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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Argentine Republic, by Pierre Denis,
+Translated by Joseph McCabe
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions 
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at 
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Argentine Republic
+       Its Development and Progress
+
+
+Author: Pierre Denis
+
+
+
+Release Date: November 2, 2014  [eBook #47264]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Adrian Mastronardi, Martin Mayer, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images
+generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+      See 47264-h.htm or 47264-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/47264/47264-h/47264-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/47264/47264-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      https://archive.org/details/argentinerepubli00deniuoft
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      A carat character is used to denote superscription.
+      Characters enclosed by curly braces following the carat
+      are superscripted (example: 2^{nd}).
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+      A transcriber's note follows the text.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC
+
+  +----------------------------------------------+
+  | _BY PIERRE DENIS_                            |
+  |                                              |
+  | BRAZIL                                       |
+  |                                              |
+  | Translated, and with an Historical           |
+  | Chapter by BERNARD MIALL.                    |
+  | With a Supplementary Chapter                 |
+  | by DAWSON A. VINDIN,                         |
+  | a Map and 36 Illustrations                   |
+  |                                              |
+  | _Cloth, 15/- net. Third Impression_          |
+  |                                              |
+  |                                              |
+  | "Altogether the book is full of information, |
+  | which shows the author to have               |
+  | made a most careful study of the             |
+  | country."--_Westminster Gazette._            |
+  |                                              |
+  | T. Fisher Unwin Ltd                   London |
+  +----------------------------------------------+
+
+  [Illustration: THE FALLS OF THE YGUASSU.
+  _Thirteen miles above the confluence with the Paraná. Like the
+  Paraná at the Salto Guayra, the river cuts through a layer of basalt
+  intercalated in the red sandstone. The forest of the province of
+  Misiones has a tropical character near the river. The araucarias cover
+  only the higher parts of the tableland._
+  PLATE I.                                              Frontispiece.]
+
+
+THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC
+
+Its Development and Progress
+
+by
+
+PIERRE DENIS, D. ES L.
+
+Agrégé d'Histoire et de Géographie
+
+Translated by Joseph McCabe
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+T. Fisher Unwin Ltd
+London: Adelphi Terrace
+
+First published in English in 1922
+
+(All rights reserved)
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+In the following chapters I have endeavoured to indicate the
+essential aspects of colonization in modern Argentina: the conquest
+of the soil by man, the exploitation of its natural resources, the
+development of agriculture and cattle-breeding, and the growth of the
+population and enlargement of the urban centres.
+
+For a new country like Argentina it is not convenient to adopt the
+strictly regional plan which seems to be the best means of giving
+a complete and methodical description of the historic countries of
+western Europe, where it is the only way to keep in close touch with
+the geographical facts. In western Europe each region is really an
+independent unity. It has for ages lived upon its own resources; each
+population-group has its horizon definitely limited; and the complex
+action of the environment upon man, and of man upon the country,
+has proceeded in each district rather on the lines of an isolated
+and impassioned dialogue between the two. It is quite different in
+Argentina. There, many of the facts which we have to record consist in
+an expansion of the population, a spread of methods of exploitation
+from zone to zone of the country, and the influence upon colonization
+of commerce and of the varying needs of the markets of the world.
+
+It may be well to reply in advance to a criticism which my Argentine
+friends are sure to make. They will complain that I have paid no
+attention to the people of Argentina, the creators of the greatness of
+the country. It is true that I have deliberately refrained from any
+reference to the political and moral life of the Republic, the national
+character and its evolution, the stoicism of the gaucho, the industry
+of the colonist and the merchant, or the patriotism of the Argentinians
+generally. My work is not a study of the Argentine nation, but a
+geographical introduction to such a study.
+
+I began the work during a stay in Argentina which lasted from April
+1912 to August 1914. In the course of these two years I was able to
+visit most parts of the country; and, as the information I gathered
+during my travels is one of my chief sources, I give here a summary of
+my itineraries.
+
+     _October-November 1912_: Rosario--Region of the
+     colonies of Santa Fé--Forestry-industries of the Chaco
+     Santiagueño--Bañados of the Rio Dulce--Salta--Jujuy--Sierra de
+     la Lumbrera.
+
+     _November-December 1912_: Tucumán--Valley of Tapi--Santa Maria
+     to the west of Aconcagua--Cafayate (Valley of Calchaqui).
+
+     _December 1912-January 1913_: Catamarca--Andalgala--Valley of
+     Pucara--Córdoba--Villa Maria.
+
+     _January-February 1913_: Region of the Pampas (Province of
+     Buenos Aires, south of Córdoba and of S. Luis, district of the
+     Central Pampa).
+
+     _March 1913_: Corrientes--Posadas--Asunción--Forest-industries
+     of the Chaco of Santa Fé.
+
+     _August 1913_: Region of the Pampas (Province of Buenos Aires).
+
+     _March 1914_: Lake Nahuel Huapi--Valcheta--San Antonio--The
+     Rio Negro.
+
+     _April 1914_: Rioja--Sierra de los Llanos--San Juan--Mendoza.
+
+     _July 1914_: Entre Rios.
+
+These journeys, by rail or on well-known roads, were not supposed to
+be for the purpose of exploration or discovery. Their one object was
+to enable me to make a provisional classification of the chief types
+of country and forms of colonization, and to draw up a methodical
+programme for more thorough research. The work which I trusted to
+do in a more leisurely way was, however, suspended in 1914, and, in
+spite of my very strong desire to do so, I was unable to resume it on
+the spot in 1919. I have therefore been compelled to publish my first
+observations, completing them, as well as I could, by a bibliographical
+study of the country. I have made use of some fragments of a popular
+work which I began, at the request of the Argentine Commission, for the
+International Exhibition at San Francisco, of which several chapters
+were published in my absence by the University of Tucumán (Pierre
+Denis, _Modern Argentina: Chapters of Economic Geography_. Publications
+of the University during the Centenary of the Congress of Tucumán of
+1816. Buenos Aires, 1916).[1]
+
+     [1] I take the opportunity to thank M. J. B. Teran, who
+     undertook to edit these chapters, and to express, with him, my
+     satisfaction that events have falsified his rather pessimistic
+     predictions as regards the author.
+
+My knowledge of the publications on Argentina has two conspicuous
+gaps. The first is deliberate. I declined to study at second hand the
+documents and chronicles which are our sources, to the end of the
+eighteenth century, for the history of the various provinces that were
+to form Argentina. Hence the historical data on colonization which
+will be found in the following chapters relate almost entirely to the
+nineteenth century.
+
+The second gap I was, to my great disappointment, unable to fill up.
+A large part of the local publications--official or other--maps,
+statistics, etc., never reached Europe, and Buenos Aires is the only
+place where one can make a thorough study of them. These publications
+were available to me until 1914. Since then I have been restricted to
+the resources of the Paris and London libraries, which are very scanty;
+and less has been sent from Argentina since the war. I have not the
+complete statistics up to date.
+
+I trust, however, that this picture of Argentina has much more than
+a retrospective character; that it is not out of date before it is
+published. I may add that no statistics would enable one to solve
+the problem which Argentina in 1920 presents to an observer. Has the
+European War merely retarded the economic evolution of the country,
+or has it given that evolution a new direction? Will or will not the
+relations which Argentina is now resuming with the rest of the world be
+of the same character as the pre-war relations?
+
+The effects of the war upon the life of the country must not all be
+put on the same footing. That some of the exporters to Argentina
+have gained by the war and others lost--that the share of the United
+States, and even of Japan, has greatly increased--is a fact that
+may be regarded from the Argentinian point of view as of secondary
+importance. The war has, moreover, had the effect of disorganizing
+marine transport and bringing about a sort of relative isolation which
+is not yet quite over. The reduction in the imports of English coal has
+made the petroleum wells of Rivadavia of greater value to the country.
+It has compelled the Argentinians to make a hurried inventory of their
+natural resources in the way of fuel. Local industries have tried to
+meet the needs of the Argentinian market, where they had no longer to
+bear the competition of European goods. The grave disturbance of prices
+has enabled them to export certain products which had hitherto been
+confined to home markets. The war has, moreover, not interfered with
+the existing streams of export on a large scale from Argentina. The
+Republic continues to send its cereals, meat, hides and wool to Europe;
+and there is no reason to suppose that the competition of buyers is
+likely to diminish, or that the cultivation of wheat and lucerne must
+become less profitable.
+
+The two essential effects of the war seem to have been the stopping of
+the stream of immigration and the progressive reduction of the support
+which Europe gave to the work of colonization in the form of advances
+of capital.
+
+From 1914 to 1918 only 272,000 immigrants landed at Buenos Aires, while
+482,000 emigrants left the country. In 1918 the figure of immigration
+and emigration was only 47,000, less than a tenth of what it was in a
+normal year before the war. The withdrawal of European capital was felt
+from the very beginning of the war, and it has gone on uninterruptedly,
+capital from North America not being enough to supply the deficiency
+entirely. At the same time the extraordinarily favourable balance
+of trade has led to the storing of an ample reserve of capital in
+the country. Argentina has, in a very short time, won a financial
+independence which, in normal conditions, would have entailed long
+years of work and prosperity.
+
+However it may seem, these two facts--the interruption of immigration
+and the accumulation of capital--cannot be considered independently
+of each other. The inquiry opened by the Social Museum of Argentina
+(_La inmigración después de la guerra_, Museo Social Argentino, "Bol.
+Mensual," viii, 1919, nos. 85-90) show that a speedy restoration of
+immigration is expected in the Republic. Certainly it seems clear
+that the political and social insecurity in Europe, the misery of the
+old world, will probably enhance the attractions of Argentina. We
+must remember, however, that the stream of emigration from Europe to
+the Republic in the nineteenth, and the beginning of the twentieth,
+century was provoked by a complex combination of economic conditions
+which were closely related to each other. High wages in Argentina were
+connected with the high interest on money; that is to say, in other
+words, with the scarcity of capital. The future will decide whether
+immigration, and the rapid progress of colonization and production,
+which characterize pre-war Argentina can be adjusted to the policy of
+accumulation of capital to which the war has condemned the country.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                     PAGE
+  INTRODUCTION                                                          5
+
+  CHAPTER I
+  THE NATURAL REGIONS OF ARGENTINA                                     17
+       The physical environment--Colonization and the natural
+       regions--The struggle with the Indians--Argentine
+       unity--Argentina and the world.
+
+  CHAPTER II
+  THE OASES OF THE NORTH-WEST                                          36
+       The inhabited zones of the Andes in the north-west--_Valles_,
+       _Quebradas_, _Puna_--The irrigation of the _valles_--The
+       historic routes--Convoys of stock--The breeding of mules and
+       the fairs--The struggle of the breeders against drought--The
+       Sierra de los Llanos.
+
+  CHAPTER III
+  TUCUMÁN AND MENDOZA                                                  68
+       Tucumán and the road to Chile--The climate and the cultivation
+       of the sugar-cane--The problem of manual labour--Irrigation at
+       Mendoza--Water-rights--Viticulture--Protection and the natural
+       conditions.
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+  THE EXPLOITATION OF THE FORESTS                                      96
+       Manual labour on the _obrajes_--The land of the _bañados_
+       and the agricultural cantons of Corrientes--The timber-yards
+       of the Chaco and the tannic-acid works of the Paraná--The
+       exploitation of the _maté_--The forestry industry and
+       colonization.
+
+  CHAPTER V
+  PATAGONIA AND SHEEP-REARING                                         119
+       The arid tableland and the region of glacial lakes--The
+       first settlements on the Patagonian coast and the indigenous
+       population--Extensive breeding--The use of pasture on the
+       lands of the Rio Negro--Transhumation.
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+  THE PLAIN OF THE PAMPAS                                             161
+       The limits of the prairie--The rains--The wind and the
+       formation of the clay of the Pampas--The wind and the
+       contour--The zones of colonization on the Pampas--Hunting
+       wild cattle and primitive breeding--The sheep-farms--The
+       ranches--The region of "colonies"--The region of lucerne,
+       maize, and wheat--The combination of agriculture and
+       breeding--The economic mechanism of colonization--The
+       exchanges between the different zones of the Pampas.
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+  ROADS AND RAILWAYS                                                  209
+       Roads on the plain--The salt road--The "trade
+       route"--Transport by ox-waggons--_Arrieros_ and
+       _Troperos_--Railways and colonization--The trade in
+       cereals--Home traffic and the reorganization of the system.
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+  THE RIVER-ROUTES                                                    234
+       The use of the river before steam navigation--Floods--The
+       river plain--The bed of the Paraná and its changes--The
+       estuary and its shoals--Maritime navigation--The boats on the
+       Paraná.
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+  THE POPULATION                                                      260
+       The distribution of the population--The streams of emigration
+       to the interior--Seasonal migrations--The historic towns--The
+       towns of the Pampean region--Buenos Aires.
+
+  BIBLIOGRAPHY                                                        277
+
+  INDEX                                                               291
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  PLATE
+
+      I. THE FALLS OF THE YGUASSU                           _Frontispiece_
+                                                              FACING PAGE
+     II. THE ARID ANDES--
+            PUNTA VACAS, ON THE TRANS-ANDEAN RAILWAY                   22
+            QUEBRADA DE IRUYA                                          22
+
+    III. THE PATAGONIAN ANDES                                          38
+
+     IV. VEGETATION OF THE INTERIOR VALLEYS (ANDES OF THE NORTH-WEST)  48
+         FOREST ON THE OUTER SLOPE OF THE SUB-ANDEAN CHAINS            48
+
+      V. DRY SCRUB OF THE CENTRAL CHACO                                58
+         MARSHES (ESTEROS OR CAÑADAS) OF THE EASTERN CHACO             58
+
+     VI. THE _VALLE_ OF SANTA MARIA, NORTH-WEST OF MOUNT ACONCAGUA     70
+         THE OASIS OF ANDALGALA                                        70
+
+    VII. THE OASIS DEL RINCON, BELOW SAUJIL (ANDALGALA LINE,
+         PROVINCE OF CATAMARCA)                                        82
+         THE MONTE AT EL YESO                                          82
+
+   VIII. A VINEYARD AT SAN JUAN                                        92
+         A VINEYARD AT MENDOZA                                         92
+
+     IX. THE LAND OF THE BAÑADOS                                      100
+         LORETO: FARMING BY INUNDATION                                100
+
+      X. LORETO: THE RIO PINTO IN THE DRY SEASON                      112
+         LA BANDA (SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO)                               112
+
+     XI. QUEBRACHO TRUNKS LYING AT THE STATIONS                       116
+
+    XII. YOKE OF CREOLE OXEN USED FOR THE TRANSPORT OF TIMBER ON THE
+         EASTERN CHACO, OR CHACO OF SANTA FÉ                          128
+         WORKS AT TARTAGAL (EASTERN CHACO) FOR MAKING TANNIC ACID     128
+
+   XIII. THE VOLCANO PUNTIAGUDO                                       142
+         CERCAS ON THE LIMAY (RISING IN LAKE NAHUEL HUAPI), NEAR THE
+         CONFLUENCE OF THE TRAFUL                                     142
+
+    XIV. THE PATAGONIAN TABLELAND (NEUQUEN)                           154
+
+     XV. THE PAMPEAN PLAIN--
+            TRES ARROYES (BUENOS AIRES PRAIRIE BETWEEN THE SIERRA DE
+            TANDIL AND THE SIERRA DE LA VENTANA)                      166
+            TOAY, ON THE CENTRAL PAMPA (590 FEET)                     166
+
+    XVI. THE PAMPEAN PLAIN--
+            THE RIO BAMBA (IN THE SOUTH OF THE CÓRDOBA PROVINCE,
+            500 FEET ABOVE SEA-LEVEL)                                 182
+            BUENA ESPERANZA (SAN LUIS PROVINCE, 1,166 FEET
+            ELEVATION)                                                182
+
+   XVII. THE PAMPEAN PLAIN--
+            BUENA ESPERANZA (SAN LUIS PROVINCE)                       194
+            JUNIN (150 MILES WEST OF BUENOS AIRES, 330 FEET
+            ELEVATION)                                                194
+
+  XVIII. AN OX WAGON                                                  210
+         THE MAIL COACH                                               210
+
+    XIX. THRESHING ON THE PAMPA                                       220
+         SACKS OF WHEAT READY FOR LOADING ON THE RAILWAY              220
+
+     XX. CONFLUENCE OF THE YGUASSU AND THE PARANÁ                     236
+
+    XXI. THE PARANÁ AT CORRIENTES                                     244
+         THE BARRANCA AT PARANÁ (ENTRE RIOS), LEFT BANK               244
+
+   XXII. THE PARANÁ ABOVE THE ESTUARY                                 250
+
+  XXIII. THE OLDER INDUSTRIES OF THE PAMPA--
+            DRYING HIDES                                              262
+            DRYING SALT MEAT                                          262
+
+   XXIV. A HERD OF CREOLE CATTLE                                      268
+         A HERD OF DURHAM CATTLE                                      268
+
+
+
+
+MAPS
+
+
+    I. ARGENTINA: THE NATURAL REGIONS                                  28
+
+   II. IRRIGATION IN THE WEST AND NORTH-WEST OF ARGENTINA              52
+
+  III. THE CATTLE-BREEDING AREAS                                      188
+
+   IV. DENSITY OF THE MAIZE CROP                                      198
+
+    V. DENSITY OF THE WHEAT CROP                                      200
+
+   VI. THE RAILWAYS                                                   226
+
+  VII. ESTUARY OF THE RIO DE LA PLATA                                 254
+
+
+
+
+The Argentine Republic
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE NATURAL REGIONS OF ARGENTINA
+
+     The physical environment--Colonization and the natural
+     regions--The struggle with the Indians--Argentine
+     unity--Argentina and the world.
+
+
+The South-American continent is divided, from west to east, into three
+great zones. The lofty chains of the Andes stretch along the Pacific
+coast; at the foot of these are immense alluvial tablelands; further
+east are the level plains of the Atlantic coast. The eastern zone,
+the tablelands, ends southward at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata.
+It enters Argentine territory only in the north-east corner of the
+province of Misiones. Below 35° S. lat. the alluvial plains open freely
+upon the ocean. The position of Buenos Aires, in the threshold of the
+plain of the Pampas, is somewhat like that of Chicago at the beginning
+of the prairies; if you imagine the north-eastern States and eastern
+Canada struck off the map, and the sea penetrating inland as far as the
+Lakes.
+
+The three essential aspects of Argentine scenery are mountain, plain,
+and river. The Paraná, indeed, is a whole natural region in itself,
+with its arms and its islands, and the ever-changing low plain over
+which its floods spread, as one sees it from the top of the clay
+_barrancas_ (cliffs); though it is so broad that one cannot see the
+opposite bank. It wanders over the plain like a foreigner, an emissary
+from tropical America; for it has a flora of its own and tepid waters
+which often cause a fog over the estuary where they mingle with the
+waters of the sea.
+
+From the general mass of the Argentine plains, we must set apart the
+region between the Paraná and the Uruguay, which Argentinians call
+"Mesopotamia." While æolian clays form the soil of the Pampa on the
+right bank of the Paraná, fluvial deposits--sands and gravel, in which
+it is impossible to distinguish the contribution of the Uruguay from
+that of the Paraná--cover a great part of Mesopotamia. The earlier beds
+of the rivers may be traced here, not only by the alluvial deposits
+they have left, but by the lagoons which still mark their course.
+Running waters have shaped the landscape and scooped out a system of
+secondary valleys, and these reflect the history of the river itself
+and the variations of base-level which led to alternate periods of
+erosion and deposit.
+
+On the right bank, on the contrary, the Paraná has no tributaries of
+any importance except at the extreme north of the country. The scarcity
+of running water is, in fact, one of the characteristic features of
+the plain of the Pampas. Except in the east, along the Paraná, where a
+network of permanent streams develops on a comparatively impermeable
+and fairly humid soil, and except at the foot of the mountains, where
+irregular torrents and streams, swollen after a storm and scanty in
+the dry season, disappear, as a rule, within sight of the hills that
+gave them birth, there is no superficial organized drainage. As a
+whole, the alluvial covering of the Pampas, the upper beds of which are
+cut through by the _barranca_ of the Paraná, is not of river origin;
+it was brought and distributed by the wind, which took the place of
+running water. The clay of the Pampas is a present from the winds. The
+increasing dryness of the climate toward the west, as one approaches
+the Cordillera, explains the feebleness of the erosion by water and the
+extent of the erosion by wind.
+
+It is aridity, too, that gives their particular character to the
+Argentine Andes. They have little trace of perpetual snow, the lower
+limit of which approaches to within about four miles of the Bolivian
+frontier. There are no glaciers there; they reappear in the south
+only in the latitude of San Juan and Mendoza, on the flanks of the
+three giants of the southern Cordillera, Mercedario, Aconcagua, and
+Tupungato. Below the small number of steep furrows which the glaciers
+have carved, and usually up to the top of the mountain, there spreads
+what has been called, very expressively, "the zone of rubbish." In this
+the winter's snows, fretted by the sun in that clear atmosphere, form
+those multitudes of narrow pyramids which the Argentinians compare to
+processions of white-robed pilgrims. The underlying rock is rarely
+visible. It is covered with a thick cloak of rubbish, split off by the
+frost, which the slow-moving waters released by the melting of the
+snows heap up at the foot of the slopes, at the bottom of depressions.
+The half-buried summits are succeeded by basins of accumulation. In
+the valleys round the mountains there are immense beds of detritic,
+half-rounded shingle. The torrents have cut their way through the
+alluvial mass, and they flow at the foot of high terraces which mark
+the sites of former valleys.
+
+The spread of colonization toward the south during the last generation
+has extended Argentine territory beyond the limits of these classic
+scenes. The Patagonian Andes differ profoundly from the Northern Andes;
+and the change is not more sudden than that of the climate, to which
+it is due. Going toward the south, one passes, almost without a break,
+from the Atlas Mountains to Scandinavia. The moisture increases in
+proportion as the mean temperature falls. The mountains are covered
+with snow, and the glaciers lengthen. In one part of Patagonia they
+still form a continuous cap, an "inland sea," concealing the rock over
+the entire central zone of the Cordillera; though they are only the
+shrunken remainder of a glacial cap which was once far more extensive.
+Here ice was the chief sculptor of the scenery. It has made elevated
+tablelands, broadened the deep valleys which cut the flank of the
+mountain, polished their sides, and deposited at the point where they
+open out the amphitheatres of the moraines, behind which the waters
+have accumulated and formed lakes; and these lakes stretch back like
+fiords to the heart of the Cordillera, and are the pride of Patagonia.
+
+The waters of these moisture-laden mountains have, to the east, carved
+out the Patagonian tableland. It is crossed by broad and boldly cut
+valleys, several of which, abandoned by the rivers which scoured
+them, are now dead valleys. The rubbish from the wearing down of the
+mountains and the glacial moraine has been spread over the whole face
+of the tableland in the form of beds of gravel. But the rivers that
+rise in the Andes cross a country of increasing aridity as they descend
+eastward. There is no tributary to add to their volume. There is none
+of that softening of lines, of that idle flow of a meandering stream
+which characterizes the final stage of a river in a moist district.
+Their inclination remains steep, and their waters continue to plough up
+coarse sediment; and everywhere, up to the fringes of the valleys, the
+fluting of the sandstone and steepness of the cliffs bear witness, like
+the edges of the _hamadas_ of the Sahara, to some other form of erosion
+than that effected by running water--the influence on the country of
+the westerly winds. On the tableland the wind polishes the rounded
+pebbles, makes facets on them, and gives them the colouring of the
+desert.
+
+Thus from the north to the south of Argentina there is a complete
+contrast in the way in which the controlling forces of the landscape
+are distributed. In the north the moist winds come from the east;
+the rains lessen as they pass westward. The clays, capped with black
+soil, of Buenos Aires are æolian deposits, brought by the wind from
+the desolate steppes which close the Pampa to the west, fixed and
+transformed by the vegetation of a moister region. In the south, on
+the contrary, the rains come from the Pacific, and the fluvio-glacial
+alluvial beds of the Patagonian tableland are evidence of copious
+reserves of moisture in the Andes; but the arid climate in which the
+waters have left them has made its mark upon their surface.
+
+This diversity of the physical environment is only fully brought
+out by colonization. It is colonization, the efforts and attempts
+of human industry to adjust agricultural or pastoral practices to
+the natural conditions, which enable us to assign the limits of the
+natural regions. In this differentiation it is essential to notice the
+historical element.
+
+The introduction of new crops gives a geographical meaning, which
+had hitherto escaped observation, to climatological limits such, for
+instance, as the line of 400 millimetres of rainfall which is the
+western frontier of the region of cereals. These limits of crops remain
+uncertain for a time, then experience and tradition gradually fix them.
+They always keep a certain elasticity, however, advancing or receding
+according as the market for the particular produce is favourable or
+unfavourable.
+
+Improvement in the methods of exploiting the soil--the adoption of
+better agricultural machinery, dry farming, etc.--usually leads to the
+extension of the sphere of a particular type of colonization, as it
+enables this type to overcome some natural obstacle which restricted
+its expansion. Sometimes, however, it brings to light a new obstacle
+and creates a new geographical limit.
+
+To this category belongs the northern limit of the belt of selective
+breeding, which slants across the plain of the Pampas from the Sierra
+de Córdoba to the Paraná. The more or less degenerate cattle of the
+natives had spread over the whole of the South American continent,
+except the tropical forests, since the seventeenth century, adapting
+themselves easily to very different climatic conditions, from the
+Venezuelan _llanos_ to the _sertao_ of Bahía and the plains of
+Argentina. But pedigree animals, more valuable and more delicate,
+introduced on to the Pampas fifty years ago, are not able to resist the
+malady caused by a parasite called the _garrapate_. Hence the southern
+limit of the _garrapate_ suddenly became a most important element in
+the economic life of the Republic. It would lose its importance if we
+discovered a serum that would give the animals immunity against Texas
+fever.
+
+The range of one and the same cause varies infinitely with the
+circumstances. The limit of the prairie, as of the scrub (_monte_)
+which surrounds it on every side, and keeps it at a distance of 320 to
+440 miles from Buenos Aires, had no decisive influence on primitive
+colonization. Whether covered with grasses or brushwood, the plain
+is equally suitable for extensive breeding. The ranches are the same
+on both sides of the border. At the end of the nineteenth century,
+however, when the area of cultivation increased, the prairie was
+at once found to be superior. The labour required for clearing the
+brushwood before the plough can work is enough to divert from it, at
+least for some time, the stream of agricultural colonization. While the
+population of the _monte_, wood-cutters and breeders, are indigenous,
+the prairie has absorbed the immigrants from Europe, and the border of
+the scrub has become in many places an ethnographical frontier.[2]
+
+     [2] See E. A. S. Delachaux, "Las regiones físicas de la
+     República Argentina," _Rev. Museo Plata_, XV, 1908, pp.
+     102-131.
+
+  [Illustration: THE ARID ANDES. PUNTA VACAS, ON THE TRANS-ANDEAN RAILWAY.
+  _The bottom of the valley is 8,000 feet above sea-level; the sides
+  buried under rubbish. It is especially in this latitude, above a height
+  of 10,600 feet, in the zone where the moisture falls as snow even in
+  summer, that the rock is everywhere buried under its own rubbish. This
+  is Keidel's_ Schuttzone. _It extends to the foot of the Alpine peaks,
+  carved by glaciers._
+                                    Photograph by Moody, Buenos Aires.]
+
+  [Illustration: QUEBRADA DE IRUYA.
+  _Eastern slope of the Sierra de Santa Victoria, 65 miles from the
+  Bolivian frontier, in the zone of summer rain. The valleys have
+  been filled with an enormous mass of torrential alluvia. The water
+  afterwards made a course through the mobile deposits._
+                                  Photograph by Keidel, Mines Division.
+  PLATE II.                                             To face p. 22.]
+
+The changes which man has made in the floral landscape are, as a rule,
+slight. The limits of the forest zone have scarcely been altered. The
+beech forest of the southern Andes seems to be less tenacious than the
+_monte_ which surrounds the Pampa, and it has been ravaged by fire
+along the whole edge of the southern steppe at 37° S. lat. The work of
+man is generally confined to changing the primitive complexion of the
+natural formations, without altering their general appearance. Thus
+valuable essences are disappearing from the forest and the scrub, the
+larch and the cypress from the district of the Patagonian Lakes, and
+the red _quebracho_ from Santiago del Estero.
+
+A change that is scarcely visible, but is of considerable economic
+importance, thus takes place in the vegetation of the prairie owing to
+the presence of herds. The _pasto fuerte_, composed of rough grasses,
+which is the natural vegetation, is being succeeded by the _pasto
+dulce_, in which annual species, soft grasses, leguminous plants,
+etc., predominate. It is mainly composed of plants of European origin.
+The difference between the _pasto dulce_ and the _pasto fuerte_ or
+_duro_ is so important for the farmer that there is hardly a single
+work on Argentina which does not dwell on it. The idea, however,
+that the _pasto dulce_ has advanced steadily westward, starting from
+the vicinity of Buenos Aires and constantly enlarging its domain, is
+not strictly accurate. In 1895 Holmberg[3] traced the western limit
+of the zone of the _pasto dulce_ through Pergamino, Junin, Bragado,
+Azul, Ayacucho, and Mar Chiquita. When we compare this with earlier
+observations, we see that in the course of the nineteenth century the
+zone of the _pasto dulce_ has extended by about a hundred miles on the
+southern Pampa. When Darwin travelled from Bahía Blanca to Buenos Aires
+in 1833, he found no _pasto dulce_ except round Monte, on the right
+bank of the Salado. Further north, on the other hand, the extent of the
+_pasto dulce_ does not seem to have altered appreciably. The expedition
+to the Salt Lakes in 1778 found that there were already thistles beyond
+the line of the ranches, and these are characteristic of the _pasto
+dulce_ in the Chivilcoy region on the Salado, which was then abandoned
+to herds of wild cattle. "There was thistle enough to cook," says
+the journal of the expedition. The difference is connected with the
+history of colonization in the province of Buenos Aires, where ground
+was gained only toward the south between 1800 and 1875. Since 1895 the
+_pasto duro_ has been eliminated by agriculture rather than by the feet
+of the herds. Hence the advance of the _pasto dulce_ is no longer in
+a continuous line moving toward the west. It is sporadic, depending
+upon the construction of new railways which open up the plain to the
+plough.[4]
+
+     [3] Holmberg, "La Flora de la República Argentina," in the
+     _Secundo Censo de la República Argentina_, vol. i. (Buenos
+     Aires, 1898).
+
+     [4] _Diario de la expedition de 1778 a las Salinas_ (Coll. de
+     Angelis, iv.).
+
+Colonization does more than emphasize the individuality of each of the
+natural regions. It connects together different features, and blends
+them in a complex vital organism which goes on evolving and renewing
+itself.
+
+The occupation of the whole of the soil of Argentina by white colonists
+is quite a recent event. The second half of the nineteenth century was
+characterized by a rapid territorial expansion, and over more than
+half the country the expression "new land" must be taken literally. It
+is only one generation since it was taken from the Indians. There can
+be no question here of tracing the history of the relations between
+the white population and the free Indians of the Chaco and the Pampa.
+The most formidable of these were, in the north, the Abipones and
+the Tobas. On the Pampa, the foes of the colonists were Indians of
+Araucanian descent, Ranqueles, Pehuenches, etc., who came down from the
+mountains and took to horses. At the close of the eighteenth century
+the frontier of Buenos Aires was on the nearer side of the Salado, and
+was bordered on the south-east and north-west by the fortresses of
+Chascomus, Monte, Lobos, Navarro, Areco, Salto, Rojas, and Melincue.
+The proposal of D'Azara to extend it as far as the Salado was not
+carried out, and it was not until 1828 that there was a fresh advance
+westward.[5]
+
+     [5] _F. de Azara, Diario de un reconocimiento de las guardias
+     y fortines que guarnecen la linea frontera de Republica
+     Argentina_ (1796, Coll. de Angelis, vol. vi.). The documents
+     collected by de Angelis show clearly that there had been some
+     idea in the middle of the eighteenth century of occupying the
+     whole plain to the east of the Sierra de Tandil. These ideas
+     of expansion, of which D'Azara's plan is another instance,
+     were interrupted by the Revolution (_Diario de D. Pedro Pablo
+     Pabon_, Coll. de Angelis, iv. etc.).
+
+The new frontier, which would not be altered until 1875, passed by
+Veinte Cinco de Mayo and Blanca Grande, at the north-western extremity
+of the Sierra de Tandil. It included the entire region which lies
+between the Sierra de Tandil and the lower Salado, where the village
+of Tandil had been established in 1823. In addition, a line of forts
+stretched from Blanca Grande in the south-west to Bahía Blanca. The
+expedition sent in search of a port south of the mouth of the Plata
+had not found any nearer site that was suitable. But Bahía Blanca was
+to remain an isolated advance post until 1880, sharply separated from
+both the colonized zone of the Pampas and the establishments on the
+Patagonian coast.
+
+While the cultivated area was thus growing toward the south, it was
+being reduced in the north of the province of Buenos Aires and the
+south of Córdoba. The lands of the lower Rio Cuarto were not occupied.
+About 1860 (Martin de Moussy) the farthest establishments in this
+sector were S. José de la Esquina and Saladillo on the Tercero. The
+road to Chile by the Rio Cuarto, Achiras, and San Luis was threatened.
+The advance of colonization in this zone was at first in the west to
+Villa Mercedes on the Rio Quinto. The line of the Rio Cuarto by Carlota
+was reoccupied, and before 1875 the frontier had been pushed back to
+the Rio Quinto, where it joined the forts of southern Buenos Aires by
+way of Sarmiento, Gainza, and Lavalle.
+
+At last, in 1878, General Roca abandoned the classical methods
+of fighting the Indians, and took the offensive. He deprived the
+Indians of their refuges to the south of San Luis and the Central
+Pampa, and threw them back toward the desert. The Argentine troops
+followed in their steps as far as the Andes and the Rio Negro. There
+are to-day few traces in the immense territory that was won of the
+indigenous population. Its extreme mobility had masked its numerical
+inferiority.[6]
+
+     [6] M. J. Olascoaga gives (_La conquête de la Pampa: Recueil
+     de documents relatifs à la campagne du Rio Negro_, Buenos
+     Aires, 1881) valuable documents concerning both the details
+     of the fight with the Indians and the distribution of their
+     _invernadas_ (common lands) in the region of the Pampas.
+     Olascoaga translates it "winter quarters"; it was pasturage on
+     which they kept their cattle and from which they set out on
+     their expeditions.
+
+The history of the northern frontier is much the same. At the end of
+the eighteenth century the Spanish outposts ran along the course of
+the Salado. To the north of Santa Fé, at Sunchales, Soledad, and San
+Javier, they protected the direct route from Santa Fé to Santiago del
+Estero. These outposts were abandoned during the revolutionary period,
+and the Indians advanced as far as the suburbs of Santa Fé. The roads
+both to Santiago and, by the Quebracho Herrado, to Córdoba were cut.[7]
+Urquiza reorganized the Santa Fé frontier, first as far as San Javier,
+then below 29° S. lat. between Arroyo del Rey on the Paraná and Tostado
+on the Salado. The expedition of 1884 brought the Argentine army as far
+as the Bermejo, and broke the resistance of the Tobas. The forts which,
+more to the north, guarded the province of Salta, on the further side
+of the Sierras de la Lumbrera and Santa Barbara, had been dismantled at
+the beginning of the nineteenth century, as the tribes in this part of
+the Chaco were not hostile.[8]
+
+     [7] See Thomas J. Hutchinson, _Buenos Aires and Argentine
+     Gleanings_.
+
+     [8] See Geronimo de la Serna, "Expedición militar al Chaco,"
+     _Bol. I, Geog. Argentino_, xv. 1894, pp. 115-79.
+
+The memory of the fights with the Indians is so completely blotted out
+to-day, and the menace of invasion by the tribes has been so rapidly
+extinguished, that it is difficult to realize fully the profound
+influence they once had on colonization. The line of forts was a frail
+barrier that was constantly broken through. The Indians of the Pampa
+stole cattle from the ranches of Buenos Aires, and sold them in Chile.
+Colonel Garcia calculates in 1816 that about 40,000 animals were stolen
+every year.[9] Colonel Roca gives the same figure in 1876. The Pampa
+put no natural difficulties in the way of the movements of the Indians,
+no points which might serve as bases for the frontier. D. Pedro Pablo
+Pabon points out that the proximity of the Sierra, instead of giving
+protection to outposts in the Tandil region, would be an additional
+source of insecurity, as it increased the difficulty of keeping watch.
+In the north the Indian incursions followed the clearings in the scrub,
+avoiding the dense and impenetrable parts. The lagoon of Mar Chiquita,
+to the west of Santa Fé, was a valuable rampart, in the shelter of
+which a fairly large population had established itself round Concepción
+del Tio.
+
+     [9] _Nuevo plan de fronteras de la provincia de la Republica
+     Argentina_ (Coll. de Angelis, vol. vi).
+
+The enlargements of the frontier were sometimes due to expansive
+movements of colonization, the breeders occupying new land beyond the
+line of forts and demanding protection, and sometimes to the arbitrary
+action of a Government which was eager to extend its territory, though
+it was still without the means of exploiting it. Roca has well shown
+the defects of this system of premature military occupation. "To go
+far away from the populated districts in acquiring new territory is,
+in my opinion, only an aggravation of the inconveniences of defensive
+war, and it places a desert between the new lines and the settled
+regions.... Invasions occur at once."[10] We should therefore be
+likely to make serious mistakes if we were to identify the history of
+colonization with that of military occupation. Moreover, the garrisons
+of the forts did not take a very active part in the exploitation of
+the soil. The plan which D'Azara proposed, of making _blandengues_
+(lancers) colonists and rooting them to the soil by distributing it
+amongst them, seems to have been purely Utopian. His description of
+the frontier shows clearly how slight a hold the early colonization
+had on the Pampa, where the only relatively industrious element was
+represented by the groups of civilians (_paisanos_) who gathered about
+the works and moats of the forts. It was different on the Santiago del
+Estero frontier, where there was agriculture as well as breeding. Here
+the fort was identical with the village, and each soldier had his plot
+of wheat, maize, or water-melons.[11]
+
+     [10] Letter to the Minister of War, October 19, 1875.
+
+     [11] See the curious picture, which Hutchinson gives us, of
+     military life on the Rio Salado de Santiago about the middle
+     of the nineteenth century.
+
+The provinces which were to combine in forming the Argentine Republic
+had no economic unity. They were really two countries, two separate
+worlds, the coast regions and the mountain regions (_de arriba_),
+joined together, but not blended, by the main road from Buenos Aires
+to Peru, by way of Córdoba, Tucumán, and Salta. They represented two
+different branches of Spanish colonization. "Two human streams," says
+Mitre, "contributed to the peopling of the vice-royalty.... The first
+came directly from Spain, the mother country. It occupied and peopled
+the banks in the basin of the Rio de la Plata, in the name of the
+right of discovery and conquest, and fertilized them by its labour.
+The other stream came from the ancient empire of the Incas, already
+subdued by the Spanish armies. This spread toward the interior of the
+country as it passed from the Pacific to the Atlantic, occupied the
+land in virtue of the same rights, and exploited it by means of a
+feudal system.... The same year, 1535, saw the foundation of the two
+towns, Buenos Aires and Lima, and was the centre of these two cycles
+of discoveries and conquests. Thirty-eight years later, in the same
+year, 1573, the Conquistadores who came from Peru founded the town of
+Córdoba, two hundred miles away from the Paraná, while those who came
+from the Rio de la Plata founded the town of Santa Fé on the banks of
+that river."[12]
+
+     [12] Mitre, _Historia de Belgrano_, I, ch. i. pp. 4 and 5.
+
+  [Illustration: MAP I.--ARGENTINA. THE NATURAL REGIONS.
+  _The map shows the distribution of the natural regions--the dry Andes
+  in the north-west, with irrigated cultivation; the monte, or brush,
+  which is still used for extensive breeding; and the Pampa, with its
+  great areas of cereals and lucerne. The line marking the frontier of
+  1875 shows the speed at which colonization has developed in the western
+  half of the plain of the Pampas. The only regions not given on the map
+  are the plateau of Misiones, with its tropical forests, and the wet
+  Andes of Patagonia._
+                                                        To face p. 28.]
+
+Tucumán and Salta were established by conquerors from Peru, while San
+Juan and Mendoza were built by the Chilean Spaniards. The line of
+demarcation between the two zones of colonization crosses the immense
+desert plains of the interior, not the elevated tablelands of the Andes.
+
+The two types of Argentinians differed in every respect, in blood as
+well as in environment. The indigenous race, which was eliminated on
+the coast, mingled intimately with the conquering race in the interior.
+
+The establishments on the Rio de la Plata had originally been merely
+stages on the road to Peru, and had no value of themselves. The
+elevated tablelands of the Andes long remained the economic centre of
+Spanish America, and the provinces of the interior, which sold them
+cattle and mules, depended very closely upon them. The end of the
+eighteenth century was marked by more rapid progress in the region of
+the Pampas. The vice-royalty of La Plata was created.
+
+Freedom of trade was secured between Buenos Aires and the Spanish
+ports. The export of hides increased. The influence of Buenos Aires
+spread over the interior and, in spite of the Córdoba tariff, reached
+the regions of the north-west. "The creation of the vice-royalty," says
+Dean Funes, "and the new direction taken by commerce had the effect
+that Buenos Aires became the centre of considerable and important
+business."[13]
+
+     [13] D. Gregorio Funes, _Ensayo de la historia civil del
+     Paraguay, Buenos Aires, y Tucumán_ (Buenos Aires, 3 vols.,
+     1816).
+
+This commercial development, which seemed destined to bring closer
+together the two halves of Argentinian territory, was interrupted
+in the first half of the nineteenth century. This did not, however,
+break the connections between the provinces to the north-west of the
+tableland and those on the Pacific slope, and indeed, they became
+more varied and more binding. Packs of mules, carrying the ore of San
+Juan and La Rioja to the foundries of the Chilean side, added life to
+the Cordillera. When Chile, transformed into an agricultural country,
+could not meet its own demand for cattle, the oases of the Argentine
+side were sown with lucerne for fattening the cattle which were to
+cross the mountains. The provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, La Rioja,
+Catamarca, Tucumán, and Salta were held within the orbit of the Andes
+districts.[14] There are historical reasons for this set-back to the
+influence of Buenos Aires. The wars of the revolutionary period and
+the conflicts between the Buenos Aires Government and the maritime
+powers checked the commercial enterprise on the banks of the Plata.
+This political isolation of the province of Buenos Aires, under the
+Rosas Government, lasted until 1853. Poncel gives us statistics of the
+imports of Catamarca which show the great importance of this date in
+the history of Argentine commerce:
+
+     [14] The Woodbine Parish map (1839) puts Tinogasta eighty
+     miles out of its proper position, at the very foot of the Come
+     Caballos range, thus reducing by one half its distance from
+     Copiapo, on the Chilean slope.
+
+  Imports into the Province of       1850  1851  1852  1853  1854
+  Catamarca:
+
+  From the Pacific across the
+  Cordillera (in millions of           72    50    71    40    12
+  piastres)
+
+  From the Atlantic (Buenos Aires
+  or Rosario)                          11     7    20    64   116[15]
+
+     [15] B. Poncel, _Mes itinéraires dans les Provinces du Rio de
+     la Plata, Province de Catamarca_ (Paris, 1864).
+
+In 1854-5 the Cordillera route definitely ceased to be of commercial
+importance to Catamarca, and it was afterwards used merely for the
+export of cattle.
+
+But the attraction of Buenos Aires after 1853 was not merely due to its
+commercial life and its intermediate position between the provinces
+of the interior and Europe. It was chiefly based upon the economic
+development of the region of the Pampas, which began about this date,
+and altered the balance between the two halves of Argentina. The
+exploitation of the Pampa, the improvement in breeding methods, and the
+introduction and expansion of agriculture on the plain of the Pampa,
+which fill all publications on modern Argentina, are in themselves one
+of the great events in the economic history of the nineteenth century.
+They had also an indirect but profound influence upon the life of other
+parts of Argentina. The consuming capacity of the Pampa increased
+simultaneously with its wealth and population. It absorbed the products
+of the neighbouring provinces and in turn made customers of them,
+distributing amongst them, according to the services they rendered,
+part of the gold it obtained from beyond the Atlantic. One after the
+other the provinces lost the relations which had hitherto connected
+them with foreign lands. There was the same development all over the
+zone of cereals and lucerne--the direction of the stream of commerce
+was reversed. In some places, as at Tucumán and Mendoza the change
+was accomplished a generation ago. In other places, as at Salta and
+San Juan, it is still going on. In yet other places, the more remote
+valleys, like Jachal and Santa Maria, it will occur in the near future.
+By a singular anomaly the Far West of North America, which sprang up
+half a century ago, tends to withdraw more and more from the influence
+of the eastern States, which provided it with capital and immigrants,
+while the Far West of Argentina, which is just as old as the east and
+by no means a creation of the east, since it developed in isolation and
+freedom, and was already adult and rich when they came into contact,
+has nevertheless fallen into complete dependence upon the east in the
+course of a few years.
+
+The life of the whole country depended upon the great colonization
+movement which transformed the plain of the Pampas. This brought about
+an economic unity which was at once reflected in the political world.
+The railway from Buenos Aires reached Tucumán before 1880; Mendoza, San
+Juan, Salta, and Catamarca before 1890; and La Rioja before 1900. The
+establishment of closer economic relations between the coast and the
+provinces of the interior has nearly always inaugurated a period of
+great prosperity for the latter. In every case the influence of Buenos
+Aires vitalized them, put an end to their slumbers, and made them rich.
+
+Not only did the coast take for itself the products of the western
+provinces, which had hitherto found their way to other markets, but new
+centres of production had to be created to meet its needs. The forests
+of the Chaco received a great influx of wood-cutters, to provide the
+sleepers for the railways. The valley of the Rio Negro was planted with
+vines, to provide the wines of the colonies in the district of Bahía
+Blanca. The attraction of the Pampa was felt as far as the frontiers.
+Paraguay competed with Corrientes in the supply of tobacco and oranges;
+with Misiones in the supply of _yerba maté_. Each district chose the
+particular crop which was best suited to its climate, in order to
+secure the highest possible advantage from its relations with Buenos
+Aires.
+
+The two most brilliant satellites of the Pampa, the most important
+productive centres of the interior, are Tucumán and Mendoza. All the
+other important towns of Argentina belong themselves to the region of
+the Pampas. Tucumán and Mendoza, which live by supplying the Pampa with
+sugar and wine, have become in turn secondary centres of attraction.
+They are a sort of regional capitals, and they have their own spheres
+of economic influence. A network of commercial streams has developed
+about them, and this has led to the formation of new roads. These lines
+of local interest are easily recognized on a map of the railways,
+where one sees them superimposed upon the regular fan of lines which
+converges toward Buenos Aires. La Rioja provides the props for the
+vines of San Juan and Mendoza. From the north of Córdoba to Salta,
+a distance of about 250 miles, the wood is cut for the fuel of the
+sugar-works of Tucumán. Santiago dries the fodder for its troops of
+mules. The prairies of Catamarca, which once fattened the cattle that
+were intended for Chile, and often came even from Tucumán, now sell
+their beasts to the butchers of Tucumán. The wines of San Juan find
+their best customers at Tucumán. Even the nearest portions of the plain
+of the Pampas, to the north-east of Santa Fé and the south of San Luis,
+supply maize and wheat to Tucumán and Mendoza, instead of sending them
+to the ports for export.
+
+While Argentina lives on the Pampa, the Pampa lives on export. It has
+been developed through the inflow of European immigrants, and Europe
+pays by sending its manufactured products and capital. Except as
+regards emigration, the United States had, before the war, much the
+same relation to Argentina as the countries of Western Europe. Thus
+the economic prosperity of the Republic binds it more and more closely
+to the life of the whole world. Its position in the temperate zone of
+South America had retarded its entrance into world-commerce, and this
+explains the slowness with which its colonization proceeded at first.
+Its climate and products were too similar to those of Spain. Not only
+the mining and metallurgical centres of the Andes and of Mantiqueria,
+but even the sugar and cotton regions of Brazil, the Antilles, and the
+Guianas, were developed before the plains of the Pampas.
+
+The turn of the Argentine Republic did not come until the growth of
+population in the industrial countries of Europe made them dependent
+upon foreign lands for their food, and until the application of steam
+to ships made it possible to export wool, meat, and cereals on a large
+scale.
+
+When we compare the economic organization of Argentina with that of the
+United States, we see that it is both less complex and less capable of
+being self-contained. The difference is due to the architecture of the
+country. I said at the beginning of this chapter that Argentina has no
+equivalent for the zone of the Atlantic tablelands, which is now the
+great industrial region of North America. The industrial prosperity of
+eastern North America provides a safe home market for the farmers of
+the west, and relieves them of the need of exporting their produce.
+Moreover, the Atlantic tablelands, the original centres of population,
+where the first generations of colonists lived on land that was often
+poor, have seen the gradual formation of reserves of labour and capital
+which were afterwards used in colonizing the west. The east sifted, in
+a sense controlled, the influence of modern Europe in the colonization
+of the United States. It classified and assimilated the new emigrants
+who set out for the west, mingled with the troops of native pioneers
+on their way to the prairies. In the same way, when European capital
+flowed into the United States, it found in the eastern cities a large
+treasury and a body of financiers in whose hands it had to remain.
+
+In Argentina, on the contrary, everything speaks of the close and
+direct dependence of the country upon oversea markets. The soil itself
+bears the marks of this solidarity. It is seen in the network of the
+railways, the concentration of the urban population in the ports, and
+the distribution of the cultivated districts in concentric circles
+which are often limited, not by a physical obstacle, but by the cost of
+freightage between the productive centre and the port. Thus we get a
+geographical expression of facts which seem at first sight to belong to
+the purely economic or sociological order.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE OASES OF THE NORTH-WEST AND PASTORAL LIFE IN THE SCRUB
+
+     The inhabited zones of the Andes in the north-west--_Valles_,
+     _Quebradas_, _Puna_--The irrigation of the _valles_--The
+     historic routes--Convoys of stock--The breeding of mules and
+     the fairs--The struggle of the breeders against drought--The
+     Sierra de los Llanos.
+
+
+The whole life and wealth of the arid provinces of north-western
+Argentina depend upon irrigation; the water-supply definitively settles
+the sites of human establishments. The water resources are irregularly
+distributed. They are especially abundant in the south (San Juan,
+Mendoza, and San Rafael), where the torrents of the Cordillera are fed
+by the glaciers, and on the outer fringe of the hills above the Chaco,
+at the foot of Aconcagua, which gathers masses of cloud and rain on its
+flanks (Tucumán). In the intermediate district, on the contrary, in the
+regions of La Rioja and Catamarca, and in the interior of the hilly
+zone to the north-west of Tucumán, the amount of available water is
+small; the oases shrink into small spots far removed from each other.
+
+This natural inequality was not felt at first. For a long time the
+spread of cultivation and the progress of wealth were restricted only
+by the scarcity of population, the difficulties of transport, and the
+inadequacy of the markets. The best endowed oases paid no attention
+to the surplus supply of water, for which they had no use. We have to
+come down to the close of the nineteenth century to find men reaching
+the limits which nature has set to colonization, and mapping out
+their domain. It is not until then that La Rioja ceases to compete
+with Mendoza, or Catamarca with Tucumán. While large industrial
+enterprises develop at Mendoza and Tucumán, strong centres of urban
+life arise, the population increases, and immigrants stream in, the
+oases of the interior scarcely change. Their population does not keep
+its level. Life has an archaic character that one finds nowhere else
+in Argentina. The physical conditions have retarded, one would almost
+say crystallized, the economic development. The living generation
+exploits the soil in ways that to some extent go back as far as the
+indigenous tribes, the masters of their Spanish conquerors in the art
+of irrigation. The industry of fattening and convoying cattle, which
+was once the chief source of wealth of the whole country, is still
+alive in those districts.
+
+The zone of the elevated tablelands of the Andes without drainage
+toward the sea--the Puna--has still, below 22° S. latitude on the
+northern frontier of Argentina, a width of about 250 miles. This
+breadth steadily contracts southward as far as 28° S. latitude, where
+the Puna ends about the level of the road from Tinogasta to Copiapo.
+
+To the east and south of the Puna the Argentine Andes are cut from
+north to south by a series of long gullies and large basins, between
+which there are lofty and massive chains with steep flanks. Some of
+these lie in the heart of the mountains, while others often open like
+gulfs upon the edge of the plain. These depressions with rectilinear
+contours are a common feature of the topography of the Andes in this
+latitude. The central plain of Chile is closely related to them.
+In the Argentine speech they are called _valles_: Valle de Lerma,
+Valle Calchaqui, Valle de Iglesias, de Calingasta, d'Uspallata. They
+are, however, not "valleys" in the sense of hollows made by erosion
+by running water. They owe their formation to tectonic movements,
+subsidences of the surface. The scanty rivers of the arid Anacs are not
+capable of doing work of that kind. When they enter the already formed
+bed of a _valle_, they seem to be lost in the immense space. Often
+they dry up in it, leaving behind the sediment and salts with which
+the water was laden. In other places they cut at right angles across
+the _valle_, escaping by narrow breaches in it, while the depression
+continues its course on either side, taking in sections of a number of
+independent streams.
+
+Opposed to the _valle_ is the eroded ravine, carved out by water, the
+_quebrada_. It opens upon a _valle_ with a V-shaped mouth, which widens
+out at the top, and one can recognise at sight the various slopes and
+the successive stages of erosion. Narrow and winding, a level bed
+of shingle filling the entire base of the valley, it rises rapidly
+toward the mountains and provides a route from the _valle_ to the
+_puna_. These _valles_, _quebradas_ and _puna_ are the three inhabited
+zones of the Andes. The first is the richest. The inhabitant of the
+_valle_, proud of his comparative comfort, has for his neighbour in the
+_quebrada_ or the _puna_--the _coyada_--a contempt such as one finds
+the inhabitants of the good land in Europe feeling for the people in
+poorer districts.
+
+The narrower the _valle_, the less rain there is. The observations
+give 112 millimetres of rain per year at Tinogasta, 290 at Andalgala,
+and 200 at Santa Maria. Salta and Jujuy have a much moister climate,
+and have no less than 570 and 740 millimetres of rain annually. This
+is because the eastern chain of the Andes, which stretches from the
+Sierra de Santa Victoria on the Bolivian frontier to Aconcagua, sinks
+lower at the latitude of Salta, and lets in the moisture of the Chaco
+to the heart of the zone of the Andes. The rains of Salta and Jujuy are
+suspended during the winter, but they are so heavy during the summer
+months (November to March) that maize, which needs only the summer
+rain, can be cultivated without irrigation. But when we follow the
+Valle de Lerma southward from Salta the maize harvest becomes more and
+more uncertain, and it is no longer sown in dry soil when we get to
+about twenty miles from Salta, in the latitude of the confluence of the
+Arias and the Juramento. However, the summer rains, which are good for
+maize, are very injurious to the vine; they spoil the grapes. Thus the
+southern limit of the cultivation of maize in dry soil almost coincides
+with the northern limit of the vine. At that point we have the real
+beginning of the typical scenery of the _valles_.
+
+[Illustration: THE PATAGONIAN ANDES. _Mount Tronador (11,500 feet) on
+the Chilean frontier, dominating the road from Lake Nahuel Huapi to
+Chile. The glaciers still reach the bottom of the valley, which they
+filled at one time. A burnt forest in the foreground._ PLATE III. To
+face p. 38.]
+
+The need of irrigation is due to the scarcity of rain, but it is
+accentuated by a number of causes which tend to increase the aridity.
+The _valles_ are the scene of scorching day-winds, the _zonda_, like
+the _Föhn_ of the Swiss Alps, which, there being no snow, dry up
+the water of the springs and of the irrigation trenches, or use the
+deposits left by the waters to form dunes, which they push southward,
+sometimes like veritable glaciers of sand. Moreover, the soil of
+the _valles_ is generally composed of coarse and permeable alluvial
+deposits, which absorb the rain-storms immediately. There is at the
+foot of both sides of the hills which enclose each _valle_ an immense
+and far-lying bed of imperfectly rounded shingle. This double zone of
+detritus is strangely desolate, for the vegetation on it is restricted
+to isolated bushes of _jarilla_ and _tola_. From the sheepfolds on the
+mountains to the oases in the valleys one hardly meets a single house.
+The bed of the valley is not so desolate. A broad ribbon of sand marks
+the dry bed of a torrent, and on the clays of its banks, if the sheet
+of water underground is not too deep, one finds, in spite of the goats
+and asses and charcoal-burners, little forests of _algarrobas_, which
+the foundries use for fuel.
+
+The modern alluvial beds, gravel and sand, represent the upper stratum
+of a considerable series of continental deposits which lie on the
+Paleozoic crystalline rock of the Andes.[16] They chiefly consist of
+red sandstone and coloured marls, which crop up here and there through
+the alluvial covering and give the landscape a rugged character, worn
+by water and wind. There is no trace of humus: nothing to soften the
+vivid colours of the rock. Bodenbender, to whom we owe the first
+general attempt to classify the series, points out the importance of
+distinguishing the different strata in connection with the question
+of water supply and the conditions of human life.[17] A complete
+geographical study would have to follow the geological description in
+detail. In places--on the eastern edge of the Sierra de los Llanos--the
+fine modern clays are in contact with the granites of the hills and
+form above them a thick bed that is rich in fresh water. In other
+places--south-westward of the Sierra de la Famatina, as far as the
+Bermejo--the outcrop is of red sandstone only. The tablelands of
+Talampaya and Ischigualasta, which are cut across by the gorges of the
+tributaries of the Bermejo, form one of the most conspicuously desert
+regions in the whole Republic. Wherever the gypsiferous marls of the
+Calchaqui are near the surface, the springs are saline. The undulations
+of the impermeable rocky substratum bring to light the water that
+gathers in the alluvial beds. Thus the streams which come down the
+Famatina range in the west disappear in the alluvial beds on the fringe
+of the Sierra, but re-appear presently in the oasis of Pagancillo.
+
+     [16] This series, stretching from the Permian to the Tertiary,
+     also includes, especially in the region of the sub-Andean
+     chains, on the fringe of the Chaco, a number of marine strata
+     (see Bonarelli, _Las sierras subandinas del Alto y Aguaragüe y
+     los yacimientos petroliferos del distrito minero de Tartagal_
+     "Ann. Min. Agric.," Seccion Geologia, Mineralogia, y Mineria,
+     viii. No. 4: Buenos Aires, 1913).
+
+     [17] G. Bodenbender, _Parte meridional de la Provincia de la
+     Rioja y regiones limitrofes_ (Ann. Min. Agric., Seccion Geol.,
+     Minerol., y Mineria, vii. No. 3: Buenos Aires, 1912).
+
+Hence the _valles_ are by no means wholly productive. The oases
+represent only a limited portion of them. It would be impossible to
+imagine a more striking contrast than that of the freshness and life
+of the oases compared with the surrounding desert. Screens of poplars
+shelter them from the _zonda_. The water runs along trenches paved
+with round pebbles under the spreading vines, at the foot of which, to
+economize water and space, lucerne is sown. Each garden feeds a family.
+Near the raw-brick houses there are large earthenware vessels, as tall
+as a man, in which the corn is kept. The hammering of the cooper fills
+the air.
+
+In places the oasis is watered by a stream. In those cases there is
+on each side of the bed of the stream a narrow fringe, a continuous
+ribbon, of smiling gardens, which hide the path. Above and below Santa
+Maria a trench is opened every mile in the wet sands of the Rio. The
+water rises in it and fills it, and is directed by it toward one of the
+banks, where it is jealously collected and distributed. The water which
+flows from the irrigated fields and returns to the river, as well as
+that which the porous side of the trench has permitted to escape, goes
+to fill another trench and supply other fields farther on. The region
+of Los Sauces, in the northern part of the province of La Rioja, to the
+south of Tinogasta, shows a different type of irrigated cultivation,
+on account of the sandy course of the stream. The fields follow the
+feeding artery for about fifty miles. It is bled at the beginning of
+each bend, the waters remaining underground like hidden wealth.
+
+In most cases however, the _valle_ has no running water. What
+reaches it from the lateral _quebradas_ is lost in the alluvial beds
+accumulated at the point where the _quebrada_ enters the _valle_. In
+order to make use of it the cultivated areas are grouped on the cone of
+deposition; at least, that is the position in the great majority of the
+oases. A _costa_ is a line of separate oases with their backs to the
+same slope. When the _valle_ is narrow, the _costas_ on either side of
+the sterile depression face each other, like two parallel roads. The
+water of the _quebrada_ is never sufficiently abundant to irrigate the
+whole of the cone of the torrent. In order to create an oasis there,
+they have selected the most easily cultivable zone, which is usually
+the foot of the cone, where the deposits are finer and more fertile,
+retain the moisture better, and require less watering. The summit of
+the cone is composed of coarse stones, the first to be dropped by the
+torrent as it loses its strength. These are bad lands, where the water
+is wasted.
+
+To meet the occasional drought and the danger of sudden floods in
+this fluvial zone, which is entirely the domain of the torrent, there
+is need of constant care and ingenuity. At Colalao del Valle the
+cultivated fields are five or six miles from the summit of the cone.
+After a number of successive years of drought the stream of water
+which reached them on the flanks of the cone lost half its volume and
+threatened to disappear altogether. They then built a stone dam at the
+outlet of the _quebrada_, and the water accumulates behind this during
+the night. At three o'clock in the morning the sluices are opened, and
+the stream, having thus nursed its strength, reaches the fields down
+below about seven o'clock. Then the sun and the wind rise, just at the
+time when the reservoir is empty, and by the middle of the day the
+stream ceases, and irrigation is suspended. At Andalgala, above which
+rises the glittering crest of Aconcagua, the waters of the melting
+snows which feed the torrent have not time to be "decanted" before they
+reach the valley. They come down laden with mud and sand. Above the
+points where the irrigation-channels begin the people make, in the bed
+of the torrent, a dam of branches of trees which filters the water. It
+is swept away by every flood that occurs, and is at once restored.
+
+What is even more admirable than the ingenuity of the _vallista_
+in utilizing the natural resources is the minute detail of the
+water-rights. It seems as if the _vallista_ is even more cunning in
+protecting himself from his neighbour than in dealing with nature. The
+water-customs of these Andean valleys are worth an extensive study.
+The water does not belong to the State, and is not used by concession
+from the State. It is private property. The owner uses or abuses it as
+he pleases on the lands which he has selected. A man may be poor in
+land and rich in water, which he accordingly sells. There are frequent
+business deals in regard to water-rights, just as in regard to the soil
+and its produce. Appropriation of water often precedes appropriation
+of the soil. Many oases are communities where the non-irrigated lands
+are common to the whole population, and the irrigated fields alone are
+divided.
+
+A primary group of customs regulates the relations to each other of
+communities higher up and lower down the same stream. At Catamarca the
+water of a certain stream is shared by Piedra Blanca and Valle Viejo.
+Piedra Blanca, in the upper part, absorbs the whole of the water for a
+week, but it must then suspend its irrigation during the following week
+and permit the stream to flow down the valley. The same evening, or the
+next morning, according to the season, the water reaches Valle Viejo.
+It is a custom known as the _quiebras_ in the southern valleys of the
+desert side of Peru, where it allows different stages of cultivation
+to proceed simultaneously. In the same way, above Santa Maria, where
+several communities (S. José, Loro Huasi, etc.) receive the water
+brought by a channel from the Rio Santa Maria, each of them has a
+right to the full output of the channel for three days. At the end of
+that time the sluices are closed, and the water passes to the next
+community. There is grave trouble for any oasis that has its rights
+infringed or does not compel the communities higher up to respect them.
+
+Amongst individuals the water-right is generally defined by a
+measurement of time, a certain number of days or hours--during which
+the owner controls the entire flow of the spring or stream. It is
+only when the water is more abundant that we find another method of
+fixing the right of water, defining it by bulk. The water is then said
+to be _demarcada_, as the unit is customarily the _marco_, or the
+volume which passes through an opening about twenty-one centimetres
+in width and eight in height. The _marco_ has infinite divisions, and
+each subdivision has its own name--the _naranja_, the _bombilla_, the
+_paja_, and so on.
+
+As all the water is utilized, and the rights of all are equally
+entitled to respect, the division of the water into _marcos_
+(_demarcacion_) is in practice merely a proportional distribution of
+it amongst those who have rights to it. If the sum total of rights
+expressed in _marcos_ represents something like the total flow of
+a stream during an average season, in the time of low water it is
+disproportionate, and the water no longer flows to the tops of the
+_marcos_. In other words, the quantity of water granted to each rises
+or falls with the rise or fall of the stream itself.
+
+Theoretically, when the water-right is defined in _marcos_ it is
+permanent. Often, however, it is impossible to grant each proprietor
+a permanent title to the water. Even in oases where the water is
+"demarked," the _turno_--that is to say, the turn of the proprietors to
+have water--which is the absolute rule in the poorest oases, reappears
+during the months of scarcity, in winter, when there is no rain,
+and at the beginning of summer. It reappears also when the right of
+ownership has been broken up into fractions that are too small, and it
+is better to grant a larger volume of water for several hours instead
+of a constant stream of water which would be too scanty for profitable
+use. At Andalgala the "turn" is sometimes obligatory, and regulated by
+custom, in channels where the irrigating proprietors are too numerous;
+at other times optional, and settled by convention amongst the owners
+themselves, when water is scanty. At Valle Viejo (Catamarca), when
+the water runs low, they set up the _mita_; that is to say, the
+sluices remain closed in each channel during four days out of eight,
+each proprietor in turn giving up his right to a permanent supply in
+order to have a double allowance when his turn comes. The _turno_ is,
+therefore, a general practice. Everywhere we can see the farmers on
+the watch along the _acequias_, waiting for the moment to close their
+neighbour's trench with a pellet of clay and to let the stream into
+their own trenches with a blow of the spade.
+
+The most minute precautions are taken in order that no one shall suffer
+injury. As the irrigation is always slower and less thorough during the
+night, they take it in turns to have the day and the night alternately.
+When the community receives the water from another community higher up
+the stream, the succession of "turns" amongst its members differs every
+time. The water comes down charged with sediment, pushing in front of
+it a mass of liquid mud, as the flush of a torrent does. It takes some
+time for the stream to become regular and clear. The first irrigator
+therefore exercises his right under unfavourable conditions. In the
+local phraseology the _volcada de agua_ is not as good as the _corte
+de agua_, which means the irrigation that begins when the _acequia_ is
+full.
+
+Irrigation entails the services of quite a staff of arbitrators and
+administrators. The head men, who have jurisdiction of a higher order
+and secure the accurate distribution of the water amongst a number
+of channels or communities, are now, as a rule, officials of the
+administration, appointed by the provincial authorities (_juez de
+Irrigacion_ at Catamarca, _juez de rio_ at Rosario de Lerma). But the
+_juez de agua_ of each community or each channel is a syndic elected by
+the interested parties. At Santa Maria the _juez de agua_ is elected
+by the owners and confirmed by the Government. He controls irrigation
+throughout the department, settling all differences, submitting plans
+of work to a meeting of the owners, and assigning their respective
+charges in labour and contributions according to their rights.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+This land of customs and traditions is also a land of lively movement.
+The briskness of the traffic is primarily due to continuous exchange
+between the various zones of the mountainous district. This large
+trade, so scattered that the railways could not dream of satisfying
+its needs, is carried, in the old fashion, on the backs of mules. The
+lively aspect of the roads between the tableland and the lower valleys
+of the region, the brisk interchange of goods between zones with
+different climates, is one of the common features of life on the Andes.
+
+But the classic spectacle presents a different aspect in different
+latitudes. In Peru, and in southern Bolivia, the higher valleys--Jauja,
+Cuzco, the Pampas of Cochabamba and Sucre--have centres of dense
+population and agricultural wealth at a height of between 9,000
+and 11,000 feet. They raise cereals, and receive from the tropical
+districts (_montañas and yungas_) sugar, cane-brandy, cocoa, and
+coca-leaf. The valleys of the Argentine Andes are usually at a less
+elevation than the _yungas_ and _montañas_ of Bolivia and Peru. But
+they are not hot districts, and have not tropical vegetation. Frost
+prevents the harvesting of sugar-cane at Salta, at a height of 4,000
+feet. As to the coca-leaf, which is not as much used here as in the
+north, the Argentine _valles_ do not send it to the tableland, but
+receive it indirectly from there, through the southern _yungas_. In
+default of tropical crops, the Argentine _valles_ sow wheat and maize,
+which they sell to the Indians of the cold districts of the Puna for
+wool and salt.
+
+These commercial currents are of very ancient, probably pre-Columbian
+origin. Boman has discovered ears of maize in the prehistoric tombs
+of the Puna de Atacama.[18] The Puna, at a height of 11,000 to 12,000
+feet, is permanently inhabited, unlike the high valleys of the
+Cordillera de San Juan, which are occupied only during the summer
+season by Chilean shepherds. It is primarily a pastoral and mining
+region, but it has some tilled land, at more than 6,700 feet above the
+level of the valleys. The higher limit of annual cultivation in the
+cold districts, which is fixed by the summer temperature, does not fall
+in the same way as that of arboriculture in warm districts, because
+trees suffer from the winter frosts. The Indians of Cochinoca and
+Susques sow lucerne and barley for fodder, and the _quinoa_ and potato
+for food. Transport between the Puna and the _valles_ is carried on
+by the inhabitants of the Puna, and is not shared by the _vallistas_.
+They are especially active in the north, in the province of Jujuy.
+Belmar shows how important the sales of the Puna woollen goods were by
+the middle of the nineteenth century.[19] These fabrics were used by
+the mill-owners of the Rio Grande de Jujuy to pay for the work of the
+Indians of the Chaco, whom they employed in the sugar-cane harvest.
+The competition of the manufactured products of Europe now menaces the
+domestic weaving of the Puna, just as the competition of the flour of
+the Pampa menaces the cultivation of cereals in the _valles_.
+
+     [18] Eric Boman, _Antiquités de la région andine de la
+     République Argentine et de la Puna de Atacama: Mission scient.
+     G. de Créqui-Montfort et E. Sénéchal de la Grange_ (Paris,
+     vols. i. and ii. 1908).
+
+     [19] Belmar, _Les provinces de la Fédération argentine_
+     (Paris, 1856).
+
+Besides this traffic of local interest the _valles_ serve for a traffic
+of a higher, almost a continental character. It seems certain that
+during the pre-Spanish period the road from the Peruvian tablelands to
+Chile avoided the inhospitable desert of the Puna de Atacama, entered
+the region of the _valles_ to the east, and crossed the Cordillera in
+the latitude of Tinogasta, or even a little further south. That was
+the route of the armies of the Incas, which in the fourteenth century
+came as far as Maule. The pre-Columbian roads, of which Boman has
+found traces between the Valle de Lerma and the Valle Calchaqui, seem
+to correspond with this direction of traffic. By this route the long
+_quechua_ passed amongst the Diaguites populations. The conquerors
+followed the Indian guides. Almagro, in going from Peru to Chile,
+passed through the _valles_ at the eastern edge of the Andes.
+
+Later the _valles_ were incorporated in the many variations of the
+historic high road, one of the first and busiest of Spanish America,
+which goes from the Rio de la Plata to Lima: a route both for armies
+and merchants. The plan proposed by Matienzo (1566) to make a road
+from the silver mines to the estuary of the Paraná, through the Valle
+de Calchaqui, seems to have been intended merely to improve a line of
+communication that had already been in use. Buenos Aires for a long
+time received European goods by this road. About 1880 the Salta route
+recovered for a time its continental importance, during the Pacific
+War and the occupation by the Chileans of the maritime provinces of
+Bolivia.[20] At that time it was the only outlet for Bolivia.
+
+     [20] See Brackebusch, "Viaje a la provincia de Jujuy," _Bol.
+     Instit. Geog. Argent._, iv. 1883, pp. 9-17.
+
+  [Illustration: VEGETATION OF THE INTERIOR VALLEYS (ANDES OF THE
+  NORTH-WEST).
+  _Descent of Tafi del Valle, going to Santa Maria. The ravine is
+  excavated out of the mass of coarse deposits which forms a fringe
+  between the mountain and the valley. On this permeable soil the
+  vegetation is particularly thin. Cactus._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: FOREST ON THE OUTER SLOPE OF THE SUB-ANDEAN CHAINS.
+  _Sierra de San Antonio (Salta province). Perennial foliage, creepers,
+  ferns._                                     Photograph by the Author.
+   PLATE IV.                                            To face p. 48.]
+
+But of all the forms of traffic that have enlivened the _valles_ the
+most constant, and the form that has had the most profound influence on
+their existence, is the movement of cattle. The cattle trade has been
+of fundamental importance in the history of the colonization of South
+America. Animals were the only goods that could be conveyed any great
+distance. At the beginning of the conquest the productive regions of
+the continent, which supplied the export trade with Europe, were very
+limited in extent. Pastoral colonization began at once, and spread
+over a very wide area. Herds of oxen, for meat or draught, horses, and
+mules, made their way toward the centres of consumption: towns like
+Lima, Bahía, and Rio, the Peruvian mines, and the sugar-refineries of
+the north-east of Brazil, and later toward the _yerbales_ of Paraguay
+or the seaports of the Caribs and the Rio Grande do Sul, where the
+jerked meat industry developed. The cattle routes converge upon these
+centres.
+
+The export of cattle and mules from the Argentine plains to Peru was
+fully established by the close of the sixteenth century, and it seems
+to have continued without interruption ever since. Upper Peru is,
+however, not the only market on which the Argentine breeders lived. At
+the end of the eighteenth century D'Azara demanded that they should
+permit the sale of horses and mules to Brazil, for use in the mines.
+The cattle traffic with Portuguese territory had not then assumed
+the form of a regular commerce, and the Brazilians made raids on the
+north-eastern provinces for the animals they needed--60,000 a year,
+D'Azara says.[21] The export of cattle to Paraguay and Misiones was, on
+the other hand, of substantial economic importance in the eighteenth
+century. Before the Revolution, Rengger says, as many as 200,000 head
+of cattle passed yearly from Corrientes to Paraguay, which paid for
+them in _maté_ and tobacco.[22] This trade was kept up intermittently
+in the nineteenth century. The exports from Corrientes were especially
+important at the time when the Paraguay stock was reconstituted after
+the war (40,000 head of cattle in 1875).
+
+     [21] _Memorias sobre el estado rural del rio de la Plata en
+     1801, Escritos postumos de D. Felix de Azara_, published by D.
+     Augustin de Azara (Madrid, 1847).
+
+     [22] A. Rengger, _Reise nach Paraguay in den Jahren 1818 bis
+     1826_ (Aarau, 1835).
+
+Finally, the Chilean market was opened to the Argentine breeders about
+the middle of the nineteenth century. In the time of Martin de Moussy
+the convoys of cattle to Chile were so numerous that the lucerne fields
+of both slopes were stripped bare at the very beginning of the season;
+and they were rented at a high price.[23] Not only the mining provinces
+of the north, but central Chile also, bought Argentine cattle. The
+opening of the Chilean market was followed by a remarkable expansive
+movement in the pastoral colonization of Argentine territory. We can
+follow the progress of this not only in Martin de Moussy's book, but in
+all contemporary works of travel. Its chief theatres are the provinces
+of San Luis and of Santiago del Estero, north of the Rio Dulce, where
+Hutchinson, in particular, describes the activity of the ranches.[24]
+Finally, after the Pacific War (1880) the nitrate district, taken from
+Bolivia and Peru by Chile, received a great influx of population, and
+works sprang up in the midst of the desert. The nitrate fields, wholly
+barren and doomed, under their shroud of grey dust, to an unalterable
+desolation, became at once one of the chief centres of consumption for
+Argentine stock.
+
+     [23] The fattening of cattle for Chile was no longer done in
+     the _invernadas_ of Mendoza at the beginning of the nineteenth
+     century. See an article on Mendoza in the _Telegrafo
+     Mercantil_, January 31, 1802, which tells of the development
+     of ranches on the Tunuyan. Mendoza and San Juan were their
+     only markets, and they did not sell cattle to Chile.
+
+     [24] T. J. Hutchinson, _Buenos Aires y otras Provincias
+     argentinas_ (translated by L. Varela, Buenos Aires, 1866).
+
+It is difficult to give accurate details of the volume of trade in
+cattle in colonial Argentine. However, the facts given by travellers
+(though they often merely borrow from each other) suffice to show how
+important this traffic was in the life of the country and the extent
+of the zone that was occupied with it. As early as the middle of the
+seventeenth century Córdoba seems to have exported to Peru as many as
+28,000 to 30,000 mules annually.[25] At the close of the eighteenth
+century, we read in D'Azara, 60,000 mules were exported; and Helms
+gives the same figure.[26] The mules were bought young by Córdoba
+dealers at Buenos Aires, Santa Fé, and Corrientes, reared at Córdoba,
+and then sent to Salta, where they were sold in their third year to
+mule-dealers from Peru.
+
+     [25] Azcarate de Biscay, quoted in H. Gibson, _La evolucion
+     ganadera_ in _Censo agropecuario nacional_, Buenos Aires, 1909,
+     vol. iii.
+
+     [26] A. Z. Helms, _Voyage dans l'Amérique méridionale_ (Paris,
+     1812). The journey was in 1788.
+
+An article in the _Telegrafo Mercantil_ of September 9, 1801
+(reproduced in the _Junta de Historia y Numismatica americana_, Buenos
+Aires, 2 vols., 1914-5) contains very valuable information in regard to
+the mule trade. From 1760 to 1780 Salta sent between 40,000 and 50,000
+mules annually to Peru. At Salta they were worth ten piastres each
+before they were broken in, and thirteen or fourteen afterwards; and
+they were sold at the age of four years. The _arrieros_, who conveyed
+European goods and home products (_ropas y frutas_), bought a large
+number of them. The _Telegrafo_ complains that this trade has been
+gradually transformed. The mules now came from Santa Fé and Córdoba
+to Salta two years old, and after the _invernada_ they were still,
+at fair time, barely three years old. They suffered much during the
+long journey to Lima, and the losses of the caravans were heavy. They
+could not be loaded for the journey, and, as the _arrieros_ could no
+longer secure adult and strong animals, the freight to the tableland
+had risen, to the serious loss of merchants on the coast. The reply
+of a Potosi mule-dealer (December 13th) clearly shows that the last
+years of the eighteenth century had been marked by increasingly heavy
+demands from Peru for Argentine mules. In order to meet these demands
+the Córdoba breeders had developed production. The buyers, coming to
+Salta from Lima, Cuzco, and Arequipa, took, without discussion or
+examination, the batches that were offered them. The correspondent of
+the _Telegrafo_ complains bitterly of these _caballeritos_ who came
+from Peru with their 100,000 piastres, and raised the price at Salta,
+alleging that their instructions were to get mules at any cost.
+
+Robertson gave in 1813 the recollections of a mule-dealer as to the
+convoys of mules between Santa Fé and the Andes, which had already
+ceased at that time. Each convoy or _arreo_ comprised 5,000 to 6,000
+mules. They came from Entre Rios, or even from the Uruguay, whence they
+were brought, after crossing the Paraná, to the Santa Fé ranches. The
+Santa Fé breeders owned the best part of the land on the left bank of
+the river. The expedition also included thirty waggons of goods and
+500 draught-oxen; and fifty _gauchos_ were in charge of it. The main
+expense was then tobacco and _yerba_. One feature of this mule traffic
+that is emphasized in all the descriptions is that it was divided
+into two stages, with an interval between them, for breaking in. As
+we have already learned from Azcarate, Córdoba, Santa Fé, Santiago,
+and Salta kept the mules for two or three years before sending them to
+Peru. Córdoba and Santiago del Estero seem to have been important in
+connection with the industry of breaking in the mules.
+
+The sending of cattle on foot to Bolivia and Chile is now only a
+subsidiary element of the national economy, but it is not yet quite
+extinct, as the table on p. 53 shows.
+
+Whatever its point of departure, the traffic in stock always passed
+through the _valles_. Transport of cattle was particularly difficult
+in the Argentine Andes. The chief obstacles were not the elevation of
+the passes or the steepness of the roads, but the scarcity of water and
+the extent of the _travesias_, which were equally poor in pasturage
+and water, and had to be crossed rapidly by doubling the stages. The
+difficulties of the journey were very profitable to the oases that
+lay along the route. The cattle-driver could not dispense with the
+hospitality of the _vallista_ or dispute the price he cared to charge.
+
+  [Illustration: MAP II.--IRRIGATION IN THE WEST AND NORTH-WEST OF
+  ARGENTINA.
+  _Extent of the irrigations in the north (zone of the great summer
+  rains), and the south (glacier zone) The historic industry of fattening
+  cattle in the invernadas and the export of cattle to the Andean regions
+  only survive in part. On the other hand large modern industries have
+  developed at Tucumán, Jujuy (sugar-cane), Mendoza, and San Juan
+  (vines), and they supply the Buenos Aires market._
+                                                          To face p. 52.]
+
+The length of the journey and the difficulty of keeping the animals
+in good condition in the poor pastures of the breeding districts
+made it advisable to stay longer in the oases. There thus arose
+lucerne-farms--the _invernadas_--to receive and fatten the cattle which
+passed through. Lucerne is the characteristic and most profitable
+produce of the _valles_. It is grown wherever there is an assured
+supply of water, and is invariably found in the upper section of the
+system of irrigation-channels; the cereals are sown lower down, and
+are the first to suffer from drought. In the _quebradas_, where space
+is more limited, the lucerne-fields cover the entire oasis. Every
+cattle track has a corresponding line of _invernadas_, which is often
+completed on the opposite slope by a last group of lucerne-farms where
+the beasts recover from the journey before they are sold and dispersed.
+
+                        1910    1911    1912    1913    1914
+  Export of Cattle:
+    To Bolivia         3,600   6,600   6,200   6,300   4,800
+    To Chile          61,200  87,500  68,400  58,000  28,300
+  Export of Mules:
+    To Bolivia         2,700   4,600   7,900   8,300   2,500
+    To Chile           2,300   3,200   5,000   2,600   3,500
+  Export of Asses:
+    To Bolivia         9,000  10,500  15,000  15,600  14,400[27]
+
+     [27] Imperfect statistics given by Poncel for the province
+     of Catamarca give us some idea of the respective shares of
+     the various Andean districts in the export of Argentine
+     cattle about the middle of the nineteenth century. In 1855
+     the province of Catamarca sold 2,700 head of cattle (1,300 to
+     Chile, 200 to Bolivia, 600 to San Juan and Mendoza), 3,200
+     mules (2,500 to Bolivia 600 to Salta--which also were for
+     Bolivia), and 1,200 asses (700 to Bolivia and 400 to Salta).
+
+Besides the official routes there have for a long time been clandestine
+tracks, through more difficult ravines, by which stolen cattle were
+conveyed with impunity. Guachipas was the gathering place for cattle
+of suspicious origin, and, to avoid being seen in Salta and Jujuy,
+they passed through the Quebrada del Toro or the Quebrada d'Escoïpe.
+When Brackebusch visited Guachipas in 1880 the inhabitants still kept
+something of their reputation as smugglers.
+
+A map of the cattle-tracks which are still used in the Argentine Andes
+is a complicated network in which we can trace two main directions,
+crossing each other at right angles. One set of tracks leads to the
+west, toward the Pacific coast, the other set to the north, toward the
+Bolivian tableland.
+
+The cattle traffic is now restricted to Chile. It survives at San Juan,
+Jachal, Vinchina, and Tinogasta. The cattle descend to Chile about
+Coquimbo, Vallenar, or Copiapo. But the trade is now busiest in the
+region of the saltpetre-beds. The roads lead from the Valle de Lerma
+and the Valle Calchaqui toward the tableland by the Quebrada del Toro
+or the Quebrada de Cachi or de Luracatao, crossing lofty passes at the
+foot of the Nevados of Acay and Cachi, and reuniting between Santa
+Rosa de Pastos Grandes and San Antonio de los Cobres to cross the
+Puna de Atacama. _Vegas_ (pastures) and fresh water are scarce here.
+The track passes interminably by depressions covered with a carpet of
+glistening salt, dominated by volcanic crests. It is used in every
+season of the year, but in winter the caravans are exposed to the cold
+wind laden with snow, the _viento blanco_. San Pedro is the port in
+this desolation. Here there are, on the flanks of the enormous cone of
+Licancour, fields of lucerne and groups of figs and _algarrobas_. The
+cattle are left there for a few days' rest, to prepare them for the
+last stage, the Calama oasis on the Antofágasta railway.
+
+The centre of this trade is Salta, or, rather, the little village of
+Rosario de Lerma, nine miles south of it, where most of the caravans
+are formed. The saltpetre works make yearly contracts in advance with
+the Rosario dealers, fixing the number and price of the beasts to be
+delivered at Calama. The cost of transport includes, besides the pay
+of the cattle-drivers--eighty to a hundred piastres a journey--the
+shoeing of the mules, the rent of pasture at San Pedro, and the value
+of the beasts which die on the way. In 1913 the number of animals
+exported by this route was put at 30,000. The saltpetre works buy also
+draught-mules for their waggons. Draught-mules must be heavy, and only
+animals over five feet in height are sent to Chile. Bolivia is now the
+only market for the smaller mules and for asses.
+
+The trade in mules in its traditional form and the industry of
+breaking-in still flourish at Santa Maria. The mule-dealer's business
+is very different from that of the cattle-dealer. The mules are
+so tough that it is possible to send them by roads which would be
+unsuitable for cattle.[28] The journeys are longer, and the contracts
+are less settled in advance. Moreover, breaking-in is a delicate
+operation that requires experience. The survival of the mule-trade at
+Santa Maria is an example of the maintenance of an industry owing to
+the presence of skilled handicraft. The men who break in the mules at
+Santa Maria have a remarkable caste-pride. Their first job is to go to
+Santiago or Córdoba to buy the mules. They bring them back to Santa
+Maria by way of Catamarca or the valley of Tafi. At Santa Maria the
+mules are broken in, then taken to the lucerne-farms at Poma to be put
+into good condition. There they remain in pasture for several months;
+and at length, when the season is suitable, the little band of Santa
+Marieños gathers together and, driving the now docile beasts in front
+of them, and putting no loads on them in order that they may keep
+fresh, make for the fair at Huari in Bolivia, or even as far as Sucre.
+There they sell at a hundred and fifty piastres each the animals which
+they had bought for half that price before being broken in. The number
+of mules hibernating at Poma is about 4,000.
+
+     [28] For instance, herds of mules are taken from Abrapampa, on
+     the line of the Quiaca, to the saltpetre mines of Antofágasta,
+     whereas every effort to convey cattle by this route has failed.
+
+The business done in the fairs of the southern Andes is very varied in
+character, but their main function was always as markets for stock.[29]
+They are held in March or April, when the rains do not fall, but
+pasture is still abundant and travelling easy. The fair at Vilque,
+north of Lake Titicaca, is no longer visited by dealers in Argentine
+mules. The Salta fair which was held at Sumala, near Rosario de Lerma,
+has ceased to be important; at the close of the eighteenth century
+it was the chief centre of the mule-trade. The fair held at Jujuy is
+still, like the annual pilgrimage to the Virgen del Valle de Catamarca,
+one of the great dates in the life of the Andes. In the eighteenth
+century it was mainly a cattle-fair, but it is now frequented only by
+mule-dealers. The development of the railways is gradually causing it
+to decline.
+
+     [29] There is an interesting study of fairs on the elevated
+     tableland by G. M. Wrigley, "Fairs of the Central Andes," in
+     the _Geographical Review_ (New York), vii. 1919, pp. 65-80.
+
+The cattle-trade has long been really a form of barter. The
+Argentinians who took their herds to Peru brought back with them
+European goods that had come via Panama and the Pacific. At Jachal
+direct communication with Argentina is still so costly that they
+prefer to get many manufactured articles from Chile. Everywhere
+else, however, the sellers of stock take payment in cash. The Santa
+Marieños bring back from Bolivia only a few bags of coca and, for
+chief payment, letters of exchange, which they cash in the Salta banks
+when they return. Their gains swell the profits of the merchants of
+Salta, Catamarca, and Jujuy, who get their goods at the large importing
+houses of Buenos Aires. It is the first form under which the influence
+of Buenos Aires reaches the _valles_. It gets their custom before it
+begins to absorb their produce.
+
+A large proportion of the stock sent to Chile now comes from the
+Andean valleys themselves. The most arid and desolate regions round
+the oases breed only goats and asses; but as soon as the soil improves
+sufficiently to give a better vegetation, it is found good enough for
+a hardy and tenacious breed of horned cattle. The land is divided
+into large ranches, and the owners have also lucerne-farms, either
+individually or communally, the tillers of the oasis each putting in
+their beasts, which wander about in small groups without control.
+During the summer they go of their own accord up to the _cerros_,
+where the rains have brought out the vegetation, and drinking-water is
+found in the ravines for several months. In the winter they return to
+the valley, within range of the reservoirs and permanent _acequias_.
+Bodenbender gives us a few details about movements from place to place
+owing to such differences, as they are in vogue in the western part of
+the province of La Rioja, in the district of Guandacol. There the herds
+are taken during years of drought up to the mountains of the west.
+
+Apart from the Andes, the zone which used to feel the influence of
+the trans-Andean markets has been steadily reduced in the last forty
+years. At one time it comprised the whole range of the scrub, and
+even overflowed upon the prairie region, but it is now limited to the
+nearest cantons to the fringe of the mountains. Over the greater part
+of the _monte_ the cattle are now sent in other directions; either to
+Buenos Aires or to other Argentine towns with a growing population,
+such as Córdoba, Mendoza, and Tucumán.
+
+The rupture of commercial relations with Chile has, however, not made
+any notable change in the pastoral industry. Pastoral life in the scrub
+has very uniform characters. It is chiefly dominated by the question of
+water-supply. Natural open water is scarce, and the cattle can drink
+only where man's industry makes it possible. The problem of taming the
+beasts, which the breeders on the prairies have not always been able to
+solve, is simplified by the scarcity of water. There is no need to hunt
+the cattle, no periodical _rodeos_, when the herd is drawn in every
+night by thirst to the water-supply. Advance in colonization means the
+provision of wells and reservoirs (_baldes_ and _represas_), without
+which the breeders cannot occupy the plain permanently, but have to
+fall back during the dry season upon the few streams that cross it.
+The word _balderia_ means districts where the presence of a sheet of
+water not far underground has enabled them to form a system of wells.
+The best known is the Balderia Puntana, in the northern part of the
+province of San Luis.
+
+Of the regions apart from the Andes which still depend on the Chilean
+market it will be enough to mention two, which may be regarded as
+typical. The first is the Chaco Salteño, on the eastern slope of the
+Sierra de la Lumbrera. The Lumbrera is a lofty anticlinal range of
+limestones and red sandstones, which pass to the west underneath the
+clay of the Chaco plain, and separate it from the great longitudinal
+sub-Andean corridor, which was followed by the old road, and is now
+followed by the railway from Tucumán to Jujuy. Colonization began
+beyond the Lumbrera in the eighteenth century by passing round it, from
+south to north, by the valleys of the Juramento and the San Francisco
+(which joins the Bermejo). The ranches, which employed the Indians--the
+occupation of the Chaco at this point being pacific--bordered the
+Bermejo and the Rio del Valle, which flows from the Lumbrera range
+toward the former bed of the Bermejo, and washes the foot of the range
+at the edge of the plain.
+
+  [Illustration: DRY SCRUB OF THE CENTRAL CHACO.
+  _On the Añatuya line (province of Santiago del Estero). Cactus. The
+  leafless tree in the foreground is a red_ quebracho. _The leafy trees
+  are white_ quebrachos.
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: MARSHES (ESTEROS OR CAÑADAS) OF THE EASTERN CHACO.
+  _On the Tartagal line (province of Santa Fé). It is by means of these
+  marshes, which form in the forest, that this part of the plain is
+  drained._
+                                               Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE V.                                               To face p. 58.]
+
+The cattle live in the scrub during the summer, when the rains have
+brought out the grasses. In winter they go up to the moist forest, with
+perennial vegetation, which covers the flanks of the range.[30] The
+comparative abundance of water lessens the labour of the breeders and,
+at the same time, the discipline of the herds. When the time comes,
+the whole ranch is mobilized for the purpose of collecting the adult
+cattle and making a convoy of them. Horsemen, with the double leather
+apron which hangs at the saddle-bow to protect them from the branches,
+ride up the range with their dogs and plunge into the scrub. The savage
+beasts are rounded up and held at bay. The procession is formed, and
+sets out, either by the rugged paths across the forest and mountain or
+along the easier tracks over the plain to Embarcación or Lumbreras,
+where they reach the railway. If buyers from the sugar-refineries at
+Jujuy do not take them, the cattle are put into trucks and sent to
+the Salta market, where there are sales all the year round. At Salta
+the beasts are fattened on the lucerne-farms before crossing the
+Cordillera. There is hardly any tillage, either because the winter
+drought makes the result dubious or because the breeders are not good
+at agricultural work.
+
+     [30] On Aconcagua also the moist forest serves as winter
+     pasture for the cattle from the ranches.
+
+The Sierra de los Llanos in La Rioja is another centre for extensive
+breeding. From the railway, which follows the range at some distance,
+between Chañar and Puntá de los Llanos, before it reaches La Rioja,
+no one would have the least suspicion of the importance and life of
+the region. It is, nevertheless, one of the main foci of Argentine
+history. It has proved a cradle of population and wealth. It was there
+that Quiroga and, later, the strange adventurer who was known by the
+nickname of the "Chacho" gathered the strength that enabled them to
+dominate part of Argentina. Colonization is even older here than in
+the Chaco Salteño. It occupied two distinct periods, separated by a
+long interval. At first it advanced from north to south, passing round
+the foot of the Sierra. It is marked by a line of springs, poor but
+permanent, the waters of which are absorbed as soon as they flow down
+to the porous alluvial beds of the plain. They appear much in the names
+of the district--_agüitas_, _aguaditas_, and so on, abound. The road
+from La Rioja to San Luis passed these springs, and some population
+grew up about them. Thus the two sides of the range--the _costa baja_
+in the east and the _costa alta_ in the west--became inhabited. The
+estate of Facundo is one of these _aguaditas_ of the _costa alta_.
+
+The two _costas_ form the historic territory of the Llanos. It was from
+there that colonization swarmed over the plain long afterwards. This
+expansive movement began about 1850; that is to say, at a time when the
+breeders enjoyed comparative peace and security, and especially when
+the _invernadas_ of San Juan and Mendoza were developed, together with
+the export of cattle to the agricultural provinces of Chile. The price
+of stock rose, and the unoccupied land became of value. The occupation
+and exploitation of the plain was the work of the last two generations.
+They pushed on to the very edge of the salt lakes, leaving no vacant
+space. The _travesias_ which surrounded the narrow inhabited zone of
+the _costas_ were filled with life. The Sierra and its two _costas_
+are no longer an oasis in the desert, as they were in the time of
+Sarmiento; though they still differ from the remainder of the pastoral
+zone in the density of their population and the variety of their
+resources.
+
+The early date of the colonization may be traced in a special system
+of tenure, though this is also found in parts of the provinces of
+Catamarca and Santiago del Estero. On the plain the right of ownership
+was obtained in the nineteenth century by purchase or by concessions
+of public lands which belonged to the provincial Government. They were
+allotted in very large estates, and these, intact or broken up, are
+the actual ranches. In approaching the foot of the range one passes
+estates in the _mercedes_. The name indicates concessions that date
+from the colonial epoch, and they are, in all parts of South America
+that were early colonized, the source of land-ownership. But what is
+peculiar to the _mercedes_ of the Llanos is that they have never been
+divided amongst the heirs of the first owner.[31] Sometimes the number
+of co-proprietors is small. They are conscious of their relationship
+to each other and know the value of the rights of each. The _merced_
+is in that case only an undivided property held in common. Sometimes,
+however, the numbers of _comuneros_ is so great that they have lost
+count of the exact share of the _merced_ which belongs to each of them.
+The _merced_ feeds a whole population, legitimate heirs and usurpers
+mixed together. In these cases it is a real communal property, and one
+might compare it, in spite of its different origin, with the Indian
+communities which exist in Argentine territory as well as that of most
+of the other Andean States.
+
+     [31] The title of the _merced_ often shows clearly the
+     attraction which the springs at the foot of the Sierra had for
+     colonists. The land of the _merced_ of Ulapes is defined thus:
+     "The spring and the land within two leagues of it in every
+     direction." The spring is the centre. There its protecting
+     deities live.
+
+The economy of the Llanos is less simple than that of the Chaco
+Salteño. There is agriculture as well as breeding. There is not much
+rain, and it is confined to the summer months. The mean rainfall is,
+no doubt, higher than what we find at La Rioja (about 30 centimetres),
+but it is not good enough to dispense with irrigation. The _aguadas_,
+springs and brooks at the foot of the range, are the only provision of
+permanent water, and it is very limited. The oases watered by these
+springs and brooks cover only a few acres at the foot of the steep
+cliffs of the range. It has not been possible to cultivate the land
+far from the mountains. At Chamical a trench that was made to convey
+water to the railway dried up. All that can be done is to follow for
+a few miles with a line of wells a subterranean stream of fresh and
+not very deep water. At Bella Vista a _comunero_ has dug an _acequia_
+several miles long, and he sells the water at a rate of five piastres
+for forty-eight hours. But when it reaches the end of the _acequia_, it
+is lost between the trench and the field to which they would conduct
+it. At Ulapes, though it is one of the chief centres, it takes the full
+outflow of the spring during sixteen hours to irrigate one _cuadra_ (a
+little over two acres), and each man's "turn" is for seventeen days.
+The entire oasis measures about fifty acres. At Olta the thin stream of
+water is surrounded by so many cupidities that the "turn" comes only
+every fifty-eight days, so that each field has to live fifty-eight days
+on one watering. At Catuna where a trickle of brackish water is eagerly
+collected at the foot of a dejection-cone, the water-right is regulated
+by an arrangement of turns that covers ninety days, so that plants die
+of thirst in the interval. The plots vary according to the quantity,
+quality, and regularity of the water. The orange-tree is the most
+exacting, the fig the most tenacious, of the trees. The poorest oases
+consist only of a few gardens of dusty fig-trees.
+
+However small it is, the oasis always stands for a rudiment of communal
+life, a _poblado_, a centre round which life is organized in this
+pastoral, anarchic, amorphous world. Land that has a water-right is
+regarded as detached from the _merced_ and never remains undivided.
+
+Besides these properly irrigated lands there are the _bañados_:
+cultivated plots in the hollows, where the moisture left by the storms
+is concentrated and preserved. These are much more extensive, and they
+are very irregularly distributed. Inequalities of the alluvial ground
+that almost escape the eye are sufficient to direct the streaming of
+the water after rain, and it is quickly absorbed. Man assists nature as
+well as he can, and one sees everywhere tiny ridges of earth across the
+paths, for the purpose of diverting the water to the plots. These are
+the _tomas_. When you follow a _toma_ downward, you see it after a time
+pass under a hedge of dry thorn, and this encloses a field, a _cerco_.
+The crops have to be jealously guarded against the cattle which roam in
+the scrub. The _cercos_ are sometimes so numerous that they give the
+impression of a regular agricultural district. Most of them are planted
+with maize. The maize harvest rarely fails in the summer, for it is
+then, on account of the regular rains, that the maize grows and ripens.
+When the ears have been gathered, the cattle are let into the _cerco_,
+as maize-straw is excellent fodder. But wheat also grows well in the
+_bañados_. Provided the year has had a few late showers, the wheat sown
+in autumn stands the winter drought more or less well, and ripens after
+the early rains, at the beginning of summer. The Llanos produce a hard
+wheat; it is not milled, but eaten, like rice, in the grain. There have
+been times when the Llanos have exported wheat. The census of 1888
+gives the Department of General Belgrano, on the eastern slope of the
+Llanos, an area of 900 acres under maize and 1,900 under wheat. When
+the Chilecito railway was constructed, this wheat competed with that
+brought on mules from Jachal, in the mining district of the Famatina
+range. Like the gardens in the oases, the _cercos_ may be divided, and
+they are the personal property of those who cultivate them.
+
+Sowing and reaping are, however, mere episodes in the life of the
+_Llanero_. He is mainly occupied with cattle-breeding. The quality
+of the pasture differs considerably according to the nature of the
+soil and the good and bad character of the season. Sometimes it forms
+a thick carpet under the brushwood, but in other places it is poor
+and there is nothing but the leaves and pods of the _algarroba_. If
+the herd is too large, the grass will not grow again; the breeder
+recognizes at a glance the _campo recargado_--the field which has had
+its capacity overstrained. The pasture has to be carefully nursed. But
+the most urgent problem is to get a supply of water for the cattle.
+Round the Sierra the underground water is often fresh, and there are
+plenty of wells. Still, in order to avoid having to draw the water,
+they dig large trenches at suitable spots in the clay, and round
+these they arrange the earth that has been dug out, with an opening
+toward the hills to catch the water when it is raining. These are the
+_represas_. As in the case of the _bañados_, ridges of earth direct the
+stream to the _represa_. It is surrounded by a hedge as carefully as
+the field is. On the plain rain is rare, and the _represas_ are usually
+the only reserve. They have to last the whole year; even two years if
+there is a particularly dry summer that prevents re-filling. Thus they
+become sometimes veritable lakes. From a distance you can see, above
+the top of the brushwood, the bald curve of the mound of beaten earth
+which encircles them. The water flows over it when there has been much
+rain. The mound is sometimes 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 yards high; as it is at
+Tello, between the Sierra d'Ulapes and the Sierra de los Llanos, where
+the San Juan coach used to change horses.
+
+The _represa_ is the real centre of the estate. The house is built near
+it, and guards the entrance. From early morning until dusk the cattle
+come to it, singly or in groups. The rancher admits them, lets them
+drink, and closes the gate behind them. If the thirsty cattle have not
+his mark and belong to a neighbour, he sends them to drink at their own
+_represa_; but he gives water to lost beasts, from a distance, whose
+owner will presently come for them. Near the _represa_ is the enclosure
+(_potrero_) for calves that have just been born. The cows come there
+every morning, and they are milked for a few months to make cheese.
+Like the _cerco_, the _represa_ is the personal property of the man who
+made it, or of one who has inherited it and sees to its upkeep.
+
+The cattle of the Llanos move a good deal. There are certain irregular
+migrations, and others that are periodic or connected with the seasons.
+Everywhere on the fringe of the Sierra the cattle remain in the ravine
+and on the foot-hills during the winter. In the summer they return of
+themselves to their _querencia_ on the plain. The irregular migrations
+are due to scarcity of water or pasture. Driven by hunger, the beasts
+travel a long distance of their own accord. They mingle with other
+herds, sometimes so far from the ranches where they were born that no
+one recognizes their mark. Sometimes, again, the rancher himself goes,
+when his _represa_ is dry, to ask hospitality in some more favoured
+canton. He is fortunate if the drought has not been general; if part of
+the country has been spared and can offer a refuge.
+
+But it sometimes happens that the whole district has suffered, and the
+land is naked and scorched everywhere. There is then no help except
+a long journey, to San Luis or to the lucerne-farms of San Juan, for
+the cattle. The misfortune of the Llanos sends up at once the rent
+of the _invernadas_ all round. A general evacuation of the cattle is
+a desperate remedy, and is, in fact, often impracticable. During the
+whole summer the men wait patiently, hoping for the end of the drought.
+There is room for hope until April, when storms are still possible. If
+the month ends without rain, it is too late to remove the exhausted
+cattle; the stages across the desolated country are too severe.
+
+The memory of the worst years of drought--the "epidemics," as the
+Llanero calls them--lives for a long time. They make a deep impression
+on the popular imagination, and legend makes plagues of them, in the
+Biblical way. The drought of 1884 was particularly disastrous. The
+herds were destroyed, and families that had been wealthy the day before
+set out on foot, "having nothing to put a saddle on": a touching
+picture of misery for this race of centaurs, people who feel themselves
+mutilated when they are not on horse. The rain returns next year. The
+pasture grows all the better because the herd is smaller, and the
+Llanos give the traveller who crosses them an exaggerated impression of
+their natural wealth.
+
+Until quite a recent date the cattle reared in the Llanos were destined
+exclusively for Chile. Dealers from Jachal or Tinogasta came in the
+autumn, and the cattle passed the winter in the _invernadas_ at the
+foot of the Cordillera. From the Sierra d'Ulapes, which is a southward
+continuation of the Llanos, the cattle destined for Chile were first
+sent to San Juan. They took one or two weeks to reach it. Five men were
+needed for a herd of a hundred beasts: eight for a herd of two hundred.
+The caravan was directed by an _estanciero_ (rancher) or his _capataz_,
+or by dealers who came originally from the Llanos.
+
+Exports to Chile have not entirely ceased. In 1913 the dealers from
+Tinogasta and Jachal, who had not appeared in 1912, came back. The
+southern part of the Sierra d'Ulapes, which is some distance from the
+railway, reserves its cattle for San Juan. The cattle are, however,
+more and more sent by rail to the coast. In the Sierra d'Ulapes the
+dealers from Villa Mercedes, which has become one of the great markets
+of Argentina, come every year, rent an enclosure (_protrero_), and
+collect in it, one by one, a herd of cattle, which they then take away
+on foot. They are sold at the fair at Villa Mercedes, and they disperse
+in every direction toward the fattening zones of the Pampa.
+
+This commercial revolution has led to a rise in the price of cattle,
+and this in turn has raised the value of land. When the value of the
+land rises, the methods of working it are necessarily improved, there
+is greater security, and thefts of cattle (_cuatrerismo_) become
+impossible. The farmers are not content merely to enlarge their
+_represas_ or dig deeper wells. They divide the fields by fences--cheap
+iron wire stretched on home-made posts, or hedges of spines like those
+which protect the _bañados_. Thus pasture can be reserved untouched for
+the difficult months.
+
+This subdivision of the land by fences began in the south, in the
+Ulapes district, in touch with the richer districts of San Luis and
+Córdoba. In the Llanos proper the practice has scarcely begun. At
+Ulapes it is even done on the _mercedes_. Each _comunero_, without
+opposition, encloses as much space as he can, and leaves his cattle
+outside, on the common land, as long as possible. He only brings them
+into his enclosed land when the common pasture is exhausted. This will
+bring about the end of the _mercedes_; and, indeed, communal ownership
+is not suited to modern conditions. The latest sign of progress is the
+appearance of lucerne fields. Lucerne can be grown on the _bañados_
+wherever anything else can be grown; and the creation of lucerne-farms
+will give the pastoral industry a security and stability it never had
+before, besides enabling the breeders to collect stores of dry forage
+and exploit the full pastoral capacity of the _monte_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+TUCUMÁN AND MENDOZA THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES
+
+     Tucumán and the road to Chile--The climate and the cultivation
+     of the sugar-cane--The problem of manual labour--Irrigation at
+     Mendoza--Water-rights--Viticulture--Protection and the natural
+     conditions.
+
+
+The great industrial forms of cultivation, the sugar-cane and the
+vine, gave a new aspect to the scenery of Tucumán and Mendoza at the
+end of the nineteenth century. The increase of population and wealth
+which they entailed was so sudden, the economic advance so swift,
+that the owners of vineyards and the sugar-makers have now lost all
+recollection of the primitive industries which gave life to colonial
+Tucumán and Mendoza, and were maintained until the last generation.
+Nevertheless, if one compares Tucumán or Mendoza with some centre of
+irrigated tillage in north-west Argentina, one quickly perceives the
+original features which three centuries of history have given them. The
+system of land-tenure, water-rights, the distribution of the cultivated
+zones, and a thousand other features, show that the colonization is
+old. The exploitation of the soil and utilization of the water have
+not proceeded on a methodical plan, conceived in advance, which would
+make each piece of work--the dams and channels of distribution, for
+instance--subordinate to the whole. The engineers who constructed the
+great modern dams of Mendoza, San Juan and Sali, had not to create a
+region of new estates, but merely to improve the water-supply, which
+was used wastefully by the existing estates. There is nothing more
+suggestive than the contrast between these stone dams, built according
+to all the rules of hydraulics, and the network of irregular channels,
+following the accidental variations of the land and the slope, which
+preceded them, and to which they have been accommodated as far as
+possible. In some cases the primitive _acequias_ could not be altered
+so as to start from the dam. The accumulations of water succeed each
+other down the slope, held up by a simple barrier of branches and earth
+which is periodically destroyed by floods. The modern flood-proof dam
+(_dique nivelador_), which cuts the torrent in its entire width, and
+enables them to make use of its whole volume, allows a certain amount
+of water to pass, for the use of the _acequias_ lower down. This falls
+back into the broad, stony bed, exposed to evaporation and infiltration
+as it was before.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Long before the development of the sugar industry on a large scale,
+there was a typically urban life, added to the common fund of pastoral
+life, at Tucumán. The neighbouring cantons of the scrub--Trancas,
+Burruyacu, and Graneros--sent cattle and mules to Peru and Chile, like
+the other Argentine plains. But Tucumán drew still greater profit from
+its position as chief stage on the high road to Peru, at the point
+where the plain passes into the mountain. Primitive Tucumán was an
+excellent type of high-road village. The road determined its position
+at the point where the Sali had to be crossed. The first site of the
+town, near Monteros, was abandoned in the eighteenth century, when
+the high road to Peru settled in the sub-Andean region and ceased
+to run through the Calchaqui valley. The road sustained its chief
+industries, tanning and harness-making for the muleteers of the Andes,
+and waggon-making for the _troperos_ of the plain. The road and the
+people travelling along it afforded an outlet for its wheat and flour,
+and facilitated the export of its tobacco to the coast-provinces. The
+waggon-owners were really contractors, conveying stuff at their own
+cost. Moreover, part of Bolivia came to make its purchases at the shops
+(_tiendas_) of Tucumán, and the merchants of the town took in exchange
+Bolivian ore for export. Thus the road built up a nucleus of available
+capital at Tucumán. This capital was invested, at the close of the
+nineteenth century, in sugar; and it has increased a hundredfold. Most
+of the works still belong to old families of the town.
+
+The sugar-region is comparatively small. It covers an area which
+has exceptional climatic features, owing to the vicinity of Mount
+Aconcagua. While the higher chains of the Andes further north are
+separated from the Chaco plain by lower ranges, on which the east winds
+leave their stores of moisture less freely, Tucumán has on its west the
+great mass of Aconcagua. It rises, a giant landmark, at the beginning
+of the plains, from which there is nothing to separate it, and gathers
+the clouds round it.
+
+  [Illustration: THE VALLE OF SANTA MARIA, NORTH-WEST OF MOUNT ACONCAGUA.
+  _At the bottom of the valle one can see the sandy bed of the river as
+  a white line in the foreground. Zone of torrential terraces, which
+  follows the edge of the valle._            Photograph by the Author.]
+
+
+  [Illustration: THE OASIS OF ANDALGALA.
+  _At the western foot of Aconcagua, the snowy crest of which can be
+  seen._                                      Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE VI.                                             To face p. 70.]
+
+On the eastern slope of Aconcagua is the limit of the crescent of
+tropical forest, which begins about three thousand miles away, on the
+flank of the Venezuelan and Colombian Cordilleras, and is connected
+in the centre, in the equatorial zone, from Guaviare to Mamore, with
+the forests of the Amazon region. At its two ends it is reduced to a
+narrow belt which does not reach, in the east, the alluvial plains,
+the savannahs of the Orinoco and the scrub of the Chaco. The humid
+forest of the Argentine Andes is nowhere more luxuriant than near its
+southern limit, above Tucumán. There are no palms or tree-ferns, but
+the convolvulus abounds, and the evergreen trees are covered with
+epiphytes. Aconcagua is one of the sharpest climatological limits in
+the world. In the latitude of Salta one has only to go about 150 miles
+to pass from the moist forests of the sub-Andean chain of the Lumbrera
+to the arid valley of Cachi. On both sides of Aconcagua there are less
+than fifty-five miles between the sugar-cane fields won from the forest
+and the oasis of Andalgala, or that of Santa Maria, which are right in
+the desert zone. According as one approaches Aconcagua from the east or
+the west, one finds, from base to summit, either the successive stages
+of vegetation of the humid Andes--from forest to grain-sown prairie
+(_paramo_ or _pajonal_)--or those which are characteristic of the arid
+Andes, from the spiny scrub of the valleys to the fields of resinous
+_tola_ of the Puna. The contrast of climates is repeated in the
+character of the soils. Aconcagua contains in itself the entire Andes
+in miniature. At the foot of the narrow zone of Alpine crests, in the
+few square miles of the elevated valleys of Tafi and Pucara, there is a
+small agricultural and pastoral world, in a temperate climate, that has
+nothing quite like it elsewhere, narrowly confined between the forest
+and the desert.[32]
+
+     [32] The higher valleys of Aconcagua offer inexhaustible
+     interest to the visitor. At Sancho (Pucara valley) there is a
+     group of Italian colonists who grow maize and wheat: a unique
+     fact, I believe, in the whole of this part of Argentina. The
+     Tafi valley is mainly pastoral, the pastures of the valley
+     being used in summer and the forest for winter pasture.
+
+The sugar district of Tucumán is not, properly speaking, an oasis; that
+is to say, it is not an irrigated canton in the midst of a desert, but
+a moist patch in the heart of a less favoured region. The traveller who
+comes from the Chaco finds that the dust disappears from the moister
+air as he approaches Tucumán. The rainfall approaches 974 millimetres
+at Tucumán. Irrigation is a valuable aid to the farmer, but it is not
+indispensable. Maize is generally raised without watering, and part
+even of the sugar-cane crop is raised on land that is not irrigated. It
+is not the relatively heavy rainfall that has led to the development of
+the sugar-cane estates at Tucumán, but the evenness of the temperature,
+together with the atmospheric moisture and the rareness of frost.
+The mists which develop at the foot of Aconcagua form a protecting
+mantle above Tucumán which prevents nocturnal radiation. The nearer
+one gets to the mountain, the later, rarer, and lighter the frosts
+are. If, on the contrary, one goes out some distance westward toward
+the plain, the frost becomes more severe, and it is impossible to grow
+sugar-cane. Not only the humidity, but the contour also, has some
+influence on the changes of temperature and the distribution of frost.
+The depressions in which the cold air accumulates, in virtue of the
+well-known meteorological phenomenon of inversion of temperature, are
+more exposed than sloping districts, where the air circulates regularly
+and freely. The eastern limit of the zone spared by the frosts passes
+about thirty-five miles from the foot of Aconcagua. It has only been
+made clear by experiment, and one can still see there the traces of
+abandoned plantations.
+
+The water-supply in the Tucumán district consists, primarily, of
+numerous evenly flowing streams which come down the eastern flank of
+Aconcagua (Lules, Famailla, Angostura, Gastona, Medinas, etc.). They
+join the Sali to the south of Tucumán. The Sali is an irregular torrent
+which rises in the sub-Andean depression to the north and Tucumán,
+and, after squeezing Aguadita between the north-eastern extremity of
+Aconcagua and the sub-Andean chain of Burruyacu, enters the plain
+at Tucumán. It then flows southward, meandering over a large bed of
+shingle in which it has not had force enough to excavate a valley, and
+the inclination of the land on its left bank (to the east) is toward
+the east and south-east. The lands on the right bank of the Sali are
+consequently better provided with water than those on the left bank.
+The difference is so marked that, as the estates on the right bank get
+most of their supply elsewhere, the water of the Sali nearly all goes
+to the left bank. In 1912 a siphon was actually constructed underneath
+the bed of the Sali to convey the unused water of the Rio Lules to the
+right bank. Lastly, to the north of Tucumán the Sierra de Burruyacu
+provides a few intermittent streams of water, which the _estancias_
+(ranches) formerly conducted, with great labour, to their _represas_.
+These do not suffice for irrigation on a large scale.
+
+The sugar-cane was first grown at the gates of the town and, to the
+east, at Cruz Alta, on the left bank of the Sali. These were some
+distance from the mountain because, as there was less rain and the
+soil was fairly dry, the natural vegetation was less luxuriant, and
+it cost less to prepare the ground.[33] The Central Córdoba Railway,
+which passes along the right bank of the Sali south of Tucumán, is the
+axis of another zone of cultivation and of old factories. Colonization
+afterwards went further west. A new provincial railway, describing a
+section of a circle, was grafted at Tucumán (1888-90) and Madria upon
+the Central Córdoba line. It keeps close to the foot of the range, the
+_falda_, and enables farmers to settle on it. The new estates have not
+confined themselves to the alluvial plain; they have crept up the foot
+hills, and are constantly going higher. In the latitude of Tucumán
+the mountain approaches within eight or twelve miles of the Sali, and
+the possibilities of extension westward are strictly limited; indeed,
+they are already exhausted. Further south, on the contrary, the plain
+extends more than fifteen miles to the east of the provincial railway.
+West of Monteros, Concepción, and the existing line of works, there
+is a reserve of available land; there is room for a fresh advance
+westward. There is also room for expansion to the north-east, at the
+foot of the sub-Andean chain of Burruyacu, where the frosts are slight.
+It is in this direction that most of the clearing is now going on.
+
+     [33] In 1894 it was calculated that ground that was not yet
+     cleared was worth 100 to 150 piastres a hectare at Cruz Alta,
+     and the cost of clearing 150 to 200 piastres, whereas in the
+     moist forest at the foot of the Sierra the land was worth only
+     75 to 100 piastres, the cost of clearing it was double (300 to
+     350 piastres).
+
+These various districts do not offer quite the same conditions to the
+farmer. The _Falda_ is the most suitable, not only on account of the
+rareness of frost, but because of the fertility of the soil, as the
+tropical forest has accumulated inexhaustible stores of humus. The
+sugar-cane returns are higher there than anywhere else. Irrigation
+is not necessary, but, on the other hand, the humidity reduces the
+proportion of sugar in the cane. Irrigation is the rule in the next
+belt, between the local railway and the Central Córdoba line (on the
+right bank of the Sali). On the left bank a large number of the estates
+must still do without watering.
+
+The most original feature of the organization of the sugar industry
+at Tucumán is the maintenance of a class of independent cultivators,
+the _cañeros_, side by side with the large enterprises. This survival
+of small and medium properties is a fact to which we find no parallel
+in the other sugar districts of tropical America.[34] Everywhere
+else, in Brazil and in the Antilles, the farms which worked up their
+own produce, on primitive methods, have been absorbed by the central
+works. The home-worker has lost his land as well as been ruined in
+his industry by the competition of the modern factory. At Tucumán, on
+the contrary, the sugar industry never passed through the stage of
+domestic production. It was set up in full development, some devoting
+their capital to building works, others to growing the cane. Irrigation
+seemed from the first to dictate a concentration of ownership; the
+refineries at Cruz Alta constructed costly special canals to bring the
+water of the Sali. It is only large proprietors who have the resources
+needed to carry out work of this kind, and sufficient influence to
+secure permission to conduct the water over adjoining estates. However,
+the law of 1897 reorganized irrigation and withdrew the water-supply
+from the control of a few privileged big capitalists. Public works,
+undertaken by the provincial authorities, brought the water within the
+reach of every farmer. Since 1897 the number of water-concessions has
+risen from 230 to nearly 2,000.
+
+     [34] Except, perhaps, in Barbadoes.
+
+The interests of the factory (_ingenio_) and the farmers (_cañeros_)
+are not indissolubly connected. Their respective parts in the final
+product of the sugar industry are not invariable. The increase in the
+number of factories means an increase in the number of cane-buyers,
+and so tends to raise the price. During the years antecedent to 1895
+the refineries improved their machinery, and their productive capacity
+increased faster than the cultivated acreage. The price of the cane
+then rose to about twenty piastres a ton. As this figure is far above
+the net cost, the refineries endeavoured to profit themselves by the
+advantages that accrued to the _cañeros_, and they bought land for
+cultivation. It is to this period that the big concerns of Cruz Alta
+belong. Afterwards the production of cane increased, and nearly met
+the demands of the refineries, so that their competition relaxed. They
+ceased to buy land, and the price of cane was lowered.
+
+The refineries now deal with cane which they grow themselves, with
+paid workers of their own; with cane that they buy at a reduced price
+from tenants (_colonos_), who grow it on their own estates; and with
+cane sold them by _cañeros_ who own their own fields. The range of the
+country absorbed by each refinery is often very extensive. The Sugar
+Congress of 1894 estimated that half the cane-harvest was transported
+by rail, and that freight from one canton to another in the sugar
+district brought the railways more than a third of what they got for
+conveying sugar from Tucumán to the coast. Each railway company tries
+to keep along its own line the cane it carries to the refineries, so
+that the transport of the sugar when it is made will fall to itself.
+Thus the cane-market is divided into two separate compartments, with
+very little exchange between them. The first comprises the zone that
+depends on the Central Argentine and the State Railway; the second is
+the zone of the Central Córdoba and the old local line bought by the
+Central Córdoba.
+
+Certain parts, such as Cruz Alta and the district round the town, have
+too many works in proportion to their production of cane, and they are
+centres of import. The price of the cane is always higher here than
+in the agricultural districts. Each works has its customers. At the
+stations it instals weighing machines for receiving and weighing the
+cane. It is only the more important _cañeros_ who have the privilege
+of selling by the truck-load, or selling to distant works. The small
+growers are compelled to deal with the local refinery. They sell it
+their canes direct, or, sometimes, through agents and dealers. In the
+days when the works were competing for cane it became the custom to
+sign the purchase-contracts as early as possible; sometimes at the
+beginning of October, as soon as the harvest of the year is over. In
+order to make sure of the loyalty of the _cañero_ the manufacturers
+advance money to him, in proportion to their difficulty in getting cane.
+
+_Cañeros_ and mill-owners have had to work together to settle the
+problem of labour. There was not enough at hand, and it had to be
+recruited elsewhere. Agents were sent all round--to Catamarca and
+Santiago del Estero, and even to the province of Córdoba--to collect
+and bring gangs of workers. They were a mixed, unsteady, undisciplined
+lot. The owners of the works advanced them money in order to keep
+them, and then, fearing to lose the money advanced, would not dismiss
+them for laziness and irregularities. These troubles are not felt as
+much now as they were at the time when the industry was expanding.
+The population of immigrant workers has settled down and taken root.
+Besides creoles it includes a small number of Italians and Spaniards;
+but while the creoles have been definitely incorporated in the sugar
+industry, the European immigrants use their savings to buy a bit of
+land and take to farming.
+
+In normal times Tucumán has all the labour it requires, but the harvest
+always compels it to seek help in other provinces. In May and June
+the agents, well supplied with money, set out for the Salado, the
+districts round the Sierra d'Ancasti, etc. The temporary attraction of
+Tucumán at this season is felt over a considerable distance. At Santa
+Maria, on the far side of Mount Aconcagua, 600 people--men, women,
+and children--emigrate for five months, and live on the cane-fields.
+The merchants of Santa Maria make them advances, in the name of the
+refiners, to the amount of about sixty piastres per worker. Further
+north the Tucumán _enganchadores_ come into collision with those from
+Salta and Campo Santo, and they divide the available labour between
+them. Some of the temporary immigrants settle down permanently every
+year, and swell the normal population of the sugar industry.
+
+Outside the Tucumán district an unfortunate attempt was made to plant
+the sugar industry at Santiago del Estero, and large works were
+constructed. But the frost is severe there. For some years they tried
+to keep the Santiago works going with cane brought from Tucumán, but
+the freight was too heavy, and the works had to be abandoned, or else
+dismantled and set up elsewhere. The valley of the Rio Grande, from
+Jujuy to 200 miles north of Tucumán, in the sub-Andean depression
+between the Sierra de Zenta and the Lumbrera, has, on the other hand,
+suitable conditions for the cultivation of the cane. Frost is rare.
+The climate is warmer than at Tucumán, the canes ripen more quickly,
+and the average return is higher. The water-supply also is good. There
+have long been plantations in this region. Their first market was
+the region of the tableland and the valleys, where they chiefly sold
+brandy: a traffic of long standing, which one always finds round the
+cold districts of the Andes, from Colombia to the north of Argentina.
+The modern refineries of Ledesma and San Pedro took the place of the
+primitive mills as soon as the railway approached Jujuy, and even
+before it entered the valley of the Rio Grande. They then sent their
+sugar by waggon in November and December, between the close of the
+sugar season and the commencement of the rains, which spoil the roads.
+
+The sugar district of Jujuy now has a very different economic
+and social organization from that of Tucumán. Here there are no
+farmer-proprietors. Each centre is a large estate, in the midst of the
+forest, where the workers are lodged and fed by the works that employs
+them. The contractors who clear the ground for them are obliged by
+the terms of their contract to import their workers directly from the
+south, so that they will not take any away from the farming. There is
+no available labour, no free market, on the spot. Since the completion
+of the Quebrada de Humahuaca line, however, there has been a good deal
+of immigration, to settle or temporarily, of the mountaineers of the
+tableland. The sphere of influence of San Pedro now extends as far as
+Bolivia. For the harvest, which, like that of Tucumán, requires a good
+deal of additional manual labour, the works look to the wild Indians
+of the Chaco. This curious stream of seasonal migration, which the
+sugar campaign of Jujuy provokes every winter outside the zone of white
+colonization, is of very old date, going back more than sixty years.
+Belmar notices it about the middle of the nineteenth century. The
+recruiting agents of San Pedro and Ledesma set out from Embarcación,
+where the railway ends, and enter the Chaco, from which each of them
+brings a troop of some hundreds of natives between March and June.
+The number of these temporary immigrants seems to be about 6,000. The
+Chiriguanos of the north leave their families on the Chaco, and the men
+come alone. The Matacos immigrate in whole tribes. They camp in huts
+like those of their own villages, under the shelter of the works, and
+are paid in maize, meat, and cigars. In October, when the _algarroba_
+flowers and makes them dream of their own country, they receive the
+remainder of their pay in money, and spend it in brandy, clothing,
+knives, and firearms.
+
+The history of Mendoza resembles that of Tucumán in many ways. In the
+province of Cuyo, as at Tucumán, urban life has been precocious. In
+the middle of the eighteenth century Mendoza and San Juan exported
+wines, dried fruit (_pasas_ and _orejones_), and flour to the coast
+and to Paraguay. Part of the so-called "Chilean flour" consumed on the
+Pampa, really came from Jachal and Mendoza. This trade ceased in the
+nineteenth century, but San Juan and Mendoza found another source of
+wealth in fattening cattle and sending them to Chile. Belmar, in 1856,
+estimates the extent of the lucerne farms of Cuyo to have been 150,000
+_cuadres_(440,000 acres).[35] As at Tucumán, the present period is
+characterized by a rapid expansion of cultivation and a rapid growth
+of population. But, whereas at Tucumán the neighbouring provinces
+have provided the whole of the manual labour required, and the actual
+population is essentially creole, at Mendoza there has been a larger
+number of foreign immigrants. In 1914, foreigners were 310 per 1,000
+of the entire population of Mendoza: a larger proportion than for the
+whole country. The immigrants going straight to Mendoza from the ports
+numbered 12,000 in 1911, and 15,000 in 1912; almost as much as for the
+province of Santa Fé, and more than for the province of Córdoba. Thus
+Mendoza plays a part of its own in the charm which Argentina has for
+the imagination of Europe. When we examine a chart of the population
+of South America, we notice that the oases of Cuyo contain the only
+important groups of European population at any distance from the coast.
+
+     [35] A few convoys of cattle still use the Uspallata road,
+     especially over the Espinacito pass in the Cordillera de San
+     Juan.
+
+The prosperity of Mendoza to-day depends upon the cultivation of the
+vine, just as that of Tucumán depends upon sugar. The cultivation of
+the vine is possible in the greater part of Argentina. In the early
+days of colonization there were vineyards as far as the Paraguay.
+They still flourish at Concordia on the Uruguay and at San Nicolas
+on the lower Paraná. But the wet summers of the eastern provinces
+are not suitable for them. The climate for them improves as one goes
+westward, and there is less rain. The dry zone of eastern Argentina
+is the special field of the vine. There it has spread over nearly
+twenty degrees of latitude, and it depends, like other cultivation,
+upon irrigation. In the Andean valleys of the north-west it rises to
+a height of 7,500 feet. South of Mendoza the higher limit of the vine
+sinks rapidly, and there are no vineyards in the mountainous district
+itself. On the other hand, its range increases; in the east it spreads
+as far as the Atlantic coast, in the valley of the Rio Negro.
