That is not a fancy picture. I have met two of that type in one voyage, and the above is a fairly good example of their hopes and credentials. Without any qualification they land in Buenos Aires and have the haziest knowledge what they propose to do next. Possibly they have some vague ideas that wealthy Argentines will be down at the wharf eager to help good-looking young Englishmen. The young Englishman proceeds to use his letters of introduction, and finds that one of the men is in Europe and nobody ever heard of the other. What next? The Englishman does not know. He cannot speak a word of Spanish. He hangs round the hotel lounge, and spends a lot of time in the American bar downstairs. At the end of four days he confides to you he is "fed up with the stinking hole," and has wired to the "old man" to send him enough "stuff" to take him home. Then at the end of a week he returns to England in the same boat as that by which he arrived, quite convinced Argentina is a place which he was jolly lucky to get out of. [Illustration: A REGATTA NEAR BUENOS AIRES.] There was another young fellow, somewhat more spry than the example I have given. I met him in the street one morning, and he was furious. He had been in the running for the secretaryship of an English company that had some big contracts in Argentina, and he had been ruled out at last because he did not speak Spanish. That was his grievance. He knew he could mess along somehow, and could always get somebody to explain if he had to talk business with an Argentine who did not speak English; so what was the good of having to swat to learn the lingo? One of the biggest financiers in Argentina told me one day that whilst plenty of young Englishmen made their way--indeed, if competent, they were preferred to other foreigners--he was astonished at the way others missed their opportunities. My friend, an Englishman himself, but who has lived all his life in the country, and speaks Spanish more fluently than he does English, has his finger in many concerns. Young men who have come out to posts, and are not making the progress they hoped, go to him to see if he can give them a helping hand. "Delighted," he says; "I want to help my own countrymen as much as possible. How long have you been in 'B.A.'?" "Eight years." "Then you speak Spanish like an Argentine, eh?" "Well--er--no; but I've picked up enough to scrape along on." "Could you take charge of a hundred Argentines and talk business to them as well as an Argentine?" "No; I wouldn't like to say that." "Could you write a technical business letter in Spanish?" "I'm afraid not." "Good day, my young friend. I should have been glad to have helped you, but I want a man who would not be sure to make mistakes."