Besides their direct trade, the North Americans have at times found a profitable employment for their shipping in carrying Buenos Ayrean produce (jerk beef) to the Havana, and in the coasting trade between Brazil and the River Plate, though the latter is now for the most part taken out of their hands by the Brazilians themselves, who of late years have become the carriers of their own produce.
This trade (with _Brazil_) has been even more disadvantageous to Buenos Ayres than that with the United States. The only article of native produce to any amount which Brazil takes from the River Plate is the jerk beef; whilst there is hardly an article of Brazilian produce sent there which might not be grown within the republic itself. The tobacco, the sugars, the coffee, and the rice sent from thence, might all be produced in any quantity in the northern provinces of La Plata:--even the yerba-maté, or Paraguay tea, once so fruitful a source of profit to the Vice-Royalty of Buenos Ayres, is now introduced from the southern provinces of Brazil. It is true that Paraguay Proper, where the greater part of it was grown, has been closed for some years, but there is no reason why it should not have been cultivated in Corrientes or the Missions with just as much success as in the Brazilian province of Rio Grande:--as it is, owing to the inferior method of preparing it, the Brazilian yerba-maté is not equal to that of Paraguay, and its use is, in consequence, very much confined to the lower orders, whilst the higher classes are imbibing a very general taste for the teas of China as a substitute.
The imports from _China_, which appear in the account quoted at page 337, consisted of assorted cargoes of teas, silks, crapes, nankeens, wearing-apparel, tortoise-shell for ladies' combs, earthenware, matting, and a variety of minor articles, introduced principally on British account, though under the American flag, in consequence of our own restrictive regulations not allowing at that time the employment of British shipping in such a speculation. Cargoes of a similar description have since occasionally been introduced, but I believe it has been found to answer better to import the articles into Buenos Ayres as they may be wanted, either from the United States, or from Rio de Janeiro, or from England, than to freight ships expressly to introduce cargoes direct from China. A certain quantity of Chinese goods will always find a ready sale in the Buenos Ayrean market.