+
+The former centres of viticulture in the north-west, in the oases
+of the _costas_ of La Rioja, Catamarca, and Salta, have scarcely
+been affected by the advance; and, in any case, their extent is very
+limited. The vine-district of the Rio Negro is only in process of
+creation, and its output is still small. Thus the area of production
+on a large scale is limited to the three oases of San Juan, Mendoza,
+and San Rafaël, which in 1913 yielded 4,750,000 hectolitres, out
+of the total Argentine production of 5,000,000 hectolitres. These
+three centres differ from each other to-day rather in their economic
+development than in their physical conditions. At San Juan, the
+transformation of the earlier methods of production and the traditional
+creole industries is only now taking place. At Mendoza it is quite
+finished. The San Rafaël centre, on the other hand, is of recent
+origin; it was created on the site of a fortress which guarded the
+Indian frontier until 1880. Cultivated areas have appeared on virgin
+soil, in the midst of the desert. These different circumstances account
+for diversities which, though they will disappear in the course of
+time, are still obvious to the traveller. The general scene is the
+same everywhere. Arid and desolate mountains close the horizon in the
+west; at their feet spreads the immense alluvial deposit on which the
+vineyards, surrounded by rows of poplars, grow wherever water is to be
+found.
+
+There are so few gaps in the lower slopes of the Cordillera that the
+available water is gathered at a small number of points. The Rio San
+Juan alone drains a belt of the Cordillera at least 140 miles broad.
+Each of the two oases, Mendoza and San Rafaël, has two streams of water
+to feed it. The Mendoza and the Tunuyan at Mendoza, and the Diamante
+and the Atuel at San Rafaël, approach each other, when they leave
+the mountains, so closely that the estates they water blend into a
+continuous area. Then, however, instead of uniting, they diverge and
+are lost, separately, in the plain. These streams have less fall than
+the thinner torrents of the oases of the north-west, and the average
+inclination of the dejection-cones which bear the vineyards is slight.
+The upper slopes of the cone, where thin beds of clay lie upon shingle,
+give clear wines of excellent aroma. Hence, in the Mendoza district,
+the vineyards of Lujan and, further down, of Godoy Cruz, Guaymallen,
+and Maipu produce choice brands. On the plain, to the east of Mendoza,
+at San Martin and Junin, the harvest is larger, but the wine is rough,
+and one can often taste the saltpetre of the clayey soil. There is the
+same difference between the upper and lower district at San Juan and
+San Rafaël.
+
+The oases of San Juan and San Rafaël spread evenly over the most
+suitable parts of the alluvial talus, but the oasis of Mendoza has a
+peculiar shape which can only be explained by historical causes. The
+cultivated belt is a narrow strip along the Tunuyan, for more than
+sixty miles, as far as the heart of the plain, out of sight of the
+Cordillera. It is one instance, out of a thousand, of the influence of
+traffic on colonization. As a matter of fact, the road from Mendoza
+to the coast, by which the cattle convoys of San Luis went to the
+_invernadas_, passes along the Tunuyan. The estates grew up by the
+side of it. The villages of Santa Rosa, Las Catitas, and La Paz, which
+mark the various stages of it, are all of ancient origin. Strangers
+are rarely found there. One still sees in them very old houses, built
+before the railway was made, dating from the days of the _carril_ or
+waggon-road. The importance of this line of water across the desert is
+clearly seen on the Woodbine Parish map.
+
+The use of irrigation in this district raised different technical
+problems from those of the north-western provinces. In this latitude
+the torrents of the Andes are formidable when the snows melt, at the
+beginning of summer. The flood is all the greater and more sudden as
+the heat is late. From all the ravines of the mountains the muddy
+waters then converge toward the valley. The flood scours the bed of
+the river, erodes its banks, and threatens to find a way amongst the
+estates. Even the towns of Mendoza and San Juan have more than once
+been in danger. The fear of diverting the flood and of bringing it
+upon themselves compelled them to be content with raising only light
+and frail dams in the path of the torrent. At San Juan they used, for
+a long time, the waters of the Arroyo del Estero, a small brook fed by
+infiltration from the Valle de Zenda, and it was some time before they
+ventured to draw upon the river itself.
+
+  [Illustration: THE OASIS DEL RINCON, BELOW SAUJIL (ANDALGALA LINE,
+  PROVINCE OF CATAMARCA).
+  _The dejection-cone, at the foot of which is the very small oasis, is
+  seen resting against the Sierra d'Ambato._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: THE MONTE AT EL YESO.
+  _Zone of clay hills at the foot of the Sierra de San Antonio, at
+  the edge of the Chaco. Corral (cattle park) made from tree-trunks._
+                                              Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE VII.                                            To face p. 82.]
+
+Another problem, which the smaller oases of the north-west hardly
+know--the problem of drainage--is of paramount importance at San
+Juan and Mendoza, as far as a large part of the irrigated surface is
+concerned. The water infiltrating into the soil forms a subterranean
+sheet which approaches more or less to the surface according to the
+topography. It comes to the surface at the foot of the cone, where
+the slope diminishes and the cone gradually passes into the plain.
+Hence the cone has, at its base, a belt of marshes (_ciénagas_), and
+sometimes a line of good springs (_barbollon_). At San Juan, if you
+move far enough away to get a comprehensive view of the whole of the
+estates, you see that they occupy the middle belt, half-way down the
+cone, the top of which is composed of coarse shingle, while the bottom
+is too wet. The advance of the plots upward and the steadily increasing
+use of the available water tends to raise the level of the underground
+sheet and enlarge the area of marsh.
+
+There is a fine black soil, very fertile when it is drained, and no
+irrigation is needed; as it is possible, according to the depth of the
+drainage-trenches, to regulate the level of the underground water so
+as to make it reach and feed the roots. The draining of the marshes,
+again, opens up a field for the further expansion of the estates,
+especially at San Juan, where it has scarcely begun. Moreover, the
+water that is obtained by draining the marshes enables them to create
+new irrigated estates further on. At Mendoza there is already a
+considerable area irrigated by drainage-canals (_desagüe_).
+
+The level of the water in the marshes sinks in the summer and rises
+in winter, at the time when the irrigation of the upper districts is
+suspended or greatly reduced, and when the surplus of the _acequias_,
+which the fields no longer take, flows or infiltrates downward in any
+way that it can. Thus, contrary to the torrent itself, it is in winter
+that the drainage-canals are at their fullest. At Barriales (Mendoza),
+and on the lower course of the Zanjon canal, thousands of acres,
+watered by the drainage-canals and exposed to drought in the summer,
+have the right to take water from the river or the canal during the
+three summer months, from November to January. During the remainder of
+the year they are restricted to the use of the drainage-canals. This
+sort of concession seems to provide a means of using the surplus of the
+river during the summer.
+
+With this exception there are no temporary rights limited to the
+high-water season and enabling them to raise quick crops, that ripen
+in a few months, round the area of perennials. At least, the expansion
+of the estates and the wish to use the full water-supply have led to
+the creation of eventual rights, besides the definitive rights. They
+do not come into play, theoretically, until the definitive rights
+have had their full supply, and then only in a fixed order. They are
+subordinated to the ordinary rights, and the market value of land with
+eventual water-rights is much lower than that of land with definitive
+rights.[36] At San Rafaël, where colonization preceded the systematic
+inventory of the natural resources, the concession of eventual
+water-rights was a means of facilitating the development of estates;
+though they were very badly informed as to the surplus of the Atuel and
+the Diamante and the area that the new land might cover.
+
+     [36] There are at present in the Mendoza province 275,000
+     hectares with a definitive right, and 303,000 with an eventual
+     right. The concessions fed by the Diamante and the Atuel at
+     San Rafaël, which amount to 120,000 hectares with a definitive
+     right and 150,000 with an eventual right, are not yet entirely
+     developed.
+
+In practice, the co-existence of eventual and definitive rights
+presents many difficulties, and more than one pretext for fraud.
+Sometimes the owners of eventual rights have access to the river
+higher up than the older intakes, which ought to be served first. A
+whole group of canals feeding land with eventual rights is in this
+way grafted upon the Tunuyan above La Paz, the rights of which are
+definitive and ancient.
+
+At Mendoza and San Juan the water-rights, codified in provincial laws
+which date, like the dams, from the end of the nineteenth century, are
+very different from the water-rights which hold in the Andean provinces
+of the north-west. The variety of the physical conditions is reflected
+in the institutions. Here water is not an object of private ownership
+independently of the soil. The concession of water is assigned to a
+definite estate, and it is formulated in superficial measurements. The
+law fixes the volume of water that goes with each unit of surface.
+If the output of the river is not large enough to provide the volume
+stated in the law to the whole of the irrigated district, all the
+lands with definitive rights receive at least an equal amount, and the
+available water is shared by the canals in proportion to the extent of
+the surface they irrigate.
+
+No law could secure for the farmers of Cuyo, even those with definitive
+rights, a constant supply of water, or save them from suffering in
+common from the variation in the volume of the torrents, and it was not
+even possible to guarantee them water in any permanent fashion. The
+_turno_ is used everywhere when the water is low. Lower down, where the
+drought lasts nearly the whole year, the _turno_ is the standing rule.
+At La Paz, on the fringe of the irrigated area, it has to be applied
+rigorously. The turn of each owner comes every eight, ten, or twelve
+days. In normal times he receives the _suerte de agua_; that is to say,
+the output of a sluice of a fixed size during a half-hour for each
+hectare (a little over two acres) of land. But if the river runs low,
+it becomes impossible to supply several neighbours simultaneously, and,
+in order to avoid making the interval between supplies too long, the
+duration of the _suerte de agua_ is reduced by half or three-quarters.
+
+The oases of Cuyo are like the small oases of the north-west as
+regards the function of those who are engaged in the administration of
+irrigation. The water-laws give the provincial functionaries general
+directions. Below them, however, to arrange the distribution of the
+water and the upkeep of the canals in detail, they have allowed to
+survive, and have merely regulated, certain primitive democratic
+organisms. At San Juan the superintendence of the irrigation is
+entrusted to elected municipal councils and the governor of the
+department. At Mendoza, the owners appoint a council of three delegates
+and an inspector for each canal, and these settle the annual budget of
+the canal, submit it to the provincial authorities, receive the taxes,
+carry out the necessary repairs, and so on. The great subdivision of
+property and the large number of electors make these little republics
+very lively; and they are very jealous of their autonomy.[37]
+
+     [37] There are more than 6,000 owners at San Juan to 91,000
+     hectares, and more than 9,000 at Mendoza (zone of the rivers
+     Mendoza and Tunuyan) to 130,000 hectares (statistics compiled
+     in 1899).
+
+Even within the narrow limits of the Cuyo district the climatological
+conditions, which control the growth of the vine, are not everywhere
+the same. The opening of the vineyards varies by several weeks,
+according to the locality.[38] The northern slope of the cone, exposed
+to the sun and protected from the southern winds, is more precocious.
+Some districts, poorly sheltered from the southern winds, and very
+liable to have late frost, have not been planted with vines (district
+of the Tucuyan below San Carlos, to the south of Mendoza). Everywhere
+the dryness of the atmosphere causes the ripe grapes to remain long
+on the vine, so that the harvest may last two months or more without
+any harm. It thus requires a relatively small supplement of manual
+labour, and does not necessitate seasonal migrations. The length of the
+harvest, moreover, facilitates the trade in grapes, which is one of the
+special features of the Argentine vine-industry.
+
+     [38] The difference is much greater at a distance from the
+     Cuyo province. Catamarca, which specializes in the production
+     of grapes for the table, is invaded by buyers from Buenos
+     Aires, and begins to send grapes in December, two full months
+     before the harvest begins in Mendoza.
+
+The climate is not so suitable for making wine as it is for growing
+vines. The temperature is high at the time of the harvest, and it
+retards fermentation in the cellars. The grapes have too much sugar
+and too little acid for the transformation of the must to proceed of
+itself. Hence it is necessary to have an expensive equipment, improved
+cellars, and skilled workers. This industrial organization is beyond
+the reach of the small cultivators. The cultivation of the vine and
+the making of wine are, therefore, not always associated. They are
+taken up by two different classes of the population. Tucumán has its
+_cañeros_ and factories, and Mendoza, by a division of labour which
+seems to the European visitor as strange as the climate which partly
+explains it, has its vine-growers (_viñateros_) and its manufactures
+(_bodegueros_).[39]
+
+     [39] While the cultivation of the cane has, for the most part,
+     become dependent upon the sugar industry, which represents
+     large capital, wine-making is, on the contrary, usually
+     regarded as merely an annex of wine-growing.
+
+Each of these two classes has had its share in the common work. The
+_viñatores_ have created the vineyard. The creole vine, imported into
+Peru from the Canaries and spreading over the whole of the southern
+Andes, yields great quantities of a sugary, but rough fruit, which
+does not lend itself to imitating the wines of Europe. At Mendoza it
+has almost entirely disappeared, though it survives at San Juan. It
+is grown on trellis-work, wooden frames resting on forked branches of
+_algarroba_; though sometimes the strong stems rise without support to
+a height of about six feet and are crowned with shoots and leaves. The
+new vine has been grown from French cuttings. While the creole vines
+look like orchards, the French vines are grown in rows of iron wire.
+
+The plantations were first made by creole workmen, who were paid by
+the day. Afterwards, as immigration from Europe increased, long-term
+contracts came into vogue, in virtue of which the colonist received
+the bare land and undertook to have it planted with vines at the end
+of three, four, or five years. The owner supplied the material, and
+at the end of the contract the colonist received a few _centavos_ for
+each vine, or sold the whole or part of the first harvest. On account
+of these contracts there were always a great many foreigners in the
+districts where vineyards were in course of formation. The proportion
+is now less at Mendoza than at San Rafaël, where colonization is more
+recent. Whenever they could, the owners left to the colonists, not only
+the business of planting the vines, but the upkeep of adult vineyards.
+In those cases the colonist receives a fixed sum per hectare (100
+piastres, for instance), and has to dig, prune, irrigate, etc. A large
+number of these agricultural workers and small contractors have saved a
+small capital, and purchased land of their own. This they have planted,
+and they thus form a new class of working owners.
+
+While the _viñatores_ were multiplying vineyards, the _bodegueros_ were
+transforming the methods of making wine. The weakness of imperfectly
+fermented wines, which turn sour and evaporate quickly, was all the
+worse for the growers of the colonial period because transport was
+slow, and there was no protection against the sun, which cooked the
+_algarroba_ casks or the leather bottles on the backs of the mules.
+The vineyard-owners often preferred to distil their wine and export
+brandy, flavoured with aniseed, to the Andean tablelands or the coast.
+The climate and the risks of transport had brought into existence an
+astonishing variety of methods of treating the must. Sometimes it was
+concentrated by boiling until it became a thick syrup (_arrope_),
+something like, apparently, the thick wines of the Mediterranean in
+former times. At other times the must was cooked without thickening
+it, to prevent immediate fermentation, as is done with the _chicha_ in
+Chile to-day; or sour wines were mixed with boiled must and ashes of
+the shoots, which masked the acidity.
+
+These traditions are now lost, but it is curious to see the
+_bodegueros_ still endeavouring to meet the taste of the creole
+population of the north-west, which has retained the preference for
+sweet and fruity wines. San Juan, which caters to these customers,
+manufactures _mistelas_--fresh boiled must with an addition of
+alcohol--which are mixed with mature wines in order the imitate the
+imperfect fermentation of earlier days. Perhaps there is no part of
+the world where the art of wine-making has been pushed so far as in
+the _bodegas_ of Mendoza. The correction of the must, and the analysis
+and treatment of diseased wines, follow the most modern of methods.
+The _bodegas_ produce a very steady wine, which is guaranteed by their
+trade marks. The wine of the Mendoza type, which they endeavour to
+produce, is a strong red wine, of heavy colour, with twelve or thirteen
+per cent. of alcohol. It may euphemistically be called a blended wine,
+but is in reality diluted wine. Argentina does not produce very light
+wines, and has no use for diluted wine.
+
+The number of wine-making cellars in 1913 was 997 at Mendoza and 336
+at San Juan. But they differ very much from each other in size. Most
+of them have only a small equipment and modest capital. Some, on the
+other hand, are large enterprizes which could produce enough to supply
+a city: vast constructions of brick or _adobe_, with light roofs as a
+precaution against earthquakes.
+
+The owners of the cellars almost always have their own vineyards, but
+they also buy the harvests of cultivators who have not cellars. In 1908
+it was calculated that 140,000 tons of grapes were sent to the press
+by the owners and 175,000 tons bought by the _bodegueros_.[40]
+
+     [40] More recent statistics are not to hand. The proportion
+     differs a little every year according to the prices of wine
+     and grapes.
+
+The conflicts of the interests of the _viñateros_ and the _bodegueros_
+are the very woof of life at Mendoza. The price of grapes is infinitely
+more variable than that of wine, and the _viñatero_ who has no cellar
+is at the mercy of the _bodeguero_. If he does not want to see his
+harvest go to waste, he has to accept unconditionally the price that is
+offered him. The _bodeguero_ has, moreover, the advantage of disposing
+of the grapes grown on his own estates. If the circumstances do not
+encourage him to produce all he can, he sends to the press merely
+his own harvest and will not buy any other. Thus the whole burden of
+commercial crises falls upon the vineyard with no cellar.
+
+The prices paid for the grapes differ a little for different parts
+of the vineyard, but the variation is more due to the number of
+_bodegas_ in the district and their capacity than to the quality
+of the grapes. Transport of the grapes to a great distance is very
+expensive. In exceptional times grapes have been brought from San
+Rafaël to the Mendoza cellars, but each _bodega_ gets its supply as
+far as possible from its own district. At San Juan the capacity of the
+cellars is proportionately less than at Mendoza, and the _bodegueros_
+have imposed very hard conditions on the growers. The price fixed in
+the purchase-contract does not of itself give a complete idea of the
+benefits which the _bodeguero_ enjoys. The grapes are purchased by
+weight, but the _bodeguero_ reserves the right to say at what date
+they are to be delivered. He begins to harvest his own vines when the
+fruit is scarcely ripe, but he puts back the harvesting of the grapes
+he buys as far as possible, even to April or May. These grapes exposed
+on the plant to the heat of the sun, become overripe; they gain in
+sugar and lose in weight. They make wines with a higher percentage of
+alcohol, and with these he can correct the lighter wines made during
+the preceding weeks. Finally, the _bodeguero_ does not advance money to
+the _viñatero_, as the manufacturer does to the _cañero_ in the sugar
+industry.
+
+The only safeguard of the vine-growers is the lack of understanding
+between the _bodegueros_ and the competition between them. Although
+there are conventions amongst the _bodegueros_ which lay down
+officially, before the vintage, the basis of all transactions, they
+are not respected except in so far as they serve a man's interest.
+If it is expected that the wine will easily be sold, and that grapes
+will be short, buyers are abundant, and contracts are signed before
+the fruit appears. It is a sort of gamble, as in the case of wheat and
+cotton. Bulls and bears struggle for the market. If the bulls win, the
+_viñateros_ grow rich.[41]
+
+     [41] Besides the causes of a geographical nature which I have
+     indicated, the separation of cultivation from wine-making has
+     other economic grounds, but they do not fall within the range
+     of this book. The large _bodega_ is better situated than the
+     small cultivator for organizing the sale of his wines on the
+     distant market of Buenos Aires. Also, the _bodegueros_ alone
+     are able to meet the competition of Buenos Aires merchants who
+     import European wines and make adulterated wines.
+
+When we compare the diagrams which show the production of wine and
+sugar in Argentina during the last thirty years, we see that they
+clearly illustrate the condition of dependence of the vineyard industry
+and the sugar industry as regards the home market. The prosperity of
+the region of the Pampas, especially during the years before 1914,
+is reflected at Mendoza and Tucumán. The expansive movement of the
+estates is similarly bound up with the construction of railways to
+connect them with the coast. Industry, on a large scale, began at
+Tucumán in 1876: that is to say, at the opening of the Central Córdoba
+line. The area planted with cane rose from 2,200 hectares in 1876 to
+14,800 in 1886. The production of sugar was trebled in four years,
+from 1876 to 1880. But the Central Córdoba was a narrow-gauge line,
+expensive to use and necessitating a transfer of goods at Córdoba. In
+1891 the broad-gauge line from Buenos Aires to Rosario was extended to
+Tucumán; and in 1892 the narrow-gauge line from Rosario to Santa Fé,
+San Cristobal, and Tucumán was also brought into use. The following
+years were marked by rapid advances of the sugar industry. From 1891 to
+1895 the area planted with canes rose from 14,200 to 40,700 hectares,
+and the manufacture of sugar from 31,000 to 135,000 tons. At Mendoza,
+also, the development of the vineyards dates from the completion of the
+San Luis Railway in 1885. Plantations were at once started, and three
+years later they came into touch. In 1887, the railway carried 27,000
+hectolitres of wine from Mendoza to the coast; in 1890-91 it carried
+268,000 hectolitres. Production had increased tenfold in that short
+space of time.
+
+As the home-production of wine and sugar increased, the imports from
+abroad fell. As early as 1885 Tucumán was able to meet the home demand
+for raw sugar, and refined only was imported. In 1888, a refinery was
+erected at Rosario to deal with Argentine sugar which came by rail,
+and foreign sugar which came up the river. Import ceased at this date,
+or there have since only been occasional years of import, to meet a
+scarcity. The imports of ordinary foreign wines continued to increase
+until 1890 (800,000 hectolitres), or as long as the wine produced at
+Mendoza did not suffice to meet the demand. They have steadily declined
+since that date (350,000 hectolitres in 1913), and are now only seven
+per cent. of the national production. We should add that, even in
+regard to ordinary wines, the Mendoza and the imported wine are not
+strictly comparable, that the competition between them is not simply
+a matter of price, and that some customers continue to prefer foreign
+wine.
+
+  [Illustration: A VINEYARD AT SAN JUAN.
+  _Trellissed creole vines._
+                                    Photograph by Boote, Buenos Aires.]
+
+  [Illustration: A VINEYARD AT MENDOZA.
+  _French vines on wire. An irrigation-trench along the path. In
+  the foreground (left) a wine-cellar_(bodega).
+           Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados, Buenos Aires.
+  PLATE VIII.                                           To face p. 92.]
+
+The elimination of foreign wines and sugar and the development of
+Mendoza and Tucumán were facilitated by a Protectionist tariff. The
+details of this are very curious, as they had to be adjusted to the
+natural conditions. The need of protection is chiefly due to the
+distance of the market from the productive centres. Mendoza is 650
+miles from Buenos Aires, Tucumán more than 750 miles. Freightage
+on the railways is dear. It is thirty-five piastres a ton for wine
+between Mendoza and Buenos Aires, or nearly double the normal maritime
+freight for the European wines sent from Bordeaux or Genoa. The charge
+for sugar is about thirty piastres a ton between Tucumán and Buenos
+Aires. Thus the cost of transport is nearly one sixth the entire cost
+of production. In spite of this common burden, the need of protection
+is not at all the same in Mendoza and Tucumán. The climate of Mendoza
+is excellent for the vine. The dryness of the atmosphere keeps down
+cryptogamic diseases, and the risks of cultivation are slight. The crop
+is abundant, the frosts late, and not serious. Hail is frequent, it is
+true, at the mouths of the Cordillera valleys, but it is never general;
+it affects only a small part of the harvest. The curve of production
+is very regular. It rises every year very gradually, and in proportion
+to the increase of the cultivated area. As a result of all this, the
+wine market has a stability which the vine-growing countries of Europe,
+with their less reliable climate, do not enjoy. The protective tariff,
+therefore, remains fixed. The duty on foreign wines in the cask--eight
+centimes (gold) per litre--has not been altered since the introduction
+into Argentina of the wine-industry on a large scale.[42]
+
+     [42] Mendoza is further protected by law against fraud.
+     This legislation is partly national and partly provincial.
+     The national law, which takes into account the interests of
+     the merchants of Buenos Aires, permits the manufacture of
+     artificial wines. The provincial law, in the special interests
+     of the productive districts, is more stringent. It prohibits
+     the manufacture of artificial wines. It also fixes the minimum
+     percentage of alcohol, and prevents the dispatch from Mendoza
+     to Buenos Aires of alcoholic wines to mix with must. Finally,
+     it defends the _viñatero_ against the _bodeguero_ by fixing
+     the quantity of grapes to be used in making a hectolitre of
+     wine and so prevents fraud at the _bodega_.
+
+The curve of sugar-production is just as irregular as that of
+wine-production is regular. From one year to another the output may
+vary by as much as 100 per cent., and the changes cannot be predicted:
+147,000 tons in 1912, 335,000 tons in 1914, 150,000 tons in 1915. The
+reason is that the sugar output depends upon the season. Canes which
+have been touched by frost go sour and ferment in the ground. They
+have to be milled quickly, and the harvest must not be prolonged. Even
+in good years the costly equipment of the works is active during only
+three months (July to September, but at Jujuy, July to October).
+
+This irregularity of production, which makes protection inevitable,
+also complicates it infinitely in practice. Sometimes the harvest
+is not large enough to meet home demands, and imports have to be
+permitted. Sometimes production is far beyond the home demand, and
+the sugar-manufacturers have to export the surplus so as to prevent
+a slump in prices on the overloaded home market. In order to meet
+these very different situations, the protecting tariff has had to be
+repeatedly modified and complicated. But it is impossible for us to
+give the history of it in detail here. The duties on foreign sugar were
+fixed, in successive instalments, between 1883 and 1891; and special
+protective measures were taken in the interest of the refiners in 1888.
+Over-production appeared for the first time in 1895. Export at a loss,
+to relieve the home market, was at first organized by an association
+of the producers themselves (in 1896). But in 1897 the Government
+developed it by putting a premium on export. The export period lasted
+from 1897 to 1904. The law of 1912, which gives its latest form to
+the Protectionist regime, gives the Government the right to suspend
+for a time the duties on imports and allow foreign sugar to come in.
+As at Mendoza, the provincial Government intervenes as well as the
+national. The alternation of bad and exceptionally good harvests leads
+to the appearance of all sorts of unforeseen laws, modifying the bases
+of taxation, regulating production in the works, and restricting the
+acreage of cultivation.[43] Thus Tucumán has lived in an atmosphere of
+storm and uncertainty and unceasing discussion, of discouragement and
+insecurity; the price of its geographical position at the extreme limit
+of the area in which cane can be grown.
+
+     [43] Especially during the crisis of 1902-3.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE EXPLOITATION OF THE FORESTS
+
+     Manual labour on the _obrajes_--The land of the _bañados_
+     and the agricultural cantons of Corrientes--The timber-yards
+     of the Chaco and the tannic-acid works of the Paraná--The
+     exploitation of the _maté_--The forestry industry and
+     colonization.
+
+
+From the Andes of Tucumán and Salta to the banks of the upper Paraná
+in the province of Misiones the north of Argentina is now a vast
+timber-yard for the exploitation of the forests. It resounds everywhere
+with the axe. This exploitation of the forest is of early origin on
+the river; in the eighteenth century Buenos Aires was supplied with
+wood from the Paraná. In the western Chaco the difficulty of transport
+by land retarded the development of the forestry industry. The only
+market for the timber of Tucumán was the Andean region. It was not sent
+to Mendoza after the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the
+willow was acclimatized in the oases of Cuyo. Below Rosas the wood of
+the _quebracho_ was at first taken in waggons from Santiago to Buenos
+Aires, but this traffic ceased when the river-route was reopened,
+and we do not find it resumed until recent times, when railways were
+constructed.
+
+The outer fringe of the forest and the scrub where the industry has
+had to find labour, is inhabited by a very sparse pastoral population.
+There are, however, besides the thinly populated districts of the
+farms, certain busy hives which lend animation to the scrub. These
+over-populated cantons are districts of cultivation by _bañados_, or
+the cultivation of flood-lands. There is constant intercourse between
+these ancient centres of creole life and the timber-yards of the
+forest. The forestry industry recruits its workers there, on temporary
+contracts. The wages paid are brought back to these centres and spent
+there. They help to maintain social groups of an archaic type, which
+the meagreness of their production would otherwise doom to extinction.
+
+The _bañados_ are scattered over the range of all the sierras within
+the limits reached by the torrents from the mountains before they are
+lost. They also stretch along the two rivers that are considerable
+enough to cross the scrub, the Salado and the Dulce. The course of
+the Bermejo, where the natural conditions are much the same, lies
+outside the sphere of primitive creole colonization. The tilled lands
+are not continuous on the Salado or the Dulce. There are no _bañados_
+wherever the bed of the river is enclosed by high banks which prevent
+flooding. The course of the Salado threads together, in the manner of
+a rosary, three main groups of _bañados_ below 26° S. lat., (Matoque
+and Boqueron) between 27° and 28° S. lat. (Brea), and between 28° and
+29° S. lat. (Le Bracho and Navicha). But the classic country of the
+_bañados_, where they cover the widest extent and sustain the most
+considerable body of population, is the interior delta of the Rio Dulce
+below Santiago del Estero, in the departments of Loreto, Atamisqui, and
+Salavina.
+
+Santiago is situated almost at the top of it. In its upper part the
+Rio Dulce is enclosed between high clay cliffs (department of the Rio
+Hondo). Below Santiago the river seems to run to the top of a sort
+of flattened alluvial cone, over which it wanders. Instances of the
+migration of rivers during the historical period are plentiful in the
+north of the Argentine plain. The scrub is scored east of the Salado
+with a network of dry beds, the edges of which gradually disappear as
+the vegetation extends over them. But there is no other part where
+the erratic nature of the waters is so marked, the vagabondage so
+considerable, as in this section of the basin of the Rio Dulce. The
+small towns of Atamisqui and Salavina, which lived on the waters of the
+Dulce, were suddenly ruined in 1825, when the river, in consequence
+of a particularly violent flood, turned away to the south and lost
+itself in the Salinas Grandes. A canal was dug in 1897 to irrigate the
+district of Loreto, on the left bank of the Dulce, but the entrance
+was badly protected, and the flood of 1901 swept into it, and, guided
+by it, reached the bed it had abandoned a century before, going
+south-eastward toward Atamisqui. That town and Salavina recovered their
+prosperity, while it was necessary to abandon the farms on the Rio des
+Salines, which now has water only during high floods. Actual beds, old
+beds that are always ready to serve again, and traces of canals changed
+and cut by the stream, form a great network in the midst of the plain;
+and the flood rolls to one side or the other according to the road open
+to it, and the facility with which the various elements of the network
+lend themselves to the passage of the water. Such is the land of the
+_bañados_.
+
+You enter it to-day at Loreto station, where the line from Santiago
+to Frias approaches within a few miles of it. This station is erected
+in the midst of the arid _monte_, and owes its existence to the
+neighbouring _bañados_. Turning eastward from the railway, as soon
+as one has crossed the broad, sandy bed of the Rio des Salines, one
+finds oneself in the heart of the _bañados_ farms. The road passes
+between hedges (_cercas_), over the top of which one sees the green of
+the wheat and lucerne. The plots are very small: gardens rather than
+fields. In clearing the ground they have preserved the best-situated
+trees, and the light foliage gives a useful shade to the crops. The
+crown of the _algarrobas_ rises everywhere above the top of the hedges.
+
+The fields do not cover the whole area of the annual inundations.
+They are confined to the part where the flood is fertilizing; where
+it leaves behind it a fine, useful clay which keeps the store of
+moisture for several months. In other places the current is too rapid.
+It furrows the soil, leaves large holes in it like the _lônes_ in the
+flood-area of the Rhone, and sweeps away the barriers; or the water
+brings sterile sand which it deposits in long stretches; or again, if
+it is not drained away in time and evaporates on the spot, it deposits
+the salts it contains, and the land, looking as if it had a white
+leprosy, becomes unfit for vegetation.
+
+The floods begin in summer, during November or December. They are
+caused by the rain-storms in the Tucumán district, and are very
+irregular. Some of the houses are evacuated, and others are protected
+by walls of earth, which are raised from hour to hour according to the
+rise of the waters. Behind these walls the people await the abatement
+of the flood. When the mud which is left behind has the proper
+consistency, they till it and sow wheat. The wheat grows in the winter,
+and is harvested in November quickly, so that the fresh flood may not
+overtake it.
+
+The caprices of the flood compel them frequently to change the sites of
+their houses and fields. The ancient village of Loreto was evacuated
+after a flood, and is now merely a mass of deserted ruins. Round the
+naked trunks of the _algarrobas_, killed by excessive deposits of
+sand or salt, are uniform colonies of plants of the same age and the
+same species, which invade the area where the adult scrub has been
+destroyed. The mill has been rebuilt less than a mile away, and has not
+lost its customers, who have raised their _ranchos_ some distance away.
+The insecurity of the plots has prevented the development of small
+ownership. The farmers are tenants of the ranches, which stretch from
+the river to a considerable distance in the interior.
+
+The use of _bañados_ for agriculture is of long standing. It probably
+goes back to the pre-Columbian period. Father Dobritzhoffer, who
+is the first to refer clearly to it, compares the Rio Dulce to the
+Nile[44]; and in point of fact, the _bañados_ have some resemblance
+to farming in Pharaonic Egypt, while there is nothing like them in
+the irrigated zones of the Andean valleys. The _bañados_ were then
+devoted to the cultivation of wheat and pumpkins. The pumpkin, which
+is of American origin, had not yet been eliminated by wheat, which
+was introduced by the Spaniards. The wheat produced in the _bañados_
+maintained a fairly active export trade at the beginning of the
+nineteenth century, and the _bañados_ were at times called, with some
+exaggeration, the "granary of the Vice-royalty." It is difficult to
+trace accurately the movements of the population of the _bañados_
+because of the constant changes of the administrative areas in the
+province of Santiago. The total population of the province is not now
+more than three per cent. of the total population of Argentina, but its
+comparative importance was much greater in the middle of the nineteenth
+century (nearly eight per cent. at the census of 1861). The departments
+of Loreto, Atamisqui, and Salavina on the Rio Dulce, which live mainly
+on the estates of the _bañados_, comprised 46,000 inhabitants in 1861,
+and only 43,000 in 1895. The Woodbine Parish map and Hutchinson's
+description clearly give one an impression of a dense population in the
+area of the _bañados_. I refer elsewhere to the antiquity and constancy
+of the streams of temporary immigration which spread the population of
+the _bañados_ over a large part of the territory of Argentina.[45] The
+temporary emigration of the Santiagueños is distributed amongst most
+of the provinces of central and northern Argentina, but it is chiefly
+of interest in connection with the frontier region. The Santiagueño is
+a woodman above all else, and the forest area has the advantage over
+the other labour-markets of wanting workers at all seasons, summer or
+winter, whereas the sugar-cane harvest at Tucumán and the harvest in
+the south only last a few months. They emigrate from the _bañados_
+to Tucumán in May; to Córdoba and Santa Fé in October, November and
+December; but to the forests of the Chaco all the year round.
+
+     [44] _Historia de Abiponibus._
+
+     [45] See the chapter on population.
+
+  [Illustration: THE LAND OF THE BAÑADOS.
+  _On the Rio Dulce, near Loreto, in the dry season. Its actual bed,
+  excavated at a recent date by a flood in soft clay, is not yet
+  stable._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: LORETO: FARMING BY INUNDATION.
+  _In the zone of the scrub, where the floods of the Rio Dulce spread.
+  The interior delta of the Rio Dulce is one of the earliest centres of
+  population in Argentina._                   Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE IX.                                            To face p. 100.]
+
+Apart from the _bañados_ of the Dulce and the Salado, the province of
+Corrientes contains the main reservoir from which the timber industry
+drew its manual workers. Just as at Santiago del Estero, one finds
+at Corrientes also the opposition between agricultural and breeding
+districts which is so common in the older colonized regions of South
+America. The _estancieros_ (ranchers), who are breeders, are the
+masters of Corrientes, but the line of low hills of sand and red
+clay, punctuated by lagoons, which crosses the north-western corner
+of the province, is not subject to their domination. There the land
+is subdivided; there are once more fields. Tobacco was an article of
+export for this fraction of Corrientes, especially after the political
+isolation of Paraguay, the chief producer of tobacco in the nineteenth
+century. During the whole of the first half of the nineteenth century
+the tobacco-buyers travelled all over Corrientes after the harvest, in
+January and February. The fertile soil, moreover, with a mild climate
+in which tropical plants flourish as well as those of the temperate
+zone, provides the elements of a local comfort which is complete in
+itself. Here again agricultural colonization has created a relatively
+dense nucleus of population, capable of great increase. Although the
+administrative divisions do not exactly correspond with the natural
+divisions, the unequal distribution of the population in Corrientes
+is made plain by the figures given in the census of 1895. The density
+rises in the agricultural areas to eight inhabitants per square
+kilometre, in the department of Bellavista; ten at San Cosma; fourteen
+at Lomas; thirty at San Roque. It is only between one and two in the
+purely pastoral departments (Concepción and Mercedes).
+
+Corrientes also has its forests, and in these we find most of the
+species of the forests of the Chaco, in straight lines, along the
+water-courses, and in somewhat larger patches on the tablelands which
+separate the lower valleys near the Paraná. They at first supplied the
+Curupai bark which was used in the Corrientes tanneries. The yards for
+the construction of river-boats emigrated from Paraguay to Corrientes
+at the beginning of the nineteenth century, at the same time and for
+the same reasons as the tobacco trade. The exploiting of the red
+_quebracho_ did not begin until about 1850. In 1887 Virasoro relates
+that fifty ships are engaged in loading with Nandubai timber on the
+banks of the Rio Corrientes and transporting it to Rosario.[46] Born on
+the left bank of the Paraná, the forestry industry emigrated toward the
+end of the century to the right bank, whither the workers of Corrientes
+followed it.
+
+
+     [46] Val. Virasoro, "Los esteros y lagunas del Ibera" in _Bol.
+     Instit. Geog. Argent._ (vi. 1887; pp. 305-31).
+
+We find the same movement further north, on the Paraguay. The
+exploitation of the woods is in that case a very old industry on
+the tributaries of the left bank. D'Azara draws attention to its
+importance.[47] Robertson found, when he went from Corrientes to
+Asunción in 1814, a population of wood-cutters in the marshy belt near
+the river. During floods they took refuge in the agricultural cantons
+of the frontier on high ground, where they were well received. It
+seems, then, that wood-cutting was already a seasonal industry at this
+time. The exploitation of the forests is now rapidly invading the right
+bank, which was long abandoned to the wild Indians.
+
+     [47] _Diario de la navegacion y reconocimiento del Rio
+     Tibicuari_ (Coll. de Angelis, vol. ii.).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Santiagueños and Correntinos do not mix. The two zones of expansion
+and of forestry, of which they are the pioneers, are independent of
+each other. The _quechua_, which is the language of the _bañados_ of
+the Rio Dulce, is spoken in the timber-yards of the Chaco de Santiago;
+the _guarani_, the language of Corrientes and the Paraguay, is most
+common along the river, in the Chaco de Santa Fé. Their respective
+spheres will not come into touch with each other until the Quimili
+branch of the Central Norte Railway, which comes from the Santiago
+province, joins the line of penetration at Resistencia, on the Paraná,
+in the west.
+
+The forestry industry of the interior and that of the river-districts
+differ not only in the character of the workers, but in their
+organization and their market. The variety of red _quebracho_ which
+is exploited in the west is not quite the same as the variety that is
+found in the east. Each has a name of its own--_quebracho santiagueño_
+and _quebracho chaqueño_. The former contains ten per cent. of tannin,
+the latter thirty per cent. The former is cut down for timber, the
+latter in order to extract the tannic acid. The one is sold in
+Argentina, and the other sent abroad.
+
+The working of the timber at Santiago has remained in the hands of a
+number of small capitalists and contractors who do not own the land
+and do not work there. They are content to buy in small amounts and
+according to the demand at the moment, the right to exploit the forests
+(_derecho de monte or derecho de leña_). The trunks of exceptionally
+large _quebracho_ provide logs that are sold by cubic measurement, but
+the district of the _quebracho santiagueño_ mainly exports sleepers.
+_Quebracho_ sleepers have been used in constructing the railways, both
+narrow and broad gauge, during the last twenty years on the Pampa.
+Tall and thin trees make telegraph posts; the smaller branches make
+stakes for wire fences. In parts of the bush where there is no red
+_quebracho_, the _retamo_ is used, to make posts for enclosures, and
+also the white _quebracho_, which is sold in round logs. Finally,
+the forests provide wood for fuel. The works at Tucumán, and the
+locomotives over a good part of the land, use wood-fuel. The wood of
+the red _quebracho_, if left for some years in the yards where the
+sleepers are made and is rid of the sap-wood, which rots and falls
+out--the _leña campana_--is excellent fuel. Charcoal is cheaper to
+transport than the wood, and can therefore be sent farther over the
+whole prairie district. It is made in the _monte_, along all the
+railways, and especially in the thinner forests on the edge of the
+prairie.
+
+The forestry of the interior is unstable as well as scattered and
+primitive. The equipment--saws that are easily taken down and set
+up--is not costly, and does not require much capital. When one canton
+of the forest has been exhausted, the saws are taken down and removed.
+The cuttings are not made in such a way as to allow the forest to
+recover, and so permit a continuous exploitation. Everything of any
+value is taken. The _quebracho_ is, moreover, a tree of slow growth.
+The forestry industry has at times returned, after an interval, to land
+that had been stripped, but that is not because they had planted a new
+generation of trees. It is because it became profitable, as the state
+of the market and the cost of transport changed, to cut down the small
+trees which had not been considered good enough on the earlier occasion.
+
+When the master _obrajero_ removes, he is followed by the greater part
+of the workers. But to induce them to emigrate, or to recruit cutters
+in the _bañados_ who will agree to work in remote or new districts,
+he has to be liberal and offer higher wages. Hence the conditions
+of work and the rate of wage are not the same in every part of the
+forest. The oldest area of working, which is crossed by the Central
+Córdoba, between the provinces of Catamarca and Santiago del Estero,
+has a surplus of good workers. On the other hand, the _obrajeros_ of
+the valley from San Francisco to Jujuy, where the exploitation is more
+recent, have only a moderate amount of labour at their command. The
+returns are not higher there than in the south, though the forests
+are incomparably denser and richer. It has been very expensive to
+bring about a continuous stream of immigration toward the main region
+of forest work, which is now called the Chaco, along the railway that
+starts from Añatuya and goes about 130 miles further north. As the
+worker is on piece-work, the price per sleeper when the work was begun
+on the Chaco had to be double, on the Añatuya line, what was paid in
+the older line from Santiago to Frias, close to the _bañados_.
+
+The work is profitable only within a short distance from the railways.
+Waggon transport raises the price rapidly. Moreover, the forestry
+industry is just as dependent on the railways for provisions as it is
+for the carriage of its wood. The _obraje_ has no source of food-supply
+on the spot. The marshy estates which begin to spread in the area of
+irrigation-canals at Banda, eastward of Santiago del Estero, supply
+only their customers at Añatuya and the Chaco line. Sometimes the
+railway has to bring water as well as food. Over a great part of the
+Chaco de Santiago there is no running water, and the underground sheets
+are little known, or inaccessible, or salty. The _obraje_ is a land of
+thirst. In order to meet the demand for water they dig reservoirs like
+the _represas_ on the ranches, which are filled by the rains. But as
+soon as the dry season sets in they become stagnant green pools, and
+the men have to rely on waggon-cisterns.
+
+While the Chaco de Santiago is now a democracy of small _obrajeros_ and
+contractors, the eastern Chaco, along the Paraná, has quite a different
+type of society. It is entirely in the hands of the big tannic-acid
+factories, where the _quebracho_ trunks are stripped and boiled, and
+their sap is concentrated in a viscous resin. The lofty chimneys of
+these works rise above the forest at intervals. Here the work assumes
+a capitalistic and industrial character which it has not in other
+places. It is controlled by powerful concerns, highly organized, which
+conduct it on a pre-arranged plan. It is true that the works do not
+deal with the entire output of _quebracho_,[48] but they almost control
+the market, even as regards the unworked wood which is exported, and
+they reserve a good deal of it for their branches in Europe. In order
+to secure the heavy loans which the works represent, the companies
+that have built them have been obliged to take over large forests,
+and they have come to own these. The concentration of the area in
+their hands goes on daily, and the number of companies is reduced by
+amalgamation or by the purchase of rival concerns and their estates. On
+the territory of the Chaco, where the administration of public lands
+was in the hands of the Federal Government, some precautions were taken
+to prevent the monopoly of the country; but the forests of the province
+of Santa Fé belong entirely to two firms.
+
+     [48] It is more and more necessary to deal with the extract of
+     the _quebracho_ on the spot the further north one goes toward
+     the interior of the continent because the freights to the
+     exporting ports rise higher and higher.
+
+The eastern Chaco has received from Europe, not only the capital that
+was needed for the construction of works, but also a number of workers,
+either for administration or for technical direction. These have proved
+more exacting than the creoles of the Santiago saw-mills. Beside most
+of the works there are now comfortable villas and brick towns for the
+workers. The expense was quite prudently incurred, as the industry is
+less erratic in this region. A tannic-acid factory cannot be removed
+like a saw-mill. When the timber-supply is exhausted in the district,
+the works gets its material from a distance, as long as the freightage
+permits. It depends on the railway, not only for the carriage of its
+products, as the saw-mills do, but for the supply of raw material.
+
+The works are not all equally wealthy. They are scattered over about
+ten degrees of latitude, north of 30° S. lat., within reach of the
+river, which keeps them in communication with the world, and at the
+same time has enabled them to tackle the full breadth of the forest.
+The _quebracho_ is particularly abundant north of Santa Fé and south
+of the Argentine part of the Chaco, where it is the life and soul of
+the forest. The works which have been set up there, in the midst of the
+denser forests, have plenty of capital, and this enables them to nurse
+their supplies and buy timber at a distance. The forest is still almost
+virginal at their gates, so that they have a long future in front of
+them. On the other hand, the oldest works, on the southern fringe of
+the forest, and that of Corrientes, on the left bank of the Paraná, are
+already paralysed for want of timber.
+
+The works are all at a short distance from the river; not only for
+convenience of exporting their products, but because this is the only
+part of the Chaco where one can find fresh water. And the tannic-acid
+factory needs a great deal of fresh water. Along the river, in a belt
+about thirty to sixty miles wide, we find a permanent hydrographic
+network such as is found nowhere else on the plain. It consists of long
+series of marshes covered with rushes (_cañadas_), and in places they
+become at their mouths regular streams with well defined beds. The
+underground water also is generally fresh and plentiful, whether it is
+due to the abundant rain or to infiltration from the Paraná, and many
+of the works have successfully bored for it. In these parts one suffers
+from too much water as frequently as from thirst. On these immense and
+almost horizontal surfaces the water spreads from the _cañadas_ over
+the whole forest. The railway, and even the houses, then stand out of
+a sheet of stagnant water, which takes months to disappear. Trunks
+which are badly placed, lying in the stations to be removed--sometimes,
+according to the market, lying there for years--are half buried in the
+mud. The waggons find it hard to move in the roads. Mules, which pay
+very well in the dry forests of the west, could not make the effort
+that is required here, and they use oxen--the finest beasts for a muddy
+country. The long-horned, lean creole cattle drag the waggons with
+difficulty, and a _correntino_, with long slender legs, shod with mud,
+guides and urges them, looking like a crane with his slow and cautious
+steps. The work of these drivers is much harder than that of the
+wood-cutters. They earn nearly twice as much, and it is the difficulty
+of getting enough men for this work that keeps down production.
+
+The importance and stability of the large works has fixed the labour
+market on the right bank of the Paraná, and there is no need to go to
+Corrientes to look for men. They come of their own accord. A daily
+service of small steamers brings them to all the ports which dispatch
+_quebracho_. The left bank, on Argentine territory, has also no hiring
+centre, such as there still are at Asunción and Concepción in Paraguay.
+
+Even on its own land the works leaves the working of the forest to
+contractors, from whom it buys the timber. But the _obrajeros_, whether
+they work in the company's forests or their own, are very dependent
+upon the works. The contracts vary according as they are owners or
+otherwise; according to whether they undertake to deliver the timber at
+the stations or leave it where it is felled; and according to whether
+they have the requisite oxen and waggons or have to loan these from the
+company. They draw advances from the company, and, on the other hand,
+they pledge themselves to purchase what they require for their workers
+at the company's stores. The profit of these sales increases the
+revenue of the works. The company monopolizes all trade, both import
+and export. It exercises an absolute sovereignty over the forest.
+It has merely deigned to grant the railway company space enough to
+construct its lines and its stations.
+
+The last forestry centre in modern Argentina is in the province
+of Misiones on the upper Paraná. Posadas is its chief station, and
+protects its southern outlet. Its influence extends beyond the
+Argentine frontier, over a small part of Brazil and Paraguay. In
+Misiones there are two types of forest, which differ a good deal from
+each other, while neither resembles the _quebracho_ forest. One is the
+forest of araucarias (_pinos_) which covers the elevated tablelands
+at a height above 2,000 feet. The other is the tropical forest, rich
+in essences and of perennial vegetation, which fills the bottoms and
+slopes of the valleys. The pine, which is also much worked on the
+Brazilian tableland, yields an excellent white wood, suitable instead
+of the northern pine. It would find a ready market at Buenos Aires,
+but it has never been worked on Argentine territory because of the
+great distance of the woods from a navigable river. On account of its
+position on the tableland the araucaria has to wait for the railways
+of some future date.[49] As to the leafy tropical forest it includes
+a number of useful varieties (_timbo_, _lapacho_, _etc._), but the
+most esteemed of all is the cedar. Its wood is rose-coloured, scented,
+and fine-grained, and very suitable for furniture. At the time of
+D'Orbigny's travels the inhabitants of Corrientes were looking out for
+cedars from the mountains brought down the river when in flood. The
+_obrajes_ of cedar-wood now extend twenty miles or so on the Argentine
+bank, and forty miles in the Paraguay bank, which is more even and
+better for transport. The trunks are floated in rafts down to Posadas;
+as the cedar, which is less dense than the _quebracho_, not only
+floats, but is improved by parting with sap in the water. At Posadas
+the rafts are taken to pieces, and the trunks are delivered to the
+saw-mills.
+
+     [49] In Brazil the saw-mills for the araucarian pines are
+     established along the São Paolo-Rio Grande Railway.
+
+But timber is not the chief forest industry in Misiones, as it is on
+the Chaco. Beside the _obraje_ in the forest there is the _yerbal_,
+a works for dealing with the _maté_ (_Ilex paraguayensis_). It
+is well known that an infusion of _maté_ (a kind of tea) is an
+important element in the food of the western States of South America.
+Gathering the leaves of the _maté_ has been a profitable occupation
+for centuries: a unique instance, perhaps, in the forest industries
+of South America. It has never been interrupted, though it has often
+changed its locality.
+
+The plantations made by the Jesuits were abandoned when the
+missionaries were dispersed. After the close of the eighteenth century
+Paraguay became the chief area of production. Villa Rica seems to have
+been the most prolific centre of the _yerba_. After that date, however,
+the Jujuy basin, further north, was exploited, and the _yerbateros_,
+who came from Curuguati, advanced eastward as far as the Falls of
+the Guayra on the Paraná. In the nineteenth century the trade in
+Paraguay _maté_ seems to have suffered less than the tobacco trade
+from the policy of isolation adopted by the Dictators of Paraguay. The
+descriptions given by Mariano Molas, Demersay, and others, show that
+the business continued fairly actively. It even extended northward,
+and reached as far as the Rio Apa. Villa Concepción became a rival
+_yerba_ market to Villa Rica. The monopoly exercised by the Paraguay
+Government, however, and the restrictions put upon the navigation
+of the river, led to the development of the _yerba_ industry in the
+eastern Misiones on the left bank of the Uruguay. Itaquy served as
+port of embarkation. In the last third of the nineteenth century the
+yards moved from the left to the right bank of the Uruguay. Since
+1870 the Paraná has supplanted the Uruguay, and the _yerba_ trade has
+concentrated at Candelaria. This meant the resurrection of Misiones.
+In 1880 San Javier, on the Uruguay, worked up 800 tons of _yerba_,
+and Candelaria more than 1,000 tons. The _yerbales_ round San Javier
+began to run out, and the _yerbateros_ had to go further and further
+up the Uruguay, toward the _yerbales_ of the tableland of Fracan and
+San Pedro. Candelaria was mainly fed by the _yerbales_ of the right
+bank of the Paraná, on Paraguayan territory. Posadas has now succeeded
+Candelaria, and the _yerbales_ that depend upon it are scattered over
+both banks up the Paraná.
+
+The _yerbales_ of Misiones lie outside the tropical forest proper.
+They are on the lower fringe of the pine-forest, and begin at some
+distance from the river, with which they are connected by muddy and
+difficult mule-tracks. _Maté_ can bear a cost of transport that would
+be fatal to timber. At the point where these tracks reach the river,
+the river-steamers stop at the foot of a shed that is almost hidden in
+the foliage. These are the "ladders" of the _yerbales_.
+
+Work in the _yerbales_ lasts six months out of the twelve. The pruners
+who collect the bunches of leaves and bring them to the furnaces, where
+they are dried, include Brazilians, Paraguayans and Argentinians. The
+Brazilians go to the _yerbal_ to offer their services. The Paraguayans
+and Argentinians, nearly all from the province of Corrientes, are
+recruited at Posadas and the sister-town of Encarnación, which is
+opposite to it on the Paraguay bank.
+
+The hiring at Posadas is done according to a traditional custom that
+does not seem to have changed for more than a century. The description
+given by D'Azara is not yet out of date. "The people of Villa Rica,"
+he says, "depend mainly on being hired for the _yerbales_. The _yerba_
+industry is sometimes profitable to the masters, but never to the
+natives, who work cruelly without any profit. Not only are they paid
+in goods for the _yerba_ they gather, but the goods are put at so high
+a price that it is terrible. They have even to pay for the hire of a
+bill for cutting the _maté_.... The natives contract as much debt as
+they can before they start for the _yerbales_, and as soon as they have
+done a little work, they say good-bye to the _yerbatero_, who loses
+his money. And the _yerbatero_ in turn is exploited by the merchants
+who control him." Before he starts for the _yerbal_, says Robertson,
+the contractor (_habilitado_) gets an advance of four or five thousand
+piastres. With this he hires about fifty workers, supplies their needs,
+and gives them two or three months' pay in advance. The three essential
+and inseparable elements of the _maté_ business are the _yerbal_ in the
+forest, a shop at Posadas for hiring and paying wages in advance, and a
+_yerba_ mill at Rosario or Buenos Aires.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The forestry industry in its various forms is not a definite occupation
+of the soil by man. After having stripped the forest, it leaves,
+and the land is open for colonization. Nearly everywhere there is a
+complete separation between forestry and permanent colonization. They
+do not employ the same workers; the wood-cutter (_hachador_) and the
+charcoal-burner are not the men who clear the soil. The clearing away
+of the stumps, which must precede agricultural work, is not their
+business, but the work of diggers. At Tucumán, where most of the
+workers in the cane-fields are Santiagueños, Italians and Spaniards are
+used for clearing the soil. The gangs of Mendocinos who go to cut crops
+in the bush round Villa Mercedes will not sign on for clearing the
+ground in order to plant lucerne.
+
+  [Illustration: LORETO. THE RIO PINTO IN THE DRY SEASON.
+  _One of the arms through which the flood of the Dulce flows._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: LA BANDA (SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO).
+  _Irrigated lucerne fields on the left bank of the Rio Dulce. Zone
+  of modern colonization: a contrast with the older farms of the
+  flood-zone._                               Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE X.                                             To face p. 112.]
+
+The history of forestry and colonization is one of the most diversified
+chapters in the general economic history of modern Argentina. Round the
+region of the Pampas, the first point where agricultural colonization
+came into touch with the forest belt is the district of the older
+colonies of Santa Fé. There it found the forestry industry already
+long established, on the banks both of the Salado and of the Paraná.
+The export of timber and charcoal to Buenos Aires and the lime-kilns
+of Entre Rios was at this time one of the few elements of economic
+life which Santa Fé had preserved. The colonists did not enter the
+forest, and did not mingle with the charcoal-burners, but they
+profited indirectly from their presence by selling them maize. Later,
+agricultural work spread over the Central Pampa and the province of
+Córdoba, as far as the edge of the scrub in all parts of the prairie.
+Wood-cutting is carried on there, on a small scale, everywhere, at Toay
+as well as at Villa Mercedes and Villa Maria. The price of the wood he
+sells is a small supplementary income to the farmer, and clearing the
+soil helps to fill up his time during the dead season for agriculture.
+The lands covered with brushwood remained for a long time at a lower
+price than cleared land. They thus formed a sort of reserve which
+partly escaped the speculations in land, and on which small owners
+can find a footing more easily than on the Pampa. There is to-day a
+movement of Santa Fecinos eastward and southward in the belt of scrub
+to the south of Mar Chiquita along the line from Lehmann to Dean Funes.
+
+The forest area of the Chaco, in northern Argentina, between the Andes
+and the Paraná, seems on the other hand to be intended for pastoral
+colonization. In point of fact, the forest of the Chaco, as well as the
+lighter scrub which is its southern extension, can be used for breeding
+without preliminary labour. The Indians have fed cattle and horses on
+it since the seventeenth century. The herds find food on every side,
+both in the very numerous clearings (_abras_) which cross the forest
+and in the forest itself, where the underwood and the herbaceous
+carpet grow fairly thick beneath the scanty foliage of the mimosas and
+quebrachos.
+
+Over a good deal of the western Chaco pastoral colonization is earlier
+than the forestry. In the district of Santiago del Estero the farmers
+had advanced far beyond the wood-cutter and the railway; beyond the
+Salado, almost as far as the existing line from Añatuya to Tintina,
+where there are sheets and wells of fresh water. The old ranches go
+as far as Alhuampa. The old pastoral population has taken very little
+part in the forestry industry. It has been content to profit by it by
+renting the scrub to the _obrajes_. It was a sheer gift to them, as
+the felling of a few trees does not in the least lower the value of the
+pasture. The forestry has not entailed any change in the ownership of
+the land or in the breeding methods. The _obrajes_ are merely passing
+guests whose traces are quickly obliterated.
+
+In the eastern Chaco, however, the wood-cutters are real pioneers. It
+is they who have made the conquest of the forest, often in direct touch
+with the Indians, and the ownership of the land fell to them. They
+have themselves played an essential part in the actual development of
+breeding.
+
+Leaving the river and travelling toward the forest on the west, one
+first crosses a narrow belt of estates which form an almost unbroken
+line from San Javier to Resistencia. These are old colonies, mostly
+founded about 1870, at the same time as the first colonies in the
+centre of Santa Fé. They had the advantage of being within reach of the
+river-route, the network of railways that serves the colonies of Santa
+Fé not being constructed until after 1880. They have not shown the same
+capacity for extension as the colonies on the prairie, but they are
+firmly rooted, on high and well-drained land, very different from the
+clays of the Chaco, where the alluvial beds of the Paraná alternate
+with stuff that seems to come from the left bank. They grow flax,
+earth-nuts, sugar cane, and cotton. Behind this slight agricultural
+façade are the large estates of the factories. In the division of the
+land the industrial firms sought the districts which were richest
+in _quebracho_. Buyers of land who had no industrial plans--foreign
+capitalists and Porteños--and who obtained large concessions in
+little-known regions, sold back to the factories the plots where there
+was plenty of wood, after they had taken stock of their property. They
+converted the remainder into _estancias_ (ranches). The district to
+the north of the Central Norte Railway, from San Cristobal to Tostado,
+where the forest, which will presently yield to the plain, breaks
+into patches and looks like a park, includes a number of these modern
+_estancias_, in which lucerne is beginning to replace the grasses of
+the natural vegetation.
+
+  [Illustration: QUEBRACHO TRUNKS LYING AT THE STATIONS.
+  _Eastern Chaco, on the Resistencia line (Santa Fé province). Here the
+  quebracho is exploited for tannic acid, not sleepers_.
+                                             Photographs by the Author.
+  PLATE XI.                                            To face p. 116.]
+
+When one passes to the interior, the pastoral industry at once assumes
+a more primitive character. The _quebracho_ concerns themselves go in
+for breeding, in order to make use of their large estates, when the
+timber has been removed but the works have not yet been set up. They
+need a large number of cattle, both for moving the timber and feeding
+their workers, and they endeavour to meet their needs themselves. In
+this district the forest is capable of feeding a far heavier herd than
+is the more arid scrub of the eastern Chaco. There are often a thousand
+head of cattle to 2,500 hectares. To the north and west of that part
+of the forest where the big companies have taken over the whole of the
+land, in the province of Chaco, a fairly large number of estates has
+been created. Further still, on either side of the Bermejo, cattle
+from Corrientes and the Paraguay have been put on the public lands
+by men with no rights. As their future is uncertain, they cannot do
+any expensive work, such as making wells, reservoirs, and enclosures.
+Sometimes they are compelled by drought to fall back upon the river.
+
+Conditions are quite different in the forests of Misiones. The damp
+forest of Misiones does not lend itself to breeding. While the
+forest-workers on the west of the Paraná eat fresh meat, thanks to the
+proximity of the breeders, in the _yerbales_ and _obrajes_ of Misiones,
+the use of dried or "jerked" meat (_carne seca_), which is brought
+some distance, has remained the common practice, as it is in most
+parts of tropical America. On the other hand, there is now developing
+in Misiones an agricultural colonization of an original kind, quite
+distinct from the ordinary Argentinian type. This is because Misiones
+is a province apart in Argentina. It really belongs, by its geological
+structure and its climate, to the Brazilian tableland. The colonies
+in Misiones are merely an extension into Argentine territory of the
+great belt of colonies of southern Brazil, which stretches from the
+neighbourhood of Santa Catalina and the Rio Grande do Sul to the River
+Paraguay. The Brazilian type of colonization is based upon work with
+the hoe, in clearings that have been made in the forest by the axe and
+by fire. Ordinary farming would be impracticable between the large
+stumps which the clearers have to leave in the ground, to rot there
+slowly. It would, moreover, be useless, as the land, though rich in
+humus, is light and aërated. The red soil, a decomposition-product
+of the diabases which are at the root of all agricultural wealth
+in southern Brazil, covers a great part of Misiones. The economic
+inferiority of this agricultural colonization in the forest to the
+Pampean type which has conquered the grassy plains of the Rio de la
+Plata, is twofold. On the one hand, the surface that a man can develop
+is very small. The plots of the Brazilian colonies are ten times
+smaller than the average estate on the Pampa. On the other hand, it is
+difficult to get about in the forest, and this hinders the export of
+the produce.
+
+The colonies in Misiones are still confined to the edge of the
+great forest, into which they will advance as the agricultural
+population grows. They form two groups: one on the river above Posadas
+(Candelaria, Bonpland, Corpus, San Ignacio, and Santa Ana), the other
+on the slopes of the hills, above the line from Posadas to Uruguay (San
+José and Apostoles). Foodstuffs, tobacco, fowl and eggs, which they
+now send by rail as far as Buenos Aires, are their chief resources.
+As it is possible for them to reach the big markets of the Pampas,
+by river or rail, they have a certain advantage over the Brazilian
+colonies. On the other hand, the various elements of their population
+are inferior. They are very mixed, comprising aboriginals--relics of
+the ancient Indian or half-breed population of Misiones who have got
+land but are in no hurry to cultivate it--Poles (grouped in a few
+villages, such as Apostoles and San José), and German-Brazilians from
+the left bank of the Uruguay. At the present time there is a constant
+stream of German-Brazilians through the province of Misiones, to embark
+at Posadas, sail up the Paraná, and settle, further north, in Matto
+Grosso. No doubt it would be possible to induce part of them to settle
+on Argentinian territory by offering them suitable land.
+
+These peasant clearers of the land rarely find means to sell their
+timber. The tropical forest has an immense variety of species, but only
+a few of these are of value. The _obrajero_ does not cut down the whole
+forest; he chooses his victims. In the waste land of the colonist it is
+by no means possible to utilize everything. Even in the area where the
+forestry industry flourishes, trunks with no faults, felled in order to
+make room for farming, are pitilessly burned and destroyed.
+
+Yet the indirect advantages of the forestry to agriculture are
+numerous. Just as in the whole of southern Brazil, it affords a good
+market for agricultural produce. The crops from the colonies are stored
+in the shops at Posadas, and from there they go to the _obrajes_ and
+_yerbales_. In addition, the industry finds work for more men. On
+the Rio Grande do Sul, and later on the Paraná, the wages paid for
+collecting _maté_ have long been the surest resource of the colonies,
+and it is this that enabled them to subsist during the difficulties
+of their early period. In Misiones the attraction of the _yerbales_
+is not so strongly felt by the inhabitants. There are comparatively
+few colonists who are willing to leave their plots and hire themselves
+for distant work. The _yerbales_ find their recruits, not amongst
+the immigrants from Europe, but amongst the ancient _pobladores_;
+that is to say, men who hold land without a title, whose position was
+recognized when the colony was formed--a floating population, not
+deeply rooted in the soil.
+
+Agricultural colonization in turn will react upon the forestry industry
+in developing the cultivation of _maté_. Large plantations of _ilex_
+have already been established above Posadas. Already they enter
+the common life. They are scattered either over the estates of the
+national colonies or over the larger estates of the richer colonists;
+for planting demands a considerable expenditure. Some of them belong
+to dealers who also work natural _yerbales_ elsewhere. They are, if
+possible, set up in the forest, or at least on the fringe of it,
+in order to have a good supply of wood to dry the leaves. Thus the
+primitive industry of collecting _maté_ is undergoing transformation
+while the natural growths are disappearing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+PATAGONIA AND SHEEP-REARING
+
+     The arid tableland and the region of glacial lakes--The
+     first settlements on the Patagonian coast and the indigenous
+     population--Extensive breeding--The use of pasture on the
+     lands of the Rio Negro--Transhumation.
+
+
+The northern limit of the Patagonian region passes to the north of the
+Colorado, in the latitude of the Cerro Payen and of the ridge which
+leads from Malarüe to the Rio Grande in the sub-Andean zone (36° S.
+lat)., and to the Sierra de Lihuel Calel in the southern part of the
+Pampa province. South of this line, from the Andes to the Atlantic,
+on the territory of the Neuquen, the Rio Negro, the Chubut, and the
+Santa Cruz, is the region of the sheep farms, their refuge since more
+profitable branches of farming have driven the sheep from the Pampa.
+The extensive breeding practised on these poor lands is not profitable
+enough to justify much expenditure, and is therefore all the more
+controlled by the physical conditions. It is true that cattle-breeding
+was once undertaken in the Spanish settlements of the lower Negro, and
+still exists in western Patagonia at the foot of the Andes, but one
+never finds there the particular combination of cattle-breeding and
+sheep-breeding which is characteristic of the Pampean region, in which
+the main function of the cattle is to improve the pasture and make it
+ready for sheep.
+
+The climate is trying. The west winds are violent during the greater
+part of the year, especially on the coast, and merely relax a little
+in the winter. The mean temperature on the Atlantic coast falls nearly
+one degree for each degree of latitude (14.6° at San Antonio, below 41°
+S. lat.; 8.5° at Santa Cruz, below 50° S. lat.; and 5.3° at Ushuaia,
+below 55° S. lat.). The summer temperature falls even more steeply,
+but the difference is less notable in winter (21.4° at San Antonio,
+14° at Santa Cruz, and 9.2° at Ushuaia). The low summer temperature
+does not allow cereals to ripen south of the Chubut. In the sub-Andean
+valleys the summer is comparatively warm (16° in January at Diez y
+seis de Octubre at a height of 1,800 feet), but there is severe frost,
+especially at the beginning of the winter, and no month of the year is
+quite free from it.
+
+Rain is plentiful in the Cordillera, and on its western border: 800
+millimetres at Junin, nearly two metres at San Martin (which the wet
+westerly winds reach by the gap of Lake Lacar), and nearly a metre at
+Bariloche, on Lake Nahuel Huapi. It diminishes rapidly, however, as
+soon as one leaves the mountainous region and goes further east over
+the tableland. The whole tableland has a rainfall of less than 200
+millimetres (Las Lajas 180, Limay 150, San Antonio 180, Santa Cruz
+135). It is only south of the Rio de Santa Cruz that the rainfall rises
+once more (Gallegos 400 millimetres, Ushuaia 500 millimetres). Hence
+Patagonia as a whole is, with the exception of a narrow belt at the
+foot of the Andes, a semi-arid region with a sub-desert climate. In the
+Patagonian Andes the rain falls, as on the coast of Chile, mainly in
+winter. Between Mendoza, which has the summer-rain feature of central
+and tropical Argentina, and Chosmalal, in the Neuquen Andes, the
+contrast is absolute. The summer months there (January and February)
+are dry, and the rain is confined to the winter months, from May to
+August. It is the same further south, at Bariloche and at Diez y seis
+de Octubre. On the Atlantic coast the winter-rain feature is less
+regular and uniform. At San Antonio the heaviest rains fall in autumn
+(April and May). There is a secondary maximum in August, and a few more
+showers in the spring (September and October). South of San Antonio the
+winter maximum, which is always marked, is cut by a short dry period
+(July and August at Camerones, June at Deseado and Santa Cruz).[50]
+In the interior, on the other hand, the winter-rain system remains
+unchanged. The predominance of the precipitations of the cold season is
+of great importance to the breeders. As a rule, they come down in the
+form of snow, which melts slowly, and the small quantity of moisture is
+at least all absorbed in the soil. South of the Santa Cruz the humidity
+increases, but the rainy season alters. At Gallegos the wettest month
+is December; at Ushuaia, the rains last from September to March. The
+snow-season (May-August) is the dry season, and the snowfalls are not
+heavy enough to interfere with breeding.
+
+     [50] This anomaly is doubtless due to the proximity of the sea
+     and the respite of the westerly winds in winter. The coast,
+     with its cold waters and the land-winds causing the deeper
+     water to rise, has a special climate of fogs and mists. These,
+     which remind us of the _garuas_ of the coast of Peru, do not
+     penetrate into the interior.
+
+The surface of the Patagonian tableland is very uneven, though it bears
+traces of having been much worn by the agencies of its desert climate,
+which seems to have lasted through the whole Tertiary Era. Going up
+the Rio Negro, one sees the grey sandstones and Tertiary tufas which
+form the cliffs, on both sides of the lower valley. They give place
+higher up to the variegated marls and red sandstones of the Cretaceous
+which form the tableland at the foot of the first Andean chains. The
+core of ancient granites and porphyries crops up at places from under
+the mantle of Cretaceous and Tertiary sandstones. The horizon of the
+peneplain passes from the Tertiary and Cretaceous tableland to level
+masses of crystalline rock, the contour of which has been almost
+entirely effaced. Volcanic eruptions have occurred until quite recent
+times, and so eruptive areas are the salient features of the tableland,
+at Añecon and at Somuncurra, south of the district of the Rio Negro,
+in the ridge on the left bank of the middle Senguerr, in the Chubut
+province. The basalts have spread out in sheets, the surface of which
+seems to have cooled not long ago. Basalt flows are found as far as
+northern Patagonia, south of Valcheta and Maquinchao; but their chief
+seat is in eastern Patagonia. They cover the inhospitable tablelands to
+the east of Lakes Buenos Aires and Pueyrredon. The Rio Chico and the
+Santa Cruz cross them for the upper two-thirds of their course, South
+of Coile and Gallegos they spread almost to the coast, and the Tertiary
+Pampas in this part are dominated by an archipelago of small volcanic
+cones.
+
+The tableland is crossed from west to east by deep and broad valleys,
+enclosed between high cliffs, often strangled by ridges of basaltic or
+crystalline rock, and very little ramified. The ravines (_cañadones_),
+which make breaches in their cliffs on both sides, go only a little way
+into the sandstone Pampa or the lava tableland. Only a certain number
+of these valleys are occupied by important rivers (the Rio Negro and
+the Santa Cruz, for instance) which are born in the Andes, but receive
+little addition from the light rains of eastern Patagonia. Most of
+the valleys have only intermittent streams (Sheuen, Coile) or are
+altogether dry and sown with salt lakes (Deseado). The west wind is now
+the ruler of this network of fossil valleys. It carves their slopes,
+and brings into them sand, with which it makes dunes.
+
+We must not confuse with these dead valleys the long depressions, with
+no outlet, which are scattered over the granite and sandstone tableland
+(_bajos_, _valles_, _cuencas_). Some have obstinately, but wrongly,
+sought in these the traces of rivers that have disappeared; and the
+_bajos_ of Gualicho and Valcheta have wrongly been regarded as the
+former bed of the Rio Negro and the Limay. Erosion by wind seems to
+have had something to do with these depressions. Their persistence, at
+all events, is one of the effects of the aridity which prevents normal
+erosion from moulding the surface of the tableland. The chief of them
+are centres for collecting running water. There is a group of valleys
+all round them, and alluvial beds accumulate in them.
+
+The climate determines the character of the soil in Patagonia. The
+rounded pebbles of granite and eruptive rock, so often described since
+the time of Darwin, sometimes free and sometimes embedded in red sand
+or limestone,[51] are spread over the tableland like aureoles round
+the masses of rock, and they are particularly abundant in the coast
+region. On the Rio Negro they seem to be confined to the vicinity of
+the valley; they disappear as one goes away from it. The progressive
+reduction in the volume of the Rio Negro gravels, as one goes downward,
+has been observed to begin in the Andean zone, and it is from the
+Andes that they come. South of Santa Cruz, in a moister climate, in
+which the circulation of the water is less localized, the bed is more
+continuous, and it covers the Tertiary sandstones and clays. It is
+of fluvio-glacial origin, and comes from the destruction of the old
+moraines, before the excavation of the actual valleys. But it is the
+wind that explains the concentration of the gravel at the surface.
+It separates the pebbles from the more mobile material about them.
+Wherever the outcrop-strata contain pebbles, the wind eventually
+converts the place into a field of shingle. It has done this with the
+terraces of the Limay. The Tertiary marine deposits of the coast region
+also are rich in pebbles torn from the rocky promontories of the shore;
+hence the extent of stony soils in the coast region. The wind similarly
+strips naked the angular stones, of local origin and incompletely worn,
+round the isolated rocks of the desert tableland or on the flanks of
+the secondary ravines.
+
+     [51] The calcareous flag-stone of La Tosca, which is
+     characteristic of the south-west province of the plain of
+     the Pampa, stretches in the south as far as the Rio Negro in
+     the coast-district. On the other hand, it is almost entirely
+     absent a hundred miles to the west, between the Colorado and
+     the Rio Negro, along the line of the railway from Fortin Uno
+     to Choele Choel.
+
+On the other hand, the bedding action of the wind creates deposits
+consisting of small and uniform elements from the sands of the dunes to
+the finest dust. The lightest particles, caught up repeatedly by the
+squalls and carried to a great height in the atmosphere, go beyond the
+Patagonian region and reach the bottom of the Atlantic or the plain of
+the Pampa. Some of this, however, is deposited in the depressions of
+the tableland, where the moisture fixes it and prevents the wind from
+regaining it. These æolian deposits in the depressions, a dark-grey
+clay, which hardens when it is dry, but is softened by water, form two
+entirely different kinds of soil. If the depression is closed in, or if
+the circulation of the water is too slight, there is a concentration of
+the mineral salts; this is the _salitral_, either naked or sustaining
+a halophytic vegetation, which the saline efflorescences cover with a
+white coat during the dry season. If on the other hand, the underground
+waters have a free course, the æolian clay forms the _mallin_. Bushes
+and fine grasses grow on it, and, as they decay, gradually give it a
+darker shade and modify its composition. The soil above the _mallin_
+is rich in organic elements. It covers the bottom of the valleys
+between low terraces, covered with faceted pebbles, and dominated by
+the vertical cliffs of tufa and lava. The contrast between the verdure
+of the _mallin_ and the arid, dusty, yellow steppe of the tableland
+is one of the most characteristic features of Patagonian scenery. The
+area in which _mallin_ has been formed coincides with the most humid
+districts in the vicinity of the Andes and round the higher hills. On
+the road that runs along the right bank of the Limay, at some distance
+from the river, on the surface of the tableland, the limit between the
+country of the _salitrales_ and that of the _mallinas_ passes between
+Tricaco and Chasico, a hundred miles south-east of Neuquen; it almost
+tallies with the curve of a 200 millimetres rainfall.[52] Though the
+word _mallin_ is not used at Santa Cruz, similar æolian soils are found
+in the western part of the tableland up to this latitude. Further south
+glacial deposits, clays with moraine-blocks, fill the valleys, and from
+Gallegos onward, cover the greater part of the tableland.
+
+     [52] G. Rovereto, "Studi di geomorfologia argentina: la valle
+     del Rio Negro," _Bull. Soc. Geol. Ital._, xxxi. 1912, pp.
+     101-142 and 181-237.
+
+On the eruptive flows of recent date the rock is naked. The wind
+carries away the products of its decomposition, and the dust
+accumulates only in the fissures. Traffic is difficult, sometimes
+impossible.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Toward the west the tableland is separated from the Cordillera by
+a longitudinal depression, though the continuity of this has been
+exaggerated. This depression, which outlines the contact between
+the folded zone of the Andes and the flat zone of the tableland, is
+very important from the point of view of colonization. Just at the
+frontier of the steppe and the forest, it is the most hospitable part
+of Patagonia, the richest in natural resources. Amidst the glacial
+lacustrine deposits which are accumulated on it there rise masses of
+different kinds of rock which break it up into compartments, granitic
+ridges of laccolites exposed to view, eruptive structures that have
+been dismantled. In the south the sub-Andean depression forms a broad
+passage between Lake Maravilla and Puntá Arenas, about two hundred
+miles long, enclosed between the basalt cliffs of the tableland on the
+east and the mountains of the Brunswick Peninsula and William IV Land.
+The bottom of it is a singular glacial landscape, sown with lagoons,
+punctuated by scattered hills, with an impermeable soil of drift and
+mud. From Lake Argentina to Lake Buenos Aires the elevated tablelands,
+which rise to a height of 5,000 feet, back upon the Cordillera, and the
+sub-Andean depression is interrupted. Similarly, between Lake Buenos
+Aires and Lake General Paz the contour of the Patagonian tableland is
+not very marked above the sub-Andean zone. The glacial alluvia at the
+foot of the Cordillera rise to the level of the tableland, which sinks
+steadily eastward toward the Genua and the Senguerr. To the north,
+between Carrenleufu and Lake Nahuel Huapi, the retreat of the lakes has
+left long narrow beds right in the Cordillera, such as the Valle Nuevo
+del Bolson, the bed of which has been taken over by the Futaleufu west
+of the Cerro Situación. Further east the topographical features of the
+edge of the tableland (the valleys of the Chubut, Tecka, and Norquineo)
+lie from north to south. Hence within a space of little more than a
+hundred kilometres the sub-Andean zone has a series of parallel roads,
+communicating with each other by means of broad, transverse gaps, which
+at one time were occupied by the lower lobes of the glaciers. The
+sub-Andean depression does not go north of Lake Nahuel Huapi.
+
+
+The morphological features of the Patagonian Andes begin at 36° S.
+lat.[53] The edge of the Cordillera, in the Malargüe depression, below
+35° S. lat., still presents the typical scenery of the central Andes.
+The dejection-cone of the Atuel resembles that of the Mendoza. The
+fringe of torrential deposits, distributed in cones over which the
+waters spread, is due to the rapidity of the disintegration of the
+rocks in a desert climate. Keidel has pointed out the part played by
+the summer rains in transporting mobile elements, which the water
+drops as soon as the slope diminishes; the amount of precipitation
+being too slight to permit the formation and spread over the plain of
+a regular network of streams. From the Rio Grande onward the dejection
+cones disappear. The streams tend to become permanent, and sink into
+narrow valleys. The summer rains cease, and the water produced by the
+melting of the snows has only a feeble capacity for transporting stuff.
+The soil of the Cordillera is protected by a denser vegetation. The
+first thickets of _molle_ appear in the valleys, the first scattered
+cypresses on the slopes, at the Rio Agrio, a tributary of the Neuquen.
+Then the forest invades the mountain: at first, from 38° S. lat. to
+39° 30' S. lat., a resinous forest of araucarias. At length, at Lake
+Nahuel Huapi, the forest assumes the general appearance which it has as
+far as the Magellan region. It is chiefly made up of different kinds
+of beeches. The _coihue_ (_Notofagus dombeyi_) is the most conspicuous
+for about three quarters of a mile, rising above an impenetrable
+undergrowth of bamboo. Higher up the domain of the _lenga_ (_Notofagus
+pumilio_) extends as far as the fringe of the Alpine forests.
+The forest does not reach the eastern limit of the lakes. In the
+sub-Andean depression it is reduced to thickets of _ñirre_ (_Notofagus
+antarctica_) and _mayten_ and clumps of _calafate_ (something like
+myrtles).
+
+     [53] The great mass of the Patagonian Andes differs
+     considerably in geological structure from the Argentinian
+     Andes. The Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and the lofty chains
+     of the pre-Cordillera cease at 36° S. lat. The Mesozoic
+     beds--variegated breccie and porphyritic conglomerates,
+     sandstones, limestones, and marls--which form the western
+     slope of the Andes in central Chile, pass to the eastern slope
+     at 35° S. lat., where they develop in regular folds, in the
+     direction south-south-east, obliquely to the general line of
+     the range. These folds account for the orientation of the
+     interior valleys, which is remarkably uniform from the Rio
+     Negro to the Collon Cura. They pass in the south-west under
+     the sandstones of the tableland. West of this sedimentary
+     zone, the zone of the sub-Andean granites and diorites, which
+     have not been exposed further north except at the base of the
+     western slope, opens out in the Patagonian Andes, of which it
+     is the main body between Lake Lacar and the Gulf of Ultima
+     Esperanza. In fine, the Patagonian Andes are characterised by
+     volcanic formations. They are seen on the eastern slope about
+     36° S. lat., in the lava-flows and ashes of Payen and Tromen.
+     Further south volcanoes with acid lava and characteristic
+     cones are restricted to the central zone (Lanin, etc.) and the
+     Chilean flank, but flows of fluid basic lava cover enormous
+     stretches at the eastern fringe of the Andes, and they have
+     spread over a good deal of the Patagonian tableland outside
+     the Andean region.
+
+It is on the Alumine, about 39° S. lat., that we find traces of glacial
+erosion, as they spread over the landscape. At present there is no ice
+on the mountain except on the peaks of Lanin and Tronador, but from
+the Rio Puelo onward (42° S. lat.), glaciers clothe all the summits
+which rise above 6,500 feet. North of the Aisen they form a narrow,
+but almost continuous, line. From the Aisen to the Calen fiord, and
+beyond the gap of the fiord as far as 52° S. lat., the ice spreads in
+a considerable sheet which in some places attains a breadth of eighty
+miles. The tongues of the glaciers reach the Pacific below 46° S. lat.,
+and Lake San Martin on the Argentine slope below 49° S. lat. In Tierra
+del Fuego the snow-line is at 2,300 feet, and the glaciers which the
+snows feed, reach as far as the fiords and Lake Fagnano.
+
+Lake Carri Lauquen, on the Barrancas (36° 20' S. lat.), which was
+almost entirely drained in 1914 through the breaking down of the
+natural dam of soft earth which confined its waters, is not a glacial
+lake.[54] The chain of glacial lakes stretches from the Alumine to the
+Seno de la Ultima Esperanza, and is continued southward by Skyring
+Water, Otway Water, and Useless Bay--genuine lakes in communication
+with the Pacific by means of narrow channels. The lakes sometimes lie
+in a narrow and deep glacial valley, the bottom of which they fill;
+sometimes they branch out into the neighbouring valleys; at other times
+they advance eastward beyond the zone of the mountains and spread into
+round basins surrounded by circles of moraines. The largest of them
+include groups of ramified fiords, which represent their western half,
+while the eastern half spreads between lower banks.[55]
+
+     [54] Pablo Groeber, _Informe sobra las causas que han
+     producido las crecientes del Rio Colarado en_ 1914. Dir. Gen.
+     de Minas, Geol. e Hidrol., Bol. No. 11, series B, Geologia
+     (Buenos Aires, 1916).
+
+     [55] Most of the lacustrine depressions are continued eastward
+     across the Patagonian tableland in the shape of distinct
+     valleys. The eastern part of the Straits of Magellan is merely
+     a submerged valley on the axis of Otway Water. Useless Bay
+     also is continued eastward by the hollow which ends in the
+     Bay of San Sebastian. Sometimes the waters of the lakes flow
+     eastward, toward the Atlantic, along these valleys. Generally,
+     however, the lakes of the western slope are drained on the
+     west by means of narrow defiles across the Cordillera, or on
+     the north and south by rivers which follow the sub-Andean
+     depression and thread them together in the manner of a rosary.
+     The valley which joins the lake to the Atlantic is in those
+     cases a dead valley, and the inter-oceanic dividing line
+     of the waters is marked by the frontal moraine of the old
+     glacier, which confines the lake on the east. This arrangement
+     is found, with surprising regularity, from the Alumine and
+     the Lacar to the Neuquen, and as far as Lake Buenos Aires and
+     the Seno de la Ultima Esperanza at Santa Cruz. The capture
+     of the waters of the eastern slope by the rivers of the
+     Pacific across the Cordillera is fairly ancient, and certainly
+     pre-glacial. But during the Glacial Period the glaciers
+     obstructed the transverse valleys of the Cordillera, and the
+     waters of the eastern slope found their way to the Atlantic
+     once more. With the retreat of the glaciers the valleys of the
+     Cordillera were successively cleared. The lakes, dammed by the
+     glaciers, were suddenly released and their level lowered. The
+     valleys of the Patagonian tableland were finally abandoned,
+     and the topographical accident of secondary importance, which
+     the ancient frontal moraine of the glacier represents, came to
+     mark the limit of the domain of the Pacific. The freshness of
+     the contours of the dead valleys of Patagonia bears witness
+     to the recent date of this conquest, which was too sudden
+     or rapid to be called a "capture" in the proper sense. It
+     has not been accomplished everywhere. From Lake San Martin
+     to Lake Buenos Aires all the lakes of the eastern slope are
+     drained into the Pacific by rivers which flow into the Culen
+     fiord. But further south, Lakes Viedma and Argentino are still
+     tributaries of the Atlantic. They correspond to the zone of
+     the Patagonian Andes which is still covered by inland ice. To
+     the north, in the basin of the Puelo and the Yelcho, where the
+     trans-Andean valleys long ago ceased to be obstructed by ice,
+     the lakes of the eastern slope which drain toward the Pacific
+     are small in size. Their level to-day is much lower than it
+     used to be, and a network of streams has developed east of
+     them, on the earlier lacustrine region, which is now dry.
+
+  [Illustration: YOKE OF CREOLE OXEN USED FOR THE TRANSPORT OF TIMBER
+  ON THE EASTERN CHACO, OR CHACO OF SANTA FÉ.
+  _On the Central (or Santiago) Chaco mules are used for transport._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: WORKS AT TARTAGAL (EASTERN CHACO) FOR MAKING TANNIC ACID.
+  _These works, built by powerful firms, are permanent centres, drawing
+  timber from a great stretch of forest, while the saw-mills of the
+  Central Chaco move about freely, to be near the felling sites._
+                                              Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE XII.                                           To face p. 128.]
+
+Pastoral colonization has now spread over almost the entire surface
+of Patagonia. The parts that are not yet occupied are of slight
+extent; they consist only of the most desolate regions in the south
+of the Rio Negro district and north of Santa Cruz. The expansion of
+white colonization began only about 1880. Until then the interior was
+abandoned to the indigenous tribes and was almost entirely unknown. The
+Atlantic coast alone had been explored. The travels of Villarino along
+the Rio Negro and the Limay as far as Lake Nahuel Huapi had left only
+a faded memory.[56] North of the Rio Negro, Woodbine Parish (1859),
+making use of the notes left by Cruz, who had crossed the Andes and the
+Indian territory between Antuco and Melincue in 1806, was the first to
+publish definite information, to which no addition would be made during
+the next forty years.[57]
+
+     [56] _Diario de D. Basilio Villarino del reconocimiento que
+     hizo del Rio Negro en el año de_ 1782 (Coll. de Angelis, vi).
+
+     [57] It is Woodbine Parish who corrects Villarino's mistake in
+     confusing the Neuquen, at its confluence with the Limay, with
+     the Rio Diamante, known in the south of the Mendoza province.
+
+The settlements founded on the coast by the Spaniards at the close of
+the eighteenth century (S. José and P. Deseado) were ephemeral. Only
+one of them maintained an obscure existence, Carmen de Patagones, some
+miles above the mouth of the Rio Negro. One of its chief resources
+was the export of salt. Expeditions for this purpose began on the
+Patagonian coast about the middle of the eighteenth century (_Journey
+from San Martin to Puerto San Julian about_ 1753, Coll. de Angelis,
+V). After the revolution, Buenos Aires finally abandoned these costly
+expeditions by land to the salt districts of the Pampa, and was
+supplied with salt by schooners from Carmen. During the war with Brazil
+and the blockade of the Rio de la Plata, Carmen, protected by the bar
+of the Rio Negro, and the Bay of San Blas were the harbours in which
+Argentine, English and French privateers concealed their prizes and did
+their repairs after the storms of the Gulf of Santa Catarina. D'Orbigny
+visited Carmen during this period of equivocal prosperity. One of the
+most curious effects of the hospitality offered to the privateers
+was the unloading upon the Patagonian coast of blacks, intended for
+Brazil, who were taken from the slave-traders. Thus an unforeseen eddy
+brought to the south of the Pampean region part of the current of
+the slave-trade intended for the sugar-cane plantations in tropical
+America. A number of the Carmen ranches had coloured workers at this
+time.
+
+Breeding, in fact, was just beginning to spread in the neighbourhood
+of Carmen at the time. The cattle had been brought by land from Buenos
+Aires, and had multiplied along the coast and the river above Carmen.
+South of Carmen, at San José, the cattle had run wild after the fort
+was abandoned. The Carmen herds were estimated, before the revolution,
+at 40,000 head. They disappeared during the revolutionary period,
+but were reconstituted immediately afterwards, and even during the
+war with Brazil there was an active export of hides and salt beef.
+Carmen profited mainly by trade with the Indians. It lived in terror
+of them, and had garrisons to give the alarm on the routes by which
+they could approach. But this state of chronic warfare did not prevent
+trade. Near Carmen there was a group of peaceful Indians who served as
+intermediaries with the tribes of the interior, who were jealous and
+hostile. Guides and interpreters were found in this colony, and through
+it came the first news of the interior. The traffic with the Indians
+continued for a long time to be of great use to the colonists. In 1865
+the Welsh colony established on the Chubut, which had many difficulties
+at first, was saved from complete disaster by its trade with the
+Indians.
+
+The indigenous population comprised two groups: the Tehuelches,
+or Patagonians proper, men of tall stature, and the Araucans,
+the Ranqueles, the Pehuenches and the Pampas. There was no fixed
+geographical limit between them. The Tehuelches lived in southern
+Patagonia; but the Araucans advanced eastward as far as the Pampas
+region and southward beyond the Chubut. The Indian population of the
+valley of the Genua and the Sanguerr, south of the colony of San
+Martin, comprised in 1880,[58] and still comprises,[59] a mixture of
+Araucans and Tehuelches. The Araucans were acquainted with agriculture,
+but, once they had tamed the horse, they became mainly a pastoral and
+hunting people, like the Tehuelches.
+
+     [58] Carlos M. Moyano, "Informe sobre un viaje a traves de la
+     Patagonia," _Bol. Instit. Geog. Argent._, ii. 1881, pp. 1-35.
+
+     [59] W. Vallentin, _Chubut_ (Berlin, 1906).
+
+In so far as they were hunters, the Indians of Patagonia were nomadic.
+The taming of the horse only made it easier for them to shift from
+place to place, and gave them a greater range. Their nomadism has too
+often been regarded as an aimless wandering. They had laws, settled by
+the physical conditions; and we can gather a few of these. They kept
+away from the coastal districts except in winter; that is the season
+when the rains provide water-courses there. It has been observed that
+names of Indian origin are lacking on the coast of Patagonia. The
+Spanish navigators who landed there during the summer found the country
+deserted and the camps abandoned. On the other hand, the share of the
+Indians in giving names is very considerable in the interior, as far
+as the foot of the Andes. During the summer the Indians approached the
+mountains, where they found good hunting grounds. In particular they
+chased the young guanacos in the breeding season, December and January.
+Popper has indicated similar migrations amongst the Onas of Patagonia;
+they approach the coast in winter, and leave it in summer, to hunt in
+the interior.[60] The district of Lake Nahuel Huapi and Collon Cura
+had some attraction from afar. The forest of araucarias produced seeds
+(_pinones_) which the Indians went to gather; and they also liked the
+wild apples which ripened on the former estates of the old Jesuit
+missions. The clusters of bamboo on the Cordillera provided the lances
+of the Aucas and Tehuelches.
+
+     [60] J. Popper, "Exploracion de la Tierra del Fuego," _Bol.
+     Instit. Geog. Argent._, viii. 1887, pp. 74-93.
+
+Lake Nahuel Huapi is the first stage of the busiest of the routes used
+by the Indians. It came from the lower Santa Cruz, went up the Rio
+Chico, and from there northward followed the foot of the Cordillera.
+D'Orbigny was told about it: "All the Indians who live near the Andes
+go along the eastern foot of the mountains in their journeys, because
+they find water there, whereas they would find none if they went by the
+coast; in that way they travel from the Straits of Magellan to the Rio
+Negro." The Indian track only left the sub-Andean depression between
+the Rio Chico and Lake Buenos Aires, in the district where the high
+basalt _mesetias_ extend as far as the Cordillera, and on the Pampa of
+the Sanguerr.
+
+From Lake Nahuel Huapi the Indians of the south descended the Limay
+and the Rio Negro, and reached the island of Choele Choel, some 230
+miles above Carmen, where they met the Aucas and Puelches. There they
+exchanged their _guanacos_ hides for woollen fabrics made by the Aucas.
+Choele Choel was the only large, purely indigenous market; the whites
+never visited it. Geographical reasons fixed the site of this market of
+the nomads. In the latitude of Choele Choel the Rio Negro approaches
+the Colorado and the archipelago of the Sierras of the southern Pampa,
+which mark so many stages on the routes from the Pampa to the Andes.
+To the south the coast-route, less exposed to snow than the sub-Andean
+track, began from Choele Choel. The Indians followed this to reach
+the Gulf of San Jorge and the Santa Cruz in winter, during the rainy
+season. Darwin notes the importance of the site and the ford of Choele
+Choel. Villarino had suspected it, and had, as early as 1782, pleaded
+for the building of a fort there. By holding this point, he said,
+they could prevent the tribes from attacking Buenos Aires, or from
+approaching the Patagonian coast in the district of San José.[61]
+
+     [61] _Informe de D. Basilio Villarino à Fr. de Viedma_, Coll.
+     de Angelis, v.
+
+As far back as we can go, the life of the Indians seems to have been
+deeply influenced by their relations with the whites. The Aucas brought
+to Choele Choel, not only the products of their industry, but also
+objects stolen or bought from the Christians on the Pampa. The report
+of Musters, who followed a Tehuelche tribe from Santa Cruz to the
+country of the Manzanas ("land of apples"), shows clearly that the
+attraction of the Nahuel Huapi region for the Indians was less due to
+its natural resources than to the presence of the Chilean settlements
+at Valdivia, from which came across the passes of the Cordillera
+certain quantities of brandy.
+
+The Indian never took to cattle-breeding. His herd never consisted of
+more than mares and a few sheep. But trade in stolen cattle quickly
+became the chief occupation of the tribes. It would, however, be a
+mistake to imagine that the thievish Indian was merely and always a
+dreaded enemy of the ranches of Carmen. They sometimes had recourse to
+his services and profited by his misdeeds. After the Revolution, it was
+the Indians who helped to fill once more the ranches of the Rio Negro,
+bringing runaway cattle which had remained in the San José district.
+Later, Carmen bought the cattle stolen by the Indians at Buenos Aires.
+From 1823 to 1826 the number of the cattle sold by the Indians to the
+colonists on the Rio Negro is estimated at 40,000. Hence the breeders
+of Carmen had, as regards the Indians, alternate periods of armed
+conflict and complicity.
+
+But Chile was always the great market for stolen cattle. Raids
+(_malones_) and the crossing of the Cordillera by convoys began in the
+eighteenth century, and continued throughout the nineteenth, until
+1880, when the consolidation of Argentine authority on the eastern
+side gave a more regular form to the cattle-trade. The convoys came to
+a halt at Antuco and Chillan from which the Chilean buyers sometimes
+accompanied the Indian tribes as far as the _tolderias_ on the edge of
+the Pampa. The trade in stolen cattle made use of all the passes of the
+Cordillera, from the Planchon pass below 35° S. lat., which Roca had
+covered in 1877 by the fortress of Alamito, to the source of the Bio
+Bio. The one most used was the Pichachen or the Antuco pass. On the
+tableland the cattle-tracks formed a regular network with innumerable
+strands, spreading over a width of about two hundred miles. The most
+northern route started east of the Poitague district and, after fording
+the Salado and the Atuel, and passing the _aguadas_ of Cochico and
+Ranquilco, entered the Cordillera at the bend of the Rio Grande.
+Another track ascended the Colorado and then reached the high valley of
+Neuquen. A third crossed from the Colorado to the Rio Negro, and, above
+the confluence of the Limay, to the Rio Agrio or the Alumine.
+
+The first exact information about the range of the Patagonian Indians
+is supplied by a group of bold travellers who followed their tracks
+from 1870 to 1880: Musters, Moreno, Moyano, Ramon Lista, etc. Their
+discoveries had already outlined the geographical survey of Patagonia
+when the campaign of 1879-1883 opened it to colonization.
+
+The story of white colonization since 1880 shows us several distinct
+streams of population. The first, starting from the region of the
+Pampa, went from north to south along the Atlantic coast, and gradually
+extended its sphere toward the interior. The breeders used the
+sea-route, the ancient Indian track with recognized sources of water,
+to convey their first herds. In 1884, the only spot inhabited on the
+coast between the Rio Negro and the Deseado was the Welsh colony on the
+Chubut. In 1886 Fontana reports ranches in the Puntá Delfin district,
+south of the Chubut.[62] About 1890 the whole district round the Gulf
+of San Jorge was occupied; and a little later the stream from the north
+met the stream from the south about San Julian and Santa Cruz. The
+expansion of colonization was less rapid in the interior. Ambrosetti
+tells us of the establishment of the first ranches round the Sierra de
+Lihuel Calel in 1893,[63] and at the same time Siemiradzki still found
+few traces of colonization on the Colorado.[64]
+
+     [62] L. J. Fontana, "Exploracion en la Patagonia austral,"
+     _Bol. Instit. Geog. Argent._, vii, 1886, pp. 223-239.
+
+     [63] J. B. Ambrosetti, "Viage a la Pampa central," _Bol.
+     Instit. Geog. Argent._, xiv. 1893, pp. 292-368.
+
+     [64] J. V. Siemiradzki, _Eine Farschungsreise in Patagonien_,
+     Petermann's _Mitteilungen_, xxxix. 1893, pp. 49-62.
+
+The second stream of colonization came from the Magellan region. It
+started in Chilean territory, about Puntá Arenas. It was about 1878
+that sheep-breeding spread round Puntá Arenas, and between 1885 and
+1892 was the most rapid growth of the ranches of the Magellan district.
+North of the Straits they occupied the lowlands round Skyring Water
+and Otway Water, then the plateau south of Gallegos. They spread
+along the Atlantic as far as the Santa Cruz. In 1896 the limit of
+the sheep-region was on the Santa Cruz about forty miles from the
+coast.[65] To the west, Puerto Consuelo was founded in 1892, and in
+1896 colonization came up against the mountain barrier which the Cerro
+Payen and the basalt tableland of the Cerro Vizcachas interpose between
+Lake Argentine and Ultima Esperanza fiord.
+
+     [65] J. B. Hatcher, _Reports of the Princeton University
+     expeditions to Patagonia_ 1896-9 (_Narrative of the
+     Expeditions_ and _Geography of Southern Patagonia_, Princeton,
+     1903).
+
+The spheres of primitive colonization in southern Patagonia on the
+coast still differ from each other in regard to density of population.
+But breeders in search of unoccupied land have not hesitated to push
+beyond. In 1895 and 1900 they passed west of the Gulf of San Jorge
+toward the basin of the Sanguerr and the Genua, (establishment of the
+Sarmiento colony, south of Colhuapi, 1897: establishment of San Martin
+on the Genua 1900). Since 1900 the population has also advanced up the
+Santa Cruz and the Rio Chico as far as the zone of the Andes, and the
+lagoon which still existed twenty years ago, between the district of
+the Sanguerr and that of Lake Argentino, and is easily recognized on
+the maps of the Frontier Commission, has been almost entirely filled up.
+
+The story of colonization in the northern part of the Patagonian
+Andes is more complicated. Immediately after the campaign of 1883 the
+valleys of the Neuquen were invaded by Chilean immigrants, half-breeds
+of the frontier, who cannot always be easily distinguished from pure
+Araucans. A certain number of Chilotes, and even Germans from the
+southern colonies of Chile, were mixed with the half-breeds. This
+stream of immigration had begun before the conquest. As early as 1881
+Host notices that there are at Chosmalal various families of Chilean
+farmers who held their lands from the Indian _cacique_. During the
+summer they took care of the migratory herds from the Chilean plain.
+Once the country was pacified, they grew rapidly in number. It was they
+who provided the manual labour for the placer miners of the Neuquen,
+where gold began to be worked in 1890. The area of Chilean colonization
+extends from the Rio Atuel, where Villanueva found Chilean immigrants
+in 1884, to the south of Lake Nahuel Huapi, where Chileans were still
+met by Vallentin in 1906, on the Rio Pico, close to 44° S. lat.[66]
+South of Nahuel Huapi there is no regularly used route across the
+Cordillera.[67] The Chilean colonists of the southern zone came from
+the north, therefore, along the eastern foot of the Andes. Bailey
+Willis calculated that there were 2,000 Chileans in a total population
+of 3,500 in the sub-Andean area from Nahuel Huapi to Diez y seis de
+Octubre. The total number of Chilean immigrants may be about 20,000. It
+is not on the increase, as immigration from Chile was suspended from
+1890 to 1895. Since the reconstruction of the frontier the Chilean
+Government has tried to bring back part of the emigrants to its own
+territory. Many have gone to settle in the valley of the Lonquimay. In
+1896 Moreno saw traces everywhere in the valley of the Collon Cura of
+the departure of Chilean colonists who had left the country.
+
+     [66] C. Villanueva, "De Mendoza a Narguin," _Bol. Instit.
+     Geog. Argent._, v. 1884, pp. 171-4.
+
+     [67] Chilean woodcutters have sometimes got as far as the
+     eastern valleys in search of larch, but these were nomads who
+     did not settle.
+
+At first it was only the Argentinians of the western provinces, San
+Juan and Mendoza, who vied with the Chileans for the soil. It is they
+whom Furque found in 1888 at Roca, on the Rio Negro. But beginning
+with 1890-95, immigrants of various nationalities have settled on the
+Neuquen and the Negro.[68] Foreign capitalists organized their first
+ranches there. In 1888, on the other hand, the Welsh of the lower
+Chubut, led by Indian guides, went from the coast to the sub-Andean
+region, and settled in the valley of Diez y seis de Octubre. Between
+1895 and 1900 the neighbouring valleys began to be inhabited, and
+the colonization areas of Nahuel Huapi and the Sanguerr came into
+contact.[69]
+
+     [68] Furque, "Descripción del Pueblo General Roca," _Bol.
+     Instit. Geog. Argent._, ix. 1888, pp. 124-132.
+
+     [69] In spite of their importance we must regard as mere
+     episodes in the story of Patagonian colonization the influx
+     of population caused on the eastern coast by the discovery
+     of placer-gold at Cape Virgenes and on the Atlantic coast of
+     Tierra del Fuego (1884), and the discovery of petroleum at
+     Rivadavia (1907) in the course of drilling in search of water.
+     Rivadavia is already, with its 3,000 inhabitants, one of the
+     chief centres in Patagonia.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The most striking feature of colonization in Patagonia is the very low
+density of population. The Census of 1914 gives 81,000 inhabitants
+altogether for the territories of the Rio Negro, the Neuquen, the
+Chubut, the Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego. A well-kept ranch of
+25,000 square kilometres has only a staff of about a hundred men at
+the most, counting strangers, settled on its land; three hundred
+inhabitants, or scarcely more than one to ten square kilometres.
+This population falls into two distinct classes. One is the class of
+proprietors with regular titles: a rooted and stable class. At first
+the Government granted enormous concessions, which were taken up
+especially by English buyers, but it now seeks to break up the land,
+and the plots which it puts on the market for new pastoral colonies
+have not more than 625 hectares. This is too small for breeding, no
+matter how good the situation may be, and there will inevitably be,
+one would think, a concentration of estates in the hands of a few
+proprietors. The other part of the population occupy lands which they
+do not own. They are displaced steadily as the regular concessions
+are sold to new ranches. They live, so to say, on the margin of
+colonization, and are more and more restricted to the poorest lands.
+Sometimes these _intrusos_ or _pobladores_ get hospitality for their
+herds on the land of some ranch in return for their services. They
+have little capital, and never make material improvements. They take
+no care to nurse the pasture, and it matters little to them if it is
+impoverished.
+
+The climate divides Patagonia into two distinct regions. In the west,
+the moist Andean zone is suitable for cattle-breeding. About 1870 the
+Chileans of Valdivia hunted wild cattle in the Nahuel Huapi district.
+Similarly the Frontier Commission met large herds of wild cattle on
+the shores of Lake San Martin, which were not yet occupied. Sheep do
+not get on well in the moist zone, where the rains have washed out
+the soil and carried away the salts which seem to be indispensable
+to the sheep. It is the arid tableland that is the land of the
+sheep. There it has displaced cattle, even in the area which the
+early breeders at the end of the eighteenth century had filled with
+cattle. Between the sheep-area and the cattle-area is a mixed region,
+where the two are combined. It extends more or less according as the
+transition from a moist to a desert climate is gradual or sudden. It
+is especially important in the districts where colonization is already
+old, as in the Fuegian and Neuquen regions. It is lacking in districts
+where the colonization is recent (Chubut and Santa Cruz), where the
+sheep-breeders have had a free run as far as the Andes. The ranches of
+the Cordillera, which specialize in cattle-breeding, all have small
+flocks of sheep for their own use, their staff being so small that it
+does not pay to kill the cattle.
+
+The sheep-area is by far the more extensive of the two. The patches of
+agricultural colonization are very scattered and small on its surface.
+They are restricted to the river-oases of the Rio Negro and the Chubut.
+These small tilled districts have preserved a remarkable economic
+independence as regards the pastoral zone, in which they seem lost.
+Thus the farmers on the Chubut exported their wheat to Buenos Aires
+until about 1900, and they still send their bales of dry lucerne there.
+Some of the ranches have tilled small oases in suitable places, but
+these are merely intended to increase their stores of fodder; not for
+their flock of sheep, but for the saddle-horses used in watching the
+estate and the draught-horses used for transport.
+
+The pastoral capacity of the Patagonian scrub is, on the average,
+from 800 to 1,200 head of sheep to 25 square kilometres: less than a
+tenth that of the prairies of the eastern Pampa. The ranch fixes its
+residence in the best part of the estate, where there is least fear of
+a shortage of water, and where pasture is most plentiful. To this the
+sheep are brought periodically to receive disinfecting baths against
+the scab, and for shearing. These incessant movements toward the
+centre of the ranch cause an almost permanent strain on the pasture,
+and this is one of the chief anxieties of the breeder. The area of the
+estate is divided as soon as possible into sections (_potreros_) by
+steel-wire fences, which enables them to watch over the reproduction
+and improvement of the flock and make the best use of the pasture.
+Fencing is more advanced near the Cordillera, as timber for the posts
+is found there.
+
+Certain districts are still uninhabited on account of the lack of
+water. Some of the sources of water are permanent. The water issues
+at the base of the volcanic rocks, when the underlying rock is
+impermeable, and above the various levels of the marl in the Patagonian
+swamps; for instance, in the _cañadones_ round the Gulf of San Jorge.
+Besides this, the rain and melting snow leave on the surface of the
+tableland a great number of pools, which evaporate in the dry season.
+These are temporary supplies, the _manantiales_, to which the breeders
+are reduced over large areas of the tableland. Most of the stagnant
+sheets of water which are permanent are saline. The proportion of salt
+in them is very variable, and changes in each case according to the
+cycle of dry and wet years. The water of the Carilaufquen was fresh in
+1900, and in 1914 it had become brackish, though it could still be used
+for the flocks.
+
+Finding permanent sources of water is the first concern of the breeder.
+In some districts he has succeeded in tapping sheets of fresh water
+by means of wells. There are none of these wells in the crystalline
+zones, the closed hollows, where the sheets of water are often large,
+but they are always saline. Neither are there any in the red sandstone
+district, the dryest of all. In the western region the wells are sunk
+in the arid valleys, along the track of the underground stream. Thus
+the Picun Leufu, the visible course of which is lost seventeen miles
+above its confluence with the Limay, may be traced by a continuous line
+of wells. It is especially in the coastal districts that the wells have
+transformed the conditions of breeding. Water was first discovered at
+the foot of the dunes, along the coast itself (district of Viedma, San
+José, etc.). Since then deep borings have been made over the whole
+of the Tertiary platform on both sides of the lower part of the Rio
+Negro, north of San Antonio. There every ranch has its sheet-iron tank,
+sheltered by a clump of tamarinds, with a windmill to fill it.
+
+All pastures are not equally available in every season. Those which are
+at a height of more than 4,000 feet in the north, and 2,300 to 2,600
+feet in the south, are covered in winter with a thick mantle of snow.
+These are summer pastures. During the winter the animals are brought
+down to the principal valleys or to sheltered _cañadones_ below the
+level of the tableland. The _mallin_ is, as a rule, a winter pasture.
+When it is too wet, however, it is treacherous, and the animals are
+buried in it. They have to wait for fine weather before going into
+it. The pastures, too, which have no permanent water supply, or have
+only _manantiales_, which dry up at the beginning of summer, can only
+be used during the winter. Hence each ranch has to have, besides its
+assured water supply, a suitable combination of summer and winter
+pasturage, and it is far from certain that this will be found on every
+estate, cut up geometrically for colonization, as they were, by the
+administration of lands.
+
+  [Illustration: THE VOLCANO PUNTIAGUDO.
+  _On the Chilean side, to the north of the road from Lake Nahuel Huapi.
+  The glaciers come down lower on the western side, as the moist winds
+  come from the west, and the rain becomes less and less frequent as one
+  goes eastward toward the Patagonian tableland._]
+
+  [Illustration: CERCAS ON THE LIMAY (RISING IN LAKE NAHUEL HUAPI), NEAR
+  THE CONFLUENCE OF THE TRAFUL.
+  _Here the Limay enters the sub-desert tableland. Last trees (cypresses)
+  in the valley in the foreground._ Photograph by Bailey Willis.
+  PLATE XIII.                                            To face p. 142.]
+
+The constitution of the flock and the first occupation of the land have
+compelled breeders to undertake difficult journeys, and more than one
+of these proved disastrous. The earliest arrivals, driving their sheep
+along little-known tracks, could not avoid losses in crossing the arid
+parts of the tableland: parts which D'Orbigny, translating literally
+the Spanish word _travesia_, calls "crossings."[70] When the ranch is
+established, the breeding does not necessitate any further movements of
+the flocks to a great distance, apart from certain special migrations,
+or "transhumations," which I will consider later. It is on each ranch,
+sometimes on each group of ranches combined in a single estate, that
+they pass alternately from winter to summer pasture. The only transport
+necessary is that of wool. The fleeces, which the west wind has heavily
+laden with dust, are collected in the sheds belonging to the ranch, or,
+in the case of the _intrusos_, on the premises of certain small traders
+(_bolicheros_) who are scattered over the tableland even at its extreme
+limits. Convoys of wagons then take them to the ports on the coast.
+
+     [70] The search for possible routes for cattle in the
+     districts that were not yet colonized helped in the study of
+     Patagonia. Moyano was doing this when he explored the route
+     from Santa Cruz to Lake Nahuel Huapi.
+
+For some years now, however, wool has ceased to be the sole product
+of the ranches. A little before 1895 the first slaughter-houses, for
+killing the older sheep that were no longer fertile, were erected on
+the Straits of Magellan. Refrigerators have succeeded these, and were
+opened at Puerto Callegos and San Julian. A third refrigerator is being
+constructed (1915) at Puerto Deseado. In southern Patagonia, also, part
+of the flock is sent to the refrigerators or to the slaughter houses
+of the Pampean region. The creation of the refrigerator has compelled
+breeders to adapt their work to the new economic conditions. The merino
+breed is being eliminated by the Lincoln in all districts which feel
+the influence of the refrigerator; the Lincoln is of greater weight and
+quicker growth, but the merino survives in arid northern Patagonia.
+
+Besides this, the establishment of the refrigerators has caused
+important movements of transport. The flocks which are to go to the
+refrigerators or the northern railways are moved in the good season,
+after the shearing, from November to April. The routes they take are
+not invariable. One of the most frequented, leading from the sub-Andean
+tablelands to San Julian, follows the Santa Cruz valley. When the land
+was cut up, there was no reason to foresee these movements, and nothing
+was done to facilitate them. The roads cross the ranches, which are
+compelled to allow it. It is a serious burden for some of them, unless
+they can make a profit out of their situation on the road by hiring
+pasture for the flocks as they pass.
+
+The Andean zone itself is still mainly pastoral, but it is nevertheless
+far more varied and richer in possibilities of development than the
+tableland. Agriculture is already combined with breeding in that area.
+
+The name _vegas_, which in the Puna and at San Juan means alpine
+pasture, is applied here to tilled patches in the Andean valleys.
+They are found in the north in the valley of the Neuquen, round
+Chosmalal. In the south, the valley of the Rio Pico marks the limit of
+cultivation. Irrigation is almost always necessary north of Lake Nahuel
+Huapi, where the _vegas_ have, as a rule, a soil of coarse alluvia or
+permeable tufa, which dries up quickly. Water is plentiful, it is true,
+and increases in quantity rapidly as one travels southward. The chief
+obstacle to the extension of cultivation is the frequency of frost in
+spring and summer. The deep hollows of the sub-Andean depression south
+of Lake Nahuel Huapi, the height of which drops to 1,000 feet at the
+Bolson, and 1,600 feet at Diez y seis de Octubre, have no frosts in
+summer, and they sustain small agricultural communities. At higher
+levels, in the basin of the lake or on the _vegas_ of the Traful and
+Lake Lacar, at an altitude of about 2,600 feet, the distribution of the
+summer frosts is closely related to the contour and lie of the land,
+which may facilitate or impede the circulation of the layers of cold
+air, and the play of what has been called atmospheric drainage. The
+valleys which are very open from west to east, at the outlet of the
+lakes, where the west winds have a free passage, are little liable to
+frost. Wherever frost is frequent, cultivation has to be restricted to
+fodder plants. The more favoured cantons, which grow wheat, rye and
+potatoes, help to feed the local pastoral population, and export part
+of their produce to some distance on the tableland.
+
+Cattle-breeding is, like sheep-breeding on the tableland, practised
+both by the _pobladores_ on public lands and by ranchers who have
+settled on regular concessions, which they have worked up and fenced
+round. The high alpine pastures, above the fringe of the forest, are
+partly used, from December to March, as summer-pasture. The forest also
+serves for pasture; it is a sort of common land, available both in
+winter and summer. Below the height of 3,500 feet the clumps of bamboos
+in the underwood provide shelter during the winter and fodder which
+is not buried under snow. The fires lit by the breeders have changed
+part of the primitive forest into a scrub which has been invaded by a
+leguminous climbing fodder, and it has superior pastoral capacity to
+the forest. East of the forest, the prairie, which is too much exposed
+to the winds, is not generally suitable for winter-pasture. The cattle
+take refuge in sheltered valleys and in the _mayten_ thickets which
+follow the depressions. Bailey Willis puts the pastoral capacity of the
+virgin forest at 400 cattle to each 2,500 hectares, 600 for the burnt
+forest, and 350 for the sub-Andean prairies. The essential problem in
+connection with the question of completely developing the pastoral
+resources of the sub-Andean region is the problem of transit. There
+are no roads from one district to another and to the higher prairies.
+The fallen trunks which lie about the forest obstruct the way of the
+cattle. Collecting the animals for sale and watching them are both
+difficult.
+
+It seems that the profit of exploiting the timber must necessarily be
+small. The forest, thinned by fire and difficult of access, is partly
+composed of trees that are too old. The _libocedrus_ has disappeared
+from one-third of it. The larch, which is the most valuable, passes
+into Argentine territory at few places. Saw-mills are not so numerous
+on the eastern slope of the Andes as they are in the Magellan area.
+
+The essential function of the forest is, according to Argentine experts
+on forestry, to control the water-circulation. In this land of glacial
+erosion and recent captures, where the water-courses have always a
+great variety of form, and there are lakes to make their output more
+regular, it is particularly easy to make use of hydraulic power. "White
+coal" will, Bailey Willis says, make a great industrial region of
+it, and plant an urban life in it. Bailey Willis, whose optimism and
+prophetic gift will not fail to surprise the European reader, has drawn
+the plans in detail of a future town of 40,000 souls at the eastern end
+of Lake Nahuel Huapi. The Patagonian land will supply the raw material
+of its industries; timber, leather, and wool.
+
+One, at least, of the indispensable conditions of the development of
+urban life is fully realized in the district of Lake Nahuel Huapi and
+the Limay. It is a remarkable meeting-place of natural roads, and its
+economic value will increase in the future. It is the point where the
+road from eastern Patagonia by the sub-Andean depression, from the Gulf
+of San Antonio on the Atlantic, and from the Rio Negro by the Limay,
+and the roads that lead to Chile across the Cordillera, meet. The whole
+zone of the Andes between 36° S. lat. and 42° S. lat., the latitude of
+the southern part of the Chilean plain, has numerous and easy passes.
+There has always been close communication between the two slopes,
+and people have emigrated freely from one to the other. But north of
+39° S. lat. the passes are rarely lower than 5,000 feet. They are
+covered with snow in the winter, and can be used for traffic only in
+certain seasons. It is not the same south of the volcano Lanin. That
+is the beginning of the glacial valleys which go to the heart of the
+Cordillera, some of them crossing the mountains from east to west. They
+have not yet been entirely explored. The Bariloche pass, south of the
+Tronador, by which the Chilean missionaries reached Nahuel Huapi in the
+eighteenth century, is no longer used. The Cajon Negro pass, west of
+Lake Traful, through which Bailey Willis traces the line of a southern
+trans-Andean railway, was only recently discovered, and the valleys
+which run into it on the Chilean side are not yet well known. The two
+best-known trans-Andean routes to-day are the Perez Rosales road, which
+leads from Chile to Nahuel Huapi by the north of the Tronador, and
+further north, the road from Lake Lacar to San Martin. Both these have
+received some attention, and the lakes are connected by telegraph or
+telephone. The frequent need to unload and reload makes the traffic
+costly, but it is permanent and is not interrupted in winter. The
+reduction of the export of cattle to Chile has cut down the traffic for
+a time, but it is sure to recover. The permanent importance of it is
+one of the facts most clearly written by nature upon the soil of South
+America.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is not easy, in the absence of documents, to attempt to give for
+Patagonia as a whole a detailed description of the pastoral industry,
+and to follow step by step on the spot its efforts to adjust itself to
+the natural conditions. But the analysis may be attempted in regard
+to the region between San Antonio and Lake Nahuel Huapi south of the
+Rio Negro,[71] the valley of the Rio Negro, and the tableland which
+stretches westward between the Neuquen and the Limay. This part of
+Patagonia is now easily accessible, and it is entered by two parallel
+railways. One starts from San Antonio on the Atlantic, and goes
+westward to Lake Nahuel Huapi. It has (1914) reached Maquinchao, on
+the tableland, mid-way across the Andes. The other starts from Bahía
+Blanca. At Choele Choel it enters the valley of the Rio Negro, and
+ascends it as far as the confluence of the Neuquen. Then it goes 130
+miles westward as far as Zapala, at the foot of the first sub-Andean
+chains. Each of these lines is ambitious to attract the trans-Andeans.
+At all events, they are in a hurry to reach the humid zone at the foot
+of the Andes, which could maintain a busier traffic than the desolate
+tableland.
+
+     [71] This was the area studied by the Commission of which
+     Bailey Willis was chairman.
+
+The railway from San Antonio, and the road which is a continuation
+of it west of Maquinchao, cover a distance of 320 miles from the
+Atlantic to the Andes, and cross five distinct regions. The first is
+the coastal plain, composed of horizontal marine Tertiary sedimentary
+rocks, both of sand and clay. The plain rises slowly toward the west,
+and it attains a height of 650 feet at a distance of seventy miles
+from the coast. This coastal platform divides, on the north-west,
+the enclosed hollow of the Bajo del Gualicho from the Gulf of San
+Antonio. Its surface is very even. The gravel on it has formed a sort
+of conglomerate, and in spite of appearances, this gravelly soil is
+not bad for vegetation. It quickly absorbs the rain-water, which thus
+escapes evaporation. The vegetation is comparatively rich. There are
+no springs, but the autumn rains sustain _manantiales_ in the marly
+surface, and these do not dry up until the spring. During the summer
+the plain is deserted, and there is no water. But the flocks return in
+the winter and remain there until spring. There is very little snow, as
+the temperature is moderate. In spite of the density of the pastoral
+population in winter, the pasturage is not injured. The grass grows
+plentifully amongst the thickets. This is because the flocks leave
+the district before the season when the grasses flower and reproduce,
+so the next generation is secured. Part of the flocks which winter
+on the coastal plain pass the summer in the south-west, on the high
+basaltic tablelands of Somuncura. However, the whole of the surface of
+the tableland cannot be used permanently, or during the entire summer.
+There is plenty of water in spring, when the snows have melted. In the
+middle of the summer the flocks collect round the permanent springs,
+and they scatter once more over the mountain pastures during the autumn
+rains, before they return to the plain.
+
+The second region is that of Valcheta. From Aguada Cecilia to Corral
+Chico the railway follows for sixty miles the edge of the outpour of
+lava from the south, which covers the Tertiary clays. In front of the
+basalt cliff the land dips in the north toward a closed depression, the
+Bajo de Valcheta, the bottom of which consists of clays impregnated
+with salt. Tertiary marine strata surround this hollow in the west and
+north, where they divide it from the Bajo del Gualicho, but here they
+form only a thin skin which covers the crystalline platform. The line
+of contact of the basalt and the Tertiary marls is marked by a series
+of good springs, and these give rise to permanent streams, such as the
+Arroyo Valcheta and the Nahuel Niyeu. At first they flow in a narrow
+valley crowned by basalts, with peaty prairies at the bottom, then over
+Tertiary marls, and, in the latitude of the railways, they pass into a
+gorge cut through the granites before losing themselves to the north in
+the _salitral_. A small agricultural oasis is sustained by the waters
+of the Valcheta.
+
+The site of Valcheta has an exceptional importance in the story of
+Patagonian colonization. It marks a necessary stage in the Indian track
+from the Atlantic to Nahuel Huapi, which is now followed by the line
+of the railway. Musters halted there. The track from Choele Choel, on
+the Rio Negro, to the southern coast and the Santa Cruz also passed
+by there. It was so much used, says Ezcurra, that the hoofs of the
+horses had hollowed it.[72] The Argentine village dates from 1890.
+At first it lived by supplying fodder to the convoys of wagons which
+carried the wool. The railway has suppressed this traffic, and the only
+outlet of the oasis to-day is the small port of San Antonio, where the
+wool is shipped, and where the district is unsuitable for any kind of
+cultivation.
+
+     [72] Pedro Ezcurra, "Camino indio entre los rios Negro
+     y Chubut: la travesia de Valcheta," _Bol. Instit. Geog.
+     Argent._, xix. 1898, pp. 134-38.
+
+Like the coast region, the Valcheta district seems marked out by its
+moderate altitude to serve as winter pasture. In point of fact, it
+is used during the whole year. The springs do not dry up in summer.
+The streams which flow from the south toward the Bajo de Valcheta are
+permanent. In addition, a few wells have been bored in the Tertiary
+strata. Contrary to experience on the coast, therefore, cattle can be
+kept here during the summer. There is less chance for the grasses to
+reproduce, and the pasture tends to become impoverished.
+
+The third zone, 130 miles from the coast, is that of the tableland
+of the Cerros Colorados, where low masses of red granite rise like
+an archipelago amongst the Tertiary formations deposited in the
+intervening depressions. In the west its altitude rises from 650 to
+1,300 feet. It is one of the poorest parts of the tableland, and the
+size of the flock is reduced to 600 head to the square league. The
+naked rock crops up, not covered, as it is further east, by a bed of
+gravel. In the valleys there is little water, and it lies very deep.
+There are no periodical removals of the animals. Winter and summer they
+remain within range of a few poor springs, which are caused by various
+outcrops of lava of limited extent; and they leave these, and wander
+over the tableland, only in the rainy season.
+
+Beyond the Cerros Colorados the line rises rapidly, and at Maquinchao
+it reaches the basin of Lake Carilaufquen. This occupies the bottom of
+a closed depression, at an altitude of 3,000 feet, dominated on every
+side by a plateau of lava, toward which, in the south, a number of
+important valleys run (Nahuel Niyeu, Quetriquile, Maquinchao). These
+valleys rise in the south in the basalt plateau, at a height of 4,000
+and 4,700 feet, and have no running water except at their upper ends.
+South of Carilaufquen they open upon a broad plain, round which there
+is a sombre cornice of lava, about 350 feet high. Water has collected
+on the plain, which consists of alluvial beds redistributed by wind:
+angular pebbles from the terraces, fine dust from the _mallinas_, and
+sand from the dunes round the lake.
+
+This region is much better than that of the Cerros Colorados. There
+are many springs at the base of the lava-flows, on the sides of
+the valleys, and it has as yet not been necessary to look for the
+subterranean sheets which accompany some of the valleys. The elevated
+basin of the Quetriquile, though it is only occupied by _intrusos_,
+seems to have a particularly high pastoral density, and, I am told,
+feeds 500,000 sheep. In the western part of the region the spring
+is late, and there is risk of snow during the lambing season. There
+are, however, no rams there; the lambs are brought from Maquinchao.
+This arrangement of special zones for the multiplication of the flock
+enables them rapidly to improve the breed. Here again there are no
+removals of the animals to a great distance in order to use the
+pasture. The vegetation of the valleys suffered from the continuous
+presence of the flocks during the years of drought before 1914; the
+reproduction of useful grasses was prevented. There is, however, less
+danger here than on the Cerros Colorados, because the _mallinas_ are
+extensive, and they suffice for feeding the sheep during the periods
+when the _manantiales_ of the tableland dry up, and the animals are
+confined to the valleys.
+
+The fifth region comprises the high ridge which divides the basin of
+the Carilaufquen from Nahuel Huapi, the water of which flows northward
+toward the Limay and southward toward the Chubut: successive eruptions
+have covered the surface with lava and ash, which at Añecon rise to a
+height of 6,700 feet. The granite platform which emerges in the north,
+at the Cerro Aspero and the Quadradito, rises to a height of 4,400 and
+4,700 feet, and in some places presents a bold and rejuvenated aspect.
+The whole has been cut up in all directions by erosion, and it affords
+comparatively easy means of getting about, which the Indian tracks have
+followed. Below the higher slopes the valleys deepen into gorges, and
+these broaden out in the soft tufa and are lost at the cross-streams
+of lava or the outcrops of the granite. In so varied a land, with
+such marked differences of altitude, the winter and summer pastures
+are always close together. Precipitation is more plentiful than at a
+distance from the Cordillera; the pasturage is richer, and the size
+of the flock rises to 1,600 sheep to the league. The sheep pass the
+winter on the lower slopes, where they are sheltered from the winds and
+the snow. They descend to the _mallin_ when the dry season sets in and
+makes the soil firm. In summer they go on to the tablelands, where the
+pastures extend to a height of 5,000 feet.
+
+Bailey Willis, studying the improvements that might be made in the
+pastoral processes, concluded that the essential point was to use each
+pasturage in its best season, and establish a carefully considered
+rotation on the various lands. This system, which alone would enable
+them to nurse the natural resources of the scrub in the way of plants
+for fodder, is used to-day in only a small number of districts--in
+the east, where the flocks winter on the coastal plain and spend the
+summer on the Somuncura tableland, and in the west, round the Añecon,
+where the summer and winter pastures are not far from each other. The
+custom ought to be general. The area which ought to be reserved for
+winter pasture comprises the coastal plains, the whole of the low-lying
+district round Valcheta, and the lower part of the valleys to the
+south of the Carilaufquen. They are less extensive than the available
+summer pastures, but their capacity could be enlarged by developing
+the irrigated areas in the Bajo de Valcheta, and sowing lucerne in the
+_mallinas_ of the basin of the Carilaufquen. The low valleys round the
+Carilaufquen ought to be reserved for winter pasture. In the summer the
+sheep would be taken south to the higher-level valleys, which afford
+permanent pasture. From there they would spread after the melting of
+the snow, and after the first rains in autumn, over the high tablelands
+which surround them.
