"Then, again, as regards languages, the British commercial traveller, armed with British catalogues and price lists [although I note with pleasure that some are now printed in Spanish], knows no language but his own, but the German invariably speaks Spanish and English, and he has carefully studied beforehand the needs of the market which he is visiting and the financial position of merchants. This gives him a great advantage over his British rival, who rarely has previous knowledge of his would-be customers, and is dependent on such chance information as he may pick up to be subsequently confirmed by inquiries at the banks. Time is thus lost, and irritation is caused to respectable buyers, who resent what appears to them impertinent suspicion."
The Constitution of Uruguay--Government of the Republic--Deputies and senators--Their duties--The Civil Code--Marriage--Rights of foreigners--Law--The Commission of Charity and Public Welfare--Hospitals--Orphan asylums--Infirmaries--The charity hospital lottery--The distribution of political parties--The Colorados and the Blancos--Policy of both--Feud between the parties--Old-standing strife--Explanation of the nomenclature--Origin of the feud--Rivera and Oribe--Inherited views--Attitude of the foreigners--Revolutions--Manner of their outbreak--Government precautions--The need of finance and arms--Some rebellious devices--Rifles as Manchester goods--The importance of horses--Difficulties that attend a revolutionary movement--The sweeping up of horses--Equine concentration camps--A powerful weapon in the hands of the authorities--First signs of an outbreak--Sylvan rendezvous--The question of reinforcements--Some desperate ventures--Their accustomed end--Chieftains of the north--Effect of a revolution upon local industries--Needs of the army--Estancia hands as troopers--Hasty equipment--Manner in which actual hostilities are conducted--"The Purple Land that England lost"--The spirit of modernism and the internal struggle--Tendency to localise the fields of strife--Power of the Colorado party--Whence the respective partisans are drawn--Distinguishing insignia--Some necessary precautions on the part of the foreigner--Adventures derived from colour in clothes--Some ludicrous episodes--The expense of revolution.