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

196 reframing latin america
shepherdesses fair and rosy, and as beautiful as the belles of a capital could
wish to be. In Santiago del Estero, the bulk of rural population still speaks
the Quichua dialect, which plainly shows its Indian origin. The country
people of Corrientes use a very pretty Spanish dialect. “Dame, general, una
chiripá,” said his soldiers to Lavalle. The Andalusian soldier may still be
recognized in the rural districts of Buenos Ayres; and in the city foreign surnames
are the most numerous. The negro race, by this time nearly extinct
(except in Buenos Ayres), has left, in its zambos and mulattoes, a link which
connects civilized man with the denizen of the woods. This race mostly
inhabiting cities, has a tendency to become civilized, and possesses talent
and the fi nest instincts of progress.
With these reservations, a homogeneous whole has resulted from the
fusion of the three above-named families. It is characterized by love of idleness
and incapacity for industry, except when education and the exigencies
of a social position succeed in spurring it out of its customary pace. To a
great extent, this unfortunate result is owing to the incorporation of the native
tribes, affected by the process of colonization. The American aborigines
live in idleness, and show themselves incapable, even under compulsion, of
hard and protracted labor. This suggested the idea of introducing negroes
into America, which has produced such fatal results. But the Spanish race
has not shown itself more energetic than the aborigines, when it has been
left to its own instincts in the wilds of America. Pity and shame are excited
by the comparison of one of the German or Scotch colonies in the southern
part of Buenos Ayres and some towns of the interior of the Argentine Republic;
in the former the cottages are painted, the front-yards always neatly
kept and adorned with fl owers and pretty shrubs; the furniture simple but
complete; copper or tin utensils always bright and clean; nicely curtained
beds; and the occupants of the dwelling are always industriously at work.
Some such families have retired to enjoy the conveniences of city life, with
great fortunes gained by their previous labors in milking their cows, and
making butter and cheese. The town inhabited by natives of the country,
presents a picture entirely the reverse. There, dirty and ragged children live,
with a menagerie of dogs; there, men lie about in utter idleness; neglect and
poverty prevail everywhere; a table and some baskets are the only furniture
of wretched huts remarkable for their general aspect of barbarism and
carelessness [. . .].
The Argentine cities, like almost all the cities of South America, have
an appearance of regularity. Their streets are laid out at right angles, and
their population scattered over a wide surface, except in Cordova, which occupies
a narrow and confi ned position, and presents all the appearance of a
European city, the resemblance being increased by the multitude of towers