On arriving at Mendoza Frank was met at the station by Manuel, who led the way to the _fonda_ where he had secured a room for his young master. He had succeeded in making the needed arrangements for the journey over the Andes, though not without some difficulty. The proprietor of the fonda had recognized the advantage of keeping his patrons as long as possible, and interposed various hinderances to their prompt exit; fortunately, Manuel had brought a letter from a German shop-keeper at Buenos Ayres to a German shop-keeper in Mendoza, and thus was enabled to expedite matters. Mules and their drivers had been engaged for the ride over the Andes to the terminus of the railway near Santa Rosa; they were drawn up in the court-yard of the shop-keeper soon after Frank's arrival, and, after being approved by him, were immediately despatched to the foot of the mountains, about forty miles distant. Frank then took a ride through the streets of Mendoza, and viewed the lions of the place. They were neither many nor great, as the city was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1863, when several thousands of the inhabitants perished. Traces of the devastation are still visible, but the town has been steadily recovering from the calamity, and is quite prosperous. Frank was impressed with the long rows of poplars, which shaded the streets and grew close to the walls of the numerous gardens. The poplars are so abundant that as one approaches Mendoza he rarely sees anything of it until within its limits; the poplars conceal the city in every direction, and their shade is welcome to everybody in the hot hours of the day. There are many fruit gardens in and near Mendoza. The place is surrounded by canals, and there is one canal which passes through the city and supplies an abundance of water. Mendoza was long celebrated for its fruits, and formerly large quantities of peaches, grapes, cherries, and kindred things were dried here for transportation to market. Since the opening of the railway several fruit-preserving establishments have been started, and are doing a prosperous business. The city is the capital of the province of the same name. The province of Mendoza has an area of sixty-five thousand square miles, and about seventy thousand inhabitants, or a little more than one inhabitant to the square mile. The state of education may be known by the fact that more than fifty-five thousand of the inhabitants cannot read or write, and out of 17,216 children, between six and twelve years of age, in a given year, only 2132 attended school! Most of the province is a plain; the greater part of this plain is fertile, but there are districts in the south where the herbage is too scanty for the support of cattle. Its western part includes a portion of the chain of the Andes; Aconcagua, the highest of the Andean peaks, is on the border of this province, and near it are several other mountains of great height and magnificence.