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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

under the elder Mundo, the first authority in the world, and on his return to Chili he founded the "American Silk-growing Society," for whose use he introduced at his own expense the best machines and other utensils, seeds, and books known in Europe.

In 1849 he began the publication of "La Cronica," a periodical which contains the only authentic collection of documents in South America upon the subject of immigration, a cause which he had industriously promoted since 1839, when his attention first became fixed upon its advantages. On each one of the topics he treated, a law was proposed, and even Rosas established a periodical in Mendoza to combat it. Rosas could hardly have been punished more effectually for his ill-treatment of Señor Sarmiento than he unceasingly was by the liberal views of government and the intense activity of that patriotic gentleman. It was at this time that the grateful letter he wrote to his old friend and deliverer Ramirez, grateful for past services and confident of continued friendship, but which contained his characterization of Rosas, was shown by that apostate friend to the tyrant, thus perpetuating his banishment indefinitely.

In 1850 he wrote "Argiropolis, or the Capital of the Confederate States," in which he proposed a new capital instead of Buenos Ayres; and the "Recollections of a Province."

In 1851 he published the "South America," another periodical, and his "Travels;" also a "Memorial of German Emigration," which was reviewed and highly commended by Dr. Wappaus, professor of geography and statistics in the University of Gottingen.