The Buenos Aires and Pacific line across the continent from the Argentine capital to Valparaiso is a magnificent achievement in railway enterprise. Perhaps at no great distance of time the Pan-American railway will be completed and the traveller will be able to take the train at New York for Valparaiso and so to Buenos Aires, but as yet that line consists chiefly of missing links, and the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway Company (which, curiously enough, happens to be English, not German), is the first in South America to join the oceans. To Mendoza the journey is easy and pleasant. The train leaves the Retiro station at Buenos Aires at 8 a.m. and reaches Mendoza early the next morning at about 5 a.m. The trains are extremely comfortable; the carriages are on the American plan and restaurant cars are attached; a reasonable amount of luggage is allowed. Only first and second (we should less logically say first and third) carriages are in use and the fares are high. They will doubtless be lowered when traffic increases; at present only three through trains are run a week. Compared with English trains they are not fast, but they are faster than the average of those of Continental Europe. Altogether the Buenos Aires and Pacific is a very fine line and under extremely efficient management. The journey affords no feature of natural interest, for the country, covered with maize or grass, is extremely flat, but it is pleasant to see the evidences of wealth--noble cattle grazing in the fields, great flocks of sheep, and the heavy crops of grain. The general air of prosperity is the more pleasing to one who has recently passed through Brazil and seen there every sign of wretchedness. There are few towns of importance on the route; indeed, such as there are owe their consequence chiefly to the railway. This is the case with Mercedes, which was founded in 1856 as an outpost against the Indians, and their depredations were for a long time a bar to its prosperity. It is now a great railway junction. San Luis was a small village in 1788, and although it is now the capital of the Province, it has had an unfortunate history. Its sons fought valiantly for the independence of Chile and Peru, but during the civil wars, which were the result of the Rosas tyranny, its sufferings were far greater. Up till recently the female population far exceeded the male, and it was one of the poorest cities in Argentina. The situation is excellent; the town stands high with views of the snow-peaks of the Andes, and the country round about is well wooded. It may one day be a place of remarkable prosperity.