain of information, as indeed it must be to any one who pretends to give any account of the part of the world of which the documents it contains may be said now to constitute the original and authenticated historical records.

To M. de Angelis I am also indebted for the copy of a MS. map, by Don Alvarez de Condarco, in which are laid down not only a recent journey of his own in 1837, to examine the mines in the Indian territory south of the Diamante, but the several marches of the troops, detached from Mendoza, in 1833, to co-operate with the forces from Buenos Ayres under General Rosas, in the general attack made upon the native tribes. I had already received, as I have mentioned in Chapter IX., through my friend Don Manuel Garcia, a map drawn by General Pacheco, showing the march of the principal division of that army, along the banks of the River Negro, from the Islands of Choleechel to the junction of the Neuquen.

The routes in question have been very material to the laying down of the true courses of some of the many rivers which constitute the most important, though hitherto undescribed, features of that part of the continent:—and it is satisfactory to find that they are strikingly corroborative of the accounts, as far as they go, which I had already cited as given both by VillariÑo, by Don Luis de la Cruz, and our own countryman, Dr. Gillies.

Thus far I have spoken of my geographical materials:—they will be found embodied in the accompanying map of the Republic by Mr. John Arrowsmith, who has spared no time or labour in its construction. In this he has also availed himself of the invaluable recent survey of Captain FitzRoy, to give the whole of the line of coast upon the very best authority. In the interior the various routes, which appear now for the first time collected together, have been all re-protracted from the original sources of information, whilst a careful re-examination of the labours of the Boundary Commissioners and of other authenticated authorities has enabled him to correct many errors of position which had crept, I hardly know how, into the latest maps, not excepting those compiled in the topographical department of Buenos Ayres.

Upon the whole, although we have yet a vast deal to learn before any perfect map can be drawn of this extensive portion of the new continent, I trust that the present attempt will be regarded as no slight improvement upon our old geography of that part of the world[5].

I regret that I lost, during my residence at Buenos Ayres, the opportunity of making what too late I learnt would have been very acceptable additions to our zoological collections; but I never imagined that our public museums were so entirely destitute, as I found them upon my return, of specimens of the commonest objects of natural history, from a country with which we had been so many years in, I may say, almost daily intercourse. Mr. Darwin, and the officers of His Majesty's ship Beagle, have since done much to supply these deficiencies; but we still want, I believe, specimens of by far the greater part of the birds and beasts of which Azara gave us the description nearly forty years ago. The collections of some of the museums on the Continent are, I believe, much more complete; especially those of Paris, to judge from the accounts of the acquisitions made by M. Alcide d'Orbigny, the fruits of many years spent in those countries, to which he was sent in 1826, expressly, I believe, to collect information and specimens for the Museum of Natural History.

Instigated first by Dr. Buckland, I made those inquiries for fossil remains, the results of which I flatter myself have been of no common interest both to the geologist and comparative anatomist. The examination of the monstrous bones which I sent to this country, by the learned individuals who have taken the pains to describe them, assists us to unravel the fabulous traditions handed down by the aborigines respecting a race of Titans, whilst it proves indisputably that the vast alluvial plains in that part of the world, at some former period, the further history of which has not been revealed to us, were inhabited by herbivorous animals of most extraordinary dimensions, and of forms greatly differing from those of the genera now in existence.

To the account of the Megatherium, and other extinct animals, I am now enabled, by a delay which has unavoidably occurred in the publication of this volume, to insert the representation of another extinct monster, the Glyptodon, which has been very recently discovered at no great distance from the city of Buenos Ayres, apparently in a very perfect state, and which I trust ere long will be in England. Mr. Owen, of the College of Surgeons, has been good enough to draw up for me the description of it, which I have added in a note at the end of the tenth chapter.

It is, perhaps, not unworthy of a passing observation here, that, amongst all the remains of extinct animals which we have now obtained from the Pampas, most of which too seem to have been singularly provided with a structure for self-defence, no instance, I believe, has as yet been satisfactorily proved of the occurrence of any portion of a carnivorous animal.

It only remains for me to allude to the third and last part of my book, upon the trade and public debt of the provinces of La Plata; and of which I can only say that I have spared no inquiry to render it as correct as is compatible with so brief and general a notice. The accounts officially published by the Government of Buenos Ayres, and the papers laid before Parliament, have enabled me to complete the Returns of Trade to the close of 1837. They show that the River Plate to the British manufacturer has been the most important of all the markets opened to him by the emancipation of the Spanish Americans; and that the value of the British trade there alone exceeds the aggregate of all other foreign countries put together. Spain herself has not taken for many years past so large a quantity of British manufactured goods as, it appears, have been sent to the River Plate.

The particulars of the debt have only been brought down to the commencement of 1837; for, although the accounts have since been published for another year, I confess I do not sufficiently understand them at this distance to attempt to explain them, further than to say that they show increased difficulties, from the lamentable and unexpected circumstances which have again disturbed the peace of the Republic.

On the party questions which have hitherto agitated the people of these countries, I have purposely said as little as possible; much less have I thought of writing the history of a country which has not been a quarter of a century in existence; the institutions of which are quite in their infancy, and must necessarily require a long period ere they can assume a more definite character.

The generality of my readers, I take it for granted, are acquainted with the nature of the old colonial government of Spain, with the events which led to the emancipation of the South Americans, and with the fact of their having declared for a democratic form of government in all the new states.