Argentina is so much like the United States in a great many ways that it is often called the United States of South America. Both countries are alike in this—that they have hot weather part of the time and cold weather part of the time. But there is this big difference: in Argentina they have winter when the United States is having summer, and summer when the United States is having winter. In Argentina Christmas comes in hot weather and snow and ice in July and August. They have flowers and vegetables and vacations in January and February, and snow and ice and sledding and skating in July.

The capital of Argentina is often called the New York of South America, as it is the largest city of South America, as New York is the largest city of North America. Its name, however, is not New York but “Good Airs,” or, in Spanish, “Buenos Aires.” It is on the Plata River, which is another name that means silver. So we have the city of Good Airs on the Silver River in Silver Land.

In most of the other countries of South America there are many more Indians and Indians mixed with white men than there are white people, but in Argentina most of the people are white. That’s another reason why it is like the United States; but Argentina was settled by people from Spain, not from England, so the people speak Spanish and not English.

Up the Silver River from Argentina, tucked in between the larger countries are two little countries called Uru- and Para- guay. Uruguay and Paraguay are similar to Argentina in many ways. They raise sheep and cattle and gauchos with ponchos. In Para guay they raise a tree from the leaves of which a kind of tea is made. It is called Paraguay tea or maté. It is the chief drink of the gauchos, and many people in South America drink it instead of real tea. It was thought so good that they tried to sell it to other countries. But other countries didn’t care for it as much as for regular tea or coffee. Grown people are like children: what they like they like; what they think they won’t like they don’t like. Most people in the United States like soda-water, but people in other countries usually do not.