ively. Leaving out Guiana, South America has
received its entire civilisation from Spain and Portugal, and, with
the exception of Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, there has been little
or no emigration to any South American country except from these two
European countries. To Argentina, however, there has been a large
emigration from Italy especially, but also from France, Great Britain
(mainly from Ireland and Wales), Germany, and Sweden. A similar
emigration has taken place to Uruguay, though the foreigners in
Uruguay are principally Basques, a people that live on the border-land
between Spain and France, but are neither Spanish nor French. In
Brazil the immigration, where it has not been Portuguese, has been
chiefly Italian and German, and in the temperate region of the extreme
south of Brazil a large German population exists. Everywhere in South
America the parts most prosperous are the parts that have come most
directly under the influence of recent European emigration.

THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC

The Argentine Republic, or "Argentina," as it is popularly called, is
the most prosperous and most important of all the South American
states. Its area (1,319,247 square miles) is equal to the total area
of the States of the United States east of the Mississippi and
Missouri, including the Dakotas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
Although a portion of this vast area is not of much value for
agricultural purposes, especially in Patagonia, a very large portion
of it does consist of soil of great fertility, while the climate,
which for the most part is a temperate one, is such as is well suited
to Europeans and white people generally. The population May 10, 1895,
was 4,094,911. Of this population it is estimated that over 850,000
are Italians, 183,000 French, 161,000 recently emigrated Spaniards,
60,000 English, and 54,000 Germans and Swedes. The language of the
government and of the schools is Spanish. At one time in Argentina
there was a disposition to take the United States as a model in
everything, but of late years there has been a tendency toward taking
France as a model in manners and customs. This disposition to imitate
European peoples is particularly true of the wealthy classes.

ARGENTINA'S RAPID PROGRESS

The pride and boast of Argentina has been its rapid progress. In the
thirty years ending 1886 the immigration was over a million. From 1886
to 1889 it was from 100,000 a year to 200,000 a year. In 1890, owing