+
+This plan is obstructed in the first place by the actual terms of
+ownership, which were imprudently fixed before the examination of the
+country in detail had been concluded. Thus the Maquinchao ranch, in the
+lower valley, does not own the upper valley with the summer pastures
+that ought to belong to it. A more serious obstacle is that it is
+extremely difficult to remove the sheep. It is not merely roads that
+are wanting, but a water supply at the various stages.[73]
+
+     [73] The district of the Rio Negro is not the only part of
+     Patagonia which faces the problem of increasing the winter
+     pasture. Attention has been drawn to the possibility of
+     enlarging the lucerne farms in the district of Colonia
+     Sarmiento, south of Lake Musters, and making this a great
+     wintering area for the Santa Cruz flocks.
+
+Between the railway that runs from San Antonio to Lake Nahuel Huapi and
+the Rio Negro, there is a desert region about seventy miles in width.
+Red sandstone predominates in it, and it remains uninhabited. North of
+this _travesia_ the valley of the Rio Negro opens. Its width between
+Neuquen and Patagones ranges from five to fifteen miles. Its slope
+diminishes gradually toward the bottom (from 0.67 to 0.49 per 1,000
+above Chelfaro; from 0.45 to 0.29 per 1,000 above Conesa).
+
+The sandstone and marl cliffs which enclose it become gradually lower
+as one goes downward. They dominate the valley at a height of 650 feet
+at the confluence of the Neuquen, and are only 100 to 130 feet high at
+Patagones. At the foot of them are broad terraces cut by dissymetrical
+ravines, in which the beds of sandstone outcrop on the western slope,
+exposed to the winds, while the eastern slopes are covered with
+gravel. On the banks of the river there is a strip about two miles
+wide with abundant herbaceous vegetation between lines of willows.
+This is covered by the normal floods. The remainder of the river
+plain, to the foot of the cliffs, has only a thin scrub, with dunes at
+intervals. Saline clays here overlie the river gravels. The level of
+the underground water, which is fed by the river, sinks lower as one
+goes from the banks toward the cliffs. Few parts of the tableland have
+so desolate an aspect as the bottom of these great Patagonian valleys,
+when they have not been transformed by irrigation. The pasturage is
+poor. At Conesa, however, the valley (_costa_) is used as summer
+pasture when there is a shortage of water on the surrounding tableland
+(_planeza_).
+
+The water-supply is good, the volume of the river ranging from 200
+to 900 cubic metres a second. Low water lasts from February to April
+(end of the summer). From May to July the river has sudden and violent
+floods--an effect of the autumn rains. The curve sinks again in August
+and September, to rise once more in October and December, when the
+snow melts on the Andes. The Limay, the upper basin of which contains
+large, lacustrine sheets, is more regular than the Neuquen, which has
+very pronounced low-water, as well as dangerous floods in the autumn.
+The first attempts at irrigation date from 1885, when the canal of the
+Roca colony was dug. Others were made lower down at a later date. The
+co-operative groups organized for the administration of the canals have
+not been quite as successful as might have been expected. The advance
+of agricultural colonization has been slow. Costly preparatory work is
+needed to level the ground and organize the drainage, otherwise saline
+patches form and spread like leprosy at the expense of the cultivable
+areas. Lastly, the centre of the valley is exposed to floods.[74]
+
+     [74] The work now (1914) in hand will reduce the risk of
+     floods, and will enable them to enlarge considerably the
+     extent of the tilled land. The Cuenca Vidal, which opens
+     amongst the sandstone, below the level of the valley, on the
+     tableland to the north of the Neuquen, will be arranged so as
+     to absorb the flood-water, and it will feed a canal which will
+     serve the left bank over an area of 100 miles. The waters of
+     the Limay will be available for the lower valley.
+
+  [Illustration: THE PATAGONIAN TABLELAND (NEUQUEN).
+  _Indigenous vegetation. Rocks eroded by wind._
+                            Photographs by Windhausen, Mining Division.
+  PLATE XIV.                                           To face p. 154.]
+
+The chief crops are lucerne, cereals, and the vine. All the efforts and
+hopes of the colonists are now centred upon the vine. It is for the
+purpose of extending the vineyards that they are endeavouring to secure
+more workers. These are a singularly mixed lot, Chileans from the
+Neuquen rubbing shoulders with Latin immigrants (Italian and Spanish)
+from the region of the Pampas.
+
+The lucerne is made up in bales and exported by rail to Bahía Blanca
+and Buenos Aires. The economic life of the agricultural oasis of the
+Rio Negro is no more connected with that of the pastoral tableland
+than is life on the Chubut. Neither sheep nor cattle are fattened on
+the Rio Negro. It is a curious contrast to the spectacle offered by
+the Andean regions of western and north-western Argentina, where for
+generations there has been a close association between the breeding
+industry of the scrub and the fattening on the lucerne-farms. This is
+because the currents of the cattle-trade are not here as permanent and
+stable as they are in the north. The time when the convoys of Pampean
+cattle bound for Chile used the valley of the Rio Negro preceded the
+agricultural colonization of the banks of the river. The conquest
+of Patagonia put an end to this traffic. There was an interval of
+twenty-five years between the period of the export of Pampean cattle
+to Chile and the export of cattle from the Neuquen to Buenos Aires,
+to which I will refer presently. As to sheep-breeding, it did not for
+a long time rear the animals for the meat-market, and it is only a
+few years since it found transport necessary. The farmers of the Rio
+Negro, who have little capital, and who sell and are paid in advance
+for their dry fodder, have not yet been able to take advantage of the
+reorganization of the cattle-trade.
+
+West of the confluence of the Neuquen and the Limay the railway ascends
+the sandstone tableland, from 1,700 to 3,000 feet high, and goes as
+far as the foot of the first sub-Andean chain, the Zapala ranch. The
+eruptive rocks here have thrown up the sandstone, and the profiles
+raised north and south of Zapala, across the Sierra de la Vaca Muerta
+and the Cerro Lotena, cut through folds of Mesozoic strata which have
+been reduced by erosion to the level of the plateau. One already feels
+the vicinity of the Cordillera. Pasture is plentiful, the _mallin_
+is thick, and springs abound. The sheep-area stretches westward of
+Zapala, as far as the Rio Cataluin and the Rio Agrio. East of Zapala,
+on the other hand, the desolate condition of the country gets worse
+and worse. The supplies of water dry up in the summer, and the entire
+zone that lies east of 70° W. long. is useless, on account of the lack
+of permanent water, except as winter commonage. Hence, transhumation
+is here indispensable. It has been practised for a long time on the
+Chilean slope of the Cordillera from the latitude of Coquimbo and San
+Juan to the north of Lake Quillen. At present it tends to disappear
+from the Andes of the Neuquen.[75] But there is still transhumation on
+the Argentine side. The sheep of the plateau, driven from their winter
+pasture when the water dries up, ascend the Cordillera. Sometimes the
+mountains are not yet free from snow. In that case the journey is
+delayed, and the sheep feed on the way, to the great detriment of the
+land they cross.
+
+     [75] As a matter of fact, of recent years there has been a
+     practice on this slope of disguising the smuggling of animals
+     under the name of "transhumation," as the removal of the sheep
+     facilitated it and helped to maintain it. The shepherds got
+     certificates exaggerating the number of their sheep from the
+     Chilean officials before they crossed the frontier, and under
+     cover of these they came back to Chile with additions to their
+     flocks which they had bought on Argentine territory.
+
+There are many routes, and frequently they coincide with those which
+were formerly taken by the cattle of the Pampas in ascending to the
+passes of the Cordillera. Groeber mentions a transhumation track south
+of the Rio Barrancas and Lake Carri Lauquen. From the left bank of the
+Neuquen the flocks ascend by Chosmalal and Butamallin to the pasture
+of the Pichachen pass, or by Las Lajas to the Pino Hachado pass. From
+Zapala and the tableland further south they go to spend the summer
+in the Cataluin Cordillera, where the number of sheep in summer is
+calculated to be 70,000. Others go still further, to the source of the
+Alumine and the Arco pass. The volcano Lanin almost marks the southern
+limit of the zone of transhumation. The chief group of migrating sheep
+comes from the district of the Coyunco, the Cañadon Grande, and the
+Picun Leucu.
+
+Transhumation is practised only by the _intrusos_. They go from the
+unowned lands of the tableland to the unowned lands of the Cordillera.
+The renting of winter pasture to owners is quite exceptional. The
+concessions of land granted by the Argentine Government are steadily
+reducing the area of the migrators in the Cordillera, and also the
+ways of communication between the tableland and the mountains. The
+proprietors do not care to receive the migrating flocks, and they
+put obstacles in their way by enclosing the land. The routes of the
+transhumation are now fixed by the spaces which remain open between the
+enclosed ranches. Moreover, the migrating _intrusos_ are haunted by
+the fear of finding the winter pasture occupied by others during their
+absence, and they have no proprietary title. The splitting up of the
+land and the organization of ownership will before long lead to the
+extinction of the practice of transhumation, and the greater part of
+the winter pasturage will be turned into permanent pasture by boring
+wells and nursing the water-supply.
+
+The district round the Zapala ranch has become very busy since the
+construction of the railway, which has deeply affected the conditions
+of life there. It has made a sort of capital of Zapala. It is curious
+to contrast the renaissance which has followed upon the appearance of
+the railway in this district with the much less material changes which
+it has made at Maquinchao. The life which the railway concentrates at
+Zapala includes not only the wool trade, as at Maquinchao, but also
+the cattle trade. The herds which are to be exported gather round the
+ranch at the same time as the _tropas_ of wagons, and a good price is
+paid for the right of pasturage. While the Maquinchao line ends at the
+port of San Antonio, which is merely fitted up for the export of wool,
+the Zapala railway feeds the refrigerator at Bahía Blanca. It joins up
+with the network of railways of the Pampa. Sheep arrive at Zapala, not
+only from the surrounding district and from the Neuquen, but from a
+good part of the Rio Negro, and even the Chubut. The convoys of animals
+coming from the south find it best to keep near the Cordillera, where
+the pasturage is better. Only a few of them descend the Limay as far
+as Senillosa. From Zapala to Senillosa there is no suitable road in
+connection with the railway, and further east it is necessary to go as
+far as Choele Choel to find tracks which lead to it. The exporting of
+the sheep lasts five months, from November to March.
+
+Zapala station is also a point of convergence of herds of cattle.
+There are people at Zapala who still remember the time when the cattle
+brought from the Pampa to go to Chile passed through their valley.
+Although these exports of Pampean cattle to Chile ceased after 1885,
+the whole Andean region of the Neuquen still lived entirely on the
+Chilean market until very recently. The attraction of the Chilean
+market is one of the reasons for the survival of transhumation. It was
+to the advantage of the Argentine breeders to keep near the Cordillera
+and the passes through which the buyers came from Chile in the summer.
+The life of the small centres in the upper valleys which developed
+rapidly after the conquest (Chosmalal, Ñorquin, Codihue, Junin, and
+San Martin) was bound up with the Chilean cattle trade, and was
+reflected on the opposite side of the Andes in the prosperity of the
+corresponding markets in Chile.
+
+In the years immediately preceding 1914, a sudden revolution upset
+the cattle traffic on the Neuquen, and the attraction of Buenos Aires
+took the place of that of the Chilean market. The commercial influence
+of Buenos Aires was first felt in the wool-market. The _tropas_ of
+wagons which brought wool to Zapala loaded up, in exchange, with the
+flour and salt that were needed for sheep-breeding in the pastures
+of the Cordillera (_pastos dulces_). The import trade followed the
+path traced by the export trade. The small Chilean wagons which still
+cross the Cordillera now only bring to the Neuquen the coarse flour of
+Chile, haricot beans, and wine. They return empty to Chile. After the
+wool-buyers, the cattle-merchants of Buenos Aires next found their way
+to the Cordillera. The centres where the sales of cattle for Chile used
+to be held are now in decay, and have lost part of their population.
+The cattle are sent to the fattening centres on the Pampa, or to the
+Bahía Blanca and Buenos Aires markets. Thus we have under our eyes,
+unexpectedly, in the north of Patagonia a transformation that occurred
+gradually half a century ago in all the western and north-western parts
+of Argentina. In its many forms it is the essential fact in the modern
+history of Argentine colonization. The more distant provinces are
+detached in succession from foreign markets, and the whole national
+life is being organized round the great economic focus which the region
+of the Pampas has become.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE PLAIN OF THE PAMPAS
+
+     The limits of the prairie--The rains--The wind and the
+     formation of the clay of the Pampas--The wind and the
+     contour--The zones of colonization on the Pampas--Hunting
+     wild cattle and primitive breeding--The sheep-farms--The
+     ranches--The region of "colonies"--The region of lucerne,
+     maize, and wheat--The combination of agriculture and
+     breeding--The economic mechanism of colonization--The
+     exchanges between the different zones of the Pampas.
+
+
+The Pampean landscape is doubtless one of the most uniform in the
+world. Its monotony is tiring to the eye; it is partly responsible for
+the mediocrity of most of the descriptions of the Pampas. But this
+uniformity is an advantage for the purpose of colonization. Attention
+has often been drawn to the rapidity with which plants and animals
+introduced by Europeans spread in the Buenos Aires district, and,
+pushing ahead of the breeders and farmers, colonized the Pampas. In the
+second half of the nineteenth century, when the whole extent of the
+plain beyond the ancient Indian frontier was occupied, the development
+of it was so much easier because it was possible to use simpler and
+more uniform methods of exploitation. It needed neither large capital
+nor long personal experience on the part of the immigrant. Basques
+and Italians who had only just landed could take an active part in it
+almost without apprenticeship. The primitive groups of population could
+advance from one zone of the plain to another and take with them their
+own methods of farming and breeding, their own form of rural economy.
+
+A close study will, however, enable us to detect appreciable physical
+differences in the Pampean plain. Neither climate nor soil is the same
+all over it.
+
+The name "Pampa" chiefly means a vegetal growth, a prairie. Its
+limits are the frontier of the scrub (_monte_), and strange as it may
+seem, it is still difficult to trace them exactly. North of Santa
+Fé, between the Salado and the Paraná, the Pampa stretches as far as
+Fives-Lille, a little beyond 30° S. lat.[76] On the Central Norte
+and the Central Argentine lines the fringe of the _monte_ reaches to
+Fuertin Inca and Malbran, about 170 miles north-west of Santa Fé. It
+then turns south-east and south, passing round the entire depression of
+Los Porongos and Mar Chiquita; and the line from Santa Fé to Córdoba
+crosses it at Francia and approaches the Rio Secundo. South of the Rio
+Secundo it goes westward and joins the foot of the Sierra de Córdoba
+south of the Rio Tercero (at the stream Tequia). From this point to La
+Cambre, some sixteen miles east of San Luis, the prairie extends as far
+as the edge of the sierras, and penetrates into the southern half of
+the Conlara depression, between the hills of Córdoba and of San Luis
+(Pampa de Naschel). The mimosa forest enters the steppe in narrow belts
+along the Rio Quinto to within a few leagues below Villa Mercedes,
+along the Rio Tercero as far as the confluence of the Saladillo, and
+along the Salado to the south of Santa Fé. There are, in addition, many
+isolated clumps of _chañares_ and more extensive patches of wood in
+the north-west corner of the prairie (Santa Fé province). The _monte_
+along the Salado is continued south of Santa Fé along the Paraná, as
+far as the point where the chief arm of the river reaches the cliffs
+on the right bank, at San Lorenzo. This is the domain of the _ombu_, a
+tree with thick trunk and naked roots which is found scattered over the
+prairie in the Paraná region as far as south of Buenos Aires.
+
+     [76] On the left bank of the Salado, west of the Resistencia
+     railway, a great gulf of low prairie penetrates into the
+     forest of the Chaco in the north, almost as far as 28° S.
+     lat., but it has rather the character of one of the floodable
+     clearings of the Chaco (_esteros_) than of the temperate
+     Pampa.
+
+In the west, between San Luis and the mouth of the Colorado, the
+transition from the Pampa to the _monte_ is gradual. Just as at Santa
+Fé, the approach of the _monte_ is announced by the appearance of
+_chañares_, in the south-west corner of the Córdoba province and on
+the southern slope of the Sierra de la Ventana. The _monte_, properly
+so called, though impoverished, invaded by the _jarilla_, and mainly
+composed (as in northern Patagonia) of dwarf mimosas, covers the area
+of the Pampean sierras on the left bank of the Chadi Leuvu and the
+Colorado. Between this area and a line passing through Rancul, Anguil,
+Atreuco, and Bernasconi, where the naked prairie begins, there is a
+mixed zone which one may call the _calden_ zone. This mimosa, a near
+relative of the _algarroba_, which has a wider range than the other
+plants of the _monte_ in this latitude, forms woods at intervals in
+the south of the San Luis province and on the flanks of the parallel
+valleys of the central Pampa. Between these woods the tableland
+is generally covered by the prairie, with occasional patches of
+_chañares_. About twenty-five miles east of Buena Esperanza the line
+from San Rafael touches the far corner of a forest of _caldenes_, which
+stretches south-westward, and reaches the Rio Salado about 35° 30'
+S. lat. Beyond Buena Esperanza it keeps on the prairie as far as the
+crossing of the Salado, which here marks the limit of the _monte_. The
+Rio Negro line passes directly from the prairie to the Patagonian scrub
+mid-way between Bahía Blanca and the Colorado.
+
+Within these limits the prairie extends without a break. The sierras of
+the Buenos Aires province have no arborescent vegetation.
+
+The zone of the prairie, intermediate between tropical Argentina and
+the sub-desert regions of western Patagonia, has a medium rainfall. It
+decreases gradually from north-east to south-west. There is a rainfall
+of 1,200 to 1,000 millimetres on the lower Paraná, and only 400 to
+600 millimetres on the western edge of the Pampa. The zone which lies
+between the 800 millimetres and 600 millimetres average is more than
+270 miles in breadth. But what is most characteristic of the climate
+of the Pampa is the equal distribution of the rain throughout the
+year, and the absence of a real dry season. In this the Pampa differs
+from the surrounding regions, both in the south-west and the north.
+At Buenos Aires the six months of the (relatively) dry season yield,
+nevertheless, 44 per cent. of the total rainfall, and at Bahía Blanca
+40 per cent. This regularity diminishes in proportion as one approaches
+the coast. At Rosario the six months of the dry season only yield 30
+per cent. of the year's rain; at Villa Mercedes (San Luis province) 25
+per cent. When one goes beyond the limits of the prairies the ratio
+of rain in the dry season decreases rapidly; it is only 20 per cent.
+at Córdoba and 18 per cent. at San Luis. At Córdoba, the curve of the
+rainfall indicates a typical tropical regime, with a summer maximum
+and a very low minimum in winter. Passing south-eastward from Córdoba,
+at Bellville, Villa Maria and especially Rosario, the dryness of the
+winter diminishes, and at the same time a secondary minimum appears
+in the middle of summer (January-February). At Buenos Aires, the form
+of the curve changes completely. The summer minimum is almost as low
+as the winter minimum, and most of the rainfall is in the spring
+(September) and the beginning of the autumn (March).[77]
+
+     [77] Argentine Mesopotamia, which is a continuation of the
+     Pampean region from the climatological point of view, is also,
+     even in its northern part, without the rigorous dry seasons of
+     the Chaco. Ascending the Paraná, from Corrientes to Posadas,
+     just as in passing from Córdoba to Buenos Aires, one notices
+     that the winter minimum decreases, and a secondary maximum
+     appears in the spring. The predominance of the spring rains,
+     which is a characteristic of southern Brazil, is conspicuous
+     on the middle Uruguay. On the lower part of that river the
+     rain-system approaches that of Buenos Aires, with maxima
+     in spring and autumn, a principal minimum in winter, and a
+     secondary minimum in summer.
+
+These various shades of the Pampean climate are of essential importance
+in the history of colonization and the spread of cultivation. The belt
+of summer rain is the belt of maize-growing, whereas the cultivation of
+wheat requires spring rain and a comparatively dry summer.
+
+While the isohyetic curves, which represent the precipitation for the
+whole year, are orientated from north-west to south-east, the curves of
+rainfall during the cold season, from April to September (dry season
+in the north), cut diagonally across the preceding, and are oriented
+directly north and south. Bahía Blanca receives in winter as much rain
+as Rosario, and General Acha (in the district of the central Pampa)
+as much as Córdoba. Unless one attends to this, one cannot explain
+the extension of wheat-growing, in the south-west, as far as the 400
+millimetre curve, and even beyond it on the Atlantic coast.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The relief of the Pampean plain is known fairly accurately, thanks
+to the observations made along the railways. The ground rises slowly
+toward the west. The 100-metre curve describes a deep gulf some 300
+miles west-south-west of Buenos Aires. The belt comprised between 100
+and 150 metres above sea-level is more than sixty miles broad in the
+latitude of Santa Fé, and 130 miles in the latitude of Buenos Aires.
+Beyond the 150-metre curve the land rises rapidly toward the west and
+north-west, and reaches 400 metres in the Córdoba district and 500 in
+the Villa Mercedes district. It is at the altitude of 150 metres, and
+the break in the inclination which this marks, that the Rio Quinto is
+lost, near Amarga, south of General Lavalle.
+
+The ridge between the Pampa and the basin of the Salado in the south
+of the San Luis province is about 450 metres above sea-level. South of
+the province of Buenos Aires the Sierras de Tandil and de la Ventana
+are joined together by a ridge which does not fall below 200 metres.
+Certain irregularities of the surface, such as the depression of Mar
+Chiquita to the east of Córdoba, the thrust of the plateau on the right
+bank of the Paraná, south of Villa Constitución and San Nicolas, can,
+apparently, only be explained by recent tectonic movements.
+
+The Pampean deposits which cover the plain rest upon a rocky base of
+which the salient representatives are the sierras of the province of
+Buenos Aires and the hills at Córdoba and San Luis. This base also
+appears east of the Pampean basin in the granite island of Martin
+Garcia, in the middle of the estuary of the Plata, and in the hills on
+the coast of Uruguay.[78]
+
+     [78] While the Pampean deposits lie immediately on the
+     crystalline and Paleozoic formations in the sierras of the
+     lower Colorado and of the central Pampa, in the south of the
+     province of Buenos Aires and in Uruguay, they are, on the
+     eastern edge of the Sierra de Córdoba, separated from it by
+     red sandstones and conglomerates of uncertain age, perhaps
+     synchronous with the continental red sandstones of Corrientes
+     which outcrop east of the Paraná and have been known since
+     D'Orbigny's time as "granitic sandstones."
+
+Underneath the even sheet of the alluvial deposits the surface of the
+sub-Pampean platform is very irregular. Its shape has been discovered
+by deep borings in search of arterial waters. It has been warped and
+cut up by faults, some of these deformations being probably synchronous
+with the formation of the Pampean deposits which have concealed them
+as they have been produced. A subterranean rocky ridge continues the
+Sierra de Córdoba southward and joins it with the sierras of the
+Colorado. The granite emerges at Chamaico, on the western railway, and
+on both sides the borings have passed through great depths of clay and
+sand.[79] This ridge isolates the eastern Pampa from the sub-Andean
+chains, and marks the limit of the area with sheets of underground
+water. In the north of the Pampean region, between the Sierra de
+Córdoba and the Paraná, the loose continental formations are more than
+2,000 feet thick at Bellville, and more than 3,500 feet north-west of
+Santa Fé (fodder farms of San Cristobal and El Tostado). At Buenos
+Aires the granite has been found 985 feet below the surface.
+
+     [79] At Rancul, in the east, 660 feet of loess overlying red
+     sandstone: at Telen, in the west, 2,800 feet of sand, marl,
+     sandstone and gravel.
+
+  [Illustration: THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. TRES ARROYES (BUENOS AIRES PRAIRIE
+  BETWEEN THE SIERRA DE TANDIL AND THE SIERRA DE LA VENTANA).
+  _Zone of wheat and oats on large scale. The Pampa is a tableland here
+  (400 feet above sea-level), with clay overlying the limestone of the
+  Tosca. The valleys are well marked._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. TOAY, ON THE CENTRAL PAMPA (590 FEET).
+  _The tableland, with a strong framework of limestone Tosca, is cut
+  across by well-marked dry valleys which sink lower toward the east. At
+  the edges of the valleys the sand is the prey of the winds. Here we are
+  near the limit of the wheat belt._
+                                              Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE XV.                                            To face p. 166.]
+
+The Pampean formation consists almost entirely of loose deposits,
+sand and clays of various sorts. There is no gravel.[80] Even in the
+vicinity of the sierras the beds of gravel, with round or angular
+pebbles, are almost always covered by clay, and are exposed only in the
+banks of the streams. Olascoaga mentions the surprise of the _gauchos_
+of General Roca's army when they found Patagonian pebbles on the ground
+during their stay at Choele Choel on the Colorado, in the course of
+the campaign on the Rio Negro. Officers and soldiers dismounted to
+pick them up. Sand and clay form a thick bed of continental alluvia.
+The Tertiary maritime transgressions, which have left their mark in
+the clays and limestones of the left bank of the lower Paraná, and the
+layers of shells at San Pedro on the right bank, never penetrated far
+into the interior of the Pampean region, and one finds no trace of them
+when one leaves the coast or the river.
+
+     [80] Roth claims to have found gravel in the San Nicolas
+     _barranca_ on the Paraná. I have myself found small rounded
+     flints in the clay of the Chaco at Tartagal. But these
+     deposits probably come from the left bank of the Paraná, where
+     the beds of river gravel are considerable.
+
+The source of the elements which compose the Pampean alluvia is very
+uncertain. Their composition does not clearly show their origin. The
+clays are comparatively rich in calcareous matter, which seems to
+indicate that they do not come from tropical America or the upper basin
+of the Paraná. Wright and Fenner insist upon the high proportion of
+siliceous glass of volcanic origin which they contain, which points
+to an intense eruptive activity during or before their formation.[81]
+Doering had already noticed in the Córdoba region the prevalence of
+beds of volcanic ash, which become thicker as one approaches the
+sierra. It is certain that the Pampean sierras have had their share in
+the formation of the Pampean beds. But the main mass is probably of
+Andean origin. However that may be, as soon as one gets away from the
+fringe of the mountains, the only variety noticeable in the lands of
+the Pampa is that which they owe to the conditions in which they have
+been deposited.
+
+     [81] In Ales Hrdlicka, _Early Man in South America_
+     (Smithsonian Instit. Bull., 52, Washington, 1912).
+
+River deposits strictly so called, estuary deposits, lagoon deposits,
+æolian deposits, æolian deposits redistributed by water, river deposits
+redistributed by wind--all these different types are represented in the
+Pampean formation, but their relative importance is still disputed.[82]
+
+     [82] Many attempts have been made to classify the Pampean
+     lands, but the results cannot be regarded as final. Ameghino,
+     who is first and foremost a palæontologist, has done a service
+     in showing the futility of these geological divisions based
+     upon the actual surface of the deposits (colour, fineness,
+     etc.). But even palæontology gives rather uncertain results,
+     as it is impossible to recognize and follow step by step
+     the various stages of the movement of the fossils. All the
+     classifications of the Pampean are based upon a study of two
+     groups of sections. The first group comprises the cliff on
+     the right bank of the Paraná from Rosario to Buenos Aires
+     and the coastal cliff which is a continuation of it, with a
+     break from Enseñada at Mar Chiquita to Bahía Blanca. Ameghino
+     has recognized there a thick series of æolian deposits
+     separated by several discordances, the oldest elements of
+     which, at Bahía Blanca, belong to the Miocene. The second
+     group comprises the cliffs which enclose the valley of the Rio
+     Primero above and below Córdoba. Doering and Bodenbender in
+     this case describe two stages of æolian loess, each covered by
+     torrential gravel.
+
+     From the study of these sections geologists have drawn
+     certain conclusions as to the movements which have affected
+     the soil of the Pampa and the changes which the climate has
+     experienced. These conclusions have in each case only a local
+     value, and they have not yet been co-ordinated. The majority
+     of the observers, from Doering to Bailey Willis and Rovereto,
+     seem not to have taken into account sufficiently the fact that
+     in the continental formations the most diverse deposits may
+     come next to each other in the same series, according to the
+     particular process of deposition, and that their alternation
+     does not imply a general change in the conditions of erosion.
+
+When we confine ourselves to studying the actual conditions in which
+the deposits were formed, we are first struck by the poverty of the
+hydrographic network of the Pampa. It is slight except in the vicinity
+of the sierras, where the slope of the ground is pronounced, and in the
+eastern area, on the right bank of the Paraná and Entre Rios, where
+the climate is more humid, and the streams flowing over an impermeable
+soil more numerous. The only one of the streams born in the Pampean
+sierras that reaches the Paraná is the Rio Tercero or Carcaraña. All
+the others dwindle as they descend, and disappear in a low-lying
+district marked by lagoons which they only reach in time of flood. The
+floods themselves never bring the Rio Cuarto and the Rio Quinto and the
+Salado de Buenos Aires into touch with each other. The waters of the
+northern slope of the Sierra de Tandil, and even those of the Sierra
+de Curumalal, on the other hand, reach the Salado after the rains,
+either by way of streams which drain the strings of lagoons, or by
+flood-sheets, which spread over large areas.
+
+The watercourses of the plain are unstable in their direction. The
+traces of their wanderings remain in the form of stretches of alluvial
+sand crossing the fine æolian clays. These river sands sometimes spread
+over extensive areas, the distribution depending upon a hydrographic
+scheme which is now partially effaced. The sands of the departments of
+General Lopez (south of the Santa Fé province) and General Arenales
+(Buenos Aires province), where the Salado is now developed, were
+probably brought by the Rio Cuarto, and mark an earlier junction of
+the Cuarto and the Salado. These sands run along the Salado as far as
+the confluence of the Saladillo, and the contrast between the light
+soil and the clay of the bank of the Paraná is so striking that the
+sand has long been regarded as a marine deposit, indicating an ancient
+shore. Along the Saladillo also, north-west of the Guamini lagoons,
+there is a sandy belt which corresponds with an important direction
+taken by the actual flow of the river, crossing the Bolivar and Veinte
+Cinco de Mayo departments.
+
+While the agency of running water in transporting alluvia is confined
+to certain sections of the plain, the action of the wind is seen over
+its entire surface. The wind everywhere supplements or replaces running
+water. Like running water, it classifies the elements it conveys, and
+selects them according to their weight and size, the finest clays being
+deposited in the moist eastern zone and the coarsest sands in the
+sub-desert zone of the west. The mechanism of erosion explains this
+contrast. The grains of sand that are driven by the wind travel at the
+surface of the ground as long as the vegetation is too sparse to fix
+them. If one goes further east, to a moister district with a thicker
+vegetal carpet, the grains of sand no longer move at the surface of
+the ground, but the wind still carries fine particles of clay, which
+it bears to a great height. The bed of clay does not at all imply an
+arid climate, as is said sometimes, but corresponds to the region of
+the steppes, with moderate rainfall. It is, however, during dry seasons
+that the deposition of clay is at its greatest. Darwin mentions that
+after the droughts of 1827-1830 in the area round the Paraná, the marks
+were buried under dust to such an extent that one could no longer
+recognize the limits of the various lands. Apart, however, from these
+sorts of floods or storms of dust caused by the _pampero_, the summer
+atmosphere is clearly laden with dust, which colours the skies in the
+east of the Buenos Aires province, as far as Entre Rios.
+
+The contour of the plain bears, like the soil, the double marks of
+erosion by running water and æolian erosion. The rivers of the Pampa,
+when they leave the sierras, flow between high cliffs, the height
+diminishing as one goes downward. Presently these _barrancas_ become
+low, approach each other, and at last merely mark the banks of a larger
+bed which the floods fill. There is no trace of valleys. Bailey Willis,
+surprised at this weakness of watercourses that have, nevertheless, an
+appreciable fall, attributes it to the fact that the cycle of erosion
+opened by the last upheaval of the Pampa has not yet had time to
+penetrate into the interior. In reality, it means that here we are at
+the limit of the zone of erosion by running water, and that in this
+climate the essential factor in shaping the landscape is the wind.
+
+The region of the right bank of the Paraná (east of the Salado),
+which alone has a complete hydrographic network, must be considered
+apart. From the latitude of Rosario to that of Buenos Aires it is cut
+by flat-bottomed valleys which are sometimes a hundred feet deep.
+The excavation of these valleys is due to an upheaval which raised
+this part of the Pampa above the base-level. The rapids of the lower
+Carcaraña also bear witness to this resumption of excavation. Farther
+on an inverse movement has put the bottom of the valleys below this
+level, and led to their being filled up (lagoon deposits of the
+Lujanense of Ameghino). South of Buenos Aires the upheaval has been
+less important, and the valleys are not so deep. Some of them (middle
+Salado and its tributaries on the left bank) are now occupied by long
+lagoons with steep banks, branching along the side-valleys, and these
+owe their origin to the same negative movement, subsequent to the
+excavation of the valleys. The upheaval did not extend to the eastern
+part of the province of Buenos Aires south of the Salado, a low-lying
+flat area, badly drained, exposed to floods, the contour of which has
+been minutely studied in connection with the construction of a great
+network of drainage-canals. North of Rosario, on the only slightly
+permeable clay, the water circulates, after rain, not by means of
+valleys in the proper sense, but along broad and almost imperceptible
+depressions (_cañadas_) where the current is slow, and the water dries
+up in the dry season. Their general relations are not yet known.
+
+The loose deposits of the Pampean offer little resistance to erosion.
+The cycles are run through rapidly, and the traces of earlier cycles
+are faint, and are soon effaced.[83]
+
+     [83] Certain features of the hydrographic network clearly have
+     the character of having been superimposed: that is to say, the
+     path of the watercourses has been bequeathed to the actual
+     plain by former erosion-surfaces, which have now disappeared,
+     on which the valleys were originally imposed. That is why
+     in the district of the confluence of the Colorado and the
+     Chadi-Leuvu the valleys pass from Pampean deposits to the
+     crystalline sierras, which were at one time entirely covered
+     with water.
+
+An ancient erosion-surface, dissected by the existing valleys, has
+survived in the south-west of the Pampean plain, thanks to the presence
+on the surface of a sheet of hard limestone, the _tosca_. The _tosca_
+is the result of the concentration of calcareous elements contained
+in clay at the surface in a dry climate. The formation of it implies
+a prolonged stability of the surface on which it has accumulated.
+Like the deep decomposition-soils in moister regions, it indicates
+a peneplain on which erosion has ceased. The bed of _tosca_ covers
+the whole district between the Sierra de Tandil and the Sierra de la
+Ventana, the south-western slope of the Ventana, and most of the area
+of the central Pampa. In the north it does not go beyond the line from
+Buenos Aires to San Rafael. Its eastern limit goes almost by Ingeniero
+Malmen, Monte Nievas, and Atreuco, where it joins the southern bank of
+the lagoons of Carhue and Guamini in the east.[84] In some places the
+tosca is about forty feet thick.
+
+     [84] In the vicinity of San Luis and Córdoba the hard strata
+     which are called _tosca_ are beds of eruptive ashes.
+
+To-day the region of the _tosca_ forms a plateau cut by narrow valleys,
+sometimes 200 feet deep, west of the Sierra de la Ventana and in
+the central Pampa. These parallel valleys, with few ramifications,
+generally lying south-west to north-east, open to the east upon the
+Pampean plain about the frontier of the Buenos Aires province. On the
+other hand, the southernmost of them begin at the foot of the Ventana,
+and seem to blend in the south-west with a general depression that
+is still little known, though it appears to end at the bottom of the
+estuary of Bahía Blanca. None of them has permanent running water.[85]
+The origin of the dry valleys of the _tosca_ is one of the most obscure
+problems of the morphology of the Pampean plain. Perhaps they are due
+to æolian erosion, like the depressions which are found on the plateau
+of the Colorado and the Rio Negro further south.
+
+     [85] The surface of the _tosca_ tableland is further
+     punctuated by a great number of closed depressions of various
+     depths: long tunnels (_dolines_) which can only be explained,
+     apparently, as an effect of the dissolving of the limestone by
+     water.
+
+The action of the wind in shaping the landscape is more clearly seen
+in the formation of the dunes. When one starts from Buenos Aires or
+Rosario, and gets beyond the region of the level Pampas, the dunes are
+the first feature to meet the eye on the surface of the plain. The
+first fresh dunes are encountered at Carlota, on the line from the Rio
+Cuarto; at Lavalle on the line from Villa Mercedes; and at Trenque
+Lauquen on the line from Toay. The dunes spread northward as far as the
+latitude of Mar Chiquita, but do not enter the Chaco. They are also
+found in parts of the scrub on the west, but their proper domain is the
+western border of the steppe, the upper part of the plain at the foot
+of the Sierra de Córdoba, the south of the San Luis province, and the
+central Pampa.
+
+Any accident that causes the vegetal covering to disappear, such as
+the tread of cattle near a drinking place or an enclosure, is enough
+to set æolian erosion at work. The wind raises the sand in a sort of
+tossing sea. Then the dune assumes a circular shape. A depression
+appears in the centre, and it deepens until it reaches the average
+level of the plain. Frequently there is a little lake in it. From this
+point onward the deformations are less rapid. The vegetation again
+creeps over the ground, and the dune falls a prey to the rains, which
+slowly reduce its mass.
+
+In the central Pampa, where the elevation is considerable, the dunes
+do not form separate circular patches, but stretch in lines parallel
+to the valleys--sometimes in the heart of the valley, at other times
+backing against one of its slopes.
+
+Far to the east of the zone of the quick dunes, in the south of the
+Córdoba province and the centre of the Buenos Aires province, there
+are certain soft undulations, covered with vegetation, with a sandier
+soil than that of the plain around them. These are dead dunes. The
+district of the dead dunes is characterized by the extreme irregularity
+of the surface-soil, the humus, which gains in richness and depth, as a
+general rule, as one goes eastward, because there it is in some places
+covered by recent æolian deposits.
+
+The distribution of the dead dunes is connected with the stretches of
+river sand across the Pampa, which have offered an easy victim to the
+winds. A line of dead dunes follows the upper course of the Salado in
+the district of Junin and Bragado. On the line from Buenos Aires to San
+Luis one crosses it between Chacabuco and Vedia, and then one comes
+again upon the horizontal plain, which has fresh dunes, only further
+west, at 120 miles from Villa Mercedes. Its elevation is so conspicuous
+on the level plain that the first breeders who used its pasturage gave
+it the emphatic name of the _cerillada_. D'Azara correctly appreciated
+the nature of it. "It is," he says, "only a dune of very fine sand."
+It is only a few yards high. The dead dunes of the Bolivar and Veinte
+Cinco de Mayo departments, which Parchappe described, have a more
+conspicuous relief, and in their disposition sometimes remind us of
+the fresh circular dunes with a central lagoon. The lines of coastal
+dunes in the eastern part of the Buenos Aires province obstruct the
+proper flow of the water there, and form a group apart, which must be
+clearly distinguished from the dunes on the plain.[86]
+
+     [86] Outside the districts with quick and dead dunes, a
+     frequent type of landscape on the Pampa is a plain thinly
+     sown with very small lagoons, generally circular, between
+     which develop a series of barely perceptible undulations. The
+     inequality is at times so slight that one only notices it
+     by the contrast between the vegetation of the lower and the
+     higher ground. This type of landscape, which is especially
+     seen in the district of Lincoln or of Nueve de Julio, is
+     due to the action of the wind on a plain where the level of
+     the underground water is near the surface. This level marks
+     a limit below which æolian erosion does not take place: a
+     sort of base-level. The periodic variations of level of the
+     underground water reduce or enlarge the undulations of the
+     surface.
+
+Thus the impression of monotony which the Pampa makes in us is
+corrected to some extent by close observation. High and low land
+alternate on it. Parchappe himself had noticed the contrast between
+the area that stretches from Buenos Aires to the Salado, with its soft
+undulations and its well-developed hydrographic network, the horizontal
+plains on the right bank of the Salado, with their irregular dunes, and
+the southern plateau of the _tosca_ between the Sierra de Tandil and
+the Sierra de la Ventana.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We may now distinguish the following regions in the Pampa as a whole:
+
+1. The central part of the Santa Fé province forms what is called
+the district of the "colonies": that is to say, the domain of the
+colonies established two generations ago, and the zone in which the
+type of cultivation introduced by them took root. The chief crops here
+are wheat and flax. Hedges of service trees (_paraisos_) surround the
+fields. In contrast with the parts of the Pampa which have remained
+naked, the region of the colonies seems a veritable grove. It stretches
+westward beyond the frontier of the Córdoba province, and it reaches
+the fringe of the _monte_ between San Francisco and Mar Chiquita.
+For the north, Miatello gives 30° S. lat. as the normal limit of the
+wheat-growing area; beyond this it suffers both from the low rainfall
+of winter and the excessive rainfall in summer. As a matter of fact,
+the large estates only reach this latitude on the line from San
+Francisco to Ceres. On the Resistencia line, north of Santa Fé, they
+stop at 30° 30' S. lat. In the intervening district the limit of the
+region of the colonies almost coincides with that of the department of
+Castellanos, about 30° 45' S. lat. The area lying between this line
+and the northern edge of the Pampa is given up to breeding. In the
+south the region of the colonies stretches as far as Las Bandurias and
+Irigoyen.
+
+2. South of the region of the colonies, the tableland on the right bank
+of the Paraná, west of Rosario and San Nicolas, is the maize region,
+the corn belt of Argentina. Flax is generally cultivated as well as
+maize. It is the agricultural country _par excellence_ of Argentina.
+The soil, of fine clay, dark red in colour and retentive of moisture,
+and the abundant summer rains, are very suitable for maize. The limits
+of the maize region describe an arc of a circle round Rosario with a
+radius of 60 to 100 miles. They do not quite reach the frontier of
+Córdoba in the west, and they leave out the entire south-western corner
+of the Santa Fé province. The maize belt touches the Paraná between
+32° S. lat. and the Baradero. In the north it passes suddenly into the
+region of the colonies. In the south, on the other hand, there is at
+the edge of the corn belt an extensive transition-area, where maize and
+wheat occupy pretty much the same surface; it stretches as far as the
+Rio Salado de Buenos Aires.
+
+3. The region of the lucerne farms is much larger. It comprises the
+whole north-west corner of the Buenos Aires province, from the Salado,
+in the district of Junin, to the southern limit of the Nueve de Julio
+and Pehuajo departments, and as far as the latitude of Guamini. The
+limit of the lucerne farms does not include the lands of the central
+Pampa, but advances westward and takes in part of the Pedernera
+department in the San Luis province. The lucerne farms run along the
+San Rafael line to Batavia, and at this point they reach the limits of
+the colonized zone. In addition, the zone of the lucerne farms includes
+the whole south-eastern part of the Córdoba province, as high up as the
+line from Villa Mercedes to Villa Maria, and the southern part of the
+Santa Fé province. In the whole of this area, fifteen to twenty-five
+per cent. of the surface is planted with lucerne. The conditions
+required for its cultivation are a moderate depth of the underground
+water and a light soil that allows the roots to penetrate easily. The
+eastern belt of clays is not good for lucerne, which survives there for
+much less time than in the west, where it may live fifteen or twenty
+years.
+
+The lucerne belt is above all a great breeding area for horned cattle,
+as sheep-pasturage injures the lucerne. It is not nearly so monotonous,
+however, as the preceding regions. In the south-east, in the Buenos
+Aires province, the creation of the lucerne farms was undertaken at a
+time when agricultural colonization had already begun. We therefore
+find two types of exploitation side by side. The cultivation of maize
+enters it in the south-west, in spite of the comparatively unfavourable
+climatic conditions. The centre of the lucerne area in the south of
+the Córdoba province is also a great agricultural zone; but there
+agriculture is directly connected with the creation of the lucerne
+estates. It is, in fact, entrusted to colonists who till the ground
+for four or five years, and restore it to the owners sown with lucerne
+at the expiration of their lease. The crops consist almost exclusively
+of wheat and flax. Lastly, in the west (San Luis province and extreme
+south-west of Córdoba province) the soil gets increasingly more sandy,
+and the climate drier. A single tillage suffices to destroy the natural
+vegetation and clear the place for lucerne. The lucerne fields have
+been created by the breeders themselves, the sole masters of the
+region, without the aid of the colonists.
+
+4. Beyond the lucerne belt, at the point where the plain rises toward
+the Sierra de San Luis and the Sierra de Córdoba, the subterranean
+water sinks deeper. This zone at the foot of the ranges, unsuitable
+for lucerne, yet with a soil comparatively rich in humus, has been
+taken up by agricultural workers. The wheat area extends, in the San
+Luis province, as far as Fraga and Naschel, in the Conlara depression.
+The maize area extends to Oncativo, in the Córdoba province, between
+the Tercero and Secundo rivers, where the summer rainfall is heavier.
+Thanks to the nearness of the mountains, this area has a water-supply
+for irrigation, and this sustains several small centres of good farms.
+
+5. The south of the Buenos Aires province and the central Pampa are the
+wheat zone. The bed of _tosca_, which is not far below the soil, does
+no harm to the wheat except in years of drought. The valleys, where
+the _tosca_ is interrupted, and the dunes, where the soil is deep, are
+very carefully used for lucerne fields of limited extent. Wheat-growing
+seems now, both in this and the preceding zone, to have reached its
+limit, as the dryness makes it improbable that there will be any
+extension westward.
+
+6. Lastly, the east of the Buenos Aires province, the centre of
+which is fairly indicated by the little town of Dolores, is the only
+part of the Pampean plain which has not been reached by agricultural
+colonization. The land lies low, and is badly drained. The only change
+that has taken place in the vegetation is a progressive improvement due
+to the hoofs of the cattle during their long stays there. This pastoral
+area is clearly limited in the south by the Sierra de Tandil. In the
+north it is continued in the more varied region that lies between
+Buenos Aires and the lower Salado, where the alternation of winter
+pasture on the dry lands and summer pasture in the valleys, encourages
+the best methods of breeding, and has made it the region of the dairy
+industry.
+
+In the Entre Rios province the limit of the large estates of wheat and
+flax is marked by 32° S. lat. The part of Entre Rios which extends
+north of 32° and the Corrientes province do not strictly belong to the
+Pampean region.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Extensive breeding was the first form taken by white colonization on
+the Pampa. The word breeding is, in fact, hardly the correct name for
+an industry that mainly consisted of hunting, and was wholly distinct
+from the patient and advanced methods used at the same time in the
+northern provinces.
+
+"The real wealth of the province of Buenos Aires," says Dean Funes,
+"was, and always will be, the trade in hides" (_la pellejería_).[87]
+A good part of the hides exported came from the hunting of the wild
+cattle and horses which had grown numerous on the area of the Pampa
+beyond the Rio Salado.[88] It was mainly after 1778, when trade with
+Spain had been authorized and there was an increased demand for hides,
+that the hunting of these ownerless beasts was taken up. Two thousand
+Spaniards from Buenos Aires, Santa Fé and Mendoza hunted every day,
+says D'Azara, killing an animal for each of their meals in addition
+to those they killed for hides. From 1775 to the Revolution, the
+Spanish Government made continuous efforts to regulate and reduce the
+massacre of the herds. It laid down penalties for every person selling
+hides that did not bear his own mark; it farmed out the right to hunt
+animals with no mark, and organized the destruction of wild dogs, etc.
+The ranches developed under shelter of this legislation. Still, the
+Revolution did not witness the end of this cattle-hunting. D'Orbigny
+took part in 1828 in two hunts of wild horses (_baguales_) in Entre
+Rios. The Argentine _gaucho_ long retained the ways of a hunter rather
+than those of a breeder in the strict sense; witness Urquiza's soldiers
+who, says Demersay, during the campaign of 1846, when they could not
+find trees to which they could fasten their horses, killed cattle and
+tied the reins to their horns.
+
+     [87] _Ensayo de la historia civil del Paraguay, Buenos Aires,
+     y Tucumán_ (3 vols, in 16^{mo}) Buenos Aires, 1816, t. iii, p.
+     214.
+
+     [88] The number of wild animals and the area over which they
+     roamed have often been exaggerated. It does not look as if
+     they ever covered the whole of the Pampean plain. A salter who
+     crossed Patagonia and the whole of the Pampa in 1753 (_Voyage
+     du San Martin au fort de San Julian_, Coll. de Angelis, v.)
+     only found wild herds near the Salado frontier, and he knew by
+     this that he was close to the ranches. At the beginning of the
+     nineteenth century there were no wild cattle left on the right
+     bank of the Paraná. There were still some in Entre Rios.
+
+Passing from the hunting country to the zone of ranches, one notices
+that the main work of the breeder is to prevent his cattle from running
+wild. "The ranches of this country," said Dean Funes, "having been set
+up on immense plains, on which it was not easy to confine the herds
+within fixed limits, it sometimes happened that the animals went vast
+distances in search of water or pasture, and ended by being regarded
+as wild and ownerless," When D'Azara wants to show that the ranches
+of Paraguay are superior to those of Buenos Aires, he is content to
+say that there the animals are tamer (_mansos_). With the wild animal
+(_alzado_) is contrasted the _de rodeo_ animal: that is to say, the
+cattle which are rounded up periodically in the centre of the ranch to
+be taken to the pasture where they must live (_aquerenciar_). It is the
+difficulty of preventing the dispersal of the herd that fixes the price
+of the _rincones_ (surrounded by inundated areas) of Corrientes, in
+which the animals are captives.
+
+MacKann's description of pastoral life in the Buenos Aires province in
+the middle of the nineteenth century give us a very clear impression
+of the stage of transition between exploiting the natural increase of
+a herd that multiplies without man's intervention, and breeding in
+the strict sense. The value of a horse in the former case is almost
+exclusively the cost of breaking it in. The breeder is actually anxious
+when he sees his horses increase, as he fears he may not have the
+resources for breaking them in. The most formidable of the dangers that
+threatened the feeble discipline of the herd was drought. That in the
+year 1827 was a disaster. The animals left the ranches in a body to go
+southward, where they mixed.[89]
+
+     [89] The water problem is not as important for the history of
+     colonization in the Pampean region as in the north. Primitive
+     breeding was confined to natural supplies of water, lagoons
+     or streams, and to shallow wells (_jagueles_) dug down to
+     the superficial sheet, which is generally not deep, but is
+     liable to dry up. As colonization improved, the breeder, and
+     subsequently the farmer, were better equipped for boring
+     wells, and no longer feared drought. They got down to the
+     deeper waters, semi-artesian (Buenos Aires district) or
+     artesian (west of the Santa Fé province, round San Francisco).
+     In other places the superficial waters, which are fresher
+     than the deeper layers, were used by adapting new types of
+     filters to the wells (Buena Esperanza district). The only two
+     districts where the quest of water offered any difficulty are
+     the south-west corner of the Pampean region and the northern
+     extremity of the prairie in the Santa Fé province. The sheets
+     of water are very irregular there, often saline, and it was a
+     long time before the ranches got an assured supply.
+
+     One remarkable circumstance is the importance of the dunes in
+     connection with the distribution of the underground water. The
+     rain-water accumulates in the dunes and flows slowly through
+     the sand to the sub-soil. The level of the underground sheet
+     in the clay on which the dune rests is always nearer the
+     surface in the neighbourhood of the dune. The dune itself has
+     often a greener vegetation than the land around it. Nothing
+     is more surprising than to find at Medanos (west of Bahía
+     Blanca), in the middle of a plain of arid aspect, fields of
+     lucerne and orchards lodged in the hollows of dunes that are
+     still fresh. In the whole of the Buenos Aires province the
+     dead district of the dunes is, on account of its water-supply,
+     a good place for habitation. D'Azara notices the numerous
+     water-spots which ran along the foot of the dead dunes of the
+     Cerillada. All round were the white bones of the _baguales_.
+     In the valleys of the central Pampa, where the sheet of water
+     in the centre of the valley is often saline, the underground
+     water improves gradually as one approaches the line of the
+     dunes.
+
+Revolutions and wars interrupted the work of taming the cattle. When
+Galvez went from the Córdoba province to Buenos Aires at the end of the
+Rosas Government, he was struck by the condition of the ranches.[90]
+Many of them had been confiscated, or their owners driven into exile.
+Cattle were no longer marked, and they had become wild. The troubles
+of the emancipation-period were much less injurious to the Buenos
+Aires breeders than to those of Entre Rios. The Entre Rios herd was
+almost annihilated during the revolution, and some of the ranchers of
+the left bank crossed to the right bank of the Paraná. After 1823 the
+pastoral wealth of Entre Rios was rapidly restored, thanks to raids on
+Brazilian territory. They were so profitable that the whole population
+took part in them. In 1827 the inhabitants of Bajada went there in such
+numbers that the town was half deserted. Every day thousands of cattle
+were collected on the bank of the Uruguay, and crossed the river. Some
+of them were even taken beyond the Paraná, to the Santa Fé province.
+Woodbine Parish confirms this rapid restoration of Entre Rios, of
+which D'Orbigny was a witness. But this period of prosperity did not
+last long. The war with Uruguay, under Rosas, again ruined the Entre
+Rios ranches, and the drought of 1846 helped to scatter the remaining
+herds. Extensive breeding is only lightly rooted in the soil. The
+chief centres of production change their locality, as the political
+circumstances change, from one part of the Pampean plain to another.
+
+     [90] V. Galvez, _Memorias de un viejo_ (Buenos Aires, 3 vols,
+     in 16^{mo}, 4th ed, 1889).
+
+  [Illustration: THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. THE RIO BAMBA (IN THE SOUTH OF THE
+  CÓRDOBA PROVINCE, 500 FEET ABOVE SEA-LEVEL).
+  _Small circular lagoons. The underground water, which comes from the
+  Sierras to the north-west, here reaches the surface. Zone of lucerne
+  farms._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. BUENA ESPERANZA (SAN LUIS PROVINCE,
+  1,166 FEET ELEVATION).
+  _The plain is sown with quick and dead dunes, often shaped in a circle
+  round a lagoon. A dune invaded by vegetation._
+                                              Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE XVI.                                           To face p. 182.]
+
+Primitive breeding affords few examples of periodical migration for the
+better use of pasturage. In 1822, in the course of a journey amongst
+the Sierras de Tandil and de la Ventana, Colonel Garcia noticed that
+the Indians kept their cattle round the temporary lagoons of the
+plain in the winter, and went up to the mountain-streams in summer.
+Transhumation movements of this kind were difficult for the creole
+ranchers, whose fairly large herds could not be handled easily. The
+Chascomus breeders, however, at the close of the eighteenth century,
+drove their cattle to the low banks of the Salado during the dry
+season.[91] Garcia also notices the importance of the Salado pastures
+for the ranches of Salto, Areco, and Lujan.[92] The need to remove the
+herds in the dry season, and to find _invernadas_ within reach of the
+former ranches, was due to the change brought about in the natural
+vegetation of the Pampa and the spread of the _pasto dulce_. The
+annual herbs which compose the _pasto dulce_ die and disappear after
+fertilization. Until the autumn rain they leave the ground quite naked,
+whereas the tough grasses of the _pasto duro_ afforded a thin but
+permanent pasture.
+
+     [91] _Diario de un reconocimiento de las guardias y fortines
+     que garnecen la linea de frontera de Buenos Aires_ (1796), by
+     D. Felix de Azara (Coll. de Angelis, vi.).
+
+     [92] _Nueva plan de fronteras de la Provincia de Buenos Aires
+     por el Colonel Garcia_ (1816, Coll. de Angelis, vi.).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The first improvements of the pastoral industry of the Pampa are
+connected with the development of sheep-breeding. Exports of wool
+began about 1840, and made great progress after 1855 (17,000 tons
+in 1860, 65,000 tons in 1870). From 1850 to about 1890 the economic
+returns on sheep-breeding were far better than on cattle-breeding.
+During the whole of this period the multiplication of sheep farms was
+only restricted by the supply of workers. The first shepherds had been
+Basques, in the south of the Buenos Aires province, and Irish, in the
+north. The owner settled them as small farmers in the _puestos_ on the
+edge of the ranch, the central part of which was devoted to cattle.
+They could thus, while they guarded their sheep, see that the limits of
+the estate were respected, and prevent the cattle from roaming.
+
+Wool was for a long time the only product of the sheep-rearing
+industry. From 1866 onward it was decided to use the hides and tallow
+also. As the material of the grease-works was cheap, they spread all
+over the sheep zone. Many ranches had works of their own. From 1867
+to 1877 the _saladeros_ that had been built long before for killing
+cattle undertook the slaughter of sheep on a large scale. The number
+of sheep sold to the _saladeros_ rose to 3,000,000 a year. In 1880 the
+first cargoes of frozen mutton were sent abroad. The creation of the
+grease-works had made no difference to the breeding, but the building
+of the refrigerators brought about a rapid transformation of the flock.
+The Lincoln breed, heavier and more meaty, displaced the fine-wool
+Merinos. This substitution of Lincolns for Merinos is now complete
+throughout the Pampean region.
+
+Until 1880 sheep-rearing was concentrated east of the Salado, north
+and south of Buenos Aires, beginning with a line that passes through
+Quilmes, San Vicente, Pilar, and Campana, which marks the limit of the
+suburban zone. In addition it had spread on the right bank of the lower
+Salado as far as the foot of the Sierra de Tandil, in an area where the
+first stations date from 1823, though the population did not make much
+progress until after 1855. About 1880, after the pacification of the
+Pampa, the sheep-farms began to expand westward. It was then that the
+wool of the _pasto fuerte_ appeared on the Buenos Aires market. It came
+from the Azal district in 1870, from Olavarria in 1880, from Bolivar in
+1885, and from Villegas in 1890. The Census of 1889 ascribes 51,000,000
+sheep to the province of Buenos Aires; that of 1895 gives much the same
+figure (52,000,000). Detailed comparison of the two enumerations shows
+that the expansive movement to the west continued, and was completed
+during this period. The flocks in the north-west zone of the province
+(Lincoln, Villegas, Trenque, Lauquen) more than doubled; the flocks of
+the south-west area (Alsina, Puan, Bahía Blanca, Villarino) continued
+to grow, and increased by a third. Those on the lands of the central
+Pampa increased threefold. On the other hand, in the departments
+north and south of the Sierra de Tandil, where colonization is older,
+sheep-breeding is stationary. The north-east and south-east areas,
+between the Paraná and the Salado, have diminished: one losing a fifth,
+and the other a half, of its flocks.
+
+From 1895 onward the number of flocks of sheep on the Pampean plain
+decreased rapidly. The number of sheep had sunk from 34,000,000 in 1908
+to 18,000,000 in 1915 for the Buenos Aires province; from 2,800,000
+in 1908 to 2,300,000 in 1914 for the central Pampa. The reduction was
+general, and found in every district; but it was not equally great
+everywhere, and did not begin at the same date in every district.
+Sheep-breeding has almost entirely disappeared from the eastern belt,
+east of the Salado, which was its cradle. South of Buenos Aires
+the sheep are giving place to horned cattle, and they had almost
+disappeared by 1908. North of Buenos Aires they survived long, but
+the reduction of the flocks has only been the more rapid since 1908.
+This corresponds with the advance of maize-growing. In six years the
+Bartolome Mitre and Pergamino departments have lost, respectively,
+four-fifths and five-sixths of their sheep. In the north-west of the
+Buenos Aires province the sheep began to be reduced at the time when
+the lucerne farms were founded, about 1900. The decrease has since
+gone on uninterruptedly. The actual flocks represent one-fourth of
+the flocks of 1895. In the south-west (wheat belt) there was a rapid
+shrinkage before 1908, but it seems to have almost been arrested since
+then, thanks to the combining of sheep-rearing with wheat and oats. The
+actual flocks are about one-half the flocks of 1895. Finally, in the
+area north of the Sierra de Tandil the sheep retreat before the cattle,
+as they do further north, but they are not so completely wiped out as
+in the lucerne belt, and the flocks are still two fifths of the flocks
+of twenty years ago.
+
+In the province of Entre Rios and south of Corrientes the number of
+sheep continued to rise until 1908, but the increase is only in the
+northern departments, outside the agricultural belt. The southern
+departments, which are large growers of wheat and flax, lost one-third
+of their flocks between 1895 and 1908.
+
+Cattle-breeding was restricted for a long time by the difficulty of
+disposing of its products. The hides alone found ready buyers. The
+making and export of salt beef dates from the eighteenth century, and
+it was to help this industry that the expeditions to the salt-beds of
+the Pampa and the journeys of salters to the Patagonian coast were
+organized. From 1792 to 1796 no less than 39,000 quintals of jerked
+beef were sent from the Rio de la Plata to Havana. But the market for
+salt meat (_tasajo_) was always limited. It consisted only of the
+Antilles and Brazil, and the _saladeros_ never fully exploited the
+meat-producing capacity of the Argentine herds. The crisis of the
+_saladeros_ occurred before the time when the refrigerators began to
+compete with them. By 1889 there were only three left in the province
+of Buenos Aires.
+
+Although the price of cattle was not very remunerative, and provided
+no incentive to improve the breeding; although the _saladero_ was not
+at all exorbitant, merely asking for animals in good condition, the
+improvement of the herd by introducing selected pedigree-breeders had
+begun about the middle of the nineteenth century. The Basque dairies
+established in the district near Buenos Aires sold pedigree-calves
+to the ranches, and these were used for breeding purposes.[93] About
+1880 the advance of sheep-breeding pressed the cattle-ranches back and
+disputed the space with them more and more, within the ancient Indian
+frontier. The smallness of the market for cattle and their slight
+mercantile value were very favourable circumstances for the occupation
+of the new lands, thrown open at this date by the submission of the
+Indians. The herds which found no buyers were sent to the _campos
+de afuera_. The ranches developed very rapidly. Daireaux has very
+accurately described this period of pastoral colonization, and the
+starting of convoys that were intended to give a population to the west
+of the Pampa. Cattle were there several years before sheep. As a matter
+of fact, breeders do not regard cattle as having a value of their own.
+They are merely auxiliaries that must improve the pasture and prepare
+the ground for sheep. The cattle themselves are preceded by troops of
+half-wild horses which first take possession of the virgin field and
+begin the transformation of it.
+
+     [93] This is, in a special form, the first instance of
+     specialization, in the cantons of the Pampean region, in the
+     breeding industry, properly so called (producing breeders).
+
+The number of cattle increases rapidly. In 1875 it was estimated that
+there were 5,000,000 head of cattle in the province of Buenos Aires.
+In 1889 there were 8,500,000. Since that date the variations have
+been comparatively slight. The Census of 1895 gives 7,700,000; that
+of 1908 gives 10,300,000; that of 1914 gives 9,000,000; and that of
+1915 gives 11,300,000.[94] But the value of the cattle has gone up
+rapidly. The exports of live meat, which lasted from 1889 to 1900, were
+the beginning of the rise. It was strengthened when the refrigerators
+ceased to confine themselves to killing sheep and began to buy cattle.
+The exports of chilled or frozen beef increased after 1898. The value
+of them rose to 10,000,000 gold piastres in 1904, double that in 1909,
+and more than quadruple in 1914.
+
+     [94] The variations in number are less considerable for the
+     Pampean region than for the whole of Argentina. It is better
+     supplied with capital than the other breeding districts, and
+     can rapidly replace the losses caused by excessive export by
+     buying cattle in the adjoining provinces.
+
+The difference between the price paid by the refrigerators for
+pedigree-cattle and the price of animals of creole blood, which the
+local market takes, hurries up the transformation of the herd. In
+order to watch reproduction and nurse the pasture, the ranches put up
+wire-fences. But the breeding methods are especially modified by the
+introduction of lucerne. It spread in the south of Córdoba and west of
+the Buenos Aires province from 1895 onward, and from 1905 onward in
+part of the San Luis province. There were already small lucerne farms
+in the Buenos Aires province. A description that was written at the
+end of the eighteenth century speaks of lucerne farms round the town
+which were reserved for feeding draught cattle.[95] But the area from
+which the cultivation of lucerne started at the close of the nineteenth
+century is the district of the Córdoba province that is crossed by the
+line from Rosario to Córdoba, completed about 1870 to Bellville and
+Villa Marina. The lucerne farms there were not created by the breeders,
+and the lucerne was at first intended for export to Rosario and Buenos
+Aires in the form of dry fodder. The trade in dry fodder has remained
+good there. The 1908 Census gives 128 square kilometres of lucerne for
+cutting in the Tercero Abajo department (Villa Maria) and 267 square
+kilometres in the Union department (Bellville).[96]
+
+     [95] Fernando Barrero, _Descripción de las provincias del Rio
+     de la Plata_ (published by the Argentine Ministry of Foreign
+     Affairs, Buenos Aires, 1911).
+
+     [96] Amongst the specialized industries connected with the
+     development of the lucerne farms we must mention the growing
+     of lucerne for seed, which has settled in the dry zones, where
+     the lucerne is not so much invaded by other species; for
+     instance, the district of Madanos, west of Bahía Blanca.
+
+  [Illustration: MAP III.--THE CATTLE-BREEDING AREAS.
+  _The density of the herd is slight in the maize belt. It is
+  considerable in the centre and east of the Pampean region, which supply
+  the refrigerators with pedigree stock of good weight. The density is
+  considerable also in the north of Mesopotamia, but the cattle there
+  are less valuable and are taken by the saladeros of the Uruguay. The
+  presence of the tick, which inoculates cattle with Texas fever, is
+  the chief obstacle to the improvement of the herd in the north of
+  Argentina._                                             To face p. 188.]
+
+The lucerne spread southward and south-westward from this point; and
+the improvement of the herds kept pace with it. I have shown elsewhere
+how this improvement was checked north of a line along the course of
+the Paraná, the northern frontier of the Constitución and General Lopez
+departments, in the province of Santa Fé and on the Rio Cuarto, and
+in the Córdoba province, by the presence of the _garrapate_, which
+inoculates the cattle with a dreaded disease, Texas fever. The creole
+cattle are immunized against the _garrapate_, but pedigree cattle
+quickly succumb to it. In order to protect the southern zone, where
+the _garrapate_ does not reproduce, the Argentine Government imposes
+severe restrictions on the transport of cattle from north to south;
+the cattle have to have disinfectant baths at the frontier-stations.
+This cuts pastoral Argentina in two. While the Durham cattle of the
+south are intended for the refrigerators, the creole cattle of the
+north still supply the _saladeros_, which have disappeared from Buenos
+Aires, but survive on the Uruguay. Yet the advantages of crossing with
+European breeds are such that the northern breeders, in spite of the
+risk and the expense, have not given up all hope of accomplishing it.
+The transformation of the herd, however, is bound to be very slow.
+Pedigree breeders are brought from the south and kept in the stable.
+Their progeny, born on the spot, resist Texas fever better and can be
+put out to pasture. There has been more progress in the contaminated
+zone on the right bank of the Paraná than in Entre Rios and Corrientes.
+Pedigree animals have been introduced at Santa Fé, not only in the
+region of the colonies, but further north, in the extreme northern
+corner of the Pampa (San Cristobal department), colonized by ranchers
+from the north of Buenos Aires and the south of Santa Fé, who were
+ousted by the progress of maize. They have brought with them to the
+new lands the cultivation of lucerne and the methods they followed on
+their former property. At Corrientes, on the other hand, breeding is an
+historic industry. The staff of the ranches is indigenous. The pastoral
+traditions are unchanged.
+
+When we study the variations in the numbers of cattle in different
+parts of the Pampa, by comparing the results of recent Censuses
+we find that the number has risen rapidly since 1895 in the whole
+of the eastern area, north of the Sierra de Tandil. The increase
+is particularly conspicuous north of the Rio Salado, in the dairy
+district. (Mean density in 1915, 40 to 60 horned cattle per square
+kilometre.) In the south-west region (wheat belt) the density has
+always been low (12 per square kilometre), and it shows no tendency
+to increase. In the north and western region of Buenos Aires (lucerne
+belt) there has been a rapid increase, especially between 1895 and 1908
+(creation of the lucerne farms), and it has not been interrupted since
+(density 50 to the square kilometre). There is the same increase in
+the whole area of the lucerne farms in the Córdoba, Santa Fé, and San
+Luis provinces, where the herds doubled between 1895 and 1908. Only two
+regions have suffered a reduction: the agricultural area of the centre
+(Chacabuco, Chivilcoy), where there has been a decrease since 1895, and
+the maize district (north of Buenos Aires), where cattle-rearing did
+not diminish until after 1908.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Agriculture had begun to develop by the end of the eighteenth century
+in the district round Buenos Aires. D'Azara admits the enormous
+preponderance of breeding, but mentions that the right bank of the
+Paraná exported flour to the left bank, which was exclusively pastoral.
+Barrero also observes that between the belt of orchards and lucerne
+fields, about a league in width, which surrounded Buenos Aires, and
+the area of the ranches, which did not begin for six or eight leagues,
+there was an agricultural belt, the district of the _chacras de pan
+llevar_. The main crop was wheat, and the tillage was chiefly done in
+the rich soils at the bottom of the valleys, which are called _cañadas_
+in the local dialect (cañada de Moron, cañada du Rio Lujan, etc.).
+
+It was, however, not at Buenos Aires, but in the Santa Fé province,
+that modern agricultural colonization began in the nineteenth century.
+It goes back to the foundation (in 1854) of the colony of Esperanza,
+west of Santa Fé, from which it was separated by the strip of forest
+which follows the course of the Salado. European immigrants--Swiss,
+French, and Piedmontese--had settled there. The early years of
+colonization at Santa Fé were difficult, and the colonies did not begin
+to develop rapidly until after 1870. About that date we can distinguish
+three nuclei of agricultural colonization at Santa Fé. The first group
+of colonies was settled in the north, on the bank of the Paraná. In the
+centre the Esperanza group advanced steadily westward. A third group
+of colonies lay along the Central Argentine railway from Rosario to
+Córdoba.
+
+The Esperanza colonists had at first grown maize, but the prosperity
+of the colonies was mainly due to wheat. Zeballos, who visited the
+colonies in 1882, describes them as a vast lake of wheat. Wheat
+predominates, not only in the department of Las Colonias, west of Santa
+Fé, where it survives in full strength, but further north, at Garay,
+whence it has since been displaced by flax and earth-nuts, and in the
+south, round Rosario, in the belt which is now given up to maize. It is
+for the wheat that the mills of Carcaraña and the granaries of Rosario
+have been built. The land sown with wheat at Santa Fé rose in 1882
+to 102,000 hectares out of a total of 127,000 hectares of cultivated
+land.[97] By 1889 the area of wheat was quadrupled. It spread like a
+drop of oil, reaching Rafäela and Castellanos on the west. In 1895 the
+advance was still more rapid. Wheat-growing has crossed the Córdoba
+frontier, and spread round San Francisco and east of Mar Chiquita
+(departments of San Justo and Marcos Juarez). The agricultural regions
+in the centre of the Santa Fé province and those of the Central
+Argentine have met, and the wheat has invaded the whole of the San
+Martin department. It extends even south of the old colonies of the
+Central Argentine toward the south-west of Santa Fé, in the General
+Lopez department.
+
+     [97] The population of the Santa Fé colonies in 1882 was
+     52,000, of whom 12,000 were in the colonies of the San Javier,
+     north of the town of Santa Fé.
+
+The 1908 Census shows a very different state of things. The density of
+the wheat-cultivation has continued to grow appreciably in the whole
+of the northern region, and also in the south-west of the province,
+at some distance from the Paraná (General Lopez department). On the
+other hand, it has been reduced in the adjoining district of Rosario
+(departments of Iriondo, Belgrana, Caseros, and Constitución), where
+maize-growing has developed. Maize has won part of the wheat belt.
+
+  ----------------+----------------------+---------------------
+                  |       Wheat Area     |    Maize Area
+                  |    (in kilometres).  |  (in kilometers).
+  Departments.[98]|------+-------+-------+------+------+-------
+                  | 1889 |  1895 |  1908 | 1889 | 1895 | 1908
+  ----------------+------+-------+-------+------+------+-------
+  Las Colonias   }|1,623{| 1,307 | 1,621 |}  82 |{  24 |    31
+  Castillanos    }|     {| 1,845 | 3,425 |}     |{   4 |     7
+  S. Jeronimo    }|  664{|   854 |   849 |}  65 |{  15 |   264
+  S. Martin      }|     {|   964 | 1,884 |}     |{  22 |    35
+  _Iriondo_      }|  971{|   929 |   442 |}  65 |{  81 |   641
+  _Belgrano_     }|     {| 1,137 |   638 |}     |{  37 |   296
+  _S. Lorenzo_   }|  652{|   387 | 1,390 |} 178 |{ 150 | 1,169
+  _Caseros_      }|     {| 1,139 |   468 |}     |{  83 |   970
+  Gal. Lopez     }|   12{|   888 | 1,370 |}  51 |{ 373 | 1,558
+  _Constitución_ }|     {|   227 |   165 |}     |{ 575 |   736
+  S. Justo       }|   12{|   732 | 2,345 |}  48 |{   7 |    34
+  M. Juarez      }|     {| 1,504 | 1,442 |}     |{  53 |    92
+  ----------------+------+-------+-------+------+------+-------
+
+Restricted in the south by the extension of the maize belt, the region
+of the colonies has now a very distinctive character amongst the
+agricultural areas of the Pampa.
+
+     [98] The names of departments which belong in their entirety
+     to the maize region are given in italics. The department of
+     San Jeronimo straddles the maize region and the region of the
+     colonies. The General Lopez territory also extends, in the
+     south-west, far beyond the limit of the maize belt.
+
+This originality is not so much in virtue of its crops (hard wheat and
+flax) as on account of the age of colonization and the division of
+property. Most of the colonists are owners, and estates of 50 to 200
+hectares are the rule. The houses are comfortable; they are surrounded
+by orchards and kitchen-gardens. Moreover, the rural economy has been
+complicated, and it has assumed a familiar aspect for the European
+observer, owing to the introduction of cattle-rearing on a small
+scale by the farmers. The number of horned cattle doubled between
+1908 and 1914 in the Castellanos department, and increased by a third
+in Las Colonias. The area of lucerne has extended in proportion. The
+farms have been multiplied on the low lands (_cañadas_), unsuitable
+for wheat, which the older colonists had disdained; but they are
+now regarded as the best bits of land. The recent rise in the value
+of land in the region of the colonies is connected, not with an
+increase of agricultural production, but a development of breeding. A
+few co-operative dairy societies have been established. In general,
+however, breeding is solely for the meat-market. The cattle-trade goes
+on very different lines from those of the large estates and ranches. It
+has remained in the hands of small dealers (Jews of Moïsesville).
+
+Agricultural colonization in the Buenos Aires province was at first
+entirely independent of the Santa Fé colonization. The crops of the
+adjoining region of Buenos Aires never disappeared altogether. In the
+period to which Daireaux's description of the economic life of the
+Pampa refers (1880-89), the farmers disputed with the breeders a belt
+some ten leagues broad round the capital. But sheep-breeding left no
+place for agriculture in the next belt, which enclosed the first on
+every side, and extended almost as far as the Salado. Agricultural
+colonization had found free land only beyond the sheep-farm area, 170
+miles west of Buenos Aires, round Chivilcoy, Chacabuco, and Bragado.
+As early as 1872 the Chivilcoy district produced 130,000 hectolitres
+of wheat; or nearly half the total production of the Buenos Aires
+province. In 1889 it formed a comparatively dense agricultural patch,
+the cultivated area being devoted half to wheat and half to maize.
+
+               Wheat.      Maize.
+
+  Chivilcoy    307 kms.    399 kms.
+
+  Chacabuco    155  "      164  "
+
+  Bragado      147  "      261  "
+
+At that date the whole west and south of the Buenos Aires province
+was exclusively pastoral. There were only two isolated nuclei of
+agricultural colonization. The first was round Olavarria, on the old
+Indian frontier, where Russo-German colonies had been established in
+1878. The second was in the Suarez department, at the extreme north of
+the Sierra de la Ventana, where a group of French colonists settled
+five years later, at Pigüe.[99] The opening of the line from Buenos
+Aires to Bahía Blanca ought, one would think, to have prepared the
+way for agricultural colonization in this section. However, the 1895
+Census shows a check to these first attempts at tillage in the south.
+It fell by one half at Suarez, and by three-fourths at Olavarria. The
+Pigüe colonists have succeeded in keeping to their lands, but those of
+Olavarria have abandoned them, and most of them have emigrated to the
+Entre Rios province.
+
+     [99] Wheat-area in 1889 in the Olavarria department, 319
+     square kilometres; in the Suarez department, 118 square
+     kilometres.
+
+  [Illustration: THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. BUENA ESPERANZA (SAN LUIS PROVINCE).
+  _The first_ chañares.
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. JUNIN (150 MILES WEST OF BUENOS
+  AIRES, 330 FEET ELEVATION).
+  _The clays. A line of dead dunes crosses the Junin district, following
+  the course of the Salado. They are indicated by light, sandy soil, very
+  different from the clays of the north of Buenos Aires province._
+                                              Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE XVII.                                          To face p. 194.]
+
+On the other hand, colonization has kept the land won in the district
+of the middle Salado, and it extends in a sporadic way toward the
+south-west and west. (Nueve de Julio, 252 square kilometres of wheat
+and 400 of maize: Veinte Cinco de Mayo, 84 square kilometres of wheat
+and 218 of maize: Junin, 197 square kilometres of wheat and 204 of
+maize in 1895). It has been maintained ever since, with slow progress,
+but without being ousted by breeding. This is one of the regions of
+the Pampa where the most different types of rural exploitation are
+mingled together. Agricultural colonization has been carried on both by
+small proprietors and farmers or tenants. Wheat and maize seem to be
+permanently associated, and the climate is equally good for both; the
+maize crop being the better if the summer is wet, and the wheat crop
+when the summer is dry. The two cereals follow each other on the same
+land, in rotation, the wheat being helped by the constant weeding and
+clearing which the maize requires. The colonists use oxen in the work,
+and fatten them afterwards.[100]
+
+     [100] Draught animals in 1908: at Chivilcoy, 17,000 cattle
+     and 10,000 horses; at Junin, 15,000 cattle and 6,000 horses;
+     at Nueve de Julio, 15,000 cattle and 6,000 horses. In the
+     region of the Santa Fé colonies: at Castellanos, 17,000 cattle
+     and 54,000 horses; at Las Colonias, 6,000 cattle and 35,000
+     horses. In the wheat belt (South of Buenos Aires): at Puan,
+     (no cattle) 29,000 horses. At the sierras (no cattle), 14,000
+     horses.
+
+Agricultural colonization in the lucerne region dates from 1895 to 1905:
+
+  ------------------+----------------+----------------
+                    |  Wheat Area    |   Flax Area
+                    |(in kilometres).|(in kilometres).
+                    +-------+--------+-------+--------
+                    |  1895 |  1908  |  1895 |  1908
+  ------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------
+  Buenos Aires:     |       |        |       |
+  Lincoln           |  152  |   819  |   --  |  100
+  Pehuajo           |  106  |   727  |   --  |   --
+    Guamini         |   20  |   528  |   --  |   --
+    Trenque Lauquen |  100  | 1,439  |   --  |   59
+    Villegas        |    4  |   812  |    1  |   84
+    Pinto           |   --  |   469  |   --  |   60
+  Córdoba:          |       |        |       |
+    Gal. Roca       |   --  | 1,009  |   --  |   89
+    Rio Quarto      |    5  | 1,156  |   --  |  172
+    Juarez Celman   |  144  | 1,679  |   --  |  183
+    Union           |  373  | 2,548  |   12  |  316
+  ------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------
+
+Ihave shown how this was bound up with the development of the lucerne
+farms themselves. The extreme west of the lucerne belt (Pedernera
+department and San Luis) is the only place where the cultivated area
+was reduced. The contracts by which the ranchers entrust their lands to
+the colonists, on condition of returning them sown with lucerne, were
+gradually modified as the stream of colonization developed. The land
+was at first left to the colonist rent free, the rancher being paid by
+the creation of the lucerne fields. But in proportion to the increasing
+volume of the stream of immigrants, and the keener competition of the
+colonists, the rancher asked better terms. There are similar contracts
+in regard to the restoration of lucerne fields which have been worn
+out by pasturage, so that the land has to be ploughed up periodically.
+The men who clear the land in the lucerne belt have mostly been
+recruited in the district of the old colonies of Santa Fé, where the
+new generation had begun to feel the pinch. The crops which they raise
+during the four or five years of their lease are chosen without any
+idea of sparing lands which they are not to keep. Wheat succeeds wheat,
+and the first and last crop is often flax. The proportion of flax is
+lower only in the southern part of the lucerne belt. In the Buenos
+Aires province the colonist grows lucerne on his own account, either to
+sell as dry fodder or for breeding or fattening.
+
+Colonization does not in these parts correspond with the division of
+property. Not only does the farmer not become the owner of the soil,
+but he does not live on it permanently; he is a veritable nomad. His
+house has a temporary look that strikes one at the first glance. The
+area cultivated is almost stable, if the region is considered as a
+whole. But cultivation passes periodically from one section to another,
+and its removals cause sudden alterations or crises in the railway
+traffic and the development of the urban centres.
+
+The lucerne belt has been peopled by Santafecinos, and it has in
+turn sent colonists to the western agricultural belt at the foot
+of the Sierras de San Luis and de Córdoba. They have less suitable
+climatological conditions, but they have the advantage of greater
+stability, as the breeders do not dispute the land with them.
+
+While agricultural colonization has been an aid to pastoral
+colonization in the north-west of Buenos Aires, it tends to displace
+breeding, or restrict its sphere, in the north-east and the south.
+Maize-growing started on the banks of the Paraná, where it was already
+paramount in 1889, between Campana (north of Buenos Aires) and San
+Nicolas. In 1895 it advanced up the Paraná as far as the Santa Fé
+province (Constitución) and spread over the interior for some sixty
+miles in the Salto department. In the next few years it made rapid
+progress toward the west and north-west, covering the departments of
+Pergamino, Rojas, and Colon, and part of General Lopez, San Lorenzo,
+and Constitución in the province of Santa Fé.
+
+  ---------------+-----------------+------------------
+                 |   Maize Area.   |    Flax Area.
+                 |-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
+                 | 1889| 1895| 1908| 1889| 1895| 1908
+  ---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
+  Campana        |  67 |  45 |   22|  15 |  31 |  17
+  Baradero       | 339 | 260 |  291|  26 |  78 | 173
+  S. Pedro       | 398 | 353 |  420|   5 |  73 | 235
+  Arrecifes      | 124 | 126 |  155|  15 |  50 | 265
+  Salto          |  16 | 326 |  236|  13 |   3 |  75
+  Gal. Lopez   } |  51 |{373 |1,538|  -- |  70 | 752
+  Constitución } |     |{575 |  736|  -- | 270 | 404
+  Pergamino      | 168 | 160 |  340|  50 |  30 | 275
+  Rojas          |  86 |  81 |  247|   4 |  23 | 275
+  Colon          |  -- |  44 |  126|  -- |  14 |  78
+  S. Lorenzo     | 178 | 150 |1,169|  11 |  36 | 450
+  Caseros        |  -- |  83 |  990|  -- |  13 | 319
+  ---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
+
+Export of Argentine maize on a large scale began in 1895. Flax-growing
+was not added to maize until 1900.
+
+The heavy land requires a good deal of harrowing, and the weeding and
+harvesting of the maize give employment to a comparatively large staff.
+The estates are of moderate size, often only 50 hectares. Ownership
+was not divided at the period of colonization, the land, thanks to the
+breeders, having already acquired so high a value that the colonists
+could not buy it. On the lands which have been farmed out there has
+developed a rural, and often far from docile, proletariat. It is in
+the maize region that the worst agricultural strikes have taken place.
+The struggles of the owners and the colonists are the more prolonged
+because the sowing of the maize can be put back to the end of the
+spring without much harm being done. The adjoining zone of the Paraná
+produced some of the _maiseros_ who have scattered over the north-west.
+But the modern colonies include, in addition, a large proportion of
+immigrants who have recently landed from Italy and Spain. The maize
+growers do not mix with the wheat-growers. Each group has its own area.
+
+The increase of wheat-growing in the south dates only from 1898:
+
+  ------------------+----------------------------
+                    | Wheat Area (in kilometres).
+                    |------------+---------------
+                    |    1895    |     1908
+  ------------------+------------+---------------
+  Alsina            |     45     |    1,296
+  Puan              |     52     |    1,321
+  Suarez            |    104     |      978
+  La Madrid         |     75     |      249
+  Pringles          |     13     |      724
+  Darrego           |     --     |      885
+  Terr. de la Pampa |     --     |    1,731
+  ------------------+------------+----------------
+
+  [Illustration: MAP IV.--DENSITY OF THE MAIZE CROP.
+  _As it needs more heat and moisture than wheat, the maize does not go
+  so far to the west and south. It is concentrated for export at the
+  ports of the Rio de la Plata and the Paraná, especially at Rosario. The
+  Argentine "corn belt," the chief maize area, extends back of Rosario
+  and San Nicolas to beyond Casilda and Pergamino._
+                                                       To face p. 198.]
+
+Wheat first spread along the line from Buenos Aires to Bahía Blanca,
+west of the Sierra de la Ventana, then in the coastal district,
+east of Bahía Blanca. These two wheat-areas became connected after
+1904, when the opening of the direct line from Olavarria to Buenos
+Aires facilitated the development of the intermediate region
+(Pringles-Laprida). From Bahía Blanca it spread to the west and
+north-west along the Toay line, and southward as far as Colorado on
+the coast. In the whole area of the Central Pampa it is still possible
+to distinguish two strata of immigrants, of different dates, one
+superimposed upon the other: the sheep-breeders and the farmers. Round
+Toay the contrast between the two elements of the population is even
+more striking, because the first pastoral colonization, which dates
+from 1890, was to a great extent the work of creole _puntanos_ (from
+the San Luis province). The actual agricultural colonies, on the other
+hand, include recent European immigrants and colonists from other parts
+of the provinces of Buenos Aires and Entre Rios.
+
+The yield of the wheat grows less and less as one goes westward. The
+harvest may be injured either by late frost or drought, or, especially,
+by hot winds which scorch the plants and blight the half-realized hopes
+of the farmers in the weeks just before the harvest. But the relative
+poorness of the return is compensated by the extent of the farms and
+the cheapness of labour. The harvest is often done with machines that
+peel and pack the wheat, and the workers are not compelled, as they
+are at Santa Fé, to wait for the threshing machine. The aridity does
+not permit flax-growing, but oats can be grown, especially between the
+Sierra de la Ventana and the Sierra de Tandil; and it is good to sow
+oats when the land has been impoverished by consecutive crops of wheat.
+Exports of oats through Bahía Blanca began in 1906.
+
+The displacement of breeding by farming is less thorough than in the
+maize belt. Oats, sown about the beginning of autumn, serve for fodder.
+The animals are kept in the fields during the winter, and the oats are
+cut and put into the mill, without being threshed, as a reserve fodder.
+Moreover, the wheat farmers have themselves taken to rearing sheep,
+and the sheep feed in the stubble and fallow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From this short account of the history of colonization we draw certain
+important conclusions. At the time when agricultural colonization
+began, it was admitted that farming was the best way to exploit the
+soil, and that the Pampa would sooner or later pass from the pastoral
+to the agricultural cycle; or, to use the local phraseology, that the
+"colony" would replace the ranch everywhere. This idea was wrong.
+The only area in which the facts seem to give it any support is the
+corn belt. The general rule is, on the contrary, that in its progress
+colonization develops a mixed type of exploitation, combining farming
+and breeding; either one alternates with the other in a sort of
+periodic rotation, as in the lucerne area, or both proceed together,
+the farmers including breeding amongst their occupations, as in the
+district of the Santa Fé colonies or in the wheat area in the south of
+the Buenos Aires province.
+
+It seems, moreover, that the development of colonization depends not
+only upon physical conditions, but upon factors of a purely economic or
+social character, which the geographer must not overlook. It will be
+enough here to indicate the chief of these.
+
+We have seen the part that has been played in the exploitation of
+the soil by groups of colonists who swarm from one area to another.
+Whether we think of the ranchers of the eastern part of Buenos
+Aires transplanting themselves to Córdoba or north of Santa Fé, the
+sheep-breeders moving westward, or the Santa Fé colonists settling in
+the lucerne area, they all take with them their own habits and methods
+of work, and they take time to adjust them to a new environment.
+
+  [Illustration: MAP V.--DENSITY OF THE WHEAT CROP.
+  _The wheat belt stretches in a broad section of a circle from Bahía
+  Blanca to Santa Fé, which is now reached by maritime vessels. The
+  cultivation of wheat crosses the line of 600 millimetres of rainfall,
+  and even the 400-millimetre line, in proportion as one passes from the
+  area of summer rain to that of spring and autumn rain._
+                                                       To face p. 200.]
+
+The colonist, whether breeder or farmer, is not left to himself.
+Colonization is sustained and directed by speculation in land, and
+is influenced by it. Speculation discounts the work of the colonist,
+and attaches to the land a value which is not based upon the revenue
+it has produced, but upon that which the speculator calculates that
+it may produce in the future. If the speculator is audacious, he does
+not let himself be discouraged by initial bad experiences; it takes
+repeated checks to exhaust his optimism. The colonist, even if his
+farming accounts do not show a profit, may nevertheless gain something
+if the value of his land goes up. The increase of his capital conceals
+from him the smallness of his returns, especially as he can easily get
+advances on the value of his property from the banks, and this enables
+him to draw upon his wealth every year.
+
+Speculation is concerned with new lands on the fringe of the area
+already colonized, where the soil is, as a general rule, already in the
+hands of the exploiters themselves. The speculators, having paid a high
+price for these lands, try to organize the development of them. It is
+partly owing to their influence that colonization continuously enlarges
+its domain, instead of concentrating its labour in the older districts
+where it might sometimes be more productive. In fine, speculation in
+land has a profound influence on the conditions of colonization, making
+it more difficult for the colonist to buy the land he is developing.
+The owner who grants him the use of the land means to keep for himself
+any increment of its value. He rents, but he will not sell.
+
+Thus the history of colonization cannot be separated from the
+traffic in land. The special features of this traffic in the
+Pampean region--its concentration at Buenos Aires; the creation of
+a land-market resembling a stock market; the practice of selling on
+the instalment plan, which enables small capitalists to enter the
+market; the repeated transfers of pieces of land which the buyers have
+never seen and which they know only from plans--are one of the most
+original aspects of modern Argentina. They are partly due to a fact of
+a geographical nature--the uniformity of the Pampean plain, on which
+every piece of land is worth about as much as the adjoining piece.
+
+Colonization is easy and rapid in proportion as it requires less
+capital and labour. The expansion of breeding in the west between 1880
+and 1890 was facilitated by the low market price of cattle at that
+time. Breeding has the advantage over farming of not needing so large
+a staff, but it requires a larger capital. Of the crops, assuming that
+the conditions of soil and climate are equally favourable, wheat is
+better than maize for colonization, because the preparing of the soil
+and the harvest can be done more speedily, and the same number of hands
+can plant a larger area with wheat than with maize.
+
+The action of the Argentine Government and the provincial authorities
+has been restrained, apart from the earliest period of the
+establishment of the Santa Fé colonies, both as regards the securing of
+immigrants, the distribution of lands, and the administration of the
+colonies.[101] Colonization has been, on the whole, a private affair.
+The work of organizing colonization has at times been undertaken by
+the proprietors themselves; they leased pieces of land and got a
+good price for them, at the same time increasing the surplus value
+of the plots they kept for themselves by promoting the increase of
+population. Sometimes it was undertaken by Colonization Companies,
+which bought land to divide and sell. More frequently it was undertaken
+by merchants who advanced credit to the colonists they settled, on
+condition that the colonists bought what they needed of the merchants,
+and entrusted them with the sale of their crops. The migration of the
+Santa Fé colonists was partly due to, and sustained by, a corresponding
+migration of merchants who had acquired wealth in the older colonies,
+and who thus got a larger body of customers. The merchant who organizes
+colonization often acts as the intermediary between the owner and
+the colonist, guaranteeing the owner a fixed rent for his land and
+receiving so much per cent. of his harvest from the farmer. This system
+is very widespread in the corn belt, but it is found all over the plain
+of the Pampas. It tends to disappear when the colony is older and
+deeper-rooted, as the colonist gradually earns his independence; he
+buys his lease, his equipment, and his furniture, and controls the sale
+of his own crops. In the districts where he has not become owner, the
+leases are generally variations of two types: farming leases, where the
+colonist has capital enough for working, and renting leases, where the
+capital is provided by the owner or the middleman.
+
+     [101] The Agricultural Centres Law, passed in 1887 by the
+     province of Buenos Aires to encourage colonization, has
+     not had good results. By the terms of this law, owners
+     who professed themselves willing to devote their lands to
+     colonization received an advance on the value of the lands
+     in the form of mortgages, the interest and repayment of the
+     mortgage being charged to the colonists. Many owners took
+     advantage of the law, but, after a pretence of colonization,
+     kept the ownership of their lands.
+
+Lastly, colonization can make no progress unless it finds markets on
+which it can put its produce. Up to the present western Europe has
+been the chief market for the wool, leather, meat, and cereals of the
+Pampean region; tropical America absorbs part of the output of the
+_saladeros_, flour, and dry fodder; and North America has recently
+begun to compete with Europe for wool, leather, and frozen meat. The
+facility with which the products of the Pampa have found their way into
+the world's markets, as is seen in the comparative stability of the
+returns, explains the continuous advance of colonization and the short
+duration of the crises which have disturbed it.
+
+The home market, however, has had an importance in connection with
+colonization that must not be overlooked. When wheat-growing spread
+at Santa Fé the crop was at first devoted to supplying Buenos Aires,
+and as late as 1883 Zeballos thought that the essential result of
+agricultural colonization was the fact that Chilean flour was beaten
+off the Argentine market. Even to-day the districts on the outskirts of
+the cereal area depend upon the home market. The Villa Mercedes mill
+supplies Mendoza. Córdoba and Santa Fé send their flour to Tucumán.
+The price of cereals still shows slight fluctuations in these parts as
+compared with prices in Buenos Aires.
+
+_Table of Exports of the Chief Products of the Pampean region_ (_in
+thousands of tons_):
+
+  ---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
+                 |  1901 |  1905 |  1910 |  1913 |  1914
+  ---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
+  Wheat          |   904 | 2,868 | 1,883 | 2,812 |   980
+  Maize          | 1,112 | 2,222 | 2,660 | 4,806 | 3,542
+  Flax           |   338 |   654 |   604 | 1,016 |   841
+  Flour          |    71 |   144 |   115 |   124 |    67
+  Wool           |   228 |   191 |   150 |   120 |   117
+  Salted hides   |    28 |    40 |    61 |    65 |    63
+  Dried hides    |    26 |    24 |    29 |    21 |    14
+  Chilled beef   |    44 |   152 |   253 |   306 |   368
+  Chilled mutton |    63 |    78 |    75 |    45 |    58
+  ---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
+
+     The heading "cereals" appears in the statistics of Argentine
+     exports in 1882. In 1900 the value of the agricultural produce
+     exported is equal to that of the products of breeding. In 1904
+     it is higher.
+
+Pastoral colonization, again, has not been entirely independent of the
+home market. Martin de Moussy says, it is true, that the area which
+sent the products of breeding to Europe in 1865 extended as far as the
+Sierra de Córdoba. But this statement needs correction. The hides from
+the whole of this zone were, in point of fact, sent down to the ports
+on the Rio de la Plata, but live animals were sent to Chile from the
+whole of the north-west of the Pampean region. It was for the purpose
+of selling cattle to Chile that ranches were multiplied about 1860 in
+the neighbourhood of Villa Mercedes and lower down, on the Rio Quinto.
+Jegou's description shows that even in 1883 the breeders of the San
+Luis province devoted themselves exclusively to supplying the Chilean
+market.[102] Buyers from Chile and the Andean provinces still visit
+Villa Mercedes, and until a recent date they came to Villa Maria, in
+the province of Córdoba. The Santa Fé ranches found their customers,
+until the opening of the Córdoba line (1870) amongst the _troperos_,
+who bought draught oxen for their waggons. The loss of these customers
+and the crisis that followed are one of the reasons why agricultural
+colonization met with so little resistance on the part of the breeders,
+and was able to take root so easily at Santa Fé. In the San Cristobal
+department the breeders who settled there after 1890 found their first
+market in the _obrajes_ of the neighbouring forest. The opening of the
+railway to Tucumán afterwards enabled them to send their cattle to the
+provinces of the north-west. The Buenos Aires buyers were late in this
+remote canton of the Pampean plain. They did not arrive until 1911.
+
+     [102] A. Jegou, "Informe sobre la provincia de San Luis,"
+     _Ann. Soc. Cientifica Argentina_, xvi. 1883, pp. 140-152,
+     192-200, and 223-230.
+
+The importance of the Pampean region itself as a market of consumption
+grew in proportion to the increase of its population. The extent to
+which it absorbs the products of breeding and agriculture varies a
+good deal. For some of them it is paramount. Horse-breeding, for
+instance, which is still one of the great industries of the Pampa, has
+never contributed to the export trade. It is the same with regard to
+potatoes, which are concentrated in two strictly limited districts,
+round Rosario and north of the Sierra de Tandil. Only a small part of
+the dry fodder is exported. As regards cereals, a comparison of the
+statistics of production with the statistics of export shows that the
+home consumption is about one-third of the production. It is almost nil
+for flax, and nearly fifty per cent for wheat.
+
+The average of production and export for the years 1912, 1913, and
+1914, in thousands of tons, is:
+
+  ------------+--------+--------+-------+-----------------
+              |        |        |       |    Total
+              | Wheat. | Maize. | Flax. |(including Oats).
+  ------------+--------+--------+-------+-----------------
+  Production  | 4,241  | 6,398  |  931  |    12,662
+  Export      | 2,140  | 4,227  |  790  |     8,038
+  ------------+--------+--------+-------+-----------------
+
+As the chief centres of consumption are the ports themselves, it
+follows that the commercial currents that have to supply them are
+confused with the currents which maintain the exports. The exchanges
+between the various regions of the Pampa are more interesting to the
+geographer. In their tendency to specialize, these regions have ceased
+to be self-contained, and they have to look to adjoining regions. The
+feeding of the mills necessitates the transport of wheat in different
+directions. The chief mills are at Buenos Aires, where they are
+suitably located to work both for the home market and for export; and
+the mills in the interior have some difficulty in competing with them.
+Some of these, however, are still active. They mix hard wheat, bought
+in the district of the Santa Fé colonies, with the soft wheat that is
+grown in the middle and south of Buenos Aires province.
+
+But this inter-regional transport of cereals is a small thing in
+comparison with the transport of cattle. The extension of the lucerne
+farms has developed the fattening industry in many districts, while
+others still confine themselves to breeding in the ordinary sense, and
+they feed the other centres. The most specialized fattening district
+is that of Villa Mercedes and the western part of the lucerne belt,
+while the eastern part of the province of Buenos Aires and Entre Rios
+are still areas of production. The differentiation of the pastoral
+zones can be gathered from a study of the statistics. According to the
+1908 Census, milch cows represent 53 per cent. of the whole of the
+cattle in all the departments which form the heart of the breeding area
+east of Buenos Aires, and only 45 per cent. in the departments of the
+north-west of Buenos Aires and south of Córdoba and in the Pedernera
+department of San Luis, where fattening is common.
+
+According to the 1914 Census oxen are 24 per cent. of the herd in the
+same departments of eastern Buenos Aires; 24 per cent. also in Entre
+Rios; and the proportion rises to 31 per cent. in the lucerne area.
+Dolores department (eastern Buenos Aires) has 64 per cent. milch
+cows and 21 per cent. oxen. Pedernera department (San Luis, in the
+lucerne area) has 49 per cent. cows and 38 per cent. oxen. General
+Roca department (Córdoba) has 48 per cent. cows and 34 per cent.
+oxen. Arenales (Buenos Aires) has 39 per cent. cows and 46 per cent.
+oxen.[103]
+
+     [103] For Argentina as a whole the percentage is: milch cows,
+     55 per cent.; oxen, 26 per cent.
+
+Oxen intended for the refrigerators are bought either on the ranches
+or at Buenos Aires, where beasts in good condition are consigned to
+buyers, but oxen for fattening are bought at fairs which are held
+periodically in the towns of the interior. Another transaction at these
+fairs is the trade in pedigree breeders. The best known of them is
+held at Villa Mercedes (province of San Luis), where 8,000 oxen are
+sold every month. At the Mercedes fairs one may see Durham steers from
+the east of Buenos Aires which are to be fattened and sent back to the
+refrigerators or the slaughter-houses of Buenos Aires. There are also
+creole cattle from the north of the San Luis province and Rioja which
+will later be eaten in Mendoza or in Chile. There is, in fact, on the
+western frontier of the Pampa no line of demarcation corresponding to
+that set up in the north by the limit of the area contaminated by the
+_garrapate_, separating the district of creole breeding from that of
+selective breeding. There is free communication here between the two
+zones, and the lucerne fields for fattening at Villa Mercedes are used
+in common by the breeders of the Pampa and of the bush.[104]
+
+     [104] A large number of the cattle which are to be fattened
+     are bought at the market in Buenos Aires; but these do not, as
+     a rule, come from the Pampean region.
+
+_Cultivated Areas in the Argentine Republic_ (_in square kilometres,
+almost exclusively in the Pampean region_).
+
+  -----+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------
+       | Wheat. | Maize. | Oats.  | Flax.  | Lucerne.
+  -----+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------
+  1896 | 25,000 | 14,000 |    --  |  5,600 |  8,000
+  1900 | 33,000 | 12,000 |    --  |  6,000 | 15,000
+  1902 | 36,000 | 18,000 |    --  | 15,000 | 17,000
+  1905 | 56,000 | 22,000 |    700 | 10,000 | 29,000
+  1910 | 62,000 | 32,000 |  8,000 | 15,000 | 54,000
+  1912 | 69,000 | 38,000 | 12,000 | 17,000 | 59,000
+  1913 | 65,000 | 41,000 | 11,600 | 17,000 | 66,000
+  1914 | 62,000 | 42,000 | 11,400 | 17,000 |    --
+  -----+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------
+
+  _Exports for 1913, 1914, and 1915 at each port._
+
+  --------------+------+-------+-----+-----+-------+--------
+                |Wheat.| Maize.|Flax.|Oats.|Totals.|Average.
+  --------------+------+-------+-----+-----+-------+--------
+               {| 782  | 1,757 | 275 |  13 | 2,829 |}
+  Rosario      {| 242  | 1,952 | 248 |   1 | 2,445 |} 2,716
+               {| 717  | 1,790 | 366 |  -- | 2,875 |}
+                |      |       |     |     |       |
+               {| 441  | 1,389 | 246 | 240 | 2,318 |}
+  Buenos Aires {| 297  |   906 |  55 |  78 | 1,537 |} 2,051
+               {| 511  | 1,349 | 342 |  96 | 2,299 |}
+                |      |       |     |     |       |
+               {| 927  |     2 |  -- | 462 | 1,393 |}
+  Bahía Blanca {| 241  |    -- |  -- | 222 |   463 |} 1,075
+               {| 921  |    -- |  -- | 442 | 1,364 |}
+                |      |       |     |     |       |
+               {|   5  |   910 |  74 |  -- |   989 |}
+  S. Nicolas   {|   1  |   430 |  60 |  -- |   492 |}   651
+               {|   5  |   420 |  48 |  -- |   474 |}
+                |      |       |     |     |       |
+               {| 333  |   358 |  14 | 170 |   876 |}
+  La Plata     {| 160  |    51 |  16 |  49 |   278 |}   459
+               {| 152  |    45 |   6 |  16 |   222 |}
+                |      |       |     |     |       |
+               {| 265  |    51 | 158 |  -- |   476 |}
+  Santa Fé     {|   7  |    23 | 128 |  -- |   159 |}   278
+               {| 114  |     7 |  77 |  -- |   199 |}
+  --------------+------+-------+-----+-----+-------+--------
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ROADS AND RAILWAYS
+
+     Roads on the plain--The salt road--The "trade
+     route"--Transport by ox-waggons--_Arrieros_ and
+     _Troperos_--Railways and colonization--The trade in
+     cereals--Home traffic and the reorganization of the system.
+
+
+The chapter devoted to primitive breeding and the transport of cattle
+contains a sketch of the network of routes over the Andes. One cannot
+expect to find in the scheme of routes over the Argentine plains the
+stern and obvious influence of natural conditions. The surface of these
+plains is, as a whole, broadly open to traffic. Still, the map of the
+roads bears much evidence of geographical exigencies.
+
+The hills which rise like islands out of the alluvial plain are not all
+incapable of being crossed, and the roads do not always skirt them. The
+road from Buenos Aires to Peru runs north of 30° 40' S. lat. on the
+very axis of the granite peneplain which forms the northern part of the
+Sierra de Córdoba. The Dean Funes ridge, which begins with an altitude
+of 2,500 feet between the Sierra Chica and these tablelands, has always
+been used for communication between Córdoba and the north-western
+provinces. There the railway has taken the place of the primitive
+track. Another important track crosses the Sierra de Córdoba in the
+north of the Pampa de Achala, and used to join Córdoba with Villa
+Dolores and the north of the San Luis province. The southern part of
+the Sierra de Córdoba and the Sierra de San Luis are, on the other
+hand, an insurmountable obstacle, which diverts southward the high road
+to Chile _via_ Achiras, San José, del Morro, and San Luis.
+
+The sierras of the Buenos Aires province are not so high and extensive.
+They are, moreover, broken into isolated hills with the plain passing
+between them. As early as 1822 Colonel Garcia pointed out the
+importance, in connection with the migrations of the Indian tribes,
+of the passage between the Sierra Amarilla and the Sierra de Curaco,
+that is to say, the Olavarria ridge. It is there that the first railway
+between Buenos Aires and Bahía Blanca crosses the line of sierras. It
+then skirts the Sierra de la Ventana, to the north, by the Pigüe ridge,
+between the mass of Curumalan and the Puan hills. The dunes of the
+western Pampa also are an impediment to traffic, not so much because
+of their height as because of the looseness of the ground. The strip
+between General Acha and Toay was very trying for the stage-coaches.
+Travellers had to cross the dunes on foot during the winter season,
+when the horses were in a bad condition.[105]
+
+Natural supplies of water increase in number as one gets away from the
+Andean zone toward the east. Still, the chief work, often the only
+work, to be done in making a road is the arrangement of permanent
+supplies of water. Martin de Moussy mentions the digging of wells on
+the new road from Córdoba to Rosario, which was opened about 1860.
+The _aiguade_ was generally a _represa_, a reservoir, where the water
+accumulated behind a barrier of earth raised across the course of an
+intermittent stream. The upkeep of the _represa_ is the chief duty of
+the post-master. The edge of the sierras and the opening point of the
+ravines which come down them is a good place for making _represas_,
+and the roads frequently keep to these (variant of the road from
+Córdoba to Tucumán _via_ Totoral, Dormida, Rio Seco and Sumampa, on
+the eastern edge of the Sierra de Córdoba, etc.) Long stages with no
+water supplies, the _travesías_, are not found on the made roads, as a
+rule, except west of the meridian, of Córdoba. However, the direct road
+from Santa Fé to Santiago del Estero by the lagoon of Los Porongos,
+which was used in the eighteenth century, seems to have been abandoned
+afterwards, as much on account of the difficulty of supplying water as
+because it was exposed to attack from the Indians.
+
+     [105] J. B. Ambrosetti, "Viàje a la Pampa central," _Bol.
+     Instit. Geog. Argent._, xiv. 1893, pp. 292-368.
+
+  [Illustration: AN OX WAGON.
+                        Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.]
+
+  [Illustration: THE MAIL COACH.
+  _The horses saddled with the_ cincha.
+                         Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.
+  PLATE XVIII.                                         To face p. 210.]
+
+The only difficulty which the caravans encountered on the roads over
+the plain was the crossing of the rivers. They were forded. Fords with
+a muddy bottom on the lower course of the rivers, such as that on the
+Saladillo near the confluence of the Rio Tercero, were more difficult
+for wagons than the fords with sandy bottoms in the upper course, near
+the fringe of the mountains, such as those of the Rio Tercero on the
+Córdoba road, or of the Rio Cuarto on the road to Chile. After rain,
+certain parts of the plain are flooded and impassable. That is the case
+in the district to the south of the lower Salado, at the very spot
+where Père Cardiel notices the lack of water in the dry season (1747).
+The direct road from Buenos Aires to the sierras was at that point
+exposed, alternately, to drought and flood. The line of the Southern
+railway, which crosses this low district, is still cut periodically on
+both sides of Las Flores by floods. The lack of an organized network of
+streams, the irregularity of the rains, the difficulty of ascertaining
+the inclination, and the flow of the waters over a plain which seems to
+the eye to be perfectly level, have led to more than one miscalculation
+on the part of the railways, which were constructed hurriedly, and
+before the general survey of the Pampa was finished. Some lines, on the
+Pampa or on the Chaco, have had to be partially reconstructed, and
+raised higher, after a series of rainy years.[106]
+
+     [106] Certain duplications in the actual scheme of the
+     railways are due to this need to correct a line that had
+     been planned hastily and was useless. The line from Justo
+     Daract to La Paz (1912), on the Pacific railway, avoids the
+     steep inclinations of the first line, which followed the
+     course of the wagon-road _via_ San Luis. The interpretation
+     of the relief is particularly difficult in a country which
+     has not been shaped by normal erosion. Blunders detected by
+     later topographical inquiries were similarly committed in
+     constructing the Patagonian railways.
+
+The colonization of that part of the plain which actually constitutes
+the province of Buenos Aires was late. It belongs to the era of the
+railways. There is only one historic road crossing this area, which
+remained until the last third of the nineteenth century in the hands
+of the Indian tribes. This is the salt road. We do not know exactly
+when it began to be used. In the eighteenth century, in spite of the
+competition of salt from Cadiz and Patagonia, imported by sea, the
+Pampa salt was the main part of the supply of Buenos Aires. The salt
+road was not abandoned until after 1810. We still have the diary of
+several journeys from Buenos Aires to the salt-pits. They were military
+expeditions. Hundreds of wagons, with a strong escort, collected at
+Lujan and Chivilcoy, and they reached Atreuco, west of the Guamini and
+Carbuë lakes, after a fifteen to twenty-five days' march.
+
+The itinerary was fixed in detail. In 1796 D'Azara noticed the wells
+sunk by the salters, north of the Palentelen lagoon (Bragado), when
+they found the lagoon dry. From Palentelen south-westward the salt
+road followed the track used by the Indians of the south-west in their
+expeditions against the ranches of the Buenos Aires frontier. Near Lake
+Epecuen, north of Carbuë, it was joined by another track which came
+from Olavarria, the stages of which were marked by the streams that
+came from the Sierra de Curumalan. The Carbuë district, the cross-roads
+of the tracks, was one of the places where the tribes collected. "This
+place," says the diary of the 1778 expedition, "is the first point
+where the hostile Indians meet and rest when they leave the Sierra
+and on returning from their invasions. They not only rest there, but
+have their winter pasture there" (in the dry season).[107] Zeballos
+has described the Indian track, the _rustrillada_, between Epecuen,
+Atreuco and Traru Lauquen, where the _travesia_ on the road to Chile
+began.[108] It was not less than 1,000 feet in width. At the foot of
+the dunes there were deep parallel grooves made by the feet of the
+raided cattle, which were taken away by the "Chileños."
+
+     [107] Coll. de Angelis, v.
+
+     [108] Est. Zeballos, _Descripción amena de la Republica
+     Argentina_, vol. i, "Viàje al païs de los Araucanos" (Buenos
+     Aires, 1881).
+
+The two main roads of the colonial period are the roads to Chile and
+Peru. On leaving Buenos Aires there was one road for a distance of
+about 320 miles. The "trade road" passed through Lujan, Areco and
+Sauce, and reached the Carcaraña, or Rio Tercero, at Esquina. It
+therefore kept at some distance from the Paraná (32 to 16 miles), on
+the tableland, crossing the valleys which were embedded in it and
+represented so many bad parts. It then ascended the Tercero on the
+right bank as far as the Paso Fereira, at the spot where Villa Maria is
+to-day. At Esquina de Medrano (Villa Maria) the road to Chile branched
+off to the south-east, reached San Luis by following the Rio Cuarto,
+going through Achiras and San José del Morro, and, after a _travesia_
+seventy-eight miles in length, came to the Rio Tunuyan at La Paz, and
+ascended the river to Mendoza.[109]
+
+     [109] Martin de Moussy says that a more direct route, avoiding
+     the detour to the north by the Rio Tercero, was followed in
+     the eighteenth century between Buenos Aires and San Luis, by
+     way of Salto and the Rio Quinto as far as the latitude of
+     fort Constitución (Villa Mercedes). Woodbine Parish's map
+     (1839) and Napp's map (1876) both show a road by way of Salto
+     and Melincue to the Rio Cuarto, where it joins the ordinary
+     road. However that may be, these roads were never used
+     regularly, from fear of the Indians or--which comes to the
+     same thing--because the area they cross, in the south of the
+     actual territory of the provinces of Santa Fé and Córdoba, was
+     not yet colonized.
+
+From Esquina de Medrano the Peru road made for Córdoba in the
+north-west. From the tablelands which continue the Sierra de Córdoba
+northward it descended toward the Rio Dulce, which it reached west of
+Atamisqui, and which it followed as far as Santiago del Estero, where
+it crossed to the north bank. It crossed the Sali in the latitude of
+Tucumán, and, passing through Tracas and Metan, followed the depression
+which separates the Andes from the sub-Andean chains. From Salta it
+went north to Jujuy, and passed through the Quebrada de Humahuaca to
+reach the Puna.
+
+The influence of rivers is not much seen in the scheme of the primitive
+roads. There were in the sixteenth century many routes from Peru to
+the Paraguay, across the Chaco, but not a permanent road in the strict
+sense. In the eighteenth century there was a direct road from Santa Fé
+to Tucumán, by the north of the Los Porongos lagoon and the course of
+the Rio Dulce. There was another from Santa Fé to Córdoba. These roads
+were not exclusively used for conveying cattle. The river route which
+they joined at Santa Fé provided them with a certain amount of traffic
+coming from the higher provinces. Paraguayan _maté_ reached the Andean
+regions by this road, and in return the boatmen at Santa Fé loaded
+up with the wines and dried fruit of the Andean provinces to take to
+Asunciôn.
+
+The question of joining the road on to a river was not of very great
+importance until the time when the Paraná began to be used for
+Argentine imports and exports, and to maintain the communication of
+the interior provinces with Europe. This question of connection with a
+river controls the history of the construction of the railway system.
+But the great importance of it can be seen from the first half of
+the nineteenth century. D'Orbigny had a presentiment of it. Speaking
+of the future of Santa Fé, he says: "When peace is restored, it is
+certain that the wares of Córdoba may, instead of going by land from
+that town to Buenos Aires, be sent to Santa Fé, where shipping them to
+the Argentine capital will reduce to one-third the journey by land,
+which is always more costly than going by water." Martin de Moussy,
+foreseeing the making of a road across the Chaco from Tucumán to the
+Paraná, in the latitude of Corrientes, calculates that Corrientes may
+later serve as port for part of the west and north of Argentina. At the
+date of the publication of his book, however, it was neither Santa Fé
+nor Corrientes, but the new town Rosario, that began to play the part
+of interior port, and led to the construction of a new system of roads.
+Traffic between Rosario and Córdoba at first followed the old road
+from Buenos Aires to Peru, which one struck after leaving Rosario and
+making a detour to the south-west, on the right bank of the Carcaraña
+(at Rio Tercero). But this itinerary was presently replaced by a direct
+road to the west-northwest, following the line which the railways would
+adopt.[110]
+
+     [110] Between 1852 and 1862, during the period when relations
+     were suspended between the Argentine Confederation and Buenos
+     Aires, there was a beginning of a general reorganization of
+     the roads in harmony with the new political conditions. The
+     road from Santa Fé and Paraná to Concepción (in Uruguay)
+     across the Entre Rios tablelands, and from there to
+     Montevideo, had owed its initial importance to the closing of
+     the lower Paraná under Rosas, and Woodbine Parish records that
+     there was already a good deal of smuggling there. This road
+     became an essential artery when Paraná made itself the federal
+     capital under Urquiza. He intended to connect Paraná with the
+     western provinces, and he created a mail service from Santa Fé
+     to Córdoba. Ephemeral as the good fortune of Paraná was, its
+     influence on the organization of the roads of Argentina was
+     too material to be ignored by the geographer.
+
+In the greater part of Argentina transport was by means of wagons
+before railways were constructed. The limit between the area of
+wagon-transport and the area in which goods were conveyed on the backs
+of animals is quite stable. It is still of some significance, in
+spite of the development of the railways; wagons and mules are used
+at each station to collect and distribute goods. The area of farming
+and of selective breeding on the Pampa, the sheep-area in Patagonia,
+and the timber belt on the Chaco, still make use of wagons; and goods
+are carried on the backs of mules in the Andean area. The Peru road
+was, broadly speaking, fit for wagons as far as Salta, but it is rough
+between Tucumán and Salta, and wagons that used it generally stopped
+at Salta. In this way wagons avoided the ford of the Sali, which was
+easier for mules. On the plain itself the water-sources were often so
+distant from each other, and the stages so long, that mules had to
+be used instead of wagons. Wagons could easily get to Mendoza by the
+road along which the Tunuyan runs at its driest section, but all the
+convoys from Córdoba to San Juan, or Rioja to Catamarca, were composed
+of mules. Hence Córdoba was, like Tucumán, a station for changing on
+the road from Buenos Aires to the north-west. Lastly, while the scrub
+presented no insuperable obstacle to wagons, they could not enter the
+humid tropical forest, where the soil never dries. On the fringe of the
+Misiones forest, the wagons that came from San Tome unloaded at San
+Javier, and mules took the goods on to the _yerbales_.
+
+The two areas of different kinds of transport were not sharply
+distinct. The muleteers (_arrieros_) sometimes avoided the domain of
+the wagoners, and competed with them as far as the banks of the Paraná.
+In 1860 (Hutchinson) the muleteers carried about a fifth, in weight, of
+the goods from the interior to Rosario, and they got more than a third
+of the transport from Rosario to the interior. They had, however, to
+offer to carry goods at two-thirds the price charged by the wagoners.
+It appears that this invasion by the muleteers is connected with
+a transport-crisis in the Andean area, which left a number of the
+San Juan muleteers without work. It did not last. By 1862 mule-back
+transport between Rosario and the interior was almost over.
+
+The wagons of the Argentine plain have often been described by
+travellers. They were heavy vehicles, carrying 150, sometimes 180,
+_arrobes_ (1,725 to 2,070 kgs.), covered with a leather hood stretched
+on hoops. A long spur decorated with ostrich feathers was balanced
+on a ring fixed in the roof, and was used to guide the front pair of
+oxen. An earthenware pot containing water enough for each stage hung
+between the rear uprights. As a rule, three pair of oxen were yoked to
+it, one pair being in the shafts. At Corrientes it was necessary to
+cross the marshes and _esteros_, and a special type of wagon had been
+evolved. It had a sort of horizontal division forming an upper story,
+and the driver sat in this. Everywhere, on the Pampa as well as at
+Corrientes, the wheels were enormous; sometimes, as Darwin says, ten
+feet in diameter. They were, therefore, able to get through the bad
+parts. Mud was, as a matter of fact, the worst enemy of the convoys.
+The soil of the Pampa is clayey and soft in the districts near the
+river. As the road was not limited in width, the wagons turned to the
+right or the left when the ruts became too deep, and the track in time
+covered a broad belt of ground. This, however, could not be done in the
+vicinity of towns, where the traffic was concentrated. Buenos Aires
+came to be surrounded by formidable quagmires that dried up only in the
+summer. The paving of the streets and environs was becoming a problem
+of national importance when the construction of the railway began.
+
+Wagons did not travel singly. The _tropero_, or contractor for
+transport, organized caravans. In peaceful districts, where no military
+escort was required, the convoys could be split up; they consisted,
+as a rule, of from fifteen to fifty wagons. Besides the six oxen
+yoked to the wagon, there had to be others for relief as well as
+horses for the staff. Usually they allowed ten oxen to each wagon; in
+exceptional cases twenty.[111] The convoy to the salt-lakes in 1778
+had no less than 12,000 oxen to 600 wagons. There was a driver to each
+wagon, but there had also to be drivers for the starting animals, and
+carpenters to make repairs. The leader of the caravan, the _capataz_,
+was generally a master-carpenter. He looked after the interests of the
+_tropero_. There were about three men to each wagon. The _carreros_
+were an original type, nomadic, and very different in costume and
+character from the _gauchos_ (breeders) of the plain. At the close of
+the eighteenth century Buenos Aires had more than a thousand wagons
+employed in the traffic to Mendoza and Tucumán (Borrero).
+
+     [111] According to the details given us by De Angelis (1837,
+     Introduction to the _Diario del viaje al Rio Bermejo de Fray
+     Francisco Moritto_, Coll. de Angelis, vol. vi) a convoy of
+     fourteen wagons from Salta to Tucumán required three relays of
+     oxen. The first, comprising a hundred animals, went from Salta
+     to Tucumán; the second, of 130 animals, went from Tucumán to
+     the Buenos Aires frontier; the third (84 animals), went on to
+     the capital. The first and last relays were hired animals, the
+     second alone being the property of the _tropero_.
+
+The stages were rarely more than four or five leagues of five
+kilometres each (thirteen to sixteen miles). At this rate it took a
+convoy forty to fifty days to go from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, thirty
+days from Rosario to Tucumán, three months (with the necessary rests)
+from Buenos Aires to Salta.[112] When water ran short, the journey
+might be greatly prolonged, as the animals could do less work, or not
+work at all if the _aiguades_ had dried up. The season was a matter for
+consideration. In the Buenos Aires district the winter made the ground
+sodden and traffic difficult. Farther north, winter is the dry season,
+so that pasture was scarce, and it was difficult to feed the _tropas_.
+The summer had difficulties of its own. In January and February the
+floods of the Rio Dulce often made it impossible to cross the ford at
+Santiago. The carriers preferred to start from the northern provinces
+about the end of the summer, in April or May. The best season for
+leaving Buenos Aires was the spring, from August to November. In this
+way each _tropa_ could make the double journey once a year.
+
+     [112] Thirty days from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, and seventy
+     days from Buenos Aires to Jujuy, says Barrero (F. Barrero,
+     _Descripción de las Provincias del Rio de la Plata_, end of
+     the eighteenth century, published by the Ministry of Foreign
+     Affairs, Buenos Aires, 1911).
+
+There had been attempts to speed up the transport before the railways
+were made. The _galera_ (diligence), with its swarm of horses harnessed
+with the _cincha_ (saddle to which the lasso was attached), did
+not carry goods. It did not replace the convoy of wagons, but the
+_tropilla_ of spare horses which travellers on the plain drove before
+them. The _galera_ went from Rosario to Córdoba in three days and to
+Mendoza in ten days, and from Córdoba to Salta in fourteen days. About
+1860 a quicker goods service was organized, light wagons drawn by mules
+replacing the ox-wagons. They made the journey from Rosario to Córdoba
+in six days. Similarly, on the Pampa, the ox-wagons had been replaced
+before 1889 by quicker wagons, drawn by horses, to convey wool from the
+ranches to the railway stations.
+
+The cost of transport by wagon was, naturally, high. It also varied
+a good deal, but we cannot possibly go into these variations here.
+It will be enough to give, by way of illustration, the details which
+Hutchinson gives for the year 1862. The freightage was fixed either for
+a complete load of 150 _arrobes_ (1,725 kgs.) or so much per _arrobe_
+(11-1/2 kgs.). Conveying a load from Rosario to Córdoba cost forty
+to fifty piastres (eight to ten pounds). The cost of carrying an
+_arrobe_ from Rosario to Mendoza was five to six _reales_ (about two
+shillings to two-and-six); from Rosario to Tucuman nine _reales_ (three
+shillings and fourpence); from Rosario to Salta eighteen _reales_
+(seven shillings and sixpence). The tropas were, therefore, quickly
+ousted by the railways. In a few places they made a very unequal fight
+against the railways. The _Memoria del departemento de Ingenieros de la
+Nacion_ of 1876, quoted by Rebuelto, mentions the competition of the
+_tropas_ with the Andino railway, opened from Villa Maria to the Rio
+Cuarto in 1873 and to Villa Mercedes in 1875. The merchants of San Juan
+and Mendoza continued to use them. The railway had to sign a contract
+with the _troperos_ by which wagons were to bring goods as far as Villa
+Mercedes, where they could be entrained. The total freight was fifty
+Bolivian _centavos_ (about two shillings) per _arrobe_ from Mendoza to
+Rosario, and sixty _centavos_ from San Juan. Of this the share of the
+railway was fifteen _centavos_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The first Argentine railway was opened in 1859, between Buenos Aires
+and Maron, a distance of about thirteen miles.
+
+In 1870 the Argentine railways formed two independent systems. The
+first radiated fan-wise from Buenos Aires (Western line, open as far
+as Chivilcoy in 1870, and Southern line, open as far as Chascomus
+in 1865). Farther north a line (the Central Argentine) started from
+Rosario, and reached Bellville in 1866 and Córdoba in 1870.
+
+  [Illustration: THRESHING ON THE PAMPA.
+                        Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.]
+
+  [Illustration: SACKS OF WHEAT READY FOR LOADING ON THE RAILWAY.
+  _There are elevators only in a few of the ports._
+                         Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.
+  PLATE XIX.                                           To face p. 220.]
+
+The political isolation of Buenos Aires between 1852 and 1862, during
+the time when the first concessions were issued, made upon the railway
+system an impression that would not be effaced until twenty-five years
+afterwards. It was not until 1886 that Rosario was connected by rail
+with Buenos Aires. The line to Mendoza and Chile, begun in 1870 (F. C.
+Andino), joins the line from Rosario to Córdoba. It reached Mendoza
+at the foot of the Andes before going on to Buenos Aires; and it was
+in 1888 that the Pacific railway was completed between Buenos Aires
+and Villa Mercedes, and established direct communications between the
+capital and the province of Cuyo.
+
+The line from Rosario to Córdoba is, therefore, the chief branch
+round which the Argentine system developed. It is remarkable that at
+the time of the original concession in 1855 a westward extension was
+contemplated, and that there was some idea of making it a stage in
+a trans-Andean. The first concessionaire, Wheelwright, had made the
+oldest railway in South America, from Caldera to Copiapo, in Chile in
+1851. The 1855 concession authorized Wheelwright to extend the Córdoba
+line westward and link it with the Copiapo line. When he opened the
+Córdoba station in 1870, Wheelwright, not suffering himself to be
+discouraged at the slowness with which the line had crossed the Pampa,
+still said that the goal was the Pacific, by way of Rioja, Copacabana
+and the San Francisco pass. This ambitious programme deserves to be
+recalled, if only as a reminiscence of the former orientation of the
+trade of Rioja and Tinogasta toward the Pacific, and as a proof of the
+importance, in the imagination of the men of that generation, of the
+old trans-Andean roads from north-western Argentina.
+
+Even before the Rosario line had reached Córdoba, it had been continued
+northward as far as Tucumán. The work was pushed vigorously, and
+Tucumán was reached in 1875. The Córdoba-Tucumán line was the first to
+be constructed entirely in the region of the scrub, and _quebracho_
+sleepers were then used for the first time. The earliest lines of the
+Buenos Aires province and the Argentine had, on the model of the Indian
+railways, a gauge of 5 feet 8 inches, but the Central Córdoba, from
+Córdoba to Tucumán, had a narrow gauge of forty inches. Hence goods
+coming from Tucumán had to be transferred at Córdoba. At the same time
+(1875) the line from Concordia to Monte Caseros was opened, and this
+made it possible to avoid the rapids of the Uruguay, which was to be
+a source of supply to the whole Mesopotamian system. Its gauge was
+fifty-seven inches. Differences of gauge are, and will continue to be,
+one of the characteristics of the Argentine system.
+
+During the period from 1875 to 1890 were constructed the main lines
+which took the place of the old roads from province to province. The
+Andean railway reached San Luis in 1882 and Mendoza and San Juan in
+1885. Branches of the Central Córdoba reached Santiago del Estero in
+1884 and Catamarca in 1889. In 1891 the Central Argentine opened a new
+direct broad-gauge line from Rosario to Tucumán; and almost at the
+same time the narrow-gauge line of the Central Norte, from Santa Fé to
+Tucumán, was finished further north. The Tucumán line was continued
+northward to the foot of the Andes as far as Salta. In the province
+of Buenos Aires the Bahía Blanca line was opened in 1884. Since 1900
+the railways have pushed on to the frontiers and are linked in various
+directions with those of the adjoining countries. The Cumbre tunnel on
+the Mendoza trans-Andean was completed in 1910, and traffic with Chile
+by rail is now permanent. The Salta line was continued in 1908 to the
+Bolivian tableland. In Mesopotamia, in fine, the north-eastern line
+reached Posadas in 1911 and effected a junction with the Paraguay line.
