The province of Buenos Aires is the richest and most populous province in Argentina. Including the federal capital, it contains one-third of the entire population. On several occasions this province seriously considered secession from the rest of the republic—but that was before it lost the metropolis. In area it is more than twice the size of Illinois, and resembles that state very much in its physical characteristics. It contains a number of towns of fair size, and a trip across the province to Bahia Blanca, about three hundred miles distant, is a very interesting journey. There are two or three different routes, but the most interesting one is that via Tandil. Passing out through the English suburb of Temperly, the main line heads out for the level pampa with scarcely a turn for mile after mile. The fields are thickly dotted with cattle and sheep, for this is one of the best stock countries in the republic. Although a number of small stations are passed it is not until Dolores is reached, after a run of more than a hundred miles, that there is a town of any size. This is a city of probably eight thousand, with the usual plaza and church of the Camp towns, and is a junction point for several branches of the Great Southern. It is the seat of the courts of justice for the southern portion of the province, and has a prison of considerable size. At Maipu is the branch for Mar del Plata, the seaside resort, but the main line turns westward. This passes through a fine pastoral district where Scotch landowners are very numerous and prosperous. Soon afterwards the railroad enters the only transverse range of hills in Argentina, some of the peaks of which reach an elevation of from three to four thousand feet and furnish a pleasing variation to the monotony of the horizontal landscape. Tandil, which is distant from Buenos Aires more than two hundred miles, is picturesquely located among these hills and has a population of several thousand. About three miles from the town is the famous rocking stone, which is an irregular flattened cone about thirteen feet in height and sixteen feet in diameter at its base, and is so beautifully poised on the edge of a slope that it sometimes moves even in a slight breeze. And yet the combined strength of several teams of horses has been unable to move it from its base. There are many other picturesque spots and curiosities in this neighbourhood, and there is a very pretty waterfall formed by a stream which comes down among the hills. Juarez and Tres Arroyos are the only other towns of any importance until the thriving new port of Bahia Blanca is reached, at the mouth of the Naportá Grande. [Illustration: PUERTO GALVAN, BAHIA BLANCA]