long been very good. It is true that where these State roads do not
exist, the unadulterated _arroyo_ serves as a country road, or a mere
track across the fields made by carts and foot-passengers, and when an
obstruction occurs in the form of too deep a hole to be got through, the
track takes a turn outside it, and returns to the direct line as soon as
circumstances permit. An _arroyo_ is given in the dictionary as "a
rivulet"; it is, in fact, generally a rushing torrent during the rains,
eating its way through the land, and laying down a smooth, deep layer of
sand, or even soil, between high banks. Immediately after the rainy
season this affords a firm, good road for a time, but eventually it
becomes ploughed into impassable ruts by the wheels of the carts, unless
trampled hard by the feet of passing flocks.

Government undertakes the cost and the super-intendence of the _caminos
reales_, and does it well. The corps of engineers is modelled on French
lines, and is a department of the Ministry of Public Works. The course
of study is extremely severe, and the examinations are strict and
searching. When a candidate passes, he is appointed assistant-engineer
by the Ministry, and he rises in his profession solely by seniority.
Every province has its engineer-in-chief, with his staff of assistants;
the superintendents of harbours, railways, and other public works are
specially appointed from qualified engineers. In addition to the care of
the construction and repair of all highways and Government works in his
district, the engineer-in-chief has the overlooking of all works which,
although they may be the result of private enterprise and private
capital, are authorised or carried out under Government concession.
These concessions are only granted after the project has been submitted
to, and approved by, the Ministry of Public Works, and it passes under
the supervision of the engineer of the provinces. In old days, if not
now, there was a good deal of "the itching palm" about the officials,
not excluding the Minister himself, through whose hands the granting of
concessions passed, even the wives coming in for handsome presents and
"considerations," without which events had a knack of not moving; and
when the army of _Empleados_ became _Cesantes_, this work, of course,
began all over again. The railway engineers form a separate body, the
country being mapped out into arbitrary divisions, each under the charge
of one engineer-in-