+
+These details, however, give a very imperfect idea of the history of
+the development of the Argentine railway system. It has not merely been
+superimposed upon the old roads, but has, on the other hand, helped
+to open up and develop new lands, which could not have been colonized
+without it. As early as 1883 Valiento Noailles, examining the general
+plan of the system, noticed the profound difference between the
+railways of Argentine and those of Europe. "In Europe," he said, "the
+railways are constructed to serve existing centres of production and
+consumption.... Our Argentine railways are to facilitate colonization."
+Corresponding to each occupation of a new area of the Pampean plain by
+the farmer or the breeder is the construction in that area of a new
+network of lines which are fed by its traffic and in turn help it to
+increase its production. The more productive the region is, the closer
+are the meshes of this network. They are wider in the pastoral than in
+the agricultural areas. The period of the development of the southern
+lines in the province of Buenos Aires corresponds with the expansion
+of breeding when the Pampa had been pacified. The railway reached Azul
+in 1876. The Ayacucho branch was opened in 1880, and continued as far
+as Tres Arroyos in 1887. The completion of the Bahía Blanca line, via
+Azul and Olavarria, in 1884, is itself merely one of the dates in this
+colonizing period. The great period of agricultural colonization at
+Santa Fé and the construction of the system of lines that serve it
+begin a little later, and last from 1880 to 1890 (extension of the
+Central Argentine system, the railways of the province of Santa Fé, and
+the narrow-gauge railway from Rosario to Córdoba).
+
+The part that the railway has played in colonization is plainly seen
+in the present completion of the system which has developed freely on
+the even surface of the Pampean plain. The lines radiate round the
+port of Buenos Aires and, in a less degree, round the ports of Rosario
+and Bahía Blanca. What seems at first sight to be the symmetry of the
+railway map will be found on closer examination to be less perfect;
+while the Atlantic coast between La Plata and Bahía Blanca has no
+ports, the Paraná has quite a number of suitable places for shipping
+cereals. La Plata, San Nicolas and Villa Constitución are served by
+lines which cut across the lines going to Rosario and Buenos Aires.
+This complexity of the system west of the Paraná continues to the north
+of Rosario, where the lines that go to Santa Fé cut across all the
+lines going to Rosario. The lines which run along the southern frontier
+of the province of Buenos Aires (at Juancho, Necochea, etc.) have,
+unlike the lines serving the secondary parts of the Paraná, all their
+traffic directed toward the interior, and they serve only to bring to
+Buenos Aires and Bahía Blanco the crops of the districts they cross.
+They are dependencies of the main lines of the southern system, and not
+rival lines.
+
+When the most fertile part of the Pampean plain, on which there is a
+regular rainfall to guarantee the crops, had been completely colonized
+and covered with railways, the national Government took up the policy
+of colonization by rail in the national territories. The minister Ramos
+Mejia has attached his name to this work. It has been suspended since
+the beginning of the war, but it filled the last period of construction
+of the Argentine railways. Ramos Mejia's railways include the lines
+penetrating the Chaco opened toward the north-west from Resistencia
+and Formosa, and the lines leading to the interior of Patagonia from
+the ports of San Antonio, Puerto Deseado, and Rivadavia. We must add
+the line from Neuquen to the Andes, made by the Southern Company, but
+with a Government subvention.[113] These lines, serving districts with
+little population and inadequate resources, will not for a long time
+make any profit.[114]
+
+     [113] The line from Bahía Blanca to the Rio Negro, of which
+     the Neuquen line is a continuation, was constructed in 1896.
+
+     [114] The continuation of many of these lines was contemplated
+     for the future, so as to secure for them at a later date a
+     long-distance traffic. The Resistencia and Formosa lines,
+     which reach the Andes, may compete for traffic with the
+     Rosario and Tucumán lines. In Patagonia, the continuation
+     across the Andes of the line from San Antonio to Lake Nahuel
+     Huapi has been considered. A pass has been found at a height
+     of 4,000 feet. When this plan is carried out, the Trans-Andean
+     from Nahuel Huapi would be in a position to compete
+     successfully with the Trans-Andean from Uspallata, which is
+     condemned by its elevation to remain a passenger line. These
+     plans, still far from realization, do not deprive the Ramos
+     Mejia lines of their character as colonization lines, entirely
+     devoted at present to conveying the timber of the Chaco and
+     the wool of Patagonia.
+
+Hence railway construction must be regarded in modern Argentina as
+one of the aspects of the problem of developing the soil. The railway
+companies have been compelled to intervene directly in the work
+of colonization. In 1863 the Central Argentine received from the
+Government a strip of land three miles wide on each side of the line it
+was making, between Rosario and Córdoba, on condition that it colonized
+the land. The company had its own immigration agents and its colonizing
+staff, and it opened its first colonies west of Rosario between 1870
+and 1872. This kind of concession is exceptional in Argentina. On the
+other hand, the irrigation law of 1909 obliges the railway companies to
+undertake, on behalf of the Government, the work that is necessary to
+develop irrigation in the areas they serve, such work being immediately
+reflected in an increase of population and traffic. In compliance with
+this law the Southern railway is constructing a canal which will water
+the whole valley of the Rio Negro below the confluence of the Neuquen.
+The Central Argentine and the Pacific also have undertaken to construct
+dams on the Rio Tercero and Rio Quinto, in the provinces of Córdoba and
+San Luis.
+
+As it is the essential function of a railway to convey the produce of
+the area it serves to the exporting port, the problem of the relations
+between the administration of railways and the administration of
+ports is of primary importance. The chief ports served by different
+companies, such as Rosario and Buenos Aires, may maintain their
+independence, but a secondary port will be at the mercy of the single
+line which conveys goods to it. In such circumstances the ports have
+become, in many cases, mere dependencies of the railways. The port of
+Colastiné belongs to the railways of the Santa Fé province. The port
+of Bahía Blanca consists of a number of distinct ports constructed by
+the different railway companies, and run by them. Each of them ships
+the goods which it brings. The port Ingeniero White, which belongs to
+the Southern Company, was constructed in 1885, immediately after the
+opening of the line from Buenos Aires to Bahía Blanca. Puerto Galvan
+belongs to the Pacific Company. Puerto Belgrano is the port of the line
+from Rosario to Bahía Blanca. At Buenos Aires the Southern Railway
+Company has acquired control of the Buenos Aires Southern Dock Company.
+At La Plata it manages the docks.
+
+The spread of agricultural colonization was at first hampered by the
+cost of freightage which cereals could bear over an area with a radius
+of about 200 miles from the ports. That is the figure given by Girola
+in the _Investigación Agricola_ of 1904. The period 1895-1905 saw the
+birth of a series of plans for making canals in the Pampean region
+for the purpose of transporting grain in the area which the railway
+did not seem able to serve economically. Not one of them was carried
+out, but the railways quickly enlarged their sphere of influence in
+the interior. There is, however, a reminiscence of this pause in
+colonization in what Argentinians call "the parabolic tariffs." The
+Argentine railways practically, apart from cases of competition with
+rival lines, use proportional tariffs up to a distance of 218 miles,
+and degressive tariffs beyond that limit. In this way the railways have
+helped in the conquest of the west. Degressive tariffs have certainly
+played a part in the spread of colonization during the years antecedent
+to 1912. They have helped to mask the inferiority of the new land to
+the better land in the east.[115]
+
+     [115] J. Lopez Mañan, _El actual problema agrario_ (Buenos
+     Aires, 1912, Ministerio de agricultura, Dirección General de
+     agricultura y defensa agricola).
+
+  [Illustration: MAP VI.--THE RAILWAYS.
+  _It is impossible to give the entire system. Only the main lines are
+  given. Of the narrow-gauge lines of the Pampean region only those which
+  connect the system of northern Argentina with Buenos Aires are given.
+  The map shows the double direction of the Pacific system from Villa
+  Mercedes, to Buenos Aires and Bahía Blanca. It gives only an imperfect
+  idea of the way in which the lines ending at the ports of the Paraná
+  and the Rio de la Plata (Santa Fé, Rosario, San Nicolas, Buenos Aires
+  and La Plata) overlap and cross each other._
+                                                       To face p. 226.]
+
+The rise in the value of land and the advance of colonization led,
+at each of those crises of development which characterize the recent
+history of Argentina, to a multiplication of railway concessions
+granted by the national Government and the various provincial
+authorities. These have to be bought up by the leading companies, as
+each of them wanted to keep exclusive control of the region in which it
+had established itself. This concentration could not be accomplished
+in a perfectly methodical way, and the various systems now overlap,
+which is not to the interest of the companies. Thus Villa Maria, on
+the Central Argentine line from Rosario to Córdoba, is also served by
+a line belonging to the Santa Fé railways and by a line of the Pacific
+Company which puts it in communication with Buenos Aires. On the other
+hand, the Central Argentine penetrates to the very heart of the area of
+the Pacific at Junin.
+
+However, competition between the various companies has had the
+effect of dividing the Pampean plain into three great spheres of
+influence. The first, in the north, is that of the Central Argentine
+and the Buenos Aires y Rosario line. In 1908 the Argentine Government
+officially sanctioned the fusion of the two companies, though it had
+really been accomplished a few years before. The second sphere, in
+the south, is that of the Pacific, the attraction of which was the
+line from Buenos Aires to Villa Mercedes, and which in 1907 bought the
+line from Villa Mercedes to Mendoza and the Trans-Andean, a natural
+continuation of its system. Moreover, in 1904 the Pacific absorbed the
+line from Bahía Blanca to the north-west, which has been linked up
+once more with its original system at Villa Mercedes. It thus has two
+outlets, to Buenos Aires and Bahía Blanca, and completely encloses the
+third sphere with its branches. The third sphere, which comprises the
+centre and south of the Pampean plain, is the domain of the Southern
+and Western Companies. In 1912 these two companies asked the Argentine
+Government to authorize them to amalgamate. Although they withdrew
+their proposal in 1914, in face of the conditions imposed upon them,
+they are still closely associated. Part of the traffic of the western
+lines of the Western passes over Southern lines at Carbuë, and is
+shipped at the port Ingeniero White. At Buenos Aires also, and at La
+Plata, part of the Western Company's traffic in cereals and cattle uses
+the premises of the Southern Company. The Western and the Southern,
+jointly, bought in 1908, before it was finished, the narrow-gauge
+Midland of Buenos Aires line at Carbuë, which was to cross their sphere
+of influence. It was opened in 1911.
+
+The importance of the transport of cereals in the life of the leading
+Argentine systems will be seen from the following figures. In
+percentages of the total of goods carried, both from the interior to
+the ports and _vice versa_, the tonnage of exported cereals was:--
+
+  ---------------+--------+--------+--------+----------
+                 |  1913  |  1914  |  1916  | Average.
+  ---------------+--------+--------|--------|----------
+  Southern       |  31.0  |  34.3  |  32.5  |   32.6
+  Western        |  58.3  |  61.7  |  55.1  |   58.4
+  Pacific        |  29.0  |  41.8  |  33.8  |   35.0
+  Central        |  36.5  |  46.6  |  34.8  |   39.5
+  ---------------+--------+--------+--------+----------
+
+The figures are rather less for the Southern, which covers an area
+that has remained chiefly pastoral and, by means of its Rio Negro
+line, serves for part of the transport of cattle from Patagonia
+(cattle-transport on the Southern, average for the years 1913, 1914
+and 1916: 17.2 per cent. of the total tonnage, 19 per cent. of total
+receipts; 1.4 per cent. of tonnage and 6.5 per cent. of receipts). They
+are higher for the Western, the only system that lies entirely in the
+Pampean region and has no continuations beyond it, as the Pacific has
+to Mendoza and the Central to Tucumán.
+
+The share of each company in the total traffic varies from year to year
+according to the harvest. Of the four to ten million tons of cereals
+carried every year, the greater part--about a third--falls to the
+Central Argentine, and one-sixth to the Southern. The Central Argentine
+carries the greater part of the maize and flax, the maize alone
+representing 26 per cent. of the total tonnage carried by the line, and
+the flax 5.6 per cent. Of the other lines the Western alone carries
+any appreciable quantity of maize, which comes from the Junin district
+(19 per cent. of its tonnage, but only 12 per cent. of its receipts,
+because of the slight distances the stuff is carried). The transport of
+wheat is about equally divided amongst the four leading lines, but the
+proportion of it to total traffic is highest in the case of the Western
+(34.4 per cent. of total traffic). The Southern is the chief carrier of
+oats (9.8 per cent. of the total tonnage). The tonnage carried annually
+is particularly irregular in the case of the Central, on account of
+the irregularity of the maize crops, and the Pacific, because its
+lines north-west of Buenos Aires serve a wheat-area that is exposed to
+drought (wheat carried by the Pacific in 1913, 15.9 per cent. of the
+total tonnage; in 1914, 27.2 per cent.).
+
+The clearing of the cereals gives the Argentine railways a delicate
+problem in the organization of traffic. The crops of flax, wheat and
+oats must be cleared in the four to six months following the harvest
+(December-January). The maize harvest, which is later, is also much
+slower; it lasts the whole of the autumn. Hence the removal of the
+maize is spread over a long period, and sometimes the work of one year
+runs into that of the next. This gives the Central an advantage over
+the other lines. The wool also must, on account of its great value, be
+transferred to the ports speedily after the shearing; but this is only
+a matter of about a hundred thousand tons.[116]
+
+     [116] The war and the difficulties of marine freightage have
+     lessened the seriousness of the problem of carrying goods
+     rapidly by rail in Argentina.
+
+Export, however, is by no means the one source of traffic on the
+Argentine railways. Transport of goods for home consumption is chiefly
+a question of a large part of the wheat crop. Building materials
+also--bricks, lime and stone--are an important item on the various
+lines which link Buenos Aires with the Sierra de Córdoba and the
+Sierra de Tandil. In 1913 the Southern line carried 1,134,000 tons of
+minerals, including 997,000 tons of stone and 101,000 tons of lime
+from the Sierra de Tandil and 34,000 tons of salt from the salt-mines
+of Lavalle, between Bahía Blanca and the Colorado. In the same year,
+the Pacific, Central Argentine, Central Córdoba and State railway
+carried 880,000 tons of minerals (half being lime) from the Sierra
+de Córdoba.[117] All the timber carried on the lines of northern
+Argentina, except the _quebracho_ from the banks of the Paraná, is
+for home use: sleepers, fence-posts, firewood and charcoal are the
+chief items on most of the lines in the scrub. The war has checked
+railway construction and reduced the use of sleepers, but it has also
+deprived Argentina of combustible minerals and increased the transport
+of firewood. Even on railways like the Pacific and Central Argentine,
+which have very few of their lines on the scrub, the tonnage of wood
+carried is 6 per cent. of the whole (average for 1913, 1914 and 1916),
+and the proportion rises to 30 per cent. of the total tonnage on the
+Central Córdoba. For several companies the sugars of Tucumán and the
+wines of Mendoza are an important element of their receipts, not so
+much on account of the tonnage as the high cost of freightage and the
+great distance to the centres of consumption in the Pampean region. The
+carriage of wine and casks brings the Pacific 38.3 per cent. of its
+receipts (1913-14-16). The transport of sugar on the Central Argentine
+in a normal year amounts to 5 per cent. of its receipts. On the Central
+Córdoba the tonnage of sugar-cane and sugar carried amounted in 1914,
+a year of exceptional harvest, to 42 per cent. of the total tonnage,
+and was still 20 per cent. in 1916, a year of very poor crop. The
+supplying of meat to the market of Buenos Aires and the Pampean area,
+with its dense population, means a good deal of long-distance traffic
+in cattle; the refrigerators taking the better cattle of the adjoining
+region for the foreign market, and the slaughter houses of Buenos Aires
+being forced to content themselves with inferior beasts reared in the
+provinces and the adjoining districts.
+
+     [117] The transport of mineral stuff, apart from salt, has
+     been greatly reduced by the war. In 1916 it was only 637,000
+     tons for the Southern and 157,000 tons for the whole of the
+     lines of the Central Argentine, Pacific, Central Córdoba, and
+     State.
+
+The importance of these currents of internal traffic has made
+itself felt in the organization of the Argentine system. It has
+made it necessary for each system to have not only an outlet to an
+exporting town, but a direct connection with the chief centre of home
+consumption, Buenos Aires. The narrow-gauge system, which until the
+end of the nineteenth century had been restricted to the northern half
+of Argentine territory, north of the latitude of Rosario, developed in
+the province of Buenos Aires after 1900, and ventured to compete in
+the carriage of cereals with the broad-gauge system (Company of the
+Province of Buenos Aires and Provincial railway of La Plata). This
+system connected with the narrow-gauge lines of the north. The Central
+Córdoba, which had reached Rosario in 1912 and so had escaped the
+need to transfer its export-traffic at Córdoba to the broad-gauge,
+began immediately afterwards to effect a direct communication with
+Buenos Aires (Central Córdoba, extension to Buenos Aires, opened in
+1913). The line from Rosario to Buenos Aires of the Province of Buenos
+Aires Company also serves to carry trains of the Province of Santa Fé
+Company, which is closely associated with it. The medium-gauge lines
+of Mesopotamia also have effected a communication with Buenos Aires
+by means of a ferry-boat that plies on the Paraná between Ibicuy and
+Zarate, and by using a section of the Buenos Aires Central.
+
+The concentration of narrow-gauge and medium-gauge lines seemed to be
+issuing in a complete fusion of their interests in 1913. The Argentine
+Railway Company got control of the lines of Entre Rios, Corrientes and
+the Paraguay. It promoted the development and extension of the Central
+Córdoba, and it also had large interests in the French companies of the
+Buenos Aires and Santa Fé provinces. All the narrow-gauge lines would
+have concentrated in its hands if it had been able to get the State
+railway. The broad-gauge line from Rosario to Puerto Belgrano had, as
+its interest conflicted with those of the great broad-gauge English
+systems, joined the narrow-gauge group engineered by the Argentine
+railway. But the amalgamation attempted by the Argentine railways did
+not succeed, and, after its failure, the companies it had temporarily
+brought together resumed their independence.
+
+The river-route of the Paraná has sometimes been an auxiliary, at other
+times a rival, of the railways.
+
+Until the line from Buenos Aires to Rosario was opened in 1886, the
+navigation of the Paraná was the only link between the system of
+northern Argentina and that of the Buenos Aires province. Before the
+line was completed, the company had established a service of boats on
+the Paraná, and in this way it kept up a traffic in goods consigned to
+stations on the Central Argentine, to be transferred at Rosario. These
+combinations of railway and river service disappeared when the line
+from Buenos Aires to Rosario was finished.
+
+In regard to export traffic the railways have not attempted to compete
+with the river anywhere where it is open to maritime navigation; they
+have merely been concerned to connect with it. On the other hand, the
+railway and the river are rivals for the home traffic and the traffic
+of the upper districts which sea-going boats do not reach. Before the
+time of the railways the river had taken all the goods traffic, but had
+tolerated on its left bank a post-road between Santa Fé, Corrientes and
+Asunción. The railway still has the advantage over the river in regard
+to speed (in carrying passengers between Rosario and Buenos Aires, and
+live cattle from the Chaco and the Paraguay for Buenos Aires or the
+salting works of the lower Uruguay). Even in regard to certain kinds of
+heavy goods--_quebracho_ timber--the river has not secured a monopoly,
+and there is a good deal of transport by rail.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE RIVER-ROUTES
+
+     The use of the river before steam navigation--Floods--The
+     river plain--The bed of the Paraná and its changes--The
+     estuary and its shoals--Maritime navigation--The boats on the
+     Paraná.
+
+
+The problem of the use of the river-routes of the Paraná and the
+Paraguay is not of interest to Argentina alone. It affects the whole
+history of colonization in South America. The very name of the Rio de
+la Plata is a reminiscence of the anxieties of the early navigators who
+landed there, chiefly in search of a route to the mineral districts of
+the Andes [Plata = silver]. It is remarkable that the Amazon, which
+opens a more direct and better route to the Andes, was never used for
+reaching Peru. It was at the most, and only occasionally, used as a
+return-route, whereas expeditions to the Cordillera were organized on
+the banks of the Paraná during the whole of the sixteenth century. The
+routes linking the Paraná and the Paraguay with the tableland furrow
+the whole plain of the Pampa and the Chaco, from the latitude of the
+estuary to about 16° S. lat. (expedition of Ñuflo de Chavez in 1557).
+An especially close network starts from the river between 18° and 22°
+S. lat. and ends at Santa Cruz, the most northern centre established by
+the Spaniards on the plain, at the foot of the Andes, as a consequence
+of the use of the Paraná.[118]
+
+     [118] There is still a certain amount of goods traffic in this
+     latitude between the river and the Santa Cruz district by the
+     Puerto Suarez and Puerto Pacheco tracks.
+
+Spanish colonization, however, did not succeed in making permanent
+settlements on the Chaco. The Indians, who were masters of it, disputed
+their passage, and the only practicable route was the southernmost of
+the roads to the tableland, south of the Rio Salado, which ends at the
+estuary. From this time onward the prosperity of Buenos Aires eclipsed
+that of Asunción. The river ceased to be a great continental route.
+
+The division of the Paraná between the Spanish and the Portuguese was a
+check upon the full development of the river-route. The Portuguese held
+the upper part of its basin, which now belongs to Brazil. They expelled
+the Spanish missionaries from the upper Paraná about the middle of
+the seventeenth century, and made themselves masters of the Paraguay
+north of 20° S. lat. Their forts at Coimbre and Albuquerque prevented
+any from ascending. D'Azara insists that it would have been Spain's
+interest to disarm these forts; it would have enabled them to go up the
+river as far as the Spanish missions to the Mojos and the Chiquitos. On
+their side, the Portuguese only used the upper section of the river,
+where it is joined by the Paulist road north of the Coimbre, as a means
+of access to the gold mines of the Matto Grosso. Even now, although
+the Paraná is open to every flag, the development of the river-route
+is not independent of political conditions. In making the railway from
+Saint Paul to Corumba, and so creating on its own territory a means of
+direct communication with the upper Paraguay, Brazil diverts from the
+lower districts part of the traffic which ought normally to go there.
+Again, the ports of southern Brazil and the lines which go to them try
+to attract to the Atlantic the produce of the basins of the Uruguay and
+the upper Paraná, which would have followed the thread of the river
+to foster the trade of Buenos Aires if the frontiers had been fixed
+otherwise.
+
+Before the Revolution the river-trade was confined to exchanges between
+the Misiones and Paraguay on the one hand, and Buenos Aires and the
+Andean provinces on the other. After the extinction of the missions
+Paraguay was the chief centre of traffic on the river. At the close of
+the eighteenth century it had a fairly large population. According to
+D'Azara, it amounted to 97,000, and 47,000 for the area of the former
+Missions (Misiones), while Buenos Aires, Santa Fé, Entre Rios and
+Corrientes had not more than 103,000 inhabitants collectively. Paraguay
+exported tobacco, _maté_ and timber by the river. The Buenos Aires
+Estano received 800 tons of tobacco a year. The exports of _maté_ from
+Paraguay to Peru, Chile and the interior provinces amounted to 1,725
+tons, and 2,250 tons went to Buenos Aires. The timber came mostly from
+the Tebicuary, where the _angadas_ (loads of timber) were formed. The
+chief constructive sheds also were on the Tebicuary. Boats of twenty to
+200 tons were launched there; and they had armed boats, when they went
+down the river, to detect ambushes of the Indians, who were masters of
+the right bank north of Santa Fé.
+
+The development of navigation on the Paraná during the first half of
+the nineteenth century was checked by the disturbances and wars of the
+period of the emancipation and unification of Argentina. The river was
+blockaded several times and traffic interrupted. Only a few smuggling
+schooners succeeded in getting through the side branches, which the
+ships stationed in the river could not watch. Robertson escaped the
+Spanish vessels in this way. The picture which D'Orbigny has given
+us of the life of the river belongs to the year 1827. At that time
+the estuary was blockaded by the Brazilian fleet in the whole area of
+the delta as far as San Pedro. Piracy was so rife, and the insecurity
+so great, on the Uruguay and the Paraná, that few ventured as far as
+Buenos Aires, the ships being linked in convoys. Up stream, Corrientes
+was the limit of navigation. The dictator Francis closed the Paraguay,
+and even the small boats no longer sailed on the upper Paraná, along
+the frontier of Paraguay. The Correntinos, who spoke _Guarani_, could
+merely get permission at rare intervals to send a few boats up river.
+Armed boats convoyed these as far as Neembucu, and they returned with
+hides and _maté_. Corrientes thus became the market-centre of the upper
+river and replaced Asunción in the trade. The flotilla on the Paraná
+included flat-bottomed barges, which were only used in coming down,
+and strong keeled ships--schooners, sloops and brigs--with their ropes
+made of leather. Down stream there was a little more diversity in the
+traffic. The island sent cargoes of firewood and charcoal to Santa Fé
+and Buenos Aires. The orchards of the delta provided Buenos Aires with
+oranges and peaches. Hides for export were shipped at Goya and Santa
+Fé. But the chief freight was lime from La Bajada, which was burned in
+the kilns on the Barranca, at the outcrops of the beds of conchiferous
+limestone.
+
+  [Illustration: CONFLUENCE OF THE YGUASSU AND THE PARANÁ.
+  _In the foreground is the left bank of the Yguassu, on Argentine
+  territory. The right bank is Brazilian territory. At the back, on the
+  right bank of the Paraná, is Paraguayan territory._
+  PLATE XX.                                            To face p. 236.]
+
+The navigation was fairly easy, the journey from Corrientes to Buenos
+Aires (675 miles) lasting, as a rule, from fifteen to twenty days.
+Going up, the time was more irregular. They had to stop when there was
+no south wind, or a little progress was made by hauling (_silgar_).
+D'Orbigny took a month to travel up.[119] In 1822, before the war with
+Brazil, there were 651 boats entered at Buenos Aires for coasting trade
+on the rivers and 1,035 at San Fernando or on the Tigre, the advance
+port of Buenos Aires. In 1833 Isabelle put at one thousand the number
+of vessels at work on the Paraná and the Uruguay.
+
+     [119] The local south winds which help the voyage upward below
+     Rosario may be due to the high temperature of the water of the
+     river; this also gives rise on the lower Paraná to thick fog
+     of which warning is given.
+
+In 1841 Rosas forbade navigation on the river. There was then a double
+blockade checking the trade of Argentina. The Franco-British fleet
+closed the Rio de la Plata and blockaded Buenos Aires, where the
+Government of Rosas was established. In addition, Rosas's troops on the
+_barranca_ of the right bank prevented any from going up the Paraná,
+and cut off the interior provinces from the rest of the world. The
+injury then done to interests which were already fully self-conscious
+may be gathered from the agitation provoked by the decision of France
+and England in 1845 to break the blockade of the river. A convoy was at
+once organized at Montevideo, consisting of no less than ninety-eight
+ships, of 6,900 tons in all (MacKann). It went up the Paraná under the
+protection of war-ships, which removed the chains slung across it by
+Rosas. The convoy dispersed up river as soon as it was out of range of
+Rosas. But it had needed so great an effort that the attempt could not
+be made again before the fall of Rosas.
+
+The closing of the Paraná compelled a diversion of the trade of
+Paraguay toward the south-east. It crossed the isthmus of Misiones,
+between the Paraná and the Uruguay, and passed down the Uruguay. At
+this time the whole commercial activity of Paraguay was concentrated
+at Itapua, on the upper Paraná. The prosperity of the Uruguay was some
+compensation for the misery that reigned on the Paraná. The populations
+of Paysandu and Montevideo greatly increased.
+
+In 1852, at the fall of Rosas, the modern period began for the Paraná.
+The river-population changed rapidly. It ceased to be exclusively
+creole. Basques, and later Italians, had settled upon the Uruguay ten
+years before, and they now spread along the Paraná. In 1850 MacKann
+found fifty vessels, of 20 to 100 tons, belonging to Italians at
+Santa Fé. This wave of immigration coincided with the development of
+relations between the Paraná and the port of Montevideo. From 1852 to
+1860 Buenos Aires was isolated, and it remained outside the economic
+life of Argentina. Montevideo took its place. Urquiza's administration
+sought, in addition, to establish direct maritime communication between
+over-seas ports and the ports on the river: Gualeguy in Entre Rios, and
+Rosario in Santa Fé. Under a system of preferential duties (1857-59),
+which reduced the burden on goods carried by the river, Rosario grew
+rapidly, and between 1853 and 1858 increased its population from
+4,000 to 22,700. The period from 1852 to 1860 was also the time when
+steam-navigation was developing, and this doubled the value of the
+river-route. From 1860 onward Buenos Aires was connected by regular
+services of steamboats with Rosario, Santa Fé, Corrientes, Asunción
+and Cuyaba. On the upper Paraná goods (timber, tobacco and oranges)
+were still carried by sailing boats between Corrientes and Apipé, where
+they stopped at the commencement of the rapids. Steamboats did not sail
+up the rapids of Apipé until 1868.[120] From 1850 to 1860 there were
+repeated explorations of the Salado and the Bermejo, as the interior
+provinces hoped to be able to find a connection with the vivifying
+artery of the Paraná (voyage of Page on the Salado from Salta in 1855,
+and of Lavarello on the Bermejo in 1855 and 1863).
+
+     [120] According to Rengger, sailing ships sometimes succeeded
+     in crossing the Salto d'Apipé.
+
+In 1860 the entry of Buenos Aires into the Confederation re-established
+the normal condition of free competition between Buenos Aires and
+Rosario. From that time the life of the river reflects the advance of
+colonization in the Pampean region. The Paraná became the highway for
+the export of cereals.
+
+The two rivers, of which the Rio de la Plata forms the common estuary,
+differ considerably in their features. The Uruguay has irregular
+floods, especially in autumn (May) and at the end of the winter
+(August-October). Low water is in summer (January-February). Its basin
+belongs to the temperate zone, and does not extend northward as far as
+the area of tropical summer-rain. The Uruguay also differs from the
+Paraná in its low capacity for transport and alluvial deposit. While
+the Paraná has built up a vast deltaic plain, the Uruguay ends in an
+ordinary estuary, with rocky or sandy bed and clear water. The estuary
+of the Uruguay is 130 miles long and five or six miles wide. The
+eastern shore is rocky and broken. The Argentine shore is low. It is
+formed in the south by the deposits of the delta of the Paraná, while
+further north, from Gualeguacha to Concepción, the hills of Entre Rios
+are hidden behind a screen of flat islands covered with palms, formed
+by the stuff brought by the streams of Entre Rios. The river-floods are
+lost in the great sheet of the estuary. The tide in the estuary or a
+flood in the Paraná is enough to turn the current.
+
+Maritime navigation goes beyond the estuary and beyond Paysandu, as
+far as the rapids which prevent further advance at Salto. The twin
+towns of Concordia (right bank) and Salta (left bank) mark the limit
+of navigation on the inner course of the river. It begins again above
+the falls, at Monte Caseros, from which the river-boats go to San Tomé
+and occasionally to Concepción. Small ships go higher, as far as Salto
+Grande in Misiones (27° 20' S. lat.).[121]
+
+     [121] At one time the boats on the upper Uruguay saved
+     transport by going from Salto to Arapehy, midway between Monte
+     Caseros and Concordia (see Isabelle).
+
+The navigable system of the Paraná is four times as large. The first
+survey of the river was made about the middle of the nineteenth century
+by the British Navy. At the beginning of the twentieth century the
+Argentine Government took up the study of the bed and the peculiarities
+of the Paraná, and the Ministry of Public Works published a map, on
+the scale 1:100,000, of the course of the river between Posadas and
+San Pedro, at the beginning of the delta. A precise survey was made,
+and twenty-six fluvio-metrical scales were established, the zero of
+which represents mean low-water.[122] Transverse soundings were taken
+at equal distances of 670 and 1,000 feet, the distance being reduced
+to 160 and even 80 feet at critical points. Thanks to this work, the
+Paraná is now, no doubt, the best known of all rivers of that size.
+
+     [122] It is as well to notice that the profile determined by
+     the altitude of the zero of these different scales, or the
+     low-water profile, is of a purely theoretical character. The
+     river is never at low-water over its whole course. The real
+     profile is always varied by slight movements of flood and ebb.
+
+Its output is estimated at 6,000 cubic metres a second at mean
+low-water, in the latitude of Rosario, and 25,000 to 30,000 cubic
+metres a second during flood at a height of six metres above
+low-water.[123] Its features bear the mark of its tropical origin.
+The tropical character is typical on the Paraguay, which is, by its
+situation in the central South-American plain, the real continuation of
+the lower Paraná. The slightness of the fall of the Paraguay, however,
+and the extent of the marshes over which it spreads in Brazil and
+Paraguay, have the effect of regulating and retarding the flood, which
+only attains its maximum at Asunción in May. The flood of the Paraguay
+extends the period of high water on the lower Paraná until the end of
+autumn. The upper Paraná has most of its basin in the tropical zone
+of summer rain. But its behaviour is also influenced by the spring
+or autumn rains of the southern part of the Brazilian tableland. Its
+floods are sudden and violent. They reach a height of sixty or seventy
+feet in the region of the confluence of the Yguassu. They sweep rapidly
+down stream, and reach the lower Paraná before the flood of the
+Paraguay, which they hold back.
+
+     [123] Observations of the sediment held in the water have been
+     made at Campana, 32 miles from the estuary. At this point
+     the Paraná only holds in suspension fine particles of clay,
+     but sand travels slowly along its bed. The weight of the
+     clay in suspension varies from 179 grammes per cubic metre
+     in March during the flood, to 42 grammes at low-water in
+     July. The stuff mostly comes from the Bermejo, which carries
+     5 kilogrammes of sediment per cubic metre. The load of the
+     Paraná is much heavier than that of the Uruguay, but far lower
+     than that of the Mississippi.
+
+From Posadas the flood-waves reach Corrientes in five days (235 miles).
+From Corrientes they reach Paraná in eight days (380 miles), travelling
+about two miles an hour. That is one-third the speed of the current, as
+the flood is retarded, and more or less absorbed, by the ramifications
+of the broader bed in which it moves.
+
+At Bajada Grande the lowest water is in September. The flood appears
+in December or January, though sometimes in October or November. The
+maximum is in March or April. The rise is rapid at first, but it
+gradually moderates, and the level of the water is raised about one
+metre per month during three months. It then sinks in corresponding
+order. The ebb is often interrupted in June, and sometimes as late
+as August, by a sudden leap upward of the curve, representing an
+ascensional movement of the water three times as rapid as that of the
+main flood (one metre in ten days). The level reached in this late
+flood is sometimes higher than that of the normal flood in April or
+May. The range of the ordinary flood-movements is from ten to sixteen
+feet. Exceptional floods rise to a height of twenty-three feet above
+the low-water mark.
+
+The curves established for the years 1908 to 1910 by the Argentine
+hydrographical service enable us to analyse the mechanism of the flood
+with a good deal of confidence. The beginning of the flood at Bajada
+Grande in October corresponds to the first flood of the upper Paraná.
+During this first phase the curve of the Bajada is parallel (thirteen
+days later) to that of Posadas. There is the same parallelism in
+November, December and January. If the summer rains are light on the
+upper Paraná, the flood is late on the lower Paraná, and the water is
+still low there in December (0.20 below the low-water mark on December
+31, 1910). At the beginning of March, before the maximum of the flood,
+the curve of Bajada Grande differs from the curve of Posadas. It is
+the time when the flood of the lower river is caused by the rise of
+the Paraguay. The secondary floods of June and July again have their
+origin in the upper Paraná, but, as they are added to the flood of
+the Paraguay on the lower river, they reach a higher level there than
+at Posadas; the difference gradually disappears as the flood of the
+Paraguay subsides. It is the addition of the late floods of the upper
+Paraná to the flood of the Paraguay that causes on the lower river the
+abnormal floods that occur there at irregular intervals (in 1825, 1833,
+1858, 1878, 1905 and 1917).
+
+Below the Bajada the height of the floods progressively declines. On
+the estuary they are no longer perceptible; variations of level are
+due entirely to the tides. In the channels of the delta of the Paraná
+the tide does not reverse the current as it does in the estuary of the
+Uruguay, but it causes a slight rise of the water; and this has been
+observed sometimes, at very low water, as far as Rosario.
+
+It is near Corpus, about forty miles above Posadas, that the upper
+Paraná escapes from the restraint of the Brazilian tableland, which
+imprisons its valley, from the falls of the Guayra, in a deep fissure
+between lofty basalt cliffs. Below Posadas the river leaves the
+region of hills and red earth. Below Corrientes it flows everywhere
+over its own alluvia. Even above Corrientes its form has surprising
+characteristics of youth. The precise survey done on its banks has
+brought to light a very distinct break of its fall above Villa
+Urquiza, about 400 miles from Buenos Aires. The fall, which from
+Corrientes onward remains between sixty and forty millimetres per
+kilometre, sinks suddenly to thirteen over a stretch of twenty-five
+miles, and then rises again to thirty to forty-five millimetres.[124]
+Below Rosario the mean descent is twelve millimetres to the kilometre,
+below San Pedro only six.
+
+     [124] The district on the right bank of the Paraná, above
+     Santa Fé and Paraná, seems to be due to a recent subsidence.
+     The river is, on the other hand, compelled to effect active
+     erosion in crossing the high lands between Santa Fé and Buenos
+     Aires. It is curious that the break or fall at Villa Urquiza
+     occurs precisely above the bend of the Paraná. A less marked
+     break has been recognized further north, in the latitude of
+     Lavalle, above the Goya bend. It seems that the diminution in
+     the excavation of the valley is due to the erosion which the
+     current effects laterally on the cliffs of the left bank.
+
+Above Corrientes the width of the main arm of the Paraná varies, as
+a rule, from 2,600 to 6,500 feet. The width of the river-plain over
+which the floods spread is still more irregular. Between Santa Fé and
+Paraná, where it is especially narrow, it is still ten miles wide.
+Lower down it gradually broadens to a width of sixty-five miles at the
+head of the estuary. The scenery is not the same in all sections of it.
+The vegetation on the islands is richer and more varied up river, and
+tropical essences (laurel-timbo) are found below the Bajada, forming
+clumps of trees covered with creepers.
+
+  [Illustration: THE PARANÁ AT CORRIENTES.
+  _Banks and islands partially fixed by vegetation._
+                                               Photograph by Widmayer.]
+
+  [Illustration: THE _BARRANCA_ AT PARANÁ (ENTRE RIOS), LEFT BANK.
+  _It is composed of clays and of beds of conchiferous terrestrial
+  limestone, which have supplied the lime-kilns for more than a century._
+                                                   Photograph by Boote.
+  PLATE XXI.                                           To face p. 244.]
+
+But the different scenes of the river region are most of all due to
+different conditions of erosion and formation. Above Rosario the
+configuration is due to floods. Each succeeding flood alters it and
+leaves some trace of itself in the topography. The beds of sand that
+it lays down are fixed by rushes and floating weeds, then by willows
+(_Salix humboldtiana_). This screen of vegetation encourages accretion,
+and the edges tend to rise higher. In the middle of the island are low,
+marshy lands. The irregularity of the alluvial deposits causes marked
+undulations in the whole region of the river, and everywhere gives rise
+to alternate beds of clay and sand. Below Rosario the river gradually
+loses its power. The islands become more stable and flatter. Clumps
+of willow and spiny _ceibos_ (_Erythrina cristagalli_) still cover
+the edges of them, and sometimes spread over the interior. But as the
+climate is now less humid, the vegetation fixes the soil less firmly,
+and the wind becomes the chief sculptor of the landscape. It heaps up
+the sand during the low-water season, and makes dunes which rise above
+the level of the greatest floods. These dunes form an unbroken line
+along the land in the southern part of Entre Rios, in the north of the
+main arm, with ridges at right angles, advancing toward the south,
+which rest upon the river clay; like the one which the Ibicuy railway
+follows across the floodable area. The cattle of the district take
+refuge on the dunes during floods. During periods of drought, on the
+other hand, they retain a quantity of water, and this is drawn from
+surface-wells at their base.
+
+The limits of the zone of the river are clearly marked on the whole
+of the lower Paraná. It is enclosed on both sides by high _barrancas_
+(cliffs), vertical in places where the main current washes their feet,
+but sloping slightly where there is only a secondary arm with little
+erosive power. The cliff is broken only at the confluences of small
+valleys, the flat, filled-up bottoms of which are on the level of the
+alluvial plain of the Paraná. The cliffs are at their highest in the
+district of Villa Paraná, where they rise in places to a height of 300
+feet. On the right bank the cliffs show a section of the upper layers
+of the Pampean clays. On the left bank there are æolian clays only at
+the top of them. Below these are Tertiary marine strata (marls and
+sandstones with beds of shells). The cliffs of the left bank stretch
+northwards, with a few breaks, as far as Corrientes, and even into
+Misiones. Their height gradually diminishes, and the Tertiary marine
+strata are replaced by granitic red sandstone.[125] On the right bank
+the height of the cliffs gradually diminishes up river. They are still
+conspicuous at the confluence of the Carcaraña, but at Santa Fé they
+rise only about thirty-four feet. North of 31° S. lat., and for some
+distance beyond Pilcomayo, the plain of the Chaco is very low, and it
+is impossible to define exactly the limit of the alluvial zone of the
+Paraná. The fine clays, grey and white, which form the soil of the
+Chaco, reach the left bank north of Corrientes, in the _esteros_ of
+Neembucu. The red sandstone hills of the Asunción district rise like an
+archipelago out of this level bed of lacustrine deposits.
+
+     [125] In the space between the frontier of Entre Rios and the
+     Rio Empedrado, south of Corrientes, the cliffs expose, above
+     the red sandstone, beds of sand and clay, fluvial alluvia
+     left by former beds of the Paraná, the traces of which can
+     be followed from the north-east to the south-west diagonally
+     across the province of Corrientes.
+
+There is no obstacle to navigation in the entire stretch from Posadas
+to the falls of the Guayra on the Paraná and the Salto Grande on the
+Yguassa. Sixteen miles below Posadas the Paraná passes through a series
+of graduated rapids for about sixty miles (1,467 kil. to 1,558 kil.
+from Buenos Aires) wrongly called the Salto de Apipé. The current then
+rises to a speed of eight knots, and the depth is three feet at low
+water. These rapids are due to beds of melaphyre, which emerge amongst
+the granitic sandstone, and the water makes its way between large rocky
+islands. At Ituzaingo (1,455 kil.) the current loses force. There is,
+however, still a rocky bottom lower down, for ninety miles, at a depth
+of five feet. Below this the rock only appears on the left bank, and in
+a few ridges near the bank, or in isolated reefs which it has been easy
+to mark with buoys.
+
+From Corrientes to La Paz the river flows from north to south at
+the feet of the Corrientes cliffs. These line the main stream
+between Corrientes and Empedrado, and for thirty-five miles south of
+Bellavista. In the latitude of Riachucho, especially about Bellavista,
+the cliffs form a series of creeks and capes, in which the west winds
+create a heavy sea that was dreaded by ships of light draught coming
+down the river. North of Bellavista, and for more than a hundred miles
+south of Goya, the main stream is separated from the cliff by a series
+of alluvial islands; behind these are lateral arms (_riachos_) into
+which pour the rivers of Corrientes. These arms were much used by the
+early navigators.
+
+Between Esquina and La Paz the main bed, which is not in touch with the
+land on either of its banks, flows in a meandering path for some seven
+miles, the scale of the bends being double that of the meandering of
+the Paraguay north of the confluence. The islands are very small, and
+are strung in a rosary at the top of each bend. The depth is sixty feet
+at the top of the bend. The shallows are in a line with the islands at
+the point where the current runs evenly again before the next curve.
+The depth here is seven, and sometimes even five feet.[126] These
+shallows change their places quickly, and it is not always the same bad
+spot that determines the maximum draught for ships that are to be used
+in this section. This migration of the shallows is very different from
+the permanence of the rocky bottom of the stretch between Corrientes
+and Posadas.
+
+     [126] In point of fact, the ridge is lower at the time of low
+     water, when the current is concentrated in the main channel,
+     so that one always finds one or two feet greater depth there
+     at low water than soundings taken at high water would lead one
+     to expect.
+
+From La Paz to Paraná the main course is outlined by the Entre Rios
+cliffs. There is no further meandering. The cliffs of hard rock offer
+far more resistance than the soft alluvia over which the river wanders
+freely. The permanence of the bed in front of the cliffs leads to
+a depth of as much as eighty feet. Only here and there a fringe of
+alluvial stuff separates the channel for a time from the cliff. These
+curves seem, as a rule, to coincide with the confluence of rivers,
+which bring a heavy load of clay from the tableland; as, does, for
+instance, the San Feliciano, north of Hernandarias. They are marked
+by shallows, in strong contrast to the great depths of the straight
+sections. The San Feliciano _paso_, which is twelve feet broad to-day,
+was only six feet broad in 1908. It appeared on Sullivan's map in
+1847.[127]
+
+     [127] A little above its actual position.
+
+Below Paraná, as far as the estuary, the careful observations that
+have been made since 1903 on the movement of the river have enabled us
+to learn some of its laws.[128] We can distinguish four sections of
+unequal length. From Paraná to Diamante the river remains in touch with
+the cliffs of the left bank. It is not straight; it describes a series
+of linked crescents of equal radius, which seem to be traces of so many
+meanders. Only one in two of the windings of the cliff is followed by
+the channel. The wandering of the river is confined within limits as
+in a fixed mould. The Paracao shallow, which for a long time prevented
+ships from reaching Santa Fé (gradually deepened by dredging from eight
+to nineteen feet between 1907 and 1911) is at the angle where two of
+these curves meet. On the right bank the secondary arms continue to
+follow the river (Paraná viejo, Riacho de Coronda).[129]
+
+     [128] In studying the variations of the bed of the Paraná it
+     is necessary to avoid comparing maps drawn at dates separated
+     by long intervals. The differences of such maps are such
+     that they do not enable us to follow the processes by which
+     the actual forms have been derived from earlier forms. The
+     analogies which they show are sometimes due, not to the
+     permanence of the topography, but to the return of a complete
+     cycle of changes, or of conditions analogous to the earlier
+     conditions.
+
+     [129] The secondary arms of the right bank, north of Santa
+     Fé, were not explored until 1870. Sullivan's map (1847) only
+     mentions the Riacho de San Jeronimo, which is visible for a
+     short distance below 20° S. lat. The right bank was the domain
+     of the Indians, and the Correntinos would not venture near it.
+     In 1870 ships began to use the San Javier arm, on which many
+     colonies arose. Further north the Paraná Mini has been used
+     since 1890 for exporting _quebracho_ timber.
+
+Below Diamante the river leaves the cliff on the left bank and slants
+across the alluvial plain to the cliff on the right bank, which it
+reaches at San Lorenzo. Over the whole of its thirty miles width it
+resumes the freedom and regularity of features which it had above La
+Paz. A comparison of the successive maps of the river shows that the
+scheme of its movements, which one would be tempted to draw up with a
+regular migration of the islands and loops down river, would not be
+accurate. The changes of the bed of the river are essentially due to
+variations in the volume of the different arms, which are constantly
+changing their size and adapting their shape to the body of water that
+flows in them. The radius of the curve of each arm is proportional
+to its volume. A long island is formed between two arms of equal
+size which both describe symmetrical curves. If the volume of one of
+them is reduced, its original curve is replaced by sinuosities of
+smaller radius, and these nibble the edges of the island and give it
+an irregular shape. If the volume increases again, the winding bed is
+abandoned and becomes a dead bed, and a larger meander begins. The
+track followed by the ships then breaks up into a series of meanders
+over a course of about eight miles and a half, and this means the
+concentration in a single channel of the greater part of the water of
+the river, and in narrower bends in the sections where the current is
+divided between several arms.
+
+From San Lorenzo to San Pedro the river flows by the cliff of the
+right bank. It is remarkably regular, and has only one slight bend:
+an exceptionally good site, on which the town of Rosario is built. At
+almost equal intervals, differing by only about ten to thirteen miles,
+the river leaves the cliff, and is separated from it by an alluvial
+strand, or by an insular zone a few miles in width.[130] Below this
+bend the current again touches the cliff and landing is easy. The
+small, older ports of the Paraná--Constitución, San Nicolas, Puerto
+Obligado and San Pedro--are built on similar sites. It does not seem
+that the islands at the foot of the cliff tend to extend downward in
+front of these ports; the points where the river reaches the cliff are
+fixed. The depth is often considerable at the foot of the cliff (138
+feet opposite Puerto Obligado). The shoals are distributed irregularly
+at the bends, where the channel moves away from the cliff. They all
+have to-day a minimum depth of twenty-one feet.[131] On the left bank
+the secondary arms sprawl over the alluvial plain for thirty-five miles
+north of the river.
+
+     [130] As between La Paz and Paraná, it seems possible to show
+     some relation between these alluvial stretches at the foot
+     of the cliff and the confluence of the small valleys of the
+     Pampean plain.
+
+     [131] The Paso Paraguayo, which has cost the Argentine
+     hydrographic service most work, did not exist at the middle of
+     the nineteenth century. It seems that the channel then kept
+     to the cliff as far as Benavidez, and was continued as far as
+     the source of the Paraná Pavon by a very pronounced buckle, of
+     which the Monriel lagoon is a scar. In 1895 the Paso was only
+     fifteen feet deep.
+
+The delta begins at San Pedro. The Paraná Guazu, or main arm, leaves
+the cliff on the right bank and passes to the Uruguayan bank opposite
+Carmelo. The Paraná de las Palmas, which branches off from it to
+the south and passes before Campana and Zarate at the foot of the
+tableland, is deep and easy to navigate, but it is closed at the bottom
+of the estuary by a six-foot bar, which makes it a sort of blind alley
+opened only above. The arms of the zone of the delta differ from those
+of the river-zone proper in the irregularity of their course. Flowing
+between long islands, they sometimes lie in straight stretches and at
+other times in meanders or almost perfect buckles. The channels of the
+southern part of the delta, near Buenos Aires, are called _caracoles_
+(snails) on account of their winding shape. The weakness of the
+current, which is held up by the tide, is seen also in the distribution
+of the greater depths; they are no longer uniformly found along the
+concave edge of the bends, but are scattered irregularly. On the Paraná
+Guazu a depth of 130 feet has been ascertained. Its minimum depth is
+twenty-two feet.
+
+  [Illustration: THE PARANÁ ABOVE THE ESTUARY.
+  _Right bank. The river has moved away from the_ barranca, _leaving at
+  its foot an alluvial plain of imperfect spiral form_.
+  PLATE XXII.                                          To face p. 250.]
+
+The study of the estuary may be taken separately from that of the
+river. It consists of three parts, unequal in size, which open with
+increasing breadth toward the Atlantic. The upper Rio de la Plata,
+above Colonia and Puntá Lara, has a width of about thirty-five miles.
+The middle Plata, twice as wide, extends to the latitude of Montevideo
+and Puntá de las Piedras. Then the outer harbour opens between
+Maldonado and Puntá Rasa. The water is still fresh in the middle
+estuary up to eighty miles below Buenos Aires.
+
+The bottom is alluvial except in the channels between Martin Garcia and
+Colonia.[132] Differently from up the river, where the channels have
+sandy bottoms, while the banks are of fine clay, the channels of the
+estuary have bottoms of mud and clay. In the outer harbour the pilots
+recognize the approach of banks by the sand which is brought up by
+the sounding-lead. The action of the waves, which is not found in the
+river, accumulates stuff of comparatively large size and weight on the
+banks.
+
+     [132] The granite which outcrops at Martin Garcia also forms
+     the platform of the English Bank in the outer harbour.
+
+In spite of the conclusions embodied in the nautical instructions,
+which describe the estuary as a theatre of rapid changes "occasioned
+by the continual deposits of sand brought down by the Paraná and the
+Uruguay,"[133] the estuary is, as a matter of fact, in a remarkable
+state of equilibrium, and there is no trace of a gradual accumulation
+of alluvia, or of important changes of channel. The shore of the
+delta north of the Paraná de las Palmas, covered with rushes which
+protect it from the attack of the waves, shows neither advance nor
+retreat. The broad lines of the hydrography of the Rio de la Plata
+are plainly indicated on Woodbine Parish's map. The English Navy map
+of 1869 (on the basis of observations in 1833, 1844 and 1856) only
+differs in detail from the present map. The stability of the channels
+is surprisingly different from the changes in the bed of the river
+in the flood-zone. The permanence of the bottom, in spite of the
+loose deposits of the estuary, is explained by the regularity of the
+currents. These currents, which determine the submarine topography of
+the Rio de la Plata and the distribution of the banks, are not of river
+origin. They are tidal currents.
+
+     [133] The water in the estuary, worked up by waves and tide,
+     contains more sediment than the water of the river.
+
+There are two groups of shoals in the estuary. The first, the Playa
+Honda, occupies the whole western part of it up to a line drawn from
+Buenos Aires to Colonia. These banks leave a narrow passage in the
+north, opposite the Uruguayan shore, and this is followed by ships
+going to Uruguay and the Paraná Guazu. The second group of shoals is
+the Ortiz Bank, triangular in shape, which rests in the north on the
+Uruguay coast below Colonia, while its point extends south-eastward to
+eighteen miles north of the Puntá de las Piedras. It keeps the zone of
+deepest water in the middle estuary to the south, near the Argentine
+shore. In the latitude of the point of the Ortiz Bank, on a line from
+Montevideo to Puntá de las Piedras, the middle estuary is separated
+from the outer harbour by a bar (_barra del Indio_) with thirty-eight
+feet of water, caused by the transverse currents which circulate from
+point to point inside the English Bank.
+
+The tide in the estuary is very irregular. The south-east winds
+increase the flow and retard the ebb. When they are blowing, it often
+happens that the level of the water in the upper estuary keeps up from
+one tide to the next, sometimes for several days. The tide, which
+is slight at Montevideo, is greater at the bottom of the harbour on
+the Barra del Indio, sometimes rising nearly forty inches there. From
+there it advances with difficulty northward, over the Ortiz Bank, along
+the Uruguayan shore, whereas it passes freely into the deeper zone on
+the Argentine side.[134] At Buenos Aires it still has a depth of thirty
+inches. From there it advances northward by the Martin Garcia channels
+beyond the Playa Honda. The channel of the Pozos del Barca Grande,
+which crosses the Playa Honda bank from north to south, parallel to the
+edge of the delta, is oriented in conformity with the tidal currents
+and maintained by them. It is not attached to the river, and it is
+separated from the mouths of the Paraná de las Palmas or the Paraná
+Mini by shallows which are navigable only to small boats. The _Rias_
+of the Uruguay, where the tide raises the water twelve inches, forms
+a sort of reservoir which, at the ebb, feeds a strong current round
+Martin Garcia and sweeps the channels there.
+
+     [134] The current at high tide is stronger than at low tide,
+     and it has shifted to the north-east the streams which find an
+     outlet on this side.
+
+The work done for the improvement of the estuary includes the deepening
+to thirty feet of the Barra del Indio and the dredging of a straight
+channel from that point to Buenos Aires. Steamers of large tonnage
+going up the Paraná leave this channel twenty-six miles east of Buenos
+Aires, and turn north in order to pass east of Martin Garcia, and
+enter the river by the Paraná Guazu or the Paraná Bravo. Since 1901
+the Argentine Government has considered a plan of opening a direct
+route from Buenos Aires to the Paraná de las Palmas, either by cutting
+an artificial canal at the foot of the cliffs, across the Tigre
+archipelago, or by using the channel of the Pozos del Barca Grande and
+cutting the narrow bar which closes the Paraná de las Palmas below. If
+this were done, the ports of the Paraná de las Palmas would have direct
+access to the sea. Moreover, the new route from the Paraná to the
+Atlantic would be entirely within Argentine territory, out of range of
+the Uruguayan shore, and Buenos Aires would become a necessary port of
+call both on departure and return.
+
+Above the estuary, the work for the improvement of the Paraná began
+in 1904 and 1905. Since 1910 the material dredged from the bed of the
+river has risen to 3,500,000 cubic metres a year on the average. The
+experience gained in the course of this work has enabled the Argentine
+hydrographic service to adjust its methods to the incomparable force
+of the river. It is impossible to maintain a general rectification of
+the bed and the banks, as is possible with European rivers. The only
+thing to do is to submit quietly to the plan which the river sketches
+for itself, and be content to deepen the difficult passages on the
+line of the main arm. Suction dredges, which work easily in the sand,
+attack each ridge or _paso_ from below, making a channel into which
+the waters flow, so that it tends to enlarge itself up stream. The
+dredges are shifted from bank to bank according as the soundings tell
+of the formation of fresh obstacles to navigation. They were at first
+concentrated below Rosario, where the Argentine Government had to carry
+out certain engagements contracted with the Port Company; then they
+were scattered as far up as Santa Fé. The actual equipment suffices to
+carry out the programme that had been drawn up--to maintain a depth of
+twenty-one feet as far as Rosario and of nineteen feet as far as Santa
+Fé.
+
+  [Illustration: MAP VII.--ESTUARY OF THE RIO DE LA PLATA.
+  _The channels of the estuary are parallel to the direction of the
+  tidal currents, which account for their depth. Those which cross the
+  shoals of the Playa Honda, at the bottom of the estuary, finish as
+  no-thoroughfares, and do not give access to the southern arms of the
+  river. From Buenos Aires ships going up the river have to go round by
+  Martin Garcia and the mouths of the Paraná Guazu._
+                                                       To face p. 254.]
+
+As regards the section above Santa Fé, the engineer Repossini advises
+that, instead of adopting a programme of expensive dredging with
+uncertain results, they should first think of adjusting navigation to
+the natural conditions, and they are such as would be considered very
+favourable in Europe. The hydrographic service would, however, still
+have two functions: in the first place, the topographical study of the
+river and the constant placing of buoys, and, in the second place, the
+observation of its behaviour and anticipation of variations of level.
+The utility of the work of foreseeing floods, which has been carried on
+since 1907, has been abundantly proved. It published a daily bulletin
+of forecasts, based upon observation of the pluviometric scales of
+the upper river, which is equally valuable to the navigators and to
+breeders in the floodable area. It enables the breeders to get their
+cattle into safety before the floods come. On the other hand, the ship
+can, thanks to the bulletin, foretell what depth of water it will find
+at critical passages, and calculate exactly the load it can carry, and
+so complete its cargo lower down. The service of forecast of floods
+has morally improved navigation on the Paraná by suppressing every
+possible pretext for wilful stranding, which had become a current form
+of speculation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Nothing is more varied than the fleet which now serves the Paraná. It
+includes tramps, and long, slim European ships, which load up with
+cereals and meat; large river boats, luxurious and light; barges
+and tugs, lighters and schooners, which have compensation for their
+slowness in their cheapness.
+
+As regards navigation, the river is now divided into three sections.
+Maritime navigation ascends as far as Santa Fé. At Rosario and Santa Fé
+it goes right to the heart of the zone of cereals and to the fringe of
+the forest area. The upper section, between Rosario and Santa Fé, is
+less safe than the lower section, and this is reflected in the cost of
+freightage from Santa Fé.
+
+The ports of the lower Paraná, between Santa Fé and Buenos Aires,
+may be classed in three categories. The ports of the first group
+are built on low land that is liable to be flooded. Every year the
+floods threaten their traffic. That is the character of Colastiné,
+east of Santa Fé, which specializes in shipping _quebracho_ timber,
+or Ibicuy, on the Paraná Pavon, in the south of the province of Entre
+Rios, which, however, is protected by excellent works. The small ports
+of the _barranca_ of the southern bank, on the main river and on the
+Paraná de las Palmas, form a second group. They ship meat (Campana and
+Zarate) and cereals (San Nicolas and Villa Constitución), and they are
+admirably adapted for this by their natural situation. Steamers come
+right up to the cliff without any need of special works on the shore.
+The sacks of wheat are let into the ships down sloping gangways from
+stores excavated in the cliff or from wagons. None of these ports are
+equipped for receiving imports. The third group comprises ports with
+complete apparatus for both export and import. The chief of these is
+Rosario. It was the increase of imports between 1850 and 1860 that
+stimulated its early progress. To-day the tonnage of the goods unloaded
+at Rosario is nearly one-half the tonnage of the cereals shipped there.
+Yet, in spite of appearances, it is the imports that account mainly
+for the busy life of its quays. The port company does the unloading
+itself, as well as the handling and storing of the goods imported, but
+it is content to receive dues on all exports within the area for which
+it has a monopoly. Only a small part of the cereals exported uses its
+elevators. A deep-water port, equipped like that at Rosario for import
+and export, has just been constructed at Santa Fé. Already it competes
+with Colastiné for the export of _quebracho_. Its import trade is still
+small, as such trade requires large capital and a whole network of
+relations with the adjoining country, and that is not the work of a day.
+
+The second section of the river stretches from Santa Fé to Corrientes,
+and is continued up the Paraguay. The transport of _quebracho_ timber
+and tannic acid is the chief item of its trade. The maximum draught
+of the vessels it admits at normal low water is six feet. Some of the
+ports on the left bank (Esquina, Goya) and all the ports on the right
+bank (Reconquista, Barranqueras, etc.) are at some distance from the
+main bed, or lateral arms. The Chaco works have generally a flotilla
+of steamers and barges. It is the exporters of timber and extract
+of _quebracho_ to Europe who most strongly demand the deepening of
+the bed of the Paraná above Santa Fé. Sailing ships share with the
+river steamers the transport of the products of the Paraguay and of
+Corrientes (hides, tobacco and _maté_). The transport of oranges alone
+from San Antonio, Villeta, Pilar and Humaïta represents an item of tens
+of thousands of tons.
+
+The third section of the river stretches from Corrientes to Posadas,
+and beyond. Sailing ships have disappeared from this section, as they
+cannot make the Apipé rapids. Steamers of four and a-half feet draught
+and 150 tons are now used on it, but they cannot proceed at low water.
+They provide a direct service between Buenos Aires and Posadas, though
+the service is not very economical, because it does not permit them to
+use to the full the transport-capacity of the river below Corrientes.
+Most of the goods for Posadas are, therefore, trans-shipped at
+Ituzaingo, below the rapids, or at Corrientes. The steamboat companies
+which serve Posadas are obliged, in order to secure the economical
+transport of goods shipped on the upper Paraná, to maintain lines which
+go up the Paraguay as far as Asunción, and take on at Corrientes the
+goods that come from Posadas. Higher up, the falls of the Guayra and
+the Yguassu set an impassable limit to the enterprise of Argentine
+vessels. Boats on the stretch above Yguassu on the Paraná feed the
+railways of the Brazilian tableland. The traffic of the upper Paraná
+consists chiefly of _maté_ from Misiones and cedar-planks from the
+Posadas saw-mills. Rafts of timber are stopped at Posadas and rarely
+follow the river further.
+
+The Argentine statistics of navigation are obscure. They confuse under
+one heading the river-traffic between Posadas and Brazilian territory,
+or between Corrientes and the Paraguay, and the exports of the Pampean
+region to Europe. It is difficult to get from them an idea of the real
+traffic, or to distinguish the tonnage loaded or unloaded at each port
+from that which merely touches its quays in ships going up or coming
+down the river. They credit a score of ports with a total tonnage of
+(entries and clearances together) more than 500,000 tons.
+
+At all events, they do enable us to distinguish between ports
+exclusively devoted to river traffic and those with direct relations
+to oversea ports. Nearly all the boats destined for the Paraná touch
+at Buenos Aires, which remains the chief importing centre, on the way
+up, and unload there. They then go empty to Rosario, San Nicolas, or
+Santa Fé to take on a full cargo of cereals or timber, and set out down
+the Paraná for Europe without calling at Buenos Aires. Clearances for
+interior navigation at the port of Buenos Aires are far more numerous
+than entries. From 1912 to 1914 Buenos Aires received on the average,
+coming from interior ports, 1,750,000 tons, of which 1,635,000 were
+cargo. It cleared for the same ports ships totalling 3,275,000 tons, of
+which 1,580,000 were in ballast. The latter figure fairly represents
+the tonnage of sea-going ships sent up river empty after discharging on
+the quays of Buenos Aires. At Rosario, San Nicolas and San Pedro, on
+the other hand, the tonnage of clearances for Argentine ports is much
+less than the tonnage of entries.[135] The total movement of goods at
+the port of Rosario is 410,000 tons entries and 375,000 tons clearances
+for interior navigation, and 1,100,000 tons entries and 1,824,000 tons
+clearances for navigation abroad.
+
+     [135] Movement of internal navigation at Rosario (average
+     1912-1914): entries, 1,108,000 tons, of which 690,000 in
+     ballast; clearances, 580,000 tons. At San Nicolas: entries,
+     400,000 tons, of which 440,000 in ballast; clearances, 4,000
+     tons. The difference between the entries and the clearances
+     represents ships starting straight for Europe.
+
+According to Repossini's calculations the tonnage of exports on the
+lower Paraná south of Santa Fé rose in 1910 to 4,000,000 or 4,500,000.
+The imports, almost entirely confined to Rosario, were about a fourth
+of this figure. For the middle and upper Paraná, Repossini estimated
+the volume of the traffic at 800,000 tons, of which _quebracho_ was
+two-fifths.
+
+The navigation of the Paraná is one of the chief sources of the
+prosperity of Buenos Aires. Even if the development of the import
+trade at Rosario or Santa Fé is partly at the expense of the capital,
+and the boats laden with cereals do not stop at its quays, still the
+coasting traffic on the river is in great part meant for Buenos Aires.
+In returning, rather than go empty, the boats take cargoes of European
+products bought from the Buenos Aires importers. By means of the Paraná
+the import-trade sphere of influence of Buenos Aires reaches beyond the
+frontiers of Argentina, as far as Paraguay and part of Brazil. Buenos
+Aires is, moreover, the main centre for equipping the steamboats of the
+river. Its capital dominates the Paraná. Lastly, the Paraná supplies it
+with an export freight which must not be overlooked. It is at Buenos
+Aires that the hides, tobacco and timber and extracts of _quebracho_
+for oversea markets, shipped on schooners in the upper reaches of the
+river which are impassable for steamers, are trans-shipped for abroad.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE POPULATION
+
+     The distribution of the population--The streams of emigration
+     to the interior--Seasonal migrations--The historic towns--The
+     towns of the Pampean region--Buenos Aires.
+
+
+A large-scale chart of the mean density of the population for each
+province--like those which were published in the latest Argentine
+Census-reports--has no geographical value for the west and north-west,
+where oases of slight extent are separated by vast desolate stretches,
+deserted because of the lack of water. In the Pampean region, on the
+other hand, the population is distributed in a very regular manner, and
+the mean densities calculated fairly represent the facts.
+
+To the several types of exploitation, of which we have studied the
+distribution on the Pampa, there correspond unequal densities of
+population. Cattle-breeding, for instance, requires only a thin
+population. The early pastoral colonization of the plain on the west
+of the Salado was carried out, between 1880 and 1890, with a very
+small number of workers. A large ranch of 400 square kilometres on the
+northern edge of the Pampa (the Tostado ranch) only employs about a
+hundred men, or one for four square kilometres. The density increases
+appreciably for sheep-breeding on the _pastos tiernos_ of Buenos Aires
+province, where a ranch of a hundred square kilometres, devoted to
+producing wool, with fifty or sixty shepherds, sustains at least 200
+persons, or two to the square kilometre.[136] The density is not
+appreciably greater in the area of wheat-growing on a large scale,
+where the extent cultivated by one family reaches, including fallow,
+200 hectares. But it may, even apart from the urban population, be more
+than ten to the square kilometre in the maize belt.
+
+     [136] The density is twenty times less in the ranches which
+     use the meagre pastures of the Rio Negro.
+
+The growth of the population of Argentina can be followed closely
+from the middle of the eighteenth century. A Census taken in 1774
+gives the Buenos Aires district within the first line of forts 6,000
+inhabitants. At the end of the eighteenth century (Census of 1797,
+quoted by D'Azara) the population of the province of Buenos Aires,
+without the town, was a little over 30,000 souls, the zone occupied
+having been extended in the meantime, at least in part, as far as the
+Salado. Woodbine Parish estimates the population at 80,000 in 1824, at
+the time when the expansion southward, beyond the Salado, as far as the
+Sierra de Tandil, began. It doubled between 1824 and 1855. The northern
+departments then counted 45,000 inhabitants, the western 58,000 and the
+southern 63,000. The density was still a little greater in the north,
+along the road to Peru, but the advance of sheep-rearing in the south
+was beginning to change the centre of gravity of colonization. The
+first regular Census of the Argentine Republic in 1869 showed a still
+more rapid advance. The population of the Buenos Aires province had
+grown to 315,000 inhabitants. The increase was greatest in the west,
+where tillage began to extend round Chivilcoy, beyond the pastoral
+area, and in the south, where sheep-farms multiplied. The population of
+the southern departments more than doubled in fourteen years (137,000
+inhabitants to 70,000 square kilometres in occupation, or two to the
+square kilometre).
+
+However, the Pampean region--Buenos Aires (including the capital),
+Santa Fé, and the southern part of Córdoba--still had a smaller
+population than that of the northern and north-western provinces:
+626,000 as compared with 813,000. The Mesopotamian provinces had then
+263,000 inhabitants.
+
+The proportion was reversed twenty-five years later at the 1895 Census.
+The population of the Pampas had increased threefold, and was more than
+a half of the entire population of the country. That of the western and
+north-western provinces was about a third of the whole, and had only
+increased by fifty per cent.
+
+If one considers in detail the distribution of the population of the
+Pampean plain in 1895, one sees that beyond the suburbs of Buenos Aires
+the area of greatest density--five to eight per square kilometre--was
+in the north-west, between San Andres de Giles and Pergamino, a
+district of advanced methods, where the cultivation of maize was
+beginning to occupy a good part of the land. The population was
+confined to the west of the preceding zone, in the agricultural area of
+Junin, Chacabuco and Chivilcoy. This area, where maize and wheat were
+next each other, already embraced Viente Cinco de Mayo (five to the
+square kilometre) on the west and Nueve de Julio (2.5). In the south
+of Buenos Aires, the departments of the left bank of the Salado, which
+were entirely given up to breeding, but long colonized, had a density
+of three to five per square kilometre. The region lying between the
+lower Salado and the Sierra de Tandil, a sheep-breeding area, then
+giving good returns but of recent colonization, had not more than
+three. The density falls rapidly as one goes westward. It sinks to less
+than one in the north-west and west of the Buenos Aires province, in
+the area where the cattle-breeders from the east had settled. At Santa
+Fé, the region of the colonies, at the level both of Rosario and Santa
+Fé, had five inhabitants per square kilometre. But beyond the Córdoba
+frontier the density falls to two in the San Justo department, and
+still less further south, at Marcos Juarez, Union and General Lopez.
+
+  [Illustration: THE OLDER INDUSTRIES OF THE PAMPA: DRYING HIDES.
+                        Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.]
+
+  [Illustration: DRYING SALT MEAT.
+                         Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.
+  PLATE XXIII.                                         To face p. 262.]
+
+In 1914 the density was more than fifteen in the whole of the maize
+area in the Buenos Aires and Santa Fé provinces, and it approached
+this figure in the departments of the old agricultural colonies on the
+middle Salado. In the region of the lucerne farms it was three to five,
+except in the south-east (departments of Veinte Cinco de Mayo, Nueve
+de Julio and Bolivia), where it rose, thanks to the co-existence of
+ranches and of wheat and maize. It sank to between two and three in the
+wheat area in the south and south-east of Buenos Aires. At Santa Fé the
+district of the colonies had seven to the square kilometre.
+
+The growth of the population is partly explained by immigration
+from Europe. Foreigners were, in 1914, 30 per cent. of the total
+population.[137] The proportion of foreigners to the total population
+is one of the indications by which we can best follow the advance
+of colonization. As soon as it relaxes in any region, the number of
+immigrants diminishes. (The children born of foreign colonists in
+Argentina are considered indigenous in Argentine statistics.) In 1869
+the proportion of foreigners rose to 417 per 1,000 in the province
+of Buenos Aires (without the capital). This was the great period
+of pastoral colonization and the development of sheep-breeding. It
+was then only 156 per 1,000 at Santa Fé. In 1895 the proportion of
+foreigners sank to 309 per 1,000 at Buenos Aires, but rose to 419 at
+Santa Fé, where the date almost marks the end of the great period of
+agricultural colonization. In 1914 the proportion of foreigners at
+Buenos Aires rose to 340 per 1,000 (development of the maize region and
+the southern wheat area). It sank at Santa Fé (350 per 1,000), in spite
+of considerable immigration in the southern maize-growing departments.
+At the same time there was a great influx of foreign population in the
+province of Córdoba (200 per 1,000) and in the area of the Central
+Pampa (360 per 1,000).[138]
+
+     [137] All Europeans, except a few tens of thousands of
+     Bolivians in the Salta and Jujuy provinces, a few thousand
+     Brazilians in Misiones, and a few thousand Chileans at Neuquen.
+
+     [138] I have referred elsewhere to the magnitude of the stream
+     of European immigration at Mendoza. In Patagonia (territory
+     of the Rio Negro, the Neuquen, the Chubut, the Santa Cruz,
+     and Tierra del Fuego, of which the total population is only
+     104,000) sheep-breeding has attracted a considerable number of
+     immigrants (428 foreigners per 1000 in 1914).
+
+The recent enumerations also enable us to follow the displacements of
+the indigenous population on Argentine territory and the part this
+has had in colonization. Outside the Pampean region the parts of the
+country which have proved centres of attraction for the Argentine
+population are the sugar provinces of Tucumán and Jujuy and the
+province of Mendoza. In 1895 Tucumán had 40,000 inhabitants who had
+been born in other provinces, Jujuy 15,000 and Mendoza 19,000. The
+attraction of Tucumán was mainly felt in the adjoining province of
+Santiago (12,000 immigrants) and Catamarca (12,000). At Mendoza the
+immigrants came mainly from San Juan (7,000) and San Luis (3,000).
+The attraction of the timber region is more difficult to estimate,
+because most of the _obrajes_ are in the province of Santiago, which
+found the workers itself, and the enumerations have not taken into
+account displacements within each province. Nevertheless, immigration
+into the land of the _quebracho Chaqueño_, along the Paraná, can be
+recognised from 1895 onward. It was maintained by the Corrientes
+province. Santa Fé has 10,000 immigrants from Corrientes, of whom 6,500
+are in the forestry departments of Reconquista and Vera. The Chaco
+region maintains 2,000 Corrientes wood-cutters and several hundred
+from Santiago and Salta. Corrientes has also sent 5,000 emigrants to
+Misiones.
+
+In the Pampean region the population of Buenos Aires in 1895 included
+very few who came from other provinces. The population of Santa Fé was
+more mixed. The attraction of the agricultural colonies had brought
+65,000 Argentine immigrants. They came mainly from the left bank of
+the Paraná and Córdoba. The immigrants from Córdoba are localized
+along the railway from Rosario to Córdoba, in the Belgrano and Iriondo
+departments and the town of Rosario. The migration of the Santa Fé
+colonists to the new lands in the west had scarcely begun at that time.
+They were still only 3,000 in the Buenos Aires province, and 5,000 at
+Córdoba; most of them were in departments adjacent to the old colony
+area. The colonization of Córdoba began simultaneously in the east,
+toward Santa Fé, and in the south-west, in the Rio Cuarto department,
+to which the breeders from San Luis went. Similarly, the Argentine
+population of the Central Pampa includes elements from the east as
+well as European colonists and elements from the north-west (10,000
+immigrants from the Buenos Aires province, 3,000 from San Luis).
+
+The 1914 Census has less complete details in regard to interior
+immigration than its predecessor. The migrations had not ceased.
+The attraction of Tucumán and Mendoza had, in fact, decreased. The
+province of Tucumán had 55,000 Argentine immigrants, the province of
+Jujuy 15,000, the province of Mendoza 34,000. The provinces of Mendoza
+and Corrientes remained nuclei of considerable immigration (38,000
+and 63,000 immigrants). At Santa Fé the number of emigrants who left
+the province to settle at Córdoba and in the remainder of the Pampean
+region rose from 14,000 to 87,000. The Patagonian territory also had a
+large excess of immigrants from other provinces.
+
+Periodic migrations with no definitive change of residence are not
+given in the official statistics. The importance of these migrations in
+northern Argentina has been noted in the chapters we devoted to Tucumán
+and the forestry industry. They occur also in the Pampean region,
+where they are due chiefly to the need of labour for the harvest and
+the threshing of wheat and flax, and for reaping the maize. Miatello
+has given us a detailed analysis of the phenomenon for the province
+of Santa Fé in 1904. The period when the wheat and flax growers need
+help is from November to February. It begins in March for the maize
+farmers, and lasts so much longer when the harvest is good. The
+temporary immigrants come partly from Europe. Not only is the stream
+of immigration to Argentina fuller during the months which precede the
+harvests, while the stream of re-emigration to Europe is greatest in
+the autumn, but it is not a rare thing for Italians to go every year
+to Argentina merely to stay there during the harvest, when wages are
+high. This seasonal immigration from Italy is of long standing; it is
+mentioned by Daireaux in 1889. These foreigners, however, are only
+part of the adventurous crowd enlisted for the harvests on the Pampean
+plain. Seasonal migration is everywhere a national practice. The labour
+employed in reaping the maize includes elements borrowed from the towns
+near the maize belt. But all the provinces round the Pampean region
+send their contingent of temporary immigrants. Some even come from the
+valley of the Rio Negro at Bahía Blanca, from San Luis, and even from
+Mendoza to the Central Pampa and the Córdoba province.
+
+The oldest, and still the largest, stream is that which comes from the
+Santiago province. D'Orbigny notices in 1827 the temporary streaming
+of Santiagueños to the coast. In that year slow progress was made with
+the wheat-harvest of Buenos Aires because of the shortage of labour.
+"The forced levies for the army prevented the Santiagueños from going
+to hire themselves, as was their custom, in fear lest they should be
+compelled to serve."[139]
+
+     [139] D'Orbigny, _Voyage dans l'Amérique méridionale_, vol. i.
+     p. 528.
+
+Temporary emigration began, no doubt, with the journeys which
+brought the northerners to Buenos Aires as drivers of convoys of
+wagons. Santiagueños were numerous amongst these _troperos_. Lorenzo
+Fazio collected reminiscences of these journeys in the land of the
+_bañados_.[140] They go back to the first quarter of the nineteenth
+century, the period before the diversion of the Rio Dulce and the ruin
+of Salavina and Atamisqui. "My father," said one of his informants,
+"drove wagons of wheat to Córdoba, and sometimes to Buenos Aires,
+where he sold them and bought goods-stuffs in exchange. He bought the
+wheat at Loreto, Atamisqui or Salavina. It was a year before he got
+back, because it was necessary to wait for the rain and the growth of
+the vegetation, otherwise his animals would have died of thirst or
+hunger on the road." The journeys of the _troperos_ meant a long spell
+of idleness in the Pampean region, precisely at the harvest season.
+Naturally, they would lend a hand in it.
+
+     [140] Lorenzo Fazio, _Memoria descriptiva de la provincia de
+     Santiago del Estero_ (Buenos Aires, 1889).
+
+The temporary emigration of the Santiagueños continued throughout the
+nineteenth century. It was maintained even during the disturbances
+under the government of Rosas, which almost entirely put an end to
+commercial relations between Buenos Aires and the northern provinces.
+When Galvez passed through the villages on the Rio Dulce he noticed
+that there were few men in them. They had scattered over the roads or
+were, as he says, _andariegos_. Only the women remained. The province
+of Buenos Aires received the Santiagueños in crowds, offering their
+services. Chivilcoy and the whole region of the _chacras_ of maize and
+wheat received their caravans for the harvest, and some were kept for
+the sowing. Even the ranchers took advantage of this reinforcement,
+and hired the men for marking. In the autumn they went back with their
+_tropillas_, much dreaded by the breeders whose land they crossed,
+stealing any horses that were not well guarded.
+
+The province of Santa Fé, especially in the agricultural departments
+of the north-west, is now the chief theatre in the Pampean region
+for the immigration of the Santiagueños. It does not always come by
+rail, but has to some extent preserved its primitive and picturesque
+features. The immigrants arrive in troops on mules and horses, and
+scatter in November over the colonies.
+
+The population of Argentina has also felt the attraction of the urban
+centres. The growth of the towns is due to both foreign and national
+immigration. The development of urban life, which is one of the
+characteristic features of modern Argentina, is a recent phenomenon.
+There was no indication of its coming in the eighteenth century.
+D'Azara was, on the contrary, struck by the absence of communal life
+(_pueblos unidos_). The scattering of the population was a result
+of the predominance of breeding. "If these people found profit in
+agriculture, one would see them gather together in villages, instead
+of the whole population being dispersed in ranches."[141] It is
+this scattering of the population rather than an absolute numerical
+inferiority--the solitude, "the desert, the universal horizon that
+forced itself into the very entrails of the land"[142]--that moulded
+the fiery soul of the _gaucho_.
+
+     [141] F. de Azara, _Memorias sobre el estado rural del río de
+     la Plata en 1801_, p. 10.
+
+     [142] Sarmiento, _El Facundo_, p. 19.
+
+  [Illustration: A HERD OF CREOLE CATTLE.
+                                               Photograph by Widmayer.]
+
+  [Illustration: A HERD OF DURHAM CATTLE.
+                         Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.
+  PLATE XXIV.                                          To face p. 268.]
+
+The primitive urban sites were all either on the river or on the
+historic roads to Chile and Peru. The only towns of the Paraná region
+at the end of the eighteenth century were Buenos Aires, Santa Fé and
+Corrientes. As to towns in the interior, Helms's journey in 1778
+gives us some idea of their size. Córdoba, at the crossing of the
+Peru road and the tracks to the province of La Rioja, had then 1,500
+white inhabitants and 4,000 blacks. As it was near the Sierra, which
+provided granite and lime, it had some semblance of architecture, and
+had paved streets, which struck even the traveller from Buenos Aires.
+The attraction of its schools was felt over a wide area. We still have
+a list of students from Paraguay who studied at Córdoba University in
+the eighteenth century.[143] Tucumán and Salta, especially Salta, also
+were busy centres. Salta had 600 Spanish families and 9,000 inhabitants
+in all, and its influence extended as far as Peru and Chile. Jujuy,
+on the other hand, was a very small town. Helms mentions the decay of
+Santiago del Estero. The trade which had once flourished there had, he
+says, gone in a different direction. The prosperity of Santiago was, as
+a matter of fact, connected with traffic on the direct route from Santa
+Fé to Tucumán, which ceased at the close of the eighteenth century.
+Santa Fé also was a decaying town at the close of the eighteenth
+century, and would remain such until the middle of the nineteenth. Its
+distress was due, not merely to the suspension of its direct trade
+with Peru, but also to the decay and isolation of Paraguay, which had
+provided most of its trade and for which it acted as intermediary with
+the Andean provinces.
+
+     [143] Published by the _Revista del Instituto Paraguayo_
+     (vol. iv. p. 334).
+
+The great development of urban life in Argentina dates from the time
+of the colonization of the Pampean region. The ratio of the urban
+population has risen considerably during the last twenty-five years.
+In 1895, 113 centres with more than 2,000 inhabitants comprised 37 per
+cent. of the total population of Argentina; in 1914 the number of urban
+centres was 322, and they comprised 53 per cent. of the population.
+The population of towns with 5,000 to 20,000 inhabitants has increased
+threefold in twenty years, rising from 312,000 in 1895 to 977,000 in
+1914. Large new towns like Rosario and Bahía Blanca were created. The
+relative sizes of the older towns changed rapidly. Tucumán and Mendoza
+(121,000 and 92,000 inhabitants) shot beyond Santiago and Salta (22,000
+and 28,000 inhabitants). The towns of the north-west, Catamarca and
+Rioja, are, on the other hand, scarcely developed.
+
+When one examines a chart of the urban population of the Pampean
+region, one finds that colonization has led to the creation in it of
+ten chief centres, of from 15,000 to 25,000 inhabitants, and some fifty
+secondary centres, of from 5,000 to 12,000 inhabitants, which all
+have a distinctly urban character. This association of urban centres
+and a scattered agricultural or pastoral population is one of the
+original features of the way in which the Pampa was peopled. There is
+no village, or purely rural group. The distribution of these centres
+on the plain is fairly regular. They are a little closer together in
+the districts near the Paraná, to the north of Buenos Aires, where
+the population is older, and where the density, even of the rural
+population, is at its highest. The territory of the Pampa is divided
+between the spheres of influence of these various centres. Their radius
+is as low as ten miles in the north-west, and is about twenty miles in
+the south of Buenos Aires and twenty-five in the extreme west.
+
+A secondary railway nucleus has generally settled the sites of them
+(San Francisco-Pergamino, Junin). Their population comprises all the
+workers needed for the flow of the economic life of the Pampa: agents
+for the exporters of cereals, merchants who supply the colonies
+with imported goods--especially agricultural machinery--bankers and
+insurance companies, surveyors and lawyers. Those which have the
+best service of trains have a certain amount of industry--mills and
+breweries--the products of which are absorbed locally. These towns
+derive all the elements of their life from the Pampean region itself,
+and have no direct relations either with foreign markets or with other
+parts of Argentina.[144]
+
+     [144] Only two of them, Villa Mercedes and Villa Maria, are on
+     the edge of the Pampa. We have seen elsewhere the part which
+     the extensive breeding of the north-west plays in the business
+     of the Villa Mercedes cattle-market. Villa Maria also derives
+     some advantage from its nearness to the scrub. Its limekilns
+     receive limestone from the Sierra de Córdoba, but they get
+     their fuel locally, from the men who clear the scrub.
+
+But the towns of the Pampa which have grown most rapidly are the ports.
+Rosario rose from 23,000 inhabitants in 1869 to 91,000 in 1895 and to
+245,000 in 1914; Bahía Blanca from 9,000 in 1895 to 62,000 in 1914. The
+actual population of the Pampa ports is not at all in proportion to the
+part which each plays in the export of Pampean products:--
+
+  _Export of Cereals in thousands of tons._ (Average for 1913-1915)
+     Buenos      Bahía       San  Nicolas.       La   Santa
+     Aires.    Blanca.  Rosario.             Plata.     Fé.
+      2,716      2,051     1,075       651      459     278
+                     Population in 1914.
+    245,000  1,575,000    62,000    19,000  137,000  64,000
+
+Some centres, such as Campana, Zarate, San Pedro or San Nicolas, which
+load up meat or grain in great quantities, have nevertheless remained
+small towns. Neither the trade in meat nor that in cereals is enough of
+itself to sustain a busy urban life. In point of fact, the growth of
+the Pampa ports is mainly connected with their function as importing
+ports and markets of capital. The close dependence of Bahía Blanca upon
+Buenos Aires in both these respects seems to forbid it all hope of ever
+becoming the equal of Rosario. The prosperity of Rosario was founded
+during the time when Buenos Aires was isolated, between 1853 and 1860;
+this enabled them to organize an import trade there and to accumulate a
+nucleus of independent capital.[145]
+
+     [145] Buenos Aires and Rosario alone have independent grain
+     markets, though it is differently organized in each case. At
+     Buenos Aires the exporters have entered into direct relations
+     with the producers and eliminated intermediaries. At Rosario
+     they have to use the services of a strong body of agents.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The development of Buenos Aires must be studied separately. It does
+not merely reflect the success of the colonization of the Pampa; it is
+a phenomenon of a national order. The attraction of Buenos Aires has
+been felt throughout the whole land. In 1895, of a total population
+of Argentine birth of 318,000 souls, more than a half--167,000--were
+born in the provinces.[146] The way in which the prosperity of Buenos
+Aires is bound up, not only with that of the adjacent territory but
+with that of the whole country, is seen in the stability of the figure
+representing the number of the inhabitants who have come from foreign
+lands. While the proportion of foreigners in each of the provinces
+varies from one census to another, according to the displacements of
+the stream of colonization, it remains almost the same at Buenos Aires:
+496 per 1,000 in 1869, 520 in 1895, 493 in 1914.
+
+     [146] The 1914 Census does not give reliable details on this
+     point.
+
+The population of the city of Buenos Aires was estimated by Helms
+in 1788 to be between 24,000 and 30,000. D'Azara put it at 40,000
+in 1799. The Revolution did not interrupt its growth. According to
+the estimate of Woodbine Parish the city had 81,000 inhabitants in
+1824. On the other hand, the Rosas Government involved a period of
+stagnation (90,000 inhabitants in 1855). But after 1855 Buenos Aires
+resumed its progress, even before the political unity of Argentina was
+re-established, and has never since relaxed. Its population has doubled
+almost regularly at intervals of fifteen years: 177,000 in 1869,
+433,000 in 1887, 663,000 in 1895, and 1,575,000 in 1914. The latter
+figure, in fact, is inadequate. Greater Buenos Aires, including the
+outlying parts, has really 1,990,000 inhabitants.
+
+The site on which the city is built is a regular plateau, sixty-five
+feet above sea level, cut by flat-bottomed, marshy valleys. The
+Riachuelo, at the mouth of one of these valleys, provided Buenos Aires
+with its first port. The low and badly drained lands of the valleys are
+occupied by the poorest quarters. Their sides, the _barrancas_, bear
+the aristocratic residences, and the gardeners have been able to use
+the sites to great advantage in their plans.
+
+As a whole, the growth of Buenos Aires presents the same feature of
+regularity, on account of the uniformity of the soil, as the spread
+of colonization over the plain of the Pampas. The city is distributed
+in concentric zones, and it is thus a model on a small scale of the
+distribution of the various types of exploitation on the Pampa which
+surrounds it. The central nucleus, the business quarter, contains
+not only the offices, but the warehouses of imported goods. Round
+this centre, with a radius of one to three miles, are the residential
+quarters in which the density is greatest (250 to 350 to the hectare).
+Beyond this the density sinks to less than 200 per hectare and less
+than fifty on the outskirts. The central quarters developed the maximum
+density after 1900. Those of the first outer zone have gained greatly
+between 1904 and 1909. Since the latter date, the progress of these
+quarters has been arrested in turn, and the recent growth is mainly in
+the remote working-class suburbs in the south and on the bank of the
+Riachuelo.
+
+Buenos Aires has preserved in its central district, and reproduces
+in all its outer districts, the primitive draught-board plan of a
+Spanish colonial city. This plan is not suited to its needs to-day.
+The rapid growth of the city and its expansion--the mean density is
+not more than fifty-four inhabitants to the hectare, as against 360 at
+Paris--complicate the problem of transport. At the present time the
+city is considering plans for reconstructing its thoroughfares and
+making diagonal streets, starting from the centre and following the
+direction of the main streams of traffic. In this way the city would
+reproduce the fan-wise distribution of railways over the Pampean plain.
+
+Buenos Aires is the intermediary between the provinces and oversea
+countries. It has three titles to this profitable part. In the first
+place, it is the chief centre of the import trade. The merchants of the
+cities in the interior are customers of the Buenos Aires importers,
+and are closely bound to them by a system of long-term credit. Buenos
+Aires is, secondly, the centre for the distribution of the European
+capital which has been used in the development of the country. Lastly,
+it divides immigrant workers amongst the provinces, just as it divides
+capital. As an immigration port its position is unrivalled. The efforts
+that were made to divert part of the immigrants to Bahía Blanca failed,
+and direct immigration to the Santa Fé province ceased at the close
+of the first period of colonization, about 1880. It is also at Buenos
+Aires that immigrants who are not going to settle in Argentina embark;
+re-emigration, which is regarded as a national plague by Argentine
+economists, is another source of profit to the capital. Hence the
+fortune of Buenos Aires is due in the first place to the close contact
+between the economic life of Argentina and that of Europe and North
+America.
+
+But its very growth has led to a gradual change in the part it plays
+in the interior of the country. In proportion as its population and
+wealth grew, it became a great national market. The products of the
+provinces go to it, not merely to meet its own needs as consumer, but
+in order to be distributed over the entire country. The figures of
+the cattle trade on the Buenos Aires market are instructive in this
+respect. From January to July 1919 there were 1,130,000 head of cattle
+sold, 240,000 being for the supply of the capital and 700,000 for the
+refrigerators.[147] Of the remainder, 120,000 were bought for fattening
+and 40,000 by the butchers of other towns. The capital of its own which
+has accumulated at Buenos Aires is invested either in real estate or in
+industry, which has found great profit both in the development of local
+consumption and in the great stock of labour provided by immigration.
+Buenos Aires is not now content to be merely an intermediary between
+the country and foreign lands. It contributes by its own resources
+and work to the task of colonization and the supply of manufactured
+articles to the agricultural and pastoral districts. It is, finally, a
+luxurious city, with every opportunity for the men who have grown rich
+by the rise in the price of lands to spend their income, and providing
+pleasure for the country folk who come up occasionally, tired of their
+laborious, rough and solitary existence.
+
+     [147] During the same period the Argentinian refrigerators
+     killed 1,490,000 head of cattle. Therefore, about half of
+     these were bought at Buenos Aires.
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+I give here only the most important and most recent works. A list of
+the articles I have consulted would be long and uninteresting, while
+a complete list of those which might have been consulted, and from
+which information might have been gleaned, is impossible. For a work
+of this character there is no account of travel, no study of the soil,
+the climate, or the vegetation, no statistical document or journal or
+purely historical text, that has not a perfect right to be regarded as
+a source.
+
+
+1. PERIODICALS.
+
+Of the periodicals published in Argentina, and partly or wholly devoted
+to the study of the land and its development, the principal are:--
+
+_Boletin del Instituto Geografico Argentino_ (Buenos Aires, since 1879;
+vol. i, 1879, vol. ii, 1881; one vol. yearly from 1881 to 1901; has
+appeared irregularly since).
+
+_Anales de la Sociedad Cientifica Argentina_ (Buenos Aires, 2 vols,
+yearly from 1876).
+
+_Revista de la Sociedad Geografica Argentina_ (Buenos Aires, only
+appeared from 1883 to 1889).
+
+_Boletin de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Córdoba_ (Córdoba,
+since 1874, 23 vols. to 1918).
+
+The publications of the Buenos Aires and La Plata museums also contain,
+besides copious anthropological, archæological, palæontological,
+and historical material, a large number of articles of interest to
+geographers:--
+
+_Anales del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Buenos Aires._ Begins
+1864, 25 vols., folio and quarto, to 1914.
+
+_Anales del Museo de la Plata._ First series 1890-1900, second series
+from 1907.
+
+_Revista del Museo de la Plata._ From 1890-1891, 17 vols. to 1910-1911.
+
+All these reviews contain especially articles on the parts of the
+country which were last explored--Patagonia, Chaco, Misiones. They
+contain little about the parts that were early colonized, though these
+are not always the best known.
+
+
+2. MAPS.
+
+The maps published in the eighteenth century (D'Anville's map, 1733, in
+the _Lettres édifiantes_, 19th collection, Paris, 1734: Bellin's map in
+vol. ii of the _Histoire du Paraguay_ of the R.P.P.F.X. de Charlevoix,
+Paris, 1756, 3 vols., etc.) are based upon information collected by the
+Jesuit missionaries.
+
+D'Azara's map (1809) shows a remarkable advance.
+
+Important corrections of D'Azara's map are found in Woodbine Parish's
+map (1838).
+
+Brackebusch's two maps are essential documents: _Mapa del interior de
+la Republica Argentina_, por el Dr. L. Brackebusch, 1:1,000,000 (Gotha,
+1835) and _Mapa geologico del interior de la Republica Argentina_,
+1:1,000,000 (Gotha, 1890).
+
+The results of earlier work have been used in the _Atlas de la
+Republica Argentina construido y publicado por el Instituto Geografico
+Argentino_ (Buenos Aires, 1894), which includes a list of its sources.
+
+Since that date many maps have been published: maps of the various
+provinces and surveys drawn up by the railway companies, the Chile
+Frontier Commission (see Patagonia), the Mines Division (see Natural
+Regions), and the Ministerio de Obras Publicas (see River Routes). A
+brief account of the history of Argentine cartography and a list of
+maps of provinces will be found in Colonel B. Garcia Aparicio, _La
+carta de la Republica (Anuario del Instituto Geografico Militar_, i,
+1912, Buenos Aires, pp. 1-27).
+
+The Military Geographical Institute has itself published a large number
+of maps, either on the basis of fresh surveys or by compiling earlier
+work, chiefly:--
+
+About thirty sheets on the scale 1:25,000 (Pampean region) since 1904,
+interesting for studying the relief of the plain.
+
+"Governacion de la Pampa," 1:500,000 (Estado Mayor, 3A Division, Buenos
+Aires, 1909).
+
+Three sheets on the scale 1:1,000,000 (Buenos Aires, Concordia, and
+Corrientes). Buenos Aires, provisional edition 1911 of a map of
+Argentina on the scale 1:1,000,000, which is to comprise twenty-one
+sheets.
+
+A convenient reference map, though of no scientific value, is the map
+of the railways, on the scale 1:2,000,000, in three sheets, published
+in 1910 by the Ministerio de Obras Publicas.
+
+
+3. STATISTICS.
+
+A summary of the chief statistics is published annually in _The
+Argentine Yearbook_ (from 1902 at Buenos Aires; from 1909 at Buenos
+Aires and London).
+
+The _Anuario de la Dirección General de Estadistica_, which has
+appeared since 1880 in one, two or three vols. quarto, gives the
+figures of trade, immigration, agriculture, railways, navigation, etc.
+(last volume consulted is for 1914, Buenos Aires, 1915).
+
+In the third volume of the _Anuario_ for 1912 will be found a list of
+the publications of the Dirección de Estadistica. Besides the _Anuario_
+the Dirección publishes a bulletin with commercial statistics (last
+number consulted 181, "El comercio exterior Argentino en los primeros
+trimestres de 1918 y 1919," Buenos Aires, 1919). _Boletin_ 176 contains
+a review of Argentine trade from 1910 to 1917.
+
+The statistical department of the Ministry of Agriculture, under the
+direction of E. Lahitte, publishes the _Boletin Mensual de Estadistica
+Agricola_ (last volume consulted, xxi, 1919).
+
+
+4. GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS.[148]
+
+     [148] Besides the publications of the Jesuits, which can
+     easily be consulted, a fairly large number of texts bearing
+     upon the history of colonization have been published or
+     re-published in the nineteenth and the twentieth century. See
+     especially:
+
+     _Relaciones Geograpicas de Indias_ (vol. i, 1881; vol. ii,
+     1885, Madrid).
+
+     _Anales de la Biblioteca National, Buenos Aires, Publicación
+     de documentos relativos al Rio de la Plata_ (from 1900).
+
+     Publications of the _Junta de Historia y Numismatica
+     Americana_ (Buenos Aires, 7 vols., octavo, from 1905 to 1915).
+
+     Valuable notes on some of the most important historical
+     documents will be found in E. Boman, _Antiquités de la region
+     andine_ (see North-West Argentina).
+
+     The most curious collection of all for the geographer is:
+     Pedro de Angelis, _Colección de obras y documentos relativos
+     a la historia antigua y moderna de las provincias del Rio de
+     la Plata_ (Buenos Aires, 1837, 6 vols, octavo, containing many
+     itineraries, journals of expeditions, etc., together with
+     notes by D'Azara).
+
+The scientific study of this part of South America may be traced back
+as far as D'Azara. His observations are collected in Don Felix de
+Azara, _Voyages dans l'Amérique méridionale_, published by Walckenaër
+(Paris, 1809, 4 vols. in 12^{mo} and atlas) and _Descripción e historia
+del Paraguay y del Rio de la Plata_, published by D. Agustin de Azara
+(Madrid, 1847, 2 vols. octavo).
+
+The _Voyage dans l'Amérique méridionale_ of Alcide d'Orbigny contains
+his observations on the Paraná, the province of Corrientes, the Pampa
+(Parchappe's voyages), and Patagonia (1828). (Historical section, vol.
+i, Paris, 1835; vol. ii, Paris, 1839-43; vol. iii, third part, geology,
+Paris, 1842).
+
+Darwin also visited the coast of Patagonia and crossed the Pampa
+(1833): _Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of H.M.S. "Adventure" and
+"Beagle"_ ... vol. iii, as _Journal_ and _Researches_ (London, 1839).
+
+Sir Woodbine Parish's work, _Buenos Aires and the Provinces of the Rio
+de la Plata_ (London, 1838), is remarkably well-informed, and is based
+upon a thorough study of previous publications and archives.
+
+W. MacKann's _Ten Thousand Miles' Ride through the Argentine Republic_
+(London, 1855, 2 vols.) is interesting, and the work of a close
+observer.
+
+Martin de Moussy, _Description géographique et statistique de la
+Confédération argentine_ (Paris, 1858, 3 vols. octavo and atlas), is
+unequal, but full of information.
+
+The work of H. Burmeister, _Description physique de la République
+argentine_ (Paris, 2 vols., 1876), is of little value, and has been
+overrated.
+
+Richard Napp, _Die Argentinische Republik_ (Buenos Aires, 1876, I vol.
+octavo), includes a valuable chapter by P. G. Lorentz on the flora
+("Vegetationsverhaeltnisse Argentiniens," pp. 87-149).
+
+The second volume ("Territoire") of the _Second recensement de
+la République argentine_ (Buenos Aires, 1898) includes a joint
+geographical study by a number of writers.
+
+_Géologie_, by J. Valentin.
+
+_Climat_, by G. G. Davis.
+
+_Flore_, by E. L. Holmberg.
+
+Some attempt at a general consideration of our geographical knowledge
+of Argentina has been made by E. A. S. Delachaux, "Las regiones físicas
+de la Republica Argentina" (_Rev. Mus. Plata_, xv, 1908, pp. 102-131).
+
+Our physical knowledge of Argentina has been greatly promoted by the
+work of the Dirección de Minas. The results are summarized in the
+_Memorias de la Dirección general de Minas, Geologia, e Hidrologia_,
+published from 1908 onward (_Anales del Ministerio de Agricultura,
+Sección geologia, mineralogia, y mineria_: last volume published for
+the year 1915, Buenos Aires, vol. xii, No. 2).
+
+Special works are published in the same section of the _Anales del Min.
+Agric._, and in the _Boletines de la Dirección de Minas, Geologia, e
+Hidrologia_. See, especially, series B (Geologia). These reports and
+the accompanying maps are the basis of all work on the geography of
+Argentina. They already cover a great deal of Argentine territory. The
+work of Keidel, in particular, which is an essential contribution to
+the geological history of the South-American continent, and that of
+Windhausen, are largely concerned with physical geography, the study of
+the relief, and the influence of the climate on the landscape.
+
+A summary of the history of study of the soil of Argentina will be
+found in E. Hermitte, _La geologia y mineria Argentina in 1914_
+(_Tercer Censo Nacional_, vol. vii, pp. 407-494).
+
+As to climate: Buenos Aires Ministerio de Agricultura, _Servicio
+Meteorologico Argentino, Historia y Organisacion, con un resumen de los
+resultados_, preparado bajo la dirección de G. G. Davis (Buenos Aires,
+1914, quarto), dispenses one from consulting any previous works.
+
+There is a very complete bibliography of works on the botany
+and geographical botany of Argentina in F. Kurtz, "Essai d'une
+bibliographie botanique de l'Argentine" (2nd edition, _Bol. Acad. Nac.
+Ciencias Córdoba_, xx, 1915, pp. 369-467).
+
+There is a convenient summary of our knowledge of the primitive
+population in Felix F. Outes and Carlos Bruch, _Los aborigenes de la
+Rep. argentina_ (Buenos Aires, 1910).
+
+
+5. NORTH-WEST ARGENTINA.
+
+The most complete general work on irrigation is that of E. A. Soldano,
+_La irrigación en la argentina_ (Buenos Aires, 1910, octavo). See also
+C. Wouters, "La irrigación en el valle de Lerma" (_An. Soc. Cient.
+Argentina_, lxvi, 1908, pp. 117-145).
+
+The best description of the Puna de Atacama and the country of the
+Valles is in Eric Boman, "Antiquités de la région andine de la
+Republique Argentine et du désert d'Atacama" (_Mission scientifique
+G. de Crequi, Montfort, et E. Senechal de la Grange_, Paris, 1908, 2
+vols.).
+
+L. Brackebusch, "Ueber die Bodensverhaeltnisse des nordwestlichen
+Teiles der Argentinischen Republik mit Bezugnahme auf die Vegetation"
+(_Petermann's Mitteilungen_, 1893, p. 153) is a general description of
+the whole of north-western Argentina; but Brackebusch's description
+of his journey, "Viaje a la provincia de Jujuy" (_Bol. Inst. Geog.
+Argent._, iv, 1883, pp. 9-17, 204-211, and 217-226) is fresher and more
+useful.
+
+I have mentioned in the note to p. 40 Bodenbender's work on the
+province of La Rioja.
+
+Of the various articles, from all quarters, on North-Western Argentina
+the following may be noticed:--
+
+J. B. Ambrosetti, "Viaje a la Puna de Atacama de Salta a Caurchari"
+(_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, xxi, 1900, pp. 87-116).
+
+F. Kühn, "Descripción del camino desde Rosario de Lerma hasta Cachi"
+(_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, xxiv, 1910, pp. 42-50).
+
+H. Seckt, "Contribución al conocimiento de la vegetación del Nordeste
+de la Rep. Arg.--Valles de Calchaqui y Puna de Atacama" (_An. Soc.
+Cient. Arg._, lxxiv, 1912, pp. 185-225).
+
+Juan F. Barnabe, "Informe sobre el distrito minero de Tinogasta" (_An.
+Min. Agric., Seccion Geol. Mineralogia y Mineria_, x, No. 4, Buenos
+Aires, 1915).
+
+On the Puna de Atacama:
+
+L. Caplain, "Informe sobre el estado de la mineria en el Territorio de
+los Andes" (_An. Min. Agric., Seccion Geol. Mineralogia y Mineria_,
+vii, No. 1, Buenos Aires, 1912).
+
+On the sub-Andean chains:--
+
+Guido Bonarelli, "Las Sierras subandinas del Alto y Aguaragüe y los
+yacimientos petroliferos del distrito minero de Tartagal" (_ibid._,
+viii, No. 4, Buenos Aires, 1913). See also Dirección General de Minas,
+Geol., e Hidrol, _Boletin_, series B, No. 9 (Buenos Aires, 1914).
+
+On the Chaco Salteño:--
+
+L. Arnaud, "Expedición al Chaco" (_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, vi, 1885,
+pp. 201-210).
+
+On the part of the San Luis province that lies in the zone of the
+scrub:--
+
+Avé-Lallemant, "Datos orograficos e hidrograficos sobre la Provincia
+de San Luis" (_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, v, 1884, pp. 191-196, and
+222-224), and "Apuntes sobre represas y baldes en San Luis" (_An. Soc.
+Cient. Arg._, xi, 1881, pp. 178-188).
+
+A. L. Cravetti, "Investigación agricola en la Provincia de San Luis"
+(Buenos Aires, 1904, _An. Min. Agric._, Sección Agric., Botanica, y
+Agronomia, vol. i, No. 5).
+
+On the scrub south of Mar Chiquita:--
+
+H. Frank, "La repoblación forestal en la region de la Mar Chiquita"
+(_Bol. Dep. gen. Agric. y Ganaderia_, Prov. Córdoba, ii, 1912, pp.
+52-57), and "Contribución al conocimiento de la Mar Chiquita" (_ibid._,
+pp. 87-101).
+
+
+6. TUCUMÁN AND MENDOZA.
+
+On Tucumán see Emilio Lahitte, _La industria azucarera, apuntes de
+actualidad_ (Buenos Aires, 1902).
+
+The best source of the economic history of the sugar industry is the
+file of the _Revista azucarera_ ("organa de los cultivadores de caña y
+fabricantes de azucar," Buenos Aires).
+
+On Mendoza, "Investigación vinicola" (Buenos Aires, 1903, _Anales_,
+Min. Agric., Sección Comercio, Industrias, y Economia, i, No. 1).
+
+7. FORESTRY INDUSTRIES.
+
+Rudolf Leutgens, "Beiträge zur Kenntniss des Quebracho-Gebietes in
+Argentinien und Paraguay" (_Mitteil. Geogr. Ges. Hamburg_, xxv, 1911,
+pp. 1-70).
+
+
+8. PATAGONIA.
+
+
+_A. The Tableland._
+
+Apart from Villarino's journey on the Rio Negro in the eighteenth
+century, the first journey across the Patagonian tableland is that of
+G. Chaworth Musters, _At Home with the Patagonians_ (London, 1871).
+
+In the early volumes of the _Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._ will be found
+the results of various explorations between 1878 and 1885 by Argentine
+travellers.
+
+With this group of documents, which provided the first material for
+his conclusions, we may associate the geological studies of Florentino
+Ameghino, "L'âge des formations sédimentaires de Patagonie" (_An.
+Soc. Cient. Argentina_, l, 1900, pp. 109-130, 145-160, and 209-229;
+li, 1901, pp. 20-39 and 65-90; lii, 1901, pp. 189-197 and 244-250;
+liii, 1902, pp. 161-181, 220-249 and 282-342) and "Les formations
+sédimentaires du crétacé supérieur et du tertiaire en Patagonie" (_An.
+Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires_, series ii, vol. viii, 1906, pp. 1-568).
+
+On the southern part of Patagonia, south of 50° S. lat.:--
+
+_Svenska Expeditionen till Magellanslaenderna (Wissenschaftliche
+Ergebnisse der Schwedischen Expedition nach den Magellans Laendern_,
+1895-1897, unter Leitung von Dr. Otto Nordenskjoeld, Band I, Geologie,
+Geographie und Anthropologie, Stockholm, 1907).
+
+On the Magellan region and that of the Santa Cruz:--
+
+_Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia_, 1896-9,
+i, J. B. Hatcher, _Narrative of the Expeditions, Geography of Southern
+Patagonia_ (Princeton and Stuttgart, 1903).
+
+On the Rio Negro district:--
+
+S. Roth, "Apuntes sobre la Geologia y la Paleontologia de las
+Territorios del Rio Negro y Neuquen" (_Rev. Mus. Plata_, ix, 1899, pp.
+141-196).
+
+Of more recent works we must especially notice those of the engineers
+of the Dirección de Minas:--
+
+R. Stappenbeck y F. Reichert, "Informe preliminar relativo a la parte
+sudeste del Territorio del Chubut" (_An. Min. Agric._, Sección Geol.
+Mineral., y Minas, vol. ix, No. 1, Buenos Aires, 1909).
+
+Ricardo Wichmann, various studies of the eastern part of the plateau of
+the Rio Negro (_ibid._, xiii, Nos. 1, 3 and 4, Buenos Aires, 1918 and
+1919).
+
+A. Windhausen, studies on the Rio Negro and the Neuquen (_ibid._, x,
+No. 1, Buenos Aires, 1914). The geological results of Windhausen's work
+are summarized in articles that appeared in the _American Journal of
+Science_ (4th series, xlv, 1918, pp. 1-53) and in the _Bol. Acad. Nac.
+Ciencias Córdoba_ (xxiii, 1918, pp. 97-128 and 319-364).
+
+We must add G. Rivereto, "La valle del Rio Negro" (_Bol. Soc. Geologica
+Ital._, xxxi, 1912, pp. 181-237, and xxxii, 1913, pp. 101-142).
+
+
+_B. The Andes._
+
+Numerous articles in the _Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._ and the _An.
+Soc. Cient. Argentina_, immediately after the military expedition of
+1879-1880 (Host, Avé-Lallemant, etc.).
+
+A detailed study of the Andean region was undertaken at the time of
+the frontier-quarrel between Argentina and Chile, and this led to a
+number of publications. The work done by the Argentinians under F. P.
+Moreno is used in _Frontera Argentina-Chilena, Memoria presentada al
+tribunal nombrado por el Gobernio de su Majestad Britanica_ (London,
+1902, 2 vols. quarto, 1 vol. maps, and 1 vol. photographs), and in the
+_Breve Replica a la memoria Chilena_ (London, 1 vol. quarto, 1902).
+See a summary of the results in L. Gallois, "Les Andes de Patagonie"
+(_Annales de Géographie_, x, 1901, pp. 232-259).
+
+In the _Revista_ and the _Anales_ of the La Plata Museum will be
+found part of the research made during this period (1897-1900) by
+Argentine experts; especially the work of Burckhardt and Wehrli on
+the Neuquen Cordillera. The Chilean work which served as the basis of
+the _Statement presented on behalf of Chile in reply to the Argentine
+Report_ (London, 1902, 4 vols. and 2 vols. as appendices) is, on the
+whole, less valuable.
+
+Of later travellers we must mention P. D. Quensel, "On the
+influence of the Ice Age on the continental watershed of Patagonia"
+(_Bull. Geol. Inst. Univ. Upsala_, ix, 1908-9, pp. 60-92), and
+"Geologisch-petrographische studien in der Patagonischen Cordillera"
+(_ibid._, xi, 1912, pp. 1-114).
+
+Very important surveys in the Cordillera and on the plateau of the
+Rio Negro were made under the direction of Bailey Willis (_Northern
+Patagonia_, Ministry of Public Works, Bureau of Railways, Argentine
+Republic; text and maps by the Comisión de Estudios hidrologicos,
+Bailey Willis Director, 1911-1914, New York, 1914, 1 vol and atlas).
+
+On the Patagonian forest (Argentine slope from 40° S. lat. to Cape
+Horn) see Max Rothkugel, _Los Bosques Patagonicos_ (Minist. Agric.,
+Dirección Gen. Agric. y Defensa Agricola: Officina de Bosques y
+Yerbales, Buenos Aires, 1916).
+
+
+9. THE PAMPEAN REGION.
+
+The occupation of the western part of the Pampa between 1875 and 1880
+led to a fairly large amount of research. The most important work is
+the _Informe oficial de la Comisión cientifica agregada al Estado Mayor
+General de la Expedición al Rio Negro_, vol. iii, _Geologia_, by Dr.
+Ad. Doering (Buenos Aires, 1882). We must also notice G. Avé-Lallemant,
+"Excursión al Territorio indio del Sud" (_Bol. Inst. Geogr. Argent._,
+ii, 1881, pp. 41-49); D. Dupont, "Notas geograficas sobre el païs de
+los Ranqueles" (_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, 1790, pp. 47-56); and Est.
+Zeballos, _Descripción amena de la Republica Argentina_, vol. i, _Viaje
+al païs de las Araucanos_ (Buenos Aires, 1881).
+
+Of general works on the Pampa and the Pampean deposits:
+
+Fl. Ameghino, _La formación Pampeana_ (Paris and Buenos Aires, 1881),
+and "Las formaciones sedimentarias de la región litoral de Mar del
+Plata y Chapalmalan" (_An. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires_, series ii, vol. x,
+1908, pp. 348-428).
+
+G. Bodenbender, "La cuenca del valle del rio Primero en Córdoba:
+Descripción geologica del valle del rio Primero desde la Sierra de
+Córdoba hasta la Mar Chiquita" (_Bol. Acad. Nac. Ciencias Córdoba_,
+xii, 1890, pp. 1-54); and "Die Pampa Ebene in Osten der Sierra von
+Córdoba in Argentinien" (_Petermann's Mitteilungen_, 1893, pp. 201-237
+and 258-264).
+
+Santiago Roth, "Beobachtungen ueber Entstehung und Alter der
+Pampasformationen in Argentinien" (_Zeitschrift der Deutschen
+Geol. Ges._, xi, 1888, pp. 375-464); "Beitrag zur Gliederung der
+Sedimentablagerungen in Patagonien und der Pampas Region" (_Neues
+Jahrbuch für Min., Geol., und Paläont._, Beilage, Band xxvi, Stuttgart,
+1908, pp. 92-150); and "La construcción de un Canal de Bahía Blanca a
+las provincias andinas bajo el punto de vista hidrogeologico" (_Rev.
+Museo de la Plata_, xvi, 1909).
+
+_Nouvelles recherches sur la formation pampéenne et l'homme fossile de
+la Republique argentine._ A collection of scientific articles published
+by R. Lehmann-Nitsche (_Rev. Mus. Plata_, xiv, 1907, pp. 143-488),
+which contains, especially, one by C. Burckhardt, "La formation
+pampéenne de Buenos Aires et Santa Fé," and one by Ad. Doering, "La
+formation pampéenne de Córdoba."
+
+Ales Hrdlicka, _Early Man in South America_ (Smithsonian Institution,
+Bull. 52, Washington, 1912--geological part by Bailey Willis).
+
+On the district of the Central Pampa, R. Stappenbeck, "Investigaciones
+hidrogeologicas de los valles de Chapalco y Quehuë y sus alrededores"
+(Min. Agric., Dir. Gen. Minas, Geol., e Hidrol., Bol. No. 4, Buenos
+Aires, 1913).
+
+On various points in detail one may consult:--
+
+Lavalle y Medici, "Las nivelaciones de la Provincia" (_Bol. Inst. Geog.
+Argent._, vii, 1866, pp. 57-71).
+
+P. A. Bovet, _El Problema de los Medanos en el Pais_ (Buenos Aires,
+1910).
+
+R. Velasco, "Los Medanos de la Provincia de Córdoba" (_Bol. Dep. Gen.
+Agric. y Ganaderia_, Prov. Córdoba, i, pp. 155-173).
+
+Among descriptions of an economic character, which are generally of
+poor value, we must make an exception in favour of Emile Daireaux, _La
+vie et les moeurs à la Plata_ (Paris, 1889).
+
+A few useful notes on colonization will be found in Teod. Morsbah,
+"Estudios economicos sobre el Sud de la Provincia de Buenos Aires"
+(_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, ix, 1888, pp. 143-151) and in E. Segui, "La
+provincia de Buenos Aires" (_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, xix, 1898, pp.
+419-440).
+
+A very useful summary of the results of a general inquiry into
+agriculture will be found in "Investigación agricola en la Rep. argent."
+(_Anales Min. Agric. Agronomia_, vol. i, No. 1, 2 and 3, Buenos Aires,
+1904: "Preliminares," by Carlos D. Girola, "Investigación agricola en
+la region septentrional de la Provincia de Buenos Aires," by Ricardo J.
+Huergo, and "Investigación agricola en la Provincia de Santa Fé," by
+Hugo Miatello).
+
+With this inquiry is associated G. D. Girola, _El cultivo del trigo en
+la provincia de Buenos Aires_ (Buenos Aires, 1904).
+
+Agricultural censuses have been taken repeatedly. For 1888 F. Latzina,
+_L'agriculture et le bétail dans la République argentine_ (Paris,
+1889). For 1895 (_Secundo censo_, see Population) the results are
+given in C. P. Salas, _Bureau central de Statistique de la province
+de Buenos Aires_ and _L'agriculture, l'élevage, et le commerce dans
+la province en 1895_ (La Plata, 1897; maps by Delachaux). For 1908,
+_Censo agro-pecuario nacional_. _La ganaderia y la agricultura en 1908_
+(Buenos Aires, 3 vols. quarto, 1909). Vol. iii contains a series of
+monographs dealing not only with the Pampean region, but the economic
+history of the whole country.
+
+For 1914 (_Tercer censo_, see Population) the publication of vol.
+v, relating to agriculture, is unfortunately delayed. There is also
+available a census of cattle made in 1915 for the Buenos Aires
+province, _Provincia de Buenos Aires, Min. Obras Publicas, Censo
+Ganadero_ (1916).
+
+
+10. THE RAILWAYS.
+
+For the history of the railways see Rebuelto, "Historia del desarollo
+de los ferrocarriles argentinas" (_Bol. Obras Publicas_, vol. v, 1911,
+pp. 113-172, vol. vi, 1913, pp. 1-48 and 81-110, and vol. viii, 1913,
+pp. 1-32), and the entire series of the _Boletin de Obras Publicas_.
+
+A sort of annual of the Argentine railways has been published every
+year since 1906 under the title _Killik's Argentine Railway Manual_
+(London, 1 vol. with map, last issue 1918).
+
+
+11. THE PARANÁ.
+
+E. A. S. Delachaux, "Los problemas geograficos del territorio
+Argentino" (_Rev. Univ. Buenos Aires_, 1906, v), includes a study of
+the floods of the Paraná.
+
+The chief source is the memoir of Repossini, "Memoria sobre el rio
+Paraná" (_Bol. Obras Publicas_, vol. vi, 1912, pp. 141-168 and 254-264,
+vol. vii, 1912, pp. 31-48 and 163-186, and vol. viii, 1913, pp. 33-99).
+It contains on a reduced scale the map issued by the Ministry of Public
+Works, which is not available in France. The defect is supplied by the
+English Admiralty Charts, "Rio de la Plata," 1869 (No. 2544 in the
+Catalogue of Admiralty Charts), and "River Paraná," parts i, ii, iii,
+iv, v, and vi of 1905 (Nos. 1982/A and 1982/B).
+
+There is an interesting economic summary in W. S. Barclay, "The River
+Paraná, an economic survey" (_Geogr. Journal_, xxxiii, 1909, pp. 1-10).
+
+On the estuary:--
+
+Alej. Foster, "Regimen del Rio de la Plata y su corrección" (_An. Soc.
+Cient. Argent._, lii, 1901, pp. 209-234).
+
+G. Rovereto, "Studi di geomorfologia argentina," ii, "Il rio della
+Plata" (_Bol. Soc. Geol. Ital._, xxx, 1911).
+
+
+12. POPULATION.
+
+Besides municipal and provincial censuses, there have been three
+general censuses:
+
+First census made in 1869, one folio volume published in 1872. I have
+only been able to consult _Oficina del Censo_. _Informe sobre la
+operación y resultado del Primer censo argentino_ (Buenos Aires, 1870,
+octavo).
+
+Second census of the Argentine Republic, May 10, 1895 (2 vols, quarto,
+Buenos Aires, 1898).
+
+_Tercer Censo Nacional levantado el 1º de junio de 1914_ (10
+vols, quarto, Buenos Aires, 1916-1917). Only the fifth volume, on
+agriculture, is not yet to hand.
+
+A geographical interpretation of the distribution of the population
+was attempted by E. A. S. Delachaux, "La población de la Rep. Argent."
+(_Rev. Univ. Buenos Aires_, iii, 1905).
