Such a rough sketch of the outward life of Buenos Aires as the above necessarily gives a very inadequate image of the great and busy city, for what is received on hearsay impresses the mind more faintly than what has been seen with the eyes. It is a city of an unusual type, for it is very Spanish, but it is entirely without Spanish sleepiness; indeed, bustle and stir are perhaps its chief characteristics. There is great wealth and the love of display is also great, and doubtless, like Paris, it exercises a dangerous fascination on the people at large, who are apt to think that there is no profit or pleasure anywhere except at Buenos Aires. It occupies in Argentina a more important position than does Paris in France, and probably the development of Rosario and Bahia Blanca will have a good effect in modifying its pretensions. It is a very magnificent city. FOOTNOTES: [75] "An Account," &c., pp. 328-9. [76] De Bougainville, who visited it in 1767, says the town had twenty thousand inhabitants of all colours. He comments upon the lowness of the houses and says that the houses usually had spacious gardens--a great contrast to the modern city. ("Voyage autour du Monde," p. 33.) [77] "History of Spanish America," p. 274. [78] Head, "Rough Notes," p. 30. [79] "The Voyage of the _Beagle_," chap. vi. [80] Mansfield, "Paraguay, Brazil, and the Plate," pp. 128, 136, 138. CHAPTER XIII ARGENTINE LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY Difficult as it may have been to describe Buenos Aires, it is still more difficult to describe the people. Of all the men and women who reside many years in foreign parts few gain more than a superficial knowledge of those with whom they come in daily contact, for the qualities necessary to gain such knowledge are very rare and their exercise is difficult and often inconvenient. If, then, old residents learn little, the hasty visitor is at a much greater disadvantage, and especially in the case of a Spanish nation, for Spain has a touch of Orientalism, which tends to seclusion in family life.