The two portions of this scheme are closely connected, and their study must lead us to the same conclusion, that the Argentine is a nation in a state of growth, and, like all young nations, still uncertain of its first steps; but it is animated by a spirit of initiative, and urged by the breath of progress, which may lead it to a high destiny among the great productive countries of the earth. THE ARGENTINE NATIONALITY[15] Is there an Argentine nationality, and what is its significance in respect of the territory it occupies?——The formation of this nationality. An examination of the qualities of the Argentine people.——Sense of progress; remarkable faculty of assimilation: character essentially practical.——The fusion of the Latin genius with Anglo-Saxon energy. The contrast between the political world, with its instability and lack of organisation, and the economic world, which manifests intense vitality and national progress.——The necessity of developing the national idea, and of raising it above material questions.——The slow elaboration of a new race born of the various elements of immigration. [Footnote 15: We must here explain that the Argentine possesses two currencies: the piastre or dollar, whose value is 5 francs, and the paper piastre, which by the law of conversion is equivalent to 2 francs 20, or 1s. 7·2d. As for weights and measures, the decimal metric system has been adopted. In surveying large areas, the square league is occasionally employed as unit, which contains 2500 hectares, or 5628 acres = about 9-1/2 square miles. We should also explain that the Argentine Republic, of which the Federal capital is Buenos Ayres, is divided into fourteen autonomous Provinces and ten national Territories. The Provinces, in the order of population, are as follows: Buenos Ayres, Santa Fé, Córdoba, Entre Rios, Corrientès, Tucuman, Santiago de l’Estero, Mendoza, Salta, Catamarca, San Juan, San Luis, La Rioja, and Jujuy. The national Territories are: La Pampa, Misionès, Nequen, Rio Negro, Chaco, Formosa, Chubut, Santa Cruz, the Andes, and Tierra del Fuego.] To present a complete picture of the Argentine, it is not enough to describe its configuration, its great rivers, its climate, its population, its forms of agriculture, and the value of its soil; all this is a dead letter, and will by no means yield us the secret of the country’s future, unless we first resolve one question of a sociological character: Is there an Argentine nationality, and what does it signify in respect of the territory which it occupies? Could one, for instance, estimate the importance of the United States merely from the point of view of their agricultural and mineral wealth, without taking into account the work and the character of the admirable Anglo-Saxon race, which has adapted itself to American soil, and has succeeded in obtaining from it its full value?