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Abipones, the, 24
+
+  _Acequia_, the, 45, 69, 83
+
+  Aconcagua, 19, 38, 59, 70, 71
+
+  Æolian deposits, 21, 124, 170
+
+  Agricultural Centres Law, the, 202
+
+  _Aguadas_, 61, 210
+
+  _Algarrobas_, 39, 54, 64
+
+  Alhuampa, 113
+
+  Alumine, the, 128, 129
+
+  Ambrosetti, J. B., 136, 282
+
+  Ameghino, F., 168
+
+  Andalgala, 42
+
+  Andes, the Argentine, 19, 37, 46, 54, 57, 70, 126
+
+  Andes, the Patagonian, 19, 120, 126, 129
+
+  Añecon, 122, 151
+
+  Antofágasta, 54, 55
+
+  Apipé rapids, the, 239
+
+  Apostoles, 116
+
+  Araucanians, the, 24, 121
+
+  Argentine hydrographic service, 254
+
+  _Arrieros_, the, 51, 216, 217
+
+  Arroyo del Rey, 26
+
+  Asses, trade in, 53
+
+  Atamisqui, 97, 98
+
+  Atuel, the, 81, 84
+
+  Azcarate, 51, 52
+
+
+  Bahía Blanca, 25, 32, 148, 155, 164, 168, 173, 198, 223, 227, 271
+
+  Bajada Grande, the, 242, 243
+
+  Bamboo, 133
+
+  _Bañados_, the, 62, 63, 67, 97, 98, 101
+
+  Barra del Indio, the, 253
+
+  Barrancas, 17, 245
+
+  Basalt, 122, 125, 149
+
+  Basques in Argentina, 183, 186
+
+  Bellavista, 246
+
+  Bellville, 167, 188
+
+  Bermejo, the, 40, 115
+
+  _Bodegueros_, 87-90
+
+  Bodenbender, G., 40, 57, 168, 286
+
+  Bolivia, relations with, 48, 50, 52, 53, 70
+
+  Boman, E., 47, 282
+
+  Brackebusch, L., 48, 54, 278, 282
+
+  Brazil, 109, 116, 182, 235
+
+  Breeding, 22, 131, 179, 188, 189
+
+  British Navy in Argentine waters, 238, 248, 252
+
+  Buenos Aires, 17, 29, 30, 32, 57, 109, 112, 155, 159, 164, 184, 209,
+      218, 220, 239, 254, 259, 272-275
+
+  Burruyacu, Sierra de, 72, 73
+
+
+  Calchaqui, 48, 54
+
+  _Caldenes_,163
+
+  _Cañadas_, 107
+
+  _Cañadones_, 122-141
+
+  Candelaria, 110, 116
+
+  _Cañeros_, the, 74, 75
+
+  Carcaraña, the, 171, 212, 246
+
+  Carilaufquen, the, 141
+
+  Carmen, 130
+
+  Carri Lauquen, Lake, 128, 151, 157
+
+  Catamarca, 31, 43, 45, 55, 80
+
+  Cattle, creole, 22, 131, 179-183, 189
+
+  Cattle, pedigree, 22, 188, 189
+
+  Cattle fairs, 209
+
+  Cattle trade, the, 48, 50, 53, 66, 80, 131, 179-189, 206-208
+
+  Catuna, 62
+
+  Cedar-forests, 109
+
+  Central Argentine Railway, 76, 191, 220, 225
+
+  Central Córdoba, 74, 76, 91, 104, 221
+
+  Central Norte Railway, 114
+
+  _Cerco_, the, 63
+
+  Cerro Payen, the, 119, 136
+
+  Cerros Colorados, 150, 151
+
+  Chaco, the, 32, 78, 96, 104-115
+
+  Chaco, Salteño, the, 58-60
+
+  Chamical, 62
+
+  _Chañares_, 163
+
+  Charcoal-burners, 112
+
+  Chicago and Buenos Aires, 17
+
+  Chile, relations with, 25, 29, 30, 48, 49, 53, 54, 57, 134, 137,
+      138, 204, 205, 210
+
+  Chile road, the, 210, 213
+
+  Chilean flour, 79
+
+  Chiriguanos, the, 79
+
+  Chivilcoy, 190, 194, 195, 212, 263
+
+  Choele Choel, 133, 134, 149
+
+  Chosmalal, 120, 137, 144
+
+  Chubut, the, 138, 140, 155
+
+  Climate, 46, 70, 71, 72, 77, 80, 92, 119, 120, 139
+
+  _Coilrue_, the, 127
+
+  Colalao del Valle, 42
+
+  Colastiné, 226, 253
+
+  Colonia, 251, 252
+
+  Colonies, the, 191, 193, 195, 196
+
+  Colonization Companies, 202
+
+  _Colonos_,75
+
+  Colorado, the, 172
+
+  Conlara, 178
+
+  Cordillera, the, 19, 20, 48, 81, 121, 126, 129
+
+  Córdoba, 29, 33, 50, 57, 164
+
+  Córdoba, Sierra de, 209
+
+  Corrientes, 32, 49, 102, 107, 108, 189, 215, 257, 269
+
+  _Costa_, the, 41, 42, 60
+
+  Cruz Alta, 73, 74, 75
+
+  Cuarto, the Rio, 25, 211
+
+  Cuenca Vidal, 155
+
+  Cumbre Tunnel, 222
+
+  Cuyo, 79, 85, 86, 96
+
+  Cypresses, 127
+
+
+  Daireaux, E., 187, 193, 287
+
+  Dairies, 186, 190, 193
+
+  Dams, 69-70
+
+  Darwin, C, 23, 123, 133, 170, 217, 280
+
+  D'Azara, F., 25, 28, 49, 102, 174, 180, 212, 279, 280
+
+  Dead valleys, 122, 129
+
+  _Demarcación_, 44
+
+  Diamante, 248, 249
+
+  Diamante, the, 81, 84
+
+  Diez y seis de Octubre, 120, 144
+
+  Doering, A., 168, 286
+
+  Dolores, 178
+
+  D'Orbigny, A., 130, 131, 133, 142, 180, 236, 237, 280
+
+  Drainage, 83
+
+  Drought, 65, 66, 105, 120
+
+  Dulce, the Rio, 97, 98
+
+  Dunes, 173, 174, 181
+
+  Durham cattle, 189, 207
+
+
+  English Bank, the, 252
+
+  Entre Rios, 169, 182, 186, 194
+
+  Epecuen Lake, 212
+
+  Exhibition, San Francisco, 7
+
+
+  _Falda_, the, 73, 74
+
+  Famatina, Sierra de la, 40
+
+  Fiords, the Patagonian, 20, 128
+
+  Flax, 176, 196, 197
+
+  Floods, 97, 99, 211
+
+  Floods on the rivers, 240, 241
+
+  Forests, 23, 96-118
+
+  Forts, the early, 26, 27
+
+  Frontiers, early, 25
+
+  Funes, Dean G., 30, 179
+
+
+  _Galeria_, the, 218
+
+  Gallegos, 120, 121, 136
+
+  Garcia, Colonel, 27, 182, 183, 210
+
+  _Garrapate_, the, 22, 189, 207
+
+  _Gauchos_, 218
+
+  Gauge, differences of, 221, 222, 231, 232
+
+  General La valle, 165
+
+  Geological formations, 40, 121, 122, 124-126, 129, 166, 168
+
+  Glaciers, the Patagonian, 19, 36, 123, 128, 129
+
+  Gold, 138
+
+  Goods, traffic, analysis of, 228-231
+
+  Granite, 121, 125, 149
+
+  Guapichas, 54
+
+  Guayra, the, 246
+
+
+  Harvest, labour and the, 266
+
+  Helms, A. Z., 51
+
+  Hides, 178-180
+
+  Holmberg, E. L., 23, 281
+
+  Hrdlicka, A., 168, 287
+
+  Huari, 56
+
+  Hutchinson, F. J., 50
+
+
+  Immigration, 9, 116, 137, 191, 263, 264
+
+  Indians, relations with the, 24-28, 47, 131-135
+
+  Indians, the Patagonian, 131-135
+
+  Ingeniero White, 226
+
+  _Intrusos_, 139, 157
+
+  _Invernadas_, the, 51, 53, 60, 65, 183
+
+  Irrigation, 36, 41-46, 61, 64, 74, 83-86, 144, 154
+
+  Itinerary of author, 6
+
+  Ituzaingo, 246, 257
+
+
+  Japan, trade with, 8
+
+  Jegou, A., 205
+
+  Jerked meat, 115
+
+  Jesuit missions, 110
+
+  Jujuy, 38, 56, 77
+
+  Junin, 194
+
+
+  Labour-supply, 76, 77, 79, 88, 108-111
+
+  Lacar, Lake, 144
+
+  Land-ownership, 61, 201-203
+
+  Land, speculation in, 201
+
+  Lanin, Mount, 128-147
+
+  Larch, the, 146
+
+  La Rioja, 32, 33, 59, 80, 209
+
+  Ledesma, 78
+
+  _Lenga_, the, 127
+
+  Lima, 29, 48
+
+  Limay, the, 120, 123, 124, 130, 146, 154
+
+  Lincoln sheep, 184
+
+  Los Sauces, 41
+
+  Lucerne-farms, 53, 67, 155, 176-178, 196
+
+  Lumbrera, Sierra de la, 58, 70, 77
+
+
+  MacKann, W., 180, 280
+
+  Maize, 71, 192-194, 197, 198, 230
+
+  _Mallin_, 124, 125, 142, 151
+
+  _Manantiales_, 142, 148
+
+  Maquinchao, 148, 150, 151, 153, 158
+
+  Mar Chiquita, 113, 162, 173, 176, 191
+
+  Markets, Argentine, 203-210
+
+  Martin Garcia, 166, 251, 253
+
+  Matacos, the, 79
+
+  _Maté_, 33, 109-112, 117
+
+  Matto Grosso, 117, 235
+
+  _Mayten_, 128
+
+  Mejia, Ramos, 224
+
+  Mendoza, 19, 32, 33, 50, 57, 79-93, 218, 270, 271
+
+  _Merced_, the, 61, 67
+
+  Mercedario, 19
+
+  Merino sheep, 184
+
+  Mesopotamia, the Argentine, 18
+
+  Miatello, 176
+
+  Migrations of cattle, 65, 143, 157-159
+
+  Migrations of indigenous population, 264-267
+
+  Misiones, 33, 109-112, 115
+
+  _Molle_, 127
+
+  _Monte_, the, 22, 96
+
+  Montevideo, 238, 251
+
+  Moussy, Martin de, 25, 50, 204, 210
+
+  Muleteers, the, 216-7
+
+  Mule-trade, the, 49, 51-2, 53, 55
+
+
+  Nahuel Huapi, Lake, 120, 126, 127, 130, 132, 133, 144, 225, 245, 247
+
+  Navigation, statistics of, 258
+
+  Negro, the Rio, 32, 80, 119, 121, 130, 153
+
+  Negroes captured, 131
+
+  Neuquen, the, 129, 130, 137, 138, 153
+
+
+  Oases, 36, 41, 86
+
+  Oats, 199
+
+  _Obrajes_, the, 103-105, 107
+
+  Olavarria, 194
+
+  Olta, 62
+
+  _Omber_, the, 163
+
+  Ortiz Bank, the, 252
+
+  Otway Water, 129, 136
+
+
+  Pagancillo, 40
+
+  Pampa, the, 17, 21, 33, 161-208, 261, 262
+
+  Pampa, extent of the, 102
+
+  Parabolic tariffs, 226
+
+  Paracao, 248
+
+  Paraguay, 109, 110, 236, 269
+
+  Paraguay, the river, 116, 165, 235, 241, 247
+
+  _Paraisos_, 175
+
+  Paraná, the, 17, 26, 111, 112, 171, 214, 234, 236-50
+
+  Paraná de las Palmas, the, 250, 252, 253
+
+  Paraná Guazu, the, 251
+
+  Paraná Mini, the, 253
+
+  Parish, Sir Woodbine, 30, 100, 130, 182, 213, 215, 261, 280
+
+  Paso Paraguayo, the, 250
+
+  _Pasto dulce_, 23, 24, 183
+
+  _Pasto duro_, 23, 24, 183
+
+  _Pasto fuerto_, 23
+
+  Patagones, 153, 154
+
+  Patagonia, 119-160
+
+  Pehuenches, the, 24, 131
+
+  Peru, relations with, 28, 29, 49, 51
+
+  Peru road, the, 209, 210, 213, 214, 216
+
+  Piedra Blanca, 43
+
+  Pine forests, 109
+
+  Plata, Rio de la, 28, 29, 234, 239
+
+  Playa Honda, the, 252, 253
+
+  Poma, 56
+
+  Poncel, B., 31, 53
+
+  Population, growth of, 261-263
+
+  Ports, 225
+
+  Portuguese, relations with the, 235
+
+  Posadas, 111, 116, 242, 248, 249
+
+  Potatoes, 205
+
+  Pozos del Barca Grande, 253
+
+  Protectionism, 93, 94
+
+  Puerto Belgrano, 232
+
+  Pumpkin, the, 100
+
+  _Puna_, the, 37, 38
+
+  Puna de Atacama, 47, 48
+
+  Punta Arenas, 136
+
+
+  _Quebracho_, the, 23, 96, 103, 256-7
+
+  Quebracho Herrado, 26
+
+  _Quebradas_, 38, 41, 53
+
+  Quetriquile, 151
+
+  Quinto, the Rio, 26
+
+  Quiroga, 59
+
+
+  Railways, 74, 76, 91, 104, 114, 191, 211, 220-233
+
+  Railway tariffs, 226
+
+  Rainfall, 21, 38, 39, 71, 72, 80, 120-121, 164
+
+  Ranqueles, the, 24, 131
+
+  Refrigerators, 143, 187, 188, 209
+
+  Repossini, 254
+
+  _Represa_, the, 64, 210
+
+  Riachucho, 247
+
+  Rincones, 180
+
+  River-floods, 240, 241, 243
+
+  River-traffic, 235-258
+
+  Roads, 210-220
+
+  Roca, General, 26, 27
+
+  Rosario, 92, 164, 171, 173, 191, 215, 221, 239, 245, 253
+
+  Rosario de Lerma, 55, 56
+
+  Rosas, General, 30, 238
+
+
+  _Saladeros_, 184, 189
+
+  Salado, the, 23, 26, 112, 171
+
+  Sali, the, 69, 77
+
+  _Salitral_, 124, 149
+
+  Salt Lakes, the, 24
+
+  Salt Road, the, 212
+
+  Salta, 29, 32, 33, 38, 46, 48, 51, 59, 70, 214, 218
+
+  San Cristobal, 114
+
+  San Feliciano, 248
+
+  San Javier, 110, 114, 249
+
+  San José, 116, 134
+
+  San Juan, 19, 32, 33, 50, 66, 79, 82
+
+  San Lorenzo, 249
+
+  San Luis, 33
+
+  San Pedro, 78, 289, 250
+
+  San Rafaël, 80, 81, 82, 172, 177
+
+  Sancho, 71
+
+  Santa Cruz, the, 120, 121, 122
+
+  Santa Fé, 26, 52, 112, 114, 175, 191, 196, 198, 253
+
+  Santa Maria, 55, 56, 77
+
+  Santiago del Estero, 26, 28, 50, 60, 77, 97, 113
+
+  Saw-mills, 106-8
+
+  Scrub, the, 22, 96
+
+  Seasonal migrations, 266
+
+  Selective breeding, 21, 179, 188, 189
+
+  Sheep-breeding, 139-144, 183-186
+
+  Shipping, 236, 240, 253-259
+
+  Sierra de los Llanos, 59-63, 67
+
+  Sierra d'Ulapes, 66
+
+  Somuncura, 122, 152
+
+  Spaniards, the early, 28, 29, 48
+
+  Stage-coaches, 210
+
+  Straits of Magellan, 129
+
+  Sugar-industry, the, 69-79
+
+  _Suerte de agua_, the, 85
+
+
+  Tablelands, the alluvial, 17, 37
+
+  Tandil, Sierra de, 25, 172, 179, 182, 184, 190
+
+  Tannin, 102, 105, 106, 107
+
+  Tehuelches, the, 131
+
+  Texas fever, 22, 189
+
+  Teran, M. J. B., 7
+
+  Tercero, the Rio, 211, 213
+
+  Tierra del Fuego, 128, 140
+
+  Tinogasta, 48
+
+  Tobacco, 101
+
+  Tobas, the, 24, 26
+
+  _Toma_, the, 63
+
+  _Tosca_, the, 123, 172, 173, 178
+
+  Tostado, 114
+
+  Trans-Andean railway, 220, 221, 222
+
+  Transhumation, 143, 156-159, 182
+
+  Transport, evolution of, 215-220, 228
+
+  Travelling, early difficulties of, 211-219, 237-238
+
+  _Travesias_, the, 52, 60, 142, 211
+
+  Tronador, Mount, 128, 147
+
+  _Troperos_, the, 217-19
+
+  Tucumán, 29, 32, 33, 69-79, 218, 221, 270, 271
+
+  Tunuyan, the, 81, 82
+
+  Tupungato, 19
+
+  _Turno_, the, 44, 85, 86
+
+
+  United States, comparison with 32, 34
+
+  United States, trade with, 8
+
+  Urban centres, 268, 269
+
+  Urquiza, 26, 180, 215
+
+  Uruguay, 116
+
+  Uruguay, the river, 110, 235, 238, 259
+
+  Useless Bay, 129
+
+
+  Valcheta, 122, 123, 149, 150, 153
+
+  Valle de Lerma, 48, 54
+
+  Valle Viejo, 43, 45
+
+  _Valles_, 37-48
+
+  _Vegas_, 54, 144
+
+  Veinte cinco de Mayo, 194, 262
+
+  Ventana, Sierra de, 172, 182, 198, 199
+
+  Villa Concepción, 110
+
+  Villa Maria, 113, 213
+
+  Villa Mercedes, 25, 66, 113, 164, 174, 177, 207, 221
+
+  Villa Paraná, 245
+
+  Villa Rica, 110, 111
+
+  Villarino, 130, 133
+
+  Villa Urquiza, 244
+
+  Vilque, 56
+
+  _Viñatores_, 87-93
+
+  Vineyards, 80-93
+
+  _Volcada de agua_, 45
+
+  Volcanic eruptions, 122, 125
+
+
+  Wagons, travel by, 216, 217
+
+  War, the European, effect of, 8
+
+  Water-power in Patagonia, 146
+
+  Water-rights, 43-46, 61, 64, 84-86
+
+  Water-supply, 36, 38, 39, 41-46, 61, 64, 72, 83-86, 141, 154, 181
+
+  Welsh in Patagonia, 138
+
+  Wheat, 190-192, 194, 198, 199, 230
+
+  Wheelwright, 221
+
+  Wild cattle, 179-181
+
+  Willis, Bailey, 138, 146, 147, 152, 171
+
+  Wind, action of the, 20, 124, 170
+
+  Wine-industry, the, 80-95
+
+  Wool, 139, 183-185
+
+
+  _Yerbales_, the, 49, 109-112, 115, 117
+
+  Yguassu, the, 242, 246, 257
+
+
+  Zapala, 156, 158
+
+  Zeballos, 204, 213
+
+  _Zonda_, the, 41
+
+
+_Printed in Great Britain by_
+
+UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, LONDON AND WOKING
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Small capitals have been rendered as ALL CAPITALS.
+
+Apparent printer's errors have been corrected.
+
+The following table lists changes made by the transcribers.
+
+ +----+---------------+---------------+
+ |PAGE|  CHANGED TO   |   ORIGINAL    |
+ +----+---------------+---------------+
+ |   9|  inmigración  |  immigración  |
+ |   9|    después    |    despues    |
+ |  14|     Santa     |     Sante     |
+ |  22|    físicas    |    fisicas    |
+ |  22|   República   |   Republica   |
+ |  23|   República   |   Republica   |
+ |  23|   República   |   Republica   |
+ |  52|   Córdoba,    |    Córdoba    |
+ |  82|     melt      |     meet      |
+ |  82|    Estero     |    Eestero    |
+ |  91|     wines     |     vines     |
+ |  84|   Sometimes   |   Somtimes    |
+ |  91|    regards    |    regrads    |
+ | 103|     Santa     |     Sante     |
+ | 103|   quebracho   |   quebraco    |
+ | 105|     small     |     mall      |
+ | 105|    alongs     |     along     |
+ | 112|     crops     |     props     |
+ | 113|  quebrachos   |  quegrachas   |
+ | 114|     Santa     |     Sante     |
+ | 136|Forschungsreise|Farschungsreise|
+ | 142|     than      |     that      |
+ | 157|      are      |    are are    |
+ | 167|   campaign    |   compaign    |
+ | 175|    enlarge    |   enlarges    |
+ | 181|     Santa     |     Sente     |
+ | 193|     dairy     |     diary     |
+ | 219|    galera     |    galeria    |
+ | 266|      the      |      he       |
+ | 291|      248      |      24       |
+ | 287|   Hrdlicka    |   Hrdlicker   |
+ | 295|      240      |      740      |
+ |----+---------------+---------------+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC***
+
+
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+<body>
+<div class="pg">
+<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Argentine Republic, by Pierre Denis,
+Translated by Joseph McCabe</h1>
+<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
+and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
+restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+eBook or online at <a
+href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>.  If you are not
+located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this ebook.</p>
+<p>Title: The Argentine Republic</p>
+<p>       Its Development and Progress</p>
+<p>Author: Pierre Denis</p>
+<p>Release Date: November 2, 2014  [eBook #47264]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4 class="pg">E-text prepared by Adrian Mastronardi, Martin Mayer,<br />
+    and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
+    from page images generously made available by<br />
+    Internet Archive<br />
+    (<a href="https://archive.org">https://archive.org</a>)</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      <a href="https://archive.org/details/argentinerepubli00deniuoft">
+      https://archive.org/details/argentinerepubli00deniuoft</a>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+<h1>THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC</h1>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="ad">
+   <p class="a1">BY PIERRE DENIS</p>
+   <p class="a2">BRAZIL</p>
+   <p>
+      Translated, and with an Historical Chapter by <span
+      class="smcap large">Bernard Miall</span>. With a Supplementary
+      Chapter by <span class="smcap large">Dawson A. Vindin</span>,
+      a Map and 36 Illustrations
+   </p>
+   <p class="center"><em>Cloth, 15/- net. Third Impression</em></p>
+   <p>
+      "Altogether the book is full of information, which shows
+      the author to have made a most careful study of the
+      country."&mdash;<cite>Westminster Gazette.</cite>
+   </p>
+   <p class="bt">T. Fisher Unwin Ltd <span class="floatr">London</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div id="frontispiece" class="frontispiece">
+   <a href="images/illus-004.jpg" type="image/jpeg" id="falls_of_yguassu">
+      <img src="images/illus-004.jpg" alt="The Falls of the Yguassu" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE FALLS OF THE YGUASSU</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">
+      Thirteen miles above the confluence with the Paran&aacute;.
+      Like the Paran&aacute; at the Salto Guayra, the river cuts
+      through a layer of basalt intercalated in the red sandstone.
+      The forest of the province of Misiones has a tropical
+      character near the river. The araucarias cover only the higher
+      parts of the tableland.
+   </p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate I.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-004.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+         Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+   <p class="t1">
+      THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC &middot;
+      <span class="t2">ITS DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRESS</span>
+   </p>
+   <p class="t3">
+      <em>By</em> PIERRE DENIS, D.&nbsp;<span class="smcap">es</span>&nbsp;L.
+   </p>
+   <p class="t4">Agr&eacute;g&eacute; d'Histoire et de G&eacute;ographie</p>
+   <p class="t5"><em>Translated by</em> JOSEPH McCABE</p>
+   <p class="t6">T. FISHER UNWIN LTD<br />LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center"><em>First published in English in 1922</em></p>
+<p class="center">(<em>All rights reserved</em>)</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a></h2>
+
+<p>In the following chapters I have endeavoured to indicate the
+essential aspects of colonization in modern Argentina: the conquest
+of the soil by man, the exploitation of its natural resources, the
+development of agriculture and cattle-breeding, and the growth of the
+population and enlargement of the urban centres.</p>
+
+<p>For a new country like Argentina it is not convenient to adopt the
+strictly regional plan which seems to be the best means of giving
+a complete and methodical description of the historic countries of
+western Europe, where it is the only way to keep in close touch with
+the geographical facts. In western Europe each region is really an
+independent unity. It has for ages lived upon its own resources; each
+population-group has its horizon definitely limited; and the complex
+action of the environment upon man, and of man upon the country,
+has proceeded in each district rather on the lines of an isolated
+and impassioned dialogue between the two. It is quite different in
+Argentina. There, many of the facts which we have to record consist in
+an expansion of the population, a spread of methods of exploitation
+from zone to zone of the country, and the influence upon colonization
+of commerce and of the varying needs of the markets of the world.</p>
+
+<p>It may be well to reply in advance to a criticism which my Argentine
+friends are sure to make. They will complain that I have paid no
+attention to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
+
+people of Argentina, the creators of the greatness of the country. It
+is true that I have deliberately refrained from any reference to the
+political and moral life of the Republic, the national character and
+its evolution, the stoicism of the gaucho, the industry of the colonist
+and the merchant, or the patriotism of the Argentinians generally.
+My work is not a study of the Argentine nation, but a geographical
+introduction to such a study.</p>
+
+<p>I began the work during a stay in Argentina which lasted from April
+1912 to August 1914. In the course of these two years I was able to
+visit most parts of the country; and, as the information I gathered
+during my travels is one of my chief sources, I give here a summary of
+my itineraries.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+   <p><em>October-November 1912</em>: Rosario&mdash;Region of the
+   colonies of Santa F&eacute;&mdash;Forestry-industries of the
+   Chaco Santiague&ntilde;o&mdash;Ba&ntilde;ados of the Rio
+   Dulce&mdash;Salta&mdash;Jujuy&mdash;Sierra de la Lumbrera.</p>
+
+   <p><em>November-December 1912</em>: Tucum&aacute;n&mdash;Valley of
+   Tapi&mdash;Santa Maria to the west of Aconcagua&mdash;Cafayate
+   (Valley of Calchaqui).</p>
+
+   <p><em>December 1912-January 1913</em>:
+   Catamarca&mdash;Andalgala&mdash;Valley of
+   Pucara&mdash;C&oacute;rdoba&mdash;Villa Maria.</p>
+
+   <p><em>January-February 1913</em>: Region of the Pampas (Province of
+   Buenos Aires, south of C&oacute;rdoba and of S. Luis, district
+   of the Central Pampa).</p>
+
+   <p><em>March 1913</em>:
+   Corrientes&mdash;Posadas&mdash;Asunci&oacute;n&mdash;Forest-industries
+   of the Chaco of Santa F&eacute;.</p>
+
+   <p><em>August 1913</em>: Region of the Pampas (Province of Buenos
+   Aires).</p>
+
+   <p><em>March 1914</em>: Lake Nahuel Huapi&mdash;Valcheta&mdash;San
+   Antonio&mdash;The Rio Negro.</p>
+
+   <p><em>April 1914</em>: Rioja&mdash;Sierra de los Llanos&mdash;San
+   Juan&mdash;Mendoza.</p>
+
+   <p><em>July 1914</em>: Entre Rios.</p>
+
+   <p>These journeys, by rail or on well-known roads, were not supposed to
+   be for the purpose of exploration
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>
+
+   or discovery. Their one object was to enable me to make a
+   provisional classification of the chief types of country and
+   forms of colonization, and to draw up a methodical programme
+   for more thorough research. The work which I trusted to do in
+   a more leisurely way was, however, suspended in 1914, and,
+   in spite of my very strong desire to do so, I was unable to
+   resume it on the spot in 1919. I have therefore been compelled
+   to publish my first observations, completing them, as well
+   as I could, by a bibliographical study of the country. I
+   have made use of some fragments of a popular work which I
+   began, at the request of the Argentine Commission, for the
+   International Exhibition at San Francisco, of which several
+   chapters were published in my absence by the University of
+   Tucum&aacute;n (Pierre Denis, <cite>Modern Argentina: Chapters of
+   Economic Geography</cite>. Publications of the University during the
+   Centenary of the Congress of Tucum&aacute;n of 1816. Buenos
+   Aires, 1916).<a  id="FNanchor_1_1"
+   href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">1</a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>My knowledge of the publications on Argentina has two conspicuous
+gaps. The first is deliberate. I declined to study at second hand the
+documents and chronicles which are our sources, to the end of the
+eighteenth century, for the history of the various provinces that were
+to form Argentina. Hence the historical data on colonization which
+will be found in the following chapters relate almost entirely to the
+nineteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>The second gap I was, to my great disappointment, unable to
+fill up. A large part of the local publications&mdash;official or
+other&mdash;maps, statistics, etc., never reached Europe, and Buenos
+Aires is the only place where one can make a thorough study of them.
+These publications were available to me until 1914. Since then I have
+been restricted to the resources of the Paris and London libraries,
+which are very scanty; and less has been sent from Argentina since the
+war. I have not the complete statistics up to date.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I trust, however, that this picture of Argentina has much more
+than a retrospective character; that it is not out of date before it
+is published. I may add that no statistics would enable one to solve
+the problem which Argentina in 1920 presents to an observer. Has the
+European War merely retarded the economic evolution of the country,
+or has it given that evolution a new direction? Will or will not the
+relations which Argentina is now resuming with the rest of the world be
+of the same character as the pre-war relations?</p>
+
+<p>The effects of the war upon the life of the country must not all be
+put on the same footing. That some of the exporters to Argentina have
+gained by the war and others lost&mdash;that the share of the United
+States, and even of Japan, has greatly increased&mdash;is a fact that
+may be regarded from the Argentinian point of view as of secondary
+importance. The war has, moreover, had the effect of disorganizing
+marine transport and bringing about a sort of relative isolation which
+is not yet quite over. The reduction in the imports of English coal has
+made the petroleum wells of Rivadavia of greater value to the country.
+It has compelled the Argentinians to make a hurried inventory of their
+natural resources in the way of fuel. Local industries have tried to
+meet the needs of the Argentinian market, where they had no longer to
+bear the competition of European goods. The grave disturbance of prices
+has enabled them to export certain products which had hitherto been
+confined to home markets. The war has, moreover, not interfered with
+the existing streams of export on a large scale from Argentina. The
+Republic continues to send its cereals, meat, hides and wool to Europe;
+and there is no reason to suppose that
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>
+
+the competition of buyers is likely to diminish, or that the
+cultivation of wheat and lucerne must become less profitable.</p>
+
+<p>The two essential effects of the war seem to have been the stopping
+of the stream of immigration and the progressive reduction of the
+support which Europe gave to the work of colonization in the form of
+advances of capital.</p>
+
+<p>From 1914 to 1918 only 272,000 immigrants landed
+at Buenos Aires, while 482,000 emigrants left the
+country. In 1918 the figure of immigration and emigration
+was only 47,000, less than a tenth of what it
+was in a normal year before the war. The withdrawal
+of European capital was felt from the very beginning
+of the war, and it has gone on uninterruptedly, capital
+from North America not being enough to supply the
+deficiency entirely. At the same time the extraordinarily
+favourable balance of trade has led to the storing
+of an ample reserve of capital in the country. Argentina
+has, in a very short time, won a financial independence
+which, in normal conditions, would have
+entailed long years of work and prosperity.</p>
+
+<p>However it may seem, these two facts&mdash;the interruption
+of immigration and the accumulation of capital&mdash;cannot
+be considered independently of each other.
+The inquiry opened by the Social Museum of Argentina
+(<cite>La <del>immigraci&oacute;n</del><ins>inmigraci&oacute;n</ins>
+<del>despues </del><ins>despu&eacute;s </ins>de la guerra</cite>, Museo Social
+Argentino, "Bol. Mensual," viii, 1919, nos. 85-90)
+show that a speedy restoration of immigration is expected
+in the Republic. Certainly it seems clear that the
+political and social insecurity in Europe, the misery
+of the old world, will probably enhance the attractions
+of Argentina. We must remember, however, that the
+stream of emigration from Europe to the Republic in
+the nineteenth, and the beginning of the twentieth,
+century was provoked by a complex combination of
+economic conditions which were closely related to each
+other. High wages in Argentina were connected with
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+
+the high interest on money; that is to say, in other
+words, with the scarcity of capital. The future will
+decide whether immigration, and the rapid progress
+of colonization and production, which characterize
+pre-war Argentina can be adjusted to the policy of
+accumulation of capital to which the war has condemned
+the country.</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></h2>
+
+<ul class="toc">
+   <li><span class="pageno">PAGE</span></li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a>
+      <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></span>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#ILLUSTRATIONS">ILLUSTRATIONS</a>
+      <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></span>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#MAPS">MAPS</a> <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></span>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a><br />
+      THE NATURAL REGIONS OF ARGENTINA
+      <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></span>
+      <p>The physical environment&mdash;Colonization and the natural
+      regions&mdash;The struggle with the Indians&mdash;Argentine
+      unity&mdash;Argentina and the world.</p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a><br />
+      THE OASES OF THE NORTH-WEST<span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></span>
+      <p>The inhabited zones of the Andes in the
+      north-west&mdash;<span lang="es">Valles</span>,
+      <span lang="es">Quebradas</span>, <span
+      lang="es">Puna</span>&mdash;The irrigation of the
+      <span lang="es">valles</span>&mdash;The historic
+      routes&mdash;Convoys of stock&mdash;The breeding of mules
+      and the fairs&mdash;The struggle of the breeders against
+      drought&mdash;The Sierra de los Llanos.</p>
+    </li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a><br />
+      TUCUM&Aacute;N AND MENDOZA <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></span>
+      <p>Tucum&aacute;n and the road to Chile&mdash;The
+      climate and the cultivation of the sugar-cane&mdash;The
+      problem of manual labour&mdash;Irrigation at
+      Mendoza&mdash;Water-rights&mdash;Viticulture&mdash;Protection
+      and the natural conditions.</p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a><br />
+      THE EXPLOITATION OF THE FORESTS
+      <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></span>
+      <p>Manual labour on the <span lang="es">obrajes</span>&mdash;The land of
+      the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> and the agricultural cantons of
+      Corrientes&mdash;The timber-yards of the Chaco and the
+      tannic-acid works of the Paran&aacute;&mdash;The exploitation
+      of the <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span>&mdash;The forestry industry and
+      colonization.</p>
+   </li>
+</ul>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p>
+
+<ul class="toc">
+   <li>
+      <a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a><br />
+      PATAGONIA AND SHEEP-REARING
+      <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></span>
+      <p>The arid tableland and the region of glacial
+      lakes&mdash;The first settlements on the Patagonian
+      coast and the indigenous population&mdash;Extensive
+      breeding&mdash;The use of pasture on the lands of the Rio
+      Negro&mdash;Transhumation.</p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a><br />
+      THE PLAIN OF THE PAMPAS <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></span>
+      <p>The limits of the prairie&mdash;The rains&mdash;The
+      wind and the formation of the clay of the Pampas&mdash;The
+      wind and the contour&mdash;The zones of colonization
+      on the Pampas&mdash;Hunting wild cattle and primitive
+      breeding&mdash;The sheep-farms&mdash;The ranches&mdash;The
+      region of "colonies"&mdash;The region of lucerne,
+      maize, and wheat&mdash;The combination of agriculture
+      and breeding&mdash;The economic mechanism of
+      colonization&mdash;The exchanges between the different zones
+      of the Pampas. </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a><br />
+      ROADS AND RAILWAYS <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></span>
+      <p>Roads on the plain&mdash;The salt road&mdash;The "trade
+      route"&mdash;Transport by ox-waggons&mdash;<span lang="es">Arrieros</span> and
+      <span lang="es">Troperos</span>&mdash;Railways and colonization&mdash;The trade
+      in cereals&mdash;Home traffic and the reorganization of the
+      system. </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a><br />
+      THE RIVER-ROUTES <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_234">234</a></span>
+      <p>The use of the river before steam
+      navigation&mdash;Floods&mdash;The river plain&mdash;The bed
+      of the Paran&aacute; and its changes&mdash;The estuary and
+      its shoals&mdash;Maritime navigation&mdash;The boats on the
+      Paran&aacute;.</p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a><br />
+      THE POPULATION <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_260">260</a></span>
+      <p>The distribution of the population&mdash;The streams of
+      emigration to the interior&mdash;Seasonal migrations&mdash;The
+      historic towns&mdash;The towns of the Pampean
+      region&mdash;Buenos Aires.</p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#BIBLIOGRAPHY">BIBLIOGRAPHY</a>
+      <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_277">277</a></span>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#NOTES">NOTES</a> <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_290">290</a></span>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a> <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_291">291</a></span>
+   </li>
+</ul>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="ILLUSTRATIONS">ILLUSTRATIONS</a></h2>
+
+<ul class="toc">
+   <li>PLATE <span class="pageno">FACING PAGE</span></li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">I. </span>
+         <a href="#falls_of_yguassu">THE FALLS OF THE YGUASSU</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#frontispiece"><em>Frontispiece</em></a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">II.</span>
+         <a href="#punta_vacas">THE ARID ANDES&mdash;PUNTA VACAS,
+            ON THE TRANS-ANDEAN RAILWAY</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#Quebrada_de_Iruya">QUEBRADA DE IRUYA</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">III.</span>
+         <a href="#patagonianandes">THE PATAGONIAN ANDES</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">IV.</span>
+         <a href="#vegetation">VEGETATION OF THE INTERIOR VALLEYS
+            (ANDES OF THE NORTH-WEST)</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#forest">FOREST ON THE OUTER SLOPE OF THE SUB-ANDEAN CHAINS</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">V.</span>
+         <a href="#Dry_Scrub_Central_Chaco">DRY SCRUB OF THE CENTRAL CHACO</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+          <a href="#Marshes_of_the_Eastern_Chaco">MARSHES (ESTEROS OR
+             CA&Ntilde;ADAS) OF THE EASTERN CHACO</a>
+          <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">VI.</span>
+         <a href="#Valle_of_Santa_Maria">THE <span lang="es">VALLE</span>
+            OF SANTA MARIA, NORTH-WEST OF MOUNT ACONCAGUA</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#Oasis_of_Andalgala">THE OASIS OF ANDALGALA</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">VII.</span>
+         <a href="#Oasis_del_Rincon">THE OASIS DEL RINCON, BELOW SAUJIL
+           (ANDALGALA LINE, PROVINCE OF CATAMARCA)</a>
+     </p>
+     <p>
+         <a href="#Monte_at_El_Yeso">THE MONTE AT EL YESO</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">VIII.</span>
+         <a href="#Vineyard_at_San_Juan">A VINEYARD AT SAN JUAN</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#Vineyard_at_Mendoza">A VINEYARD AT MENDOZA</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+</ul>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p>
+
+<ul class="toc">
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">IX.</span>
+         <a href="#Land_of_the_Banados">THE LAND OF THE BA&Ntilde;ADOS</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#Loreto_Farming_by_Inundation">LORETO: FARMING BY INUNDATION</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">X.</span>
+         <a href="#LORETO_THE_RIO_PINTO_IN_THE_DRY_SEASON">LORETO:
+            THE RIO PINTO IN THE DRY SEASON</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#La_Banda">LA BANDA (SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO)</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">XI.</span>
+         <a href="#Quebracho_Trunks">QUEBRACHO TRUNKS LYING AT THE STATIONS</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_116">116</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">XII.</span>
+         <a href="#Yoke_of_Creole_Oxen">YOKE OF CREOLE OXEN USED
+            FOR THE TRANSPORT OF TIMBER ON THE EASTERN CHACO, OR
+            CHACO OF <del>SANTE </del><ins>SANTA </ins>F&Eacute;</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#Works_at_Tartagal">WORKS AT TARTAGAL (EASTERN CHACO)
+            FOR MAKING TANNIC ACID</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum"> XIII.</span>
+         <a href="#Volcano_Puntiagudo">THE VOLCANO PUNTIAGUDO</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#Cercas_on_the_Limay">CERCAS ON THE LIMAY (RISING IN
+            LAKE NAHUEL HUAPI), NEAR THE CONFLUENCE OF THE TRAFUL</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">XIV.</span>
+         <a href="#Patagonian_Tableland">THE PATAGONIAN TABLELAND (NEUQUEN)</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">XV.</span>
+         <a href="#Pampean_Plain">THE PAMPEAN PLAIN&mdash;TRES ARROYES
+           (BUENOS AIRES PRAIRIE BETWEEN THE SIERRA DE TANDIL AND THE
+           SIERRA DE LA VENTANA)</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#Toay_on_the_Central_Pampa"> TOAY, ON THE CENTRAL
+            PAMPA (590 FEET)</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_166">166</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+          <span class="romnum">XVI.</span>
+          <a href="#Rio_Bamba">THE PAMPEAN PLAIN&mdash;THE RIO BAMBA
+            (IN THE SOUTH OF THE C&Oacute;RDOBA PROVINCE, 500 FEET
+            ABOVE SEA-LEVEL)</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#Buena_Esperanza">BUENA ESPERANZA (SAN LUIS PROVINCE,
+            1,166 FEET ELEVATION)</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_182">182</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+</ul>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<ul class="toc">
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">XVII.</span>
+         <a href="#Buena_Esperanza2">THE PAMPEAN PLAIN&mdash;BUENA
+            ESPERANZA (SAN LUIS PROVINCE)</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#Junin">JUNIN (150 MILES WEST OF BUENOS AIRES,
+            330 FEET ELEVATION)</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_194">194</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">XVIII.</span>
+         <a href="#An_Ox_Wagon">AN OX WAGON</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#Mail_Coach">THE MAIL COACH</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_210">210</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">XIX.</span>
+         <a href="#Threshing_on_the_Pampa">THRESHING ON THE PAMPA</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#Sacks_of_Wheat">SACKS OF WHEAT READY FOR LOADING
+            ON THE RAILWAY</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_220">220</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">XX.</span>
+         <a href="#Yguassu_and_the_Parana">CONFLUENCE OF THE YGUASSU
+            AND THE PARAN&Aacute;</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_236">236</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">XXI.</span>
+         <a href="#The_Parana_at_Corrientes">THE PARAN&Aacute; AT CORRIENTES</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#The_barranca_at_Parana">THE BARRANCA AT PARAN&Aacute;
+            (ENTRE RIOS), LEFT BANK</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">XXII.</span>
+         <a href="#Parana_Above_the_Estuary">THE PARAN&Aacute; ABOVE THE ESTUARY</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_250">250</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">XXIII.</span>
+         <a href="#Drying_Hides">THE OLDER INDUSTRIES OF THE PAMPA&mdash;DRYING
+            HIDES</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#Drying_Salt_Meat">DRYING SALT MEAT</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">XXIV.</span>
+         <a href="#Herd_of_Creole_Cattle">A HERD OF CREOLE CATTLE</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+         <a href="#Herd_of_Durham_Cattle">A HERD OF DURHAM CATTLE</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_268">268</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+</ul>
+
+<h2><a  id="MAPS">MAPS</a></h2>
+
+<ul class="toc">
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">I.</span>
+         <a href="#map1">ARGENTINA: THE NATURAL REGIONS</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">II.</span>
+         <a href="#Irrigation_in_the_West"> IRRIGATION IN THE WEST
+            AND NORTH-WEST OF ARGENTINA</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">III.</span>
+         <a href="#Cattle-breeding_Areas">THE CATTLE-BREEDING AREAS</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_188">188</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">IV.</span>
+         <a href="#Density_of_the_Maize_Crop">DENSITY OF THE MAIZE CROP</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_198">198</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">V.</span>
+         <a href="#Density_of_the_Wheat_Crop">DENSITY OF THE WHEAT CROP</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">VI.</span>
+         <a href="#Map_VI">THE RAILWAYS</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_226">226</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+   <li>
+      <p>
+         <span class="romnum">VII.</span>
+         <a href="#Map_VII">ESTUARY OF THE RIO DE LA PLATA</a>
+         <span class="pageno"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></span>
+      </p>
+   </li>
+</ul>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a><br />
+<a  id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="t1 center">The Argentine Republic</p>
+
+<h2><a  id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a><br />
+THE NATURAL REGIONS OF ARGENTINA</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">
+   <p>The physical environment&mdash;Colonization and the natural
+   regions&mdash;The struggle with the Indians&mdash;Argentine
+   unity&mdash;Argentina and the world.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The South-American continent is divided, from west to east, into
+three great zones. The lofty chains of the Andes stretch along the
+Pacific coast; at the foot of these are immense alluvial tablelands;
+further east are the level plains of the Atlantic coast. The eastern
+zone, the tablelands, ends southward at the mouth of the Rio de la
+Plata. It enters Argentine territory only in the north-east corner of
+the province of Misiones. Below 35&deg; S. lat. the alluvial plains
+open freely upon the ocean. The position of Buenos Aires, in the
+threshold of the plain of the Pampas, is somewhat like that of Chicago
+at the beginning of the prairies; if you imagine the north-eastern
+States and eastern Canada struck off the map, and the sea penetrating
+inland as far as the Lakes.</p>
+
+<p>The three essential aspects of Argentine scenery are mountain,
+plain, and river. The Paran&aacute;, indeed, is a whole natural region
+in itself, with its arms and its islands, and the ever-changing low
+plain over which its floods spread, as one sees it from the top of the
+clay <span lang="es">barrancas</span> (cliffs); though it is so broad
+that one cannot see the opposite bank. It wanders over the plain like
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+
+a foreigner, an emissary from tropical America; for it has a flora of
+its own and tepid waters which often cause a fog over the estuary
+where they mingle with the waters of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>From the general mass of the Argentine plains, we must set apart the
+region between the Paran&aacute; and the Uruguay, which Argentinians
+call "Mesopotamia." While &aelig;olian clays form the soil of the Pampa
+on the right bank of the Paran&aacute;, fluvial deposits&mdash;sands
+and gravel, in which it is impossible to distinguish the contribution
+of the Uruguay from that of the Paran&aacute;&mdash;cover a great part
+of Mesopotamia. The earlier beds of the rivers may be traced here,
+not only by the alluvial deposits they have left, but by the lagoons
+which still mark their course. Running waters have shaped the landscape
+and scooped out a system of secondary valleys, and these reflect the
+history of the river itself and the variations of base-level which led
+to alternate periods of erosion and deposit.</p>
+
+<p>On the right bank, on the contrary, the Paran&aacute; has no
+tributaries of any importance except at the extreme north of the
+country. The scarcity of running water is, in fact, one of the
+characteristic features of the plain of the Pampas. Except in the
+east, along the Paran&aacute;, where a network of permanent streams
+develops on a comparatively impermeable and fairly humid soil, and
+except at the foot of the mountains, where irregular torrents and
+streams, swollen after a storm and scanty in the dry season, disappear,
+as a rule, within sight of the hills that gave them birth, there is
+no superficial organized drainage. As a whole, the alluvial covering
+of the Pampas, the upper beds of which are cut through by the <span
+lang="es">barranca</span> of the Paran&aacute;, is not of river origin;
+it was brought and distributed by the wind, which took the place of
+running water. The clay of the Pampas is a present from the winds. The
+increasing dryness of the climate toward the west, as one approaches
+the Cordillera,
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>
+
+explains the feebleness of the erosion by water and the extent of the
+erosion by wind.</p>
+
+<p>It is aridity, too, that gives their particular character to the
+Argentine Andes. They have little trace of perpetual snow, the lower
+limit of which approaches to within about four miles of the Bolivian
+frontier. There are no glaciers there; they reappear in the south
+only in the latitude of San Juan and Mendoza, on the flanks of the
+three giants of the southern Cordillera, Mercedario, Aconcagua, and
+Tupungato. Below the small number of steep furrows which the glaciers
+have carved, and usually up to the top of the mountain, there spreads
+what has been called, very expressively, "the zone of rubbish." In this
+the winter's snows, fretted by the sun in that clear atmosphere, form
+those multitudes of narrow pyramids which the Argentinians compare to
+processions of white-robed pilgrims. The underlying rock is rarely
+visible. It is covered with a thick cloak of rubbish, split off by the
+frost, which the slow-moving waters released by the melting of the
+snows heap up at the foot of the slopes, at the bottom of depressions.
+The half-buried summits are succeeded by basins of accumulation. In
+the valleys round the mountains there are immense beds of detritic,
+half-rounded shingle. The torrents have cut their way through the
+alluvial mass, and they flow at the foot of high terraces which mark
+the sites of former valleys.</p>
+
+<p>The spread of colonization toward the south during the last
+generation has extended Argentine territory beyond the limits of
+these classic scenes. The Patagonian Andes differ profoundly from the
+Northern Andes; and the change is not more sudden than that of the
+climate, to which it is due. Going toward the south, one passes, almost
+without a break, from the Atlas Mountains to Scandinavia. The moisture
+increases in proportion as the mean temperature falls. The mountains
+are covered with snow, and the glaciers
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+
+lengthen. In one part of Patagonia they still form a continuous cap,
+an "inland sea," concealing the rock over the entire central zone
+of the Cordillera; though they are only the shrunken remainder of a
+glacial cap which was once far more extensive. Here ice was the chief
+sculptor of the scenery. It has made elevated tablelands, broadened
+the deep valleys which cut the flank of the mountain, polished their
+sides, and deposited at the point where they open out the amphitheatres
+of the moraines, behind which the waters have accumulated and formed
+lakes; and these lakes stretch back like fiords to the heart of the
+Cordillera, and are the pride of Patagonia.</p>
+
+<p>The waters of these moisture-laden mountains have, to the east,
+carved out the Patagonian tableland. It is crossed by broad and boldly
+cut valleys, several of which, abandoned by the rivers which scoured
+them, are now dead valleys. The rubbish from the wearing down of the
+mountains and the glacial moraine has been spread over the whole face
+of the tableland in the form of beds of gravel. But the rivers that
+rise in the Andes cross a country of increasing aridity as they descend
+eastward. There is no tributary to add to their volume. There is none
+of that softening of lines, of that idle flow of a meandering stream
+which characterizes the final stage of a river in a moist district.
+Their inclination remains steep, and their waters continue to plough up
+coarse sediment; and everywhere, up to the fringes of the valleys, the
+fluting of the sandstone and steepness of the cliffs bear witness, like
+the edges of the <span lang="es">hamadas</span> of the Sahara, to some
+other form of erosion than that effected by running water&mdash;the
+influence on the country of the westerly winds. On the tableland the
+wind polishes the rounded pebbles, makes facets on them, and gives them
+the colouring of the desert.</p>
+
+<p>Thus from the north to the south of Argentina there is a complete
+contrast in the way in which the
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
+
+controlling forces of the landscape are distributed. In the north the
+moist winds come from the east; the rains lessen as they pass westward.
+The clays, capped with black soil, of Buenos Aires are &aelig;olian
+deposits, brought by the wind from the desolate steppes which close the
+Pampa to the west, fixed and transformed by the vegetation of a moister
+region. In the south, on the contrary, the rains come from the Pacific,
+and the fluvio-glacial alluvial beds of the Patagonian tableland are
+evidence of copious reserves of moisture in the Andes; but the arid
+climate in which the waters have left them has made its mark upon their
+surface.</p>
+
+<p>This diversity of the physical environment is only fully brought
+out by colonization. It is colonization, the efforts and attempts
+of human industry to adjust agricultural or pastoral practices to
+the natural conditions, which enable us to assign the limits of the
+natural regions. In this differentiation it is essential to notice the
+historical element.</p>
+
+<p>The introduction of new crops gives a geographical meaning, which
+had hitherto escaped observation, to climatological limits such, for
+instance, as the line of 400 millimetres of rainfall which is the
+western frontier of the region of cereals. These limits of crops remain
+uncertain for a time, then experience and tradition gradually fix them.
+They always keep a certain elasticity, however, advancing or receding
+according as the market for the particular produce is favourable or
+unfavourable.</p>
+
+<p>Improvement in the methods of exploiting the soil&mdash;the adoption
+of better agricultural machinery, dry farming, etc.&mdash;usually leads
+to the extension of the sphere of a particular type of colonization, as
+it enables this type to overcome some natural obstacle which restricted
+its expansion. Sometimes, however, it brings to light a new obstacle
+and creates a new geographical limit.</p>
+
+<p>To this category belongs the northern limit of the
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+
+belt of selective breeding, which slants across the plain of the
+Pampas from the Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba to the Paran&aacute;.
+The more or less degenerate cattle of the natives had spread over
+the whole of the South American continent, except the tropical
+forests, since the seventeenth century, adapting themselves easily
+to very different climatic conditions, from the Venezuelan <span
+lang="es">llanos</span> to the <span lang="es">sertao</span> of
+Bah&iacute;a and the plains of Argentina. But pedigree animals, more
+valuable and more delicate, introduced on to the Pampas fifty years
+ago, are not able to resist the malady caused by a parasite called the
+<span lang="es">garrapate</span>. Hence the southern limit of the <span
+lang="es">garrapate</span> suddenly became a most important element in
+the economic life of the Republic. It would lose its importance if we
+discovered a serum that would give the animals immunity against Texas
+fever.</p>
+
+<p>The range of one and the same cause varies infinitely with the
+circumstances. The limit of the prairie, as of the scrub (<span
+lang="es">monte</span>) which surrounds it on every side, and keeps it
+at a distance of 320 to 440 miles from Buenos Aires, had no decisive
+influence on primitive colonization. Whether covered with grasses or
+brushwood, the plain is equally suitable for extensive breeding. The
+ranches are the same on both sides of the border. At the end of the
+nineteenth century, however, when the area of cultivation increased,
+the prairie was at once found to be superior. The labour required
+for clearing the brushwood before the plough can work is enough to
+divert from it, at least for some time, the stream of agricultural
+colonization. While the population of the <span lang="es">monte</span>,
+wood-cutters and breeders, are indigenous, the prairie has absorbed
+the immigrants from Europe, and the border of the scrub has become
+in many places an ethnographical frontier.<a
+id="FNanchor_2_2" href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">2</a></p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a href="images/illus-025a.jpg" id="punta_vacas" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-025a.jpg" alt="Punta Vacas" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE ARID ANDES. PUNTA VACAS, ON THE TRANS-ANDEAN RAILWAY.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">The bottom of the valley is 8,000 feet
+   above sea-level; the sides buried under rubbish. It is
+   especially in this latitude, above a height of 10,600 feet, in
+   the zone where the moisture falls as snow even in summer, that
+   the rock is everywhere buried under its own rubbish. This is
+   Keidel's <em>Schuttzone</em>. It extends to the foot of the
+   Alpine peaks, carved by glaciers.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Moody, Buenos Aires.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-025a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+         Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a href="images/illus-025b.jpg" id="Quebrada_de_Iruya"
+       type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-025b.jpg" alt="Quebrada de Iruya" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">QUEBRADA DE IRUYA.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Eastern slope of the Sierra de Santa
+   Victoria, 65 miles from the Bolivian frontier, in the zone of
+   summer rain. The valleys have been filled with an enormous
+   mass of torrential alluvia. The water afterwards made a course
+   through the mobile deposits.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Keidel, Mines Division.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate II.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-025b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+         Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The changes which man has made in the floral landscape are, as a
+rule, slight. The limits of the forest zone have scarcely been altered.
+The beech forest of the southern Andes seems to be less tenacious than
+the <span lang="es">monte</span> which surrounds the Pampa, and it has
+been ravaged by fire along the whole edge of the southern steppe at
+37&deg; S. lat. The work of man is generally confined to changing the
+primitive complexion of the natural formations, without altering their
+general appearance. Thus valuable essences are disappearing from the
+forest and the scrub, the larch and the cypress from the district of
+the Patagonian Lakes, and the red <span lang="es">quebracho</span> from
+Santiago del Estero.</p>
+
+<p>A change that is scarcely visible, but is of considerable economic
+importance, thus takes place in the vegetation of the prairie owing
+to the presence of herds. The <span lang="es">pasto fuerte</span>,
+composed of rough grasses, which is the natural vegetation, is being
+succeeded by the <span lang="es">pasto dulce</span>, in which annual
+species, soft grasses, leguminous plants, etc., predominate. It is
+mainly composed of plants of European origin. The difference between
+the <span lang="es">pasto dulce</span> and the <span lang="es">pasto
+fuerte</span> or <span lang="es">duro</span> is so important for the
+farmer that there is hardly a single work on Argentina which does
+not dwell on it. The idea, however, that the <span lang="es">pasto
+dulce</span> has advanced steadily westward, starting from the vicinity
+of Buenos Aires and constantly enlarging its domain, is not strictly
+accurate. In 1895 Holmberg<a  id="FNanchor_3_3"
+href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> traced the western limit of
+the zone of the <span lang="es">pasto dulce</span> through Pergamino,
+Junin, Bragado, Azul, Ayacucho, and Mar Chiquita. When we compare this
+with earlier observations, we see that in the course of the nineteenth
+century the zone of the <span lang="es">pasto dulce</span> has extended
+by about a hundred miles on the southern Pampa. When Darwin travelled
+from Bah&iacute;a Blanca to Buenos Aires in 1833, he found no <span
+lang="es">pasto dulce</span> except round Monte, on the right bank of
+the Salado. Further north, on the other
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+
+hand, the extent of the <span lang="es">pasto dulce</span> does not
+seem to have altered appreciably. The expedition to the Salt Lakes in
+1778 found that there were already thistles beyond the line of the
+ranches, and these are characteristic of the <span lang="es">pasto
+dulce</span> in the Chivilcoy region on the Salado, which was then
+abandoned to herds of wild cattle. "There was thistle enough to cook,"
+says the journal of the expedition. The difference is connected
+with the history of colonization in the province of Buenos Aires,
+where ground was gained only toward the south between 1800 and 1875.
+Since 1895 the <span lang="es">pasto duro</span> has been eliminated
+by agriculture rather than by the feet of the herds. Hence the
+advance of the <span lang="es">pasto dulce</span> is no longer in a
+continuous line moving toward the west. It is sporadic, depending
+upon the construction of new railways which open up the plain to the
+plough.<a  id="FNanchor_4_4" href="#Footnote_4_4"
+class="fnanchor">4</a></p>
+
+<p>Colonization does more than emphasize the individuality of each
+of the natural regions. It connects together different features, and
+blends them in a complex vital organism which goes on evolving and
+renewing itself.</p>
+
+<p>The occupation of the whole of the soil of Argentina by white
+colonists is quite a recent event. The second half of the nineteenth
+century was characterized by a rapid territorial expansion, and over
+more than half the country the expression "new land" must be taken
+literally. It is only one generation since it was taken from the
+Indians. There can be no question here of tracing the history of the
+relations between the white population and the free Indians of the
+Chaco and the Pampa. The most formidable of these were, in the north,
+the Abipones and the Tobas. On the Pampa, the foes of the colonists
+were Indians of Araucanian descent, Ranqueles, Pehuenches, etc., who
+came down from the mountains and took to horses. At the close of the
+eighteenth century the frontier of Buenos Aires was on the nearer
+side of the Salado, and was bordered on the south-east and north-west
+by the fortresses of Chascomus, Monte, Lobos, Navarro, Areco, Salto,
+Rojas, and Melincue. The proposal of D'Azara to extend it as far as
+the Salado was not carried out, and it was not until 1828 that there
+was a fresh advance westward.<a  id="FNanchor_5_5"
+href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">5</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The new frontier, which would not be altered until 1875, passed
+by Veinte Cinco de Mayo and Blanca Grande, at the north-western
+extremity of the Sierra de Tandil. It included the entire region which
+lies between the Sierra de Tandil and the lower Salado, where the
+village of Tandil had been established in 1823. In addition, a line of
+forts stretched from Blanca Grande in the south-west to Bah&iacute;a
+Blanca. The expedition sent in search of a port south of the mouth
+of the Plata had not found any nearer site that was suitable. But
+Bah&iacute;a Blanca was to remain an isolated advance post until 1880,
+sharply separated from both the colonized zone of the Pampas and the
+establishments on the Patagonian coast.</p>
+
+<p>While the cultivated area was thus growing toward the south, it was
+being reduced in the north of the province of Buenos Aires and the
+south of C&oacute;rdoba. The lands of the lower Rio Cuarto were not
+occupied. About 1860 (Martin de Moussy) the farthest establishments
+in this sector were S. Jos&eacute; de la Esquina and Saladillo on the
+Tercero. The road to Chile by the Rio Cuarto, Achiras, and San Luis
+was threatened. The advance of colonization in this zone was at first
+in the west to Villa Mercedes on the Rio Quinto. The line of the Rio
+Cuarto by Carlota was reoccupied, and before 1875 the frontier had been
+pushed back to the Rio Quinto, where it joined the forts of southern
+Buenos Aires by way of Sarmiento, Gainza, and Lavalle.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At last, in 1878, General Roca abandoned the classical methods
+of fighting the Indians, and took the offensive. He deprived the
+Indians of their refuges to the south of San Luis and the Central
+Pampa, and threw them back toward the desert. The Argentine troops
+followed in their steps as far as the Andes and the Rio Negro.
+There are to-day few traces in the immense territory that was won
+of the indigenous population. Its extreme mobility had masked its
+numerical inferiority.<a  id="FNanchor_6_6"
+href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">6</a></p>
+
+<p>The history of the northern frontier is much the same. At the
+end of the eighteenth century the Spanish outposts ran along the
+course of the Salado. To the north of Santa F&eacute;, at Sunchales,
+Soledad, and San Javier, they protected the direct route from Santa
+F&eacute; to Santiago del Estero. These outposts were abandoned during
+the revolutionary period, and the Indians advanced as far as the
+suburbs of Santa F&eacute;. The roads both to Santiago and, by the
+Quebracho Herrado, to C&oacute;rdoba were cut.<a
+id="FNanchor_7_7" href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> Urquiza
+reorganized the Santa F&eacute; frontier, first as far as San Javier,
+then below 29&deg; S. lat. between Arroyo del Rey on the Paran&aacute;
+and Tostado on the Salado. The expedition of 1884 brought the Argentine
+army as far as the Bermejo, and broke the resistance of the Tobas. The
+forts which, more to the north, guarded the province of Salta, on the
+further side of the Sierras de la Lumbrera and Santa Barbara, had been
+dismantled at the beginning of the nineteenth century, as the tribes
+in this part of the Chaco were not hostile.<a
+id="FNanchor_8_8" href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">8</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The memory of the fights with the Indians is so completely
+blotted out to-day, and the menace of invasion by the tribes has been
+so rapidly extinguished, that it is difficult to realize fully the
+profound influence they once had on colonization. The line of forts
+was a frail barrier that was constantly broken through. The Indians
+of the Pampa stole cattle from the ranches of Buenos Aires, and sold
+them in Chile. Colonel Garcia calculates in 1816 that about 40,000
+animals were stolen every year.<a  id="FNanchor_9_9"
+href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> Colonel Roca gives the
+same figure in 1876. The Pampa put no natural difficulties in the
+way of the movements of the Indians, no points which might serve as
+bases for the frontier. D. Pedro Pablo Pabon points out that the
+proximity of the Sierra, instead of giving protection to outposts in
+the Tandil region, would be an additional source of insecurity, as it
+increased the difficulty of keeping watch. In the north the Indian
+incursions followed the clearings in the scrub, avoiding the dense and
+impenetrable parts. The lagoon of Mar Chiquita, to the west of Santa
+F&eacute;, was a valuable rampart, in the shelter of which a fairly
+large population had established itself round Concepci&oacute;n del
+Tio.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The enlargements of the frontier were sometimes due to expansive
+movements of colonization, the breeders occupying new land beyond the
+line of forts and demanding protection, and sometimes to the arbitrary
+action of a Government which was eager to extend its territory, though
+it was still without the means of exploiting it. Roca has well shown
+the defects of this system of premature military occupation. "To go
+far away from the populated districts in acquiring new territory
+is, in my opinion, only an aggravation of the inconveniences of
+defensive war, and it places a desert between the new lines and the
+settled regions.... Invasions occur at once."<a
+id="FNanchor_10_10" href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">10</a>
+We should therefore be likely to make serious mistakes if we were to
+identify the history of colonization with that of military occupation.
+Moreover, the garrisons of the forts did not take a very active part
+in the exploitation of the soil. The plan which D'Azara proposed, of
+making <span lang="es">blandengues</span> (lancers) colonists and
+rooting them to the soil by distributing it amongst them, seems to have
+been purely Utopian. His description of the frontier shows clearly
+how slight a hold the early colonization had on the Pampa, where the
+only relatively industrious element was represented by the groups of
+civilians (<span lang="es">paisanos</span>) who gathered about the
+works and moats of the forts. It was different on the Santiago del
+Estero frontier, where there was agriculture as well as breeding.
+Here the fort was identical with the village, and each soldier had
+his plot of wheat, maize, or water-melons.<a
+id="FNanchor_11_11" href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">11</a></p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a href="images/illus-033.png" type="image/png" id="map1">
+      <img src="images/illus-033.png" alt="Map" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">MAP I.&mdash;ARGENTINA. THE NATURAL REGIONS.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">The map shows the distribution of the
+   natural regions&mdash;the dry Andes in the north-west, with
+   irrigated cultivation; the monte, or brush, which is still
+   used for extensive breeding; and the Pampa, with its great
+   areas of cereals and lucerne. The line marking the frontier of
+   1875 shows the speed at which colonization has developed in
+   the western half of the plain of the Pampas. The only regions
+   not given on the map are the plateau of Misiones, with its
+   tropical forests, and the wet Andes of Patagonia.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-033.png" type="image/png">Click
+      to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The provinces which were to combine in forming the Argentine
+Republic had no economic unity. They were really two countries, two
+separate worlds, the coast regions and the mountain regions (<span
+lang="es">de arriba</span>), joined together, but not blended, by
+the main road from Buenos Aires to Peru, by way of C&oacute;rdoba,
+Tucum&aacute;n, and Salta. They represented two different branches of
+Spanish colonization. "Two human streams," says Mitre, "contributed
+to the peopling of the vice-royalty.... The first came directly from
+Spain, the mother country. It occupied and peopled
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+
+the banks in the basin of the Rio de la Plata, in the name of the right
+of discovery and conquest, and fertilized them by its labour. The other
+stream came from the ancient empire of the Incas, already subdued by
+the Spanish armies. This spread toward the interior of the country as
+it passed from the Pacific to the Atlantic, occupied the land in virtue
+of the same rights, and exploited it by means of a feudal system....
+The same year, 1535, saw the foundation of the two towns, Buenos
+Aires and Lima, and was the centre of these two cycles of discoveries
+and conquests. Thirty-eight years later, in the same year, 1573, the
+Conquistadores who came from Peru founded the town of C&oacute;rdoba,
+two hundred miles away from the Paran&aacute;, while those who came
+from the Rio de la Plata founded the town of Santa F&eacute; on the
+banks of that river."<a  id="FNanchor_12_12"
+href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">12</a></p>
+
+<p>Tucum&aacute;n and Salta were established by conquerors from Peru,
+while San Juan and Mendoza were built by the Chilean Spaniards. The
+line of demarcation between the two zones of colonization crosses the
+immense desert plains of the interior, not the elevated tablelands of
+the Andes.</p>
+
+<p>The two types of Argentinians differed in every respect, in blood
+as well as in environment. The indigenous race, which was eliminated
+on the coast, mingled intimately with the conquering race in the
+interior.</p>
+
+<p>The establishments on the Rio de la Plata had originally been
+merely stages on the road to Peru, and had no value of themselves. The
+elevated tablelands of the Andes long remained the economic centre of
+Spanish America, and the provinces of the interior, which sold them
+cattle and mules, depended very closely upon them. The end of the
+eighteenth century was marked by more rapid progress in the region of
+the Pampas. The vice-royalty of La Plata was created.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Freedom of trade was secured between Buenos Aires and the Spanish
+ports. The export of hides increased. The influence of Buenos
+Aires spread over the interior and, in spite of the C&oacute;rdoba
+tariff, reached the regions of the north-west. "The creation of
+the vice-royalty," says Dean Funes, "and the new direction taken
+by commerce had the effect that Buenos Aires became the centre
+of considerable and important business."<a
+id="FNanchor_13_13" href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">13</a></p>
+
+<p>This commercial development, which seemed destined to bring closer
+together the two halves of Argentinian territory, was interrupted
+in the first half of the nineteenth century. This did not, however,
+break the connections between the provinces to the north-west of the
+tableland and those on the Pacific slope, and indeed, they became
+more varied and more binding. Packs of mules, carrying the ore of
+San Juan and La Rioja to the foundries of the Chilean side, added
+life to the Cordillera. When Chile, transformed into an agricultural
+country, could not meet its own demand for cattle, the oases of the
+Argentine side were sown with lucerne for fattening the cattle which
+were to cross the mountains. The provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, La
+Rioja, Catamarca, Tucum&aacute;n, and Salta were held within the orbit
+of the Andes districts.<a  id="FNanchor_14_14"
+href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> There are historical
+reasons for this set-back to the influence of Buenos Aires. The wars
+of the revolutionary period and the conflicts between the Buenos Aires
+Government and the maritime powers checked the commercial enterprise
+on the banks of the Plata. This political isolation of the province of
+Buenos Aires, under the Rosas Government, lasted until 1853. Poncel
+gives us statistics of the imports of Catamarca which show the great
+importance of this date in the history of Argentine commerce:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+
+<table summary="imports to Catamarca">
+   <tr>
+      <td></td><th>1850</th><th>1851</th><th>1852</th><th>1853</th><th>1854</th><td></td>
+   </tr>
+   <tr><td colspan="7">Imports into the Province of Catamarca:</td></tr>
+   <tr>
+      <td>From the Pacific across the Cordillera (in millions of piastres)</td>
+      <td>72</td>
+      <td>50</td>
+      <td>71</td>
+      <td>40</td>
+      <td>12</td>
+      <td></td>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+      <td>From the Atlantic (Buenos Aires or Rosario)</td>
+      <td>11</td>
+      <td>7</td>
+      <td>20</td>
+      <td>64</td>
+      <td>116</td>
+      <td>
+         <a  id="FNanchor_15_15" href="#Footnote_15_15"
+         class="fnanchor">15</a>
+      </td>
+   </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>In 1854-5 the Cordillera route definitely ceased to be of commercial
+importance to Catamarca, and it was afterwards used merely for the
+export of cattle.</p>
+
+<p>But the attraction of Buenos Aires after 1853 was not merely due to
+its commercial life and its intermediate position between the provinces
+of the interior and Europe. It was chiefly based upon the economic
+development of the region of the Pampas, which began about this date,
+and altered the balance between the two halves of Argentina. The
+exploitation of the Pampa, the improvement in breeding methods, and the
+introduction and expansion of agriculture on the plain of the Pampa,
+which fill all publications on modern Argentina, are in themselves
+one of the great events in the economic history of the nineteenth
+century. They had also an indirect but profound influence upon the
+life of other parts of Argentina. The consuming capacity of the Pampa
+increased simultaneously with its wealth and population. It absorbed
+the products of the neighbouring provinces and in turn made customers
+of them, distributing amongst them, according to the services they
+rendered, part of the gold it obtained from beyond the Atlantic. One
+after the other the provinces lost the relations which had hitherto
+connected them with foreign lands. There was the same development all
+over the zone of cereals and lucerne&mdash;the direction of the stream
+of commerce
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>
+
+was reversed. In some places, as at Tucum&aacute;n and Mendoza the
+change was accomplished a generation ago. In other places, as at Salta
+and San Juan, it is still going on. In yet other places, the more
+remote valleys, like Jachal and Santa Maria, it will occur in the near
+future. By a singular anomaly the Far West of North America, which
+sprang up half a century ago, tends to withdraw more and more from the
+influence of the eastern States, which provided it with capital and
+immigrants, while the Far West of Argentina, which is just as old as
+the east and by no means a creation of the east, since it developed in
+isolation and freedom, and was already adult and rich when they came
+into contact, has nevertheless fallen into complete dependence upon the
+east in the course of a few years.</p>
+
+<p>The life of the whole country depended upon the great colonization
+movement which transformed the plain of the Pampas. This brought about
+an economic unity which was at once reflected in the political world.
+The railway from Buenos Aires reached Tucum&aacute;n before 1880;
+Mendoza, San Juan, Salta, and Catamarca before 1890; and La Rioja
+before 1900. The establishment of closer economic relations between the
+coast and the provinces of the interior has nearly always inaugurated a
+period of great prosperity for the latter. In every case the influence
+of Buenos Aires vitalized them, put an end to their slumbers, and made
+them rich.</p>
+
+<p>Not only did the coast take for itself the products of the western
+provinces, which had hitherto found their way to other markets, but new
+centres of production had to be created to meet its needs. The forests
+of the Chaco received a great influx of wood-cutters, to provide the
+sleepers for the railways. The valley of the Rio Negro was planted
+with vines, to provide the wines of the colonies in the district of
+Bah&iacute;a Blanca. The attraction of the Pampa was felt as far as the
+frontiers. Paraguay competed with Corrientes in
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+
+the supply of tobacco and oranges; with Misiones in the supply of <span
+lang="es">yerba mat&eacute;</span>. Each district chose the particular
+crop which was best suited to its climate, in order to secure the
+highest possible advantage from its relations with Buenos Aires.</p>
+
+<p>The two most brilliant satellites of the Pampa, the most important
+productive centres of the interior, are Tucum&aacute;n and Mendoza. All
+the other important towns of Argentina belong themselves to the region
+of the Pampas. Tucum&aacute;n and Mendoza, which live by supplying the
+Pampa with sugar and wine, have become in turn secondary centres of
+attraction. They are a sort of regional capitals, and they have their
+own spheres of economic influence. A network of commercial streams
+has developed about them, and this has led to the formation of new
+roads. These lines of local interest are easily recognized on a map
+of the railways, where one sees them superimposed upon the regular
+fan of lines which converges toward Buenos Aires. La Rioja provides
+the props for the vines of San Juan and Mendoza. From the north of
+C&oacute;rdoba to Salta, a distance of about 250 miles, the wood is
+cut for the fuel of the sugar-works of Tucum&aacute;n. Santiago dries
+the fodder for its troops of mules. The prairies of Catamarca, which
+once fattened the cattle that were intended for Chile, and often came
+even from Tucum&aacute;n, now sell their beasts to the butchers of
+Tucum&aacute;n. The wines of San Juan find their best customers at
+Tucum&aacute;n. Even the nearest portions of the plain of the Pampas,
+to the north-east of Santa F&eacute; and the south of San Luis, supply
+maize and wheat to Tucum&aacute;n and Mendoza, instead of sending them
+to the ports for export.</p>
+
+<p>While Argentina lives on the Pampa, the Pampa lives on export. It
+has been developed through the inflow of European immigrants, and
+Europe pays by sending its manufactured products and capital. Except as
+regards emigration, the United States had,
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+
+before the war, much the same relation to Argentina as the countries
+of Western Europe. Thus the economic prosperity of the Republic binds
+it more and more closely to the life of the whole world. Its position
+in the temperate zone of South America had retarded its entrance
+into world-commerce, and this explains the slowness with which its
+colonization proceeded at first. Its climate and products were too
+similar to those of Spain. Not only the mining and metallurgical
+centres of the Andes and of Mantiqueria, but even the sugar and cotton
+regions of Brazil, the Antilles, and the Guianas, were developed before
+the plains of the Pampas.</p>
+
+<p>The turn of the Argentine Republic did not come until the growth of
+population in the industrial countries of Europe made them dependent
+upon foreign lands for their food, and until the application of steam
+to ships made it possible to export wool, meat, and cereals on a large
+scale.</p>
+
+<p>When we compare the economic organization of Argentina with that of
+the United States, we see that it is both less complex and less capable
+of being self-contained. The difference is due to the architecture of
+the country. I said at the beginning of this chapter that Argentina has
+no equivalent for the zone of the Atlantic tablelands, which is now the
+great industrial region of North America. The industrial prosperity of
+eastern North America provides a safe home market for the farmers of
+the west, and relieves them of the need of exporting their produce.
+Moreover, the Atlantic tablelands, the original centres of population,
+where the first generations of colonists lived on land that was often
+poor, have seen the gradual formation of reserves of labour and capital
+which were afterwards used in colonizing the west. The east sifted, in
+a sense controlled, the influence of modern Europe in the colonization
+of the United States. It classified and assimilated the new emigrants
+who set out for the west,
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+
+mingled with the troops of native pioneers on their way to the
+prairies. In the same way, when European capital flowed into the United
+States, it found in the eastern cities a large treasury and a body of
+financiers in whose hands it had to remain.</p>
+
+<p>In Argentina, on the contrary, everything speaks of the close and
+direct dependence of the country upon oversea markets. The soil itself
+bears the marks of this solidarity. It is seen in the network of the
+railways, the concentration of the urban population in the ports, and
+the distribution of the cultivated districts in concentric circles
+which are often limited, not by a physical obstacle, but by the cost of
+freightage between the productive centre and the port. Thus we get a
+geographical expression of facts which seem at first sight to belong to
+the purely economic or sociological order.</p> <hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a><br />
+THE OASES OF THE NORTH-WEST AND PASTORAL LIFE IN THE SCRUB</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">
+   <p>The inhabited zones of the Andes in the
+   north-west&mdash;<span lang="es">Valles</span>,
+   <span lang="es">Quebradas</span>, <span
+   lang="es">Puna</span>&mdash;The irrigation of the
+   <span lang="es">valles</span>&mdash;The historic
+   routes&mdash;Convoys of stock&mdash;The breeding of mules
+   and the fairs&mdash;The struggle of the breeders against
+   drought&mdash;The Sierra de los Llanos.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The whole life and wealth of the arid provinces of north-western
+Argentina depend upon irrigation; the water-supply definitively settles
+the sites of human establishments. The water resources are irregularly
+distributed. They are especially abundant in the south (San Juan,
+Mendoza, and San Rafael), where the torrents of the Cordillera are fed
+by the glaciers, and on the outer fringe of the hills above the Chaco,
+at the foot of Aconcagua, which gathers masses of cloud and rain on its
+flanks (Tucum&aacute;n). In the intermediate district, on the contrary,
+in the regions of La Rioja and Catamarca, and in the interior of the
+hilly zone to the north-west of Tucum&aacute;n, the amount of available
+water is small; the oases shrink into small spots far removed from each
+other.</p>
+
+<p>This natural inequality was not felt at first. For a long time the
+spread of cultivation and the progress of wealth were restricted only
+by the scarcity of population, the difficulties of transport, and the
+inadequacy of the markets. The best endowed oases paid no attention to
+the surplus supply of water, for which they had no use. We have to come
+down to the close
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+
+of the nineteenth century to find men reaching the limits which nature
+has set to colonization, and mapping out their domain. It is not until
+then that La Rioja ceases to compete with Mendoza, or Catamarca with
+Tucum&aacute;n. While large industrial enterprises develop at Mendoza
+and Tucum&aacute;n, strong centres of urban life arise, the population
+increases, and immigrants stream in, the oases of the interior
+scarcely change. Their population does not keep its level. Life has
+an archaic character that one finds nowhere else in Argentina. The
+physical conditions have retarded, one would almost say crystallized,
+the economic development. The living generation exploits the soil in
+ways that to some extent go back as far as the indigenous tribes,
+the masters of their Spanish conquerors in the art of irrigation.
+The industry of fattening and convoying cattle, which was once the
+chief source of wealth of the whole country, is still alive in those
+districts.</p>
+
+<p>The zone of the elevated tablelands of the Andes without drainage
+toward the sea&mdash;the Puna&mdash;has still, below 22&deg; S.
+latitude on the northern frontier of Argentina, a width of about 250
+miles. This breadth steadily contracts southward as far as 28&deg;
+S. latitude, where the Puna ends about the level of the road from
+Tinogasta to Copiapo.</p>
+
+<p>To the east and south of the Puna the Argentine Andes are cut from
+north to south by a series of long gullies and large basins, between
+which there are lofty and massive chains with steep flanks. Some of
+these lie in the heart of the mountains, while others often open like
+gulfs upon the edge of the plain. These depressions with rectilinear
+contours are a common feature of the topography of the Andes in this
+latitude. The central plain of Chile is closely related to them. In
+the Argentine speech they are called <span lang="es">valles</span>:
+Valle de Lerma, Valle Calchaqui, Valle de Iglesias, de Calingasta,
+d'Uspallata. They are, however, not "valleys" in
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>
+
+the sense of hollows made by erosion by running water. They owe
+their formation to tectonic movements, subsidences of the surface.
+The scanty rivers of the arid Anacs are not capable of doing work
+of that kind. When they enter the already formed bed of a <span
+lang="es">valle</span>, they seem to be lost in the immense space.
+Often they dry up in it, leaving behind the sediment and salts with
+which the water was laden. In other places they cut at right angles
+across the <span lang="es">valle</span>, escaping by narrow breaches in
+it, while the depression continues its course on either side, taking in
+sections of a number of independent streams.</p>
+
+<p>Opposed to the <span lang="es">valle</span> is the eroded ravine,
+carved out by water, the <span lang="es">quebrada</span>. It opens
+upon a <span lang="es">valle</span> with a V-shaped mouth, which
+widens out at the top, and one can recognise at sight the various
+slopes and the successive stages of erosion. Narrow and winding, a
+level bed of shingle filling the entire base of the valley, it rises
+rapidly toward the mountains and provides a route from the <span
+lang="es">valle</span> to the <span lang="es">puna</span>. These
+<span lang="es">valles</span>, <span lang="es">quebradas</span>
+and <span lang="es">puna</span> are the three inhabited zones of
+the Andes. The first is the richest. The inhabitant of the <span
+lang="es">valle</span>, proud of his comparative comfort, has for
+his neighbour in the <span lang="es">quebrada</span> or the <span
+lang="es">puna</span>&mdash;the <span lang="es">coyada</span>&mdash;a
+contempt such as one finds the inhabitants of the good land in Europe
+feeling for the people in poorer districts.</p>
+
+<p>The narrower the <span lang="es">valle</span>, the less rain
+there is. The observations give 112 millimetres of rain per year
+at Tinogasta, 290 at Andalgala, and 200 at Santa Maria. Salta and
+Jujuy have a much moister climate, and have no less than 570 and 740
+millimetres of rain annually. This is because the eastern chain of
+the Andes, which stretches from the Sierra de Santa Victoria on the
+Bolivian frontier to Aconcagua, sinks lower at the latitude of Salta,
+and lets in the moisture of the Chaco to the heart of the zone of the
+Andes. The rains of Salta and Jujuy are suspended during the winter,
+but they are so heavy during the summer months (November to March) that
+maize, which needs only the summer rain, can be cultivated without
+irrigation. But when we follow the Valle de Lerma southward from Salta
+the maize harvest becomes more and more uncertain, and it is no longer
+sown in dry soil when we get to about twenty miles from Salta, in the
+latitude of the confluence of the Arias and the Juramento. However, the
+summer rains, which are good for maize, are very injurious to the vine;
+they spoil the grapes. Thus the southern limit of the cultivation of
+maize in dry soil almost coincides with the northern limit of the vine.
+At that point we have the real beginning of the typical scenery of the
+<span lang="es">valles</span>.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a href="images/illus-045.jpg" type="image/jpeg" id="patagonianandes">
+      <img src="images/illus-045.jpg" alt="The Patagonian Andes" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE PATAGONIAN ANDES.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Mount Tronador (11,500 feet) on the Chilean
+      frontier, dominating the road from Lake Nahuel Huapi to Chile.
+      The glaciers still reach the bottom of the valley, which they
+      filled at one time. A burnt forest in the foreground.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate III.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-045.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+         Click to view larger image.</a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The need of irrigation is due to the scarcity of rain, but
+it is accentuated by a number of causes which tend to increase
+the aridity. The <span lang="es">valles</span> are the scene of
+scorching day-winds, the <span lang="es">zonda</span>, like the
+<span lang="es">F&ouml;hn</span> of the Swiss Alps, which, there
+being no snow, dry up the water of the springs and of the irrigation
+trenches, or use the deposits left by the waters to form dunes, which
+they push southward, sometimes like veritable glaciers of sand.
+Moreover, the soil of the <span lang="es">valles</span> is generally
+composed of coarse and permeable alluvial deposits, which absorb the
+rain-storms immediately. There is at the foot of both sides of the
+hills which enclose each <span lang="es">valle</span> an immense
+and far-lying bed of imperfectly rounded shingle. This double zone
+of detritus is strangely desolate, for the vegetation on it is
+restricted to isolated bushes of <span lang="es">jarilla</span> and
+<span lang="es">tola</span>. From the sheepfolds on the mountains
+to the oases in the valleys one hardly meets a single house. The
+bed of the valley is not so desolate. A broad ribbon of sand marks
+the dry bed of a torrent, and on the clays of its banks, if the
+sheet of water underground is not too deep, one finds, in spite of
+the goats and asses and charcoal-burners, little forests of <span
+lang="es">algarrobas</span>, which the foundries use for fuel.</p>
+
+<p>The modern alluvial beds, gravel and sand, represent
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+
+the upper stratum of a considerable series of continental deposits
+which lie on the Paleozoic crystalline rock of the Andes.<a
+ id="FNanchor_16_16" href="#Footnote_16_16"
+class="fnanchor">16</a> They chiefly consist of red sandstone and
+coloured marls, which crop up here and there through the alluvial
+covering and give the landscape a rugged character, worn by water and
+wind. There is no trace of humus: nothing to soften the vivid colours
+of the rock. Bodenbender, to whom we owe the first general attempt
+to classify the series, points out the importance of distinguishing
+the different strata in connection with the question of water
+supply and the conditions of human life.<a
+id="FNanchor_17_17" href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">17</a>
+A complete geographical study would have to follow the geological
+description in detail. In places&mdash;on the eastern edge of the
+Sierra de los Llanos&mdash;the fine modern clays are in contact with
+the granites of the hills and form above them a thick bed that is rich
+in fresh water. In other places&mdash;south-westward of the Sierra
+de la Famatina, as far as the Bermejo&mdash;the outcrop is of red
+sandstone only. The tablelands of Talampaya and Ischigualasta, which
+are cut across by the gorges of the tributaries of the Bermejo, form
+one of the most conspicuously desert regions in the whole Republic.
+Wherever the gypsiferous marls of the Calchaqui are near the surface,
+the springs are saline. The undulations of the impermeable rocky
+substratum bring to light the water that gathers in the alluvial
+beds. Thus the streams which come down the Famatina range in the
+west disappear in the alluvial beds on the fringe of the Sierra, but
+re-appear presently in the oasis of Pagancillo.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Hence the <span lang="es">valles</span> are by no means wholly
+productive. The oases represent only a limited portion of them.
+It would be impossible to imagine a more striking contrast than
+that of the freshness and life of the oases compared with the
+surrounding desert. Screens of poplars shelter them from the <span
+lang="es">zonda</span>. The water runs along trenches paved with round
+pebbles under the spreading vines, at the foot of which, to economize
+water and space, lucerne is sown. Each garden feeds a family. Near the
+raw-brick houses there are large earthenware vessels, as tall as a
+man, in which the corn is kept. The hammering of the cooper fills the
+air.</p>
+
+<p>In places the oasis is watered by a stream. In those cases there is
+on each side of the bed of the stream a narrow fringe, a continuous
+ribbon, of smiling gardens, which hide the path. Above and below Santa
+Maria a trench is opened every mile in the wet sands of the Rio. The
+water rises in it and fills it, and is directed by it toward one of the
+banks, where it is jealously collected and distributed. The water which
+flows from the irrigated fields and returns to the river, as well as
+that which the porous side of the trench has permitted to escape, goes
+to fill another trench and supply other fields farther on. The region
+of Los Sauces, in the northern part of the province of La Rioja, to the
+south of Tinogasta, shows a different type of irrigated cultivation,
+on account of the sandy course of the stream. The fields follow the
+feeding artery for about fifty miles. It is bled at the beginning of
+each bend, the waters remaining underground like hidden wealth.</p>
+
+<p>In most cases however, the <span lang="es">valle</span>
+has no running water. What reaches it from the lateral <span
+lang="es">quebradas</span> is lost in the alluvial beds accumulated at
+the point where the <span lang="es">quebrada</span> enters the <span
+lang="es">valle</span>. In order to make use of it the cultivated areas
+are grouped on the cone of deposition; at least, that is the position
+in the great majority of the oases. A <span lang="es">costa</span> is a
+line of separate
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+
+oases with their backs to the same slope. When the <span
+lang="es">valle</span> is narrow, the <span lang="es">costas</span>
+on either side of the sterile depression face each other, like two
+parallel roads. The water of the <span lang="es">quebrada</span> is
+never sufficiently abundant to irrigate the whole of the cone of the
+torrent. In order to create an oasis there, they have selected the most
+easily cultivable zone, which is usually the foot of the cone, where
+the deposits are finer and more fertile, retain the moisture better,
+and require less watering. The summit of the cone is composed of
+coarse stones, the first to be dropped by the torrent as it loses its
+strength. These are bad lands, where the water is wasted.</p>
+
+<p>To meet the occasional drought and the danger of sudden floods in
+this fluvial zone, which is entirely the domain of the torrent, there
+is need of constant care and ingenuity. At Colalao del Valle the
+cultivated fields are five or six miles from the summit of the cone.
+After a number of successive years of drought the stream of water
+which reached them on the flanks of the cone lost half its volume
+and threatened to disappear altogether. They then built a stone dam
+at the outlet of the <span lang="es">quebrada</span>, and the water
+accumulates behind this during the night. At three o'clock in the
+morning the sluices are opened, and the stream, having thus nursed
+its strength, reaches the fields down below about seven o'clock. Then
+the sun and the wind rise, just at the time when the reservoir is
+empty, and by the middle of the day the stream ceases, and irrigation
+is suspended. At Andalgala, above which rises the glittering crest of
+Aconcagua, the waters of the melting snows which feed the torrent have
+not time to be "decanted" before they reach the valley. They come down
+laden with mud and sand. Above the points where the irrigation-channels
+begin the people make, in the bed of the torrent, a dam of branches of
+trees which filters the water. It is swept away by every flood that
+occurs, and is at once restored.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What is even more admirable than the ingenuity of the <span
+lang="es">vallista</span> in utilizing the natural resources is
+the minute detail of the water-rights. It seems as if the <span
+lang="es">vallista</span> is even more cunning in protecting himself
+from his neighbour than in dealing with nature. The water-customs of
+these Andean valleys are worth an extensive study. The water does not
+belong to the State, and is not used by concession from the State. It
+is private property. The owner uses or abuses it as he pleases on the
+lands which he has selected. A man may be poor in land and rich in
+water, which he accordingly sells. There are frequent business deals in
+regard to water-rights, just as in regard to the soil and its produce.
+Appropriation of water often precedes appropriation of the soil. Many
+oases are communities where the non-irrigated lands are common to the
+whole population, and the irrigated fields alone are divided.</p>
+
+<p>A primary group of customs regulates the relations to each other of
+communities higher up and lower down the same stream. At Catamarca the
+water of a certain stream is shared by Piedra Blanca and Valle Viejo.
+Piedra Blanca, in the upper part, absorbs the whole of the water for
+a week, but it must then suspend its irrigation during the following
+week and permit the stream to flow down the valley. The same evening,
+or the next morning, according to the season, the water reaches Valle
+Viejo. It is a custom known as the <span lang="es">quiebras</span>
+in the southern valleys of the desert side of Peru, where it allows
+different stages of cultivation to proceed simultaneously. In the same
+way, above Santa Maria, where several communities (S. Jos&eacute;, Loro
+Huasi, etc.) receive the water brought by a channel from the Rio Santa
+Maria, each of them has a right to the full output of the channel for
+three days. At the end of that time the sluices are closed, and the
+water passes to the next community. There is grave trouble for any
+oasis that has its rights infringed or
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+
+does not compel the communities higher up to respect them.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst individuals the water-right is generally defined by a
+measurement of time, a certain number of days or hours&mdash;during
+which the owner controls the entire flow of the spring or stream. It
+is only when the water is more abundant that we find another method
+of fixing the right of water, defining it by bulk. The water is then
+said to be <span lang="es">demarcada</span>, as the unit is customarily
+the <span lang="es">marco</span>, or the volume which passes through
+an opening about twenty-one centimetres in width and eight in height.
+The <span lang="es">marco</span> has infinite divisions, and each
+subdivision has its own name&mdash;the <span lang="es">naranja</span>,
+the <span lang="es">bombilla</span>, the <span lang="es">paja</span>,
+and so on.</p>
+
+<p>As all the water is utilized, and the rights of all are
+equally entitled to respect, the division of the water into <span
+lang="es">marcos</span> (<span lang="es">demarcacion</span>) is in
+practice merely a proportional distribution of it amongst those who
+have rights to it. If the sum total of rights expressed in <span
+lang="es">marcos</span> represents something like the total flow of
+a stream during an average season, in the time of low water it is
+disproportionate, and the water no longer flows to the tops of the
+<span lang="es">marcos</span>. In other words, the quantity of water
+granted to each rises or falls with the rise or fall of the stream
+itself.</p>
+
+<p>Theoretically, when the water-right is defined in <span
+lang="es">marcos</span> it is permanent. Often, however, it is
+impossible to grant each proprietor a permanent title to the
+water. Even in oases where the water is "demarked," the <span
+lang="es">turno</span>&mdash;that is to say, the turn of the
+proprietors to have water&mdash;which is the absolute rule in the
+poorest oases, reappears during the months of scarcity, in winter, when
+there is no rain, and at the beginning of summer. It reappears also
+when the right of ownership has been broken up into fractions that
+are too small, and it is better to grant a larger volume of water for
+several hours instead of a constant stream of water which would be too
+scanty for profitable use. At
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+
+Andalgala the "turn" is sometimes obligatory, and regulated by custom,
+in channels where the irrigating proprietors are too numerous; at
+other times optional, and settled by convention amongst the owners
+themselves, when water is scanty. At Valle Viejo (Catamarca), when
+the water runs low, they set up the <span lang="es">mita</span>; that
+is to say, the sluices remain closed in each channel during four
+days out of eight, each proprietor in turn giving up his right to a
+permanent supply in order to have a double allowance when his turn
+comes. The <span lang="es">turno</span> is, therefore, a general
+practice. Everywhere we can see the farmers on the watch along the
+<span lang="es">acequias</span>, waiting for the moment to close their
+neighbour's trench with a pellet of clay and to let the stream into
+their own trenches with a blow of the spade.</p>
+
+<p>The most minute precautions are taken in order that no one shall
+suffer injury. As the irrigation is always slower and less thorough
+during the night, they take it in turns to have the day and the night
+alternately. When the community receives the water from another
+community higher up the stream, the succession of "turns" amongst its
+members differs every time. The water comes down charged with sediment,
+pushing in front of it a mass of liquid mud, as the flush of a torrent
+does. It takes some time for the stream to become regular and clear.
+The first irrigator therefore exercises his right under unfavourable
+conditions. In the local phraseology the <span lang="es">volcada
+de agua</span> is not as good as the <span lang="es">corte de
+agua</span>, which means the irrigation that begins when the <span
+lang="es">acequia</span> is full.</p>
+
+<p>Irrigation entails the services of quite a staff of arbitrators
+and administrators. The head men, who have jurisdiction of a higher
+order and secure the accurate distribution of the water amongst a
+number of channels or communities, are now, as a rule, officials of
+the administration, appointed by the provincial authorities (<span
+lang="es">juez de Irrigacion</span> at Catamarca, <span lang="es">juez
+de rio</span> at Rosario de Lerma). But the <span lang="es">juez de
+agua</span> of each
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+
+community or each channel is a syndic elected by the interested
+parties. At Santa Maria the <span lang="es">juez de agua</span> is
+elected by the owners and confirmed by the Government. He controls
+irrigation throughout the department, settling all differences,
+submitting plans of work to a meeting of the owners, and assigning
+their respective charges in labour and contributions according to their
+rights.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>This land of customs and traditions is also a land of lively
+movement. The briskness of the traffic is primarily due to continuous
+exchange between the various zones of the mountainous district.
+This large trade, so scattered that the railways could not dream of
+satisfying its needs, is carried, in the old fashion, on the backs of
+mules. The lively aspect of the roads between the tableland and the
+lower valleys of the region, the brisk interchange of goods between
+zones with different climates, is one of the common features of life on
+the Andes.</p>
+
+<p>But the classic spectacle presents a different aspect in
+different latitudes. In Peru, and in southern Bolivia, the
+higher valleys&mdash;Jauja, Cuzco, the Pampas of Cochabamba and
+Sucre&mdash;have centres of dense population and agricultural
+wealth at a height of between 9,000 and 11,000 feet. They
+raise cereals, and receive from the tropical districts (<span
+lang="es">monta&ntilde;as and yungas</span>) sugar, cane-brandy,
+cocoa, and coca-leaf. The valleys of the Argentine Andes are usually
+at a less elevation than the <span lang="es">yungas</span> and <span
+lang="es">monta&ntilde;as</span> of Bolivia and Peru. But they are
+not hot districts, and have not tropical vegetation. Frost prevents
+the harvesting of sugar-cane at Salta, at a height of 4,000 feet. As
+to the coca-leaf, which is not as much used here as in the north,
+the Argentine <span lang="es">valles</span> do not send it to the
+tableland, but receive it indirectly from there, through the southern
+<span lang="es">yungas</span>. In default of tropical crops, the
+Argentine <span lang="es">valles</span> sow wheat and maize, which they
+sell to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>
+
+Indians of the cold districts of the Puna for wool and salt.</p>
+
+<p>These commercial currents are of very ancient, probably
+pre-Columbian origin. Boman has discovered ears of maize in the
+prehistoric tombs of the Puna de Atacama.<a
+id="FNanchor_18_18" href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">18</a> The
+Puna, at a height of 11,000 to 12,000 feet, is permanently inhabited,
+unlike the high valleys of the Cordillera de San Juan, which are
+occupied only during the summer season by Chilean shepherds. It is
+primarily a pastoral and mining region, but it has some tilled land,
+at more than 6,700 feet above the level of the valleys. The higher
+limit of annual cultivation in the cold districts, which is fixed
+by the summer temperature, does not fall in the same way as that of
+arboriculture in warm districts, because trees suffer from the winter
+frosts. The Indians of Cochinoca and Susques sow lucerne and barley
+for fodder, and the <span lang="es">quinoa</span> and potato for food.
+Transport between the Puna and the <span lang="es">valles</span>
+is carried on by the inhabitants of the Puna, and is not shared by
+the <span lang="es">vallistas</span>. They are especially active
+in the north, in the province of Jujuy. Belmar shows how important
+the sales of the Puna woollen goods were by the middle of the
+nineteenth century.<a  id="FNanchor_19_19"
+href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> These fabrics were used
+by the mill-owners of the Rio Grande de Jujuy to pay for the work
+of the Indians of the Chaco, whom they employed in the sugar-cane
+harvest. The competition of the manufactured products of Europe now
+menaces the domestic weaving of the Puna, just as the competition of
+the flour of the Pampa menaces the cultivation of cereals in the <span
+lang="es">valles</span>.</p>
+
+<p>Besides this traffic of local interest the <span
+lang="es">valles</span> serve for a traffic of a higher, almost a
+continental character. It seems certain that during the pre-Spanish
+period
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
+
+the road from the Peruvian tablelands to Chile avoided the inhospitable
+desert of the Puna de Atacama, entered the region of the <span
+lang="es">valles</span> to the east, and crossed the Cordillera in the
+latitude of Tinogasta, or even a little further south. That was the
+route of the armies of the Incas, which in the fourteenth century came
+as far as Maule. The pre-Columbian roads, of which Boman has found
+traces between the Valle de Lerma and the Valle Calchaqui, seem to
+correspond with this direction of traffic. By this route the long <span
+lang="es">quechua</span> passed amongst the Diaguites populations. The
+conquerors followed the Indian guides. Almagro, in going from Peru to
+Chile, passed through the <span lang="es">valles</span> at the eastern
+edge of the Andes.</p>
+
+<p>Later the <span lang="es">valles</span> were incorporated in the
+many variations of the historic high road, one of the first and
+busiest of Spanish America, which goes from the Rio de la Plata to
+Lima: a route both for armies and merchants. The plan proposed by
+Matienzo (1566) to make a road from the silver mines to the estuary
+of the Paran&aacute;, through the Valle de Calchaqui, seems to have
+been intended merely to improve a line of communication that had
+already been in use. Buenos Aires for a long time received European
+goods by this road. About 1880 the Salta route recovered for a
+time its continental importance, during the Pacific War and the
+occupation by the Chileans of the maritime provinces of Bolivia.<a
+ id="FNanchor_20_20" href="#Footnote_20_20"
+class="fnanchor">20</a> At that time it was the only outlet for
+Bolivia.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a href="images/illus-057a.jpg" type="image/jpeg" id="vegetation">
+      <img src="images/illus-057a.jpg" alt="Valleys" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">VEGETATION OF THE INTERIOR VALLEYS (ANDES OF THE NORTH-WEST).</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Descent of Tafi del Valle, going to Santa Maria.
+   The ravine is excavated out of the mass of coarse deposits which forms
+   a fringe between the mountain and the valley. On this permeable soil
+   the vegetation is particularly thin. Cactus.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-057a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+         Click to view larger image</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a href="images/illus-057b.jpg" type="image/jpeg" id="forest">
+      <img src="images/illus-057b.jpg" alt="Forest" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">FOREST ON THE OUTER SLOPE OF THE SUB-ANDEAN CHAINS.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Sierra de San Antonio (Salta province).
+   Perennial foliage, creepers, ferns.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate IV.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-057b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But of all the forms of traffic that have enlivened the <span
+lang="es">valles</span> the most constant, and the form that has had
+the most profound influence on their existence, is the movement of
+cattle. The cattle trade has been of fundamental importance in the
+history of the colonization of South America. Animals were the only
+goods that could be conveyed any great distance. At the beginning of
+the conquest the productive regions of the continent, which supplied
+the export trade with Europe, were very limited in extent. Pastoral
+colonization began at once, and spread over a very wide area. Herds of
+oxen, for meat or draught, horses, and mules, made their way toward the
+centres of consumption: towns like Lima, Bah&iacute;a, and Rio, the
+Peruvian mines, and the sugar-refineries of the north-east of Brazil,
+and later toward the <span lang="es">yerbales</span> of Paraguay or the
+seaports of the Caribs and the Rio Grande do Sul, where the jerked meat
+industry developed. The cattle routes converge upon these centres.</p>
+
+<p>The export of cattle and mules from the Argentine plains to Peru
+was fully established by the close of the sixteenth century, and it
+seems to have continued without interruption ever since. Upper Peru
+is, however, not the only market on which the Argentine breeders
+lived. At the end of the eighteenth century D'Azara demanded that
+they should permit the sale of horses and mules to Brazil, for use in
+the mines. The cattle traffic with Portuguese territory had not then
+assumed the form of a regular commerce, and the Brazilians made raids
+on the north-eastern provinces for the animals they needed&mdash;60,000
+a year, D'Azara says.<a  id="FNanchor_21_21"
+href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">21</a> The export of cattle to
+Paraguay and Misiones was, on the other hand, of substantial economic
+importance in the eighteenth century. Before the Revolution, Rengger
+says, as many as 200,000 head of cattle passed yearly from Corrientes
+to Paraguay, which paid for them in <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span>
+and tobacco.<a  id="FNanchor_22_22"
+href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">22</a> This trade was kept up
+intermittently in the nineteenth century. The exports from Corrientes
+were especially important at the time when the Paraguay stock was
+reconstituted after the war (40,000 head of cattle in 1875).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Finally, the Chilean market was opened to the Argentine breeders
+about the middle of the nineteenth century. In the time of Martin de
+Moussy the convoys of cattle to Chile were so numerous that the lucerne
+fields of both slopes were stripped bare at the very beginning of the
+season; and they were rented at a high price.<a
+id="FNanchor_23_23" href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">23</a> Not
+only the mining provinces of the north, but central Chile also, bought
+Argentine cattle. The opening of the Chilean market was followed by a
+remarkable expansive movement in the pastoral colonization of Argentine
+territory. We can follow the progress of this not only in Martin de
+Moussy's book, but in all contemporary works of travel. Its chief
+theatres are the provinces of San Luis and of Santiago del Estero,
+north of the Rio Dulce, where Hutchinson, in particular, describes the
+activity of the ranches.<a  id="FNanchor_24_24"
+href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">24</a> Finally, after the
+Pacific War (1880) the nitrate district, taken from Bolivia and Peru by
+Chile, received a great influx of population, and works sprang up in
+the midst of the desert. The nitrate fields, wholly barren and doomed,
+under their shroud of grey dust, to an unalterable desolation, became
+at once one of the chief centres of consumption for Argentine stock.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to give accurate details of the volume of trade in
+cattle in colonial Argentine. However, the facts given by travellers
+(though they often merely borrow from each other) suffice to show how
+important this traffic was in the life of the country and the extent
+of the zone that was occupied with it. As early as the middle of the
+seventeenth century C&oacute;rdoba seems to have exported to Peru
+as many as 28,000 to 30,000 mules annually.<a
+id="FNanchor_25_25" href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">25</a> At
+the close of the eighteenth century, we read in D'Azara, 60,000 mules
+were exported; and Helms gives the same figure.<a
+id="FNanchor_26_26" href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">26</a> The
+mules were bought young by C&oacute;rdoba dealers at Buenos Aires,
+Santa F&eacute;, and Corrientes, reared at C&oacute;rdoba, and then
+sent to Salta, where they were sold in their third year to mule-dealers
+from Peru.</p>
+
+<p>An article in the <cite>Telegrafo Mercantil</cite> of September
+9, 1801 (reproduced in the <cite>Junta de Historia y Numismatica
+americana</cite>, Buenos Aires, 2 vols., 1914-5) contains very valuable
+information in regard to the mule trade. From 1760 to 1780 Salta sent
+between 40,000 and 50,000 mules annually to Peru. At Salta they were
+worth ten piastres each before they were broken in, and thirteen or
+fourteen afterwards; and they were sold at the age of four years.
+The <span lang="es">arrieros</span>, who conveyed European goods
+and home products (<span lang="es">ropas y frutas</span>), bought a
+large number of them. The <cite>Telegrafo</cite> complains that this
+trade has been gradually transformed. The mules now came from Santa
+F&eacute; and C&oacute;rdoba to Salta two years old, and after the
+<span lang="es">invernada</span> they were still, at fair time, barely
+three years old. They suffered much during the long journey to Lima,
+and the losses of the caravans were heavy. They could not be loaded
+for the journey, and, as the <span lang="es">arrieros</span> could no
+longer secure adult and strong animals, the freight to the tableland
+had risen, to the serious loss of merchants on the coast. The reply of
+a Potosi mule-dealer (December 13th) clearly shows that the last years
+of the eighteenth century had been marked by increasingly heavy demands
+from Peru for Argentine mules. In order to meet these demands the
+C&oacute;rdoba breeders had developed production. The buyers, coming to
+Salta from Lima, Cuzco, and Arequipa, took, without discussion
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
+
+or examination, the batches that were offered them. The correspondent
+of the <cite>Telegrafo</cite> complains bitterly of these <span lang="es">caballeritos</span> who came
+from Peru with their 100,000 piastres, and raised the price at Salta,
+alleging that their instructions were to get mules at any cost.</p>
+
+<p>Robertson gave in 1813 the recollections of a mule-dealer as to
+the convoys of mules between Santa F&eacute; and the Andes, which had
+already ceased at that time. Each convoy or <span lang="es">arreo</span> comprised 5,000
+to 6,000 mules. They came from Entre Rios, or even from the Uruguay,
+whence they were brought, after crossing the Paran&aacute;, to the
+Santa F&eacute; ranches. The Santa F&eacute; breeders owned the best
+part of the land on the left bank of the river. The expedition also
+included thirty waggons of goods and 500 draught-oxen; and fifty
+<span lang="es">gauchos</span> were in charge of it. The main expense was then tobacco
+and <span lang="es">yerba</span>. One feature of this mule traffic that is emphasized in
+all the descriptions is that it was divided into two stages, with an
+interval between them, for breaking in. As we have already learned
+from Azcarate, C&oacute;rdoba<ins>,</ins> Santa F&eacute;, Santiago, and Salta
+kept the mules for two or three years before sending them to Peru.
+C&oacute;rdoba and Santiago del Estero seem to have been important in
+connection with the industry of breaking in the mules.</p>
+
+<p>The sending of cattle on foot to Bolivia and Chile is now only a
+subsidiary element of the national economy, but it is not yet quite
+extinct, as the table on <a href="#Page_53">p. 53</a> shows.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever its point of departure, the traffic in stock always
+passed through the <span lang="es">valles</span>. Transport of cattle was particularly
+difficult in the Argentine Andes. The chief obstacles were not the
+elevation of the passes or the steepness of the roads, but the scarcity
+of water and the extent of the <span lang="es">travesias</span>, which were equally poor
+in pasturage and water, and had to be crossed rapidly by doubling the
+stages. The difficulties of the journey were very profitable to the
+oases that lay along the route. The cattle-driver could not dispense
+with the hospitality of the <span lang="es">vallista</span> or dispute the price he cared to
+charge.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a href="images/illus-063.png" type="image/png" id="Irrigation_in_the_West">
+      <img src="images/illus-063.png" alt="Map" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">MAP II.&mdash;IRRIGATION IN THE WEST AND NORTH-WEST OF ARGENTINA.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Extent of the irrigations in the north
+   (zone of the great summer rains), and the south (glacier zone)
+   The historic industry of fattening cattle in the invernadas
+   and the export of cattle to the Andean regions only survive in
+   part. On the other hand large modern industries have developed
+   at Tucum&aacute;n, Jujuy (sugar-cane), Mendoza, and San Juan
+   (vines), and they supply the Buenos Aires market.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-063.png" type="image/png">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The length of the journey and the difficulty of keeping the animals
+in good condition in the poor pastures of the breeding districts
+made it advisable to stay longer in the oases. There thus arose
+lucerne-farms&mdash;the <span lang="es">invernadas</span>&mdash;to receive and fatten the
+cattle which passed through. Lucerne is the characteristic and most
+profitable produce of the <span lang="es">valles</span>. It is grown wherever there is an
+assured supply of water, and is invariably found in the upper section
+of the system of irrigation-channels; the cereals are sown lower down,
+and are the first to suffer from drought. In the <span lang="es">quebradas</span>, where
+space is more limited, the lucerne-fields cover the entire oasis.
+Every cattle track has a corresponding line of <span lang="es">invernadas</span>, which is
+often completed on the opposite slope by a last group of lucerne-farms
+where the beasts recover from the journey before they are sold and
+dispersed.</p>
+
+<table class="table1" summary="exports">
+   <thead>
+      <tr>
+         <th></th>
+         <th>1910</th>
+         <th>1911</th>
+         <th>1912</th>
+         <th>1913</th>
+         <th>1914</th>
+      </tr>
+   </thead>
+   <tbody>
+      <tr>
+         <td colspan="6">Export of Cattle:</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>To Bolivia</td>
+         <td>3,600</td>
+         <td>6,600</td>
+         <td>6,200</td>
+         <td>6,300</td>
+         <td>4,800&emsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>To Chile</td>
+         <td>61,200</td>
+         <td>87,500</td>
+         <td>68,400</td>
+         <td>58,800</td>
+         <td>28,300&emsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td colspan="6">Export of Mules:</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>To Bolivia</td>
+         <td>2,700</td>
+         <td>4,600</td>
+         <td>7,900</td>
+         <td>8,300</td>
+         <td>2,500&emsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>To Chile</td>
+         <td>2,300</td>
+         <td>3,200</td>
+         <td>5,000</td>
+         <td>2,600</td>
+         <td>3,500&emsp;</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr><td colspan="6">Export of Asses:</td></tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>To Bolivia</td>
+         <td>9,000</td>
+         <td>10,500</td>
+         <td>15,000</td>
+         <td>15,600</td>
+         <td>14,400<a  id="FNanchor_27_27" href="#Footnote_27_27"
+            class="fnanchor">27</a>
+         </td>
+      </tr>
+   </tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Besides the official routes there have for a long time been
+clandestine tracks, through more difficult ravines, by which stolen
+cattle were conveyed with impunity. Guachipas was the gathering place
+for cattle of suspicious origin, and, to avoid being seen in Salta
+and Jujuy, they passed through the Quebrada del Toro or the Quebrada
+d'Esco&iuml;pe. When Brackebusch visited Guachipas in 1880 the
+inhabitants still kept something of their reputation as smugglers.</p>
+
+<p>A map of the cattle-tracks which are still used in the Argentine
+Andes is a complicated network in which we can trace two main
+directions, crossing each other at right angles. One set of tracks
+leads to the west, toward the Pacific coast, the other set to the
+north, toward the Bolivian tableland.</p>
+
+<p>The cattle traffic is now restricted to Chile. It survives at San
+Juan, Jachal, Vinchina, and Tinogasta. The cattle descend to Chile
+about Coquimbo, Vallenar, or Copiapo. But the trade is now busiest in
+the region of the saltpetre-beds. The roads lead from the Valle de
+Lerma and the Valle Calchaqui toward the tableland by the Quebrada del
+Toro or the Quebrada de Cachi or de Luracatao, crossing lofty passes
+at the foot of the Nevados of Acay and Cachi, and reuniting between
+Santa Rosa de Pastos Grandes and San Antonio de los Cobres to cross the
+Puna de Atacama. <span lang="es">Vegas</span> (pastures) and fresh water are scarce here.
+The track passes interminably by depressions covered with a carpet of
+glistening salt, dominated by volcanic crests. It is used in every
+season of the year, but in winter the caravans are exposed to the cold
+wind laden with snow, the <span lang="es">viento blanco</span>. San Pedro is the port in
+this desolation. Here there are, on the flanks of the enormous cone of
+Licancour, fields of lucerne and groups of figs and <span lang="es">algarrobas</span>. The
+cattle are left there for a few days' rest, to prepare them for the
+last stage, the Calama oasis on the Antof&aacute;gasta railway.</p>
+
+<p>The centre of this trade is Salta, or, rather, the little
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+
+village of Rosario de Lerma, nine miles south of it, where most of
+the caravans are formed. The saltpetre works make yearly contracts
+in advance with the Rosario dealers, fixing the number and price of
+the beasts to be delivered at Calama. The cost of transport includes,
+besides the pay of the cattle-drivers&mdash;eighty to a hundred
+piastres a journey&mdash;the shoeing of the mules, the rent of pasture
+at San Pedro, and the value of the beasts which die on the way. In 1913
+the number of animals exported by this route was put at 30,000. The
+saltpetre works buy also draught-mules for their waggons. Draught-mules
+must be heavy, and only animals over five feet in height are sent to
+Chile. Bolivia is now the only market for the smaller mules and for
+asses.</p>
+
+<p>The trade in mules in its traditional form and the industry
+of breaking-in still flourish at Santa Maria. The mule-dealer's
+business is very different from that of the cattle-dealer. The
+mules are so tough that it is possible to send them by roads
+which would be unsuitable for cattle.<a
+id="FNanchor_28_28" href="#Footnote_28_28"
+class="fnanchor">28</a> The journeys are longer, and the contracts
+are less settled in advance. Moreover, breaking-in is a delicate
+operation that requires experience. The survival of the mule-trade at
+Santa Maria is an example of the maintenance of an industry owing to
+the presence of skilled handicraft. The men who break in the mules at
+Santa Maria have a remarkable caste-pride. Their first job is to go to
+Santiago or C&oacute;rdoba to buy the mules. They bring them back to
+Santa Maria by way of Catamarca or the valley of Tafi. At Santa Maria
+the mules are broken in, then taken to the lucerne-farms at Poma to
+be put into good condition. There they remain in pasture for several
+months; and at length, when the season is suitable, the little band
+of Santa Marie&ntilde;os gathers together and, driving the now docile
+beasts in front of them, and putting no loads on them in order that
+they may keep fresh, make for the fair at Huari in Bolivia, or even as
+far as Sucre. There they sell at a hundred and fifty piastres each the
+animals which they had bought for half that price before being broken
+in. The number of mules hibernating at Poma is about 4,000.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The business done in the fairs of the southern Andes is very
+varied in character, but their main function was always as markets
+for stock.<a  id="FNanchor_29_29"
+href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">29</a> They are held in March
+or April, when the rains do not fall, but pasture is still abundant
+and travelling easy. The fair at Vilque, north of Lake Titicaca, is
+no longer visited by dealers in Argentine mules. The Salta fair which
+was held at Sumala, near Rosario de Lerma, has ceased to be important;
+at the close of the eighteenth century it was the chief centre of
+the mule-trade. The fair held at Jujuy is still, like the annual
+pilgrimage to the Virgen del Valle de Catamarca, one of the great dates
+in the life of the Andes. In the eighteenth century it was mainly
+a cattle-fair, but it is now frequented only by mule-dealers. The
+development of the railways is gradually causing it to decline.</p>
+
+<p>The cattle-trade has long been really a form of barter. The
+Argentinians who took their herds to Peru brought back with them
+European goods that had come via Panama and the Pacific. At Jachal
+direct communication with Argentina is still so costly that they
+prefer to get many manufactured articles from Chile. Everywhere
+else, however, the sellers of stock take payment in cash. The Santa
+Marie&ntilde;os bring back from Bolivia only a few bags of coca and,
+for chief payment, letters of exchange, which they cash in the Salta
+banks when they return. Their gains swell the profits of the merchants
+of Salta, Catamarca, and Jujuy, who get their goods at the large
+importing houses of Buenos Aires. It is the first form under which the
+influence of Buenos Aires reaches the <span lang="es">valles</span>. It gets their custom
+before it begins to absorb their produce.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A large proportion of the stock sent to Chile now comes from the
+Andean valleys themselves. The most arid and desolate regions round
+the oases breed only goats and asses; but as soon as the soil improves
+sufficiently to give a better vegetation, it is found good enough for
+a hardy and tenacious breed of horned cattle. The land is divided
+into large ranches, and the owners have also lucerne-farms, either
+individually or communally, the tillers of the oasis each putting in
+their beasts, which wander about in small groups without control.
+During the summer they go of their own accord up to the <span lang="es">cerros</span>,
+where the rains have brought out the vegetation, and drinking-water is
+found in the ravines for several months. In the winter they return to
+the valley, within range of the reservoirs and permanent <span lang="es">acequias</span>.
+Bodenbender gives us a few details about movements from place to place
+owing to such differences, as they are in vogue in the western part of
+the province of La Rioja, in the district of Guandacol. There the herds
+are taken during years of drought up to the mountains of the west.</p>
+
+<p>Apart from the Andes, the zone which used to feel the influence of
+the trans-Andean markets has been steadily reduced in the last forty
+years. At one time it comprised the whole range of the scrub, and
+even overflowed upon the prairie region, but it is now limited to the
+nearest cantons to the fringe of the mountains. Over the greater part
+of the <span lang="es">monte</span> the cattle are now sent in other directions; either to
+Buenos Aires or to other Argentine towns with a growing population,
+such as C&oacute;rdoba, Mendoza, and Tucum&aacute;n.</p>
+
+<p>The rupture of commercial relations with Chile has,
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+however, not made any notable change in the pastoral industry. Pastoral
+life in the scrub has very uniform characters. It is chiefly dominated
+by the question of water-supply. Natural open water is scarce, and
+the cattle can drink only where man's industry makes it possible. The
+problem of taming the beasts, which the breeders on the prairies have
+not always been able to solve, is simplified by the scarcity of water.
+There is no need to hunt the cattle, no periodical <span lang="es">rodeos</span>, when the
+herd is drawn in every night by thirst to the water-supply. Advance in
+colonization means the provision of wells and reservoirs (<span lang="es">baldes</span>
+and <span lang="es">represas</span>), without which the breeders cannot occupy the plain
+permanently, but have to fall back during the dry season upon the few
+streams that cross it. The word <span lang="es">balderia</span> means districts where the
+presence of a sheet of water not far underground has enabled them to
+form a system of wells. The best known is the Balderia Puntana, in the
+northern part of the province of San Luis.</p>
+
+<p>Of the regions apart from the Andes which still depend on the
+Chilean market it will be enough to mention two, which may be regarded
+as typical. The first is the Chaco Salte&ntilde;o, on the eastern slope
+of the Sierra de la Lumbrera. The Lumbrera is a lofty anticlinal range
+of limestones and red sandstones, which pass to the west underneath the
+clay of the Chaco plain, and separate it from the great longitudinal
+sub-Andean corridor, which was followed by the old road, and is now
+followed by the railway from Tucum&aacute;n to Jujuy. Colonization
+began beyond the Lumbrera in the eighteenth century by passing round
+it, from south to north, by the valleys of the Juramento and the San
+Francisco (which joins the Bermejo). The ranches, which employed
+the Indians&mdash;the occupation of the Chaco at this point being
+pacific&mdash;bordered the Bermejo and the Rio del Valle, which flows
+from the Lumbrera range toward the former bed of the Bermejo, and
+washes the foot of the range at the edge of the plain.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a href="images/illus-071a.jpg" id="Dry_Scrub_Central_Chaco" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-071a.jpg" alt="Dry Scrub" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">DRY SCRUB OF THE CENTRAL CHACO.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">On the A&ntilde;atuya line (province of Santiago
+   del Estero). Cactus. The leafless tree in the foreground is a red
+   <em>quebracho</em>. The leafy trees are white <em>quebrachos</em>.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-071a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a href="images/illus-071b.jpg" type="image/jpeg" id="Marshes_of_the_Eastern_Chaco">
+      <img src="images/illus-071b.jpg" alt="Marshes" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">MARSHES (ESTEROS OR CA&Ntilde;ADAS) OF THE EASTERN CHACO.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">On the Tartagal line (province of Santa F&eacute;).
+      It is by means of these marshes, which form in the forest, that
+      this part of the plain is drained.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate V.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-071b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The cattle live in the scrub during the summer, when the rains have
+brought out the grasses. In winter they go up to the moist forest,
+with perennial vegetation, which covers the flanks of the range.<a
+ id="FNanchor_30_30" href="#Footnote_30_30"
+class="fnanchor">30</a> The comparative abundance of water lessens
+the labour of the breeders and, at the same time, the discipline of
+the herds. When the time comes, the whole ranch is mobilized for the
+purpose of collecting the adult cattle and making a convoy of them.
+Horsemen, with the double leather apron which hangs at the saddle-bow
+to protect them from the branches, ride up the range with their dogs
+and plunge into the scrub. The savage beasts are rounded up and held
+at bay. The procession is formed, and sets out, either by the rugged
+paths across the forest and mountain or along the easier tracks over
+the plain to Embarcaci&oacute;n or Lumbreras, where they reach the
+railway. If buyers from the sugar-refineries at Jujuy do not take them,
+the cattle are put into trucks and sent to the Salta market, where
+there are sales all the year round. At Salta the beasts are fattened on
+the lucerne-farms before crossing the Cordillera. There is hardly any
+tillage, either because the winter drought makes the result dubious or
+because the breeders are not good at agricultural work.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Sierra de los Llanos in La Rioja is another centre for extensive
+breeding. From the railway, which follows the range at some distance,
+between Cha&ntilde;ar and Punt&aacute; de los Llanos, before it reaches
+La Rioja, no one would have the least suspicion of the importance
+and life of the region. It is, nevertheless, one of the main foci of
+Argentine history. It has proved a cradle of population and wealth. It
+was there that Quiroga and, later, the strange adventurer who was known
+by the nickname of the "Chacho" gathered the strength that enabled them
+to dominate part of Argentina. Colonization is even older here than in
+the Chaco Salte&ntilde;o. It occupied two distinct periods, separated
+by a long interval. At first it advanced from north to south, passing
+round the foot of the Sierra. It is marked by a line of springs, poor
+but permanent, the waters of which are absorbed as soon as they flow
+down to the porous alluvial beds of the plain. They appear much in the
+names of the district&mdash;<span lang="es">ag&uuml;itas</span>,
+<span lang="es">aguaditas</span>, and so on, abound. The road from La Rioja
+to San Luis passed these springs, and some population grew up about
+them. Thus the two sides of the range&mdash;the <span lang="es">costa
+baja</span> in the east and the <span lang="es">costa alta</span>
+in the west&mdash;became inhabited. The estate of Facundo is one of
+these <span lang="es">aguaditas</span> of the <span lang="es">costa
+alta</span>.</p>
+
+<p>The two <span lang="es">costas</span> form the historic territory of the Llanos.
+It was from there that colonization swarmed over the plain long
+afterwards. This expansive movement began about 1850; that is to say,
+at a time when the breeders enjoyed comparative peace and security,
+and especially when the <span lang="es">invernadas</span> of San Juan and Mendoza were
+developed, together with the export of cattle to the agricultural
+provinces of Chile. The price of stock rose, and the unoccupied land
+became of value. The occupation and exploitation of the plain was the
+work of the last two generations. They pushed on to the very edge
+of the salt lakes, leaving no vacant space. The <span lang="es">travesias</span> which
+surrounded the narrow inhabited zone of the <span lang="es">costas</span> were filled
+with life. The Sierra and its two <span lang="es">costas</span> are no longer an oasis in
+the desert, as they were in the time of Sarmiento; though they still
+differ from the remainder of the pastoral zone in the density of their
+population and the variety of their resources.</p>
+
+<p>The early date of the colonization may be traced in a special system
+of tenure, though this is also found in parts of the provinces of
+Catamarca and Santiago del Estero. On the plain the right of ownership
+was
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>
+
+obtained in the nineteenth century by purchase or by concessions
+of public lands which belonged to the provincial Government. They
+were allotted in very large estates, and these, intact or broken up,
+are the actual ranches. In approaching the foot of the range one
+passes estates in the <span lang="es">mercedes</span>. The name indicates concessions that
+date from the colonial epoch, and they are, in all parts of South
+America that were early colonized, the source of land-ownership.
+But what is peculiar to the <span lang="es">mercedes</span> of the Llanos is that they
+have never been divided amongst the heirs of the first owner.<a
+ id="FNanchor_31_31" href="#Footnote_31_31"
+class="fnanchor">31</a> Sometimes the number of co-proprietors is
+small. They are conscious of their relationship to each other and know
+the value of the rights of each. The <span lang="es">merced</span> is in that case only an
+undivided property held in common. Sometimes, however, the numbers of
+<span lang="es">comuneros</span> is so great that they have lost count of the exact share of
+the <span lang="es">merced</span> which belongs to each of them. The <span lang="es">merced</span> feeds a whole
+population, legitimate heirs and usurpers mixed together. In these
+cases it is a real communal property, and one might compare it, in
+spite of its different origin, with the Indian communities which exist
+in Argentine territory as well as that of most of the other Andean
+States.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The economy of the Llanos is less simple than that of the Chaco
+Salte&ntilde;o. There is agriculture as well as breeding. There is
+not much rain, and it is confined to the summer months. The mean
+rainfall is, no doubt, higher than what we find at La Rioja (about 30
+centimetres), but it is not good enough to dispense with irrigation.
+The <span lang="es">aguadas</span>, springs and brooks at the foot of the range, are the
+only provision of permanent water, and it is very limited. The oases
+watered by these springs and brooks cover only a few acres at the foot
+of the steep cliffs of the range. It has not been possible to cultivate
+the land far from the mountains. At Chamical a trench that was made to
+convey water to the railway dried up. All that can be done is to follow
+for a few miles with a line of wells a subterranean stream of fresh and
+not very deep water. At Bella Vista a <span lang="es">comunero</span> has dug an <span lang="es">acequia</span>
+several miles long, and he sells the water at a rate of five piastres
+for forty-eight hours. But when it reaches the end of the <span lang="es">acequia</span>, it
+is lost between the trench and the field to which they would conduct
+it. At Ulapes, though it is one of the chief centres, it takes the full
+outflow of the spring during sixteen hours to irrigate one <span lang="es">cuadra</span> (a
+little over two acres), and each man's "turn" is for seventeen days.
+The entire oasis measures about fifty acres. At Olta the thin stream of
+water is surrounded by so many cupidities that the "turn" comes only
+every fifty-eight days, so that each field has to live fifty-eight days
+on one watering. At Catuna where a trickle of brackish water is eagerly
+collected at the foot of a dejection-cone, the water-right is regulated
+by an arrangement of turns that covers ninety days, so that plants die
+of thirst in the interval. The plots vary according to the quantity,
+quality, and regularity of the water. The orange-tree is the most
+exacting, the fig the most tenacious, of the trees. The poorest oases
+consist only of a few gardens of dusty fig-trees.</p>
+
+<p>However small it is, the oasis always stands for a rudiment of
+communal life, a <span lang="es">poblado</span>, a centre round which life is organized in
+this pastoral, anarchic, amorphous world. Land that has a water-right
+is regarded as detached from the <span lang="es">merced</span> and never remains
+undivided.</p>
+
+<p>Besides these properly irrigated lands there are the
+<span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span>: cultivated plots in the hollows, where the moisture
+left by the storms is concentrated and preserved. These are much more
+extensive, and they
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+
+are very irregularly distributed. Inequalities of the alluvial ground
+that almost escape the eye are sufficient to direct the streaming of
+the water after rain, and it is quickly absorbed. Man assists nature
+as well as he can, and one sees everywhere tiny ridges of earth across
+the paths, for the purpose of diverting the water to the plots. These
+are the <span lang="es">tomas</span>. When you follow a <span lang="es">toma</span> downward, you see it after
+a time pass under a hedge of dry thorn, and this encloses a field, a
+<span lang="es">cerco</span>. The crops have to be jealously guarded against the cattle
+which roam in the scrub. The <span lang="es">cercos</span> are sometimes so numerous that
+they give the impression of a regular agricultural district. Most of
+them are planted with maize. The maize harvest rarely fails in the
+summer, for it is then, on account of the regular rains, that the
+maize grows and ripens. When the ears have been gathered, the cattle
+are let into the <span lang="es">cerco</span>, as maize-straw is excellent fodder. But
+wheat also grows well in the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span>. Provided the year has
+had a few late showers, the wheat sown in autumn stands the winter
+drought more or less well, and ripens after the early rains, at the
+beginning of summer. The Llanos produce a hard wheat; it is not milled,
+but eaten, like rice, in the grain. There have been times when the
+Llanos have exported wheat. The census of 1888 gives the Department of
+General Belgrano, on the eastern slope of the Llanos, an area of 900
+acres under maize and 1,900 under wheat. When the Chilecito railway
+was constructed, this wheat competed with that brought on mules from
+Jachal, in the mining district of the Famatina range. Like the gardens
+in the oases, the <span lang="es">cercos</span> may be divided, and they are the personal
+property of those who cultivate them.</p>
+
+<p>Sowing and reaping are, however, mere episodes in the life of the
+<span lang="es">Llanero</span>. He is mainly occupied with cattle-breeding. The quality of
+the pasture differs considerably according to the nature of the soil
+and the good and bad character of the season. Sometimes
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
+
+it forms a thick carpet under the brushwood, but in other places it is
+poor and there is nothing but the leaves and pods of the <span lang="es">algarroba</span>.
+If the herd is too large, the grass will not grow again; the breeder
+recognizes at a glance the <span lang="es">campo recargado</span>&mdash;the field which
+has had its capacity overstrained. The pasture has to be carefully
+nursed. But the most urgent problem is to get a supply of water for
+the cattle. Round the Sierra the underground water is often fresh, and
+there are plenty of wells. Still, in order to avoid having to draw
+the water, they dig large trenches at suitable spots in the clay, and
+round these they arrange the earth that has been dug out, with an
+opening toward the hills to catch the water when it is raining. These
+are the <span lang="es">represas</span>. As in the case of the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span>, ridges
+of earth direct the stream to the <span lang="es">represa</span>. It is surrounded by a
+hedge as carefully as the field is. On the plain rain is rare, and
+the <span lang="es">represas</span> are usually the only reserve. They have to last the
+whole year; even two years if there is a particularly dry summer that
+prevents re-filling. Thus they become sometimes veritable lakes. From
+a distance you can see, above the top of the brushwood, the bald curve
+of the mound of beaten earth which encircles them. The water flows over
+it when there has been much rain. The mound is sometimes 4&frac12; to
+5&frac12; yards high; as it is at Tello, between the Sierra d'Ulapes
+and the Sierra de los Llanos, where the San Juan coach used to change
+horses.</p>
+
+<p>The <span lang="es">represa</span> is the real centre of the estate. The house is built
+near it, and guards the entrance. From early morning until dusk the
+cattle come to it, singly or in groups. The rancher admits them, lets
+them drink, and closes the gate behind them. If the thirsty cattle have
+not his mark and belong to a neighbour, he sends them to drink at their
+own <span lang="es">represa</span>; but he gives water to lost beasts, from a distance,
+whose owner will presently come for them. Near the <span lang="es">represa</span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>
+
+is the enclosure (<span lang="es">potrero</span>) for calves that have
+just been born. The cows come there every morning, and they are milked
+for a few months to make cheese. Like the <span lang="es">cerco</span>,
+the <span lang="es">represa</span> is the personal property of the man
+who made it, or of one who has inherited it and sees to its upkeep.</p>
+
+<p>The cattle of the Llanos move a good deal. There are certain
+irregular migrations, and others that are periodic or connected with
+the seasons. Everywhere on the fringe of the Sierra the cattle remain
+in the ravine and on the foot-hills during the winter. In the summer
+they return of themselves to their <span lang="es">querencia</span>
+on the plain. The irregular migrations are due to scarcity of water
+or pasture. Driven by hunger, the beasts travel a long distance of
+their own accord. They mingle with other herds, sometimes so far
+from the ranches where they were born that no one recognizes their
+mark. Sometimes, again, the rancher himself goes, when his <span
+lang="es">represa</span> is dry, to ask hospitality in some more
+favoured canton. He is fortunate if the drought has not been general;
+if part of the country has been spared and can offer a refuge.</p>
+
+<p>But it sometimes happens that the whole district has suffered, and
+the land is naked and scorched everywhere. There is then no help except
+a long journey, to San Luis or to the lucerne-farms of San Juan, for
+the cattle. The misfortune of the Llanos sends up at once the rent
+of the <span lang="es">invernadas</span> all round. A general evacuation of the cattle is
+a desperate remedy, and is, in fact, often impracticable. During the
+whole summer the men wait patiently, hoping for the end of the drought.
+There is room for hope until April, when storms are still possible. If
+the month ends without rain, it is too late to remove the exhausted
+cattle; the stages across the desolated country are too severe.</p>
+
+<p>The memory of the worst years of drought&mdash;the "epidemics," as
+the Llanero calls them&mdash;lives for a
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
+
+long time. They make a deep impression on the popular imagination, and
+legend makes plagues of them, in the Biblical way. The drought of 1884
+was particularly disastrous. The herds were destroyed, and families
+that had been wealthy the day before set out on foot, "having nothing
+to put a saddle on": a touching picture of misery for this race of
+centaurs, people who feel themselves mutilated when they are not on
+horse. The rain returns next year. The pasture grows all the better
+because the herd is smaller, and the Llanos give the traveller who
+crosses them an exaggerated impression of their natural wealth.</p>
+
+<p>Until quite a recent date the cattle reared in the Llanos were
+destined exclusively for Chile. Dealers from Jachal or Tinogasta came
+in the autumn, and the cattle passed the winter in the <span lang="es">invernadas</span>
+at the foot of the Cordillera. From the Sierra d'Ulapes, which is a
+southward continuation of the Llanos, the cattle destined for Chile
+were first sent to San Juan. They took one or two weeks to reach it.
+Five men were needed for a herd of a hundred beasts: eight for a herd
+of two hundred. The caravan was directed by an <span lang="es">estanciero</span> (rancher)
+or his <span lang="es">capataz</span>, or by dealers who came originally from the Llanos.</p>
+
+<p>Exports to Chile have not entirely ceased. In 1913 the dealers from
+Tinogasta and Jachal, who had not appeared in 1912, came back. The
+southern part of the Sierra d'Ulapes, which is some distance from the
+railway, reserves its cattle for San Juan. The cattle are, however,
+more and more sent by rail to the coast. In the Sierra d'Ulapes the
+dealers from Villa Mercedes, which has become one of the great markets
+of Argentina, come every year, rent an enclosure (<span lang="es">protrero</span>), and
+collect in it, one by one, a herd of cattle, which they then take away
+on foot. They are sold at the fair at Villa Mercedes, and they disperse
+in every direction toward the fattening zones of the Pampa.</p>
+
+<p>This commercial revolution has led to a rise in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+
+price of cattle, and this in turn has raised the value of land.
