Reframing Latin America: A Cultural Theory Reading ... - BGSU Blogs

194 reframing latin america
worthily to present their mighty tribute to the Ocean, which receives it, not
without visible marks of disturbance and respect. But these immense canals,
excavated by the careful hand of Nature, introduce no change into the
national customs. The sons of the Spanish adventurers who colonized the
country hate to travel by water, feeling themselves imprisoned when within
the narrow limits of a boat or a pinnace. When their path is crossed by a
great river, they strip themselves unconcernedly, prepare their horses for
swimming, and plunging in, make for some island visible in the distance,
where horse and horseman take breath, and by thus continuing their course
from isle to isle, fi nally affect their crossing.
Thus is the greatest blessing which Providence bestows upon any people
disdained by the Argentine gaucho, who regards it rather as an obstacle opposed
to his movements, than as the most powerful means of facilitating
them; thus the fountain of national growth, the origin of the early celebrity
of Egypt, the cause of Holland’s greatness, and of the rapid development
of North America, the navigation of rivers, or the use of canals, remains
a latent power, unappreciated by the inhabitants of the banks of the Bermejo,
Pilcomayo, Parana, and Paraguay. A few small vessels, manned by
Italians and adventurers, sail up stream from the Plata, but after ascending
a few leagues, even this navigation entirely ceases. The instinct of the
sailor, which the Saxon colonists of the north possess in so high a degree,
was not bestowed upon the Spaniard. Another spirit is needed to stir these
arteries in which a nation’s lifeblood now lies stagnant. Of all these rivers
which should bear civilization, power, and wealth, to the most hidden
recesses of the continent, and make of Santa Fé, Entre Rios, Corrientes,
Cordova, Saltas, Tucuman, and Jujui, rich and populous states, the Plata
alone, which at last unites them all, bestows its benefi ts upon the inhabitants
of its banks. At its mouth stand two cities, Montevideo and Buenos
Ayres, which at present reap alternately the advantages of their enviable
position. Buenos Ayres is destined to be some day the most gigantic city of
either America. Under a benignant climate, mistress of the navigation of a
hundred rivers fl owing past her feet, covering a vast area, and surrounded by
inland provinces which know no other outlet for their products, she would
ere now have become the Babylon of America, if the spirit of the Pampa had
not breathed upon her, and left undeveloped the rich offerings which the
rivers and provinces should unceasingly bring. She is the only city in the
vast Argentine territory which is in communication with European nations;
she alone can avail herself of the advantages of foreign commerce; she alone
has power and revenue. Vainly have the provinces asked to receive through
her, civilization, industry, and European population; a senseless colonial