REVENUE, ARMY, AND POPULATION.
483
ment, called upon to defray the expenses of the army and navy, of the Foreign Department, and to meet other obligations imposed upon it by the constitution. Each of the fourteen provinces, or states, of the Confederation has a revenue of its own, which is derived by the imposition of local taxes. Buenos Ayres, the most important state of the Confederation, requires annually about 400,000/. to meet the expenses of its government, law courts, chambers, militia, country schools, and other public institutions. The liabilities of all the states are internal, with exception of Buenos Ayres, which contracted a foreign loan of 1,03-4,700/. in June 1870 in England. The loan, issued at 88, with interest of 6 per cent., is to be redeemed at par in 38 years.
The army of the Confederation, now in course of reorganisation, consists of about 10,700 men, exclusive of the militia and the national guard of Buenos Ayres, numbering 19,867 men. The navy comprises seven small steamers and ten sailing vessels.
The following table contains a list of the fourteen provinces actually composing the Argentine Confederation, the number of inhabitants of each, and their superficial extent, according to returns of the year 186G:—
Provinces
Estimated population
Area — English square miles
Littoral or Eiverine :
Buenos Ayres ....
450,000
63,000
Santa le .
45,000
18,000
Entre Bios ....
107,000
45,000
Corrientes .....
90,000
54,000
Provinces contiguous to the Andes :
Bioja .....
40,000
31,500
Catamarca .....
97,000
31,500
San Juan .....
70,000
29.700
Mendoza .....
58,000
54,000
Central provinces :
Cordova
140,000
54,000
San Luis .....
58,000
18,000
Santiaga .....
90,000
31,500
Tucuman .....
100,000
13,500
Northern provinces :
Salta ......
80,000
45,000
Jujuy
Total .
40,000
27,000
1,465,000
515,700
A census taken in 1870, and under revision, stated the total population of the Argentine Confederation at 1,736,700 souls.
The increase of population of recent years has been due chiefly to
- n 2