+When the value of the land rises, the methods of working it are
+necessarily improved, there is greater security, and thefts of cattle
+(<span lang="es">cuatrerismo</span>) become impossible. The farmers are not content merely
+to enlarge their <span lang="es">represas</span> or dig deeper wells. They divide the fields
+by fences&mdash;cheap iron wire stretched on home-made posts, or hedges
+of spines like those which protect the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span>. Thus pasture
+can be reserved untouched for the difficult months.</p>
+
+<p>This subdivision of the land by fences began in the south, in the
+Ulapes district, in touch with the richer districts of San Luis and
+C&oacute;rdoba. In the Llanos proper the practice has scarcely begun.
+At Ulapes it is even done on the <span lang="es">mercedes</span>. Each <span lang="es">comunero</span>, without
+opposition, encloses as much space as he can, and leaves his cattle
+outside, on the common land, as long as possible. He only brings them
+into his enclosed land when the common pasture is exhausted. This
+will bring about the end of the <span lang="es">mercedes</span>; and, indeed, communal
+ownership is not suited to modern conditions. The latest sign of
+progress is the appearance of lucerne fields. Lucerne can be grown
+on the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> wherever anything else can be grown; and the
+creation of lucerne-farms will give the pastoral industry a security
+and stability it never had before, besides enabling the breeders to
+collect stores of dry forage and exploit the full pastoral capacity of
+the <span lang="es">monte</span>.</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a><br />
+TUCUM&Aacute;N AND MENDOZA THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">
+   <p>Tucum&aacute;n and the road to Chile&mdash;The
+   climate and the cultivation of the sugar-cane&mdash;The
+   problem of manual labour&mdash;Irrigation at
+   Mendoza&mdash;Water-rights&mdash;Viticulture&mdash;Protection
+   and the natural conditions.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The great industrial forms of cultivation, the sugar-cane and the
+vine, gave a new aspect to the scenery of Tucum&aacute;n and Mendoza
+at the end of the nineteenth century. The increase of population and
+wealth which they entailed was so sudden, the economic advance so
+swift, that the owners of vineyards and the sugar-makers have now
+lost all recollection of the primitive industries which gave life
+to colonial Tucum&aacute;n and Mendoza, and were maintained until
+the last generation. Nevertheless, if one compares Tucum&aacute;n or
+Mendoza with some centre of irrigated tillage in north-west Argentina,
+one quickly perceives the original features which three centuries of
+history have given them. The system of land-tenure, water-rights, the
+distribution of the cultivated zones, and a thousand other features,
+show that the colonization is old. The exploitation of the soil and
+utilization of the water have not proceeded on a methodical plan,
+conceived in advance, which would make each piece of work&mdash;the
+dams and channels of distribution, for instance&mdash;subordinate to
+the whole. The engineers who constructed the great modern dams of
+Mendoza, San Juan and Sali, had not to create a region of new estates,
+but merely to
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
+
+improve the water-supply, which was used wastefully by the existing
+estates. There is nothing more suggestive than the contrast between
+these stone dams, built according to all the rules of hydraulics, and
+the network of irregular channels, following the accidental variations
+of the land and the slope, which preceded them, and to which they have
+been accommodated as far as possible. In some cases the primitive
+<span lang="es">acequias</span> could not be altered so as to start from the dam. The
+accumulations of water succeed each other down the slope, held up by a
+simple barrier of branches and earth which is periodically destroyed
+by floods. The modern flood-proof dam (<span lang="es">dique nivelador</span>), which cuts
+the torrent in its entire width, and enables them to make use of its
+whole volume, allows a certain amount of water to pass, for the use of
+the <span lang="es">acequias</span> lower down. This falls back into the broad, stony bed,
+exposed to evaporation and infiltration as it was before.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Long before the development of the sugar industry on a large
+scale, there was a typically urban life, added to the common fund
+of pastoral life, at Tucum&aacute;n. The neighbouring cantons of
+the scrub&mdash;Trancas, Burruyacu, and Graneros&mdash;sent cattle
+and mules to Peru and Chile, like the other Argentine plains. But
+Tucum&aacute;n drew still greater profit from its position as chief
+stage on the high road to Peru, at the point where the plain passes
+into the mountain. Primitive Tucum&aacute;n was an excellent type
+of high-road village. The road determined its position at the point
+where the Sali had to be crossed. The first site of the town, near
+Monteros, was abandoned in the eighteenth century, when the high road
+to Peru settled in the sub-Andean region and ceased to run through the
+Calchaqui valley. The road sustained its chief industries, tanning and
+harness-making for the muleteers of the Andes, and waggon-making for
+the <span lang="es">troperos</span> of the plain. The road and the people travelling along
+it afforded an
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+
+outlet for its wheat and flour, and facilitated the export of its
+tobacco to the coast-provinces. The waggon-owners were really
+contractors, conveying stuff at their own cost. Moreover, part of
+Bolivia came to make its purchases at the shops (<span lang="es">tiendas</span>) of
+Tucum&aacute;n, and the merchants of the town took in exchange Bolivian
+ore for export. Thus the road built up a nucleus of available capital
+at Tucum&aacute;n. This capital was invested, at the close of the
+nineteenth century, in sugar; and it has increased a hundredfold. Most
+of the works still belong to old families of the town.</p>
+
+<p>The sugar-region is comparatively small. It covers an area which
+has exceptional climatic features, owing to the vicinity of Mount
+Aconcagua. While the higher chains of the Andes further north are
+separated from the Chaco plain by lower ranges, on which the east winds
+leave their stores of moisture less freely, Tucum&aacute;n has on its
+west the great mass of Aconcagua. It rises, a giant landmark, at the
+beginning of the plains, from which there is nothing to separate it,
+and gathers the clouds round it.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+    <a id="Valle_of_Santa_Maria" href="images/illus-085a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-085a.jpg" alt="The Valle of Santa Maria" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE VALLE OF SANTA MARIA, NORTH-WEST OF MOUNT ACONCAGUA.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">At the bottom of the valle one can see the
+   sandy bed of the river as a white line in the foreground. Zone
+   of torrential terraces, which follows the edge of the valle.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-085a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a id="Oasis_of_Andalgala" href="images/illus-085b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-085b.jpg" alt="The Oasis of Andalgala" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE OASIS OF ANDALGALA.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">At the western foot of Aconcagua, the snowy
+   crest of which can be seen.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate VI.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-085b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On the eastern slope of Aconcagua is the limit of the crescent of
+tropical forest, which begins about three thousand miles away, on the
+flank of the Venezuelan and Colombian Cordilleras, and is connected
+in the centre, in the equatorial zone, from Guaviare to Mamore, with
+the forests of the Amazon region. At its two ends it is reduced to a
+narrow belt which does not reach, in the east, the alluvial plains,
+the savannahs of the Orinoco and the scrub of the Chaco. The humid
+forest of the Argentine Andes is nowhere more luxuriant than near its
+southern limit, above Tucum&aacute;n. There are no palms or tree-ferns,
+but the convolvulus abounds, and the evergreen trees are covered with
+epiphytes. Aconcagua is one of the sharpest climatological limits
+in the world. In the latitude of Salta one has only to go about 150
+miles to pass from the moist forests of the sub-Andean chain of the
+Lumbrera to the arid valley of Cachi. On both sides of Aconcagua there
+are less than fifty-five miles between the sugar-cane fields won from
+the forest and the oasis of Andalgala, or that of Santa Maria, which
+are right in the desert zone. According as one approaches Aconcagua
+from the east or the west, one finds, from base to summit, either the
+successive stages of vegetation of the humid Andes&mdash;from forest
+to grain-sown prairie (<span lang="es">paramo</span> or <span lang="es">pajonal</span>)&mdash;or those which
+are characteristic of the arid Andes, from the spiny scrub of the
+valleys to the fields of resinous <span lang="es">tola</span> of the Puna. The contrast
+of climates is repeated in the character of the soils. Aconcagua
+contains in itself the entire Andes in miniature. At the foot of
+the narrow zone of Alpine crests, in the few square miles of the
+elevated valleys of Tafi and Pucara, there is a small agricultural and
+pastoral world, in a temperate climate, that has nothing quite like
+it elsewhere, narrowly confined between the forest and the desert.<a
+ id="FNanchor_32_32" href="#Footnote_32_32"
+class="fnanchor">32</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The sugar district of Tucum&aacute;n is not, properly speaking, an
+oasis; that is to say, it is not an irrigated canton in the midst of
+a desert, but a moist patch in the heart of a less favoured region.
+The traveller who comes from the Chaco finds that the dust disappears
+from the moister air as he approaches Tucum&aacute;n. The rainfall
+approaches 974 millimetres at Tucum&aacute;n. Irrigation is a valuable
+aid to the farmer, but it is not indispensable. Maize is generally
+raised without watering, and part even of the sugar-cane crop is
+raised on land that is not irrigated. It is not the relatively heavy
+rainfall that has led to the development of the sugar-cane estates
+at Tucum&aacute;n, but the evenness of the temperature, together
+with the atmospheric moisture and the rareness of frost. The mists
+which develop at the foot of Aconcagua form a protecting mantle above
+Tucum&aacute;n which prevents nocturnal radiation. The nearer one
+gets to the mountain, the later, rarer, and lighter the frosts are.
+If, on the contrary, one goes out some distance westward toward the
+plain, the frost becomes more severe, and it is impossible to grow
+sugar-cane. Not only the humidity, but the contour also, has some
+influence on the changes of temperature and the distribution of frost.
+The depressions in which the cold air accumulates, in virtue of the
+well-known meteorological phenomenon of inversion of temperature, are
+more exposed than sloping districts, where the air circulates regularly
+and freely. The eastern limit of the zone spared by the frosts passes
+about thirty-five miles from the foot of Aconcagua. It has only been
+made clear by experiment, and one can still see there the traces of
+abandoned plantations.</p>
+
+<p>The water-supply in the Tucum&aacute;n district consists, primarily,
+of numerous evenly flowing streams which come down the eastern flank of
+Aconcagua (Lules, Famailla, Angostura, Gastona, Medinas, etc.). They
+join the Sali to the south of Tucum&aacute;n. The Sali is an irregular
+torrent which rises in the sub-Andean depression to the north and
+Tucum&aacute;n, and, after squeezing Aguadita between the north-eastern
+extremity of Aconcagua and the sub-Andean chain of Burruyacu, enters
+the plain at Tucum&aacute;n. It then flows southward, meandering over a
+large bed of shingle in which it has not had force enough to excavate a
+valley, and the inclination of the land on its left bank (to the east)
+is toward the east and south-east. The lands on the right bank of the
+Sali are consequently better provided with water than those on the left
+bank. The difference is so marked that, as the estates on the right
+bank get most of their supply elsewhere, the water of the Sali nearly
+all goes to the left bank. In 1912 a siphon
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+
+was actually constructed underneath the bed of the Sali to convey the
+unused water of the Rio Lules to the right bank. Lastly, to the north
+of Tucum&aacute;n the Sierra de Burruyacu provides a few intermittent
+streams of water, which the <span lang="es">estancias</span> (ranches) formerly conducted,
+with great labour, to their <span lang="es">represas</span>. These do not suffice for
+irrigation on a large scale.</p>
+
+<p>The sugar-cane was first grown at the gates of the town and,
+to the east, at Cruz Alta, on the left bank of the Sali. These
+were some distance from the mountain because, as there was
+less rain and the soil was fairly dry, the natural vegetation
+was less luxuriant, and it cost less to prepare the ground.<a
+ id="FNanchor_33_33" href="#Footnote_33_33"
+class="fnanchor">33</a> The Central C&oacute;rdoba Railway, which
+passes along the right bank of the Sali south of Tucum&aacute;n, is the
+axis of another zone of cultivation and of old factories. Colonization
+afterwards went further west. A new provincial railway, describing
+a section of a circle, was grafted at Tucum&aacute;n (1888-90) and
+Madria upon the Central C&oacute;rdoba line. It keeps close to the
+foot of the range, the <span lang="es">falda</span>, and enables farmers to settle on it.
+The new estates have not confined themselves to the alluvial plain;
+they have crept up the foot hills, and are constantly going higher.
+In the latitude of Tucum&aacute;n the mountain approaches within
+eight or twelve miles of the Sali, and the possibilities of extension
+westward are strictly limited; indeed, they are already exhausted.
+Further south, on the contrary, the plain extends more than fifteen
+miles to the east of the provincial railway. West of Monteros,
+Concepci&oacute;n, and the existing line of works, there is a reserve
+of available land; there is room for a fresh advance westward. There
+is also room for expansion to the north-east, at the foot of the
+sub-Andean chain of Burruyacu, where the frosts are slight. It is in
+this direction that most of the clearing is now going on.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>These various districts do not offer quite the same conditions to
+the farmer. The <span lang="es">Falda</span> is the most suitable, not only on account of
+the rareness of frost, but because of the fertility of the soil, as
+the tropical forest has accumulated inexhaustible stores of humus. The
+sugar-cane returns are higher there than anywhere else. Irrigation
+is not necessary, but, on the other hand, the humidity reduces the
+proportion of sugar in the cane. Irrigation is the rule in the next
+belt, between the local railway and the Central C&oacute;rdoba line (on
+the right bank of the Sali). On the left bank a large number of the
+estates must still do without watering.</p>
+
+<p>The most original feature of the organization of the sugar industry
+at Tucum&aacute;n is the maintenance of a class of independent
+cultivators, the <span lang="es">ca&ntilde;eros</span>, side by side with the large
+enterprises. This survival of small and medium properties is a
+fact to which we find no parallel in the other sugar districts of
+tropical America.<a  id="FNanchor_34_34"
+href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">34</a> Everywhere else,
+in Brazil and in the Antilles, the farms which worked up their own
+produce, on primitive methods, have been absorbed by the central
+works. The home-worker has lost his land as well as been ruined in his
+industry by the competition of the modern factory. At Tucum&aacute;n,
+on the contrary, the sugar industry never passed through the stage of
+domestic production. It was set up in full development, some devoting
+their capital to building works, others to growing the cane. Irrigation
+seemed from the first to dictate a concentration of ownership; the
+refineries at Cruz Alta constructed costly special canals to bring the
+water of the Sali. It is only large proprietors who have the resources
+needed to carry out work of this kind, and sufficient influence to
+secure permission to conduct the water over adjoining estates. However,
+the law of 1897 reorganized irrigation and withdrew the water-supply
+from the control of a few privileged big capitalists. Public works,
+undertaken by the provincial authorities, brought the water within the
+reach of every farmer. Since 1897 the number of water-concessions has
+risen from 230 to nearly 2,000.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The interests of the factory (<span lang="es">ingenio</span>) and the farmers
+(<span lang="es">ca&ntilde;eros</span>) are not indissolubly connected. Their respective
+parts in the final product of the sugar industry are not invariable.
+The increase in the number of factories means an increase in the number
+of cane-buyers, and so tends to raise the price. During the years
+antecedent to 1895 the refineries improved their machinery, and their
+productive capacity increased faster than the cultivated acreage. The
+price of the cane then rose to about twenty piastres a ton. As this
+figure is far above the net cost, the refineries endeavoured to profit
+themselves by the advantages that accrued to the <span lang="es">ca&ntilde;eros</span>,
+and they bought land for cultivation. It is to this period that the
+big concerns of Cruz Alta belong. Afterwards the production of cane
+increased, and nearly met the demands of the refineries, so that their
+competition relaxed. They ceased to buy land, and the price of cane was
+lowered.</p>
+
+<p>The refineries now deal with cane which they grow themselves, with
+paid workers of their own; with cane that they buy at a reduced price
+from tenants (<span lang="es">colonos</span>), who grow it on their own estates; and with
+cane sold them by <span lang="es">ca&ntilde;eros</span> who own their own fields. The range
+of the country absorbed by each refinery is often very extensive.
+The Sugar Congress of 1894 estimated that half the cane-harvest was
+transported by rail, and that freight from one canton to another in
+the sugar district brought the railways more than a third of what they
+got for conveying sugar from Tucum&aacute;n to the coast. Each railway
+company tries to keep along its own line the cane it carries to the
+refineries, so that the transport of the sugar when it is made will
+fall to itself. Thus the cane-market is
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+
+divided into two separate compartments, with very little exchange
+between them. The first comprises the zone that depends on the Central
+Argentine and the State Railway; the second is the zone of the
+Central C&oacute;rdoba and the old local line bought by the Central
+C&oacute;rdoba.</p>
+
+<p>Certain parts, such as Cruz Alta and the district round the town,
+have too many works in proportion to their production of cane, and they
+are centres of import. The price of the cane is always higher here
+than in the agricultural districts. Each works has its customers. At
+the stations it instals weighing machines for receiving and weighing
+the cane. It is only the more important <span lang="es">ca&ntilde;eros</span> who have the
+privilege of selling by the truck-load, or selling to distant works.
+The small growers are compelled to deal with the local refinery. They
+sell it their canes direct, or, sometimes, through agents and dealers.
+In the days when the works were competing for cane it became the
+custom to sign the purchase-contracts as early as possible; sometimes
+at the beginning of October, as soon as the harvest of the year is
+over. In order to make sure of the loyalty of the <span lang="es">ca&ntilde;ero</span> the
+manufacturers advance money to him, in proportion to their difficulty
+in getting cane.</p>
+
+<p><span lang="es">Ca&ntilde;eros</span> and mill-owners have had to work together to
+settle the problem of labour. There was not enough at hand, and it
+had to be recruited elsewhere. Agents were sent all round&mdash;to
+Catamarca and Santiago del Estero, and even to the province of
+C&oacute;rdoba&mdash;to collect and bring gangs of workers. They were
+a mixed, unsteady, undisciplined lot. The owners of the works advanced
+them money in order to keep them, and then, fearing to lose the money
+advanced, would not dismiss them for laziness and irregularities. These
+troubles are not felt as much now as they were at the time when the
+industry was expanding. The population of immigrant workers has settled
+down and taken
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>
+
+root. Besides creoles it includes a small number of Italians and
+Spaniards; but while the creoles have been definitely incorporated in
+the sugar industry, the European immigrants use their savings to buy a
+bit of land and take to farming.</p>
+
+<p>In normal times Tucum&aacute;n has all the labour it requires, but
+the harvest always compels it to seek help in other provinces. In
+May and June the agents, well supplied with money, set out for the
+Salado, the districts round the Sierra d'Ancasti, etc. The temporary
+attraction of Tucum&aacute;n at this season is felt over a considerable
+distance. At Santa Maria, on the far side of Mount Aconcagua, 600
+people&mdash;men, women, and children&mdash;emigrate for five months,
+and live on the cane-fields. The merchants of Santa Maria make them
+advances, in the name of the refiners, to the amount of about sixty
+piastres per worker. Further north the Tucum&aacute;n <span lang="es">enganchadores</span>
+come into collision with those from Salta and Campo Santo, and they
+divide the available labour between them. Some of the temporary
+immigrants settle down permanently every year, and swell the normal
+population of the sugar industry.</p>
+
+<p>Outside the Tucum&aacute;n district an unfortunate attempt was
+made to plant the sugar industry at Santiago del Estero, and large
+works were constructed. But the frost is severe there. For some years
+they tried to keep the Santiago works going with cane brought from
+Tucum&aacute;n, but the freight was too heavy, and the works had to be
+abandoned, or else dismantled and set up elsewhere. The valley of the
+Rio Grande, from Jujuy to 200 miles north of Tucum&aacute;n, in the
+sub-Andean depression between the Sierra de Zenta and the Lumbrera,
+has, on the other hand, suitable conditions for the cultivation of the
+cane. Frost is rare. The climate is warmer than at Tucum&aacute;n,
+the canes ripen more quickly, and the average return is higher. The
+water-supply also is good. There have long been
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+
+plantations in this region. Their first market was the region of the
+tableland and the valleys, where they chiefly sold brandy: a traffic of
+long standing, which one always finds round the cold districts of the
+Andes, from Colombia to the north of Argentina. The modern refineries
+of Ledesma and San Pedro took the place of the primitive mills as soon
+as the railway approached Jujuy, and even before it entered the valley
+of the Rio Grande. They then sent their sugar by waggon in November and
+December, between the close of the sugar season and the commencement of
+the rains, which spoil the roads.</p>
+
+<p>The sugar district of Jujuy now has a very different economic and
+social organization from that of Tucum&aacute;n. Here there are no
+farmer-proprietors. Each centre is a large estate, in the midst of the
+forest, where the workers are lodged and fed by the works that employs
+them. The contractors who clear the ground for them are obliged by
+the terms of their contract to import their workers directly from the
+south, so that they will not take any away from the farming. There is
+no available labour, no free market, on the spot. Since the completion
+of the Quebrada de Humahuaca line, however, there has been a good
+deal of immigration, to settle or temporarily, of the mountaineers of
+the tableland. The sphere of influence of San Pedro now extends as
+far as Bolivia. For the harvest, which, like that of Tucum&aacute;n,
+requires a good deal of additional manual labour, the works look to the
+wild Indians of the Chaco. This curious stream of seasonal migration,
+which the sugar campaign of Jujuy provokes every winter outside the
+zone of white colonization, is of very old date, going back more than
+sixty years. Belmar notices it about the middle of the nineteenth
+century. The recruiting agents of San Pedro and Ledesma set out from
+Embarcaci&oacute;n, where the railway ends, and enter the Chaco, from
+which each of them brings a troop of some hundreds of natives between
+March and June.
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>
+
+The number of these temporary immigrants seems to be about 6,000. The
+Chiriguanos of the north leave their families on the Chaco, and the men
+come alone. The Matacos immigrate in whole tribes. They camp in huts
+like those of their own villages, under the shelter of the works, and
+are paid in maize, meat, and cigars. In October, when the <span lang="es">algarroba</span>
+flowers and makes them dream of their own country, they receive the
+remainder of their pay in money, and spend it in brandy, clothing,
+knives, and firearms.</p>
+
+<p>The history of Mendoza resembles that of Tucum&aacute;n in many
+ways. In the province of Cuyo, as at Tucum&aacute;n, urban life has
+been precocious. In the middle of the eighteenth century Mendoza and
+San Juan exported wines, dried fruit (<span lang="es">pasas</span> and <span lang="es">orejones</span>), and
+flour to the coast and to Paraguay. Part of the so-called "Chilean
+flour" consumed on the Pampa, really came from Jachal and Mendoza.
+This trade ceased in the nineteenth century, but San Juan and Mendoza
+found another source of wealth in fattening cattle and sending them
+to Chile. Belmar, in 1856, estimates the extent of the lucerne
+farms of Cuyo to have been 150,000 <span lang="es">cuadres</span>(440,000 acres). <a
+ id="FNanchor_35_35" href="#Footnote_35_35"
+class="fnanchor">35</a> As at Tucum&aacute;n, the present period is
+characterized by a rapid expansion of cultivation and a rapid growth of
+population. But, whereas at Tucum&aacute;n the neighbouring provinces
+have provided the whole of the manual labour required, and the actual
+population is essentially creole, at Mendoza there has been a larger
+number of foreign immigrants. In 1914, foreigners were 310 per 1,000
+of the entire population of Mendoza: a larger proportion than for
+the whole country. The immigrants going straight to Mendoza from the
+ports numbered 12,000 in 1911, and 15,000 in 1912; almost as much as
+for the province of Santa F&eacute;, and more than for the province
+of C&oacute;rdoba. Thus Mendoza plays a part of its own in the charm
+which Argentina has for the imagination of Europe. When we examine a
+chart of the population of South America, we notice that the oases of
+Cuyo contain the only important groups of European population at any
+distance from the coast.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The prosperity of Mendoza to-day depends upon the cultivation of
+the vine, just as that of Tucum&aacute;n depends upon sugar. The
+cultivation of the vine is possible in the greater part of Argentina.
+In the early days of colonization there were vineyards as far as the
+Paraguay. They still flourish at Concordia on the Uruguay and at San
+Nicolas on the lower Paran&aacute;. But the wet summers of the eastern
+provinces are not suitable for them. The climate for them improves as
+one goes westward, and there is less rain. The dry zone of eastern
+Argentina is the special field of the vine. There it has spread
+over nearly twenty degrees of latitude, and it depends, like other
+cultivation, upon irrigation. In the Andean valleys of the north-west
+it rises to a height of 7,500 feet. South of Mendoza the higher
+limit of the vine sinks rapidly, and there are no vineyards in the
+mountainous district itself. On the other hand, its range increases; in
+the east it spreads as far as the Atlantic coast, in the valley of the
+Rio Negro.</p>
+
+<p>The former centres of viticulture in the north-west, in the oases
+of the <span lang="es">costas</span> of La Rioja, Catamarca, and Salta, have scarcely
+been affected by the advance; and, in any case, their extent is very
+limited. The vine-district of the Rio Negro is only in process of
+creation, and its output is still small. Thus the area of production
+on a large scale is limited to the three oases of San Juan, Mendoza,
+and San Rafa&euml;l, which in 1913 yielded 4,750,000 hectolitres, out
+of the total Argentine production of 5,000,000 hectolitres. These
+three centres differ from each other to-day rather in their economic
+development than in their physical conditions. At San Juan, the
+transformation of the earlier methods of production and the traditional
+creole industries is
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+
+only now taking place. At Mendoza it is quite finished. The San
+Rafa&euml;l centre, on the other hand, is of recent origin; it was
+created on the site of a fortress which guarded the Indian frontier
+until 1880. Cultivated areas have appeared on virgin soil, in the midst
+of the desert. These different circumstances account for diversities
+which, though they will disappear in the course of time, are still
+obvious to the traveller. The general scene is the same everywhere.
+Arid and desolate mountains close the horizon in the west; at their
+feet spreads the immense alluvial deposit on which the vineyards,
+surrounded by rows of poplars, grow wherever water is to be found.</p>
+
+<p>There are so few gaps in the lower slopes of the Cordillera that the
+available water is gathered at a small number of points. The Rio San
+Juan alone drains a belt of the Cordillera at least 140 miles broad.
+Each of the two oases, Mendoza and San Rafa&euml;l, has two streams
+of water to feed it. The Mendoza and the Tunuyan at Mendoza, and the
+Diamante and the Atuel at San Rafa&euml;l, approach each other, when
+they leave the mountains, so closely that the estates they water blend
+into a continuous area. Then, however, instead of uniting, they diverge
+and are lost, separately, in the plain. These streams have less fall
+than the thinner torrents of the oases of the north-west, and the
+average inclination of the dejection-cones which bear the vineyards is
+slight. The upper slopes of the cone, where thin beds of clay lie upon
+shingle, give clear wines of excellent aroma. Hence, in the Mendoza
+district, the vineyards of Lujan and, further down, of Godoy Cruz,
+Guaymallen, and Maipu produce choice brands. On the plain, to the east
+of Mendoza, at San Martin and Junin, the harvest is larger, but the
+wine is rough, and one can often taste the saltpetre of the clayey
+soil. There is the same difference between the upper and lower district
+at San Juan and San Rafa&euml;l.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The oases of San Juan and San Rafa&euml;l spread evenly over the
+most suitable parts of the alluvial talus, but the oasis of Mendoza
+has a peculiar shape which can only be explained by historical causes.
+The cultivated belt is a narrow strip along the Tunuyan, for more than
+sixty miles, as far as the heart of the plain, out of sight of the
+Cordillera. It is one instance, out of a thousand, of the influence of
+traffic on colonization. As a matter of fact, the road from Mendoza
+to the coast, by which the cattle convoys of San Luis went to the
+<span lang="es">invernadas</span>, passes along the Tunuyan. The estates grew up by the
+side of it. The villages of Santa Rosa, Las Catitas, and La Paz, which
+mark the various stages of it, are all of ancient origin. Strangers
+are rarely found there. One still sees in them very old houses, built
+before the railway was made, dating from the days of the <span lang="es">carril</span> or
+waggon-road. The importance of this line of water across the desert is
+clearly seen on the Woodbine Parish map.</p>
+
+<p>The use of irrigation in this district raised different technical
+problems from those of the north-western provinces. In this latitude
+the torrents of the Andes are formidable when the snows <del>meet</del><ins>melt</ins>, at the
+beginning of summer. The flood is all the greater and more sudden as
+the heat is late. From all the ravines of the mountains the muddy
+waters then converge toward the valley. The flood scours the bed of
+the river, erodes its banks, and threatens to find a way amongst the
+estates. Even the towns of Mendoza and San Juan have more than once
+been in danger. The fear of diverting the flood and of bringing it
+upon themselves compelled them to be content with raising only light
+and frail dams in the path of the torrent. At San Juan they used, for
+a long time, the waters of the Arroyo del <del>Eestero</del><ins>Estero</ins>, a small brook fed by
+infiltration from the Valle de Zenda, and it was some time before they
+ventured to draw upon the river itself.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Oasis_del_Rincon" href="images/illus-099a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-099a.jpg" alt="Oasis" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE OASIS DEL RINCON, BELOW SAUJIL (ANDALGALA
+   LINE, PROVINCE OF CATAMARCA).</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">The dejection-cone, at the foot of which is the
+   very small oasis, is seen resting against the Sierra d'Ambato.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-099a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+    <a id="Monte_at_El_Yeso" href="images/illus-099b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-099b.jpg" alt="The Monte at El Yeso" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE MONTE AT EL YESO.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Zone of clay hills at the foot of the Sierra
+   de San Antonio, at the edge of the Chaco. Corral (cattle park)
+   made from tree-trunks.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate VII.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-099b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Another problem, which the smaller oases of the north-west hardly
+know&mdash;the problem of drainage&mdash;is of paramount importance at
+San Juan and Mendoza, as far as a large part of the irrigated surface
+is concerned. The water infiltrating into the soil forms a subterranean
+sheet which approaches more or less to the surface according to the
+topography. It comes to the surface at the foot of the cone, where the
+slope diminishes and the cone gradually passes into the plain. Hence
+the cone has, at its base, a belt of marshes (<span lang="es">ci&eacute;nagas</span>), and
+sometimes a line of good springs (<span lang="es">barbollon</span>). At San Juan, if you
+move far enough away to get a comprehensive view of the whole of the
+estates, you see that they occupy the middle belt, half-way down the
+cone, the top of which is composed of coarse shingle, while the bottom
+is too wet. The advance of the plots upward and the steadily increasing
+use of the available water tends to raise the level of the underground
+sheet and enlarge the area of marsh.</p>
+
+<p>There is a fine black soil, very fertile when it is drained, and
+no irrigation is needed; as it is possible, according to the depth
+of the drainage-trenches, to regulate the level of the underground
+water so as to make it reach and feed the roots. The draining of the
+marshes, again, opens up a field for the further expansion of the
+estates, especially at San Juan, where it has scarcely begun. Moreover,
+the water that is obtained by draining the marshes enables them to
+create new irrigated estates further on. At Mendoza there is already a
+considerable area irrigated by drainage-canals (<span lang="es">desag&uuml;e</span>).</p>
+
+<p>The level of the water in the marshes sinks in the summer and rises
+in winter, at the time when the irrigation of the upper districts is
+suspended or greatly reduced, and when the surplus of the <span lang="es">acequias</span>,
+which the fields no longer take, flows or infiltrates downward in any
+way that it can. Thus, contrary to the torrent itself, it is in winter
+that the drainage-canals are at
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+
+their fullest. At Barriales (Mendoza), and on the lower course of the
+Zanjon canal, thousands of acres, watered by the drainage-canals and
+exposed to drought in the summer, have the right to take water from the
+river or the canal during the three summer months, from November to
+January. During the remainder of the year they are restricted to the
+use of the drainage-canals. This sort of concession seems to provide a
+means of using the surplus of the river during the summer.</p>
+
+<p>With this exception there are no temporary rights limited to the
+high-water season and enabling them to raise quick crops, that ripen
+in a few months, round the area of perennials. At least, the expansion
+of the estates and the wish to use the full water-supply have led to
+the creation of eventual rights, besides the definitive rights. They
+do not come into play, theoretically, until the definitive rights
+have had their full supply, and then only in a fixed order. They
+are subordinated to the ordinary rights, and the market value of
+land with eventual water-rights is much lower than that of land with
+definitive rights.<a  id="FNanchor_36_36"
+href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">36</a> At San Rafa&euml;l,
+where colonization preceded the systematic inventory of the natural
+resources, the concession of eventual water-rights was a means of
+facilitating the development of estates; though they were very badly
+informed as to the surplus of the Atuel and the Diamante and the area
+that the new land might cover.</p>
+
+<p>In practice, the co-existence of eventual and definitive rights
+presents many difficulties, and more than one pretext for fraud.
+<del>Somtimes </del><ins>Sometimes </ins>the owners of eventual rights have access to the river
+higher up than the older intakes, which ought to be served first. A
+whole group of canals feeding land with eventual rights is in this
+way grafted upon the Tunuyan above La Paz, the rights of which are
+definitive and ancient.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At Mendoza and San Juan the water-rights, codified in provincial
+laws which date, like the dams, from the end of the nineteenth century,
+are very different from the water-rights which hold in the Andean
+provinces of the north-west. The variety of the physical conditions
+is reflected in the institutions. Here water is not an object of
+private ownership independently of the soil. The concession of water
+is assigned to a definite estate, and it is formulated in superficial
+measurements. The law fixes the volume of water that goes with each
+unit of surface. If the output of the river is not large enough to
+provide the volume stated in the law to the whole of the irrigated
+district, all the lands with definitive rights receive at least an
+equal amount, and the available water is shared by the canals in
+proportion to the extent of the surface they irrigate.</p>
+
+<p>No law could secure for the farmers of Cuyo, even those with
+definitive rights, a constant supply of water, or save them from
+suffering in common from the variation in the volume of the torrents,
+and it was not even possible to guarantee them water in any permanent
+fashion. The <span lang="es">turno</span> is used everywhere when the water is low. Lower
+down, where the drought lasts nearly the whole year, the <span lang="es">turno</span> is
+the standing rule. At La Paz, on the fringe of the irrigated area,
+it has to be applied rigorously. The turn of each owner comes every
+eight, ten, or twelve days. In normal times he receives the <span lang="es">suerte de
+agua</span>; that is to say, the output of a sluice of a fixed size during a
+half-hour for each hectare (a little over two acres) of land. But if
+the river runs low, it becomes impossible to supply several neighbours
+simultaneously, and, in order to avoid making the interval between
+supplies too long, the duration of the <span lang="es">suerte de agua</span> is reduced by
+half or three-quarters.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The oases of Cuyo are like the small oases of the north-west as
+regards the function of those who are engaged in the administration of
+irrigation. The water-laws give the provincial functionaries general
+directions. Below them, however, to arrange the distribution of the
+water and the upkeep of the canals in detail, they have allowed to
+survive, and have merely regulated, certain primitive democratic
+organisms. At San Juan the superintendence of the irrigation is
+entrusted to elected municipal councils and the governor of the
+department. At Mendoza, the owners appoint a council of three delegates
+and an inspector for each canal, and these settle the annual budget of
+the canal, submit it to the provincial authorities, receive the taxes,
+carry out the necessary repairs, and so on. The great subdivision
+of property and the large number of electors make these little
+republics very lively; and they are very jealous of their autonomy.<a
+ id="FNanchor_37_37" href="#Footnote_37_37"
+class="fnanchor">37</a></p>
+
+<p>Even within the narrow limits of the Cuyo district the
+climatological conditions, which control the growth of
+the vine, are not everywhere the same. The opening of the
+vineyards varies by several weeks, according to the locality.<a
+ id="FNanchor_38_38" href="#Footnote_38_38"
+class="fnanchor">38</a> The northern slope of the cone, exposed to
+the sun and protected from the southern winds, is more precocious. Some
+districts, poorly sheltered from the southern winds, and very liable
+to have late frost, have not been planted with vines (district of the
+Tucuyan below San Carlos, to the south of Mendoza). Everywhere the
+dryness of the atmosphere causes the ripe grapes to remain long on the
+vine, so that the harvest may last two months or more without any harm.
+It thus requires a relatively small supplement of manual labour, and
+does not necessitate seasonal migrations. The length of the harvest,
+moreover, facilitates the trade in grapes, which is one of the special
+features of the Argentine vine-industry.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The climate is not so suitable for making wine as it is for growing
+vines. The temperature is high at the time of the harvest, and it
+retards fermentation in the cellars. The grapes have too much sugar
+and too little acid for the transformation of the must to proceed
+of itself. Hence it is necessary to have an expensive equipment,
+improved cellars, and skilled workers. This industrial organization
+is beyond the reach of the small cultivators. The cultivation of the
+vine and the making of wine are, therefore, not always associated.
+They are taken up by two different classes of the population.
+Tucum&aacute;n has its <span lang="es">ca&ntilde;eros</span> and factories, and Mendoza,
+by a division of labour which seems to the European visitor as
+strange as the climate which partly explains it, has its vine-growers
+(<span lang="es">vi&ntilde;ateros</span>) and its manufactures (<span lang="es">bodegueros</span>).<a
+ id="FNanchor_39_39" href="#Footnote_39_39"
+class="fnanchor">39</a></p>
+
+<p>Each of these two classes has had its share in the common work. The
+<span lang="es">vi&ntilde;atores</span> have created the vineyard. The creole vine, imported
+into Peru from the Canaries and spreading over the whole of the
+southern Andes, yields great quantities of a sugary, but rough fruit,
+which does not lend itself to imitating the wines of Europe. At Mendoza
+it has almost entirely disappeared, though it survives at San Juan. It
+is grown on trellis-work, wooden frames resting on forked branches of
+<span lang="es">algarroba</span>; though sometimes the strong stems rise without support to
+a height of about six feet and are crowned with shoots and leaves. The
+new vine has been grown from French cuttings. While the creole vines
+look like orchards, the French vines are grown in rows of iron wire.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The plantations were first made by creole workmen, who were paid by
+the day. Afterwards, as immigration from Europe increased, long-term
+contracts came into vogue, in virtue of which the colonist received
+the bare land and undertook to have it planted with vines at the end
+of three, four, or five years. The owner supplied the material, and
+at the end of the contract the colonist received a few <span lang="es">centavos</span> for
+each vine, or sold the whole or part of the first harvest. On account
+of these contracts there were always a great many foreigners in the
+districts where vineyards were in course of formation. The proportion
+is now less at Mendoza than at San Rafa&euml;l, where colonization is
+more recent. Whenever they could, the owners left to the colonists,
+not only the business of planting the vines, but the upkeep of adult
+vineyards. In those cases the colonist receives a fixed sum per hectare
+(100 piastres, for instance), and has to dig, prune, irrigate, etc. A
+large number of these agricultural workers and small contractors have
+saved a small capital, and purchased land of their own. This they have
+planted, and they thus form a new class of working owners.</p>
+
+<p>While the <span lang="es">vi&ntilde;atores</span> were multiplying vineyards, the
+<span lang="es">bodegueros</span> were transforming the methods of making wine. The weakness
+of imperfectly fermented wines, which turn sour and evaporate quickly,
+was all the worse for the growers of the colonial period because
+transport was slow, and there was no protection against the sun, which
+cooked the <span lang="es">algarroba</span> casks or the leather bottles on the backs of
+the mules. The vineyard-owners often preferred to distil their wine
+and export brandy, flavoured with aniseed, to the Andean tablelands
+or the coast. The climate and the risks of transport had brought into
+existence an astonishing variety of methods of treating the must.
+Sometimes it was concentrated by boiling until it became a thick syrup
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
+
+(<span lang="es">arrope</span>), something like, apparently, the thick wines of the
+Mediterranean in former times. At other times the must was cooked
+without thickening it, to prevent immediate fermentation, as is done
+with the <span lang="es">chicha</span> in Chile to-day; or sour wines were mixed with boiled
+must and ashes of the shoots, which masked the acidity.</p>
+
+<p>These traditions are now lost, but it is curious to see the
+<span lang="es">bodegueros</span> still endeavouring to meet the taste of the creole
+population of the north-west, which has retained the preference for
+sweet and fruity wines. San Juan, which caters to these customers,
+manufactures <span lang="es">mistelas</span>&mdash;fresh boiled must with an addition of
+alcohol&mdash;which are mixed with mature wines in order the imitate
+the imperfect fermentation of earlier days. Perhaps there is no part
+of the world where the art of wine-making has been pushed so far as in
+the <span lang="es">bodegas</span> of Mendoza. The correction of the must, and the analysis
+and treatment of diseased wines, follow the most modern of methods.
+The <span lang="es">bodegas</span> produce a very steady wine, which is guaranteed by their
+trade marks. The wine of the Mendoza type, which they endeavour to
+produce, is a strong red wine, of heavy colour, with twelve or thirteen
+per cent. of alcohol. It may euphemistically be called a blended wine,
+but is in reality diluted wine. Argentina does not produce very light
+wines, and has no use for diluted wine.</p>
+
+<p>The number of wine-making cellars in 1913 was 997 at Mendoza and 336
+at San Juan. But they differ very much from each other in size. Most
+of them have only a small equipment and modest capital. Some, on the
+other hand, are large enterprizes which could produce enough to supply
+a city: vast constructions of brick or <span lang="es">adobe</span>, with light roofs as a
+precaution against earthquakes.</p>
+
+<p>The owners of the cellars almost always have their own vineyards,
+but they also buy the harvests of cultivators who have not cellars. In
+1908 it was calculated that 140,000 tons of grapes were sent to the
+press
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+
+by the owners and 175,000 tons bought by the <span lang="es">bodegueros</span>.<a
+ id="FNanchor_40_40" href="#Footnote_40_40"
+class="fnanchor">40</a></p>
+
+<p>The conflicts of the interests of the <span lang="es">vi&ntilde;ateros</span> and
+the <span lang="es">bodegueros</span> are the very woof of life at Mendoza. The price
+of grapes is infinitely more variable than that of wine, and the
+<span lang="es">vi&ntilde;atero</span> who has no cellar is at the mercy of the <span lang="es">bodeguero</span>.
+If he does not want to see his harvest go to waste, he has to accept
+unconditionally the price that is offered him. The <span lang="es">bodeguero</span> has,
+moreover, the advantage of disposing of the grapes grown on his own
+estates. If the circumstances do not encourage him to produce all he
+can, he sends to the press merely his own harvest and will not buy
+any other. Thus the whole burden of commercial crises falls upon the
+vineyard with no cellar.</p>
+
+<p>The prices paid for the grapes differ a little for different
+parts of the vineyard, but the variation is more due to the number
+of <span lang="es">bodegas</span> in the district and their capacity
+than to the quality of the grapes. Transport of the grapes to a great
+distance is very expensive. In exceptional times grapes have been
+brought from San Rafa&euml;l to the Mendoza cellars, but each <span
+lang="es">bodega</span> gets its supply as far as possible from its own
+district. At San Juan the capacity of the cellars is proportionately
+less than at Mendoza, and the <span lang="es">bodegueros</span> have
+imposed very hard conditions on the growers. The price fixed in the
+purchase-contract does not of itself give a complete idea of the
+benefits which the <span lang="es">bodeguero</span> enjoys. The grapes
+are purchased by weight, but the <span lang="es">bodeguero</span>
+reserves the right to say at what date they are to be delivered. He
+begins to harvest his own vines when the fruit is scarcely ripe, but he
+puts back the harvesting of the grapes he buys as far as possible, even
+to April or May. These grapes exposed on the plant to the heat of the
+sun, become overripe; they gain in sugar and lose in weight. They
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
+
+make <del>vines</del><ins>wines</ins> with a higher percentage of alcohol, and with these he can
+correct the lighter wines made during the preceding weeks. Finally, the
+<span lang="es">bodeguero</span> does not advance money to the <span
+lang="es">vi&ntilde;atero</span>, as the manufacturer does to the <span
+lang="es">ca&ntilde;ero</span> in the sugar industry.</p>
+
+<p>The only safeguard of the vine-growers is the lack of understanding
+between the <span lang="es">bodegueros</span> and the competition
+between them. Although there are conventions amongst the <span
+lang="es">bodegueros</span> which lay down officially, before the
+vintage, the basis of all transactions, they are not respected except
+in so far as they serve a man's interest. If it is expected that
+the wine will easily be sold, and that grapes will be short, buyers
+are abundant, and contracts are signed before the fruit appears.
+It is a sort of gamble, as in the case of wheat and cotton. Bulls
+and bears struggle for the market. If the bulls win, the <span
+lang="es">vi&ntilde;ateros</span> grow rich.<a id="FNanchor_41_41"
+href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">41</a></p>
+
+<p>When we compare the diagrams which show the production of wine
+and sugar in Argentina during the last thirty years, we see that
+they clearly illustrate the condition of dependence of the vineyard
+industry and the sugar industry as <del>regrads </del><ins>regards
+</ins>the home market. The prosperity of the region of the Pampas,
+especially during the years before 1914, is reflected at Mendoza and
+Tucum&aacute;n. The expansive movement of the estates is similarly
+bound up with the construction of railways to connect them with the
+coast. Industry, on a large scale, began at Tucum&aacute;n in 1876:
+that is to say, at the opening of the Central C&oacute;rdoba line. The
+area planted with cane rose from 2,200 hectares in 1876 to 14,800 in
+1886. The production of sugar was trebled
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>
+
+in four years, from 1876 to 1880. But the Central C&oacute;rdoba was
+a narrow-gauge line, expensive to use and necessitating a transfer of
+goods at C&oacute;rdoba. In 1891 the broad-gauge line from Buenos Aires
+to Rosario was extended to Tucum&aacute;n; and in 1892 the narrow-gauge
+line from Rosario to Santa F&eacute;, San Cristobal, and Tucum&aacute;n
+was also brought into use. The following years were marked by rapid
+advances of the sugar industry. From 1891 to 1895 the area planted
+with canes rose from 14,200 to 40,700 hectares, and the manufacture of
+sugar from 31,000 to 135,000 tons. At Mendoza, also, the development
+of the vineyards dates from the completion of the San Luis Railway in
+1885. Plantations were at once started, and three years later they came
+into touch. In 1887, the railway carried 27,000 hectolitres of wine
+from Mendoza to the coast; in 1890-91 it carried 268,000 hectolitres.
+Production had increased tenfold in that short space of time.</p>
+
+<p>As the home-production of wine and sugar increased, the imports
+from abroad fell. As early as 1885 Tucum&aacute;n was able to meet the
+home demand for raw sugar, and refined only was imported. In 1888, a
+refinery was erected at Rosario to deal with Argentine sugar which came
+by rail, and foreign sugar which came up the river. Import ceased at
+this date, or there have since only been occasional years of import,
+to meet a scarcity. The imports of ordinary foreign wines continued
+to increase until 1890 (800,000 hectolitres), or as long as the wine
+produced at Mendoza did not suffice to meet the demand. They have
+steadily declined since that date (350,000 hectolitres in 1913), and
+are now only seven per cent. of the national production. We should add
+that, even in regard to ordinary wines, the Mendoza and the imported
+wine are not strictly comparable, that the competition between them
+is not simply a matter of price, and that some customers continue to
+prefer foreign wine.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Vineyard_at_San_Juan" href="images/illus-111a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-111a.jpg" alt="Vineyard" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">A VINEYARD AT SAN JUAN.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Trellissed creole vines.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Boote, Buenos Aires.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-111a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a id="Vineyard_at_Mendoza" href="images/illus-111b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-111b.jpg" alt="Vineyard" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">A VINEYARD AT MENDOZA.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">French vines on wire. An irrigation-trench
+   along the path. In the foreground (left) a wine-cellar (<em>bodega</em>).</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados,
+   Buenos Aires.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate VIII.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-111b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The elimination of foreign wines and sugar and the development of
+Mendoza and Tucum&aacute;n were facilitated by a Protectionist tariff.
+The details of this are very curious, as they had to be adjusted to
+the natural conditions. The need of protection is chiefly due to
+the distance of the market from the productive centres. Mendoza is
+650 miles from Buenos Aires, Tucum&aacute;n more than 750 miles.
+Freightage on the railways is dear. It is thirty-five piastres a
+ton for wine between Mendoza and Buenos Aires, or nearly double the
+normal maritime freight for the European wines sent from Bordeaux or
+Genoa. The charge for sugar is about thirty piastres a ton between
+Tucum&aacute;n and Buenos Aires. Thus the cost of transport is nearly
+one sixth the entire cost of production. In spite of this common
+burden, the need of protection is not at all the same in Mendoza and
+Tucum&aacute;n. The climate of Mendoza is excellent for the vine. The
+dryness of the atmosphere keeps down cryptogamic diseases, and the
+risks of cultivation are slight. The crop is abundant, the frosts
+late, and not serious. Hail is frequent, it is true, at the mouths of
+the Cordillera valleys, but it is never general; it affects only a
+small part of the harvest. The curve of production is very regular.
+It rises every year very gradually, and in proportion to the increase
+of the cultivated area. As a result of all this, the wine market has
+a stability which the vine-growing countries of Europe, with their
+less reliable climate, do not enjoy. The protective tariff, therefore,
+remains fixed. The duty on foreign wines in the cask&mdash;eight
+centimes (gold) per litre&mdash;has not been altered since the
+introduction into Argentina of the wine-industry on a large scale.<a
+ id="FNanchor_42_42" href="#Footnote_42_42"
+class="fnanchor">42</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The curve of sugar-production is just as irregular as that of
+wine-production is regular. From one year to another the output may
+vary by as much as 100 per cent., and the changes cannot be predicted:
+147,000 tons in 1912, 335,000 tons in 1914, 150,000 tons in 1915. The
+reason is that the sugar output depends upon the season. Canes which
+have been touched by frost go sour and ferment in the ground. They
+have to be milled quickly, and the harvest must not be prolonged. Even
+in good years the costly equipment of the works is active during only
+three months (July to September, but at Jujuy, July to October).</p>
+
+<p>This irregularity of production, which makes protection inevitable,
+also complicates it infinitely in practice. Sometimes the harvest
+is not large enough to meet home demands, and imports have to be
+permitted. Sometimes production is far beyond the home demand, and
+the sugar-manufacturers have to export the surplus so as to prevent
+a slump in prices on the overloaded home market. In order to meet
+these very different situations, the protecting tariff has had to be
+repeatedly modified and complicated. But it is impossible for us to
+give the history of it in detail here. The duties on foreign sugar were
+fixed, in successive instalments, between 1883 and 1891; and special
+protective measures were taken in the interest of the refiners in 1888.
+Over-production appeared for the first time in 1895. Export at a loss,
+to relieve the home market, was at first organized by an association
+of the producers themselves (in 1896). But in 1897 the Government
+developed it by putting a premium on export. The export period lasted
+from 1897 to 1904. The law of 1912, which gives its latest form to the
+Protectionist regime, gives the Government
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
+
+the right to suspend for a time the duties on imports and allow
+foreign sugar to come in. As at Mendoza, the provincial Government
+intervenes as well as the national. The alternation of bad and
+exceptionally good harvests leads to the appearance of all sorts
+of unforeseen laws, modifying the bases of taxation, regulating
+production in the works, and restricting the acreage of cultivation.<a
+ id="FNanchor_43_43" href="#Footnote_43_43"
+class="fnanchor">43</a> Thus Tucum&aacute;n has lived in an
+atmosphere of storm and uncertainty and unceasing discussion, of
+discouragement and insecurity; the price of its geographical position
+at the extreme limit of the area in which cane can be grown.</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a><br />
+THE EXPLOITATION OF THE FORESTS</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">
+   <p>Manual labour on the <span lang="es">obrajes</span>&mdash;The land of
+   the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> and the agricultural cantons of
+   Corrientes&mdash;The timber-yards of the Chaco and the
+   tannic-acid works of the Paran&aacute;&mdash;The exploitation
+   of the <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span>&mdash;The forestry industry and
+   colonization.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>From the Andes of Tucum&aacute;n and Salta to the banks of the
+upper Paran&aacute; in the province of Misiones the north of Argentina
+is now a vast timber-yard for the exploitation of the forests. It
+resounds everywhere with the axe. This exploitation of the forest is
+of early origin on the river; in the eighteenth century Buenos Aires
+was supplied with wood from the Paran&aacute;. In the western Chaco
+the difficulty of transport by land retarded the development of the
+forestry industry. The only market for the timber of Tucum&aacute;n was
+the Andean region. It was not sent to Mendoza after the beginning of
+the nineteenth century, when the willow was acclimatized in the oases
+of Cuyo. Below Rosas the wood of the <span lang="es">quebracho</span> was at first taken in
+waggons from Santiago to Buenos Aires, but this traffic ceased when the
+river-route was reopened, and we do not find it resumed until recent
+times, when railways were constructed.</p>
+
+<p>The outer fringe of the forest and the scrub where the industry has
+had to find labour, is inhabited by a very sparse pastoral population.
+There are, however, besides the thinly populated districts of the
+farms, certain busy hives which lend animation to the scrub. These
+over-populated cantons are districts of cultivation by
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>
+
+<span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span>, or the cultivation of flood-lands. There is constant
+intercourse between these ancient centres of creole life and the
+timber-yards of the forest. The forestry industry recruits its workers
+there, on temporary contracts. The wages paid are brought back to these
+centres and spent there. They help to maintain social groups of an
+archaic type, which the meagreness of their production would otherwise
+doom to extinction.</p>
+
+<p>The <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> are scattered over the range of all the
+sierras within the limits reached by the torrents from the mountains
+before they are lost. They also stretch along the two rivers that are
+considerable enough to cross the scrub, the Salado and the Dulce.
+The course of the Bermejo, where the natural conditions are much the
+same, lies outside the sphere of primitive creole colonization. The
+tilled lands are not continuous on the Salado or the Dulce. There
+are no <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> wherever the bed of the river is enclosed
+by high banks which prevent flooding. The course of the Salado
+threads together, in the manner of a rosary, three main groups of
+<span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> below 26&deg; S. lat., (Matoque and Boqueron) between
+27&deg; and 28&deg; S. lat. (Brea), and between 28&deg; and 29&deg;
+S. lat. (Le Bracho and Navicha). But the classic country of the
+<span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span>, where they cover the widest extent and sustain the
+most considerable body of population, is the interior delta of the
+Rio Dulce below Santiago del Estero, in the departments of Loreto,
+Atamisqui, and Salavina.</p>
+
+<p>Santiago is situated almost at the top of it. In its upper part
+the Rio Dulce is enclosed between high clay cliffs (department of the
+Rio Hondo). Below Santiago the river seems to run to the top of a sort
+of flattened alluvial cone, over which it wanders. Instances of the
+migration of rivers during the historical period are plentiful in the
+north of the Argentine plain. The scrub is scored east of the Salado
+with a network of dry beds, the edges of which gradually disappear as
+the
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>
+
+vegetation extends over them. But there is no other part where
+the erratic nature of the waters is so marked, the vagabondage so
+considerable, as in this section of the basin of the Rio Dulce. The
+small towns of Atamisqui and Salavina, which lived on the waters of the
+Dulce, were suddenly ruined in 1825, when the river, in consequence
+of a particularly violent flood, turned away to the south and lost
+itself in the Salinas Grandes. A canal was dug in 1897 to irrigate the
+district of Loreto, on the left bank of the Dulce, but the entrance
+was badly protected, and the flood of 1901 swept into it, and, guided
+by it, reached the bed it had abandoned a century before, going
+south-eastward toward Atamisqui. That town and Salavina recovered their
+prosperity, while it was necessary to abandon the farms on the Rio des
+Salines, which now has water only during high floods. Actual beds, old
+beds that are always ready to serve again, and traces of canals changed
+and cut by the stream, form a great network in the midst of the plain;
+and the flood rolls to one side or the other according to the road open
+to it, and the facility with which the various elements of the network
+lend themselves to the passage of the water. Such is the land of the
+<span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span>.</p>
+
+<p>You enter it to-day at Loreto station, where the line from Santiago
+to Frias approaches within a few miles of it. This station is erected
+in the midst of the arid <span lang="es">monte</span>, and owes its existence to the
+neighbouring <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span>. Turning eastward from the railway, as
+soon as one has crossed the broad, sandy bed of the Rio des Salines,
+one finds oneself in the heart of the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> farms. The
+road passes between hedges (<span lang="es">cercas</span>), over the top of which one sees
+the green of the wheat and lucerne. The plots are very small: gardens
+rather than fields. In clearing the ground they have preserved the
+best-situated trees, and the light foliage gives a useful shade to the
+crops. The crown of the <span lang="es">algarrobas</span> rises everywhere above the top of
+the hedges.</p>
+
+<p>The fields do not cover the whole area of the annual
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>
+
+inundations. They are confined to the part where the flood is
+fertilizing; where it leaves behind it a fine, useful clay which keeps
+the store of moisture for several months. In other places the current
+is too rapid. It furrows the soil, leaves large holes in it like the
+<span lang="es">l&ocirc;nes</span> in the flood-area of the Rhone, and sweeps away the
+barriers; or the water brings sterile sand which it deposits in long
+stretches; or again, if it is not drained away in time and evaporates
+on the spot, it deposits the salts it contains, and the land, looking
+as if it had a white leprosy, becomes unfit for vegetation.</p>
+
+<p>The floods begin in summer, during November or December. They are
+caused by the rain-storms in the Tucum&aacute;n district, and are very
+irregular. Some of the houses are evacuated, and others are protected
+by walls of earth, which are raised from hour to hour according to the
+rise of the waters. Behind these walls the people await the abatement
+of the flood. When the mud which is left behind has the proper
+consistency, they till it and sow wheat. The wheat grows in the winter,
+and is harvested in November quickly, so that the fresh flood may not
+overtake it.</p>
+
+<p>The caprices of the flood compel them frequently to change the sites
+of their houses and fields. The ancient village of Loreto was evacuated
+after a flood, and is now merely a mass of deserted ruins. Round the
+naked trunks of the <span lang="es">algarrobas</span>, killed by excessive deposits of
+sand or salt, are uniform colonies of plants of the same age and the
+same species, which invade the area where the adult scrub has been
+destroyed. The mill has been rebuilt less than a mile away, and has not
+lost its customers, who have raised their <span lang="es">ranchos</span> some distance away.
+The insecurity of the plots has prevented the development of small
+ownership. The farmers are tenants of the ranches, which stretch from
+the river to a considerable distance in the interior.</p>
+
+<p>The use of <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> for agriculture is of long standing. It
+probably goes back to the pre-Columbian period.
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>
+
+Father Dobritzhoffer, who is the first to refer clearly to it,
+compares the Rio Dulce to the Nile<a
+id="FNanchor_44_44" href="#Footnote_44_44"
+class="fnanchor">44</a>; and in point of fact, the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span>
+have some resemblance to farming in Pharaonic Egypt, while there
+is nothing like them in the irrigated zones of the Andean valleys.
+The <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> were then devoted to the cultivation of wheat
+and pumpkins. The pumpkin, which is of American origin, had not yet
+been eliminated by wheat, which was introduced by the Spaniards. The
+wheat produced in the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> maintained a fairly active
+export trade at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and the
+<span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> were at times called, with some exaggeration, the
+"granary of the Vice-royalty." It is difficult to trace accurately
+the movements of the population of the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> because of
+the constant changes of the administrative areas in the province
+of Santiago. The total population of the province is not now more
+than three per cent. of the total population of Argentina, but its
+comparative importance was much greater in the middle of the nineteenth
+century (nearly eight per cent. at the census of 1861). The departments
+of Loreto, Atamisqui, and Salavina on the Rio Dulce, which live mainly
+on the estates of the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span>, comprised 46,000 inhabitants in
+1861, and only 43,000 in 1895. The Woodbine Parish map and Hutchinson's
+description clearly give one an impression of a dense population in
+the area of the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span>. I refer elsewhere to the antiquity
+and constancy of the streams of temporary immigration which spread the
+population of the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> over a large part of the territory
+of Argentina.<a  id="FNanchor_45_45"
+href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">45</a> The temporary
+emigration of the Santiague&ntilde;os is distributed amongst most of
+the provinces of central and northern Argentina, but it is chiefly of
+interest in connection with the frontier region. The Santiague&ntilde;o
+is a woodman above all else, and the forest area has the advantage over
+the other labour-markets of wanting workers at all seasons, summer
+or winter, whereas the sugar-cane harvest at Tucum&aacute;n and the
+harvest in the south only last a few months. They emigrate from the
+<span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> to Tucum&aacute;n in May; to C&oacute;rdoba and Santa
+F&eacute; in October, November and December; but to the forests of the
+Chaco all the year round.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Land_of_the_Banados" href="images/illus-121a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-121a.jpg" alt="Land of the Ba&ntilde;ados" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE LAND OF THE BA&Ntilde;ADOS.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">On the Rio Dulce, near Loreto, in the dry season.
+   Its actual bed, excavated at a recent date by a flood in soft
+   clay, is not yet stable.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-121a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a id="Loreto_Farming_by_Inundation" href="images/illus-121b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-121b.jpg" alt="Loreto" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">LORETO: FARMING BY INUNDATION.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">In the zone of the scrub, where the floods
+   of the Rio Dulce spread. The interior delta of the Rio Dulce is
+   one of the earliest centres of population in Argentina.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate IX.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-121b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Apart from the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> of the Dulce and the Salado,
+the province of Corrientes contains the main reservoir from which
+the timber industry drew its manual workers. Just as at Santiago
+del Estero, one finds at Corrientes also the opposition between
+agricultural and breeding districts which is so common in the older
+colonized regions of South America. The <span lang="es">estancieros</span> (ranchers),
+who are breeders, are the masters of Corrientes, but the line of low
+hills of sand and red clay, punctuated by lagoons, which crosses
+the north-western corner of the province, is not subject to their
+domination. There the land is subdivided; there are once more fields.
+Tobacco was an article of export for this fraction of Corrientes,
+especially after the political isolation of Paraguay, the chief
+producer of tobacco in the nineteenth century. During the whole of
+the first half of the nineteenth century the tobacco-buyers travelled
+all over Corrientes after the harvest, in January and February. The
+fertile soil, moreover, with a mild climate in which tropical plants
+flourish as well as those of the temperate zone, provides the elements
+of a local comfort which is complete in itself. Here again agricultural
+colonization has created a relatively dense nucleus of population,
+capable of great increase. Although the administrative divisions do not
+exactly correspond with the natural divisions, the unequal distribution
+of the population in Corrientes is made plain by the figures given
+in the census of 1895. The density rises in the agricultural areas
+to eight inhabitants per square kilometre, in the department of
+Bellavista; ten at San Cosma; fourteen at Lomas; thirty at San Roque.
+It is only between one and two in the purely pastoral departments
+(Concepci&oacute;n and Mercedes).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Corrientes also has its forests, and in these we find most of the
+species of the forests of the Chaco, in straight lines, along the
+water-courses, and in somewhat larger patches on the tablelands which
+separate the lower valleys near the Paran&aacute;. They at first
+supplied the Curupai bark which was used in the Corrientes tanneries.
+The yards for the construction of river-boats emigrated from Paraguay
+to Corrientes at the beginning of the nineteenth century, at the same
+time and for the same reasons as the tobacco trade. The exploiting of
+the red <span lang="es">quebracho</span> did not begin until about 1850. In 1887 Virasaro
+relates that fifty ships are engaged in loading with Nandubai timber
+on the banks of the Rio Corrientes and transporting it to Rosario.<a
+ id="FNanchor_46_46" href="#Footnote_46_46"
+class="fnanchor">46</a> Born on the left bank of the Paran&aacute;,
+the forestry industry emigrated toward the end of the century to the
+right bank, whither the workers of Corrientes followed it.</p>
+
+<p>We find the same movement further north, on the Paraguay. The
+exploitation of the woods is in that case a very old industry on
+the tributaries of the left bank. D'Azara draws attention to its
+importance.<a  id="FNanchor_47_47"
+href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">47</a> Robertson found, when
+he went from Corrientes to Asunci&oacute;n in 1814, a population of
+wood-cutters in the marshy belt near the river. During floods they took
+refuge in the agricultural cantons of the frontier on high ground,
+where they were well received. It seems, then, that wood-cutting
+was already a seasonal industry at this time. The exploitation of
+the forests is now rapidly invading the right bank, which was long
+abandoned to the wild Indians.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The Santiague&ntilde;os and Correntinos do not mix. The two zones
+of expansion and of forestry, of which they are the pioneers, are
+independent of each other. The
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>
+
+<span lang="es">quechua</span>, which is the language of the
+<span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> of the Rio Dulce, is
+spoken in the timber-yards of the Chaco de Santiago; the
+<span lang="es">guarani</span>, the language of Corrientes and the
+Paraguay, is most common along the river, in the Chaco de
+<del>Santa</del><ins>Santa</ins> F&eacute;. Their respective spheres
+will not come into touch with each other until the Quimili branch of
+the Central Norte Railway, which comes from the Santiago province,
+joins the line of penetration at Resistencia, on the Paran&aacute;, in
+the west.</p>
+
+<p>The forestry industry of the interior and that of the
+river-districts differ not only in the character of the workers, but
+in their organization and their market. The variety of red
+<span lang="es">quebracho</span> which is exploited in the west is not quite
+the same as the variety that is found in the east. Each has a name
+of its own&mdash;<span lang="es">quebracho santiague&ntilde;o</span>
+and <span lang="es"><del>quebraco </del><ins>quebracho </ins>
+chaque&ntilde;o</span>. The former contains ten per cent. of tannin,
+the latter thirty per cent. The former is cut down for timber, the
+latter in order to extract the tannic acid. The one is sold in
+Argentina, and the other sent abroad.</p>
+
+<p>The working of the timber at Santiago has remained in the hands
+of a number of small capitalists and contractors who do not own the
+land and do not work there. They are content to buy in small amounts
+and according to the demand at the moment, the right to exploit the
+forests (<span lang="es">derecho de monte or derecho de le&ntilde;a</span>). The trunks of
+exceptionally large <span lang="es">quebracho</span> provide logs that are sold by cubic
+measurement, but the district of the <span lang="es">quebracho santiague&ntilde;o</span>
+mainly exports sleepers. <span lang="es">Quebracho</span> sleepers have been used in
+constructing the railways, both narrow and broad gauge, during the last
+twenty years on the Pampa. Tall and thin trees make telegraph posts;
+the smaller branches make stakes for wire fences. In parts of the
+bush where there is no red <span lang="es">quebracho</span>, the <span lang="es">retamo</span> is used, to make
+posts for enclosures, and also the white <span lang="es">quebracho</span>, which is sold in
+round logs. Finally, the forests provide wood for fuel. The works at
+Tucum&aacute;n, and the locomotives over
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>
+
+a good part of the land, use wood-fuel. The wood of the red <span
+lang="es">quebracho</span>, if left for some years in the yards where
+the sleepers are made and is rid of the sap-wood, which rots and falls
+out&mdash;the <span lang="es">le&ntilde;a campana</span>&mdash;is
+excellent fuel. Charcoal is cheaper to transport than the wood, and
+can therefore be sent farther over the whole prairie district. It is
+made in the <span lang="es">monte</span>, along all the railways, and
+especially in the thinner forests on the edge of the prairie.</p>
+
+<p>The forestry of the interior is unstable as well as scattered and
+primitive. The equipment&mdash;saws that are easily taken down and set
+up&mdash;is not costly, and does not require much capital. When one
+canton of the forest has been exhausted, the saws are taken down and
+removed. The cuttings are not made in such a way as to allow the forest
+to recover, and so permit a continuous exploitation. Everything of any
+value is taken. The <span lang="es">quebracho</span> is, moreover,
+a tree of slow growth. The forestry industry has at times returned,
+after an interval, to land that had been stripped, but that is not
+because they had planted a new generation of trees. It is because it
+became profitable, as the state of the market and the cost of transport
+changed, to cut down the small trees which had not been considered good
+enough on the earlier occasion.</p>
+
+<p>When the master <span lang="es">obrajero</span> removes,
+he is followed by the greater part of the workers. But to
+induce them to emigrate, or to recruit cutters in the <span
+lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span> who will agree to work in remote or
+new districts, he has to be liberal and offer higher wages. Hence the
+conditions of work and the rate of wage are not the same in every part
+of the forest. The oldest area of working, which is crossed by the
+Central C&oacute;rdoba, between the provinces of Catamarca and Santiago
+del Estero, has a surplus of good workers. On the other hand, the <span
+lang="es">obrajeros</span> of the valley from San Francisco to Jujuy,
+where the exploitation is more recent, have only a moderate amount of
+labour at their command. The returns
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
+
+are not higher there than in the south, though the forests are
+incomparably denser and richer. It has been very expensive to bring
+about a continuous stream of immigration toward the main region of
+forest work, which is now called the Chaco, along the railway that
+starts from A&ntilde;atuya and goes about 130 miles further north.
+As the worker is on piece-work, the price per sleeper when the work
+was begun on the Chaco had to be double, on the A&ntilde;atuya line,
+what was paid in the older line from Santiago to Frias, close to the
+<span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span>.</p>
+
+<p>The work is profitable only within a short distance from the
+railways. Waggon transport raises the price rapidly. Moreover,
+the forestry industry is just as dependent on the railways for
+provisions as it is for the carriage of its wood. The <span
+lang="es">obraje</span> has no source of food-supply on the spot. The
+marshy estates which begin to spread in the area of irrigation-canals
+at Banda, eastward of Santiago del Estero, supply only their customers
+at A&ntilde;atuya and the Chaco line. Sometimes the railway has to
+bring water as well as food. Over a great part of the Chaco de Santiago
+there is no running water, and the underground sheets are little known,
+or inaccessible, or salty. The <span lang="es">obraje</span> is a land
+of thirst. In order to meet the demand for water they dig reservoirs
+like the <span lang="es">represas</span> on the ranches, which are
+filled by the rains. But as soon as the dry season sets in they become
+stagnant green pools, and the men have to rely on waggon-cisterns.</p>
+
+<p>While the Chaco de Santiago is now a democracy of <del>mall</del>
+<ins>small</ins> <span lang="es">obrajeros</span> and contractors, the
+eastern Chaco, <del>alongs</del><ins>along</ins> the Paran&aacute;, has
+quite a different type of society. It is entirely in the hands of the
+big tannic-acid factories, where the <span lang="es">quebracho</span>
+trunks are stripped and boiled, and their sap is concentrated in a
+viscous resin. The lofty chimneys of these works rise above the forest
+at intervals. Here the work assumes a capitalistic and industrial
+character which it has not in other places. It is controlled
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>
+
+by powerful concerns, highly organized, which conduct it on
+a pre-arranged plan. It is true that the works do not deal
+with the entire output of <span lang="es">quebracho</span>,<a
+id="FNanchor_48_48" href="#Footnote_48_48"
+class="fnanchor">48</a> but they almost control the market, even
+as regards the unworked wood which is exported, and they reserve a
+good deal of it for their branches in Europe. In order to secure the
+heavy loans which the works represent, the companies that have built
+them have been obliged to take over large forests, and they have come
+to own these. The concentration of the area in their hands goes on
+daily, and the number of companies is reduced by amalgamation or by the
+purchase of rival concerns and their estates. On the territory of the
+Chaco, where the administration of public lands was in the hands of the
+Federal Government, some precautions were taken to prevent the monopoly
+of the country; but the forests of the province of Santa F&eacute;
+belong entirely to two firms.</p>
+
+<p>The eastern Chaco has received from Europe, not only the capital
+that was needed for the construction of works, but also a number of
+workers, either for administration or for technical direction. These
+have proved more exacting than the creoles of the Santiago saw-mills.
+Beside most of the works there are now comfortable villas and brick
+towns for the workers. The expense was quite prudently incurred, as
+the industry is less erratic in this region. A tannic-acid factory
+cannot be removed like a saw-mill. When the timber-supply is exhausted
+in the district, the works gets its material from a distance, as long
+as the freightage permits. It depends on the railway, not only for the
+carriage of its products, as the saw-mills do, but for the supply of
+raw material.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The works are not all equally wealthy. They are scattered over about
+ten degrees of latitude, north of 30&deg; S. lat., within reach of the
+river, which keeps them in communication with the world, and at the
+same time has enabled them to tackle the full breadth of the forest.
+The <span lang="es">quebracho</span> is particularly abundant north of Santa F&eacute; and
+south of the Argentine part of the Chaco, where it is the life and soul
+of the forest. The works which have been set up there, in the midst
+of the denser forests, have plenty of capital, and this enables them
+to nurse their supplies and buy timber at a distance. The forest is
+still almost virginal at their gates, so that they have a long future
+in front of them. On the other hand, the oldest works, on the southern
+fringe of the forest, and that of Corrientes, on the left bank of the
+Paran&aacute;, are already paralysed for want of timber.</p>
+
+<p>The works are all at a short distance from the river; not only for
+convenience of exporting their products, but because this is the only
+part of the Chaco where one can find fresh water. And the tannic-acid
+factory needs a great deal of fresh water. Along the river, in a belt
+about thirty to sixty miles wide, we find a permanent hydrographic
+network such as is found nowhere else on the plain. It consists of long
+series of marshes covered with rushes (<span lang="es">ca&ntilde;adas</span>), and in places
+they become at their mouths regular streams with well defined beds. The
+underground water also is generally fresh and plentiful, whether it is
+due to the abundant rain or to infiltration from the Paran&aacute;,
+and many of the works have successfully bored for it. In these parts
+one suffers from too much water as frequently as from thirst. On
+these immense and almost horizontal surfaces the water spreads from
+the <span lang="es">ca&ntilde;adas</span> over the whole forest. The railway, and even the
+houses, then stand out of a sheet of stagnant water, which takes months
+to disappear. Trunks which are badly placed, lying in the stations to
+be removed&mdash;sometimes, according to the market, lying there for
+years&mdash;are half buried in the mud. The waggons find it hard to
+move in the roads. Mules,
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
+
+which pay very well in the dry forests of the west, could not make
+the effort that is required here, and they use oxen&mdash;the finest
+beasts for a muddy country. The long-horned, lean creole cattle drag
+the waggons with difficulty, and a <span lang="es">correntino</span>, with long slender
+legs, shod with mud, guides and urges them, looking like a crane with
+his slow and cautious steps. The work of these drivers is much harder
+than that of the wood-cutters. They earn nearly twice as much, and it
+is the difficulty of getting enough men for this work that keeps down
+production.</p>
+
+<p>The importance and stability of the large works has fixed the labour
+market on the right bank of the Paran&aacute;, and there is no need
+to go to Corrientes to look for men. They come of their own accord. A
+daily service of small steamers brings them to all the ports which
+dispatch <span lang="es">quebracho</span>. The left bank, on Argentine territory, has also
+no hiring centre, such as there still are at Asunci&oacute;n and
+Concepci&oacute;n in Paraguay.</p>
+
+<p>Even on its own land the works leaves the working of the forest
+to contractors, from whom it buys the timber. But the <span lang="es">obrajeros</span>,
+whether they work in the company's forests or their own, are very
+dependent upon the works. The contracts vary according as they are
+owners or otherwise; according to whether they undertake to deliver the
+timber at the stations or leave it where it is felled; and according
+to whether they have the requisite oxen and waggons or have to loan
+these from the company. They draw advances from the company, and, on
+the other hand, they pledge themselves to purchase what they require
+for their workers at the company's stores. The profit of these sales
+increases the revenue of the works. The company monopolizes all trade,
+both import and export. It exercises an absolute sovereignty over the
+forest. It has merely deigned to grant the railway company space enough
+to construct its lines and its stations.</p>
+
+<p>The last forestry centre in modern Argentina is in
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>
+
+the province of Misiones on the upper Paran&aacute;. Posadas is
+its chief station, and protects its southern outlet. Its influence
+extends beyond the Argentine frontier, over a small part of Brazil
+and Paraguay. In Misiones there are two types of forest, which differ
+a good deal from each other, while neither resembles the <span lang="es">quebracho</span>
+forest. One is the forest of araucarias (<span lang="es">pinos</span>) which covers the
+elevated tablelands at a height above 2,000 feet. The other is the
+tropical forest, rich in essences and of perennial vegetation, which
+fills the bottoms and slopes of the valleys. The pine, which is
+also much worked on the Brazilian tableland, yields an excellent
+white wood, suitable instead of the northern pine. It would find
+a ready market at Buenos Aires, but it has never been worked on
+Argentine territory because of the great distance of the woods from
+a navigable river. On account of its position on the tableland
+the araucaria has to wait for the railways of some future date.<a
+ id="FNanchor_49_49" href="#Footnote_49_49"
+class="fnanchor">49</a> As to the leafy tropical forest it includes
+a number of useful varieties (<span lang="es">timbo</span>, <span lang="es">lapacho</span>, <span lang="la">etc.</span>), but the
+most esteemed of all is the cedar. Its wood is rose-coloured, scented,
+and fine-grained, and very suitable for furniture. At the time of
+D'Orbigny's travels the inhabitants of Corrientes were looking out for
+cedars from the mountains brought down the river when in flood. The
+<span lang="es">obrajes</span> of cedar-wood now extend twenty miles or so on the Argentine
+bank, and forty miles in the Paraguay bank, which is more even and
+better for transport. The trunks are floated in rafts down to Posadas;
+as the cedar, which is less dense than the <span lang="es">quebracho</span>, not only
+floats, but is improved by parting with sap in the water. At Posadas
+the rafts are taken to pieces, and the trunks are delivered to the
+saw-mills.</p>
+
+<p>But timber is not the chief forest industry in Misiones,
+as it is on the Chaco. Beside the <span lang="es">obraje</span> in the forest
+there is the <span lang="es">yerbal</span>, a works for dealing with the <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>
+
+(<cite>Ilex paraguayensis</cite>). It is well known that an infusion of
+<span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span> (a kind of tea) is an important element in the food
+of the western States of South America. Gathering the leaves of the
+<span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span> has been a profitable occupation for centuries: a unique
+instance, perhaps, in the forest industries of South America. It has
+never been interrupted, though it has often changed its locality.</p>
+
+<p>The plantations made by the Jesuits were abandoned when the
+missionaries were dispersed. After the close of the eighteenth century
+Paraguay became the chief area of production. Villa Rica seems
+to have been the most prolific centre of the <span lang="es">yerba</span>. After that
+date, however, the Jujuy basin, further north, was exploited, and
+the <span lang="es">yerbateros</span>, who came from Curuguati, advanced eastward as far
+as the Falls of the Guayra on the Paran&aacute;. In the nineteenth
+century the trade in Paraguay <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span> seems to have suffered
+less than the tobacco trade from the policy of isolation adopted
+by the Dictators of Paraguay. The descriptions given by Mariano
+Molas, Demersay, and others, show that the business continued fairly
+actively. It even extended northward, and reached as far as the Rio
+Apa. Villa Concepci&oacute;n became a rival <span lang="es">yerba</span> market to Villa
+Rica. The monopoly exercised by the Paraguay Government, however, and
+the restrictions put upon the navigation of the river, led to the
+development of the <span lang="es">yerba</span> industry in the eastern Misiones on the left
+bank of the Uruguay. Itaquy served as port of embarkation. In the last
+third of the nineteenth century the yards moved from the left to the
+right bank of the Uruguay. Since 1870 the Paran&aacute; has supplanted
+the Uruguay, and the <span lang="es">yerba</span> trade has concentrated at Candelaria. This
+meant the resurrection of Misiones. In 1880 San Javier, on the Uruguay,
+worked up 800 tons of <span lang="es">yerba</span>, and Candelaria more than 1,000 tons. The
+<span lang="es">yerbales</span> round San Javier began to run out, and the <span lang="es">yerbateros</span> had
+to go further and further up the Uruguay, toward the <span lang="es">yerbales</span> of the
+tableland of Fracan and San Pedro. Candelaria
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
+
+was mainly fed by the <span lang="es">yerbales</span> of the right bank of the
+Paran&aacute;, on Paraguayan territory. Posadas has now succeeded
+Candelaria, and the <span lang="es">yerbales</span> that depend upon it are scattered over
+both banks up the Paran&aacute;.</p>
+
+<p>The <span lang="es">yerbales</span> of Misiones lie outside the tropical forest proper.
+They are on the lower fringe of the pine-forest, and begin at some
+distance from the river, with which they are connected by muddy and
+difficult mule-tracks. <span lang="es">Mat&eacute;</span> can bear a cost of transport that
+would be fatal to timber. At the point where these tracks reach the
+river, the river-steamers stop at the foot of a shed that is almost
+hidden in the foliage. These are the "ladders" of the <span lang="es">yerbales</span>.</p>
+
+<p>Work in the <span lang="es">yerbales</span> lasts six months out of the twelve. The
+pruners who collect the bunches of leaves and bring them to the
+furnaces, where they are dried, include Brazilians, Paraguayans
+and Argentinians. The Brazilians go to the <span lang="es">yerbal</span> to offer their
+services. The Paraguayans and Argentinians, nearly all from the
+province of Corrientes, are recruited at Posadas and the sister-town of
+Encarnaci&oacute;n, which is opposite to it on the Paraguay bank.</p>
+
+<p>The hiring at Posadas is done according to a traditional custom that
+does not seem to have changed for more than a century. The description
+given by D'Azara is not yet out of date. "The people of Villa Rica,"
+he says, "depend mainly on being hired for the <span lang="es">yerbales</span>. The <span lang="es">yerba</span>
+industry is sometimes profitable to the masters, but never to the
+natives, who work cruelly without any profit. Not only are they paid in
+goods for the <span lang="es">yerba</span> they gather, but the goods are put at so high a
+price that it is terrible. They have even to pay for the hire of a bill
+for cutting the <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span>.... The natives contract as much debt as
+they can before they start for the <span lang="es">yerbales</span>, and as soon as they have
+done a little work, they say good-bye to the <span lang="es">yerbatero</span>, who loses his
+money. And the <span lang="es">yerbatero</span> in turn is exploited by the merchants who
+control him." Before he starts for the <span lang="es">yerbal</span>, says
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+
+Robertson, the contractor (<span lang="es">habilitado</span>) gets an advance of four
+or five thousand piastres. With this he hires about fifty workers,
+supplies their needs, and gives them two or three months' pay
+in advance. The three essential and inseparable elements of the
+<span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span> business are the <span lang="es">yerbal</span> in the forest, a shop at
+Posadas for hiring and paying wages in advance, and a <span lang="es">yerba</span> mill at
+Rosario or Buenos Aires.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The forestry industry in its various forms is not a definite
+occupation of the soil by man. After having stripped the forest, it
+leaves, and the land is open for colonization. Nearly everywhere there
+is a complete separation between forestry and permanent colonization.
+They do not employ the same workers; the wood-cutter (<span lang="es">hachador</span>) and
+the charcoal-burner are not the men who clear the soil. The clearing
+away of the stumps, which must precede agricultural work, is not their
+business, but the work of diggers. At Tucum&aacute;n, where most of
+the workers in the cane-fields are Santiague&ntilde;os, Italians and
+Spaniards are used for clearing the soil. The gangs of Mendocinos who
+go to cut <del>props </del><ins>crops </ins>in the bush round Villa Mercedes will not sign on for
+clearing the ground in order to plant lucerne.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="LORETO_THE_RIO_PINTO_IN_THE_DRY_SEASON" href="images/illus-135a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-135a.jpg" alt="Loreto" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">LORETO. THE RIO PINTO IN THE DRY SEASON.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">One of the arms through which the flood of the Dulce flows.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-135a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a id="La_Banda" href="images/illus-135b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-135b.jpg" alt="La Banda" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">LA BANDA (SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO).</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Irrigated lucerne fields on the left bank of
+   the Rio Dulce. Zone of modern colonization: a contrast with the
+   older farms of the flood-zone.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate X.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-135b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The history of forestry and colonization is one of the most
+diversified chapters in the general economic history of modern
+Argentina. Round the region of the Pampas, the first point where
+agricultural colonization came into touch with the forest belt is the
+district of the older colonies of Santa F&eacute;. There it found the
+forestry industry already long established, on the banks both of the
+Salado and of the Paran&aacute;. The export of timber and charcoal
+to Buenos Aires and the lime-kilns of Entre Rios was at this time
+one of the few elements of economic life which Santa F&eacute; had
+preserved. The colonists did not enter the forest, and did not mingle
+with the charcoal-burners, but they profited indirectly from their
+presence by selling them maize. Later, agricultural work spread over
+the Central Pampa and the province of C&oacute;rdoba, as far as the
+edge of the scrub in all parts of the prairie. Wood-cutting is carried
+on there, on a small scale, everywhere, at Toay as well as at Villa
+Mercedes and Villa Maria. The price of the wood he sells is a small
+supplementary income to the farmer, and clearing the soil helps to
+fill up his time during the dead season for agriculture. The lands
+covered with brushwood remained for a long time at a lower price than
+cleared land. They thus formed a sort of reserve which partly escaped
+the speculations in land, and on which small owners can find a footing
+more easily than on the Pampa. There is to-day a movement of Santa
+Fecinos eastward and southward in the belt of scrub to the south of Mar
+Chiquita along the line from Lehmann to Dean Funes.</p>
+
+<p>The forest area of the Chaco, in northern Argentina, between the
+Andes and the Paran&aacute;, seems on the other hand to be intended
+for pastoral colonization. In point of fact, the forest of the Chaco,
+as well as the lighter scrub which is its southern extension, can be
+used for breeding without preliminary labour. The Indians have fed
+cattle and horses on it since the seventeenth century. The herds find
+food on every side, both in the very numerous clearings (<span lang="es">abras</span>) which
+cross the forest and in the forest itself, where the underwood and the
+herbaceous carpet grow fairly thick beneath the scanty foliage of the
+mimosas and <del>quebrachas</del><ins>quebrachos</ins>.</p>
+
+<p>Over a good deal of the western Chaco pastoral colonization is
+earlier than the forestry. In the district of Santiago del Estero the
+farmers had advanced far beyond the wood-cutter and the railway; beyond
+the Salado, almost as far as the existing line from A&ntilde;atuya
+to Tintina, where there are sheets and wells of fresh water. The old
+ranches go as far as Alhuampa. The old pastoral population has taken
+very little part in the forestry industry. It has been content to
+profit by it by renting the scrub to the <span lang="es">obrajes</span>. It was a sheer gift
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+
+to them, as the felling of a few trees does not in the least lower the
+value of the pasture. The forestry has not entailed any change in the
+ownership of the land or in the breeding methods. The <span lang="es">obrajes</span> are
+merely passing guests whose traces are quickly obliterated.</p>
+
+<p>In the eastern Chaco, however, the wood-cutters are real pioneers.
+It is they who have made the conquest of the forest, often in direct
+touch with the Indians, and the ownership of the land fell to them.
+They have themselves played an essential part in the actual development
+of breeding.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the river and travelling toward the forest on the west, one
+first crosses a narrow belt of estates which form an almost unbroken
+line from San Javier to Resistencia. These are old colonies, mostly
+founded about 1870, at the same time as the first colonies in the
+centre of Santa F&eacute;. They had the advantage of being within
+reach of the river-route, the network of railways that serves the
+colonies of <del>Sante </del><ins>Santa </ins>F&eacute; not being constructed until after 1880.
+They have not shown the same capacity for extension as the colonies
+on the prairie, but they are firmly rooted, on high and well-drained
+land, very different from the clays of the Chaco, where the alluvial
+beds of the Paran&aacute; alternate with stuff that seems to come
+from the left bank. They grow flax, earth-nuts, sugar cane, and
+cotton. Behind this slight agricultural fa&ccedil;ade are the large
+estates of the factories. In the division of the land the industrial
+firms sought the districts which were richest in <span lang="es">quebracho</span>. Buyers
+of land who had no industrial plans&mdash;foreign capitalists
+and Porte&ntilde;os&mdash;and who obtained large concessions in
+little-known regions, sold back to the factories the plots where there
+was plenty of wood, after they had taken stock of their property. They
+converted the remainder into <span lang="es">estancias</span> (ranches). The district to
+the north of the Central Norte Railway, from San Cristobal to Tostado,
+where the forest, which will presently yield to the plain, breaks
+into patches and looks like a park, includes a number of these modern
+<span lang="es">estancias</span>, in which lucerne is beginning to replace the grasses of
+the natural vegetation.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Quebracho_Trunks" href="images/illus-139a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-139a.jpg" alt="Quebracho Trunks" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-139a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a href="images/illus-139b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-139b.jpg" alt="Quebracho Trunks" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">QUEBRACHO TRUNKS LYING AT THE STATIONS.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Eastern Chaco, on the Resistencia line (Santa
+       F&eacute; province). Here the <em>quebracho</em> is exploited for tannic
+       acid, not sleepers.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photographs by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XI.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-139b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When one passes to the interior, the pastoral industry at once
+assumes a more primitive character. The <span lang="es">quebracho</span> concerns themselves
+go in for breeding, in order to make use of their large estates,
+when the timber has been removed but the works have not yet been set
+up. They need a large number of cattle, both for moving the timber
+and feeding their workers, and they endeavour to meet their needs
+themselves. In this district the forest is capable of feeding a far
+heavier herd than is the more arid scrub of the eastern Chaco. There
+are often a thousand head of cattle to 2,500 hectares. To the north
+and west of that part of the forest where the big companies have taken
+over the whole of the land, in the province of Chaco, a fairly large
+number of estates has been created. Further still, on either side of
+the Bermejo, cattle from Corrientes and the Paraguay have been put on
+the public lands by men with no rights. As their future is uncertain,
+they cannot do any expensive work, such as making wells, reservoirs,
+and enclosures. Sometimes they are compelled by drought to fall back
+upon the river.</p>
+
+<p>Conditions are quite different in the forests of Misiones. The
+damp forest of Misiones does not lend itself to breeding. While the
+forest-workers on the west of the Paran&aacute; eat fresh meat, thanks
+to the proximity of the breeders, in the <span lang="es">yerbales</span> and <span lang="es">obrajes</span> of
+Misiones, the use of dried or "jerked" meat (<span lang="es">carne seca</span>), which
+is brought some distance, has remained the common practice, as
+it is in most parts of tropical America. On the other hand, there
+is now developing in Misiones an agricultural colonization of an
+original kind, quite distinct from the ordinary Argentinian type.
+This is because Misiones is a province apart in Argentina. It really
+belongs, by its geological structure and its climate, to the Brazilian
+tableland. The colonies in Misiones are merely an
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>
+
+extension into Argentine territory of the great belt of colonies of
+southern Brazil, which stretches from the neighbourhood of Santa
+Catalina and the Rio Grande do Sul to the River Paraguay. The Brazilian
+type of colonization is based upon work with the hoe, in clearings that
+have been made in the forest by the axe and by fire. Ordinary farming
+would be impracticable between the large stumps which the clearers have
+to leave in the ground, to rot there slowly. It would, moreover, be
+useless, as the land, though rich in humus, is light and a&euml;rated.
+The red soil, a decomposition-product of the diabases which are at the
+root of all agricultural wealth in southern Brazil, covers a great part
+of Misiones. The economic inferiority of this agricultural colonization
+in the forest to the Pampean type which has conquered the grassy plains
+of the Rio de la Plata, is twofold. On the one hand, the surface that a
+man can develop is very small. The plots of the Brazilian colonies are
+ten times smaller than the average estate on the Pampa. On the other
+hand, it is difficult to get about in the forest, and this hinders the
+export of the produce.</p>
+
+<p>The colonies in Misiones are still confined to the edge of the
+great forest, into which they will advance as the agricultural
+population grows. They form two groups: one on the river above
+Posadas (Candelaria, Bonpland, Corpus, San Ignacio, and Santa Ana),
+the other on the slopes of the hills, above the line from Posadas to
+Uruguay (San Jos&eacute; and Apostoles). Foodstuffs, tobacco, fowl
+and eggs, which they now send by rail as far as Buenos Aires, are
+their chief resources. As it is possible for them to reach the big
+markets of the Pampas, by river or rail, they have a certain advantage
+over the Brazilian colonies. On the other hand, the various elements
+of their population are inferior. They are very mixed, comprising
+aboriginals&mdash;relics of the ancient Indian or half-breed population
+of Misiones who have got land but are in no hurry to cultivate
+it&mdash;Poles (grouped in a few villages, such as Apostoles and San
+Jos&eacute;), and German-Brazilians
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>
+
+from the left bank of the Uruguay. At the present time there is a
+constant stream of German-Brazilians through the province of Misiones,
+to embark at Posadas, sail up the Paran&aacute;, and settle, further
+north, in Matto Grosso. No doubt it would be possible to induce part
+of them to settle on Argentinian territory by offering them suitable
+land.</p>
+
+<p>These peasant clearers of the land rarely find means to sell their
+timber. The tropical forest has an immense variety of species, but only
+a few of these are of value. The <span lang="es">obrajero</span> does not cut down the whole
+forest; he chooses his victims. In the waste land of the colonist it is
+by no means possible to utilize everything. Even in the area where the
+forestry industry flourishes, trunks with no faults, felled in order to
+make room for farming, are pitilessly burned and destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the indirect advantages of the forestry to agriculture are
+numerous. Just as in the whole of southern Brazil, it affords a good
+market for agricultural produce. The crops from the colonies are stored
+in the shops at Posadas, and from there they go to the <span lang="es">obrajes</span> and
+<span lang="es">yerbales</span>. In addition, the industry finds work for more men. On the
+Rio Grande do Sul, and later on the Paran&aacute;, the wages paid
+for collecting <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span> have long been the surest resource of
+the colonies, and it is this that enabled them to subsist during the
+difficulties of their early period. In Misiones the attraction of
+the <span lang="es">yerbales</span> is not so strongly felt by the inhabitants. There are
+comparatively few colonists who are willing to leave their plots and
+hire themselves for distant work. The <span lang="es">yerbales</span> find their recruits,
+not amongst the immigrants from Europe, but amongst the ancient
+<span lang="es">pobladores</span>; that is to say, men who hold land without a title, whose
+position was recognized when the colony was formed&mdash;a floating
+population, not deeply rooted in the soil.</p>
+
+<p>Agricultural colonization in turn will react upon the forestry
+industry in developing the cultivation of <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span>. Large
+plantations of <span lang="es">ilex</span> have already been established
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>
+
+above Posadas. Already they enter the common life. They are scattered
+either over the estates of the national colonies or over the larger
+estates of the richer colonists; for planting demands a considerable
+expenditure. Some of them belong to dealers who also work natural
+<span lang="es">yerbales</span> elsewhere. They are, if possible, set up in the forest,
+or at least on the fringe of it, in order to have a good supply of
+wood to dry the leaves. Thus the primitive industry of collecting
+<span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span> is undergoing transformation while the natural growths
+are disappearing.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a><br />
+PATAGONIA AND SHEEP-REARING</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">
+   <p>The arid tableland and the region of glacial
+   lakes&mdash;The first settlements on the Patagonian
+   coast and the indigenous population&mdash;Extensive
+   breeding&mdash;The use of pasture on the lands of the Rio
+   Negro&mdash;Transhumation.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The northern limit of the Patagonian region passes to the north
+of the Colorado, in the latitude of the Cerro Payen and of the ridge
+which leads from Malar&uuml;e to the Rio Grande in the sub-Andean zone
+(36&deg; S. lat)., and to the Sierra de Lihuel Calel in the southern
+part of the Pampa province. South of this line, from the Andes to the
+Atlantic, on the territory of the Neuquen, the Rio Negro, the Chubut,
+and the Santa Cruz, is the region of the sheep farms, their refuge
+since more profitable branches of farming have driven the sheep from
+the Pampa. The extensive breeding practised on these poor lands is
+not profitable enough to justify much expenditure, and is therefore
+all the more controlled by the physical conditions. It is true that
+cattle-breeding was once undertaken in the Spanish settlements of
+the lower Negro, and still exists in western Patagonia at the foot
+of the Andes, but one never finds there the particular combination
+of cattle-breeding and sheep-breeding which is characteristic of the
+Pampean region, in which the main function of the cattle is to improve
+the pasture and make it ready for sheep.</p>
+
+<p>The climate is trying. The west winds are violent during the greater
+part of the year, especially on the
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>
+
+coast, and merely relax a little in the winter. The mean temperature on
+the Atlantic coast falls nearly one degree for each degree of latitude
+(14.6&deg; at San Antonio, below 41&deg; S. lat.; 8.5&deg; at Santa
+Cruz, below 50&deg; S. lat.; and 5.3&deg; at Ushuaia, below 55&deg;
+S. lat.). The summer temperature falls even more steeply, but the
+difference is less notable in winter (21.4&deg; at San Antonio, 14&deg;
+at Santa Cruz, and 9.2&deg; at Ushuaia). The low summer temperature
+does not allow cereals to ripen south of the Chubut. In the sub-Andean
+valleys the summer is comparatively warm (16&deg; in January at Diez y
+seis de Octubre at a height of 1,800 feet), but there is severe frost,
+especially at the beginning of the winter, and no month of the year is
+quite free from it.</p>
+
+<p>Rain is plentiful in the Cordillera, and on its western border: 800
+millimetres at Junin, nearly two metres at San Martin (which the wet
+westerly winds reach by the gap of Lake Lacar), and nearly a metre at
+Bariloche, on Lake Nahuel Huapi. It diminishes rapidly, however, as
+soon as one leaves the mountainous region and goes further east over
+the tableland. The whole tableland has a rainfall of less than 200
+millimetres (Las Lajas 180, Limay 150, San Antonio 180, Santa Cruz
+135). It is only south of the Rio de Santa Cruz that the rainfall rises
+once more (Gallegos 400 millimetres, Ushuaia 500 millimetres). Hence
+Patagonia as a whole is, with the exception of a narrow belt at the
+foot of the Andes, a semi-arid region with a sub-desert climate. In the
+Patagonian Andes the rain falls, as on the coast of Chile, mainly in
+winter. Between Mendoza, which has the summer-rain feature of central
+and tropical Argentina, and Chosmalal, in the Neuquen Andes, the
+contrast is absolute. The summer months there (January and February)
+are dry, and the rain is confined to the winter months, from May to
+August. It is the same further south, at Bariloche and at Diez y seis
+de Octubre. On the
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>
+
+Atlantic coast the winter-rain feature is less regular and uniform.
+At San Antonio the heaviest rains fall in autumn (April and May).
+There is a secondary maximum in August, and a few more showers
+in the spring (September and October). South of San Antonio the
+winter maximum, which is always marked, is cut by a short dry period
+(July and August at Camerones, June at Deseado and Santa Cruz).<a
+ id="FNanchor_50_50" href="#Footnote_50_50"
+class="fnanchor">50</a> In the interior, on the other hand, the
+winter-rain system remains unchanged. The predominance of the
+precipitations of the cold season is of great importance to the
+breeders. As a rule, they come down in the form of snow, which melts
+slowly, and the small quantity of moisture is at least all absorbed in
+the soil. South of the Santa Cruz the humidity increases, but the rainy
+season alters. At Gallegos the wettest month is December; at Ushuaia,
+the rains last from September to March. The snow-season (May-August)
+is the dry season, and the snowfalls are not heavy enough to interfere
+with breeding.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The surface of the Patagonian tableland is very uneven, though it
+bears traces of having been much worn by the agencies of its desert
+climate, which seems to have lasted through the whole Tertiary Era.
+Going up the Rio Negro, one sees the grey sandstones and Tertiary
+tufas which form the cliffs, on both sides of the lower valley. They
+give place higher up to the variegated marls and red sandstones of
+the Cretaceous which form the tableland at the foot of the first
+Andean chains. The core of ancient granites and porphyries crops up at
+places from under the mantle of Cretaceous and Tertiary sandstones.
+The horizon of the peneplain passes from the Tertiary and Cretaceous
+tableland to level masses of crystalline rock, the contour of which
+has been almost entirely effaced. Volcanic eruptions have occurred
+until quite recent times, and so eruptive areas are the salient
+features of the tableland, at A&ntilde;econ and at Somuncurra, south
+of the district of the Rio Negro, in the ridge on the left bank of the
+middle Senguerr, in the Chubut province. The basalts have spread out
+in sheets, the surface of which seems to have cooled not long ago.
+Basalt flows are found as far as northern Patagonia, south of Valcheta
+and Maquinchao; but their chief seat is in eastern Patagonia. They
+cover the inhospitable tablelands to the east of Lakes Buenos Aires and
+Pueyrredon. The Rio Chico and the Santa Cruz cross them for the upper
+two-thirds of their course, South of Coile and Gallegos they spread
+almost to the coast, and the Tertiary Pampas in this part are dominated
+by an archipelago of small volcanic cones.</p>
+
+<p>The tableland is crossed from west to east by deep and broad
+valleys, enclosed between high cliffs, often strangled by ridges of
+basaltic or crystalline rock, and very little ramified. The ravines
+(<span lang="es">ca&ntilde;adones</span>), which make breaches in their cliffs on both
+sides, go only a little way into the sandstone Pampa or the lava
+tableland. Only a certain number of these valleys are occupied by
+important rivers (the Rio Negro and the Santa Cruz, for instance) which
+are born in the Andes, but receive little addition from the light
+rains of eastern Patagonia. Most of the valleys have only intermittent
+streams (Sheuen, Coile) or are altogether dry and sown with salt lakes
+(Deseado). The west wind is now the ruler of this network of fossil
+valleys. It carves their slopes, and brings into them sand, with which
+it makes dunes.</p>
+
+<p>We must not confuse with these dead valleys the long depressions,
+with no outlet, which are scattered over the granite and sandstone
+tableland (<span lang="es">bajos</span>, <span lang="es">valles</span>,
+<span lang="es">cuencas</span>). Some have obstinately, but wrongly,
+sought in these the traces of rivers that have disappeared;
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
+
+and the <span lang="es">bajos</span> of Gualicho and Valcheta have wrongly been regarded as
+the former bed of the Rio Negro and the Limay. Erosion by wind seems to
+have had something to do with these depressions. Their persistence, at
+all events, is one of the effects of the aridity which prevents normal
+erosion from moulding the surface of the tableland. The chief of them
+are centres for collecting running water. There is a group of valleys
+all round them, and alluvial beds accumulate in them.</p>
+
+<p>The climate determines the character of the soil in Patagonia.
+The rounded pebbles of granite and eruptive rock, so often described
+since the time of Darwin, sometimes free and sometimes embedded in red
+sand or limestone,<a  id="FNanchor_51_51"
+href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">51</a> are spread over
+the tableland like aureoles round the masses of rock, and they are
+particularly abundant in the coast region. On the Rio Negro they
+seem to be confined to the vicinity of the valley; they disappear as
+one goes away from it. The progressive reduction in the volume of
+the Rio Negro gravels, as one goes downward, has been observed to
+begin in the Andean zone, and it is from the Andes that they come.
+South of Santa Cruz, in a moister climate, in which the circulation
+of the water is less localized, the bed is more continuous, and it
+covers the Tertiary sandstones and clays. It is of fluvio-glacial
+origin, and comes from the destruction of the old moraines, before the
+excavation of the actual valleys. But it is the wind that explains the
+concentration of the gravel at the surface. It separates the pebbles
+from the more mobile material about them. Wherever the outcrop-strata
+contain pebbles, the wind eventually converts the place into a field of
+shingle. It has done this with the terraces of the Limay. The Tertiary
+marine deposits of the coast region also are rich in pebbles torn from
+the rocky promontories of the shore; hence the extent of stony soils in
+the coast region. The wind similarly strips naked the angular stones,
+of local origin and incompletely worn, round the isolated rocks of the
+desert tableland or on the flanks of the secondary ravines.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the bedding action of the wind creates deposits
+consisting of small and uniform elements from the sands of the dunes to
+the finest dust. The lightest particles, caught up repeatedly by the
+squalls and carried to a great height in the atmosphere, go beyond the
+Patagonian region and reach the bottom of the Atlantic or the plain
+of the Pampa. Some of this, however, is deposited in the depressions
+of the tableland, where the moisture fixes it and prevents the wind
+from regaining it. These &aelig;olian deposits in the depressions,
+a dark-grey clay, which hardens when it is dry, but is softened by
+water, form two entirely different kinds of soil. If the depression
+is closed in, or if the circulation of the water is too slight, there
+is a concentration of the mineral salts; this is the <span lang="es">salitral</span>,
+either naked or sustaining a halophytic vegetation, which the saline
+efflorescences cover with a white coat during the dry season. If
+on the other hand, the underground waters have a free course, the
+&aelig;olian clay forms the <span lang="es">mallin</span>. Bushes and fine grasses grow on
+it, and, as they decay, gradually give it a darker shade and modify its
+composition. The soil above the <span lang="es">mallin</span> is rich in organic elements.
+It covers the bottom of the valleys between low terraces, covered with
+faceted pebbles, and dominated by the vertical cliffs of tufa and
+lava. The contrast between the verdure of the <span lang="es">mallin</span> and the arid,
+dusty, yellow steppe of the tableland is one of the most characteristic
+features of Patagonian scenery. The area in which <span lang="es">mallin</span> has been
+formed coincides with the most humid districts
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>
+
+in the vicinity of the Andes and round the higher hills. On the
+road that runs along the right bank of the Limay, at some distance
+from the river, on the surface of the tableland, the limit between
+the country of the <span lang="es">salitrales</span> and that of the <span lang="es">mallinas</span> passes
+between Tricaco and Chasico, a hundred miles south-east of Neuquen;
+it almost tallies with the curve of a 200 millimetres rainfall.<a
+ id="FNanchor_52_52" href="#Footnote_52_52"
+class="fnanchor">52</a> Though the word <span lang="es">mallin</span> is not used at Santa
+Cruz, similar &aelig;olian soils are found in the western part of the
+tableland up to this latitude. Further south glacial deposits, clays
+with moraine-blocks, fill the valleys, and from Gallegos onward, cover
+the greater part of the tableland.</p>
+
+<p>On the eruptive flows of recent date the rock is naked. The
+wind carries away the products of its decomposition, and the dust
+accumulates only in the fissures. Traffic is difficult, sometimes
+impossible.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Toward the west the tableland is separated from the Cordillera by
+a longitudinal depression, though the continuity of this has been
+exaggerated. This depression, which outlines the contact between
+the folded zone of the Andes and the flat zone of the tableland, is
+very important from the point of view of colonization. Just at the
+frontier of the steppe and the forest, it is the most hospitable part
+of Patagonia, the richest in natural resources. Amidst the glacial
+lacustrine deposits which are accumulated on it there rise masses of
+different kinds of rock which break it up into compartments, granitic
+ridges of laccolites exposed to view, eruptive structures that have
+been dismantled. In the south the sub-Andean depression forms a broad
+passage between Lake Maravilla and Punt&aacute; Arenas, about two
+hundred miles long, enclosed between the basalt cliffs of the tableland
+on the east and the mountains of the Brunswick Peninsula and William
+IV Land. The bottom of it is a singular glacial landscape, sown with
+lagoons, punctuated by scattered hills, with an impermeable soil of
+drift and mud. From Lake Argentina to Lake Buenos Aires the elevated
+tablelands, which rise to a height of 5,000 feet, back upon the
+Cordillera, and the sub-Andean depression is interrupted. Similarly,
+between Lake Buenos Aires and Lake General Paz the contour of the
+Patagonian tableland is not very marked above the sub-Andean zone. The
+glacial alluvia at the foot of the Cordillera rise to the level of
+the tableland, which sinks steadily eastward toward the Genua and the
+Senguerr. To the north, between Carrenleufu and Lake Nahuel Huapi, the
+retreat of the lakes has left long narrow beds right in the Cordillera,
+such as the Valle Nuevo del Bolson, the bed of which has been taken
+over by the Futaleufu west of the Cerro Situaci&oacute;n. Further east
+the topographical features of the edge of the tableland (the valleys of
+the Chubut, Tecka, and Norquineo) lie from north to south. Hence within
+a space of little more than a hundred kilometres the sub-Andean zone
+has a series of parallel roads, communicating with each other by means
+of broad, transverse gaps, which at one time were occupied by the lower
+lobes of the glaciers. The sub-Andean depression does not go north of
+Lake Nahuel Huapi.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p>
+<p>The morphological features of the Patagonian Andes begin at
+36&deg; S. lat.<a  id="FNanchor_53_53"
+href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">53</a> The edge of the
+Cordillera, in the Malarg&uuml;e depression, below 35&deg; S.
+lat., still presents the typical scenery of the central Andes. The
+dejection-cone of the Atuel resembles that of the Mendoza. The fringe
+of torrential deposits, distributed in cones over which the waters
+spread, is due to the rapidity of the disintegration of the rocks in a
+desert climate. Keidel has pointed out the part played by the summer
+rains in transporting mobile elements, which the water drops as soon
+as the slope diminishes; the amount of precipitation being too slight
+to permit the formation and spread over the plain of a regular network
+of streams. From the Rio Grande onward the dejection cones disappear.
+The streams tend to become permanent, and sink into narrow valleys.
+The summer rains cease, and the water produced by the melting of the
+snows has only a feeble capacity for transporting stuff. The soil of
+the Cordillera is protected by a denser vegetation. The first thickets
+of <span lang="es">molle</span> appear in the valleys, the first scattered cypresses on the
+slopes, at the Rio Agrio, a tributary of the Neuquen. Then the forest
+invades the mountain: at first, from 38&deg; S. lat. to 39&deg; 30&prime; S.
+lat., a resinous forest of araucarias. At length, at Lake Nahuel Huapi,
+the forest assumes the general appearance which it has as far as the
+Magellan region. It is chiefly made up of different kinds of beeches.
+The <span lang="es">coihue</span> (<cite>Notofagus dombeyi</cite>) is the most conspicuous for about
+three quarters of a mile, rising above an impenetrable undergrowth of
+bamboo. Higher up the domain of the <span lang="es">lenga</span> (<cite>Notofagus
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>
+
+pumilio</cite>) extends as far as the fringe of the Alpine forests. The
+forest does not reach the eastern limit of the lakes. In the sub-Andean
+depression it is reduced to thickets of <span lang="es">&ntilde;irre</span> (<cite>Notofagus
+antarctica</cite>) and <span lang="es">mayten</span> and clumps of <span lang="es">calafate</span> (something like
+myrtles).</p>
+
+<p>It is on the Alumine, about 39&deg; S. lat., that we find traces of
+glacial erosion, as they spread over the landscape. At present there
+is no ice on the mountain except on the peaks of Lanin and Tronador,
+but from the Rio Puelo onward (42&deg; S. lat.), glaciers clothe all
+the summits which rise above 6,500 feet. North of the Aisen they form
+a narrow, but almost continuous, line. From the Aisen to the Calen
+fiord, and beyond the gap of the fiord as far as 52&deg; S. lat., the
+ice spreads in a considerable sheet which in some places attains a
+breadth of eighty miles. The tongues of the glaciers reach the Pacific
+below 46&deg; S. lat., and Lake San Martin on the Argentine slope below
+49&deg; S. lat. In Tierra del Fuego the snow-line is at 2,300 feet, and
+the glaciers which the snows feed, reach as far as the fiords and Lake
+Fagnano.</p>
+
+<p>Lake Carri Lauquen, on the Barrancas (36&deg; 20&prime; S. lat.), which
+was almost entirely drained in 1914 through the breaking down of
+the natural dam of soft earth which confined its waters, is not a
+glacial lake.<a  id="FNanchor_54_54"
+href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">54</a> The chain of glacial
+lakes stretches from the Alumine to the Seno de la Ultima Esperanza,
+and is continued southward by Skyring Water, Otway Water, and
+Useless Bay&mdash;genuine lakes in communication with the Pacific
+by means of narrow channels. The lakes sometimes lie in a narrow
+and deep glacial valley, the bottom of which they fill; sometimes
+they branch out into the neighbouring valleys; at other times
+they advance eastward beyond the zone of the mountains and spread
+into round basins surrounded by circles of moraines. The largest
+of them include groups of ramified fiords, which represent their
+western half, while the eastern half spreads between lower banks.<a
+ id="FNanchor_55_55" href="#Footnote_55_55"
+class="fnanchor">55</a></p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Yoke_of_Creole_Oxen" href="images/illus-155a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-155a.jpg" alt="Yoke of Creole Oxen" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">YOKE OF CREOLE OXEN USED FOR THE TRANSPORT
+      OF TIMBER ON THE EASTERN CHACO, OR CHACO OF SANTA F&Eacute;.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">On the Central (or Santiago) Chaco mules are
+      used for transport.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-155a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a id="Works_at_Tartagal" href="images/illus-155b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-155b.jpg" alt="Works at Tartagal" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">WORKS AT TARTAGAL (EASTERN CHACO) FOR MAKING TANNIC ACID.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">These works, built by powerful firms, are permanent
+      centres, drawing timber from a great stretch of forest, while
+      the saw-mills of the Central Chaco move about freely, to be
+      near the felling sites.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XII.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-155b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Pastoral colonization has now spread over almost the entire surface
+of Patagonia. The parts that are not yet occupied are of slight
+extent; they consist only of the most desolate regions in the south
+of the Rio Negro district and north of Santa Cruz. The expansion of
+white colonization began only about 1880. Until then the interior was
+abandoned to the indigenous tribes and was almost entirely unknown.
+The Atlantic coast alone had been explored. The travels of Villarino
+along the Rio Negro and the Limay as far as Lake Nahuel Huapi had left
+only a faded memory.<a  id="FNanchor_56_56"
+href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">56</a> North of the Rio
+Negro, Woodbine Parish (1859), making use of the notes left by Cruz,
+who had crossed the Andes and the Indian territory between Antuco
+and Melincue in 1806, was the first to publish definite information,
+to which no addition would be made during the next forty years.<a
+ id="FNanchor_57_57" href="#Footnote_57_57"
+class="fnanchor">57</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The settlements founded on the coast by the Spaniards at the
+close of the eighteenth century (S. Jos&eacute; and P. Deseado) were
+ephemeral. Only one of them maintained an obscure existence, Carmen
+de Patagones, some miles above the mouth of the Rio Negro. One of its
+chief resources was the export of salt. Expeditions for this purpose
+began on the Patagonian coast about the middle of the eighteenth
+century (<em>Journey from San Martin to Puerto San Julian about</em> 1753,
+Coll. de Angelis, V). After the revolution, Buenos Aires finally
+abandoned these costly expeditions by land to the salt districts
+of the Pampa, and was supplied with salt by schooners from Carmen.
+During the war with Brazil and the blockade of the Rio de la Plata,
+Carmen, protected by the bar of the Rio Negro, and the Bay of San Blas
+were the harbours in which Argentine, English and French privateers
+concealed their prizes and did their repairs after the storms of
+the Gulf of Santa Catarina. D'Orbigny visited Carmen during this
+period of equivocal prosperity. One of the most curious effects of
+the hospitality offered to the privateers was the unloading upon the
+Patagonian coast of blacks, intended for Brazil, who were taken from
+the slave-traders. Thus an unforeseen eddy brought to the south of the
+Pampean region part of the current of the slave-trade intended for the
+sugar-cane plantations in tropical America. A number of the Carmen
+ranches had coloured workers at this time.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Breeding, in fact, was just beginning to spread in the neighbourhood
+of Carmen at the time. The cattle had been brought by land from Buenos
+Aires, and had multiplied along the coast and the river above Carmen.
+South of Carmen, at San Jos&eacute;, the cattle had run wild after
+the fort was abandoned. The Carmen herds were estimated, before the
+revolution, at 40,000 head. They disappeared during the revolutionary
+period, but were reconstituted immediately afterwards, and even during
+the war with Brazil there was an active export of hides and salt beef.
+Carmen profited mainly by trade with the Indians. It lived in terror
+of them, and had garrisons to give the alarm on the routes by which
+they could approach. But this state of chronic warfare did not prevent
+trade. Near Carmen there was a group of peaceful Indians who served as
+intermediaries with the tribes of the interior, who were jealous and
+hostile. Guides and interpreters were found in this colony, and through
+it came the first news of the interior. The traffic with the Indians
+continued for a long time to be of great use to the colonists. In 1865
+the Welsh colony established on the Chubut, which had many difficulties
+at first, was saved from complete disaster by its trade with the
+Indians.</p>
+
+<p>The indigenous population comprised two groups: the Tehuelches,
+or Patagonians proper, men of tall stature, and the Araucans,
+the Ranqueles, the Pehuenches and the Pampas. There was no fixed
+geographical limit between them. The Tehuelches lived in southern
+Patagonia; but the Araucans advanced eastward
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>
+
+as far as the Pampas region and southward beyond the Chubut.
+The Indian population of the valley of the Genua and the
+Sanguerr, south of the colony of San Martin, comprised in
+1880,<a  id="FNanchor_58_58"
+href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">58</a> and still comprises,<a
+ id="FNanchor_59_59" href="#Footnote_59_59"
+class="fnanchor">59</a> a mixture of Araucans and Tehuelches. The
+Araucans were acquainted with agriculture, but, once they had tamed
+the horse, they became mainly a pastoral and hunting people, like the
+Tehuelches.</p>
+
+<p>In so far as they were hunters, the Indians of Patagonia were
+nomadic. The taming of the horse only made it easier for them to shift
+from place to place, and gave them a greater range. Their nomadism
+has too often been regarded as an aimless wandering. They had laws,
+settled by the physical conditions; and we can gather a few of these.
+They kept away from the coastal districts except in winter; that is the
+season when the rains provide water-courses there. It has been observed
+that names of Indian origin are lacking on the coast of Patagonia. The
+Spanish navigators who landed there during the summer found the country
+deserted and the camps abandoned. On the other hand, the share of the
+Indians in giving names is very considerable in the interior, as far
+as the foot of the Andes. During the summer the Indians approached the
+mountains, where they found good hunting grounds. In particular they
+chased the young guanacos in the breeding season, December and January.
+Popper has indicated similar migrations amongst the Onas of Patagonia;
+they approach the coast in winter, and leave it in summer, to hunt
+in the interior.<a  id="FNanchor_60_60"
+href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">60</a> The district of Lake
+Nahuel Huapi and Collon Cura had some attraction from afar. The forest
+of araucarias produced seeds (<span lang="es">pinones</span>) which the Indians went to
+gather; and they also liked the wild apples which ripened on the former
+estates of the old Jesuit missions. The clusters of bamboo on the
+Cordillera provided the lances of the Aucas and Tehuelches.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Lake Nahuel Huapi is the first stage of the busiest of the routes
+used by the Indians. It came from the lower Santa Cruz, went up the Rio
+Chico, and from there northward followed the foot of the Cordillera.
+D'Orbigny was told about it: "All the Indians who live near the Andes
+go along the eastern foot of the mountains in their journeys, because
+they find water there, whereas they would find none if they went by the
+coast; in that way they travel from the Straits of Magellan to the Rio
+Negro." The Indian track only left the sub-Andean depression between
+the Rio Chico and Lake Buenos Aires, in the district where the high
+basalt <span lang="es">mesetias</span> extend as far as the Cordillera, and on the Pampa of
+the Sanguerr.</p>
+
+<p>From Lake Nahuel Huapi the Indians of the south descended the Limay
+and the Rio Negro, and reached the island of Choele Choel, some 230
+miles above Carmen, where they met the Aucas and Puelches. There they
+exchanged their <span lang="es">guanacos</span> hides for woollen fabrics made by the Aucas.
+Choele Choel was the only large, purely indigenous market; the whites
+never visited it. Geographical reasons fixed the site of this market of
+the nomads. In the latitude of Choele Choel the Rio Negro approaches
+the Colorado and the archipelago of the Sierras of the southern Pampa,
+which mark so many stages on the routes from the Pampa to the Andes.
+To the south the coast-route, less exposed to snow than the sub-Andean
+track, began from Choele Choel. The Indians followed this to reach the
+Gulf of San Jorge and the Santa Cruz in winter, during the rainy
+season. Darwin notes the importance of the site and the ford of Choele
+Choel. Villarino had suspected it, and had, as early as 1782, pleaded
+for the building of a fort there. By holding this point, he said, they
+could prevent the tribes from
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
+
+attacking Buenos Aires, or from approaching the Patagonian coast
+in the district of San Jos&eacute;.<a
+id="FNanchor_61_61" href="#Footnote_61_61"
+class="fnanchor">61</a></p>
+
+<p>As far back as we can go, the life of the Indians seems to have
+been deeply influenced by their relations with the whites. The Aucas
+brought to Choele Choel, not only the products of their industry, but
+also objects stolen or bought from the Christians on the Pampa. The
+report of Musters, who followed a Tehuelche tribe from Santa Cruz to
+the country of the Manzanas ("land of apples"), shows clearly that the
+attraction of the Nahuel Huapi region for the Indians was less due to
+its natural resources than to the presence of the Chilean settlements
+at Valdivia, from which came across the passes of the Cordillera
+certain quantities of brandy.</p>
+
+<p>The Indian never took to cattle-breeding. His herd never consisted
+of more than mares and a few sheep. But trade in stolen cattle quickly
+became the chief occupation of the tribes. It would, however, be a
+mistake to imagine that the thievish Indian was merely and always a
+dreaded enemy of the ranches of Carmen. They sometimes had recourse to
+his services and profited by his misdeeds. After the Revolution, it was
+the Indians who helped to fill once more the ranches of the Rio Negro,
+bringing runaway cattle which had remained in the San Jos&eacute;
+district. Later, Carmen bought the cattle stolen by the Indians at
+Buenos Aires. From 1823 to 1826 the number of the cattle sold by the
+Indians to the colonists on the Rio Negro is estimated at 40,000. Hence
+the breeders of Carmen had, as regards the Indians, alternate periods
+of armed conflict and complicity.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But Chile was always the great market for stolen cattle. Raids
+(<span lang="es">malones</span>) and the crossing of the Cordillera by convoys began in the
+eighteenth century, and continued throughout the nineteenth, until
+1880, when the consolidation of Argentine authority on the eastern
+side gave a more regular form to the cattle-trade. The convoys came to
+a halt at Antuco and Chillan from which the Chilean buyers sometimes
+accompanied the Indian tribes as far as the <span lang="es">tolderias</span> on the edge of
+the Pampa. The trade in stolen cattle made use of all the passes of
+the Cordillera, from the Planchon pass below 35&deg; S. lat., which
+Roca had covered in 1877 by the fortress of Alamito, to the source
+of the Bio Bio. The one most used was the Pichachen or the Antuco
+pass. On the tableland the cattle-tracks formed a regular network
+with innumerable strands, spreading over a width of about two hundred
+miles. The most northern route started east of the Poitague district
+and, after fording the Salado and the Atuel, and passing the <span lang="es">aguadas</span>
+of Cochico and Ranquilco, entered the Cordillera at the bend of the
+Rio Grande. Another track ascended the Colorado and then reached the
+high valley of Neuquen. A third crossed from the Colorado to the Rio
+Negro, and, above the confluence of the Limay, to the Rio Agrio or the
+Alumine.</p>
+
+<p>The first exact information about the range of the Patagonian
+Indians is supplied by a group of bold travellers who followed their
+tracks from 1870 to 1880: Musters, Moreno, Moyano, Ramon Lista, etc.
+Their discoveries had already outlined the geographical survey of
+Patagonia when the campaign of 1879-1883 opened it to colonization.</p>
+
+<p>The story of white colonization since 1880 shows us several distinct
+streams of population. The first, starting from the region of the
+Pampa, went from north to south along the Atlantic coast, and gradually
+extended its sphere toward the interior. The breeders used the
+sea-route, the ancient Indian track with recognized sources of water,
+to convey their first herds. In 1884, the only spot inhabited on the
+coast between the Rio Negro and the Deseado was the Welsh colony on the
+Chubut. In 1886 Fontana reports ranches
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>
+
+in the Punt&aacute; Delfin district, south of the Chubut.<a
+ id="FNanchor_62_62" href="#Footnote_62_62"
+class="fnanchor">62</a> About 1890 the whole district round
+the Gulf of San Jorge was occupied; and a little later the
+stream from the north met the stream from the south about San
+Julian and Santa Cruz. The expansion of colonization was less
+rapid in the interior. Ambrosetti tells us of the establishment
+of the first ranches round the Sierra de Lihuel Calel in 1893,<a
+ id="FNanchor_63_63" href="#Footnote_63_63"
+class="fnanchor">63</a> and at the same time Siemiradzki
+still found few traces of colonization on the Colorado.<a
+ id="FNanchor_64_64" href="#Footnote_64_64"
+class="fnanchor">64</a></p>
+
+<p>The second stream of colonization came from the Magellan region. It
+started in Chilean territory, about Punt&aacute; Arenas. It was about
+1878 that sheep-breeding spread round Punt&aacute; Arenas, and between
+1885 and 1892 was the most rapid growth of the ranches of the Magellan
+district. North of the Straits they occupied the lowlands round Skyring
+Water and Otway Water, then the plateau south of Gallegos. They spread
+along the Atlantic as far as the Santa Cruz. In 1896 the limit of the
+sheep-region was on the Santa Cruz about forty miles from the coast.<a
+ id="FNanchor_65_65" href="#Footnote_65_65"
+class="fnanchor">65</a> To the west, Puerto Consuelo was founded in
+1892, and in 1896 colonization came up against the mountain barrier
+which the Cerro Payen and the basalt tableland of the Cerro Vizcachas
+interpose between Lake Argentine and Ultima Esperanza fiord.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The spheres of primitive colonization in southern Patagonia on the
+coast still differ from each other in regard to density of population.
+But breeders in search of unoccupied land have not hesitated to push
+beyond. In 1895 and 1900 they passed west of the Gulf of San Jorge
+toward the basin of the Sanguerr and the Genua, (establishment of the
+Sarmiento colony, south of Colhuapi, 1897: establishment of San Martin
+on the Genua 1900). Since 1900 the population has also advanced up the
+Santa Cruz and the Rio Chico as far as the zone of the Andes, and the
+lagoon which still existed twenty years ago, between the district of
+the Sanguerr and that of Lake Argentino, and is easily recognized on
+the maps of the Frontier Commission, has been almost entirely filled
+up.</p>
+
+<p>The story of colonization in the northern part of the Patagonian
+Andes is more complicated. Immediately after the campaign of 1883 the
+valleys of the Neuquen were invaded by Chilean immigrants, half-breeds
+of the frontier, who cannot always be easily distinguished from pure
+Araucans. A certain number of Chilotes, and even Germans from the
+southern colonies of Chile, were mixed with the half-breeds. This
+stream of immigration had begun before the conquest. As early as 1881
+Host notices that there are at Chosmalal various families of Chilean
+farmers who held their lands from the Indian <span lang="es">cacique</span>. During the
+summer they took care of the migratory herds from the Chilean plain.
+Once the country was pacified, they grew rapidly in number. It was
+they who provided the manual labour for the placer miners of the
+Neuquen, where gold began to be worked in 1890. The area of Chilean
+colonization extends from the Rio Atuel, where Villanueva found
+Chilean immigrants in 1884, to the south of Lake Nahuel Huapi, where
+Chileans were still met by Vallentin in 1906, on the Rio Pico, close
+to 44&deg; S. lat.<a  id="FNanchor_66_66"
+href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">66</a> South of Nahuel
+Huapi there is no regularly used route across the Cordillera.<a
+ id="FNanchor_67_67" href="#Footnote_67_67"
+class="fnanchor">67</a> The Chilean colonists of the southern zone
+came from the north, therefore, along the eastern foot of the Andes.
+Bailey Willis calculated that there were 2,000 Chileans in a total
+population of 3,500 in the sub-Andean area from Nahuel Huapi to Diez y
+seis de Octubre. The total number of Chilean immigrants may be about
+20,000. It is not on the increase, as immigration from Chile was
+suspended from 1890 to 1895. Since the reconstruction of the frontier
+the Chilean Government has tried to bring back part of the emigrants
+to its own territory. Many have gone to settle in the valley of the
+Lonquimay. In 1896 Moreno saw traces everywhere in the valley of the
+Collon Cura of the departure of Chilean colonists who had left the
+country.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At first it was only the Argentinians of the western
+provinces, San Juan and Mendoza, who vied with the Chileans for
+the soil. It is they whom Furque found in 1888 at Roca, on the
+Rio Negro. But beginning with 1890-95, immigrants of various
+nationalities have settled on the Neuquen and the Negro.<a
+ id="FNanchor_68_68" href="#Footnote_68_68"
+class="fnanchor">68</a> Foreign capitalists organized their first
+ranches there. In 1888, on the other hand, the Welsh of the lower
+Chubut, led by Indian guides, went from the coast to the sub-Andean
+region, and settled in the valley of Diez y seis de Octubre. Between
+1895 and 1900 the neighbouring valleys began to be inhabited,
+and the colonization areas of Nahuel Huapi and the Sanguerr came
+into contact.<a  id="FNanchor_69_69"
+href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">69</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The most striking feature of colonization in Patagonia is the very
+low density of population. The Census of 1914 gives 81,000 inhabitants
+altogether for the territories of the Rio Negro, the Neuquen, the
+Chubut, the Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego. A well-kept ranch of
+25,000 square kilometres has only a staff of about a hundred men at
+the most, counting strangers, settled on its land; three hundred
+inhabitants, or scarcely more than one to ten square kilometres.
