CHAPTER VI

MONTEVIDEO AND BUENOS AIRES

History and modernity; music and verdure—Theatres and Bathing—The ambition of Montevideo—Carnival—The origins of two great fortunes—More historic buildings and the “Palace of Gold”—The Buenos Aires “tube”; its tramways—Comparative expense of living—Opera houses and theatres—Night and day—Ever-changing Buenos Aires—The Jockey Club—Palermo and the Avenida de Alvear—Fashion moves northwards—Corso and race-course—Gambling—The agricultural show—Hurlingham—The Tigre—The Recoleta—“The Bond Street of the South”—Hotels—Buenos Aires _not_ a hot-bed of vice—Marriage and mourning—“Conventillos”—Fashion in Buenos Aires and Montevideo 79