+This population falls into two distinct classes. One is the class of
+proprietors with regular titles: a rooted and stable class. At first
+the Government granted enormous concessions, which were taken up
+especially by English buyers, but it now seeks to break up the land,
+and the plots which it puts on the market for new pastoral colonies
+have not more than 625 hectares. This is too small for breeding, no
+matter how good the situation may be, and there will inevitably be,
+one would think, a concentration of estates in the hands of a few
+proprietors. The other part of the population occupy lands which they
+do not own. They are displaced steadily as the regular concessions
+are sold to new ranches. They live, so to say, on the margin of
+colonization, and are more and more restricted to the poorest lands.
+Sometimes these <span lang="es">intrusos</span> or <span lang="es">pobladores</span> get hospitality for their
+herds on the land of some ranch in return for their services. They
+have little capital, and never make material improvements. They take
+no care to nurse the pasture, and it matters little to them if it is
+impoverished.</p>
+
+<p>The climate divides Patagonia into two distinct regions. In the
+west, the moist Andean zone is suitable for cattle-breeding. About
+1870 the Chileans of Valdivia hunted wild cattle in the Nahuel Huapi
+district. Similarly the Frontier Commission met large herds of wild
+cattle on the shores of Lake San Martin, which were not yet occupied.
+Sheep do not get on well in the moist zone, where the rains have washed
+out the soil and carried away the salts which seem to be indispensable
+to the sheep. It is the arid tableland that
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>
+
+is the land of the sheep. There it has displaced cattle, even in the
+area which the early breeders at the end of the eighteenth century
+had filled with cattle. Between the sheep-area and the cattle-area
+is a mixed region, where the two are combined. It extends more or
+less according as the transition from a moist to a desert climate is
+gradual or sudden. It is especially important in the districts where
+colonization is already old, as in the Fuegian and Neuquen regions.
+It is lacking in districts where the colonization is recent (Chubut
+and Santa Cruz), where the sheep-breeders have had a free run as far
+as the Andes. The ranches of the Cordillera, which specialize in
+cattle-breeding, all have small flocks of sheep for their own use,
+their staff being so small that it does not pay to kill the cattle.</p>
+
+<p>The sheep-area is by far the more extensive of the two. The patches
+of agricultural colonization are very scattered and small on its
+surface. They are restricted to the river-oases of the Rio Negro and
+the Chubut. These small tilled districts have preserved a remarkable
+economic independence as regards the pastoral zone, in which they seem
+lost. Thus the farmers on the Chubut exported their wheat to Buenos
+Aires until about 1900, and they still send their bales of dry lucerne
+there. Some of the ranches have tilled small oases in suitable places,
+but these are merely intended to increase their stores of fodder; not
+for their flock of sheep, but for the saddle-horses used in watching
+the estate and the draught-horses used for transport.</p>
+
+<p>The pastoral capacity of the Patagonian scrub is, on the average,
+from 800 to 1,200 head of sheep to 25 square kilometres: less than a
+tenth that of the prairies of the eastern Pampa. The ranch fixes its
+residence in the best part of the estate, where there is least fear of
+a shortage of water, and where pasture is most plentiful. To this the
+sheep are brought periodically to receive disinfecting baths against
+the scab,
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>
+
+and for shearing. These incessant movements toward the centre of the
+ranch cause an almost permanent strain on the pasture, and this is
+one of the chief anxieties of the breeder. The area of the estate is
+divided as soon as possible into sections (<span lang="es">potreros</span>) by steel-wire
+fences, which enables them to watch over the reproduction and
+improvement of the flock and make the best use of the pasture. Fencing
+is more advanced near the Cordillera, as timber for the posts is found
+there.</p>
+
+<p>Certain districts are still uninhabited on account of the lack
+of water. Some of the sources of water are permanent. The water
+issues at the base of the volcanic rocks, when the underlying rock is
+impermeable, and above the various levels of the marl in the Patagonian
+swamps; for instance, in the <span lang="es">ca&ntilde;adones</span> round the Gulf of San
+Jorge. Besides this, the rain and melting snow leave on the surface
+of the tableland a great number of pools, which evaporate in the dry
+season. These are temporary supplies, the <span lang="es">manantiales</span>, to which the
+breeders are reduced over large areas of the tableland. Most of the
+stagnant sheets of water which are permanent are saline. The proportion
+of salt in them is very variable, and changes in each case according to
+the cycle of dry and wet years. The water of the Carilaufquen was fresh
+in 1900, and in 1914 it had become brackish, though it could still be
+used for the flocks.</p>
+
+<p>Finding permanent sources of water is the first concern of the
+breeder. In some districts he has succeeded in tapping sheets of
+fresh water by means of wells. There are none of these wells in the
+crystalline zones, the closed hollows, where the sheets of water are
+often large, but they are always saline. Neither are there any in the
+red sandstone district, the dryest of all. In the western region the
+wells are sunk in the arid valleys, along the track of the underground
+stream. Thus the Picun Leufu, the visible course of which is
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>
+
+lost seventeen miles above its confluence with the Limay, may be
+traced by a continuous line of wells. It is especially in the coastal
+districts that the wells have transformed the conditions of breeding.
+Water was first discovered at the foot of the dunes, along the coast
+itself (district of Viedma, San Jos&eacute;, etc.). Since then deep
+borings have been made over the whole of the Tertiary platform on both
+sides of the lower part of the Rio Negro, north of San Antonio. There
+every ranch has its sheet-iron tank, sheltered by a clump of tamarinds,
+with a windmill to fill it.</p>
+
+<p>All pastures are not equally available in every season. Those
+which are at a height of more <del>that</del><ins>than</ins> 4,000 feet in the north, and
+2,300 to 2,600 feet in the south, are covered in winter with a thick
+mantle of snow. These are summer pastures. During the winter the
+animals are brought down to the principal valleys or to sheltered
+<span lang="es">ca&ntilde;adones</span> below the level of the tableland. The <span lang="es">mallin</span>
+is, as a rule, a winter pasture. When it is too wet, however, it is
+treacherous, and the animals are buried in it. They have to wait for
+fine weather before going into it. The pastures, too, which have no
+permanent water supply, or have only <span lang="es">manantiales</span>, which dry up at
+the beginning of summer, can only be used during the winter. Hence
+each ranch has to have, besides its assured water supply, a suitable
+combination of summer and winter pasturage, and it is far from certain
+that this will be found on every estate, cut up geometrically for
+colonization, as they were, by the administration of lands.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Volcano_Puntiagudo" href="images/illus-171a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-171a.jpg" alt="The Volcano Puntiagudo" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE VOLCANO PUNTIAGUDO.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">On the Chilean side, to the north of the road from Lake
+   Nahuel Huapi. The glaciers come down lower on the western
+   side, as the moist winds come from the west, and the rain
+   becomes less and less frequent as one goes eastward toward the
+   Patagonian tableland.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-171a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a id="Cercas_on_the_Limay" href="images/illus-171b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-171b.jpg" alt="Cercas" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">CERCAS ON THE LIMAY (RISING IN LAKE NAHUEL HUAPI),
+      NEAR THE CONFLUENCE OF THE TRAFUL.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Here the Limay enters the sub-desert tableland.
+      Last trees (cypresses) in the valley in the foreground.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Bailey Willis.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XIII.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-171b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The constitution of the flock and the first occupation of the
+land have compelled breeders to undertake difficult journeys, and
+more than one of these proved disastrous. The earliest arrivals,
+driving their sheep along little-known tracks, could not avoid losses
+in crossing the arid parts of the tableland: parts which D'Orbigny,
+translating literally the Spanish word <span lang="es">travesia</span>, calls "crossings."<a
+ id="FNanchor_70_70" href="#Footnote_70_70"
+class="fnanchor">70</a> When the ranch is established, the breeding
+does not necessitate any further movements of the flocks to a great
+distance, apart from certain special migrations, or "transhumations,"
+which I will consider later. It is on each ranch, sometimes on
+each group of ranches combined in a single estate, that they pass
+alternately from winter to summer pasture. The only transport necessary
+is that of wool. The fleeces, which the west wind has heavily laden
+with dust, are collected in the sheds belonging to the ranch, or, in
+the case of the <span lang="es">intrusos</span>, on the premises of certain small traders
+(<span lang="es">bolicheros</span>) who are scattered over the tableland even at its extreme
+limits. Convoys of wagons then take them to the ports on the coast.</p>
+
+<p>For some years now, however, wool has ceased to be the sole product
+of the ranches. A little before 1895 the first slaughter-houses, for
+killing the older sheep that were no longer fertile, were erected on
+the Straits of Magellan. Refrigerators have succeeded these, and were
+opened at Puerto Callegos and San Julian. A third refrigerator is being
+constructed (1915) at Puerto Deseado. In southern Patagonia, also, part
+of the flock is sent to the refrigerators or to the slaughter houses
+of the Pampean region. The creation of the refrigerator has compelled
+breeders to adapt their work to the new economic conditions. The merino
+breed is being eliminated by the Lincoln in all districts which feel
+the influence of the refrigerator; the Lincoln is of greater weight and
+quicker growth, but the merino survives in arid northern Patagonia.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Besides this, the establishment of the refrigerators has caused
+important movements of transport. The flocks which are to go to the
+refrigerators or the northern railways are moved in the good season,
+after the shearing, from November to April. The routes they take are
+not invariable. One of the most frequented, leading from the sub-Andean
+tablelands to San Julian, follows the Santa Cruz valley. When the land
+was cut up, there was no reason to foresee these movements, and nothing
+was done to facilitate them. The roads cross the ranches, which are
+compelled to allow it. It is a serious burden for some of them, unless
+they can make a profit out of their situation on the road by hiring
+pasture for the flocks as they pass.</p>
+
+<p>The Andean zone itself is still mainly pastoral, but it is
+nevertheless far more varied and richer in possibilities of development
+than the tableland. Agriculture is already combined with breeding in
+that area.</p>
+
+<p>The name <span lang="es">vegas</span>, which in the Puna and at San Juan means alpine
+pasture, is applied here to tilled patches in the Andean valleys.
+They are found in the north in the valley of the Neuquen, round
+Chosmalal. In the south, the valley of the Rio Pico marks the limit of
+cultivation. Irrigation is almost always necessary north of Lake Nahuel
+Huapi, where the <span lang="es">vegas</span> have, as a rule, a soil of coarse alluvia or
+permeable tufa, which dries up quickly. Water is plentiful, it is true,
+and increases in quantity rapidly as one travels southward. The chief
+obstacle to the extension of cultivation is the frequency of frost in
+spring and summer. The deep hollows of the sub-Andean depression south
+of Lake Nahuel Huapi, the height of which drops to 1,000 feet at the
+Bolson, and 1,600 feet at Diez y seis de Octubre, have no frosts in
+summer, and they sustain small agricultural communities. At higher
+levels, in the basin of the lake or on the <span lang="es">vegas</span> of the Traful and
+Lake Lacar, at an altitude of about 2,600 feet, the distribution of the
+summer frosts is closely related to the contour and lie of the land,
+which may facilitate or impede the circulation of the layers of cold
+air, and the play of what has been called atmospheric drainage. The
+valleys which are very open from west to east,
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
+
+at the outlet of the lakes, where the west winds have a free passage,
+are little liable to frost. Wherever frost is frequent, cultivation
+has to be restricted to fodder plants. The more favoured cantons,
+which grow wheat, rye and potatoes, help to feed the local pastoral
+population, and export part of their produce to some distance on the
+tableland.</p>
+
+<p>Cattle-breeding is, like sheep-breeding on the tableland, practised
+both by the <span lang="es">pobladores</span> on public lands and by ranchers who have
+settled on regular concessions, which they have worked up and fenced
+round. The high alpine pastures, above the fringe of the forest, are
+partly used, from December to March, as summer-pasture. The forest also
+serves for pasture; it is a sort of common land, available both in
+winter and summer. Below the height of 3,500 feet the clumps of bamboos
+in the underwood provide shelter during the winter and fodder which
+is not buried under snow. The fires lit by the breeders have changed
+part of the primitive forest into a scrub which has been invaded by a
+leguminous climbing fodder, and it has superior pastoral capacity to
+the forest. East of the forest, the prairie, which is too much exposed
+to the winds, is not generally suitable for winter-pasture. The cattle
+take refuge in sheltered valleys and in the <span lang="es">mayten</span> thickets which
+follow the depressions. Bailey Willis puts the pastoral capacity of the
+virgin forest at 400 cattle to each 2,500 hectares, 600 for the burnt
+forest, and 350 for the sub-Andean prairies. The essential problem in
+connection with the question of completely developing the pastoral
+resources of the sub-Andean region is the problem of transit. There
+are no roads from one district to another and to the higher prairies.
+The fallen trunks which lie about the forest obstruct the way of the
+cattle. Collecting the animals for sale and watching them are both
+difficult.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that the profit of exploiting the timber must necessarily
+be small. The forest, thinned by
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
+
+fire and difficult of access, is partly composed of trees that are too
+old. The <span lang="es">libocedrus</span> has disappeared from one-third of it. The larch,
+which is the most valuable, passes into Argentine territory at few
+places. Saw-mills are not so numerous on the eastern slope of the Andes
+as they are in the Magellan area.</p>
+
+<p>The essential function of the forest is, according to Argentine
+experts on forestry, to control the water-circulation. In this land
+of glacial erosion and recent captures, where the water-courses have
+always a great variety of form, and there are lakes to make their
+output more regular, it is particularly easy to make use of hydraulic
+power. "White coal" will, Bailey Willis says, make a great industrial
+region of it, and plant an urban life in it. Bailey Willis, whose
+optimism and prophetic gift will not fail to surprise the European
+reader, has drawn the plans in detail of a future town of 40,000
+souls at the eastern end of Lake Nahuel Huapi. The Patagonian land
+will supply the raw material of its industries; timber, leather, and
+wool.</p>
+
+<p>One, at least, of the indispensable conditions of the development of
+urban life is fully realized in the district of Lake Nahuel Huapi and
+the Limay. It is a remarkable meeting-place of natural roads, and its
+economic value will increase in the future. It is the point where the
+road from eastern Patagonia by the sub-Andean depression, from the Gulf
+of San Antonio on the Atlantic, and from the Rio Negro by the Limay,
+and the roads that lead to Chile across the Cordillera, meet. The whole
+zone of the Andes between 36&deg; S. lat. and 42&deg; S. lat., the
+latitude of the southern part of the Chilean plain, has numerous and
+easy passes. There has always been close communication between the two
+slopes, and people have emigrated freely from one to the other. But
+north of 39&deg; S. lat. the passes are rarely lower than 5,000 feet.
+They are covered with snow in the winter, and can be used for traffic
+only in certain seasons. It is not the same
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+
+south of the volcano Lanin. That is the beginning of the glacial
+valleys which go to the heart of the Cordillera, some of them crossing
+the mountains from east to west. They have not yet been entirely
+explored. The Bariloche pass, south of the Tronador, by which the
+Chilean missionaries reached Nahuel Huapi in the eighteenth century,
+is no longer used. The Cajon Negro pass, west of Lake Traful, through
+which Bailey Willis traces the line of a southern trans-Andean railway,
+was only recently discovered, and the valleys which run into it on the
+Chilean side are not yet well known. The two best-known trans-Andean
+routes to-day are the Perez Rosales road, which leads from Chile to
+Nahuel Huapi by the north of the Tronador, and further north, the
+road from Lake Lacar to San Martin. Both these have received some
+attention, and the lakes are connected by telegraph or telephone. The
+frequent need to unload and reload makes the traffic costly, but it is
+permanent and is not interrupted in winter. The reduction of the export
+of cattle to Chile has cut down the traffic for a time, but it is sure
+to recover. The permanent importance of it is one of the facts most
+clearly written by nature upon the soil of South America.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>It is not easy, in the absence of documents, to attempt to give for
+Patagonia as a whole a detailed description of the pastoral industry,
+and to follow step by step on the spot its efforts to adjust itself
+to the natural conditions. But the analysis may be attempted in
+regard to the region between San Antonio and Lake Nahuel Huapi south
+of the Rio Negro,<a  id="FNanchor_71_71"
+href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">71</a> the valley of the Rio
+Negro, and the tableland which stretches westward between the Neuquen
+and the Limay. This part of Patagonia is now easily accessible, and it
+is entered by two parallel railways. One starts from San Antonio on
+the Atlantic, and goes westward to Lake Nahuel Huapi. It has (1914)
+reached Maquinchao, on the tableland, mid-way across the Andes. The
+other starts from Bah&iacute;a Blanca. At Choele Choel it enters the
+valley of the Rio Negro, and ascends it as far as the confluence of the
+Neuquen. Then it goes 130 miles westward as far as Zapala, at the foot
+of the first sub-Andean chains. Each of these lines is ambitious to
+attract the trans-Andeans. At all events, they are in a hurry to reach
+the humid zone at the foot of the Andes, which could maintain a busier
+traffic than the desolate tableland.</p>
+
+<p>The railway from San Antonio, and the road which is a continuation
+of it west of Maquinchao, cover a distance of 320 miles from the
+Atlantic to the Andes, and cross five distinct regions. The first is
+the coastal plain, composed of horizontal marine Tertiary sedimentary
+rocks, both of sand and clay. The plain rises slowly toward the west,
+and it attains a height of 650 feet at a distance of seventy miles
+from the coast. This coastal platform divides, on the north-west,
+the enclosed hollow of the Bajo del Gualicho from the Gulf of San
+Antonio. Its surface is very even. The gravel on it has formed a sort
+of conglomerate, and in spite of appearances, this gravelly soil is
+not bad for vegetation. It quickly absorbs the rain-water, which thus
+escapes evaporation. The vegetation is comparatively rich. There are
+no springs, but the autumn rains sustain <span lang="es">manantiales</span> in the marly
+surface, and these do not dry up until the spring. During the summer
+the plain is deserted, and there is no water. But the flocks return in
+the winter and remain there until spring. There is very little snow, as
+the temperature is moderate. In spite of the density of the pastoral
+population in winter, the pasturage is not injured. The grass grows
+plentifully amongst the thickets. This is because the flocks leave the
+district before the season when the grasses flower and reproduce, so
+the next generation is secured.
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>
+
+Part of the flocks which winter on the coastal plain pass the summer in
+the south-west, on the high basaltic tablelands of Somuncura. However,
+the whole of the surface of the tableland cannot be used permanently,
+or during the entire summer. There is plenty of water in spring, when
+the snows have melted. In the middle of the summer the flocks collect
+round the permanent springs, and they scatter once more over the
+mountain pastures during the autumn rains, before they return to the
+plain.</p>
+
+<p>The second region is that of Valcheta. From Aguada Cecilia to Corral
+Chico the railway follows for sixty miles the edge of the outpour of
+lava from the south, which covers the Tertiary clays. In front of the
+basalt cliff the land dips in the north toward a closed depression, the
+Bajo de Valcheta, the bottom of which consists of clays impregnated
+with salt. Tertiary marine strata surround this hollow in the west and
+north, where they divide it from the Bajo del Gualicho, but here they
+form only a thin skin which covers the crystalline platform. The line
+of contact of the basalt and the Tertiary marls is marked by a series
+of good springs, and these give rise to permanent streams, such as the
+Arroyo Valcheta and the Nahuel Niyeu. At first they flow in a narrow
+valley crowned by basalts, with peaty prairies at the bottom, then over
+Tertiary marls, and, in the latitude of the railways, they pass into a
+gorge cut through the granites before losing themselves to the north in
+the <span lang="es">salitral</span>. A small agricultural oasis is sustained by the waters
+of the Valcheta.</p>
+
+<p>The site of Valcheta has an exceptional importance in the story of
+Patagonian colonization. It marks a necessary stage in the Indian track
+from the Atlantic to Nahuel Huapi, which is now followed by the line
+of the railway. Musters halted there. The track from Choele Choel, on
+the Rio Negro, to the southern coast and the Santa Cruz also passed by
+there. It was so much used, says Ezcurra, that the hoofs of the horses
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>
+
+had hollowed it.<a  id="FNanchor_72_72"
+href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">72</a> The Argentine village
+dates from 1890. At first it lived by supplying fodder to the convoys
+of wagons which carried the wool. The railway has suppressed this
+traffic, and the only outlet of the oasis to-day is the small port
+of San Antonio, where the wool is shipped, and where the district is
+unsuitable for any kind of cultivation.</p>
+
+<p>Like the coast region, the Valcheta district seems marked out by
+its moderate altitude to serve as winter pasture. In point of fact, it
+is used during the whole year. The springs do not dry up in summer.
+The streams which flow from the south toward the Bajo de Valcheta are
+permanent. In addition, a few wells have been bored in the Tertiary
+strata. Contrary to experience on the coast, therefore, cattle can be
+kept here during the summer. There is less chance for the grasses to
+reproduce, and the pasture tends to become impoverished.</p>
+
+<p>The third zone, 130 miles from the coast, is that of the tableland
+of the Cerros Colorados, where low masses of red granite rise like
+an archipelago amongst the Tertiary formations deposited in the
+intervening depressions. In the west its altitude rises from 650 to
+1,300 feet. It is one of the poorest parts of the tableland, and the
+size of the flock is reduced to 600 head to the square league. The
+naked rock crops up, not covered, as it is further east, by a bed of
+gravel. In the valleys there is little water, and it lies very deep.
+There are no periodical removals of the animals. Winter and summer they
+remain within range of a few poor springs, which are caused by various
+outcrops of lava of limited extent; and they leave these, and wander
+over the tableland, only in the rainy season.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond the Cerros Colorados the line rises rapidly, and at
+Maquinchao it reaches the basin of Lake Carilaufquen.
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>
+
+This occupies the bottom of a closed depression, at an altitude of
+3,000 feet, dominated on every side by a plateau of lava, toward
+which, in the south, a number of important valleys run (Nahuel Niyeu,
+Quetriquile, Maquinchao). These valleys rise in the south in the basalt
+plateau, at a height of 4,000 and 4,700 feet, and have no running water
+except at their upper ends. South of Carilaufquen they open upon a
+broad plain, round which there is a sombre cornice of lava, about 350
+feet high. Water has collected on the plain, which consists of alluvial
+beds redistributed by wind: angular pebbles from the terraces, fine
+dust from the <span lang="es">mallinas</span>, and sand from the dunes round the lake.</p>
+
+<p>This region is much better than that of the Cerros Colorados.
+There are many springs at the base of the lava-flows, on the sides
+of the valleys, and it has as yet not been necessary to look for the
+subterranean sheets which accompany some of the valleys. The elevated
+basin of the Quetriquile, though it is only occupied by <span lang="es">intrusos</span>,
+seems to have a particularly high pastoral density, and, I am told,
+feeds 500,000 sheep. In the western part of the region the spring
+is late, and there is risk of snow during the lambing season. There
+are, however, no rams there; the lambs are brought from Maquinchao.
+This arrangement of special zones for the multiplication of the flock
+enables them rapidly to improve the breed. Here again there are no
+removals of the animals to a great distance in order to use the
+pasture. The vegetation of the valleys suffered from the continuous
+presence of the flocks during the years of drought before 1914; the
+reproduction of useful grasses was prevented. There is, however, less
+danger here than on the Cerros Colorados, because the <span lang="es">mallinas</span> are
+extensive, and they suffice for feeding the sheep during the periods
+when the <span lang="es">manantiales</span> of the tableland dry up, and the animals are
+confined to the valleys.</p>
+
+<p>The fifth region comprises the high ridge which divides
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>
+
+the basin of the Carilaufquen from Nahuel Huapi, the water of which
+flows northward toward the Limay and southward toward the Chubut:
+successive eruptions have covered the surface with lava and ash, which
+at A&ntilde;econ rise to a height of 6,700 feet. The granite platform
+which emerges in the north, at the Cerro Aspero and the Quadradito,
+rises to a height of 4,400 and 4,700 feet, and in some places presents
+a bold and rejuvenated aspect. The whole has been cut up in all
+directions by erosion, and it affords comparatively easy means of
+getting about, which the Indian tracks have followed. Below the higher
+slopes the valleys deepen into gorges, and these broaden out in the
+soft tufa and are lost at the cross-streams of lava or the outcrops
+of the granite. In so varied a land, with such marked differences of
+altitude, the winter and summer pastures are always close together.
+Precipitation is more plentiful than at a distance from the Cordillera;
+the pasturage is richer, and the size of the flock rises to 1,600 sheep
+to the league. The sheep pass the winter on the lower slopes, where
+they are sheltered from the winds and the snow. They descend to the
+<span lang="es">mallin</span> when the dry season sets in and makes the soil firm. In summer
+they go on to the tablelands, where the pastures extend to a height of
+5,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>Bailey Willis, studying the improvements that might be made in the
+pastoral processes, concluded that the essential point was to use each
+pasturage in its best season, and establish a carefully considered
+rotation on the various lands. This system, which alone would enable
+them to nurse the natural resources of the scrub in the way of plants
+for fodder, is used to-day in only a small number of districts&mdash;in
+the east, where the flocks winter on the coastal plain and spend
+the summer on the Somuncura tableland, and in the west, round the
+A&ntilde;econ, where the summer and winter pastures are not far from
+each other. The custom
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
+
+ought to be general. The area which ought to be reserved for winter
+pasture comprises the coastal plains, the whole of the low-lying
+district round Valcheta, and the lower part of the valleys to the
+south of the Carilaufquen. They are less extensive than the available
+summer pastures, but their capacity could be enlarged by developing
+the irrigated areas in the Bajo de Valcheta, and sowing lucerne in the
+<span lang="es">mallinas</span> of the basin of the Carilaufquen. The low valleys round the
+Carilaufquen ought to be reserved for winter pasture. In the summer the
+sheep would be taken south to the higher-level valleys, which afford
+permanent pasture. From there they would spread after the melting of
+the snow, and after the first rains in autumn, over the high tablelands
+which surround them.</p>
+
+<p>This plan is obstructed in the first place by the actual terms of
+ownership, which were imprudently fixed before the examination of
+the country in detail had been concluded. Thus the Maquinchao ranch,
+in the lower valley, does not own the upper valley with the summer
+pastures that ought to belong to it. A more serious obstacle is that
+it is extremely difficult to remove the sheep. It is not merely
+roads that are wanting, but a water supply at the various stages.<a
+ id="FNanchor_73_73" href="#Footnote_73_73"
+class="fnanchor">73</a></p>
+
+<p>Between the railway that runs from San Antonio to Lake Nahuel Huapi
+and the Rio Negro, there is a desert region about seventy miles in
+width. Red sandstone predominates in it, and it remains uninhabited.
+North of this <span lang="es">travesia</span> the valley of the Rio Negro opens. Its width
+between Neuquen and Patagones ranges from five to fifteen miles. Its
+slope diminishes gradually toward the bottom (from 0.67 to 0.49 per
+1,000 above Chelfaro; from 0.45 to 0.29 per 1,000 above Conesa).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The sandstone and marl cliffs which enclose it become gradually
+lower as one goes downward. They dominate the valley at a height of
+650 feet at the confluence of the Neuquen, and are only 100 to 130
+feet high at Patagones. At the foot of them are broad terraces cut
+by dissymetrical ravines, in which the beds of sandstone outcrop on
+the western slope, exposed to the winds, while the eastern slopes are
+covered with gravel. On the banks of the river there is a strip about
+two miles wide with abundant herbaceous vegetation between lines of
+willows. This is covered by the normal floods. The remainder of the
+river plain, to the foot of the cliffs, has only a thin scrub, with
+dunes at intervals. Saline clays here overlie the river gravels. The
+level of the underground water, which is fed by the river, sinks
+lower as one goes from the banks toward the cliffs. Few parts of the
+tableland have so desolate an aspect as the bottom of these great
+Patagonian valleys, when they have not been transformed by irrigation.
+The pasturage is poor. At Conesa, however, the valley (<span lang="es">costa</span>) is used
+as summer pasture when there is a shortage of water on the surrounding
+tableland (<span lang="es">planeza</span>).</p>
+
+<p>The water-supply is good, the volume of the river ranging from 200
+to 900 cubic metres a second. Low water lasts from February to April
+(end of the summer). From May to July the river has sudden and violent
+floods&mdash;an effect of the autumn rains. The curve sinks again
+in August and September, to rise once more in October and December,
+when the snow melts on the Andes. The Limay, the upper basin of which
+contains large, lacustrine sheets, is more regular than the Neuquen,
+which has very pronounced low-water, as well as dangerous floods in
+the autumn. The first attempts at irrigation date from 1885, when the
+canal of the Roca colony was dug. Others were made lower down at a
+later date. The co-operative groups organized for the administration
+of the canals have not been quite as successful as might have been
+expected. The advance of agricultural colonization has been slow.
+Costly preparatory work is needed to level the ground and organize the
+drainage, otherwise saline patches form and spread like leprosy at the
+expense of the cultivable areas. Lastly, the centre of the valley is
+exposed to floods.<a  id="FNanchor_74_74"
+href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">74</a></p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Patagonian_Tableland" href="images/illus-185a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-185a.jpg" alt="The Patagonian Tableland" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-185a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a id="Patagonian_Tableland2" href="images/illus-185b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-185b.jpg" alt="The Patagonian Tableland" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE PATAGONIAN TABLELAND (NEUQUEN).</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Indigenous vegetation. Rocks eroded by wind.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photographs by Windhausen, Mining Division.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XIV.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-185b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The chief crops are lucerne, cereals, and the vine. All the efforts
+and hopes of the colonists are now centred upon the vine. It is for the
+purpose of extending the vineyards that they are endeavouring to secure
+more workers. These are a singularly mixed lot, Chileans from the
+Neuquen rubbing shoulders with Latin immigrants (Italian and Spanish)
+from the region of the Pampas.</p>
+
+<p>The lucerne is made up in bales and exported by rail to Bah&iacute;a
+Blanca and Buenos Aires. The economic life of the agricultural oasis of
+the Rio Negro is no more connected with that of the pastoral tableland
+than is life on the Chubut. Neither sheep nor cattle are fattened on
+the Rio Negro. It is a curious contrast to the spectacle offered by
+the Andean regions of western and north-western Argentina, where for
+generations there has been a close association between the breeding
+industry of the scrub and the fattening on the lucerne-farms. This is
+because the currents of the cattle-trade are not here as permanent and
+stable as they are in the north. The time when the convoys of Pampean
+cattle bound for Chile used the valley of the Rio Negro preceded the
+agricultural colonization of the banks of the river. The conquest
+of Patagonia put an end to this traffic. There was an interval of
+twenty-five years between the period of the export of Pampean cattle
+to Chile and the export of cattle from the Neuquen to Buenos Aires,
+to which I will refer presently. As to sheep-breeding, it did not for
+a long time rear the animals for the meat-market, and it is only a
+few years since it found transport necessary. The farmers of the Rio
+Negro, who have little capital, and who sell and are paid in advance
+for their dry fodder, have not yet been able to take advantage of the
+reorganization of the cattle-trade.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>West of the confluence of the Neuquen and the Limay the railway
+ascends the sandstone tableland, from 1,700 to 3,000 feet high, and
+goes as far as the foot of the first sub-Andean chain, the Zapala
+ranch. The eruptive rocks here have thrown up the sandstone, and the
+profiles raised north and south of Zapala, across the Sierra de la
+Vaca Muerta and the Cerro Lotena, cut through folds of Mesozoic strata
+which have been reduced by erosion to the level of the plateau. One
+already feels the vicinity of the Cordillera. Pasture is plentiful,
+the <span lang="es">mallin</span> is thick, and springs abound. The sheep-area stretches
+westward of Zapala, as far as the Rio Cataluin and the Rio Agrio.
+East of Zapala, on the other hand, the desolate condition of the
+country gets worse and worse. The supplies of water dry up in the
+summer, and the entire zone that lies east of 70&deg; W. long. is
+useless, on account of the lack of permanent water, except as winter
+commonage. Hence, transhumation is here indispensable. It has been
+practised for a long time on the Chilean slope of the Cordillera from
+the latitude of Coquimbo and San Juan to the north of Lake Quillen.
+At present it tends to disappear from the Andes of the Neuquen.<a
+ id="FNanchor_75_75" href="#Footnote_75_75"
+class="fnanchor">75</a> But there is still transhumation on the
+Argentine side. The sheep of the plateau, driven from their winter
+pasture when the water dries up, ascend the Cordillera. Sometimes the
+mountains are not yet free from snow. In that case the journey is
+delayed, and the sheep feed on the way, to the great detriment of the
+land they cross.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There are many routes, and frequently they coincide with those which
+were formerly taken by the cattle of the Pampas in ascending to the
+passes of the Cordillera. Groeber mentions a transhumation track south
+of the Rio Barrancas and Lake Carri Lauquen. From the left bank of the
+Neuquen the flocks ascend by Chosmalal and Butamallin to the pasture
+of the Pichachen pass, or by Las Lajas to the Pino Hachado pass. From
+Zapala and the tableland further south they go to spend the summer
+in the Cataluin Cordillera, where the number of sheep in summer is
+calculated to be 70,000. Others go still further, to the source of the
+Alumine and the Arco pass. The volcano Lanin almost marks the southern
+limit of the zone of transhumation. The chief group of migrating sheep
+comes from the district of the Coyunco, the Ca&ntilde;adon Grande, and
+the Picun Leucu.</p>
+
+<p>Transhumation is practised only by the <span lang="es">intrusos</span>. They go from the
+unowned lands of the tableland to the unowned lands of the Cordillera.
+The renting of winter pasture to owners is quite exceptional. The
+concessions of land granted by the Argentine Government are steadily
+reducing the area of the migrators in the Cordillera, and also the
+ways of communication between the tableland and the mountains. The
+proprietors do not care to receive the migrating flocks, and they
+put obstacles in their way by enclosing the land. The routes of the
+transhumation are now fixed by the spaces which remain open between the
+enclosed ranches. Moreover, the migrating <span lang="es">intrusos</span> are haunted by
+the fear of finding the winter pasture occupied by others during their
+absence, and they
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>
+
+have no proprietary title. The splitting up of the land and the
+organization of ownership will before long lead to the extinction of
+the practice of transhumation, and the greater part of the winter
+pasturage will be turned into permanent pasture by boring wells and
+nursing the water-supply.</p>
+
+<p>The district round the Zapala ranch has become very busy since the
+construction of the railway, which has deeply affected the conditions
+of life there. It has made a sort of capital of Zapala. It is curious
+to contrast the renaissance which has followed upon the appearance of
+the railway in this district with the much less material changes which
+it has made at Maquinchao. The life which the railway concentrates at
+Zapala includes not only the wool trade, as at Maquinchao, but also the
+cattle trade. The herds which are to be exported gather round the ranch
+at the same time as the <span lang="es">tropas</span> of wagons, and a good price is paid
+for the right of pasturage. While the Maquinchao line ends at the port
+of San Antonio, which is merely fitted up for the export of wool, the
+Zapala railway feeds the refrigerator at Bah&iacute;a Blanca. It joins
+up with the network of railways of the Pampa. Sheep arrive at Zapala,
+not only from the surrounding district and from the Neuquen, but from a
+good part of the Rio Negro, and even the Chubut. The convoys of animals
+coming from the south find it best to keep near the Cordillera, where
+the pasturage is better. Only a few of them descend the Limay as far
+as Senillosa. From Zapala to Senillosa there is no suitable road in
+connection with the railway, and further east it is necessary to go as
+far as Choele Choel to find tracks which lead to it. The exporting of
+the sheep lasts five months, from November to March.</p>
+
+<p>Zapala station is also a point of convergence of herds of cattle.
+There are people at Zapala who still remember the time when the cattle
+brought from the Pampa to go to Chile passed through their valley.
+Although these
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>
+
+exports of Pampean cattle to Chile ceased after 1885, the whole Andean
+region of the Neuquen still lived entirely on the Chilean market until
+very recently. The attraction of the Chilean market is one of the
+reasons for the survival of transhumation. It was to the advantage
+of the Argentine breeders to keep near the Cordillera and the passes
+through which the buyers came from Chile in the summer. The life of the
+small centres in the upper valleys which developed rapidly after the
+conquest (Chosmalal, &Ntilde;orquin, Codihue, Junin, and San Martin)
+was bound up with the Chilean cattle trade, and was reflected on the
+opposite side of the Andes in the prosperity of the corresponding
+markets in Chile.</p>
+
+<p>In the years immediately preceding 1914, a sudden revolution upset
+the cattle traffic on the Neuquen, and the attraction of Buenos Aires
+took the place of that of the Chilean market. The commercial influence
+of Buenos Aires was first felt in the wool-market. The <span lang="es">tropas</span> of
+wagons which brought wool to Zapala loaded up, in exchange, with the
+flour and salt that were needed for sheep-breeding in the pastures
+of the Cordillera (<span lang="es">pastos dulces</span>). The import trade followed the
+path traced by the export trade. The small Chilean wagons which still
+cross the Cordillera now only bring to the Neuquen the coarse flour of
+Chile, haricot beans, and wine. They return empty to Chile. After the
+wool-buyers, the cattle-merchants of Buenos Aires next found their way
+to the Cordillera. The centres where the sales of cattle for Chile used
+to be held are now in decay, and have lost part of their population.
+The cattle are sent to the fattening centres on the Pampa, or to the
+Bah&iacute;a Blanca and Buenos Aires markets. Thus we have under
+our eyes, unexpectedly, in the north of Patagonia a transformation
+that occurred gradually half a century ago in all the western and
+north-western parts of Argentina. In its many forms it is the essential
+fact in the modern history of Argentine
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>
+
+colonization. The more distant provinces are detached in succession
+from foreign markets, and the whole national life is being organized
+round the great economic focus which the region of the Pampas has
+become.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a><br />
+THE PLAIN OF THE PAMPAS</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">
+   <p>The limits of the prairie&mdash;The rains&mdash;The wind
+   and the formation of the clay of the Pampas&mdash;The
+   wind and the contour&mdash;The zones of colonization
+   on the Pampas&mdash;Hunting wild cattle and primitive
+   breeding&mdash;The sheep-farms&mdash;The ranches&mdash;The
+   region of "colonies"&mdash;The region of lucerne,
+   maize, and wheat&mdash;The combination of agriculture
+   and breeding&mdash;The economic mechanism of
+   colonization&mdash;The exchanges between the different zones
+   of the Pampas.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Pampean landscape is doubtless one of the most uniform in the
+world. Its monotony is tiring to the eye; it is partly responsible for
+the mediocrity of most of the descriptions of the Pampas. But this
+uniformity is an advantage for the purpose of colonization. Attention
+has often been drawn to the rapidity with which plants and animals
+introduced by Europeans spread in the Buenos Aires district, and,
+pushing ahead of the breeders and farmers, colonized the Pampas. In the
+second half of the nineteenth century, when the whole extent of the
+plain beyond the ancient Indian frontier was occupied, the development
+of it was so much easier because it was possible to use simpler and
+more uniform methods of exploitation. It needed neither large capital
+nor long personal experience on the part of the immigrant. Basques
+and Italians who had only just landed could take an active part in
+it almost without apprenticeship. The primitive groups of population
+could advance from one zone of the plain to another and take with them
+their own methods of farming and breeding, their own form of rural
+economy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A close study will, however, enable us to detect appreciable
+physical differences in the Pampean plain. Neither climate nor soil is
+the same all over it.</p>
+
+<p>The name "Pampa" chiefly means a vegetal growth, a prairie. Its
+limits are the frontier of the scrub (<span lang="es">monte</span>),
+and strange as it may seem, it is still difficult to trace them
+exactly. North of Santa F&eacute;, between the Salado and the
+Paran&aacute;, the Pampa stretches as far as Fives-Lille, a little
+beyond 30&deg; S. lat.<a id="FNanchor_76_76" href="#Footnote_76_76"
+class="fnanchor">76</a> On the Central Norte and the Central Argentine
+lines the fringe of the <span lang="es">monte</span> reaches to Fuertin
+Inca and Malbran, about 170 miles north-west of Santa F&eacute;. It
+then turns south-east and south, passing round the entire depression
+of Los Porongos and Mar Chiquita; and the line from Santa F&eacute; to
+C&oacute;rdoba crosses it at Francia and approaches the Rio Secundo.
+South of the Rio Secundo it goes westward and joins the foot of the
+Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba south of the Rio Tercero (at the stream
+Tequia). From this point to La Cambre, some sixteen miles east of
+San Luis, the prairie extends as far as the edge of the sierras, and
+penetrates into the southern half of the Conlara depression, between
+the hills of C&oacute;rdoba and of San Luis (Pampa de Naschel). The
+mimosa forest enters the steppe in narrow belts along the Rio Quinto
+to within a few leagues below Villa Mercedes, along the Rio Tercero
+as far as the confluence of the Saladillo, and along the Salado to
+the south of Santa F&eacute;. There are, in addition, many isolated
+clumps of <span lang="es">cha&ntilde;ares</span> and more extensive
+patches of wood in the north-west corner of the prairie (Santa
+F&eacute; province). The <span lang="es">monte</span> along the Salado
+is continued south of Santa F&eacute; along the Paran&aacute;, as
+far as the point where the chief arm of the river reaches the cliffs
+on the right bank, at San Lorenzo. This is the domain of the <span
+lang="es">ombu</span>, a tree with thick trunk and naked roots which is
+found scattered over the prairie in the Paran&aacute; region as far as
+south of Buenos Aires.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the west, between San Luis and the mouth of the Colorado, the
+transition from the Pampa to the <span lang="es">monte</span> is gradual. Just as at Santa
+F&eacute;, the approach of the <span lang="es">monte</span> is announced by the appearance
+of <span lang="es">cha&ntilde;ares</span>, in the south-west corner of the C&oacute;rdoba
+province and on the southern slope of the Sierra de la Ventana. The
+<span lang="es">monte</span>, properly so called, though impoverished, invaded by the
+<span lang="es">jarilla</span>, and mainly composed (as in northern Patagonia) of dwarf
+mimosas, covers the area of the Pampean sierras on the left bank of
+the Chadi Leuvu and the Colorado. Between this area and a line passing
+through Rancul, Anguil, Atreuco, and Bernasconi, where the naked
+prairie begins, there is a mixed zone which one may call the <span lang="es">calden</span>
+zone. This mimosa, a near relative of the <span lang="es">algarroba</span>, which has a
+wider range than the other plants of the <span lang="es">monte</span> in this latitude,
+forms woods at intervals in the south of the San Luis province and
+on the flanks of the parallel valleys of the central Pampa. Between
+these woods the tableland is generally covered by the prairie, with
+occasional patches of <span lang="es">cha&ntilde;ares</span>. About twenty-five miles east
+of Buena Esperanza the line from San Rafael touches the far corner of a
+forest of <span lang="es">caldenes</span>, which stretches south-westward, and reaches the
+Rio Salado about 35&deg; 30&prime; S. lat. Beyond Buena Esperanza it keeps
+on the prairie as far as the crossing of the Salado, which here marks
+the limit of the <span lang="es">monte</span>. The Rio Negro line passes directly from the
+prairie to the Patagonian scrub mid-way between Bah&iacute;a Blanca and
+the Colorado.</p>
+
+<p>Within these limits the prairie extends without a break. The sierras
+of the Buenos Aires province have no arborescent vegetation.</p>
+
+<p>The zone of the prairie, intermediate between tropical Argentina and
+the sub-desert regions of western
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>
+
+Patagonia, has a medium rainfall. It decreases gradually from
+north-east to south-west. There is a rainfall of 1,200 to 1,000
+millimetres on the lower Paran&aacute;, and only 400 to 600 millimetres
+on the western edge of the Pampa. The zone which lies between the 800
+millimetres and 600 millimetres average is more than 270 miles in
+breadth. But what is most characteristic of the climate of the Pampa is
+the equal distribution of the rain throughout the year, and the absence
+of a real dry season. In this the Pampa differs from the surrounding
+regions, both in the south-west and the north. At Buenos Aires the
+six months of the (relatively) dry season yield, nevertheless, 44
+per cent. of the total rainfall, and at Bah&iacute;a Blanca 40 per
+cent. This regularity diminishes in proportion as one approaches the
+coast. At Rosario the six months of the dry season only yield 30 per
+cent. of the year's rain; at Villa Mercedes (San Luis province) 25
+per cent. When one goes beyond the limits of the prairies the ratio
+of rain in the dry season decreases rapidly; it is only 20 per cent.
+at C&oacute;rdoba and 18 per cent. at San Luis. At C&oacute;rdoba,
+the curve of the rainfall indicates a typical tropical regime, with a
+summer maximum and a very low minimum in winter. Passing south-eastward
+from C&oacute;rdoba, at Bellville, Villa Maria and especially Rosario,
+the dryness of the winter diminishes, and at the same time a secondary
+minimum appears in the middle of summer (January-February). At Buenos
+Aires, the form of the curve changes completely. The summer minimum
+is almost as low as the winter minimum, and most of the rainfall is
+in the spring (September) and the beginning of the autumn (March).<a
+ id="FNanchor_77_77" href="#Footnote_77_77"
+class="fnanchor">77</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>These various shades of the Pampean climate are of essential
+importance in the history of colonization and the spread of
+cultivation. The belt of summer rain is the belt of maize-growing,
+whereas the cultivation of wheat requires spring rain and a
+comparatively dry summer.</p>
+
+<p>While the isohyetic curves, which represent the precipitation for
+the whole year, are orientated from north-west to south-east, the
+curves of rainfall during the cold season, from April to September
+(dry season in the north), cut diagonally across the preceding, and
+are oriented directly north and south. Bah&iacute;a Blanca receives
+in winter as much rain as Rosario, and General Acha (in the district
+of the central Pampa) as much as C&oacute;rdoba. Unless one attends
+to this, one cannot explain the extension of wheat-growing, in the
+south-west, as far as the 400 millimetre curve, and even beyond it on
+the Atlantic coast.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The relief of the Pampean plain is known fairly accurately, thanks
+to the observations made along the railways. The ground rises slowly
+toward the west. The 100-metre curve describes a deep gulf some 300
+miles west-south-west of Buenos Aires. The belt comprised between 100
+and 150 metres above sea-level is more than sixty miles broad in the
+latitude of Santa F&eacute;, and 130 miles in the latitude of Buenos
+Aires. Beyond the 150-metre curve the land rises rapidly toward the
+west and north-west, and reaches 400 metres in the C&oacute;rdoba
+district and 500 in the Villa Mercedes district. It is at the altitude
+of 150 metres, and the break in the inclination which this marks, that
+the Rio Quinto is lost, near Amarga, south of General Lavalle.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The ridge between the Pampa and the basin of the Salado in the south
+of the San Luis province is about 450 metres above sea-level. South of
+the province of Buenos Aires the Sierras de Tandil and de la Ventana
+are joined together by a ridge which does not fall below 200 metres.
+Certain irregularities of the surface, such as the depression of Mar
+Chiquita to the east of C&oacute;rdoba, the thrust of the plateau on
+the right bank of the Paran&aacute;, south of Villa Constituci&oacute;n
+and San Nicolas, can, apparently, only be explained by recent tectonic
+movements.</p>
+
+<p>The Pampean deposits which cover the plain rest upon a rocky
+base of which the salient representatives are the sierras of
+the province of Buenos Aires and the hills at C&oacute;rdoba
+and San Luis. This base also appears east of the Pampean basin
+in the granite island of Martin Garcia, in the middle of the
+estuary of the Plata, and in the hills on the coast of Uruguay.<a
+ id="FNanchor_78_78" href="#Footnote_78_78"
+class="fnanchor">78</a></p>
+
+<p>Underneath the even sheet of the alluvial deposits the surface
+of the sub-Pampean platform is very irregular. Its shape has
+been discovered by deep borings in search of arterial waters. It
+has been warped and cut up by faults, some of these deformations
+being probably synchronous with the formation of the Pampean
+deposits which have concealed them as they have been produced. A
+subterranean rocky ridge continues the Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba
+southward and joins it with the sierras of the Colorado. The granite
+emerges at Chamaico, on the western railway, and on both sides
+the borings have passed through great depths of clay and sand.<a
+ id="FNanchor_79_79" href="#Footnote_79_79"
+class="fnanchor">79</a> This ridge isolates the eastern Pampa from
+the sub-Andean chains, and marks the limit of the area with sheets of
+underground water. In the north of the Pampean region, between the
+Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba and the Paran&aacute;, the loose continental
+formations are more than 2,000 feet thick at Bellville, and more than
+3,500 feet north-west of Santa F&eacute; (fodder farms of San Cristobal
+and El Tostado). At Buenos Aires the granite has been found 985 feet
+below the surface.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Pampean_Plain" href="images/illus-199a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-199a.jpg" alt="The Pampean Plain" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. TRES ARROYES (BUENOS AIRES
+      PRAIRIE BETWEEN THE SIERRA DE TANDIL AND THE SIERRA DE LA VENTANA).</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Zone of wheat and oats on large scale. The
+      Pampa is a tableland here (400 feet above sea-level), with
+      clay overlying the limestone of the Tosca. The valleys are
+      well marked.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-199a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a id="Toay_on_the_Central_Pampa" href="images/illus-199b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-199b.jpg" alt="The Pampean Plain" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. TOAY, ON THE CENTRAL PAMPA (590 FEET).</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">The tableland, with a strong framework of limestone
+      Tosca, is cut across by well-marked dry valleys which sink
+      lower toward the east. At the edges of the valleys the sand
+      is the prey of the winds. Here we are near the limit of the
+      wheat belt.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XV.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-199b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Pampean formation consists almost entirely of loose
+deposits, sand and clays of various sorts. There is no gravel.<a
+ id="FNanchor_80_80" href="#Footnote_80_80"
+class="fnanchor">80</a> Even in the vicinity of the sierras the beds
+of gravel, with round or angular pebbles, are almost always covered
+by clay, and are exposed only in the banks of the streams. Olascoaga
+mentions the surprise of the <span lang="es">gauchos</span> of General Roca's army when they
+found Patagonian pebbles on the ground during their stay at Choele
+Choel on the Colorado, in the course of the <del>compaign </del><ins>campaign </ins>on the Rio Negro.
+Officers and soldiers dismounted to pick them up. Sand and clay form a
+thick bed of continental alluvia. The Tertiary maritime transgressions,
+which have left their mark in the clays and limestones of the left bank
+of the lower Paran&aacute;, and the layers of shells at San Pedro on
+the right bank, never penetrated far into the interior of the Pampean
+region, and one finds no trace of them when one leaves the coast or the
+river.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The source of the elements which compose the Pampean alluvia is
+very uncertain. Their composition does not clearly show their origin.
+The clays are comparatively rich in calcareous matter, which seems to
+indicate that they do not come from tropical America or the upper basin
+of the Paran&aacute;. Wright and Fenner insist upon the high proportion
+of siliceous glass of volcanic origin which they contain, which points
+to an intense eruptive activity during or before their formation.<a
+ id="FNanchor_81_81" href="#Footnote_81_81"
+class="fnanchor">81</a> Doering had already noticed in the
+C&oacute;rdoba region the prevalence of beds of volcanic ash, which
+become thicker as one approaches the sierra. It is certain that the
+Pampean sierras have had their share in the formation of the Pampean
+beds. But the main mass is probably of Andean origin. However that may
+be, as soon as one gets away from the fringe of the mountains, the only
+variety noticeable in the lands of the Pampa is that which they owe to
+the conditions in which they have been deposited.</p>
+
+<p>River deposits strictly so called, estuary deposits,
+lagoon deposits, &aelig;olian deposits, &aelig;olian deposits
+redistributed by water, river deposits redistributed by
+wind&mdash;all these different types are represented in the Pampean
+formation, but their relative importance is still disputed.<a
+ id="FNanchor_82_82" href="#Footnote_82_82"
+class="fnanchor">82</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When we confine ourselves to studying the actual conditions in which
+the deposits were formed, we are first struck by the poverty of the
+hydrographic network of the Pampa. It is slight except in the vicinity
+of the sierras, where the slope of the ground is pronounced, and in
+the eastern area, on the right bank of the Paran&aacute; and Entre
+Rios, where the climate is more humid, and the streams flowing over an
+impermeable soil more numerous. The only one of the streams born in the
+Pampean sierras that reaches the Paran&aacute; is the Rio Tercero or
+Carcara&ntilde;a. All the others dwindle as they descend, and disappear
+in a low-lying district marked by lagoons which they only reach in time
+of flood. The floods themselves never bring the Rio Cuarto and the Rio
+Quinto and the Salado de Buenos Aires into touch with each other. The
+waters of the northern slope of the Sierra de Tandil, and even those of
+the Sierra de Curumalal, on the other hand, reach the Salado after the
+rains, either by way of streams which drain the strings of lagoons, or
+by flood-sheets, which spread over large areas.</p>
+
+<p>The watercourses of the plain are unstable in their direction.
+The traces of their wanderings remain in the form of stretches of
+alluvial sand crossing the fine &aelig;olian clays. These river sands
+sometimes spread over extensive areas, the distribution depending upon
+a hydrographic scheme which is now partially effaced. The sands of the
+departments of General Lopez (south of the Santa F&eacute; province)
+and General Arenales (Buenos Aires province), where the Salado is now
+developed, were probably brought by the Rio Cuarto, and mark an earlier
+junction of the Cuarto and the Salado. These sands run along the Salado
+as far as the confluence of the Saladillo, and the contrast between the
+light soil and the clay of the bank of the Paran&aacute; is so
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>
+
+striking that the sand has long been regarded as a marine deposit,
+indicating an ancient shore. Along the Saladillo also, north-west of
+the Guamini lagoons, there is a sandy belt which corresponds with an
+important direction taken by the actual flow of the river, crossing the
+Bolivar and Veinte Cinco de Mayo departments.</p>
+
+<p>While the agency of running water in transporting alluvia is
+confined to certain sections of the plain, the action of the wind
+is seen over its entire surface. The wind everywhere supplements or
+replaces running water. Like running water, it classifies the elements
+it conveys, and selects them according to their weight and size, the
+finest clays being deposited in the moist eastern zone and the coarsest
+sands in the sub-desert zone of the west. The mechanism of erosion
+explains this contrast. The grains of sand that are driven by the wind
+travel at the surface of the ground as long as the vegetation is too
+sparse to fix them. If one goes further east, to a moister district
+with a thicker vegetal carpet, the grains of sand no longer move at
+the surface of the ground, but the wind still carries fine particles
+of clay, which it bears to a great height. The bed of clay does not
+at all imply an arid climate, as is said sometimes, but corresponds
+to the region of the steppes, with moderate rainfall. It is, however,
+during dry seasons that the deposition of clay is at its greatest.
+Darwin mentions that after the droughts of 1827-1830 in the area round
+the Paran&aacute;, the marks were buried under dust to such an extent
+that one could no longer recognize the limits of the various lands.
+Apart, however, from these sorts of floods or storms of dust caused by
+the <span lang="es">pampero</span>, the summer atmosphere is clearly laden with dust, which
+colours the skies in the east of the Buenos Aires province, as far as
+Entre Rios.</p>
+
+<p>The contour of the plain bears, like the soil, the double marks of
+erosion by running water and &aelig;olian erosion. The rivers of the
+Pampa, when they leave the sierras,
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>
+
+flow between high cliffs, the height diminishing as one goes downward.
+Presently these <span lang="es">barrancas</span> become low, approach each other, and at
+last merely mark the banks of a larger bed which the floods fill. There
+is no trace of valleys. Bailey Willis, surprised at this weakness of
+watercourses that have, nevertheless, an appreciable fall, attributes
+it to the fact that the cycle of erosion opened by the last upheaval
+of the Pampa has not yet had time to penetrate into the interior. In
+reality, it means that here we are at the limit of the zone of erosion
+by running water, and that in this climate the essential factor in
+shaping the landscape is the wind.</p>
+
+<p>The region of the right bank of the Paran&aacute; (east of the
+Salado), which alone has a complete hydrographic network, must be
+considered apart. From the latitude of Rosario to that of Buenos Aires
+it is cut by flat-bottomed valleys which are sometimes a hundred feet
+deep. The excavation of these valleys is due to an upheaval which
+raised this part of the Pampa above the base-level. The rapids of
+the lower Carcara&ntilde;a also bear witness to this resumption of
+excavation. Farther on an inverse movement has put the bottom of the
+valleys below this level, and led to their being filled up (lagoon
+deposits of the Lujanense of Ameghino). South of Buenos Aires the
+upheaval has been less important, and the valleys are not so deep.
+Some of them (middle Salado and its tributaries on the left bank) are
+now occupied by long lagoons with steep banks, branching along the
+side-valleys, and these owe their origin to the same negative movement,
+subsequent to the excavation of the valleys. The upheaval did not
+extend to the eastern part of the province of Buenos Aires south of
+the Salado, a low-lying flat area, badly drained, exposed to floods,
+the contour of which has been minutely studied in connection with the
+construction of a great network of drainage-canals. North of Rosario,
+on the only slightly permeable clay, the water circulates, after rain,
+not by means of valleys in the proper sense,
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
+
+but along broad and almost imperceptible depressions (<span lang="es">ca&ntilde;adas</span>)
+where the current is slow, and the water dries up in the dry season.
+Their general relations are not yet known.</p>
+
+<p>The loose deposits of the Pampean offer little resistance to
+erosion. The cycles are run through rapidly, and the traces of earlier
+cycles are faint, and are soon effaced.<a
+id="FNanchor_83_83" href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">83</a></p>
+
+<p>An ancient erosion-surface, dissected by the existing valleys,
+has survived in the south-west of the Pampean plain, thanks to the
+presence on the surface of a sheet of hard limestone, the <span lang="es">tosca</span>.
+The <span lang="es">tosca</span> is the result of the concentration of calcareous elements
+contained in clay at the surface in a dry climate. The formation
+of it implies a prolonged stability of the surface on which it has
+accumulated. Like the deep decomposition-soils in moister regions, it
+indicates a peneplain on which erosion has ceased. The bed of <span lang="es">tosca</span>
+covers the whole district between the Sierra de Tandil and the Sierra
+de la Ventana, the south-western slope of the Ventana, and most of
+the area of the central Pampa. In the north it does not go beyond the
+line from Buenos Aires to San Rafael. Its eastern limit goes almost
+by Ingeniero Malmen, Monte Nievas, and Atreuco, where it joins the
+southern bank of the lagoons of Carhue and Guamini in the east.<a
+ id="FNanchor_84_84" href="#Footnote_84_84"
+class="fnanchor">84</a> In some places the tosca is about forty feet
+thick.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To-day the region of the <span lang="es">tosca</span> forms a plateau cut by narrow
+valleys, sometimes 200 feet deep, west of the Sierra de la Ventana and
+in the central Pampa. These parallel valleys, with few ramifications,
+generally lying south-west to north-east, open to the east upon the
+Pampean plain about the frontier of the Buenos Aires province. On
+the other hand, the southernmost of them begin at the foot of the
+Ventana, and seem to blend in the south-west with a general depression
+that is still little known, though it appears to end at the bottom
+of the estuary of Bah&iacute;a Blanca. None of them has permanent
+running water.<a  id="FNanchor_85_85"
+href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">85</a> The origin of the dry
+valleys of the <span lang="es">tosca</span> is one of the most obscure problems of the
+morphology of the Pampean plain. Perhaps they are due to &aelig;olian
+erosion, like the depressions which are found on the plateau of the
+Colorado and the Rio Negro further south.</p>
+
+<p>The action of the wind in shaping the landscape is more clearly
+seen in the formation of the dunes. When one starts from Buenos Aires
+or Rosario, and gets beyond the region of the level Pampas, the dunes
+are the first feature to meet the eye on the surface of the plain. The
+first fresh dunes are encountered at Carlota, on the line from the Rio
+Cuarto; at Lavalle on the line from Villa Mercedes; and at Trenque
+Lauquen on the line from Toay. The dunes spread northward as far as the
+latitude of Mar Chiquita, but do not enter the Chaco. They are also
+found in parts of the scrub on the west, but their proper domain is the
+western border of the steppe, the upper part of the plain at the foot
+of the Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba, the south of the San Luis province,
+and the central Pampa.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Any accident that causes the vegetal covering to disappear, such as
+the tread of cattle near a drinking place or an enclosure, is enough to
+set &aelig;olian erosion at work. The wind raises the sand in a sort
+of tossing sea. Then the dune assumes a circular shape. A depression
+appears in the centre, and it deepens until it reaches the average
+level of the plain. Frequently there is a little lake in it. From this
+point onward the deformations are less rapid. The vegetation again
+creeps over the ground, and the dune falls a prey to the rains, which
+slowly reduce its mass.</p>
+
+<p>In the central Pampa, where the elevation is considerable, the dunes
+do not form separate circular patches, but stretch in lines parallel to
+the valleys&mdash;sometimes in the heart of the valley, at other times
+backing against one of its slopes.</p>
+
+<p>Far to the east of the zone of the quick dunes, in the south of the
+C&oacute;rdoba province and the centre of the Buenos Aires province,
+there are certain soft undulations, covered with vegetation, with
+a sandier soil than that of the plain around them. These are dead
+dunes. The district of the dead dunes is characterized by the extreme
+irregularity of the surface-soil, the humus, which gains in richness
+and depth, as a general rule, as one goes eastward, because there it is
+in some places covered by recent &aelig;olian deposits.</p>
+
+<p>The distribution of the dead dunes is connected with the stretches
+of river sand across the Pampa, which have offered an easy victim to
+the winds. A line of dead dunes follows the upper course of the Salado
+in the district of Junin and Bragado. On the line from Buenos Aires to
+San Luis one crosses it between Chacabuco and Vedia, and then one comes
+again upon the horizontal plain, which has fresh dunes, only further
+west, at 120 miles from Villa Mercedes. Its elevation is so conspicuous
+on the level plain that the first breeders who used its pasturage gave
+it the emphatic name of the <span lang="es">cerillada</span>. D'Azara correctly appreciated
+the nature of it. "It is," he says, "only a dune of very fine sand."
+It is only a few yards high. The dead dunes of the Bolivar and Veinte
+Cinco de Mayo departments, which Parchappe described, have a more
+conspicuous relief, and in their disposition sometimes
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>
+
+remind us of the fresh circular dunes with a central lagoon. The lines
+of coastal dunes in the eastern part of the Buenos Aires province
+obstruct the proper flow of the water there, and form a group apart,
+which must be clearly distinguished from the dunes on the plain.<a
+ id="FNanchor_86_86" href="#Footnote_86_86"
+class="fnanchor">86</a></p>
+
+<p>Thus the impression of monotony which the Pampa makes in us is
+corrected to some extent by close observation. High and low land
+alternate on it. Parchappe himself had noticed the contrast between
+the area that stretches from Buenos Aires to the Salado, with its soft
+undulations and its well-developed hydrographic network, the horizontal
+plains on the right bank of the Salado, with their irregular dunes, and
+the southern plateau of the <span lang="es">tosca</span> between the Sierra de Tandil and
+the Sierra de la Ventana.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>We may now distinguish the following regions in the Pampa as a
+whole:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>1. The central part of the Santa F&eacute; province forms what is
+called the district of the "colonies": that is to say, the domain
+of the colonies established two generations ago, and the zone in
+which the type of cultivation introduced by them took root. The chief
+crops here are wheat and flax. Hedges of service trees (<span lang="es">paraisos</span>)
+surround the fields. In contrast with the parts of the Pampa which have
+remained naked, the region of the colonies seems a veritable grove. It
+stretches westward beyond the frontier of the C&oacute;rdoba province,
+and it reaches the fringe of the <span lang="es">monte</span> between San Francisco and Mar
+Chiquita. For the north, Miatello gives 30&deg; S. lat. as the normal
+limit of the wheat-growing area; beyond this it suffers both from the
+low rainfall of winter and the excessive rainfall in summer. As a
+matter of fact, the large estates only reach this latitude on the line
+from San Francisco to Ceres. On the Resistencia line, north of Santa
+F&eacute;, they stop at 30&deg; 30&prime; S. lat. In the intervening district
+the limit of the region of the colonies almost coincides with that of
+the department of Castellanos, about 30&deg; 45&prime; S. lat. The area lying
+between this line and the northern edge of the Pampa is given up to
+breeding. In the south the region of the colonies stretches as far as
+Las Bandurias and Irigoyen.</p>
+
+<p>2. South of the region of the colonies, the tableland on the right
+bank of the Paran&aacute;, west of Rosario and San Nicolas, is the
+maize region, the corn belt of Argentina. Flax is generally cultivated
+as well as maize. It is the agricultural country <span lang="es">par excellence</span> of
+Argentina. The soil, of fine clay, dark red in colour and retentive
+of moisture, and the abundant summer rains, are very suitable for
+maize. The limits of the maize region describe an arc of a circle round
+Rosario with a radius of 60 to 100 miles. They do not quite reach the
+frontier of C&oacute;rdoba in the west, and they leave out the entire
+south-western corner of the Santa F&eacute; province. The maize belt
+touches the Paran&aacute; between 32&deg; S. lat. and the Baradero.
+In the north it passes suddenly into the region of the colonies. In
+the south, on the other hand, there is at the edge of the corn belt an
+extensive transition-area, where maize and wheat occupy pretty much the
+same surface; it stretches as far as the Rio Salado de Buenos Aires.</p>
+
+<p>3. The region of the lucerne farms is much larger. It comprises the
+whole north-west corner of the Buenos Aires province, from the Salado,
+in the district of Junin,
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>
+
+to the southern limit of the Nueve de Julio and Pehuajo departments,
+and as far as the latitude of Guamini. The limit of the lucerne farms
+does not include the lands of the central Pampa, but advances westward
+and takes in part of the Pedernera department in the San Luis province.
+The lucerne farms run along the San Rafael line to Batavia, and at this
+point they reach the limits of the colonized zone. In addition, the
+zone of the lucerne farms includes the whole south-eastern part of the
+C&oacute;rdoba province, as high up as the line from Villa Mercedes to
+Villa Maria, and the southern part of the Santa F&eacute; province. In
+the whole of this area, fifteen to twenty-five per cent. of the surface
+is planted with lucerne. The conditions required for its cultivation
+are a moderate depth of the underground water and a light soil that
+allows the roots to penetrate easily. The eastern belt of clays is not
+good for lucerne, which survives there for much less time than in the
+west, where it may live fifteen or twenty years.</p>
+
+<p>The lucerne belt is above all a great breeding area for horned
+cattle, as sheep-pasturage injures the lucerne. It is not nearly so
+monotonous, however, as the preceding regions. In the south-east,
+in the Buenos Aires province, the creation of the lucerne farms was
+undertaken at a time when agricultural colonization had already
+begun. We therefore find two types of exploitation side by side. The
+cultivation of maize enters it in the south-west, in spite of the
+comparatively unfavourable climatic conditions. The centre of the
+lucerne area in the south of the C&oacute;rdoba province is also a
+great agricultural zone; but there agriculture is directly connected
+with the creation of the lucerne estates. It is, in fact, entrusted to
+colonists who till the ground for four or five years, and restore it
+to the owners sown with lucerne at the expiration of their lease. The
+crops consist almost exclusively of wheat and flax. Lastly, in the west
+(San Luis province
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>
+
+and extreme south-west of C&oacute;rdoba province) the soil gets
+increasingly more sandy, and the climate drier. A single tillage
+suffices to destroy the natural vegetation and clear the place
+for lucerne. The lucerne fields have been created by the breeders
+themselves, the sole masters of the region, without the aid of the
+colonists.</p>
+
+<p>4. Beyond the lucerne belt, at the point where the plain rises
+toward the Sierra de San Luis and the Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba, the
+subterranean water sinks deeper. This zone at the foot of the ranges,
+unsuitable for lucerne, yet with a soil comparatively rich in humus,
+has been taken up by agricultural workers. The wheat area extends, in
+the San Luis province, as far as Fraga and Naschel, in the Conlara
+depression. The maize area extends to Oncativo, in the C&oacute;rdoba
+province, between the Tercero and Secundo rivers, where the summer
+rainfall is heavier. Thanks to the nearness of the mountains, this area
+has a water-supply for irrigation, and this sustains several small
+centres of good farms.</p>
+
+<p>5. The south of the Buenos Aires province and the central Pampa are
+the wheat zone. The bed of <span lang="es">tosca</span>, which is not far below the soil,
+does no harm to the wheat except in years of drought. The valleys,
+where the <span lang="es">tosca</span> is interrupted, and the dunes, where the soil is
+deep, are very carefully used for lucerne fields of limited extent.
+Wheat-growing seems now, both in this and the preceding zone, to have
+reached its limit, as the dryness makes it improbable that there will
+be any extension westward.</p>
+
+<p>6. Lastly, the east of the Buenos Aires province, the centre of
+which is fairly indicated by the little town of Dolores, is the only
+part of the Pampean plain which has not been reached by agricultural
+colonization. The land lies low, and is badly drained. The only change
+that has taken place in the vegetation is a progressive improvement due
+to the hoofs of the cattle during their long stays there. This pastoral
+area is
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
+
+clearly limited in the south by the Sierra de Tandil. In the north
+it is continued in the more varied region that lies between Buenos
+Aires and the lower Salado, where the alternation of winter pasture
+on the dry lands and summer pasture in the valleys, encourages the
+best methods of breeding, and has made it the region of the dairy
+industry.</p>
+
+<p>In the Entre Rios province the limit of the large estates of wheat
+and flax is marked by 32&deg; S. lat. The part of Entre Rios which
+extends north of 32&deg; and the Corrientes province do not strictly
+belong to the Pampean region.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Extensive breeding was the first form taken by white colonization on
+the Pampa. The word breeding is, in fact, hardly the correct name for
+an industry that mainly consisted of hunting, and was wholly distinct
+from the patient and advanced methods used at the same time in the
+northern provinces.</p>
+
+<p>"The real wealth of the province of Buenos Aires," says
+Dean Funes, "was, and always will be, the trade in hides" (<span lang="es">la
+pellejer&iacute;a</span>).<a  id="FNanchor_87_87"
+href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">87</a> A good part of
+the hides exported came from the hunting of the wild cattle and
+horses which had grown numerous on the area of the Pampa beyond
+the Rio Salado.<a  id="FNanchor_88_88"
+href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">88</a> It was mainly after
+1778, when trade with Spain had been authorized and there was an
+increased demand for hides, that the hunting of these ownerless beasts
+was taken up. Two thousand Spaniards from Buenos Aires, Santa F&eacute;
+and Mendoza hunted every day, says D'Azara, killing an animal for each
+of their meals in addition to those they killed for hides. From 1775
+to the Revolution, the Spanish Government made continuous efforts to
+regulate and reduce the massacre of the herds. It laid down penalties
+for every person selling hides that did not bear his own mark; it
+farmed out the right to hunt animals with no mark, and organized the
+destruction of wild dogs, etc. The ranches developed under shelter of
+this legislation. Still, the Revolution did not witness the end of this
+cattle-hunting. D'Orbigny took part in 1828 in two hunts of wild horses
+(<span lang="es">baguales</span>) in Entre Rios. The Argentine <span lang="es">gaucho</span> long retained the
+ways of a hunter rather than those of a breeder in the strict sense;
+witness Urquiza's soldiers who, says Demersay, during the campaign of
+1846, when they could not find trees to which they could fasten their
+horses, killed cattle and tied the reins to their horns.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Passing from the hunting country to the zone of ranches, one notices
+that the main work of the breeder is to prevent his cattle from running
+wild. "The ranches of this country," said Dean Funes, "having been set
+up on immense plains, on which it was not easy to confine the herds
+within fixed limits, it sometimes happened that the animals went vast
+distances in search of water or pasture, and ended by being regarded
+as wild and ownerless," When D'Azara wants to show that the ranches
+of Paraguay are superior to those of Buenos Aires, he is content to
+say that there the animals are tamer (<span lang="es">mansos</span>). With the wild animal
+(<span lang="es">alzado</span>) is contrasted the <span lang="es">de rodeo</span> animal: that is to say, the
+cattle which are rounded up periodically in the centre of the ranch to
+be taken to the pasture where they must live (<span lang="es">aquerenciar</span>). It is the
+difficulty of preventing the dispersal of the herd that fixes the price
+of the <span lang="es">rincones</span> (surrounded by inundated areas) of Corrientes, in
+which the animals are captives.</p>
+
+<p>MacKann's description of pastoral life in the Buenos
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>
+
+Aires province in the middle of the nineteenth century give us a very
+clear impression of the stage of transition between exploiting the
+natural increase of a herd that multiplies without man's intervention,
+and breeding in the strict sense. The value of a horse in the former
+case is almost exclusively the cost of breaking it in. The breeder is
+actually anxious when he sees his horses increase, as he fears he
+may not have the resources for breaking them in. The most formidable
+of the dangers that threatened the feeble discipline of the herd
+was drought. That in the year 1827 was a disaster. The animals
+left the ranches in a body to go southward, where they mixed.<a
+ id="FNanchor_89_89" href="#Footnote_89_89"
+class="fnanchor">89</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Revolutions and wars interrupted the work of taming the cattle.
+When Galvez went from the C&oacute;rdoba province to Buenos Aires
+at the end of the Rosas Government, he was struck by the condition
+of the ranches.<a  id="FNanchor_90_90"
+href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">90</a> Many of them had
+been confiscated, or their owners driven into exile. Cattle were
+no longer marked, and they had become wild. The troubles of the
+emancipation-period were much less injurious to the Buenos Aires
+breeders than to those of Entre Rios. The Entre Rios herd was almost
+annihilated during the revolution, and some of the ranchers of the left
+bank crossed to the right bank of the Paran&aacute;. After 1823 the
+pastoral wealth of Entre Rios was rapidly restored, thanks to raids on
+Brazilian territory. They were so profitable that the whole population
+took part in them. In 1827 the inhabitants of Bajada went there in such
+numbers that the town was half deserted. Every day thousands of cattle
+were collected on the bank of the Uruguay, and crossed the river.
+Some of them were even taken beyond the Paran&aacute;, to the Santa
+F&eacute; province. Woodbine Parish confirms this rapid restoration
+of Entre Rios, of which D'Orbigny was a witness. But this period of
+prosperity did not last long. The war with Uruguay, under Rosas, again
+ruined the Entre Rios ranches, and the drought of 1846 helped to
+scatter the remaining herds. Extensive breeding is only lightly rooted
+in the soil. The chief centres of production change their locality, as
+the political circumstances change, from one part of the Pampean plain
+to another.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Rio_Bamba" href="images/illus-217a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-217a.jpg" alt="The Pampean Plain" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. THE RIO BAMBA (IN THE
+      SOUTH OF THE C&Oacute;RDOBA PROVINCE, 500 FEET ABOVE SEA-LEVEL).</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Small circular lagoons. The underground water,
+      which comes from the Sierras to the north-west, here reaches
+      the surface. Zone of lucerne farms.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-217a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a id="Buena_Esperanza" href="images/illus-217b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-217b.jpg" alt="Buena Esperanza" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE PAMPEAN PLAIN.  BUENA ESPERANZA (SAN LUIS
+      PROVINCE, 1,166 FEET ELEVATION).</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">The plain is sown with quick and dead dunes,
+      often shaped in a circle round a lagoon. A dune invaded by
+      vegetation.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XVI.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-217b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Primitive breeding affords few examples of periodical migration
+for the better use of pasturage. In 1822, in the course of a journey
+amongst the Sierras de Tandil and de la Ventana, Colonel Garcia
+noticed that the Indians kept their cattle round the temporary lagoons
+of the plain in the winter, and went up to the mountain-streams in
+summer. Transhumation movements of this kind were difficult for the
+creole ranchers, whose fairly large herds could not be handled easily.
+The Chascomus breeders, however, at the close of the eighteenth
+century, drove their cattle to the low banks of the Salado during
+the dry season.<a  id="FNanchor_91_91"
+href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">91</a> Garcia also notices
+the importance of the Salado pastures for the ranches of Salto,
+Areco, and Lujan.<a  id="FNanchor_92_92"
+href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">92</a> The need to remove
+the herds in the dry season, and to find <span lang="es">invernadas</span> within reach of
+the former ranches, was due to the change brought about in the natural
+vegetation of the Pampa and the spread of the <span lang="es">pasto dulce</span>. The
+annual herbs which compose the <span lang="es">pasto dulce</span> die and disappear after
+fertilization. Until the autumn rain they leave the ground quite naked,
+whereas the tough grasses of the <span lang="es">pasto duro</span> afforded a thin but
+permanent pasture.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The first improvements of the pastoral industry of the Pampa are
+connected with the development of sheep-breeding. Exports of wool
+began about 1840, and made great progress after 1855 (17,000 tons
+in 1860, 65,000 tons in 1870). From 1850 to about 1890 the economic
+returns on sheep-breeding were far better than on cattle-breeding.
+During the whole of this period the multiplication of sheep farms was
+only restricted by the supply of workers. The first shepherds had been
+Basques, in the south of the Buenos Aires province, and Irish, in the
+north. The owner settled them as small farmers in the <span lang="es">puestos</span> on the
+edge of the ranch, the central part of which was devoted to cattle.
+They could thus, while they guarded their sheep, see that the limits of
+the estate were respected, and prevent the cattle from roaming.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Wool was for a long time the only product of the sheep-rearing
+industry. From 1866 onward it was decided to use the hides and tallow
+also. As the material of the grease-works was cheap, they spread all
+over the sheep zone. Many ranches had works of their own. From 1867
+to 1877 the <span lang="es">saladeros</span> that had been built long before for killing
+cattle undertook the slaughter of sheep on a large scale. The number
+of sheep sold to the <span lang="es">saladeros</span> rose to 3,000,000 a year. In 1880 the
+first cargoes of frozen mutton were sent abroad. The creation of the
+grease-works had made no difference to the breeding, but the building
+of the refrigerators brought about a rapid transformation of the flock.
+The Lincoln breed, heavier and more meaty, displaced the fine-wool
+Merinos. This substitution of Lincolns for Merinos is now complete
+throughout the Pampean region.</p>
+
+<p>Until 1880 sheep-rearing was concentrated east of the Salado, north
+and south of Buenos Aires, beginning with a line that passes through
+Quilmes, San Vicente, Pilar, and Campana, which marks the limit of the
+suburban zone. In addition it had spread on the right bank of the lower
+Salado as far as the foot of the Sierra de Tandil, in an area where the
+first stations date from 1823, though the population did not make much
+progress until after 1855. About 1880, after the pacification of the
+Pampa, the sheep-farms began to expand westward. It was then that the
+wool of the <span lang="es">pasto fuerte</span> appeared on the Buenos Aires market. It came
+from the Azal district in 1870, from Olavarria in 1880, from Bolivar in
+1885, and from Villegas in 1890. The Census of 1889 ascribes 51,000,000
+sheep to the province of Buenos Aires; that of 1895 gives much the same
+figure (52,000,000). Detailed comparison of the two enumerations shows
+that the expansive movement to the west continued, and was completed
+during this period. The flocks in the north-west zone of the province
+(Lincoln, Villegas, Trenque, Lauquen) more than doubled; the flocks of
+the south-west area
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
+
+(Alsina, Puan, Bah&iacute;a Blanca, Villarino) continued to grow, and
+increased by a third. Those on the lands of the central Pampa increased
+threefold. On the other hand, in the departments north and south of
+the Sierra de Tandil, where colonization is older, sheep-breeding
+is stationary. The north-east and south-east areas, between the
+Paran&aacute; and the Salado, have diminished: one losing a fifth, and
+the other a half, of its flocks.</p>
+
+<p>From 1895 onward the number of flocks of sheep on the Pampean
+plain decreased rapidly. The number of sheep had sunk from 34,000,000
+in 1908 to 18,000,000 in 1915 for the Buenos Aires province; from
+2,800,000 in 1908 to 2,300,000 in 1914 for the central Pampa. The
+reduction was general, and found in every district; but it was not
+equally great everywhere, and did not begin at the same date in every
+district. Sheep-breeding has almost entirely disappeared from the
+eastern belt, east of the Salado, which was its cradle. South of Buenos
+Aires the sheep are giving place to horned cattle, and they had almost
+disappeared by 1908. North of Buenos Aires they survived long, but
+the reduction of the flocks has only been the more rapid since 1908.
+This corresponds with the advance of maize-growing. In six years the
+Bartolome Mitre and Pergamino departments have lost, respectively,
+four-fifths and five-sixths of their sheep. In the north-west of the
+Buenos Aires province the sheep began to be reduced at the time when
+the lucerne farms were founded, about 1900. The decrease has since
+gone on uninterruptedly. The actual flocks represent one-fourth of
+the flocks of 1895. In the south-west (wheat belt) there was a rapid
+shrinkage before 1908, but it seems to have almost been arrested since
+then, thanks to the combining of sheep-rearing with wheat and oats. The
+actual flocks are about one-half the flocks of 1895. Finally, in the
+area north of the Sierra de Tandil the sheep retreat before the cattle,
+as they do
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
+
+further north, but they are not so completely wiped out as in the
+lucerne belt, and the flocks are still two fifths of the flocks of
+twenty years ago.</p>
+
+<p>In the province of Entre Rios and south of Corrientes the number
+of sheep continued to rise until 1908, but the increase is only in
+the northern departments, outside the agricultural belt. The southern
+departments, which are large growers of wheat and flax, lost one-third
+of their flocks between 1895 and 1908.</p>
+
+<p>Cattle-breeding was restricted for a long time by the difficulty
+of disposing of its products. The hides alone found ready buyers. The
+making and export of salt beef dates from the eighteenth century, and
+it was to help this industry that the expeditions to the salt-beds of
+the Pampa and the journeys of salters to the Patagonian coast were
+organized. From 1792 to 1796 no less than 39,000 quintals of jerked
+beef were sent from the Rio de la Plata to Havana. But the market for
+salt meat (<span lang="es">tasajo</span>) was always limited. It consisted only of the
+Antilles and Brazil, and the <span lang="es">saladeros</span> never fully exploited the
+meat-producing capacity of the Argentine herds. The crisis of the
+<span lang="es">saladeros</span> occurred before the time when the refrigerators began to
+compete with them. By 1889 there were only three left in the province
+of Buenos Aires.</p>
+
+<p>Although the price of cattle was not very remunerative, and provided
+no incentive to improve the breeding; although the <span lang="es">saladero</span> was not
+at all exorbitant, merely asking for animals in good condition, the
+improvement of the herd by introducing selected pedigree-breeders had
+begun about the middle of the nineteenth century. The Basque dairies
+established in the district near Buenos Aires sold pedigree-calves
+to the ranches, and these were used for breeding purposes.<a
+ id="FNanchor_93_93" href="#Footnote_93_93"
+class="fnanchor">93</a> About 1880 the advance of sheep-breeding
+pressed the cattle-ranches back and disputed the space with them
+more and more, within the ancient Indian frontier. The smallness of
+the market for cattle and their slight mercantile value were very
+favourable circumstances for the occupation of the new lands, thrown
+open at this date by the submission of the Indians. The herds which
+found no buyers were sent to the <span lang="es">campos de afuera</span>. The ranches
+developed very rapidly. Daireaux has very accurately described this
+period of pastoral colonization, and the starting of convoys that
+were intended to give a population to the west of the Pampa. Cattle
+were there several years before sheep. As a matter of fact, breeders
+do not regard cattle as having a value of their own. They are merely
+auxiliaries that must improve the pasture and prepare the ground for
+sheep. The cattle themselves are preceded by troops of half-wild
+horses which first take possession of the virgin field and begin the
+transformation of it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The number of cattle increases rapidly. In 1875 it was
+estimated that there were 5,000,000 head of cattle in the province
+of Buenos Aires. In 1889 there were 8,500,000. Since that date
+the variations have been comparatively slight. The Census of
+1895 gives 7,700,000; that of 1908 gives 10,300,000; that of
+1914 gives 9,000,000; and that of 1915 gives 11,300,000.<a
+ id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94"
+class="fnanchor">94</a> But the value of the cattle has gone up
+rapidly. The exports of live meat, which lasted from 1889 to 1900, were
+the beginning of the rise. It was strengthened when the refrigerators
+ceased to confine themselves to killing sheep and began to buy cattle.
+The exports of chilled or frozen beef increased after 1898. The value
+of them rose to 10,000,000 gold piastres in 1904, double that in 1909,
+and more than quadruple in 1914.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The difference between the price paid by the refrigerators for
+pedigree-cattle and the price of animals of creole blood, which the
+local market takes, hurries up the transformation of the herd. In
+order to watch reproduction and nurse the pasture, the ranches put
+up wire-fences. But the breeding methods are especially modified by
+the introduction of lucerne. It spread in the south of C&oacute;rdoba
+and west of the Buenos Aires province from 1895 onward, and from 1905
+onward in part of the San Luis province. There were already small
+lucerne farms in the Buenos Aires province. A description that was
+written at the end of the eighteenth century speaks of lucerne farms
+round the town which were reserved for feeding draught cattle.<a
+ id="FNanchor_95_95" href="#Footnote_95_95"
+class="fnanchor">95</a> But the area from which the cultivation
+of lucerne started at the close of the nineteenth century is the
+district of the C&oacute;rdoba province that is crossed by the line
+from Rosario to C&oacute;rdoba, completed about 1870 to Bellville
+and Villa Marina. The lucerne farms there were not created by the
+breeders, and the lucerne was at first intended for export to Rosario
+and Buenos Aires in the form of dry fodder. The trade in dry fodder
+has remained good there. The 1908 Census gives 128 square kilometres
+of lucerne for cutting in the Tercero Abajo department (Villa Maria)
+and 267 square kilometres in the Union department (Bellville).<a
+ id="FNanchor_96_96" href="#Footnote_96_96"
+class="fnanchor">96</a></p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Cattle-breeding_Areas" href="images/illus-225.png" type="image/png">
+      <img src="images/illus-225.png" alt="map" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">MAP III.&mdash;THE CATTLE-BREEDING AREAS.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">The density of the herd is slight in the
+      maize belt. It is considerable in the centre and east of the
+      Pampean region, which supply the refrigerators with pedigree
+      stock of good weight. The density is considerable also in the
+      north of Mesopotamia, but the cattle there are less valuable
+      and are taken by the <em>saladeros</em> of the Uruguay. The presence
+      of the tick, which inoculates cattle with Texas fever, is the
+      chief obstacle to the improvement of the herd in the north of
+      Argentina.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-225.png" type="image/png">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The lucerne spread southward and south-westward from this point; and
+the improvement of the herds kept pace with it. I have shown elsewhere
+how this improvement was checked north of a line along the course of
+the Paran&aacute;, the northern frontier of the Constituci&oacute;n and
+General Lopez departments, in the province of Santa F&eacute; and on
+the Rio Cuarto, and in the C&oacute;rdoba province, by the presence of
+the <span lang="es">garrapate</span>, which inoculates the cattle with a dreaded disease,
+Texas fever. The creole cattle are immunized against the <span lang="es">garrapate</span>,
+but pedigree cattle quickly succumb to it. In order to protect the
+southern zone, where the <span lang="es">garrapate</span> does not reproduce, the Argentine
+Government imposes severe restrictions on the transport of cattle
+from north to south; the cattle have to have disinfectant baths at
+the frontier-stations. This cuts pastoral Argentina in two. While the
+Durham cattle of the south are intended for the refrigerators, the
+creole cattle of the north still supply the <span lang="es">saladeros</span>, which have
+disappeared from Buenos Aires, but survive on the Uruguay. Yet the
+advantages of crossing with European breeds are such that the northern
+breeders, in spite of the risk and the expense, have not given up all
+hope of accomplishing it. The transformation of the herd, however, is
+bound to be very slow. Pedigree breeders are brought from the south and
+kept in the stable. Their progeny, born on the spot, resist Texas fever
+better and can be put out to pasture. There has been more progress in
+the contaminated zone on the right bank of the Paran&aacute; than in
+Entre Rios and Corrientes. Pedigree animals have been introduced at
+Santa F&eacute;, not only in the region of the colonies, but further
+north, in the extreme northern corner of the Pampa (San Cristobal
+department), colonized by ranchers from the north of Buenos Aires and
+the south of Santa F&eacute;, who were ousted by the progress of maize.
+They have brought with them to the new lands the cultivation of lucerne
+and the methods they followed on their former property. At Corrientes,
+on the other hand, breeding is an historic industry. The staff of the
+ranches is indigenous. The pastoral traditions are unchanged.</p>
+
+<p>When we study the variations in the numbers of cattle in different
+parts of the Pampa, by comparing
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>
+
+the results of recent Censuses we find that the number has risen
+rapidly since 1895 in the whole of the eastern area, north of the
+Sierra de Tandil. The increase is particularly conspicuous north of
+the Rio Salado, in the dairy district. (Mean density in 1915, 40 to 60
+horned cattle per square kilometre.) In the south-west region (wheat
+belt) the density has always been low (12 per square kilometre), and
+it shows no tendency to increase. In the north and western region of
+Buenos Aires (lucerne belt) there has been a rapid increase, especially
+between 1895 and 1908 (creation of the lucerne farms), and it has not
+been interrupted since (density 50 to the square kilometre). There
+is the same increase in the whole area of the lucerne farms in the
+C&oacute;rdoba, Santa F&eacute;, and San Luis provinces, where the
+herds doubled between 1895 and 1908. Only two regions have suffered a
+reduction: the agricultural area of the centre (Chacabuco, Chivilcoy),
+where there has been a decrease since 1895, and the maize district
+(north of Buenos Aires), where cattle-rearing did not diminish until
+after 1908.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Agriculture had begun to develop by the end of the eighteenth
+century in the district round Buenos Aires. D'Azara admits the enormous
+preponderance of breeding, but mentions that the right bank of the
+Paran&aacute; exported flour to the left bank, which was exclusively
+pastoral. Barrero also observes that between the belt of orchards
+and lucerne fields, about a league in width, which surrounded Buenos
+Aires, and the area of the ranches, which did not begin for six or
+eight leagues, there was an agricultural belt, the district of the
+<span lang="es">chacras de pan llevar</span>. The main crop was wheat, and the tillage was
+chiefly done in the rich soils at the bottom of the valleys, which are
+called <span lang="es">ca&ntilde;adas</span> in the local dialect (ca&ntilde;ada de Moron,
+ca&ntilde;ada de Rio Lujan, etc.).</p>
+
+<p>It was, however, not at Buenos Aires, but in the Santa F&eacute;
+province, that modern agricultural colonization
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>
+
+began in the nineteenth century. It goes back to the foundation (in
+1854) of the colony of Esperanza, west of Santa F&eacute;, from
+which it was separated by the strip of forest which follows the
+course of the Salado. European immigrants&mdash;Swiss, French, and
+Piedmontese&mdash;had settled there. The early years of colonization
+at Santa F&eacute; were difficult, and the colonies did not begin to
+develop rapidly until after 1870. About that date we can distinguish
+three nuclei of agricultural colonization at Santa F&eacute;. The
+first group of colonies was settled in the north, on the bank of the
+Paran&aacute;. In the centre the Esperanza group advanced steadily
+westward. A third group of colonies lay along the Central Argentine
+railway from Rosario to C&oacute;rdoba.</p>
+
+<p>The Esperanza colonists had at first grown maize, but the
+prosperity of the colonies was mainly due to wheat. Zeballos, who
+visited the colonies in 1882, describes them as a vast lake of wheat.
+Wheat predominates, not only in the department of Las Colonias,
+west of Santa F&eacute;, where it survives in full strength, but
+further north, at Garay, whence it has since been displaced by flax
+and earth-nuts, and in the south, round Rosario, in the belt which
+is now given up to maize. It is for the wheat that the mills of
+Carcara&ntilde;a and the granaries of Rosario have been built. The
+land sown with wheat at Santa F&eacute; rose in 1882 to 102,000
+hectares out of a total of 127,000 hectares of cultivated land.<a
+ id="FNanchor_97_97" href="#Footnote_97_97"
+class="fnanchor">97</a> By 1889 the area of wheat was quadrupled. It
+spread like a drop of oil, reaching Raf&auml;ela and Castellanos on
+the west. In 1895 the advance was still more rapid. Wheat-growing has
+crossed the C&oacute;rdoba frontier, and spread round San Francisco and
+east of Mar Chiquita (departments of San Justo and Marcos Juarez). The
+agricultural regions in the centre of the Santa F&eacute; province
+and those of the Central Argentine have met, and the wheat has invaded
+the whole of the San Martin department. It extends even south of the
+old colonies of the Central Argentine toward the south-west of Santa
+F&eacute;, in the General Lopez department.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The 1908 Census shows a very different state of things. The density
+of the wheat-cultivation has continued to grow appreciably in the whole
+of the northern region, and also in the south-west of the province, at
+some distance from the Paran&aacute; (General Lopez department). On the
+other hand, it has been reduced in the adjoining district of Rosario
+(departments of Iriondo, Belgrana, Caseros, and Constituci&oacute;n),
+where maize-growing has developed. Maize has won part of the wheat
+belt.</p>
+
+<table summary="crop areas" class="table1">
+   <thead>
+      <tr>
+         <th rowspan="2">Departments.<a  id="FNanchor_98_98"
+             href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">98</a></th>
+         <th colspan="3">Wheat Area (in kilometres).</th>
+         <th colspan="3">Maize Area (in kilometers).</th>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <th class="bl">1889</th>
+         <th>1895</th>
+         <th>1908</th>
+         <th>1889</th>
+         <th>1895</th>
+         <th>1908</th>
+      </tr>
+   </thead>
+   <tbody>
+      <tr>
+         <td>Las Colonias</td>
+         <td rowspan="2">} 1,623 {</td>
+         <td>1,307</td>
+         <td>1,621</td>
+         <td rowspan="2">} 82 {</td>
+         <td>24</td>
+         <td>31</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>Castillanos</td>
+         <td>1,845</td>
+         <td>3,425</td>
+         <td>4</td>
+         <td>7</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>S. Jeronimo</td>
+         <td rowspan="2">} 664 {</td>
+         <td>854</td>
+         <td>849</td>
+         <td rowspan="2">} 65 {</td>
+         <td>15</td>
+         <td>264</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>S. Martin</td>
+         <td>964</td>
+         <td>1,884</td>
+         <td>22</td>
+         <td>35</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td><em>Iriondo</em></td>
+         <td rowspan="2">} 971 {</td>
+         <td>929</td>
+         <td>442</td>
+         <td rowspan="2">} 65 {</td>
+         <td>81</td>
+         <td>641</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td><em>Belgrano</em></td>
+         <td>1,137</td>
+         <td>638</td>
+         <td>37</td>
+         <td>296</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td><em>S. Lorenzo</em></td>
+         <td rowspan="2">} 652 {</td>
+         <td>387</td>
+         <td>1,390</td>
+         <td rowspan="2">} 178 {</td>
+         <td>150</td>
+         <td>1,169</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td><em>Caseros</em></td>
+         <td>1,139</td>
+         <td>468</td>
+         <td>83</td>
+         <td>970</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>Gal. Lopez</td>
+         <td rowspan="2">} 12 {</td>
+         <td> 888</td>
+         <td> 1,370</td>
+         <td rowspan="2">} 51 {</td>
+         <td>373</td>
+         <td>1,558</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td><em>Constituci&oacute;n</em></td>
+         <td>227</td>
+         <td>165</td>
+         <td>575</td>
+         <td>736</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>S. Justo</td>
+         <td rowspan="2">} 12 {</td>
+         <td>732</td>
+         <td>2,345</td>
+         <td rowspan="2">} 48 {</td>
+         <td>7</td>
+         <td>34</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>M. Juarez</td>
+         <td>1,504</td>
+         <td>1,442</td>
+         <td>53</td>
+         <td>92</td>
+      </tr>
+   </tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>Restricted in the south by the extension of the maize belt, the
+region of the colonies has now a very distinctive character amongst
+the agricultural areas of the Pampa.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This originality is not so much in virtue of its crops (hard wheat
+and flax) as on account of the age of colonization and the division of
+property. Most of the colonists are owners, and estates of 50 to 200
+hectares are the rule. The houses are comfortable; they are surrounded
+by orchards and kitchen-gardens. Moreover, the rural economy has been
+complicated, and it has assumed a familiar aspect for the European
+observer, owing to the introduction of cattle-rearing on a small scale
+by the farmers. The number of horned cattle doubled between 1908 and
+1914 in the Castellanos department, and increased by a third in Las
+Colonias. The area of lucerne has extended in proportion. The farms
+have been multiplied on the low lands (<span lang="es">ca&ntilde;adas</span>), unsuitable
+for wheat, which the older colonists had disdained; but they are
+now regarded as the best bits of land. The recent rise in the value
+of land in the region of the colonies is connected, not with an
+increase of agricultural production, but a development of breeding. A
+few co-operative <del>diary </del><ins>dairy </ins>societies have been established. In general,
+however, breeding is solely for the meat-market. The cattle-trade
+goes on very different lines from those of the large estates and
+ranches. It has remained in the hands of small dealers (Jews of
+Mo&iuml;sesville).</p>
+
+<p>Agricultural colonization in the Buenos Aires province was at first
+entirely independent of the Santa F&eacute; colonization. The crops
+of the adjoining region of Buenos Aires never disappeared altogether.
+In the period to which Daireaux's description of the economic life of
+the Pampa refers (1880-89), the farmers disputed with the breeders a
+belt some ten leagues broad round the capital. But sheep-breeding left
+no place for agriculture in the next belt, which enclosed the first
+on every side, and extended almost as far as the Salado. Agricultural
+colonization had found free land only beyond the sheep-farm area, 170
+miles west of Buenos Aires, round Chivilcoy, Chacabuco, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>
+
+Bragado. As early as 1872 the Chivilcoy district produced 130,000
+hectolitres of wheat; or nearly half the total production of the Buenos
+Aires province. In 1889 it formed a comparatively dense agricultural
+patch, the cultivated area being devoted half to wheat and half to
+maize.</p>
+
+<table summary="crop area">
+   <tr><td></td><th colspan="2">Wheat.</th><th colspan="2">Maize.</th></tr>
+   <tr><td>Chivilcoy</td><td>307</td><td>kms.</td><td>399</td><td>kms.</td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Chacabuco</td><td>155</td><td>"&nbsp;</td><td>164</td><td>"&nbsp;</td></tr>
+   <tr><td>Bragado</td><td>147</td><td>"&nbsp;</td><td>261</td><td>"&nbsp;</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>At that date the whole west and south of the Buenos Aires
+province was exclusively pastoral. There were only two isolated
+nuclei of agricultural colonization. The first was round Olavarria,
+on the old Indian frontier, where Russo-German colonies had been
+established in 1878. The second was in the Suarez department,
+at the extreme north of the Sierra de la Ventana, where a group
+of French colonists settled five years later, at Pig&uuml;e.<a
+ id="FNanchor_99_99" href="#Footnote_99_99"
+class="fnanchor">99</a> The opening of the line from Buenos Aires
+to Bah&iacute;a Blanca ought, one would think, to have prepared the
+way for agricultural colonization in this section. However, the 1895
+Census shows a check to these first attempts at tillage in the south.
+It fell by one half at Suarez, and by three-fourths at Olavarria. The
+Pig&uuml;e colonists have succeeded in keeping to their lands, but
+those of Olavarria have abandoned them, and most of them have emigrated
+to the Entre Rios province.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Buena_Esperanza2" href="images/illus-233a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-233a.jpg" alt="The Pampean Plain" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. BUENA ESPERANZA (SAN LUIS PROVINCE).</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">The first <em>cha&ntilde;ares</em>.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-233a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a id="Junin" href="images/illus-233b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-233b.jpg" alt="Junin" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. JUNIN (150 MILES WEST OF BUENOS
+      AIRES, 330 FEET ELEVATION).</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">The clays. A line of dead dunes crosses the
+      Junin district, following the course of the Salado. They are
+      indicated by light, sandy soil, very different from the clays
+      of the north of Buenos Aires province.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by the Author.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XVII.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-233b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, colonization has kept the land won in the
+district of the middle Salado, and it extends in a sporadic way toward
+the south-west and west. (Nueve de Julio, 252 square kilometres of
+wheat and 400 of maize: Veinte Cinco de Mayo, 84 square kilometres
+of wheat and 218 of maize: Junin, 197 square kilometres of wheat
+and 204 of maize in 1895). It has been maintained ever since, with
+slow progress, but without being ousted by breeding. This is one of
+the regions of the Pampa where the most different types of rural
+exploitation are mingled together. Agricultural colonization has
+been carried on both by small proprietors and farmers or tenants.
+Wheat and maize seem to be permanently associated, and the climate
+is equally good for both; the maize crop being the better if the
+summer is wet, and the wheat crop when the summer is dry. The two
+cereals follow each other on the same land, in rotation, the wheat
+being helped by the constant weeding and clearing which the maize
+requires. The colonists use oxen in the work, and fatten them
+afterwards.<a  id="FNanchor_100_100"
+href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">100</a></p>
+
+<p>Agricultural colonization in the lucerne region dates
+from 1895 to 1905:</p>
+
+<table summary="wheat and flax areas" class="table1">
+   <thead>
+      <tr>
+         <th rowspan="2"></th>
+         <th colspan="2">Wheat Area (in kilometres).</th>
+         <th colspan="2">Flax Area (in kilometres).</th>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <th class="bl">1895</th>
+         <th>1908</th>
+         <th>1895</th>
+         <th>1908</th>
+      </tr>
+   </thead>
+   <tbody>
+      <tr><td>Buenos Aires:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Lincoln</td><td>152</td><td>819</td><td></td><td>100</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Pehuajo</td><td>106</td><td>727</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
+      <tr><td>&emsp;Guamini</td><td>20</td><td>528</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
+      <tr><td>&emsp;Trenque Lauquen</td><td>100</td><td>1,439</td><td></td><td>59</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>&emsp;Villegas</td><td>4</td><td>812</td><td>1</td><td>84</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>&emsp;Pinto</td><td></td><td>469</td><td></td><td>60</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>C&oacute;rdoba:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr>
+      <tr><td>&emsp;Gal. Roca</td><td></td><td>1,009</td><td></td><td>89</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>&emsp;Rio Quarto</td><td>5</td><td>1,156</td><td></td><td>172</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>&emsp;Juarez Celman</td><td>144</td><td>1,679</td><td></td><td>183</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>&emsp;Union</td><td>373</td><td>2,548</td><td>12</td><td>316</td></tr>
+   </tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I have shown how this was bound up with the development of the
+lucerne farms themselves. The extreme west of the lucerne belt
+(Pedernera department and San Luis) is the only place where the
+cultivated area was reduced. The contracts by which the ranchers
+entrust their lands to the colonists, on condition of returning
+them sown with lucerne, were gradually modified as the stream of
+colonization developed. The land was at first left to the colonist rent
+free, the rancher being paid by the creation of the lucerne fields. But
+in proportion to the increasing volume of the stream of immigrants,
+and the keener competition of the colonists, the rancher asked better
+terms. There are similar contracts in regard to the restoration of
+lucerne fields which have been worn out by pasturage, so that the land
+has to be ploughed up periodically. The men who clear the land in the
+lucerne belt have mostly been recruited in the district of the old
+colonies of Santa F&eacute;, where the new generation had begun to feel
+the pinch. The crops which they raise during the four or five years of
+their lease are chosen without any idea of sparing lands which they are
+not to keep. Wheat succeeds wheat, and the first and last crop is often
+flax. The proportion of flax is lower only in the southern part of the
+lucerne belt. In the Buenos Aires province the colonist grows lucerne
+on his own account, either to sell as dry fodder or for breeding or
+fattening.</p>
+
+<p>Colonization does not in these parts correspond with the division
+of property. Not only does the farmer not become the owner of the soil,
+but he does not live on it permanently; he is a veritable nomad. His
+house has a temporary look that strikes one at the first glance. The
+area cultivated is almost stable, if the region is considered as a
+whole. But cultivation passes periodically from one section to another,
+and its removals cause sudden alterations or crises in the railway
+traffic and the development of the urban centres.</p>
+
+<p>The lucerne belt has been peopled by Santafecinos, and it has in
+turn sent colonists to the western agricultural
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>
+
+belt at the foot of the Sierras de San Luis and de C&oacute;rdoba.
+They have less suitable climatological conditions, but they have the
+advantage of greater stability, as the breeders do not dispute the land
+with them.</p>
+
+<p>While agricultural colonization has been an aid to pastoral
+colonization in the north-west of Buenos Aires, it tends to displace
+breeding, or restrict its sphere, in the north-east and the south.
+Maize-growing started on the banks of the Paran&aacute;, where it was
+already paramount in 1889, between Campana (north of Buenos Aires) and
+San Nicolas. In 1895 it advanced up the Paran&aacute; as far as the
+Santa F&eacute; province (Constituci&oacute;n) and spread over the
+interior for some sixty miles in the Salto department. In the next few
+years it made rapid progress toward the west and north-west, covering
+the departments of Pergamino, Rojas, and Colon, and part of General
+Lopez, San Lorenzo, and Constituci&oacute;n in the province of Santa
+F&eacute;.</p>
+
+<table class="table1" summary="maize and flax areas">
+   <thead>
+      <tr>
+         <th rowspan="2"></th>
+         <th colspan="3">Maize Area.</th>
+         <th colspan="3">Flax Area.</th>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <th class="bl">1889</th>
+         <th>1895</th>
+         <th>1908</th>
+         <th>1889</th>
+         <th>1895</th>
+         <th>1908</th>
+      </tr>
+   </thead>
+   <tbody>
+      <tr>
+         <td>Campana</td>
+         <td>67</td>
+         <td>45</td>
+         <td>22</td>
+         <td>15</td>
+         <td>31</td>
+         <td>17</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>Baradero</td>
+         <td>339</td>
+         <td>260</td>
+         <td>291</td>
+         <td>26</td>
+         <td>78</td>
+         <td>173</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>S. Pedro</td>
+         <td>398</td>
+         <td>353</td>
+         <td>420</td>
+         <td>5</td>
+         <td>73</td>
+         <td>235</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>Arrecifes</td>
+         <td>124</td>
+         <td>126</td>
+         <td>155</td>
+         <td>15</td>
+         <td>50</td>
+         <td>265</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>Salto</td>
+         <td>16</td>
+         <td>326</td>
+         <td>236</td>
+         <td>13</td>
+         <td>3</td>
+         <td>75</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>Gal. Lopez</td>
+         <td rowspan="2">} 51 {</td>
+         <td>373</td>
+         <td>1,538</td>
+         <td></td>
+         <td>70</td>
+         <td>752</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>Constituci&oacute;n</td>
+         <td>575</td>
+         <td>736</td>
+         <td></td>
+         <td>270</td>
+         <td>404</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>Pergamino</td>
+         <td>168</td>
+         <td>160</td>
+         <td>340</td>
+         <td>50</td>
+         <td>30</td>
+         <td>275</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>Rojas</td>
+         <td>86</td>
+         <td>81</td>
+         <td>247</td>
+         <td>4</td>
+         <td>23</td>
+         <td>275</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>Colon</td>
+         <td></td>
+         <td>44</td>
+         <td>126</td>
+         <td></td>
+         <td>14</td>
+         <td>78</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>S. Lorenzo</td>
+         <td>178</td>
+         <td>150</td>
+         <td>1,169</td>
+         <td>11</td>
+         <td>36</td>
+         <td>450</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>Caseros</td>
+         <td></td>
+         <td>83</td>
+         <td>990</td>
+         <td></td>
+         <td>13</td>
+         <td>319</td>
+      </tr>
+   </tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>Export of Argentine maize on a large scale began in 1895.
+Flax-growing was not added to maize until 1900.</p>
+
+<p>The heavy land requires a good deal of harrowing,
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
+
+and the weeding and harvesting of the maize give employment to a
+comparatively large staff. The estates are of moderate size, often only
+50 hectares. Ownership was not divided at the period of colonization,
+the land, thanks to the breeders, having already acquired so high a
+value that the colonists could not buy it. On the lands which have been
+farmed out there has developed a rural, and often far from docile,
+proletariat. It is in the maize region that the worst agricultural
+strikes have taken place. The struggles of the owners and the colonists
+are the more prolonged because the sowing of the maize can be put back
+to the end of the spring without much harm being done. The adjoining
+zone of the Paran&aacute; produced some of the <span lang="es">maiseros</span> who have
+scattered over the north-west. But the modern colonies include,
+in addition, a large proportion of immigrants who have recently
+landed from Italy and Spain. The maize growers do not mix with the
+wheat-growers. Each group has its own area.</p>
+
+<p>The increase of wheat-growing in the south dates only from 1898:</p>
+
+<table summary="wheat area" class="table1">
+   <thead>
+      <tr><th rowspan="2"></th><th colspan="2">Wheat Area (in kilometres).</th></tr>
+      <tr><th class="bl">1895</th><th>1908</th></tr>
+   </thead>
+   <tbody>
+      <tr><td>Alsina</td><td>45</td><td>1,296</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Puan</td><td>52</td><td>1,321</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Suarez</td><td>104</td><td>978</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>La Madrid</td><td>75</td><td>249</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Pringles</td><td>13</td><td>724</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Darrego</td><td></td><td>885</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Terr. de la Pampa</td><td></td><td>1,731</td></tr>
+   </tbody>
+</table>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Density_of_the_Maize_Crop" href="images/illus-239.png" type="image/png">
+      <img src="images/illus-239.png" alt="Map" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">MAP IV.&mdash;DENSITY OF THE MAIZE CROP.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">As it needs more heat and moisture than wheat, the maize
+      does not go so far to the west and south. It is concentrated
+      for export at the ports of the Rio de la Plata and the
+      Paran&aacute;, especially at Rosario. The Argentine "corn
+      belt," the chief maize area, extends back of Rosario and San
+      Nicolas to beyond Casilda and Pergamino.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-239.png" type="image/png">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Wheat first spread along the line from Buenos Aires to Bah&iacute;a
+Blanca, west of the Sierra de la Ventana, then in the coastal district,
+east of Bah&iacute;a Blanca. These two wheat-areas became connected
+after 1904, when the opening of the direct line from Olavarria to
+Buenos Aires facilitated the development of the intermediate region
+(Pringles-Laprida). From Bah&iacute;a Blanca it spread to the west and
+north-west along the Toay line, and southward as far as Colorado on
+the coast. In the whole area of the Central Pampa it is still possible
+to distinguish two strata of immigrants, of different dates, one
+superimposed upon the other: the sheep-breeders and the farmers. Round
+Toay the contrast between the two elements of the population is even
+more striking, because the first pastoral colonization, which dates
+from 1890, was to a great extent the work of creole <span lang="es">puntanos</span> (from
+the San Luis province). The actual agricultural colonies, on the other
+hand, include recent European immigrants and colonists from other parts
+of the provinces of Buenos Aires and Entre Rios.</p>
+
+<p>The yield of the wheat grows less and less as one goes westward. The
+harvest may be injured either by late frost or drought, or, especially,
+by hot winds which scorch the plants and blight the half-realized hopes
+of the farmers in the weeks just before the harvest. But the relative
+poorness of the return is compensated by the extent of the farms and
+the cheapness of labour. The harvest is often done with machines that
+peel and pack the wheat, and the workers are not compelled, as they are
+at Santa F&eacute;, to wait for the threshing machine. The aridity does
+not permit flax-growing, but oats can be grown, especially between the
+Sierra de la Ventana and the Sierra de Tandil; and it is good to sow
+oats when the land has been impoverished by consecutive crops of wheat.
+Exports of oats through Bah&iacute;a Blanca began in 1906.</p>
+
+<p>The displacement of breeding by farming is less thorough than in
+the maize belt. Oats, sown about the beginning of autumn, serve for
+fodder. The animals are kept in the fields during the winter, and
+the oats are cut and put into the mill, without being threshed, as a
+reserve fodder. Moreover, the wheat
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
+
+farmers have themselves taken to rearing sheep, and the sheep feed in
+the stubble and fallow.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>From this short account of the history of colonization we draw
+certain important conclusions. At the time when agricultural
+colonization began, it was admitted that farming was the best way
+to exploit the soil, and that the Pampa would sooner or later pass
+from the pastoral to the agricultural cycle; or, to use the local
+phraseology, that the "colony" would replace the ranch everywhere. This
+idea was wrong. The only area in which the facts seem to give it any
+support is the corn belt. The general rule is, on the contrary, that
+in its progress colonization develops a mixed type of exploitation,
+combining farming and breeding; either one alternates with the other in
+a sort of periodic rotation, as in the lucerne area, or both proceed
+together, the farmers including breeding amongst their occupations, as
+in the district of the Santa F&eacute; colonies or in the wheat area in
+the south of the Buenos Aires province.</p>
+
+<p>It seems, moreover, that the development of colonization depends not
+only upon physical conditions, but upon factors of a purely economic or
+social character, which the geographer must not overlook. It will be
+enough here to indicate the chief of these.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen the part that has been played in the exploitation of
+the soil by groups of colonists who swarm from one area to another.
+Whether we think of the ranchers of the eastern part of Buenos Aires
+transplanting themselves to C&oacute;rdoba or north of Santa F&eacute;,
+the sheep-breeders moving westward, or the Santa F&eacute; colonists
+settling in the lucerne area, they all take with them their own habits
+and methods of work, and they take time to adjust them to a new
+environment.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Density_of_the_Wheat_Crop" href="images/illus-243.png" type="image/png">
+      <img src="images/illus-243.png" alt="map" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">MAP V.&mdash;DENSITY OF THE WHEAT CROP.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">The wheat belt stretches in a broad
+   section of a circle from Bah&iacute;a Blanca to Santa
+   F&eacute;, which is now reached by maritime vessels. The
+   cultivation of wheat crosses the line of 600 millimetres of
+   rainfall and even the 400-millimetre line, in proportion as
+   one passes from the area of summer rain to that of spring and
+   autumn rain.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-243.png" type="image/png">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The colonist, whether breeder or farmer, is not left to himself.
+Colonization is sustained and directed by speculation in land, and
+is influenced by it. Speculation discounts the work of the colonist,
+and attaches to the land a value which is not based upon the revenue
+it has produced, but upon that which the speculator calculates that
+it may produce in the future. If the speculator is audacious, he does
+not let himself be discouraged by initial bad experiences; it takes
+repeated checks to exhaust his optimism. The colonist, even if his
+farming accounts do not show a profit, may nevertheless gain something
+if the value of his land goes up. The increase of his capital conceals
+from him the smallness of his returns, especially as he can easily get
+advances on the value of his property from the banks, and this enables
+him to draw upon his wealth every year.</p>
+
+<p>Speculation is concerned with new lands on the fringe of the area
+already colonized, where the soil is, as a general rule, already in the
+hands of the exploiters themselves. The speculators, having paid a high
+price for these lands, try to organize the development of them. It is
+partly owing to their influence that colonization continuously enlarges
+its domain, instead of concentrating its labour in the older districts
+where it might sometimes be more productive. In fine, speculation in
+land has a profound influence on the conditions of colonization, making
+it more difficult for the colonist to buy the land he is developing.
+The owner who grants him the use of the land means to keep for himself
+any increment of its value. He rents, but he will not sell.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the history of colonization cannot be separated from the
+traffic in land. The special features of this traffic in the Pampean
+region&mdash;its concentration at Buenos Aires; the creation of a
+land-market resembling a stock market; the practice of selling on the
+instalment plan, which enables small capitalists to enter the market;
+the repeated transfers of pieces of land which the buyers have never
+seen and which they know only from plans&mdash;are one of the most
+original aspects of modern Argentina. They are partly due to a fact of
+a geographical nature&mdash;the
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>
+
+uniformity of the Pampean plain, on which every piece of land is worth
+about as much as the adjoining piece.</p>
+
+<p>Colonization is easy and rapid in proportion as it requires less
+capital and labour. The expansion of breeding in the west between 1880
+and 1890 was facilitated by the low market price of cattle at that
+time. Breeding has the advantage over farming of not needing so large
+a staff, but it requires a larger capital. Of the crops, assuming that
+the conditions of soil and climate are equally favourable, wheat is
+better than maize for colonization, because the preparing of the soil
+and the harvest can be done more speedily, and the same number of hands
+can plant a larger area with wheat than with maize.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The action of the Argentine Government and the provincial
+authorities has been restrained, apart from the earliest period
+of the establishment of the Santa F&eacute; colonies, both as
+regards the securing of immigrants, the distribution of lands,
+and the administration of the colonies.<a
+id="FNanchor_101_101" href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">101</a>
+Colonization has been, on the whole, a private affair. The work
+of organizing colonization has at times been undertaken by the
+proprietors themselves; they leased pieces of land and got a good price
+for them, at the same time increasing the surplus value of the plots
+they kept for themselves by promoting the increase of population.
+Sometimes it was undertaken by Colonization Companies, which bought
+land to divide and sell. More frequently it was undertaken by merchants
+who advanced credit to the colonists they settled, on condition that
+the colonists bought what they needed of the merchants, and entrusted
+them with the sale of their crops. The migration of the Santa F&eacute;
+colonists was partly due to, and sustained by, a corresponding
+migration of merchants who had acquired wealth in the older colonies,
+and who thus got a larger body of customers. The merchant who organizes
+colonization often acts as the intermediary between the owner and
+the colonist, guaranteeing the owner a fixed rent for his land and
+receiving so much per cent. of his harvest from the farmer. This system
+is very widespread in the corn belt, but it is found all over the plain
+of the Pampas. It tends to disappear when the colony is older and
+deeper-rooted, as the colonist gradually earns his independence; he
+buys his lease, his equipment, and his furniture, and controls the sale
+of his own crops. In the districts where he has not become owner, the
+leases are generally variations of two types: farming leases, where the
+colonist has capital enough for working, and renting leases, where the
+capital is provided by the owner or the middleman.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, colonization can make no progress unless it finds markets
+on which it can put its produce. Up to the present western Europe has
+been the chief market for the wool, leather, meat, and cereals of the
+Pampean region; tropical America absorbs part of the output of the
+<span lang="es">saladeros</span>, flour, and dry fodder; and North America has recently
+begun to compete with Europe for wool, leather, and frozen meat. The
+facility with which the products of the Pampa have found their way into
+the world's markets, as is seen in the comparative stability of the
+returns, explains the continuous advance of colonization and the short
+duration of the crises which have disturbed it.</p>
+
+<p>The home market, however, has had an importance in connection with
+colonization that must not be overlooked. When wheat-growing spread at
+Santa F&eacute; the crop was at first devoted to supplying Buenos
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
+
+Aires, and as late as 1883 Zeballos thought that the essential result
+of agricultural colonization was the fact that Chilean flour was beaten
+off the Argentine market. Even to-day the districts on the outskirts of
+the cereal area depend upon the home market. The Villa Mercedes mill
+supplies Mendoza. C&oacute;rdoba and Santa F&eacute; send their flour
+to Tucum&aacute;n. The price of cereals still shows slight fluctuations
+in these parts as compared with prices in Buenos Aires.</p>
+
+<table class="table1" summary="chief products of the pampean region">
+   <caption>
+      Table of Exports of the Chief Products of the Pampean region
+      (in thousands of tons):
+   </caption>
+   <thead>
+      <tr><th></th><th>1901</th><th>1905</th><th>1910</th><th>1913</th><th>1914</th></tr>
+   </thead>
+   <tbody>
+      <tr><td>Wheat</td><td>904</td><td>2,868</td><td>1,883</td><td>2,812</td><td>980</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Maize</td><td>1,112</td><td>2,222</td><td>2,660</td><td>4,806</td><td>3,542</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Flax</td><td>338</td><td>654</td><td>604</td><td>1,016</td><td>841</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Flour</td><td>71</td><td>144</td><td>115</td><td>124</td><td>67</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Wool</td><td>228</td><td>191</td><td>150</td><td>120</td><td>117</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Salted hides</td><td>28</td><td>40</td><td>61</td><td>65</td><td>63</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Dried hides</td><td>26</td><td>24</td><td>29</td><td>21</td><td>14</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Chilled beef</td><td>44</td><td>152</td><td>253</td><td>306</td><td>368</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Chilled mutton</td><td>63</td><td>78</td><td>75</td><td>45</td><td>58</td></tr>
+   </tbody>
+</table>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+   <p>The heading "cereals" appears in the statistics of
+   Argentine exports in 1882. In 1900 the value of the
+   agricultural produce exported is equal to that of the products
+   of breeding. In 1904 it is higher.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Pastoral colonization, again, has not been entirely independent of
+the home market. Martin de Moussy says, it is true, that the area which
+sent the products of breeding to Europe in 1865 extended as far as the
+Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba. But this statement needs correction. The
+hides from the whole of this zone were, in point of fact, sent down to
+the ports on the Rio de la Plata, but live animals were sent to Chile
+from the whole of the north-west of the Pampean region. It was for the
+purpose of selling cattle to Chile that ranches were multiplied about
+1860 in the neighbourhood of Villa Mercedes and lower down, on the Rio
+Quinto. Jegou's
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
+
+description shows that even in 1883 the breeders of the San Luis
+province devoted themselves exclusively to supplying the Chilean
+market.<a  id="FNanchor_102_102"
+href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">102</a> Buyers from Chile
+and the Andean provinces still visit Villa Mercedes, and until a recent
+date they came to Villa Maria, in the province of C&oacute;rdoba. The
+Santa F&eacute; ranches found their customers, until the opening of the
+C&oacute;rdoba line (1870) amongst the <span lang="es">troperos</span>, who bought draught
+oxen for their waggons. The loss of these customers and the crisis that
+followed are one of the reasons why agricultural colonization met with
+so little resistance on the part of the breeders, and was able to take
+root so easily at Santa F&eacute;. In the San Cristobal department
+the breeders who settled there after 1890 found their first market in
+the <span lang="es">obrajes</span> of the neighbouring forest. The opening of the railway
+to Tucum&aacute;n afterwards enabled them to send their cattle to the
+provinces of the north-west. The Buenos Aires buyers were late in this
+remote canton of the Pampean plain. They did not arrive until 1911.</p>
+
+<p>The importance of the Pampean region itself as a market of
+consumption grew in proportion to the increase of its population. The
+extent to which it absorbs the products of breeding and agriculture
+varies a good deal. For some of them it is paramount. Horse-breeding,
+for instance, which is still one of the great industries of the Pampa,
+has never contributed to the export trade. It is the same with regard
+to potatoes, which are concentrated in two strictly limited districts,
+round Rosario and north of the Sierra de Tandil. Only a small part of
+the dry fodder is exported. As regards cereals, a comparison of the
+statistics of production with the statistics of export shows that the
+home consumption is about one-third of the production. It is almost nil
+for flax, and nearly fifty per cent for wheat.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p>
+
+<table class="table1" summary="production an export">
+   <caption>
+      The average of production and export for the years 1912, 1913,
+      and 1914, in thousands of tons, is:
+   </caption>
+   <thead>
+      <tr>
+         <th></th>
+         <th>Wheat.</th>
+         <th>Maize.</th>
+         <th>Flax.</th>
+         <th>Total (including Oats).</th>
+      </tr>
+   </thead>
+   <tbody>
+      <tr><td>Production</td><td>4,241</td><td>6,398</td><td>931</td><td>12,662</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Export</td><td>2,140</td><td>4,227</td><td>790</td><td>8,038</td></tr>
+   </tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>As the chief centres of consumption are the ports themselves, it
+follows that the commercial currents that have to supply them are
+confused with the currents which maintain the exports. The exchanges
+between the various regions of the Pampa are more interesting to the
+geographer. In their tendency to specialize, these regions have ceased
+to be self-contained, and they have to look to adjoining regions. The
+feeding of the mills necessitates the transport of wheat in different
+directions. The chief mills are at Buenos Aires, where they are
+suitably located to work both for the home market and for export; and
+the mills in the interior have some difficulty in competing with them.
+Some of these, however, are still active. They mix hard wheat, bought
+in the district of the Santa F&eacute; colonies, with the soft wheat
+that is grown in the middle and south of Buenos Aires province.</p>
+
+<p>But this inter-regional transport of cereals is a small thing in
+comparison with the transport of cattle. The extension of the lucerne
+farms has developed the fattening industry in many districts, while
+others still confine themselves to breeding in the ordinary sense, and
+they feed the other centres. The most specialized fattening district is
+that of Villa Mercedes and the western part of the lucerne belt, while
+the eastern part of the province of Buenos Aires and Entre Rios are
+still areas of production. The differentiation of the pastoral zones
+can be gathered from a study of the statistics. According to the 1908
+Census, milch
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>
+
+cows represent 53 per cent. of the whole of the cattle in all the
+departments which form the heart of the breeding area east of Buenos
+Aires, and only 45 per cent. in the departments of the north-west
+of Buenos Aires and south of C&oacute;rdoba and in the Pedernera
+department of San Luis, where fattening is common.</p>
+
+<p>According to the 1914 Census oxen are 24 per cent. of the herd in
+the same departments of eastern Buenos Aires; 24 per cent. also in
+Entre Rios; and the proportion rises to 31 per cent. in the lucerne
+area. Dolores department (eastern Buenos Aires) has 64 per cent. milch
+cows and 21 per cent. oxen. Pedernera department (San Luis, in the
+lucerne area) has 49 per cent. cows and 38 per cent. oxen. General
+Roca department (C&oacute;rdoba) has 48 per cent. cows and 34 per
+cent. oxen. Arenales (Buenos Aires) has 39 per cent. cows and 46 per
+cent. oxen.<a  id="FNanchor_103_103"
+href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">103</a></p>
+
+<p>Oxen intended for the refrigerators are bought either on the ranches
+or at Buenos Aires, where beasts in good condition are consigned to
+buyers, but oxen for fattening are bought at fairs which are held
+periodically in the towns of the interior. Another transaction at
+these fairs is the trade in pedigree breeders. The best known of them
+is held at Villa Mercedes (province of San Luis), where 8,000 oxen
+are sold every month. At the Mercedes fairs one may see Durham steers
+from the east of Buenos Aires which are to be fattened and sent back
+to the refrigerators or the slaughter-houses of Buenos Aires. There
+are also creole cattle from the north of the San Luis province and
+Rioja which will later be eaten in Mendoza or in Chile. There is, in
+fact, on the western frontier of the Pampa no line of demarcation
+corresponding to that set up in the north by the limit of the area
+contaminated by the <span lang="es">garrapate</span>, separating the district of creole
+breeding from that of selective breeding. There is free communication
+here between the two zones, and the lucerne fields for fattening at
+Villa Mercedes are used in common by the breeders of the Pampa and
+of the bush.<a  id="FNanchor_104_104"
+href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">104</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p>
+
+<table class="table1" summary="cultivated areas">
+   <caption>
+      Cultivated Areas in the Argentine Republic (in
+      square kilometres, almost exclusively in the Pampean
+      region).
+   </caption>
+   <thead>
+      <tr>
+         <th></th>
+         <th>Wheat.</th>
+         <th>Maize.</th>
+         <th>Oats.</th>
+         <th>Flax.</th>
+         <th>Lucerne.</th>
+      </tr>
+   </thead>
+   <tbody>
+      <tr>
+         <td>1896</td>
+         <td>25,000</td>
+         <td>14,000</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>5,600</td>
+         <td>8,000</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>1900</td>
+         <td>33,000</td>
+         <td>12,000</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>6,000</td>
+         <td>15,000</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>1902</td>
+         <td>36,000</td>
+         <td>18,000</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>15,000</td>
+         <td>17,000</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>1905</td>
+         <td>56,000</td>
+         <td>22,000</td>
+         <td>700</td>
+         <td>10,000</td>
+         <td>29,000</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>1910</td>
+         <td>62,000</td>
+         <td>32,000</td>
+         <td>8,000</td>
+         <td>15,000</td>
+         <td>54,000</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>1912</td>
+         <td>69,000</td>
+         <td>38,000</td>
+         <td>12,000</td>
+         <td>17,000</td>
+         <td>59,000</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>1913</td>
+         <td>65,000</td>
+         <td>41,000</td>
+         <td>11,600</td>
+         <td>17,000</td>
+         <td>66,000</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td>1914</td>
+         <td>62,000</td>
+         <td>42,000</td>
+         <td>11,400</td>
+         <td>17,000</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+      </tr>
+   </tbody>
+</table>
+<table class="table1" summary="exports">
+   <caption>Exports for 1913, 1914, and 1915 at each port.</caption>
+   <thead>
+      <tr>
+         <th></th>
+         <th>Wheat.</th>
+         <th>Maize.</th>
+         <th>Flax.</th>
+         <th>Oats.</th>
+         <th>Totals.</th>
+         <th>Average.</th>
+      </tr>
+   </thead>
+   <tbody>
+      <tr>
+         <td rowspan="3">Rosario</td>
+         <td>782</td>
+         <td>1,757</td>
+         <td>275</td>
+         <td>13</td>
+         <td>2,829</td>
+         <td rowspan="3">2,716</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="bl right">242</td>
+         <td>1,952</td>
+         <td>248</td>
+         <td>1</td>
+         <td>2,445</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="bl right">717</td>
+         <td>1,790</td>
+         <td>366</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>2,875</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr><td colspan="7"></td></tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td rowspan="3">Buenos Aires</td>
+         <td>441</td>
+         <td>1,389</td>
+         <td>246</td>
+         <td>240</td>
+         <td>2,318</td>
+         <td rowspan="3">2,051</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="bl right">297</td>
+         <td>906</td>
+         <td>55</td>
+         <td>78</td>
+         <td>1,537</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="bl right">511</td>
+         <td>1,349</td>
+         <td>342</td>
+         <td>96</td>
+         <td>2,299</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr><td colspan="7"></td></tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td rowspan="3">Bah&iacute;a Blanca</td>
+         <td>927</td>
+         <td>2</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>462</td>
+         <td>1,393</td>
+         <td rowspan="3">1,075</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="bl right">241</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>222</td>
+         <td>463</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="bl right">921</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>442</td>
+         <td>1,364</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr><td colspan="7"></td></tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td rowspan="3">S. Nicolas</td>
+         <td>5</td>
+         <td>910</td>
+         <td>74</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>989</td>
+         <td rowspan="3">651</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="bl right">1</td>
+         <td>430</td>
+         <td>60</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>492</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="bl right">5</td>
+         <td>420</td>
+         <td>48</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>474</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr><td colspan="7"></td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td rowspan="3">La Plata</td>
+         <td>333</td>
+         <td>358</td>
+         <td>14</td>
+         <td>170</td>
+         <td>876</td>
+         <td rowspan="3">459</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="bl right">160</td>
+         <td>51</td>
+         <td>16</td>
+         <td>49</td>
+         <td>278</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="bl right">152</td>
+         <td>45</td>
+         <td>6</td>
+         <td>16</td>
+         <td>222</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr><td colspan="7"></td></tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td rowspan="3">Santa F&eacute;</td>
+         <td>265</td>
+         <td>51</td>
+         <td>158</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>476</td>
+         <td rowspan="3">278</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="bl right">7</td>
+         <td>23</td>
+         <td>128</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>159</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="bl right">114</td>
+         <td>7</td>
+         <td>77</td>
+         <td>&mdash;</td>
+         <td>199</td>
+      </tr>
+   </tbody>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a><br />
+ROADS AND RAILWAYS</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">
+     <p>Roads on the plain&mdash;The salt road&mdash;The "trade
+     route"&mdash;Transport by ox-waggons&mdash;<span lang="es">Arrieros</span> and
+     <span lang="es">Troperos</span>&mdash;Railways and colonization&mdash;The trade
+     in cereals&mdash;Home traffic and the reorganization of the
+     system.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The chapter devoted to primitive breeding and the transport of
+cattle contains a sketch of the network of routes over the Andes. One
+cannot expect to find in the scheme of routes over the Argentine plains
+the stern and obvious influence of natural conditions. The surface of
+these plains is, as a whole, broadly open to traffic. Still, the map of
+the roads bears much evidence of geographical exigencies.</p>
+
+<p>The hills which rise like islands out of the alluvial plain are not
+all incapable of being crossed, and the roads do not always skirt them.
+The road from Buenos Aires to Peru runs north of 30&deg; 40&prime;
+S. lat. on the very axis of the granite peneplain which forms the
+northern part of the Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba. The Dean Funes ridge,
+which begins with an altitude of 2,500 feet between the Sierra Chica
+and these tablelands, has always been used for communication between
+C&oacute;rdoba and the north-western provinces. There the railway has
+taken the place of the primitive track. Another important track crosses
+the Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba in the north of the Pampa de Achala, and
+used to join C&oacute;rdoba with Villa Dolores and the north of the San
+Luis province. The southern part of the Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba and
+the Sierra de San Luis are, on the
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+
+other hand, an insurmountable obstacle, which diverts southward the
+high road to Chile <span lang="es">via</span> Achiras, San Jos&eacute;, del Morro, and San
+Luis.</p>
+
+<p>The sierras of the Buenos Aires province are not so high and
+extensive. They are, moreover, broken into isolated hills with the
+plain passing between them. As early as 1822 Colonel Garcia pointed
+out the importance, in connection with the migrations of the Indian
+tribes, of the passage between the Sierra Amarilla and the Sierra de
+Curaco, that is to say, the Olavarria ridge. It is there that the
+first railway between Buenos Aires and Bah&iacute;a Blanca crosses
+the line of sierras. It then skirts the Sierra de la Ventana, to the
+north, by the Pig&uuml;e ridge, between the mass of Curumalan and the
+Puan hills. The dunes of the western Pampa also are an impediment
+to traffic, not so much because of their height as because of the
+looseness of the ground. The strip between General Acha and Toay
+was very trying for the stage-coaches. Travellers had to cross the
+dunes on foot during the winter season, when the horses were in a bad
+condition.<a  id="FNanchor_105_105"
+href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">105</a></p>
+
+<p>Natural supplies of water increase in number as one gets away from
+the Andean zone toward the east. Still, the chief work, often the only
+work, to be done in making a road is the arrangement of permanent
+supplies of water. Martin de Moussy mentions the digging of wells on
+the new road from C&oacute;rdoba to Rosario, which was opened about
+1860. The <span lang="es">aiguade</span> was generally a <span lang="es">represa</span>, a reservoir, where the
+water accumulated behind a barrier of earth raised across the course
+of an intermittent stream. The upkeep of the <span lang="es">represa</span> is the chief
+duty of the post-master. The edge of the sierras and the opening
+point of the ravines which come down them is a good place for making
+<span lang="es">represas</span>, and the roads frequently keep to these (variant of the
+road from C&oacute;rdoba to Tucum&aacute;n <span lang="la">via</span> Totoral, Dormida, Rio
+Seco and Sumampa, on the eastern edge of the Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba,
+etc.) Long stages with no water supplies, the <span lang="es">traves&iacute;as</span>, are
+not found on the made roads, as a rule, except west of the meridian,
+of C&oacute;rdoba. However, the direct road from Santa F&eacute; to
+Santiago del Estero by the lagoon of Los Porongos, which was used in
+the eighteenth century, seems to have been abandoned afterwards, as
+much on account of the difficulty of supplying water as because it was
+exposed to attack from the Indians.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="An_Ox_Wagon" href="images/illus-255a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-255a.jpg" alt="Ox Wagon" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">AN OX WAGON.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-255a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a id="Mail_Coach" href="images/illus-255b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-255b.jpg" alt="Mail Coach" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE MAIL COACH.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">The horses saddled with the cincha.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XVIII.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-255b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The only difficulty which the caravans encountered on the roads over
+the plain was the crossing of the rivers. They were forded. Fords with
+a muddy bottom on the lower course of the rivers, such as that on the
+Saladillo near the confluence of the Rio Tercero, were more difficult
+for wagons than the fords with sandy bottoms in the upper course, near
+the fringe of the mountains, such as those of the Rio Tercero on the
+C&oacute;rdoba road, or of the Rio Cuarto on the road to Chile. After
+rain, certain parts of the plain are flooded and impassable. That is
+the case in the district to the south of the lower Salado, at the very
+spot where P&egrave;re Cardiel notices the lack of water in the dry
+season (1747). The direct road from Buenos Aires to the sierras was
+at that point exposed, alternately, to drought and flood. The line
+of the Southern railway, which crosses this low district, is still
+cut periodically on both sides of Las Flores by floods. The lack of
+an organized network of streams, the irregularity of the rains, the
+difficulty of ascertaining the inclination, and the flow of the waters
+over a plain which seems to the eye to be perfectly level, have led to
+more than one miscalculation on the part of the railways, which were
+constructed hurriedly, and before the general survey of the Pampa was
+finished. Some lines, on the Pampa or on the Chaco,
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+
+have had to be partially reconstructed, and raised higher, after a
+series of rainy years.<a  id="FNanchor_106_106"
+href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">106</a></p>
+
+<p>The colonization of that part of the plain which actually
+constitutes the province of Buenos Aires was late. It belongs to the
+era of the railways. There is only one historic road crossing this
+area, which remained until the last third of the nineteenth century
+in the hands of the Indian tribes. This is the salt road. We do not
+know exactly when it began to be used. In the eighteenth century, in
+spite of the competition of salt from Cadiz and Patagonia, imported by
+sea, the Pampa salt was the main part of the supply of Buenos Aires.
+The salt road was not abandoned until after 1810. We still have the
+diary of several journeys from Buenos Aires to the salt-pits. They
+were military expeditions. Hundreds of wagons, with a strong escort,
+collected at Lujan and Chivilcoy, and they reached Atreuco, west of the
+Guamini and Carbu&euml; lakes, after a fifteen to twenty-five days'
+march.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The itinerary was fixed in detail. In 1796 D'Azara noticed the
+wells sunk by the salters, north of the Palentelen lagoon (Bragado),
+when they found the lagoon dry. From Palentelen south-westward the
+salt road followed the track used by the Indians of the south-west in
+their expeditions against the ranches of the Buenos Aires frontier.
+Near Lake Epecuen, north of Carbu&euml;, it was joined by another
+track which came from Olavarria, the stages of which were marked by
+the streams that came from the Sierra de Curumalan. The Carbu&euml;
+district, the cross-roads of the tracks, was one of the places where
+the tribes collected. "This place," says the diary of the 1778
+expedition, "is the first point where the hostile Indians meet and
+rest when they leave the Sierra and on returning from their invasions.
+They not only rest there, but have their winter pasture there" (in the
+dry season).<a  id="FNanchor_107_107"
+href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">107</a> Zeballos has
+described the Indian track, the <span lang="es">rustrillada</span>, between Epecuen,
+Atreuco and Traru Lauquen, where the <span lang="es">travesia</span> on the road to
+Chile began.<a  id="FNanchor_108_108"
+href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">108</a> It was not less
+than 1,000 feet in width. At the foot of the dunes there were deep
+parallel grooves made by the feet of the raided cattle, which were
+taken away by the "Chile&ntilde;os."</p>
+
+<p>The two main roads of the colonial period are the roads to Chile
+and Peru. On leaving Buenos Aires there was one road for a distance
+of about 320 miles. The "trade road" passed through Lujan, Areco and
+Sauce, and reached the Carcara&ntilde;a, or Rio Tercero, at Esquina.
+It therefore kept at some distance from the Paran&aacute; (32 to 16
+miles), on the tableland, crossing the valleys which were embedded in
+it and represented so many bad parts. It then ascended the Tercero on
+the right bank as far as the Paso Fereira, at the spot where Villa
+Maria is to-day. At Esquina de Medrano (Villa Maria) the road to Chile
+branched off to the south-east, reached San Luis by following the Rio
+Cuarto, going through Achiras and San Jos&eacute; del Morro, and, after
+a <span lang="es">travesia</span> seventy-eight miles in length, came to the Rio Tunuyan at
+La Paz, and ascended the river to Mendoza.<a
+id="FNanchor_109_109" href="#Footnote_109_109"
+class="fnanchor">109</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>From Esquina de Medrano the Peru road made for C&oacute;rdoba in
+the north-west. From the tablelands which continue the Sierra de
+C&oacute;rdoba northward it descended toward the Rio Dulce, which it
+reached west of Atamisqui, and which it followed as far as Santiago
+del Estero, where it crossed to the north bank. It crossed the Sali in
+the latitude of Tucum&aacute;n, and, passing through Tracas and Metan,
+followed the depression which separates the Andes from the sub-Andean
+chains. From Salta it went north to Jujuy, and passed through the
+Quebrada de Humahuaca to reach the Puna.</p>
+
+<p>The influence of rivers is not much seen in the scheme of the
+primitive roads. There were in the sixteenth century many routes from
+Peru to the Paraguay, across the Chaco, but not a permanent road in the
+strict sense. In the eighteenth century there was a direct road from
+Santa F&eacute; to Tucum&aacute;n, by the north of the Los Porongos
+lagoon and the course of the Rio Dulce. There was another from Santa
+F&eacute; to C&oacute;rdoba. These roads were not exclusively used for
+conveying cattle. The river route which they joined at Santa F&eacute;
+provided them with a certain amount of traffic coming from the higher
+provinces. Paraguayan <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span> reached the Andean regions by
+this road, and in return the boatmen at Santa F&eacute; loaded up
+with the wines and dried fruit of the Andean provinces to take to
+Asunci&ocirc;n.</p>
+
+<p>The question of joining the road on to a river was not of very great
+importance until the time when the Paran&aacute; began to be used for
+Argentine imports and exports, and to maintain the communication of
+the interior provinces with Europe. This question of connection with a
+river controls the history of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>
+
+construction of the railway system. But the great importance of it
+can be seen from the first half of the nineteenth century. D'Orbigny
+had a presentiment of it. Speaking of the future of Santa F&eacute;,
+he says: "When peace is restored, it is certain that the wares of
+C&oacute;rdoba may, instead of going by land from that town to
+Buenos Aires, be sent to Santa F&eacute;, where shipping them to
+the Argentine capital will reduce to one-third the journey by land,
+which is always more costly than going by water." Martin de Moussy,
+foreseeing the making of a road across the Chaco from Tucum&aacute;n
+to the Paran&aacute;, in the latitude of Corrientes, calculates that
+Corrientes may later serve as port for part of the west and north
+of Argentina. At the date of the publication of his book, however,
+it was neither Santa F&eacute; nor Corrientes, but the new town
+Rosario, that began to play the part of interior port, and led to
+the construction of a new system of roads. Traffic between Rosario
+and C&oacute;rdoba at first followed the old road from Buenos Aires
+to Peru, which one struck after leaving Rosario and making a detour
+to the south-west, on the right bank of the Carcara&ntilde;a (at
+Rio Tercero). But this itinerary was presently replaced by a direct
+road to the west-northwest, following the line which the railways
+would adopt.<a  id="FNanchor_110_110"
+href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">110</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the greater part of Argentina transport was by means of wagons
+before railways were constructed. The limit between the area of
+wagon-transport and the area in which goods were conveyed on the backs
+of animals is quite stable. It is still of some significance, in
+spite of the development of the railways; wagons and mules are used
+at each station to collect and distribute goods. The area of farming
+and of selective breeding on the Pampa, the sheep-area in Patagonia,
+and the timber belt on the Chaco, still make use of wagons; and goods
+are carried on the backs of mules in the Andean area. The Peru road
+was, broadly speaking, fit for wagons as far as Salta, but it is rough
+between Tucum&aacute;n and Salta, and wagons that used it generally
+stopped at Salta. In this way wagons avoided the ford of the Sali,
+which was easier for mules. On the plain itself the water-sources were
+often so distant from each other, and the stages so long, that mules
+had to be used instead of wagons. Wagons could easily get to Mendoza by
+the road along which the Tunuyan runs at its driest section, but all
+the convoys from C&oacute;rdoba to San Juan, or Rioja to Catamarca,
+were composed of mules. Hence C&oacute;rdoba was, like Tucum&aacute;n,
+a station for changing on the road from Buenos Aires to the north-west.
+Lastly, while the scrub presented no insuperable obstacle to wagons,
+they could not enter the humid tropical forest, where the soil never
+dries. On the fringe of the Misiones forest, the wagons that came from
+San Tome unloaded at San Javier, and mules took the goods on to the
+<span lang="es">yerbales</span>.</p>
+
+<p>The two areas of different kinds of transport were not sharply
+distinct. The muleteers (<span lang="es">arrieros</span>) sometimes avoided the domain
+of the wagoners, and competed with them as far as the banks of the
+Paran&aacute;. In 1860 (Hutchinson) the muleteers carried about a
+fifth, in weight, of the goods from the interior to Rosario, and they
+got more than a third of the transport from Rosario to the interior.
+They had, however,
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>
+
+to offer to carry goods at two-thirds the price charged by the
+wagoners. It appears that this invasion by the muleteers is connected
+with a transport-crisis in the Andean area, which left a number of the
+San Juan muleteers without work. It did not last. By 1862 mule-back
+transport between Rosario and the interior was almost over.</p>
+
+<p>The wagons of the Argentine plain have often been described by
+travellers. They were heavy vehicles, carrying 150, sometimes 180,
+<span lang="es">arrobes</span> (1,725 to 2,070 kgs.), covered with a leather hood stretched
+on hoops. A long spur decorated with ostrich feathers was balanced
+on a ring fixed in the roof, and was used to guide the front pair of
+oxen. An earthenware pot containing water enough for each stage hung
+between the rear uprights. As a rule, three pair of oxen were yoked to
+it, one pair being in the shafts. At Corrientes it was necessary to
+cross the marshes and <span lang="es">esteros</span>, and a special type of wagon had been
+evolved. It had a sort of horizontal division forming an upper story,
+and the driver sat in this. Everywhere, on the Pampa as well as at
+Corrientes, the wheels were enormous; sometimes, as Darwin says, ten
+feet in diameter. They were, therefore, able to get through the bad
+parts. Mud was, as a matter of fact, the worst enemy of the convoys.
+The soil of the Pampa is clayey and soft in the districts near the
+river. As the road was not limited in width, the wagons turned to the
+right or the left when the ruts became too deep, and the track in time
+covered a broad belt of ground. This, however, could not be done in the
+vicinity of towns, where the traffic was concentrated. Buenos Aires
+came to be surrounded by formidable quagmires that dried up only in the
+summer. The paving of the streets and environs was becoming a problem
+of national importance when the construction of the railway began.</p>
+
+<p>Wagons did not travel singly. The <span lang="es">tropero</span>, or
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>
+
+contractor for transport, organized caravans. In peaceful districts,
+where no military escort was required, the convoys could be split up;
+they consisted, as a rule, of from fifteen to fifty wagons. Besides
+the six oxen yoked to the wagon, there had to be others for relief
+as well as horses for the staff. Usually they allowed ten oxen to
+each wagon; in exceptional cases twenty.<a
+id="FNanchor_111_111" href="#Footnote_111_111"
+class="fnanchor">111</a> The convoy to the salt-lakes in 1778 had
+no less than 12,000 oxen to 600 wagons. There was a driver to each
+wagon, but there had also to be drivers for the starting animals, and
+carpenters to make repairs. The leader of the caravan, the <span lang="es">capataz</span>,
+was generally a master-carpenter. He looked after the interests of the
+<span lang="es">tropero</span>. There were about three men to each wagon. The <span lang="es">carreros</span>
+were an original type, nomadic, and very different in costume and
+character from the <span lang="es">gauchos</span> (breeders) of the plain. At the close of
+the eighteenth century Buenos Aires had more than a thousand wagons
+employed in the traffic to Mendoza and Tucum&aacute;n (Borrero).</p>
+
+<p>The stages were rarely more than four or five leagues of five
+kilometres each (thirteen to sixteen miles). At this rate it took
+a convoy forty to fifty days to go from Buenos Aires to Mendoza,
+thirty days from Rosario to Tucum&aacute;n, three months (with the
+necessary rests) from Buenos Aires to Salta.<a
+id="FNanchor_112_112" href="#Footnote_112_112"
+class="fnanchor">112</a> When water ran short, the journey might
+be greatly prolonged, as the animals could do less work, or not work
+at all if the <span lang="es">aiguades</span> had dried up. The season was a matter for
+consideration. In the Buenos Aires district the winter made the ground
+sodden and traffic difficult. Farther north, winter is the dry season,
+so that pasture was scarce, and it was difficult to feed the <span lang="es">tropas</span>.
+The summer had difficulties of its own. In January and February the
+floods of the Rio Dulce often made it impossible to cross the ford at
+Santiago. The carriers preferred to start from the northern provinces
+about the end of the summer, in April or May. The best season for
+leaving Buenos Aires was the spring, from August to November. In this
+way each <span lang="es">tropa</span> could make the double journey once a year.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There had been attempts to speed up the transport before the
+railways were made. The <span lang="es">galera</span> (diligence), with its swarm of horses
+harnessed with the <span lang="es">cincha</span> (saddle to which the lasso was attached),
+did not carry goods. It did not replace the convoy of wagons, but the
+<span lang="es">tropilla</span> of spare horses which travellers on the plain drove before
+them. The <span lang="es"><del>galeria</del><ins>galera</ins></span> went from Rosario to C&oacute;rdoba in three
+days and to Mendoza in ten days, and from C&oacute;rdoba to Salta in
+fourteen days. About 1860 a quicker goods service was organized, light
+wagons drawn by mules replacing the ox-wagons. They made the journey
+from Rosario to C&oacute;rdoba in six days. Similarly, on the Pampa,
+the ox-wagons had been replaced before 1889 by quicker wagons, drawn by
+horses, to convey wool from the ranches to the railway stations.</p>
+
+<p>The cost of transport by wagon was, naturally, high. It also varied
+a good deal, but we cannot possibly go into these variations here.
+It will be enough to give, by way of illustration, the details which
+Hutchinson gives for the year 1862. The freightage was fixed either for
+a complete load of 150 <span lang="es">arrobes</span> (1,725 kgs.) or so much per <span lang="es">arrobe</span>
+(11&frac12; kgs.). Conveying a load from Rosario to C&oacute;rdoba cost
+forty to fifty piastres (eight to ten pounds). The
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>
+
+cost of carrying an <span lang="es">arrobe</span> from Rosario to Mendoza was five to six
+<span lang="es">reales</span> (about two shillings to two-and-six); from Rosario to Tucuman
+nine <span lang="es">reales</span> (three shillings and fourpence); from Rosario to Salta
+eighteen <span lang="es">reales</span> (seven shillings and sixpence). The tropas were,
+therefore, quickly ousted by the railways. In a few places they made a
+very unequal fight against the railways. The <cite>Memoria del departemento
+de Ingenieros de la Nacion</cite> of 1876, quoted by Rebuelto, mentions the
+competition of the <span lang="es">tropas</span> with the Andino railway, opened from Villa
+Maria to the Rio Cuarto in 1873 and to Villa Mercedes in 1875. The
+merchants of San Juan and Mendoza continued to use them. The railway
+had to sign a contract with the <span lang="es">troperos</span> by which wagons were to
+bring goods as far as Villa Mercedes, where they could be entrained.
+The total freight was fifty Bolivian <span lang="es">centavos</span> (about two shillings)
+per <span lang="es">arrobe</span> from Mendoza to Rosario, and sixty <span lang="es">centavos</span> from San
+Juan. Of this the share of the railway was fifteen <span lang="es">centavos</span>.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The first Argentine railway was opened in 1859, between Buenos Aires
+and Maron, a distance of about thirteen miles.</p>
+
+<p>In 1870 the Argentine railways formed two independent systems. The
+first radiated fan-wise from Buenos Aires (Western line, open as far
+as Chivilcoy in 1870, and Southern line, open as far as Chascomus
+in 1865). Farther north a line (the Central Argentine) started from
+Rosario, and reached Bellville in 1866 and C&oacute;rdoba in 1870.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Threshing_on_the_Pampa" href="images/illus-267a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-267a.jpg" alt="Threshing" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THRESHING ON THE PAMPA.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-267a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a id="Sacks_of_Wheat" href="images/illus-267b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-267b.jpg" alt="Sacks of Wheat" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">SACKS OF WHEAT READY FOR LOADING ON THE RAILWAY.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">There are elevators only in a few of the ports.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XIX.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-267b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The political isolation of Buenos Aires between 1852 and 1862,
+during the time when the first concessions were issued, made upon
+the railway system an impression that would not be effaced until
+twenty-five years afterwards. It was not until 1886 that Rosario
+was connected by rail with Buenos Aires. The line to Mendoza and
+Chile, begun in 1870 (F. C. Andino), joins the line from Rosario to
+C&oacute;rdoba. It reached Mendoza at the foot of the Andes before
+going on to Buenos Aires; and it was in 1888 that the Pacific railway
+was completed between Buenos Aires and Villa Mercedes, and established
+direct communications between the capital and the province of Cuyo.</p>
+
+<p>The line from Rosario to C&oacute;rdoba is, therefore, the chief
+branch round which the Argentine system developed. It is remarkable
+that at the time of the original concession in 1855 a westward
+extension was contemplated, and that there was some idea of making it
+a stage in a trans-Andean. The first concessionaire, Wheelwright, had
+made the oldest railway in South America, from Caldera to Copiapo, in
+Chile in 1851. The 1855 concession authorized Wheelwright to extend the
+C&oacute;rdoba line westward and link it with the Copiapo line. When he
+opened the C&oacute;rdoba station in 1870, Wheelwright, not suffering
+himself to be discouraged at the slowness with which the line had
+crossed the Pampa, still said that the goal was the Pacific, by way of
+Rioja, Copacabana and the San Francisco pass. This ambitious programme
+deserves to be recalled, if only as a reminiscence of the former
+orientation of the trade of Rioja and Tinogasta toward the Pacific,
+and as a proof of the importance, in the imagination of the men of
+that generation, of the old trans-Andean roads from north-western
+Argentina.</p>
+
+<p>Even before the Rosario line had reached C&oacute;rdoba, it had
+been continued northward as far as Tucum&aacute;n. The work was
+pushed vigorously, and Tucum&aacute;n was reached in 1875. The
+C&oacute;rdoba-Tucum&aacute;n line was the first to be constructed
+entirely in the region of the scrub, and <span lang="es">quebracho</span> sleepers were
+then used for the first time. The earliest lines of the Buenos Aires
+province and the Argentine had, on the model of the Indian railways,
+a gauge of 5 feet 8 inches, but the Central C&oacute;rdoba, from
+C&oacute;rdoba to Tucum&aacute;n, had a
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>
+
+narrow gauge of forty inches. Hence goods coming from Tucum&aacute;n
+had to be transferred at C&oacute;rdoba. At the same time (1875) the
+line from Concordia to Monte Caseros was opened, and this made it
+possible to avoid the rapids of the Uruguay, which was to be a source
+of supply to the whole Mesopotamian system. Its gauge was fifty-seven
+inches. Differences of gauge are, and will continue to be, one of the
+characteristics of the Argentine system.</p>
+
+<p>During the period from 1875 to 1890 were constructed the main lines
+which took the place of the old roads from province to province. The
+Andean railway reached San Luis in 1882 and Mendoza and San Juan in
+1885. Branches of the Central C&oacute;rdoba reached Santiago del
+Estero in 1884 and Catamarca in 1889. In 1891 the Central Argentine
+opened a new direct broad-gauge line from Rosario to Tucum&aacute;n;
+and almost at the same time the narrow-gauge line of the Central Norte,
+from Santa F&eacute; to Tucum&aacute;n, was finished further north. The
+Tucum&aacute;n line was continued northward to the foot of the Andes as
+far as Salta. In the province of Buenos Aires the Bah&iacute;a Blanca
+line was opened in 1884. Since 1900 the railways have pushed on to
+the frontiers and are linked in various directions with those of the
+adjoining countries. The Cumbre tunnel on the Mendoza trans-Andean was
+completed in 1910, and traffic with Chile by rail is now permanent.
+The Salta line was continued in 1908 to the Bolivian tableland. In
+Mesopotamia, in fine, the north-eastern line reached Posadas in 1911
+and effected a junction with the Paraguay line.</p>
+
+<p>These details, however, give a very imperfect idea of the history of
+the development of the Argentine railway system. It has not merely been
+superimposed upon the old roads, but has, on the other hand, helped
+to open up and develop new lands, which could not have been colonized
+without it. As early as 1883
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
+
+Valiento Noailles, examining the general plan of the system, noticed
+the profound difference between the railways of Argentine and those
+of Europe. "In Europe," he said, "the railways are constructed to
+serve existing centres of production and consumption.... Our Argentine
+railways are to facilitate colonization." Corresponding to each
+occupation of a new area of the Pampean plain by the farmer or the
+breeder is the construction in that area of a new network of lines
+which are fed by its traffic and in turn help it to increase its
+production. The more productive the region is, the closer are the
+meshes of this network. They are wider in the pastoral than in the
+agricultural areas. The period of the development of the southern
+lines in the province of Buenos Aires corresponds with the expansion
+of breeding when the Pampa had been pacified. The railway reached
+Azul in 1876. The Ayacucho branch was opened in 1880, and continued
+as far as Tres Arroyos in 1887. The completion of the Bah&iacute;a
+Blanca line, via Azul and Olavarria, in 1884, is itself merely one of
+the dates in this colonizing period. The great period of agricultural
+colonization at Santa F&eacute; and the construction of the system
+of lines that serve it begin a little later, and last from 1880 to
+1890 (extension of the Central Argentine system, the railways of the
+province of Santa F&eacute;, and the narrow-gauge railway from Rosario
+to C&oacute;rdoba).</p>
+
+<p>The part that the railway has played in colonization is plainly seen
+in the present completion of the system which has developed freely on
+the even surface of the Pampean plain. The lines radiate round the port
+of Buenos Aires and, in a less degree, round the ports of Rosario and
+Bah&iacute;a Blanca. What seems at first sight to be the symmetry of
+the railway map will be found on closer examination to be less perfect;
+while the Atlantic coast between La Plata and Bah&iacute;a Blanca has
+no ports, the Paran&aacute; has quite a number of suitable
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>
+
+places for shipping cereals. La Plata, San Nicolas and Villa
+Constituci&oacute;n are served by lines which cut across the lines
+going to Rosario and Buenos Aires. This complexity of the system west
+of the Paran&aacute; continues to the north of Rosario, where the lines
+that go to Santa F&eacute; cut across all the lines going to Rosario.
+The lines which run along the southern frontier of the province of
+Buenos Aires (at Juancho, Necochea, etc.) have, unlike the lines
+serving the secondary parts of the Paran&aacute;, all their traffic
+directed toward the interior, and they serve only to bring to Buenos
+Aires and Bah&iacute;a Blanco the crops of the districts they cross.
+They are dependencies of the main lines of the southern system, and not
+rival lines.</p>
+
+<p>When the most fertile part of the Pampean plain, on which there
+is a regular rainfall to guarantee the crops, had been completely
+colonized and covered with railways, the national Government took up
+the policy of colonization by rail in the national territories. The
+minister Ramos Mejia has attached his name to this work. It has been
+suspended since the beginning of the war, but it filled the last period
+of construction of the Argentine railways. Ramos Mejia's railways
+include the lines penetrating the Chaco opened toward the north-west
+from Resistencia and Formosa, and the lines leading to the interior of
+Patagonia from the ports of San Antonio, Puerto Deseado, and Rivadavia.
+We must add the line from Neuquen to the Andes, made by the Southern
+Company, but with a Government subvention.<a
+id="FNanchor_113_113" href="#Footnote_113_113"
+class="fnanchor">113</a> These lines, serving districts with little
+population and inadequate resources, will not for a long time make
+any profit.<a  id="FNanchor_114_114"
+href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">114</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Hence railway construction must be regarded in modern Argentina
+as one of the aspects of the problem of developing the soil. The
+railway companies have been compelled to intervene directly in the
+work of colonization. In 1863 the Central Argentine received from the
+Government a strip of land three miles wide on each side of the line
+it was making, between Rosario and C&oacute;rdoba, on condition that
+it colonized the land. The company had its own immigration agents
+and its colonizing staff, and it opened its first colonies west of
+Rosario between 1870 and 1872. This kind of concession is exceptional
+in Argentina. On the other hand, the irrigation law of 1909 obliges
+the railway companies to undertake, on behalf of the Government, the
+work that is necessary to develop irrigation in the areas they serve,
+such work being immediately reflected in an increase of population
+and traffic. In compliance with this law the Southern railway is
+constructing a canal which will water the whole valley of the Rio Negro
+below the confluence of the Neuquen. The Central Argentine and the
+Pacific also have undertaken to construct dams on the Rio Tercero and
+Rio Quinto, in the provinces of C&oacute;rdoba and San Luis.</p>
+
+<p>As it is the essential function of a railway to convey the produce
+of the area it serves to the exporting port, the problem of the
+relations between the administration of railways and the administration
+of ports is of primary importance. The chief ports served by different
+companies, such as Rosario and
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>
+
+Buenos Aires, may maintain their independence, but a secondary port
+will be at the mercy of the single line which conveys goods to it.
+In such circumstances the ports have become, in many cases, mere
+dependencies of the railways. The port of Colastin&eacute; belongs to
+the railways of the Santa F&eacute; province. The port of Bah&iacute;a
+Blanca consists of a number of distinct ports constructed by the
+different railway companies, and run by them. Each of them ships the
+goods which it brings. The port Ingeniero White, which belongs to the
+Southern Company, was constructed in 1885, immediately after the
+opening of the line from Buenos Aires to Bah&iacute;a Blanca. Puerto
+Galvan belongs to the Pacific Company. Puerto Belgrano is the port
+of the line from Rosario to Bah&iacute;a Blanca. At Buenos Aires the
+Southern Railway Company has acquired control of the Buenos Aires
+Southern Dock Company. At La Plata it manages the docks.</p>
+
+<p>The spread of agricultural colonization was at first hampered by
+the cost of freightage which cereals could bear over an area with a
+radius of about 200 miles from the ports. That is the figure given
+by Girola in the <cite>Investigaci&oacute;n Agricola</cite> of 1904. The period
+1895-1905 saw the birth of a series of plans for making canals in
+the Pampean region for the purpose of transporting grain in the area
+which the railway did not seem able to serve economically. Not one of
+them was carried out, but the railways quickly enlarged their sphere
+of influence in the interior. There is, however, a reminiscence of
+this pause in colonization in what Argentinians call "the parabolic
+tariffs." The Argentine railways practically, apart from cases of
+competition with rival lines, use proportional tariffs up to a distance
+of 218 miles, and degressive tariffs beyond that limit. In this way the
+railways have helped in the conquest of the west. Degressive tariffs
+have certainly played a part in the spread of colonization during the
+years antecedent to 1912. They have helped to mask the inferiority of
+the new land to the better land in the east.<a
+id="FNanchor_115_115" href="#Footnote_115_115"
+class="fnanchor">115</a></p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Map_VI" href="images/illus-275.png" type="image/png">
+      <img src="images/illus-275.png" alt="Map" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">MAP VI.&mdash;THE RAILWAYS.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">It is impossible to give the entire system. Only the main
+   lines are given. Of the narrow-gauge lines of the Pampean
+   region only those which connect the system of northern
+   Argentina with Buenos Aires are given. The map shows the
+   double direction of the Pacific system from Villa Mercedes,
+   to Buenos Aires and Bah&iacute;a Blanca. It gives only an
+   imperfect idea of the way in which the lines ending at the
+   ports of the Paran&aacute; and the Rio de la Plata (Santa
+   F&eacute;, Rosario, San Nicolas, Buenos Aires and La Plata)
+   overlap and cross each other.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-275.png" type="image/png">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The rise in the value of land and the advance of colonization led,
+at each of those crises of development which characterize the recent
+history of Argentina, to a multiplication of railway concessions
+granted by the national Government and the various provincial
+authorities. These have to be bought up by the leading companies, as
+each of them wanted to keep exclusive control of the region in which it
+had established itself. This concentration could not be accomplished
+in a perfectly methodical way, and the various systems now overlap,
+which is not to the interest of the companies. Thus Villa Maria, on the
+Central Argentine line from Rosario to C&oacute;rdoba, is also served
+by a line belonging to the Santa F&eacute; railways and by a line of
+the Pacific Company which puts it in communication with Buenos Aires.
+On the other hand, the Central Argentine penetrates to the very heart
+of the area of the Pacific at Junin.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>However, competition between the various companies has had the
+effect of dividing the Pampean plain into three great spheres of
+influence. The first, in the north, is that of the Central Argentine
+and the Buenos Aires y Rosario line. In 1908 the Argentine Government
+officially sanctioned the fusion of the two companies, though it had
+really been accomplished a few years before. The second sphere, in
+the south, is that of the Pacific, the attraction of which was the
+line from Buenos Aires to Villa Mercedes, and which in 1907 bought the
+line from Villa Mercedes to Mendoza and the Trans-Andean, a natural
+continuation of its system. Moreover, in 1904 the Pacific absorbed the
+line from Bah&iacute;a Blanca to the north-west, which has been linked
+up once more with its original system at Villa Mercedes. It thus has
+two outlets, to Buenos Aires and Bah&iacute;a Blanca, and completely
+encloses the third sphere with its branches. The third sphere, which
+comprises the centre and south of the Pampean plain, is the domain of
+the Southern and Western Companies. In 1912 these two companies asked
+the Argentine Government to authorize them to amalgamate. Although they
+withdrew their proposal in 1914, in face of the conditions imposed upon
+them, they are still closely associated. Part of the traffic of the
+western lines of the Western passes over Southern lines at Carbu&euml;,
+and is shipped at the port Ingeniero White. At Buenos Aires also, and
+at La Plata, part of the Western Company's traffic in cereals and
+cattle uses the premises of the Southern Company. The Western and
+the Southern, jointly, bought in 1908, before it was finished, the
+narrow-gauge Midland of Buenos Aires line at Carbu&euml;, which was to
+cross their sphere of influence. It was opened in 1911.</p>
+
+<p>The importance of the transport of cereals in the life of the
+leading Argentine systems will be seen from the following figures.
+In percentages of the total of goods carried, both from the interior
+to the ports and <span lang="la">vice versa</span>, the tonnage of exported cereals
+was:&mdash;</p>
+
+<table class="table1" summary="tonnage of exported cereals">
+   <thead>
+      <tr><th></th><th>1913</th><th>1914</th><th>1916</th><th>Average.</th></tr>
+   </thead>
+   <tbody>
+      <tr><td>Southern</td><td>31.0</td><td>34.3</td><td>32.5</td><td>32.6</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Western</td><td>58.3</td><td>61.7</td><td>55.1</td><td>58.4</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Pacific</td><td>29.0</td><td>41.8</td><td>33.8</td><td>35.0</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>Central</td><td>36.5</td><td>46.6</td><td>34.8</td><td>39.5</td></tr>
+   </tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>The figures are rather less for the Southern, which covers an
+area that has remained chiefly pastoral and, by means of its Rio
+Negro line, serves for part of the transport of cattle from Patagonia
+(cattle-transport on the Southern, average for the years 1913,
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>
+
+1914 and 1916: 17.2 per cent. of the total tonnage, 19 per cent.
+of total receipts; 1.4 per cent. of tonnage and 6.5 per cent. of
+receipts). They are higher for the Western, the only system that lies
+entirely in the Pampean region and has no continuations beyond it, as
+the Pacific has to Mendoza and the Central to Tucum&aacute;n.</p>
+
+<p>The share of each company in the total traffic varies from year
+to year according to the harvest. Of the four to ten million tons
+of cereals carried every year, the greater part&mdash;about a
+third&mdash;falls to the Central Argentine, and one-sixth to the
+Southern. The Central Argentine carries the greater part of the maize
+and flax, the maize alone representing 26 per cent. of the total
+tonnage carried by the line, and the flax 5.6 per cent. Of the other
+lines the Western alone carries any appreciable quantity of maize,
+which comes from the Junin district (19 per cent. of its tonnage, but
+only 12 per cent. of its receipts, because of the slight distances the
+stuff is carried). The transport of wheat is about equally divided
+amongst the four leading lines, but the proportion of it to total
+traffic is highest in the case of the Western (34.4 per cent. of total
+traffic). The Southern is the chief carrier of oats (9.8 per cent.
+of the total tonnage). The tonnage carried annually is particularly
+irregular in the case of the Central, on account of the irregularity
+of the maize crops, and the Pacific, because its lines north-west of
+Buenos Aires serve a wheat-area that is exposed to drought (wheat
+carried by the Pacific in 1913, 15.9 per cent. of the total tonnage; in
+1914, 27.2 per cent.).</p>
+
+<p>The clearing of the cereals gives the Argentine railways a delicate
+problem in the organization of traffic. The crops of flax, wheat and
+oats must be cleared in the four to six months following the harvest
+(December-January). The maize harvest, which is later, is also much
+slower; it lasts the whole of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+
+autumn. Hence the removal of the maize is spread over a long
+period, and sometimes the work of one year runs into that of the
+next. This gives the Central an advantage over the other lines.
+The wool also must, on account of its great value, be transferred
+to the ports speedily after the shearing; but this is only a
+matter of about a hundred thousand tons.<a
+id="FNanchor_116_116" href="#Footnote_116_116"
+class="fnanchor">116</a></p>
+
+<p>Export, however, is by no means the one source of traffic on
+the Argentine railways. Transport of goods for home consumption
+is chiefly a question of a large part of the wheat crop. Building
+materials also&mdash;bricks, lime and stone&mdash;are an important
+item on the various lines which link Buenos Aires with the Sierra
+de C&oacute;rdoba and the Sierra de Tandil. In 1913 the Southern
+line carried 1,134,000 tons of minerals, including 997,000 tons of
+stone and 101,000 tons of lime from the Sierra de Tandil and 34,000
+tons of salt from the salt-mines of Lavalle, between Bah&iacute;a
+Blanca and the Colorado. In the same year, the Pacific, Central
+Argentine, Central C&oacute;rdoba and State railway carried
+880,000 tons of minerals (half being lime) from the Sierra de
+C&oacute;rdoba.<a  id="FNanchor_117_117"
+href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">117</a> All the timber
+carried on the lines of northern Argentina, except the <span lang="es">quebracho</span> from
+the banks of the Paran&aacute;, is for home use: sleepers, fence-posts,
+firewood and charcoal are the chief items on most of the lines in the
+scrub. The war has checked railway construction and reduced the use of
+sleepers, but it has also deprived Argentina of combustible minerals
+and increased the transport of firewood. Even on railways like the
+Pacific and Central Argentine, which have very few of their lines on
+the scrub, the tonnage of wood carried is 6 per cent. of the whole
+(average for 1913, 1914 and 1916), and the proportion rises to 30 per
+cent. of the total tonnage on the Central C&oacute;rdoba. For several
+companies the sugars of Tucum&aacute;n and the wines of Mendoza are
+an important element of their receipts, not so much on account of the
+tonnage as the high cost of freightage and the great distance to the
+centres of consumption in the Pampean region. The carriage of wine and
+casks brings the Pacific 38.3 per cent. of its receipts (1913-14-16).
+The transport of sugar on the Central Argentine in a normal year
+amounts to 5 per cent. of its receipts. On the Central C&oacute;rdoba
+the tonnage of sugar-cane and sugar carried amounted in 1914, a year
+of exceptional harvest, to 42 per cent. of the total tonnage, and was
+still 20 per cent. in 1916, a year of very poor crop. The supplying of
+meat to the market of Buenos Aires and the Pampean area, with its dense
+population, means a good deal of long-distance traffic in cattle; the
+refrigerators taking the better cattle of the adjoining region for the
+foreign market, and the slaughter houses of Buenos Aires being forced
+to content themselves with inferior beasts reared in the provinces and
+the adjoining districts.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The importance of these currents of internal traffic has made
+itself felt in the organization of the Argentine system. It has
+made it necessary for each system to have not only an outlet to an
+exporting town, but a direct connection with the chief centre of home
+consumption, Buenos Aires. The narrow-gauge system, which until the
+end of the nineteenth century had been restricted to the northern half
+of Argentine territory, north of the latitude of Rosario, developed
+in the province of Buenos Aires after 1900, and ventured to compete in
+the carriage of cereals with the broad-gauge system (Company of the
+Province of Buenos Aires and Provincial railway of La Plata). This
+system connected with the narrow-gauge lines of the north. The Central
+C&oacute;rdoba, which had reached
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>
+
+Rosario in 1912 and so had escaped the need to transfer its
+export-traffic at C&oacute;rdoba to the broad-gauge, began immediately
+afterwards to effect a direct communication with Buenos Aires (Central
+C&oacute;rdoba, extension to Buenos Aires, opened in 1913). The line
+from Rosario to Buenos Aires of the Province of Buenos Aires Company
+also serves to carry trains of the Province of Santa F&eacute;
+Company, which is closely associated with it. The medium-gauge lines
+of Mesopotamia also have effected a communication with Buenos Aires by
+means of a ferry-boat that plies on the Paran&aacute; between Ibicuy
+and Zarate, and by using a section of the Buenos Aires Central.</p>
+
+<p>The concentration of narrow-gauge and medium-gauge lines seemed
+to be issuing in a complete fusion of their interests in 1913. The
+Argentine Railway Company got control of the lines of Entre Rios,
+Corrientes and the Paraguay. It promoted the development and extension
+of the Central C&oacute;rdoba, and it also had large interests in the
+French companies of the Buenos Aires and Santa F&eacute; provinces.
+All the narrow-gauge lines would have concentrated in its hands if
+it had been able to get the State railway. The broad-gauge line from
+Rosario to Puerto Belgrano had, as its interest conflicted with those
+of the great broad-gauge English systems, joined the narrow-gauge group
+engineered by the Argentine railway. But the amalgamation attempted
+by the Argentine railways did not succeed, and, after its failure,
+the companies it had temporarily brought together resumed their
+independence.</p>
+
+<p>The river-route of the Paran&aacute; has sometimes been an
+auxiliary, at other times a rival, of the railways.</p>
+
+<p>Until the line from Buenos Aires to Rosario was opened in 1886, the
+navigation of the Paran&aacute; was the only link between the system of
+northern Argentina and that of the Buenos Aires province. Before the
+line was completed, the company had established a
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>
+
+service of boats on the Paran&aacute;, and in this way it kept up a
+traffic in goods consigned to stations on the Central Argentine, to be
+transferred at Rosario. These combinations of railway and river service
+disappeared when the line from Buenos Aires to Rosario was finished.</p>
+
+<p>In regard to export traffic the railways have not attempted
+to compete with the river anywhere where it is open to maritime
+navigation; they have merely been concerned to connect with it. On
+the other hand, the railway and the river are rivals for the home
+traffic and the traffic of the upper districts which sea-going boats
+do not reach. Before the time of the railways the river had taken all
+the goods traffic, but had tolerated on its left bank a post-road
+between Santa F&eacute;, Corrientes and Asunci&oacute;n. The railway
+still has the advantage over the river in regard to speed (in carrying
+passengers between Rosario and Buenos Aires, and live cattle from
+the Chaco and the Paraguay for Buenos Aires or the salting works
+of the lower Uruguay). Even in regard to certain kinds of heavy
+goods&mdash;<span lang="es">quebracho</span> timber&mdash;the river has not secured a
+monopoly, and there is a good deal of transport by rail.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a><br />
+THE RIVER-ROUTES</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">
+   <p>The use of the river before steam
+   navigation&mdash;Floods&mdash;The river plain&mdash;The bed
+   of the Paran&aacute; and its changes&mdash;The estuary and
+   its shoals&mdash;Maritime navigation&mdash;The boats on the
+   Paran&aacute;.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The problem of the use of the river-routes of the Paran&aacute;
+and the Paraguay is not of interest to Argentina alone. It affects
+the whole history of colonization in South America. The very name of
+the Rio de la Plata is a reminiscence of the anxieties of the early
+navigators who landed there, chiefly in search of a route to the
+mineral districts of the Andes [Plata = silver]. It is remarkable
+that the Amazon, which opens a more direct and better route to the
+Andes, was never used for reaching Peru. It was at the most, and only
+occasionally, used as a return-route, whereas expeditions to the
+Cordillera were organized on the banks of the Paran&aacute; during the
+whole of the sixteenth century. The routes linking the Paran&aacute;
+and the Paraguay with the tableland furrow the whole plain of the Pampa
+and the Chaco, from the latitude of the estuary to about 16&deg; S.
+lat. (expedition of &Ntilde;uflo de Chavez in 1557). An especially
+close network starts from the river between 18&deg; and 22&deg; S.
+lat. and ends at Santa Cruz, the most northern centre established
+by the Spaniards on the plain, at the foot of the Andes, as a
+consequence of the use of the Paran&aacute;.<a
+id="FNanchor_118_118" href="#Footnote_118_118"
+class="fnanchor">118</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Spanish colonization, however, did not succeed in making permanent
+settlements on the Chaco. The Indians, who were masters of it, disputed
+their passage, and the only practicable route was the southernmost of
+the roads to the tableland, south of the Rio Salado, which ends at the
+estuary. From this time onward the prosperity of Buenos Aires eclipsed
+that of Asunci&oacute;n. The river ceased to be a great continental
+route.</p>
+
+<p>The division of the Paran&aacute; between the Spanish and the
+Portuguese was a check upon the full development of the river-route.
+The Portuguese held the upper part of its basin, which now belongs
+to Brazil. They expelled the Spanish missionaries from the upper
+Paran&aacute; about the middle of the seventeenth century, and made
+themselves masters of the Paraguay north of 20&deg; S. lat. Their
+forts at Coimbre and Albuquerque prevented any from ascending. D'Azara
+insists that it would have been Spain's interest to disarm these forts;
+it would have enabled them to go up the river as far as the Spanish
+missions to the Mojos and the Chiquitos. On their side, the Portuguese
+only used the upper section of the river, where it is joined by the
+Paulist road north of the Coimbre, as a means of access to the gold
+mines of the Matto Grosso. Even now, although the Paran&aacute; is open
+to every flag, the development of the river-route is not independent of
+political conditions. In making the railway from Saint Paul to Corumba,
+and so creating on its own territory a means of direct communication
+with the upper Paraguay, Brazil diverts from the lower districts part
+of the traffic which ought normally to go there. Again, the ports
+of southern Brazil and the lines which go to them try to attract to
+the Atlantic the produce of the basins of the Uruguay and the upper
+Paran&aacute;, which would have followed the thread of the river to
+foster the trade of Buenos Aires if the frontiers had been fixed
+otherwise.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Before the Revolution the river-trade was confined to exchanges
+between the Misiones and Paraguay on the one hand, and Buenos Aires
+and the Andean provinces on the other. After the extinction of the
+missions Paraguay was the chief centre of traffic on the river. At
+the close of the eighteenth century it had a fairly large population.
+According to D'Azara, it amounted to 97,000, and 47,000 for the area of
+the former Missions (Misiones), while Buenos Aires, Santa F&eacute;,
+Entre Rios and Corrientes had not more than 103,000 inhabitants
+collectively. Paraguay exported tobacco, <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span> and timber by
+the river. The Buenos Aires Estano received 800 tons of tobacco a
+year. The exports of <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span> from Paraguay to Peru, Chile and
+the interior provinces amounted to 1,725 tons, and 2,250 tons went to
+Buenos Aires. The timber came mostly from the Tebicuary, where the
+<span lang="es">angadas</span> (loads of timber) were formed. The chief constructive sheds
+also were on the Tebicuary. Boats of twenty to 200 tons were launched
+there; and they had armed boats, when they went down the river, to
+detect ambushes of the Indians, who were masters of the right bank
+north of Santa F&eacute;.</p>
+
+<p>The development of navigation on the Paran&aacute; during the first
+half of the nineteenth century was checked by the disturbances and wars
+of the period of the emancipation and unification of Argentina. The
+river was blockaded several times and traffic interrupted. Only a few
+smuggling schooners succeeded in getting through the side branches,
+which the ships stationed in the river could not watch. Robertson
+escaped the Spanish vessels in this way. The picture which D'Orbigny
+has given us of the life of the river belongs to the year 1827. At that
+time the estuary was blockaded by the Brazilian fleet in the whole
+area of the delta as far as San Pedro. Piracy was so rife, and the
+insecurity so great, on the Uruguay and the Paran&aacute;, that few
+ventured as far as Buenos Aires, the ships being linked in convoys. Up
+stream, Corrientes was the limit of navigation. The dictator Francis
+closed the Paraguay, and even the small boats no longer sailed on the
+upper Paran&aacute;, along the frontier of Paraguay. The Correntinos,
+who spoke <span lang="es">Guarani</span>, could merely get permission at rare intervals
+to send a few boats up river. Armed boats convoyed these as far as
+Neembucu, and they returned with hides and <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span>. Corrientes
+thus became the market-centre of the upper river and replaced
+Asunci&oacute;n in the trade. The flotilla on the Paran&aacute;
+included flat-bottomed barges, which were only used in coming down, and
+strong keeled ships&mdash;schooners, sloops and brigs&mdash;with their
+ropes made of leather. Down stream there was a little more diversity in
+the traffic. The island sent cargoes of firewood and charcoal to Santa
+F&eacute; and Buenos Aires. The orchards of the delta provided Buenos
+Aires with oranges and peaches. Hides for export were shipped at Goya
+and Santa F&eacute;. But the chief freight was lime from La Bajada,
+which was burned in the kilns on the Barranca, at the outcrops of the
+beds of conchiferous limestone.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Yguassu_and_the_Parana" href="images/illus-287.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-287.jpg" alt="Yguassu and Paran&aacute;" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">CONFLUENCE OF THE YGUASSU AND THE PARAN&Aacute;.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">In the foreground is the left bank of the Yguassu,
+      on Argentine territory. The right bank is Brazilian territory.
+      At the back, on the right bank of the Paran&aacute;, is Paraguayan
+      territory.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XX.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-287.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The navigation was fairly easy, the journey from Corrientes
+to Buenos Aires (675 miles) lasting, as a rule, from fifteen to
+twenty days. Going up, the time was more irregular. They had
+to stop when there was no south wind, or a little progress was
+made by hauling (<span lang="es">silgar</span>). D'Orbigny took a month to travel
+up.<a  id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a
+href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">119</a> In 1822, before
+the war with Brazil, there were 651 boats entered at Buenos Aires for
+coasting trade on the rivers and 1,035 at San Fernando or on the Tigre,
+the advance port of Buenos Aires. In 1833 Isabelle put at one thousand
+the number of vessels at work on the Paran&aacute; and the Uruguay.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In 1841 Rosas forbade navigation on the river. There was then a
+double blockade checking the trade of Argentina. The Franco-British
+fleet closed the Rio de la Plata and blockaded Buenos Aires, where
+the Government of Rosas was established. In addition, Rosas's troops
+on the <span lang="es">barranca</span> of the right bank prevented any from going up the
+Paran&aacute;, and cut off the interior provinces from the rest of
+the world. The injury then done to interests which were already fully
+self-conscious may be gathered from the agitation provoked by the
+decision of France and England in 1845 to break the blockade of the
+river. A convoy was at once organized at Montevideo, consisting of no
+less than ninety-eight ships, of 6,900 tons in all (MacKann). It went
+up the Paran&aacute; under the protection of war-ships, which removed
+the chains slung across it by Rosas. The convoy dispersed up river as
+soon as it was out of range of Rosas. But it had needed so great an
+effort that the attempt could not be made again before the fall of
+Rosas.</p>
+
+<p>The closing of the Paran&aacute; compelled a diversion of the trade
+of Paraguay toward the south-east. It crossed the isthmus of Misiones,
+between the Paran&aacute; and the Uruguay, and passed down the Uruguay.
+At this time the whole commercial activity of Paraguay was concentrated
+at Itapua, on the upper Paran&aacute;. The prosperity of the Uruguay
+was some compensation for the misery that reigned on the Paran&aacute;.
+The populations of Paysandu and Montevideo greatly increased.</p>
+
+<p>In 1852, at the fall of Rosas, the modern period began for the
+Paran&aacute;. The river-population changed rapidly. It ceased to be
+exclusively creole. Basques, and later Italians, had settled upon the
+Uruguay ten years before, and they now spread along the Paran&aacute;.
+In 1850 MacKann found fifty vessels, of 20 to 100 tons, belonging to
+Italians at Santa F&eacute;. This wave of immigration coincided with
+the development of
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>
+
+relations between the Paran&aacute; and the port of Montevideo. From
+1852 to 1860 Buenos Aires was isolated, and it remained outside the
+economic life of Argentina. Montevideo took its place. Urquiza's
+administration sought, in addition, to establish direct maritime
+communication between over-seas ports and the ports on the river:
+Gualeguy in Entre Rios, and Rosario in Santa F&eacute;. Under a system
+of preferential duties (1857-59), which reduced the burden on goods
+carried by the river, Rosario grew rapidly, and between 1853 and 1858
+increased its population from 4,000 to 22,700. The period from 1852
+to 1860 was also the time when steam-navigation was developing, and
+this doubled the value of the river-route. From 1860 onward Buenos
+Aires was connected by regular services of steamboats with Rosario,
+Santa F&eacute;, Corrientes, Asunci&oacute;n and Cuyaba. On the upper
+Paran&aacute; goods (timber, tobacco and oranges) were still carried
+by sailing boats between Corrientes and Apip&eacute;, where they
+stopped at the commencement of the rapids. Steamboats did not sail
+up the rapids of Apip&eacute; until 1868.<a
+id="FNanchor_120_120" href="#Footnote_120_120"
+class="fnanchor">120</a> From 1850 to 1860 there were repeated
+explorations of the Salado and the Bermejo, as the interior provinces
+hoped to be able to find a connection with the vivifying artery of the
+Paran&aacute; (voyage of Page on the Salado from Salta in 1855, and of
+Lavarello on the Bermejo in 1855 and 1863).</p>
+
+<p>In 1860 the entry of Buenos Aires into the Confederation
+re-established the normal condition of free competition between Buenos
+Aires and Rosario. From that time the life of the river reflects the
+advance of colonization in the Pampean region. The Paran&aacute; became
+the highway for the export of cereals.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The two rivers, of which the Rio de la Plata forms the common
+estuary, differ considerably in their features. The Uruguay has
+irregular floods, especially in autumn (May) and at the end of the
+winter (August-October). Low water is in summer (January-February).
+Its basin belongs to the temperate zone, and does not extend northward
+as far as the area of tropical summer-rain. The Uruguay also differs
+from the Paran&aacute; in its low capacity for transport and alluvial
+deposit. While the Paran&aacute; has built up a vast deltaic plain,
+the Uruguay ends in an ordinary estuary, with rocky or sandy bed and
+clear water. The estuary of the Uruguay is 130 miles long and five or
+six miles wide. The eastern shore is rocky and broken. The Argentine
+shore is low. It is formed in the south by the deposits of the delta
+of the Paran&aacute;, while further north, from Gualeguacha to
+Concepci&oacute;n, the hills of Entre Rios are hidden behind a screen
+of flat islands covered with palms, formed by the stuff brought by the
+streams of Entre Rios. The river-floods are lost in the great sheet of
+the estuary. The tide in the estuary or a flood in the Paran&aacute; is
+enough to turn the current.</p>
+
+<p>Maritime navigation goes beyond the estuary and beyond Paysandu,
+as far as the rapids which prevent further advance at Salto. The
+twin towns of Concordia (right bank) and Salta (left bank) mark the
+limit of navigation on the inner course of the river. It begins
+again above the falls, at Monte Caseros, from which the river-boats
+go to San Tom&eacute; and occasionally to Concepci&oacute;n. Small
+ships go higher, as far as Salto Grande in Misiones (27&deg; 20&prime;
+S. lat.).<a  id="FNanchor_121_121"
+href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">121</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The navigable system of the Paran&aacute; is four times as
+large. The first survey of the river was made about the middle of
+the nineteenth century by the British Navy. At the beginning of
+the twentieth century the Argentine Government took up the study
+of the bed and the peculiarities of the Paran&aacute;, and the
+Ministry of Public Works published a map, on the scale 1:100,000,
+of the course of the river between Posadas and San Pedro, at the
+beginning of the delta. A precise survey was made, and twenty-six
+fluvio-metrical scales were established, the zero of which represents
+mean low-water.<a  id="FNanchor_122_122"
+href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">122</a> Transverse
+soundings were taken at equal distances of 670 and 1,000 feet, the
+distance being reduced to 160 and even 80 feet at critical points.
+Thanks to this work, the Paran&aacute; is now, no doubt, the best known
+of all rivers of that size.</p>
+
+<p>Its output is estimated at 6,000 cubic metres a second at mean
+low-water, in the latitude of Rosario, and 25,000 to 30,000 cubic
+metres a second during flood at a height of six metres above
+low-water.<a  id="FNanchor_123_123"
+href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">123</a> Its features bear
+the mark of its tropical origin. The tropical character is typical on
+the Paraguay, which is, by its situation in the central South-American
+plain, the real continuation of the lower Paran&aacute;. The slightness
+of the fall of the Paraguay, however, and the extent of the marshes
+over which it spreads in Brazil and Paraguay, have the effect of
+regulating and retarding the flood, which only attains its maximum at
+Asunci&oacute;n in May. The flood of the Paraguay extends the period
+of high water on the lower Paran&aacute; until the end of autumn.
+The upper Paran&aacute; has most of its basin in the tropical zone
+of summer rain. But its behaviour is also influenced by the spring
+or autumn rains of the southern part of the Brazilian tableland. Its
+floods are sudden and violent. They reach a height of sixty or seventy
+feet in the region of the confluence of the Yguassu. They sweep rapidly
+down stream, and reach the lower Paran&aacute; before the flood of the
+Paraguay, which they hold back.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>From Posadas the flood-waves reach Corrientes in five days (235
+miles). From Corrientes they reach Paran&aacute; in eight days (380
+miles), travelling about two miles an hour. That is one-third the speed
+of the current, as the flood is retarded, and more or less absorbed, by
+the ramifications of the broader bed in which it moves.</p>
+
+<p>At Bajada Grande the lowest water is in September. The flood appears
+in December or January, though sometimes in October or November. The
+maximum is in March or April. The rise is rapid at first, but it
+gradually moderates, and the level of the water is raised about one
+metre per month during three months. It then sinks in corresponding
+order. The ebb is often interrupted in June, and sometimes as late
+as August, by a sudden leap upward of the curve, representing an
+ascensional movement of the water three times as rapid as that of the
+main flood (one metre in ten days). The level reached in this late
+flood is sometimes higher than that of the normal flood in April or
+May. The range of the ordinary flood-movements is from ten to sixteen
+feet. Exceptional floods rise to a height of twenty-three feet above
+the low-water mark.</p>
+
+<p>The curves established for the years 1908 to 1910 by the Argentine
+hydrographical service enable us to analyse the mechanism of the
+flood with a good deal of confidence. The beginning of the flood at
+Bajada Grande in October corresponds to the first flood of the upper
+Paran&aacute;. During this first phase the curve
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>
+
+of the Bajada is parallel (thirteen days later) to that of Posadas.
+There is the same parallelism in November, December and January. If the
+summer rains are light on the upper Paran&aacute;, the flood is late on
+the lower Paran&aacute;, and the water is still low there in December
+(0.20 below the low-water mark on December 31, 1910). At the beginning
+of March, before the maximum of the flood, the curve of Bajada Grande
+differs from the curve of Posadas. It is the time when the flood of the
+lower river is caused by the rise of the Paraguay. The secondary floods
+of June and July again have their origin in the upper Paran&aacute;,
+but, as they are added to the flood of the Paraguay on the lower
+river, they reach a higher level there than at Posadas; the difference
+gradually disappears as the flood of the Paraguay subsides. It is the
+addition of the late floods of the upper Paran&aacute; to the flood of
+the Paraguay that causes on the lower river the abnormal floods that
+occur there at irregular intervals (in 1825, 1833, 1858, 1878, 1905 and
+1917).</p>
+
+<p>Below the Bajada the height of the floods progressively declines.
+On the estuary they are no longer perceptible; variations of level
+are due entirely to the tides. In the channels of the delta of the
+Paran&aacute; the tide does not reverse the current as it does in the
+estuary of the Uruguay, but it causes a slight rise of the water;
+and this has been observed sometimes, at very low water, as far as
+Rosario.</p>
+
+<p>It is near Corpus, about forty miles above Posadas, that the upper
+Paran&aacute; escapes from the restraint of the Brazilian tableland,
+which imprisons its valley, from the falls of the Guayra, in a deep
+fissure between lofty basalt cliffs. Below Posadas the river leaves the
+region of hills and red earth. Below Corrientes it flows everywhere
+over its own alluvia. Even above Corrientes its form has surprising
+characteristics of youth. The precise survey done on its banks has
+brought to light a very distinct break of its fall above
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>
+
+Villa Urquiza, about 400 miles from Buenos Aires. The fall, which
+from Corrientes onward remains between sixty and forty millimetres
+per kilometre, sinks suddenly to thirteen over a stretch of
+twenty-five miles, and then rises again to thirty to forty-five
+millimetres.<a  id="FNanchor_124_124"
+href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">124</a> Below Rosario the
+mean descent is twelve millimetres to the kilometre, below San Pedro
+only six.</p>
+
+<p>Above Corrientes the width of the main arm of the Paran&aacute;
+varies, as a rule, from 2,600 to 6,500 feet. The width of the
+river-plain over which the floods spread is still more irregular.
+Between Santa F&eacute; and Paran&aacute;, where it is especially
+narrow, it is still ten miles wide. Lower down it gradually broadens to
+a width of sixty-five miles at the head of the estuary. The scenery is
+not the same in all sections of it. The vegetation on the islands is
+richer and more varied up river, and tropical essences (laurel-timbo)
+are found below the Bajada, forming clumps of trees covered with
+creepers.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="The_Parana_at_Corrientes" href="images/illus-297a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-297a.jpg" alt="The Paran&aacute;" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE PARAN&Aacute; AT CORRIENTES.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Banks and islands partially fixed by vegetation.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Widmayer.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-297a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <hr />
+   <a id="The_barranca_at_Parana" href="images/illus-297b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-297b.jpg" alt="barranca at Paran&aacute;" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE <span lang="es">BARRANCA</span> AT PARAN&Aacute; (ENTRE RIOS), LEFT BANK.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">It is composed of clays and of beds of conchiferous
+      terrestrial limestone, which have supplied the lime-kilns for
+      more than a century.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Boote.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XXI.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-297b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But the different scenes of the river region are most of all due
+to different conditions of erosion and formation. Above Rosario the
+configuration is due to floods. Each succeeding flood alters it and
+leaves some trace of itself in the topography. The beds of sand that
+it lays down are fixed by rushes and floating weeds, then by willows
+(<cite>Salix humboldtiana</cite>). This screen of vegetation encourages accretion,
+and the edges tend to rise higher. In the middle of the island are low,
+marshy lands. The irregularity of the alluvial deposits causes marked
+undulations in the whole region of the river, and everywhere gives rise
+to alternate beds of clay and sand. Below Rosario the river gradually
+loses its power. The islands become more stable and flatter. Clumps
+of willow and spiny <span lang="es">ceibos</span> (<cite>Erythrina cristagalli</cite>) still cover
+the edges of them, and sometimes spread over the interior. But as the
+climate is now less humid, the vegetation fixes the soil less firmly,
+and the wind becomes the chief sculptor of the landscape. It heaps up
+the sand during the low-water season, and makes dunes which rise above
+the level of the greatest floods. These dunes form an unbroken line
+along the land in the southern part of Entre Rios, in the north of the
+main arm, with ridges at right angles, advancing toward the south,
+which rest upon the river clay; like the one which the Ibicuy railway
+follows across the floodable area. The cattle of the district take
+refuge on the dunes during floods. During periods of drought, on the
+other hand, they retain a quantity of water, and this is drawn from
+surface-wells at their base.</p>
+
+<p>The limits of the zone of the river are clearly marked on the whole
+of the lower Paran&aacute;. It is enclosed on both sides by high
+<span lang="es">barrancas</span> (cliffs), vertical in places where the main current washes
+their feet, but sloping slightly where there is only a secondary arm
+with little erosive power. The cliff is broken only at the confluences
+of small valleys, the flat, filled-up bottoms of which are on the
+level of the alluvial plain of the Paran&aacute;. The cliffs are at
+their highest in the district of Villa Paran&aacute;, where they rise
+in places to a height of 300 feet. On the right bank the cliffs show
+a section of the upper layers of the Pampean clays. On the left bank
+there are &aelig;olian clays only at the top of them. Below these are
+Tertiary marine strata (marls and sandstones with beds of shells).
+The cliffs of the left bank stretch northwards, with a few breaks,
+as far as Corrientes, and even into Misiones. Their height gradually
+diminishes, and the Tertiary marine strata
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>
+
+are replaced by granitic red sandstone.<a
+id="FNanchor_125_125" href="#Footnote_125_125"
+class="fnanchor">125</a> On the right bank the height of the cliffs
+gradually diminishes up river. They are still conspicuous at the
+confluence of the Carcara&ntilde;a, but at Santa F&eacute; they rise
+only about thirty-four feet. North of 31&deg; S. lat., and for some
+distance beyond Pilcomayo, the plain of the Chaco is very low, and it
+is impossible to define exactly the limit of the alluvial zone of the
+Paran&aacute;. The fine clays, grey and white, which form the soil of
+the Chaco, reach the left bank north of Corrientes, in the <span lang="es">esteros</span> of
+Neembucu. The red sandstone hills of the Asunci&oacute;n district rise
+like an archipelago out of this level bed of lacustrine deposits.</p>
+
+<p>There is no obstacle to navigation in the entire stretch from
+Posadas to the falls of the Guayra on the Paran&aacute; and the Salto
+Grande on the Yguassa. Sixteen miles below Posadas the Paran&aacute;
+passes through a series of graduated rapids for about sixty miles
+(1,467 kil. to 1,558 kil. from Buenos Aires) wrongly called the Salto
+de Apip&eacute;. The current then rises to a speed of eight knots, and
+the depth is three feet at low water. These rapids are due to beds of
+melaphyre, which emerge amongst the granitic sandstone, and the water
+makes its way between large rocky islands. At Ituzaingo (1,455 kil.)
+the current loses force. There is, however, still a rocky bottom lower
+down, for ninety miles, at a depth of five feet. Below this the rock
+only appears on the left bank, and in a few ridges near the bank, or in
+isolated reefs which it has been easy to mark with buoys.</p>
+
+<p>From Corrientes to La Paz the river flows from north to south at
+the feet of the Corrientes cliffs. These line the main stream between
+Corrientes and Empedrado, and for thirty-five miles south of Bella vista.
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>
+
+In the latitude of Riachucho, especially about Bellavista, the cliffs
+form a series of creeks and capes, in which the west winds create a
+heavy sea that was dreaded by ships of light draught coming down the
+river. North of Bellavista, and for more than a hundred miles south
+of Goya, the main stream is separated from the cliff by a series of
+alluvial islands; behind these are lateral arms (<span lang="es">riachos</span>) into which
+pour the rivers of Corrientes. These arms were much used by the early
+navigators.</p>
+
+<p>Between Esquina and La Paz the main bed, which is not in touch
+with the land on either of its banks, flows in a meandering path for
+some seven miles, the scale of the bends being double that of the
+meandering of the Paraguay north of the confluence. The islands are
+very small, and are strung in a rosary at the top of each bend. The
+depth is sixty feet at the top of the bend. The shallows are in a line
+with the islands at the point where the current runs evenly again
+before the next curve. The depth here is seven, and sometimes even
+five feet.<a  id="FNanchor_126_126"
+href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">126</a> These shallows
+change their places quickly, and it is not always the same bad spot
+that determines the maximum draught for ships that are to be used in
+this section. This migration of the shallows is very different from the
+permanence of the rocky bottom of the stretch between Corrientes and
+Posadas.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>From La Paz to Paran&aacute; the main course is outlined by the
+Entre Rios cliffs. There is no further meandering. The cliffs of hard
+rock offer far more resistance than the soft alluvia over which the
+river wanders freely. The permanence of the bed in front of the cliffs
+leads to a depth of as much as eighty feet. Only here and there a
+fringe of alluvial stuff separates the channel for a time from the
+cliff. These curves seem, as a rule, to coincide with the confluence
+of rivers, which bring a heavy load of clay from the tableland; as,
+does, for instance, the San Feliciano, north of Hernandarias. They
+are marked by shallows, in strong contrast to the great depths of the
+straight sections. The San Feliciano <span lang="es">paso</span>, which is twelve feet broad
+to-day, was only six feet broad in 1908. It appeared on Sullivan's
+map in 1847.<a  id="FNanchor_127_127"
+href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">127</a></p>
+
+<p>Below Paran&aacute;, as far as the estuary, the careful observations
+that have been made since 1903 on the movement of the river have
+enabled us to learn some of its laws.<a
+id="FNanchor_128_128" href="#Footnote_128_128"
+class="fnanchor">128</a> We can distinguish four sections of unequal
+length. From Paran&aacute; to Diamante the river remains in touch
+with the cliffs of the left bank. It is not straight; it describes a
+series of linked crescents of equal radius, which seem to be traces
+of so many meanders. Only one in two of the windings of the cliff is
+followed by the channel. The wandering of the river is confined within
+limits as in a fixed mould. The Paracao shallow, which for a long time
+prevented ships from reaching Santa F&eacute; (gradually deepened by
+dredging from eight to nineteen feet between 1907 and 1911) is at the
+angle where two of these curves meet. On the right bank the secondary
+arms continue to follow the river (Paran&aacute; viejo, Riacho de
+Coronda).<a  id="FNanchor_129_129"
+href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">129</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Below Diamante the river leaves the cliff on the left bank and
+slants across the alluvial plain to the cliff on the right bank, which
+it reaches at San Lorenzo. Over the whole of its thirty miles width
+it resumes the freedom and regularity of features which it had above
+La Paz. A comparison of the successive maps of the river shows that
+the scheme of its movements, which one would be tempted to draw up
+with a regular migration of the islands and loops down river, would
+not be accurate. The changes of the bed of the river are essentially
+due to variations in the volume of the different arms, which are
+constantly changing their size and adapting their shape to the body
+of water that flows in them. The radius of the curve of each arm is
+proportional to its volume. A long island is formed between two arms
+of equal size which both describe symmetrical curves. If the volume of
+one of them is reduced, its original curve is replaced by sinuosities
+of smaller radius, and these nibble the edges of the island and give
+it an irregular shape. If the volume increases again, the winding bed
+is abandoned and becomes a dead bed, and a larger meander begins. The
+track followed by the ships then breaks up into a series of meanders
+over a course of about eight miles and a half, and this means the
+concentration in a single channel of the greater part of the water of
+the river, and in narrower bends in the sections where the current is
+divided between several arms.</p>
+
+<p>From San Lorenzo to San Pedro the river flows by the cliff of the
+right bank. It is remarkably regular, and has only one slight bend: an
+exceptionally good site, on which the town of Rosario is built. At
+almost equal intervals, differing by only about ten to thirteen miles,
+the river leaves the cliff, and is separated from
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>
+
+it by an alluvial strand, or by an insular zone a few miles in
+width.<a  id="FNanchor_130_130"
+href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">130</a> Below this bend
+the current again touches the cliff and landing is easy. The small,
+older ports of the Paran&aacute;&mdash;Constituci&oacute;n, San
+Nicolas, Puerto Obligado and San Pedro&mdash;are built on similar
+sites. It does not seem that the islands at the foot of the cliff
+tend to extend downward in front of these ports; the points where the
+river reaches the cliff are fixed. The depth is often considerable
+at the foot of the cliff (138 feet opposite Puerto Obligado). The
+shoals are distributed irregularly at the bends, where the channel
+moves away from the cliff. They all have to-day a minimum depth of
+twenty-one feet.<a  id="FNanchor_131_131"
+href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">131</a> On the left bank
+the secondary arms sprawl over the alluvial plain for thirty-five miles
+north of the river.</p>
+
+<p>The delta begins at San Pedro. The Paran&aacute; Guazu, or main arm,
+leaves the cliff on the right bank and passes to the Uruguayan bank
+opposite Carmelo. The Paran&aacute; de las Palmas, which branches off
+from it to the south and passes before Campana and Zarate at the foot
+of the tableland, is deep and easy to navigate, but it is closed at the
+bottom of the estuary by a six-foot bar, which makes it a sort of blind
+alley opened only above. The arms of the zone of the delta differ from
+those of the river-zone proper in the irregularity of their course.
+Flowing between long islands, they sometimes lie in straight stretches
+and at other times in meanders or almost perfect buckles. The channels
+of the southern part of the delta, near Buenos Aires, are called
+<span lang="es">caracoles</span> (snails) on account of their winding shape. The weakness
+of the current, which is held up by the tide, is seen also in the
+distribution of the greater depths; they are no longer uniformly found
+along the concave edge of the bends, but are scattered irregularly. On
+the Paran&aacute; Guazu a depth of 130 feet has been ascertained. Its
+minimum depth is twenty-two feet.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+  <a id="Parana_Above_the_Estuary" href="images/illus-305.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-305.jpg" alt="The Paran&aacute;" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE PARAN&Aacute; ABOVE THE ESTUARY.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">Right bank. The river has moved away from the
+      <em>barranca</em>, leaving at its foot an alluvial plain of
+      imperfect spiral form.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XXII.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-305.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The study of the estuary may be taken separately from that of the
+river. It consists of three parts, unequal in size, which open with
+increasing breadth toward the Atlantic. The upper Rio de la Plata,
+above Colonia and Punt&aacute; Lara, has a width of about thirty-five
+miles. The middle Plata, twice as wide, extends to the latitude of
+Montevideo and Punt&aacute; de las Piedras. Then the outer harbour
+opens between Maldonado and Punt&aacute; Rasa. The water is still fresh
+in the middle estuary up to eighty miles below Buenos Aires.</p>
+
+<p>The bottom is alluvial except in the channels between Martin Garcia
+and Colonia.<a  id="FNanchor_132_132"
+href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">132</a> Differently from up
+the river, where the channels have sandy bottoms, while the banks are
+of fine clay, the channels of the estuary have bottoms of mud and clay.
+In the outer harbour the pilots recognize the approach of banks by the
+sand which is brought up by the sounding-lead. The action of the waves,
+which is not found in the river, accumulates stuff of comparatively
+large size and weight on the banks.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the conclusions embodied in the nautical instructions,
+which describe the estuary as a theatre of rapid changes "occasioned by
+the continual deposits of sand brought down by the Paran&aacute; and
+the Uruguay,"<a  id="FNanchor_133_133"
+href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">133</a> the estuary is,
+as a matter of fact, in a remarkable state of equilibrium, and there
+is no trace of a gradual accumulation of alluvia, or of important
+changes of channel. The shore of the delta north of the Paran&aacute;
+de las Palmas, covered with rushes which protect it from the attack
+of the waves, shows neither advance nor retreat. The broad lines
+of the hydrography of the Rio de la Plata are plainly indicated on
+Woodbine Parish's map. The English Navy map of 1869 (on the basis
+of observations in 1833, 1844 and 1856) only differs in detail from
+the present map. The stability of the channels is surprisingly
+different from the changes in the bed of the river in the flood-zone.
+The permanence of the bottom, in spite of the loose deposits of
+the estuary, is explained by the regularity of the currents. These
+currents, which determine the submarine topography of the Rio de la
+Plata and the distribution of the banks, are not of river origin. They
+are tidal currents.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There are two groups of shoals in the estuary. The first, the Playa
+Honda, occupies the whole western part of it up to a line drawn from
+Buenos Aires to Colonia. These banks leave a narrow passage in the
+north, opposite the Uruguayan shore, and this is followed by ships
+going to Uruguay and the Paran&aacute; Guazu. The second group of
+shoals is the Ortiz Bank, triangular in shape, which rests in the
+north on the Uruguay coast below Colonia, while its point extends
+south-eastward to eighteen miles north of the Punt&aacute; de las
+Piedras. It keeps the zone of deepest water in the middle estuary to
+the south, near the Argentine shore. In the latitude of the point
+of the Ortiz Bank, on a line from Montevideo to Punt&aacute; de las
+Piedras, the middle estuary is separated from the outer harbour by a
+bar (<span lang="es">barra del Indio</span>) with thirty-eight feet of water, caused by the
+transverse currents which circulate from point to point inside the
+English Bank.</p>
+
+<p>The tide in the estuary is very irregular. The south-east winds
+increase the flow and retard the ebb. When they are blowing, it often
+happens that the level of the water in the upper estuary keeps up from
+one
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
+
+tide to the next, sometimes for several days. The tide, which is slight
+at Montevideo, is greater at the bottom of the harbour on the Barra
+del Indio, sometimes rising nearly forty inches there. From there it
+advances with difficulty northward, over the Ortiz Bank, along the
+Uruguayan shore, whereas it passes freely into the deeper zone on the
+Argentine side.<a  id="FNanchor_134_134"
+href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">134</a> At Buenos Aires it
+still has a depth of thirty inches. From there it advances northward by
+the Martin Garcia channels beyond the Playa Honda. The channel of the
+Pozos del Barca Grande, which crosses the Playa Honda bank from north
+to south, parallel to the edge of the delta, is oriented in conformity
+with the tidal currents and maintained by them. It is not attached to
+the river, and it is separated from the mouths of the Paran&aacute; de
+las Palmas or the Paran&aacute; Mini by shallows which are navigable
+only to small boats. The <span lang="es">Rias</span> of the Uruguay, where the tide raises
+the water twelve inches, forms a sort of reservoir which, at the ebb,
+feeds a strong current round Martin Garcia and sweeps the channels
+there.</p>
+
+<p>The work done for the improvement of the estuary includes the
+deepening to thirty feet of the Barra del Indio and the dredging of a
+straight channel from that point to Buenos Aires. Steamers of large
+tonnage going up the Paran&aacute; leave this channel twenty-six
+miles east of Buenos Aires, and turn north in order to pass east of
+Martin Garcia, and enter the river by the Paran&aacute; Guazu or the
+Paran&aacute; Bravo. Since 1901 the Argentine Government has considered
+a plan of opening a direct route from Buenos Aires to the Paran&aacute;
+de las Palmas, either by cutting an artificial canal at the foot of
+the cliffs, across the Tigre archipelago, or by using the channel of
+the Pozos del Barca Grande and cutting the narrow bar which closes the
+Paran&aacute; de las Palmas below. If this were done, the ports of
+the Paran&aacute; de las Palmas would have direct access to the sea.
+Moreover, the new route from the Paran&aacute; to the Atlantic would
+be entirely within Argentine territory, out of range of the Uruguayan
+shore, and Buenos Aires would become a necessary port of call both on
+departure and return.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Above the estuary, the work for the improvement of the Paran&aacute;
+began in 1904 and 1905. Since 1910 the material dredged from the
+bed of the river has risen to 3,500,000 cubic metres a year on the
+average. The experience gained in the course of this work has enabled
+the Argentine hydrographic service to adjust its methods to the
+incomparable force of the river. It is impossible to maintain a general
+rectification of the bed and the banks, as is possible with European
+rivers. The only thing to do is to submit quietly to the plan which
+the river sketches for itself, and be content to deepen the difficult
+passages on the line of the main arm. Suction dredges, which work
+easily in the sand, attack each ridge or <span lang="es">paso</span> from below, making a
+channel into which the waters flow, so that it tends to enlarge itself
+up stream. The dredges are shifted from bank to bank according as the
+soundings tell of the formation of fresh obstacles to navigation.
+They were at first concentrated below Rosario, where the Argentine
+Government had to carry out certain engagements contracted with the
+Port Company; then they were scattered as far up as Santa F&eacute;.
+The actual equipment suffices to carry out the programme that had been
+drawn up&mdash;to maintain a depth of twenty-one feet as far as Rosario
+and of nineteen feet as far as Santa F&eacute;.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Map_VII" href="images/illus-311.png" type="image/png">
+      <img src="images/illus-311.png" alt="Map" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">MAP VII.&mdash;ESTUARY OF THE RIO DE LA PLATA.</p>
+   <p class="figcaption">The channels of the estuary are parallel to
+      the direction of the tidal currents, which account for their
+      depth. Those which cross the shoals of the Playa Honda, at
+      the bottom of the estuary, finish as no-thoroughfares, and
+      do not give access to the southern arms of the river. From
+      Buenos Aires ships going up the river have to go round by Martin
+      Garcia and the mouths of the Paran&aacute; Guazu.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-311.png" type="image/png">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As regards the section above Santa F&eacute;, the engineer Repossini
+advises that, instead of adopting a programme of expensive dredging
+with uncertain results, they should first think of adjusting navigation
+to the natural conditions, and they are such as would be considered
+very favourable in Europe. The hydrographic service would, however,
+still have two functions: in the first place, the topographical study
+of the river and the constant placing of buoys, and, in the second
+place, the observation of its behaviour and anticipation of variations
+of level. The utility of the work of foreseeing floods, which has been
+carried on since 1907, has been abundantly proved. It published a daily
+bulletin of forecasts, based upon observation of the pluviometric
+scales of the upper river, which is equally valuable to the navigators
+and to breeders in the floodable area. It enables the breeders to get
+their cattle into safety before the floods come. On the other hand, the
+ship can, thanks to the bulletin, foretell what depth of water it will
+find at critical passages, and calculate exactly the load it can carry,
+and so complete its cargo lower down. The service of forecast of floods
+has morally improved navigation on the Paran&aacute; by suppressing
+every possible pretext for wilful stranding, which had become a current
+form of speculation.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Nothing is more varied than the fleet which now serves the
+Paran&aacute;. It includes tramps, and long, slim European ships, which
+load up with cereals and meat; large river boats, luxurious and light;
+barges and tugs, lighters and schooners, which have compensation for
+their slowness in their cheapness.</p>
+
+<p>As regards navigation, the river is now divided into three sections.
+Maritime navigation ascends as far as Santa F&eacute;. At Rosario and
+Santa F&eacute; it goes right to the heart of the zone of cereals and
+to the fringe of the forest area. The upper section, between Rosario
+and Santa F&eacute;, is less safe than the lower section, and this is
+reflected in the cost of freightage from Santa F&eacute;.</p>
+
+<p>The ports of the lower Paran&aacute;, between Santa F&eacute; and
+Buenos Aires, may be classed in three categories. The ports of the
+first group are built on low land
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>
+
+that is liable to be flooded. Every year the floods threaten their
+traffic. That is the character of Colastin&eacute;, east of Santa
+F&eacute;, which specializes in shipping <span lang="es">quebracho</span> timber, or
+Ibicuy, on the Paran&aacute; Pavon, in the south of the province of
+Entre Rios, which, however, is protected by excellent works. The
+small ports of the <span lang="es">barranca</span> of the southern bank, on the main river
+and on the Paran&aacute; de las Palmas, form a second group. They
+ship meat (Campana and Zarate) and cereals (San Nicolas and Villa
+Constituci&oacute;n), and they are admirably adapted for this by their
+natural situation. Steamers come right up to the cliff without any need
+of special works on the shore. The sacks of wheat are let into the
+ships down sloping gangways from stores excavated in the cliff or from
+wagons. None of these ports are equipped for receiving imports. The
+third group comprises ports with complete apparatus for both export and
+import. The chief of these is Rosario. It was the increase of imports
+between 1850 and 1860 that stimulated its early progress. To-day the
+tonnage of the goods unloaded at Rosario is nearly one-half the tonnage
+of the cereals shipped there. Yet, in spite of appearances, it is the
+imports that account mainly for the busy life of its quays. The port
+company does the unloading itself, as well as the handling and storing
+of the goods imported, but it is content to receive dues on all exports
+within the area for which it has a monopoly. Only a small part of the
+cereals exported uses its elevators. A deep-water port, equipped like
+that at Rosario for import and export, has just been constructed at
+Santa F&eacute;. Already it competes with Colastin&eacute; for the
+export of <span lang="es">quebracho</span>. Its import trade is still small, as such trade
+requires large capital and a whole network of relations with the
+adjoining country, and that is not the work of a day.</p>
+
+<p>The second section of the river stretches from Santa F&eacute; to
+Corrientes, and is continued up the Paraguay.
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>
+
+The transport of <span lang="es">quebracho</span> timber and tannic acid is the chief item
+of its trade. The maximum draught of the vessels it admits at normal
+low water is six feet. Some of the ports on the left bank (Esquina,
+Goya) and all the ports on the right bank (Reconquista, Barranqueras,
+etc.) are at some distance from the main bed, or lateral arms. The
+Chaco works have generally a flotilla of steamers and barges. It is
+the exporters of timber and extract of <span lang="es">quebracho</span> to Europe who most
+strongly demand the deepening of the bed of the Paran&aacute; above
+Santa F&eacute;. Sailing ships share with the river steamers the
+transport of the products of the Paraguay and of Corrientes (hides,
+tobacco and <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span>). The transport of oranges alone from San
+Antonio, Villeta, Pilar and Huma&iuml;ta represents an item of tens of
+thousands of tons.</p>
+
+<p>The third section of the river stretches from Corrientes to Posadas,
+and beyond. Sailing ships have disappeared from this section, as they
+cannot make the Apip&eacute; rapids. Steamers of four and a-half feet
+draught and 150 tons are now used on it, but they cannot proceed at
+low water. They provide a direct service between Buenos Aires and
+Posadas, though the service is not very economical, because it does
+not permit them to use to the full the transport-capacity of the
+river below Corrientes. Most of the goods for Posadas are, therefore,
+trans-shipped at Ituzaingo, below the rapids, or at Corrientes. The
+steamboat companies which serve Posadas are obliged, in order to secure
+the economical transport of goods shipped on the upper Paran&aacute;,
+to maintain lines which go up the Paraguay as far as Asunci&oacute;n,
+and take on at Corrientes the goods that come from Posadas. Higher up,
+the falls of the Guayra and the Yguassu set an impassable limit to the
+enterprise of Argentine vessels. Boats on the stretch above Yguassu on
+the Paran&aacute; feed the railways of the Brazilian tableland. The
+traffic of the upper Paran&aacute; consists chiefly of <span lang="es">mat&eacute;</span>
+from Misiones
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>
+
+and cedar-planks from the Posadas saw-mills. Rafts of timber are
+stopped at Posadas and rarely follow the river further.</p>
+
+<p>The Argentine statistics of navigation are obscure. They confuse
+under one heading the river-traffic between Posadas and Brazilian
+territory, or between Corrientes and the Paraguay, and the exports of
+the Pampean region to Europe. It is difficult to get from them an idea
+of the real traffic, or to distinguish the tonnage loaded or unloaded
+at each port from that which merely touches its quays in ships going
+up or coming down the river. They credit a score of ports with a total
+tonnage of (entries and clearances together) more than 500,000 tons.</p>
+
+<p>At all events, they do enable us to distinguish between ports
+exclusively devoted to river traffic and those with direct relations
+to oversea ports. Nearly all the boats destined for the Paran&aacute;
+touch at Buenos Aires, which remains the chief importing centre, on the
+way up, and unload there. They then go empty to Rosario, San Nicolas,
+or Santa F&eacute; to take on a full cargo of cereals or timber, and
+set out down the Paran&aacute; for Europe without calling at Buenos
+Aires. Clearances for interior navigation at the port of Buenos Aires
+are far more numerous than entries. From 1912 to 1914 Buenos Aires
+received on the average, coming from interior ports, 1,750,000 tons,
+of which 1,635,000 were cargo. It cleared for the same ports ships
+totalling 3,275,000 tons, of which 1,580,000 were in ballast. The
+latter figure fairly represents the tonnage of sea-going ships sent
+up river empty after discharging on the quays of Buenos Aires. At
+Rosario, San Nicolas and San Pedro, on the other hand, the tonnage
+of clearances for Argentine ports is much less than the tonnage of
+entries.<a  id="FNanchor_135_135"
+href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">135</a> The total movement
+of goods at the port of Rosario is 410,000 tons entries and 375,000
+tons clearances for interior navigation, and 1,100,000 tons entries
+and 1,824,000 tons clearances for navigation abroad.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>According to Repossini's calculations the tonnage of exports on the
+lower Paran&aacute; south of Santa F&eacute; rose in 1910 to 4,000,000
+or 4,500,000. The imports, almost entirely confined to Rosario, were
+about a fourth of this figure. For the middle and upper Paran&aacute;,
+Repossini estimated the volume of the traffic at 800,000 tons, of which
+<span lang="es">quebracho</span> was two-fifths.</p>
+
+<p>The navigation of the Paran&aacute; is one of the chief sources
+of the prosperity of Buenos Aires. Even if the development of the
+import trade at Rosario or Santa F&eacute; is partly at the expense
+of the capital, and the boats laden with cereals do not stop at its
+quays, still the coasting traffic on the river is in great part meant
+for Buenos Aires. In returning, rather than go empty, the boats take
+cargoes of European products bought from the Buenos Aires importers.
+By means of the Paran&aacute; the import-trade sphere of influence
+of Buenos Aires reaches beyond the frontiers of Argentina, as far as
+Paraguay and part of Brazil. Buenos Aires is, moreover, the main centre
+for equipping the steamboats of the river. Its capital dominates the
+Paran&aacute;. Lastly, the Paran&aacute; supplies it with an export
+freight which must not be overlooked. It is at Buenos Aires that the
+hides, tobacco and timber and extracts of <span lang="es">quebracho</span> for oversea
+markets, shipped on schooners in the upper reaches of the river which
+are impassable for steamers, are trans-shipped for abroad.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a><br />
+THE POPULATION</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">
+   <p>The distribution of the population&mdash;The streams of
+   emigration to the interior&mdash;Seasonal migrations&mdash;The
+   historic towns&mdash;The towns of the Pampean
+   region&mdash;Buenos Aires.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A large-scale chart of the mean density of the population for
+each province&mdash;like those which were published in the latest
+Argentine Census-reports&mdash;has no geographical value for the west
+and north-west, where oases of slight extent are separated by vast
+desolate stretches, deserted because of the lack of water. In the
+Pampean region, on the other hand, the population is distributed in a
+very regular manner, and the mean densities calculated fairly represent
+the facts.</p>
+
+<p>To the several types of exploitation, of which we have studied
+the distribution on the Pampa, there correspond unequal densities
+of population. Cattle-breeding, for instance, requires only a thin
+population. The early pastoral colonization of the plain on the west
+of the Salado was carried out, between 1880 and 1890, with a very
+small number of workers. A large ranch of 400 square kilometres on the
+northern edge of the Pampa (the Tostado ranch) only employs about a
+hundred men, or one for four square kilometres. The density increases
+appreciably for sheep-breeding on the <span lang="es">pastos tiernos</span> of Buenos Aires
+province, where a ranch of a hundred square kilometres, devoted to
+producing wool, with fifty or sixty shepherds, sustains at least 200
+persons, or two to the square
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>
+
+kilometre.<a id="FNanchor_136_136" href="#Footnote_136_136"
+class="fnanchor">136</a> The density is not appreciably greater in the
+area of wheat-growing on a large scale, where the extent cultivated
+by one family reaches, including fallow, 200 hectares. But it may,
+even apart from the urban population, be more than ten to the square
+kilometre in the maize belt.</p>
+
+<p>The growth of the population of Argentina can be followed closely
+from the middle of the eighteenth century. A Census taken in 1774
+gives the Buenos Aires district within the first line of forts 6,000
+inhabitants. At the end of the eighteenth century (Census of 1797,
+quoted by D'Azara) the population of the province of Buenos Aires,
+without the town, was a little over 30,000 souls, the zone occupied
+having been extended in the meantime, at least in part, as far as the
+Salado. Woodbine Parish estimates the population at 80,000 in 1824, at
+the time when the expansion southward, beyond the Salado, as far as the
+Sierra de Tandil, began. It doubled between 1824 and 1855. The northern
+departments then counted 45,000 inhabitants, the western 58,000 and the
+southern 63,000. The density was still a little greater in the north,
+along the road to Peru, but the advance of sheep-rearing in the south
+was beginning to change the centre of gravity of colonization. The
+first regular Census of the Argentine Republic in 1869 showed a still
+more rapid advance. The population of the Buenos Aires province had
+grown to 315,000 inhabitants. The increase was greatest in the west,
+where tillage began to extend round Chivilcoy, beyond the pastoral
+area, and in the south, where sheep-farms multiplied. The population of
+the southern departments more than doubled in fourteen years (137,000
+inhabitants to 70,000 square kilometres in occupation, or two to the
+square kilometre).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>However, the Pampean region&mdash;Buenos Aires (including
+the capital), Santa F&eacute;, and the southern part of
+C&oacute;rdoba&mdash;still had a smaller population than that of the
+northern and north-western provinces: 626,000 as compared with 813,000.
+The Mesopotamian provinces had then 263,000 inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>The proportion was reversed twenty-five years later at the 1895
+Census. The population of the Pampas had increased threefold, and was
+more than a half of the entire population of the country. That of the
+western and north-western provinces was about a third of the whole, and
+had only increased by fifty per cent.</p>
+
+<p>If one considers in detail the distribution of the population of
+the Pampean plain in 1895, one sees that beyond the suburbs of Buenos
+Aires the area of greatest density&mdash;five to eight per square
+kilometre&mdash;was in the north-west, between San Andres de Giles and
+Pergamino, a district of advanced methods, where the cultivation of
+maize was beginning to occupy a good part of the land. The population
+was confined to the west of the preceding zone, in the agricultural
+area of Junin, Chacabuco and Chivilcoy. This area, where maize and
+wheat were next each other, already embraced Viente Cinco de Mayo (five
+to the square kilometre) on the west and Nueve de Julio (2.5). In the
+south of Buenos Aires, the departments of the left bank of the Salado,
+which were entirely given up to breeding, but long colonized, had a
+density of three to five per square kilometre. The region lying between
+the lower Salado and the Sierra de Tandil, a sheep-breeding area, then
+giving good returns but of recent colonization, had not more than
+three. The density falls rapidly as one goes westward. It sinks to less
+than one in the north-west and west of the Buenos Aires province, in
+the area where the cattle-breeders from the east had settled. At Santa
+F&eacute;, the region of the colonies, at the level both of Rosario and
+Santa F&eacute;, had five inhabitants per square kilometre. But beyond
+the C&oacute;rdoba frontier the density falls to two in the San Justo
+department, and still less further south, at Marcos Juarez, Union and
+General Lopez.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Drying_Hides" href="images/illus-321a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-321a.jpg" alt="Drying Hides" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">THE OLDER INDUSTRIES OF THE PAMPA: DRYING HIDES.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-321a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Drying_Salt_Meat" href="images/illus-321b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-321b.jpg" alt="Drying Salt Meat" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">DRYING SALT MEAT.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XXIII.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-321b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In 1914 the density was more than fifteen in the whole of the
+maize area in the Buenos Aires and Santa F&eacute; provinces, and it
+approached this figure in the departments of the old agricultural
+colonies on the middle Salado. In the region of the lucerne farms it
+was three to five, except in the south-east (departments of Veinte
+Cinco de Mayo, Nueve de Julio and Bolivia), where it rose, thanks to
+the co-existence of ranches and of wheat and maize. It sank to between
+two and three in the wheat area in the south and south-east of Buenos
+Aires. At Santa F&eacute; the district of the colonies had seven to the
+square kilometre.</p>
+
+<p>The growth of the population is partly explained by immigration
+from Europe. Foreigners were, in 1914, 30 per cent. of the total
+population.<a  id="FNanchor_137_137"
+href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">137</a> The proportion of
+foreigners to the total population is one of the indications by which
+we can best follow the advance of colonization. As soon as it relaxes
+in any region, the number of immigrants diminishes. (The children
+born of foreign colonists in Argentina are considered indigenous in
+Argentine statistics.) In 1869 the proportion of foreigners rose to
+417 per 1,000 in the province of Buenos Aires (without the capital).
+This was the great period of pastoral colonization and the development
+of sheep-breeding. It was then only 156 per 1,000 at Santa F&eacute;.
+In 1895 the proportion of foreigners sank to 309 per 1,000 at Buenos
+Aires, but rose to 419 at Santa F&eacute;, where the date almost
+marks the end of the great period of agricultural colonization. In
+1914 the proportion of foreigners at Buenos Aires rose to 340 per
+1,000 (development of the maize region and the southern wheat area).
+It sank at Santa F&eacute; (350 per 1,000), in spite of considerable
+immigration in the southern maize-growing departments. At the same
+time there was a great influx of foreign population in the province of
+C&oacute;rdoba (200 per 1,000) and in the area of the Central Pampa
+(360 per 1,000).<a  id="FNanchor_138_138"
+href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">138</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The recent enumerations also enable us to follow the displacements
+of the indigenous population on Argentine territory and the part this
+has had in colonization. Outside the Pampean region the parts of the
+country which have proved centres of attraction for the Argentine
+population are the sugar provinces of Tucum&aacute;n and Jujuy and the
+province of Mendoza. In 1895 Tucum&aacute;n had 40,000 inhabitants who
+had been born in other provinces, Jujuy 15,000 and Mendoza 19,000. The
+attraction of Tucum&aacute;n was mainly felt in the adjoining province
+of Santiago (12,000 immigrants) and Catamarca (12,000). At Mendoza the
+immigrants came mainly from San Juan (7,000) and San Luis (3,000). The
+attraction of the timber region is more difficult to estimate, because
+most of the <span lang="es">obrajes</span> are in the province of Santiago, which found
+the workers itself, and the enumerations have not taken into account
+displacements within each province. Nevertheless, immigration into the
+land of the <span lang="es">quebracho Chaque&ntilde;o</span>, along the Paran&aacute;, can
+be recognised from 1895 onward. It was maintained by the Corrientes
+province. Santa F&eacute; has 10,000 immigrants from Corrientes, of
+whom 6,500 are in the forestry departments of Reconquista and Vera.
+The Chaco region maintains 2,000 Corrientes wood-cutters and several
+hundred from Santiago
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>
+
+and Salta. Corrientes has also sent 5,000 emigrants to Misiones.</p>
+
+<p>In the Pampean region the population of Buenos Aires in 1895
+included very few who came from other provinces. The population of
+Santa F&eacute; was more mixed. The attraction of the agricultural
+colonies had brought 65,000 Argentine immigrants. They came mainly from
+the left bank of the Paran&aacute; and C&oacute;rdoba. The immigrants
+from C&oacute;rdoba are localized along the railway from Rosario to
+C&oacute;rdoba, in the Belgrano and Iriondo departments and the town
+of Rosario. The migration of the Santa F&eacute; colonists to the new
+lands in the west had scarcely begun at that time. They were still
+only 3,000 in the Buenos Aires province, and 5,000 at C&oacute;rdoba;
+most of them were in departments adjacent to the old colony area. The
+colonization of C&oacute;rdoba began simultaneously in the east, toward
+Santa F&eacute;, and in the south-west, in the Rio Cuarto department,
+to which the breeders from San Luis went. Similarly, the Argentine
+population of the Central Pampa includes elements from the east as
+well as European colonists and elements from the north-west (10,000
+immigrants from the Buenos Aires province, 3,000 from San Luis).</p>
+
+<p>The 1914 Census has less complete details in regard to interior
+immigration than its predecessor. The migrations had not ceased. The
+attraction of Tucum&aacute;n and Mendoza had, in fact, decreased.
+The province of Tucum&aacute;n had 55,000 Argentine immigrants, the
+province of Jujuy 15,000, the province of Mendoza 34,000. The provinces
+of Mendoza and Corrientes remained nuclei of considerable immigration
+(38,000 and 63,000 immigrants). At Santa F&eacute; the number of
+emigrants who left the province to settle at C&oacute;rdoba and in
+the remainder of the Pampean region rose from 14,000 to 87,000. The
+Patagonian territory also had a large excess of immigrants from other
+provinces.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Periodic migrations with no definitive change of residence are not
+given in the official statistics. The importance of these migrations
+in northern Argentina has been noted in the chapters we devoted to
+Tucum&aacute;n and the forestry industry. They occur also in the
+Pampean region, where they are due chiefly to <del>he </del><ins>the </ins>need of labour for
+the harvest and the threshing of wheat and flax, and for reaping the
+maize. Miatello has given us a detailed analysis of the phenomenon for
+the province of Santa F&eacute; in 1904. The period when the wheat
+and flax growers need help is from November to February. It begins
+in March for the maize farmers, and lasts so much longer when the
+harvest is good. The temporary immigrants come partly from Europe.
+Not only is the stream of immigration to Argentina fuller during the
+months which precede the harvests, while the stream of re-emigration
+to Europe is greatest in the autumn, but it is not a rare thing for
+Italians to go every year to Argentina merely to stay there during
+the harvest, when wages are high. This seasonal immigration from
+Italy is of long standing; it is mentioned by Daireaux in 1889.
+These foreigners, however, are only part of the adventurous crowd
+enlisted for the harvests on the Pampean plain. Seasonal migration is
+everywhere a national practice. The labour employed in reaping the
+maize includes elements borrowed from the towns near the maize belt.
+But all the provinces round the Pampean region send their contingent of
+temporary immigrants. Some even come from the valley of the Rio Negro
+at Bah&iacute;a Blanca, from San Luis, and even from Mendoza to the
+Central Pampa and the C&oacute;rdoba province.</p>
+
+<p>The oldest, and still the largest, stream is that which comes
+from the Santiago province. D'Orbigny notices in 1827 the temporary
+streaming of Santiague&ntilde;os to the coast. In that year slow
+progress was made with the wheat-harvest of Buenos Aires
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>
+
+because of the shortage of labour. "The forced levies for the army
+prevented the Santiague&ntilde;os from going to hire themselves,
+as was their custom, in fear lest they should be compelled to
+serve."<a  id="FNanchor_139_139"
+href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">139</a></p>
+
+<p>Temporary emigration began, no doubt, with the journeys
+which brought the northerners to Buenos Aires as drivers of
+convoys of wagons. Santiague&ntilde;os were numerous amongst these
+<span lang="es">troperos</span>. Lorenzo Fazio collected reminiscences of these journeys
+in the land of the <span lang="es">ba&ntilde;ados</span>.<a
+id="FNanchor_140_140" href="#Footnote_140_140"
+class="fnanchor">140</a> They go back to the first quarter of the
+nineteenth century, the period before the diversion of the Rio Dulce
+and the ruin of Salavina and Atamisqui. "My father," said one of his
+informants, "drove wagons of wheat to C&oacute;rdoba, and sometimes to
+Buenos Aires, where he sold them and bought goods-stuffs in exchange.
+He bought the wheat at Loreto, Atamisqui or Salavina. It was a year
+before he got back, because it was necessary to wait for the rain and
+the growth of the vegetation, otherwise his animals would have died of
+thirst or hunger on the road." The journeys of the <span lang="es">troperos</span> meant a
+long spell of idleness in the Pampean region, precisely at the harvest
+season. Naturally, they would lend a hand in it.</p>
+
+<p>The temporary emigration of the Santiague&ntilde;os continued
+throughout the nineteenth century. It was maintained even during the
+disturbances under the government of Rosas, which almost entirely put
+an end to commercial relations between Buenos Aires and the northern
+provinces. When Galvez passed through the villages on the Rio Dulce
+he noticed that there were few men in them. They had scattered over
+the roads or were, as he says, <span lang="es">andariegos</span>. Only the women remained.
+The province of Buenos Aires received the Santiague&ntilde;os in
+crowds, offering their services. Chivilcoy and the whole region of the
+<span lang="es">chacras</span> of maize and wheat received their caravans for the harvest,
+and some were kept for the sowing. Even the ranchers took advantage of
+this reinforcement, and hired the men for marking. In the autumn they
+went back with their <span lang="es">tropillas</span>, much dreaded by the breeders whose
+land they crossed, stealing any horses that were not well guarded.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The province of Santa F&eacute;, especially in the agricultural
+departments of the north-west, is now the chief theatre in the Pampean
+region for the immigration of the Santiague&ntilde;os. It does not
+always come by rail, but has to some extent preserved its primitive
+and picturesque features. The immigrants arrive in troops on mules and
+horses, and scatter in November over the colonies.</p>
+
+<p>The population of Argentina has also felt the attraction of the
+urban centres. The growth of the towns is due to both foreign and
+national immigration. The development of urban life, which is one
+of the characteristic features of modern Argentina, is a recent
+phenomenon. There was no indication of its coming in the eighteenth
+century. D'Azara was, on the contrary, struck by the absence of
+communal life (<span lang="es">pueblos unidos</span>). The scattering of the population
+was a result of the predominance of breeding. "If these people
+found profit in agriculture, one would see them gather together
+in villages, instead of the whole population being dispersed in
+ranches."<a  id="FNanchor_141_141"
+href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">141</a> It is this
+scattering of the population rather than an absolute numerical
+inferiority&mdash;the solitude, "the desert, the universal
+horizon that forced itself into the very entrails of the
+land"<a  id="FNanchor_142_142"
+href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">142</a>&mdash;that moulded
+the fiery soul of the <span lang="es">gaucho</span>.</p>
+
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Herd_of_Creole_Cattle" href="images/illus-329a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-329a.jpg" alt="Creole Cattle" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">A HERD OF CREOLE CATTLE.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Widmayer.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-329a.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+<div class="thumb">
+   <a id="Herd_of_Durham_Cattle" href="images/illus-329b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
+      <img src="images/illus-329b.jpg" alt="Durham Cattle" />
+   </a>
+   <p class="figtitle">A HERD OF DURHAM CATTLE.</p>
+   <p class="credit">Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.</p>
+   <p class="plate">Plate XXIV.</p>
+   <p class="click">
+      <a href="images/illus-329b.jpg" type="image/jpeg">Click to view larger image.</a>
+   </p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The primitive urban sites were all either on the river or on the
+historic roads to Chile and Peru. The only towns of the Paran&aacute;
+region at the end of the eighteenth century were Buenos Aires, Santa
+F&eacute; and Corrientes. As to towns in the interior, Helms's
+journey in 1778 gives us some idea of their size. C&oacute;rdoba,
+at the crossing of the Peru road and the tracks to the province of
+La Rioja, had then 1,500 white inhabitants and 4,000 blacks. As it
+was near the Sierra, which provided granite and lime, it had some
+semblance of architecture, and had paved streets, which struck even
+the traveller from Buenos Aires. The attraction of its schools
+was felt over a wide area. We still have a list of students from
+Paraguay who studied at C&oacute;rdoba University in the eighteenth
+century.<a  id="FNanchor_143_143"
+href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">143</a> Tucum&aacute;n and
+Salta, especially Salta, also were busy centres. Salta had 600 Spanish
+families and 9,000 inhabitants in all, and its influence extended as
+far as Peru and Chile. Jujuy, on the other hand, was a very small town.
+Helms mentions the decay of Santiago del Estero. The trade which had
+once flourished there had, he says, gone in a different direction.
+The prosperity of Santiago was, as a matter of fact, connected with
+traffic on the direct route from Santa F&eacute; to Tucum&aacute;n,
+which ceased at the close of the eighteenth century. Santa F&eacute;
+also was a decaying town at the close of the eighteenth century, and
+would remain such until the middle of the nineteenth. Its distress was
+due, not merely to the suspension of its direct trade with Peru, but
+also to the decay and isolation of Paraguay, which had provided most
+of its trade and for which it acted as intermediary with the Andean
+provinces.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The great development of urban life in Argentina dates from the
+time of the colonization of the Pampean region. The ratio of the urban
+population has risen considerably during the last twenty-five years.
+In 1895, 113 centres with more than 2,000 inhabitants comprised 37
+per cent. of the total population of Argentina; in 1914 the number
+of urban centres was 322, and they comprised 53 per cent. of the
+population. The population of towns with 5,000 to 20,000 inhabitants
+has increased threefold in twenty years, rising from 312,000 in 1895 to
+977,000 in 1914. Large new towns like Rosario and Bah&iacute;a Blanca
+were created. The relative sizes of the older towns changed rapidly.
+Tucum&aacute;n and Mendoza (121,000 and 92,000 inhabitants) shot beyond
+Santiago and Salta (22,000 and 28,000 inhabitants). The towns of the
+north-west, Catamarca and Rioja, are, on the other hand, scarcely
+developed.</p>
+
+<p>When one examines a chart of the urban population of the Pampean
+region, one finds that colonization has led to the creation in it of
+ten chief centres, of from 15,000 to 25,000 inhabitants, and some fifty
+secondary centres, of from 5,000 to 12,000 inhabitants, which all
+have a distinctly urban character. This association of urban centres
+and a scattered agricultural or pastoral population is one of the
+original features of the way in which the Pampa was peopled. There is
+no village, or purely rural group. The distribution of these centres
+on the plain is fairly regular. They are a little closer together in
+the districts near the Paran&aacute;, to the north of Buenos Aires,
+where the population is older, and where the density, even of the rural
+population, is at its highest. The territory of the Pampa is divided
+between the spheres of influence of these various centres. Their radius
+is as low as ten miles in the north-west, and is about twenty miles in
+the south of Buenos Aires and twenty-five in the extreme west.</p>
+
+<p>A secondary railway nucleus has generally settled the sites of them
+(San Francisco-Pergamino, Junin). Their population comprises all the
+workers needed for the flow of the economic life of the Pampa: agents
+for the exporters of cereals, merchants who supply the
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>
+
+colonies with imported goods&mdash;especially agricultural
+machinery&mdash;bankers and insurance companies, surveyors and
+lawyers. Those which have the best service of trains have a certain
+amount of industry&mdash;mills and breweries&mdash;the products of
+which are absorbed locally. These towns derive all the elements
+of their life from the Pampean region itself, and have no direct
+relations either with foreign markets or with other parts of
+Argentina.<a  id="FNanchor_144_144"
+href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">144</a></p>
+
+<p>But the towns of the Pampa which have grown
+most rapidly are the ports. Rosario rose from 23,000
+inhabitants in 1869 to 91,000 in 1895 and to 245,000
+in 1914; Bah&iacute;a Blanca from 9,000 in 1895 to 62,000
+in 1914. The actual population of the Pampa ports
+is not at all in proportion to the part which each
+plays in the export of Pampean products:&mdash;</p>
+
+<table summary="cereal exports">
+   <caption>Export of Cereals in thousands of tons.</caption>
+   <thead>
+      <tr><th colspan="6">(Average for 1913-1915)</th></tr>
+      <tr>
+         <th>Rosario.</th>
+         <th>Buenos Aires.</th>
+         <th>Bah&iacute;a Blanca.</th>
+         <th>San Nicolas.</th>
+         <th>La Plata.</th>
+         <th>Santa F&eacute;.</th>
+      </tr>
+   </thead>
+   <tbody>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="right">2,716</td>
+         <td>2,051</td>
+         <td>1,075</td>
+         <td>651</td>
+         <td>459</td>
+         <td>278</td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td colspan="6" class="right">
+            <b>Population in 1914.</b>
+         </td>
+      </tr>
+      <tr>
+         <td class="right">245,000</td>
+         <td>1,575,000</td>
+         <td>62,000</td>
+         <td>19,000</td>
+         <td>137,000</td>
+         <td>64,000</td>
+      </tr>
+   </tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Some centres, such as Campana, Zarate, San Pedro or San Nicolas,
+which load up meat or grain in great quantities, have nevertheless
+remained small towns. Neither the trade in meat nor that in cereals
+is enough of itself to sustain a busy urban life. In point of
+fact, the growth of the Pampa ports is mainly connected with their
+function as importing ports and markets of capital. The close
+dependence of Bah&iacute;a Blanca upon Buenos Aires in both these
+respects seems to forbid it all hope of ever becoming the equal of
+Rosario. The prosperity of Rosario was founded during the time when
+Buenos Aires was isolated, between 1853 and 1860; this enabled them
+to organize an import trade there and to accumulate a nucleus of
+independent capital.<a id="FNanchor_145_145" href="#Footnote_145_145"
+class="fnanchor">145</a></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The development of Buenos Aires must be studied separately. It
+does not merely reflect the success of the colonization of the
+Pampa; it is a phenomenon of a national order. The attraction
+of Buenos Aires has been felt throughout the whole land. In
+1895, of a total population of Argentine birth of 318,000
+souls, more than a half&mdash;167,000&mdash;were born in the
+provinces.<a  id="FNanchor_146_146"
+href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">146</a> The way in which
+the prosperity of Buenos Aires is bound up, not only with that of the
+adjacent territory but with that of the whole country, is seen in the
+stability of the figure representing the number of the inhabitants
+who have come from foreign lands. While the proportion of foreigners
+in each of the provinces varies from one census to another, according
+to the displacements of the stream of colonization, it remains almost
+the same at Buenos Aires: 496 per 1,000 in 1869, 520 in 1895, 493 in
+1914.</p>
+
+<p>The population of the city of Buenos Aires was estimated by Helms
+in 1788 to be between 24,000 and 30,000. D'Azara put it at 40,000
+in 1799. The Revolution did not interrupt its growth. According to
+the estimate of Woodbine Parish the city had 81,000 inhabitants in
+1824. On the other hand, the Rosas Government involved a period of
+stagnation (90,000 inhabitants in 1855). But after 1855 Buenos Aires
+resumed its progress, even before the political unity of Argentina was
+re-established, and has never since relaxed. Its population has doubled
+almost regularly at intervals of fifteen years: 177,000 in 1869,
+433,000 in 1887, 663,000 in 1895, and 1,575,000 in 1914. The latter
+figure, in fact, is inadequate. Greater Buenos Aires, including the
+outlying parts, has really 1,990,000 inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The site on which the city is built is a regular plateau, sixty-five
+feet above sea level, cut by flat-bottomed, marshy valleys. The
+Riachuelo, at the mouth of one of these valleys, provided Buenos Aires
+with its first port. The low and badly drained lands of the valleys are
+occupied by the poorest quarters. Their sides, the <span lang="es">barrancas</span>, bear
+the aristocratic residences, and the gardeners have been able to use
+the sites to great advantage in their plans.</p>
+
+<p>As a whole, the growth of Buenos Aires presents the same feature of
+regularity, on account of the uniformity of the soil, as the spread
+of colonization over the plain of the Pampas. The city is distributed
+in concentric zones, and it is thus a model on a small scale of the
+distribution of the various types of exploitation on the Pampa which
+surrounds it. The central nucleus, the business quarter, contains not
+only the offices, but the warehouses of imported goods. Round this
+centre, with a radius of one to three miles, are the residential
+quarters in which the density is greatest (250 to 350 to the hectare).
+Beyond this the density sinks to less than 200 per hectare and less
+than fifty on the outskirts. The central quarters developed the maximum
+density after 1900. Those of the first outer zone have gained greatly
+between 1904 and 1909. Since the latter date, the progress of these
+quarters has been arrested in turn, and the recent growth is mainly in
+the remote working-class suburbs in the south and on the bank of the
+Riachuelo.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Buenos Aires has preserved in its central district, and reproduces
+in all its outer districts, the primitive draught-board plan of a
+Spanish colonial city. This plan is not suited to its needs to-day. The
+rapid growth of the city and its expansion&mdash;the mean density is
+not more than fifty-four inhabitants to the hectare, as against 360 at
+Paris&mdash;complicate the problem of transport. At the present time
+the city is considering plans for reconstructing its thoroughfares
+and making diagonal streets, starting from the centre and following
+the direction of the main streams of traffic. In this way the city
+would reproduce the fan-wise distribution of railways over the Pampean
+plain.</p>
+
+<p>Buenos Aires is the intermediary between the provinces and oversea
+countries. It has three titles to this profitable part. In the first
+place, it is the chief centre of the import trade. The merchants of the
+cities in the interior are customers of the Buenos Aires importers,
+and are closely bound to them by a system of long-term credit. Buenos
+Aires is, secondly, the centre for the distribution of the European
+capital which has been used in the development of the country. Lastly,
+it divides immigrant workers amongst the provinces, just as it divides
+capital. As an immigration port its position is unrivalled. The efforts
+that were made to divert part of the immigrants to Bah&iacute;a Blanca
+failed, and direct immigration to the Santa F&eacute; province ceased
+at the close of the first period of colonization, about 1880. It is
+also at Buenos Aires that immigrants who are not going to settle in
+Argentina embark; re-emigration, which is regarded as a national
+plague by Argentine economists, is another source of profit to the
+capital. Hence the fortune of Buenos Aires is due in the first place to
+the close contact between the economic life of Argentina and that of
+Europe and North America.</p>
+
+<p>But its very growth has led to a gradual change in the part it plays
+in the interior of the country. In
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>
+
+proportion as its population and wealth grew, it became a great
+national market. The products of the provinces go to it, not merely to
+meet its own needs as consumer, but in order to be distributed over the
+entire country. The figures of the cattle trade on the Buenos Aires
+market are instructive in this respect. From January to July 1919 there
+were 1,130,000 head of cattle sold, 240,000 being for the supply of the
+capital and 700,000 for the refrigerators.<a
+id="FNanchor_147_147" href="#Footnote_147_147"
+class="fnanchor">147</a> Of the remainder, 120,000 were bought for
+fattening and 40,000 by the butchers of other towns. The capital of
+its own which has accumulated at Buenos Aires is invested either in
+real estate or in industry, which has found great profit both in the
+development of local consumption and in the great stock of labour
+provided by immigration. Buenos Aires is not now content to be merely
+an intermediary between the country and foreign lands. It contributes
+by its own resources and work to the task of colonization and the
+supply of manufactured articles to the agricultural and pastoral
+districts. It is, finally, a luxurious city, with every opportunity
+for the men who have grown rich by the rise in the price of lands to
+spend their income, and providing pleasure for the country folk who
+come up occasionally, tired of their laborious, rough and solitary
+existence.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a><br />
+<a  id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="BIBLIOGRAPHY">BIBLIOGRAPHY</a></h2>
+
+<p>I give here only the most important and most recent works. A list of
+the articles I have consulted would be long and uninteresting, while
+a complete list of those which might have been consulted, and from
+which information might have been gleaned, is impossible. For a work
+of this character there is no account of travel, no study of the soil,
+the climate, or the vegetation, no statistical document or journal or
+purely historical text, that has not a perfect right to be regarded as
+a source.</p>
+
+<h3>1. Periodicals.</h3>
+
+<p>Of the periodicals published in Argentina, and partly or wholly
+devoted to the study of the land and its development, the principal
+are:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><cite>Boletin del Instituto Geografico Argentino</cite> (Buenos Aires, since
+1879; vol. i, 1879, vol. ii, 1881; one vol. yearly from 1881 to 1901;
+has appeared irregularly since).</p>
+
+<p><cite>Anales de la Sociedad Cientifica Argentina</cite> (Buenos Aires, 2 vols,
+yearly from 1876).</p>
+
+<p><cite>Revista de la Sociedad Geografica Argentina</cite> (Buenos Aires, only
+appeared from 1883 to 1889).</p>
+
+<p><cite>Boletin de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de C&oacute;rdoba</cite>
+(C&oacute;rdoba, since 1874, 23 vols. to 1918).</p>
+
+<p>The publications of the Buenos Aires and La Plata museums also
+contain, besides copious anthropological, arch&aelig;ological,
+pal&aelig;ontological, and historical material, a large number of
+articles of interest to geographers:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><cite>Anales del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Buenos Aires.</cite>
+Begins 1864, 25 vols., folio and quarto, to 1914.</p>
+
+<p><cite>Anales del Museo de la Plata.</cite> First series 1890-1900, second
+series from 1907.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><cite>Revista del Museo de la Plata.</cite> From 1890-1891, 17 vols. to
+1910-1911.</p>
+
+<p>All these reviews contain especially articles on the parts of the
+country which were last explored&mdash;Patagonia, Chaco, Misiones. They
+contain little about the parts that were early colonized, though these
+are not always the best known.</p>
+
+<h3>2. Maps.</h3>
+
+<p>The maps published in the eighteenth century (D'Anville's map, 1733,
+in the <cite>Lettres &eacute;difiantes</cite>, 19th collection, Paris, 1734:
+Bellin's map in vol. ii of the <cite>Histoire du Paraguay</cite> of the R.P.P.F.X.
+de Charlevoix, Paris, 1756, 3 vols., etc.) are based upon information
+collected by the Jesuit missionaries.</p>
+
+<p>D'Azara's map (1809) shows a remarkable advance.</p>
+
+<p>Important corrections of D'Azara's map are found in Woodbine
+Parish's map (1838).</p>
+
+<p>Brackebusch's two maps are essential documents: <cite>Mapa del interior
+de la Republica Argentina</cite>, por el Dr. L. Brackebusch, 1:1,000,000
+(Gotha, 1835) and <cite>Mapa geologico del interior de la Republica
+Argentina</cite>, 1:1,000,000 (Gotha, 1890).</p>
+
+<p>The results of earlier work have been used in the <cite>Atlas de la
+Republica Argentina construido y publicado por el Instituto Geografico
+Argentino</cite> (Buenos Aires, 1894), which includes a list of its
+sources.</p>
+
+<p>Since that date many maps have been published: maps of the various
+provinces and surveys drawn up by the railway companies, the Chile
+Frontier Commission (see Patagonia), the Mines Division (see Natural
+Regions), and the Ministerio de Obras Publicas (see River Routes). A
+brief account of the history of Argentine cartography and a list of
+maps of provinces will be found in Colonel B. Garcia Aparicio, <cite>La
+carta de la Republica (Anuario del Instituto Geografico Militar</cite>, i,
+1912, Buenos Aires, pp. 1-27).</p>
+
+<p>The Military Geographical Institute has itself published a large
+number of maps, either on the basis of fresh surveys or by compiling
+earlier work, chiefly:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>About thirty sheets on the scale 1:25,000 (Pampean region) since
+1904, interesting for studying the relief of the plain.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Governacion de la Pampa," 1:500,000 (Estado Mayor, 3A Division,
+Buenos Aires, 1909).</p>
+
+<p>Three sheets on the scale 1:1,000,000 (Buenos Aires, Concordia,
+and Corrientes). Buenos Aires, provisional edition 1911 of a map of
+Argentina on the scale 1:1,000,000, which is to comprise twenty-one
+sheets.</p>
+
+<p>A convenient reference map, though of no scientific value, is
+the map of the railways, on the scale 1:2,000,000, in three sheets,
+published in 1910 by the Ministerio de Obras Publicas.</p>
+
+<h3>3. Statistics.</h3>
+
+<p>A summary of the chief statistics is published annually in <cite>The
+Argentine Yearbook</cite> (from 1902 at Buenos Aires; from 1909 at Buenos
+Aires and London).</p>
+
+<p>The <cite>Anuario de la Direcci&oacute;n General de Estadistica</cite>, which
+has appeared since 1880 in one, two or three vols. quarto, gives the
+figures of trade, immigration, agriculture, railways, navigation, etc.
+(last volume consulted is for 1914, Buenos Aires, 1915).</p>
+
+<p>In the third volume of the <cite>Anuario</cite> for 1912 will be found a
+list of the publications of the Direcci&oacute;n de Estadistica.
+Besides the <cite>Anuario</cite> the Direcci&oacute;n publishes a bulletin with
+commercial statistics (last number consulted 181, "El comercio exterior
+Argentino en los primeros trimestres de 1918 y 1919," Buenos Aires,
+1919). <cite>Boletin</cite> 176 contains a review of Argentine trade from 1910 to
+1917.</p>
+
+<p>The statistical department of the Ministry of Agriculture, under the
+direction of E. Lahitte, publishes the <cite>Boletin Mensual de Estadistica
+Agricola</cite> (last volume consulted, xxi, 1919).</p>
+
+<h3>4. General Descriptions.<a
+id="FNanchor_148_148" href="#Footnote_148_148"
+class="fnanchor">148</a></h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The scientific study of this part of South America may be traced
+back as far as D'Azara. His observations are collected in Don Felix de
+Azara, <cite>Voyages dans l'Am&eacute;rique m&eacute;ridionale</cite>, published
+by Walckena&euml;r (Paris, 1809, 4 vols. in 12<sup>mo</sup> and atlas)
+and <cite>Descripci&oacute;n e historia del Paraguay y del Rio de la Plata</cite>,
+published by D. Agustin de Azara (Madrid, 1847, 2 vols. octavo).</p>
+
+<p>The <cite>Voyage dans l'Am&eacute;rique m&eacute;ridionale</cite> of Alcide
+d'Orbigny contains his observations on the Paran&aacute;, the province
+of Corrientes, the Pampa (Parchappe's voyages), and Patagonia (1828).
+(Historical section, vol. i, Paris, 1835; vol. ii, Paris, 1839-43; vol.
+iii, third part, geology, Paris, 1842).</p>
+
+<p>Darwin also visited the coast of Patagonia and crossed the Pampa
+(1833): <cite>Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of H.M.S. "Adventure"
+and "Beagle"</cite> ... vol. iii, as <cite>Journal</cite> and <cite>Researches</cite> (London,
+1839).</p>
+
+<p>Sir Woodbine Parish's work, <cite>Buenos Aires and the Provinces of the
+Rio de la Plata</cite> (London, 1838), is remarkably well-informed, and is
+based upon a thorough study of previous publications and archives.</p>
+
+<p>W. MacKann's <cite>Ten Thousand Miles' Ride through the Argentine
+Republic</cite> (London, 1855, 2 vols.) is interesting, and the work of a
+close observer.</p>
+
+<p>Martin de Moussy, <cite>Description g&eacute;ographique et statistique de
+la Conf&eacute;d&eacute;ration argentine</cite> (Paris, 1858, 3 vols. octavo
+and atlas), is unequal, but full of information.</p>
+
+<p>The work of H. Burmeister, <cite>Description physique de la
+R&eacute;publique argentine</cite> (Paris, 2 vols., 1876), is of little
+value, and has been overrated.</p>
+
+<p>Richard Napp, <cite>Die Argentinische Republik</cite> (Buenos Aires, 1876, I
+vol. octavo), includes a valuable chapter by P. G. Lorentz on the flora
+("Vegetationsverhaeltnisse Argentiniens," pp. 87-149).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The second volume ("Territoire") of the <cite>Second recensement de la
+R&eacute;publique argentine</cite> (Buenos Aires, 1898) includes a joint
+geographical study by a number of writers.</p>
+
+<p><cite>G&eacute;ologie</cite>, by J. Valentin.</p>
+
+<p><cite>Climat</cite>, by G. G. Davis.</p>
+
+<p><cite>Flore</cite>, by E. L. Holmberg.</p>
+
+<p>Some attempt at a general consideration of our geographical
+knowledge of Argentina has been made by E. A. S. Delachaux, "Las
+regiones f&iacute;sicas de la Republica Argentina" (<cite>Rev. Mus. Plata</cite>,
+xv, 1908, pp. 102-131).</p>
+
+<p>Our physical knowledge of Argentina has been greatly promoted by
+the work of the Direcci&oacute;n de Minas. The results are summarized
+in the <cite>Memorias de la Direcci&oacute;n general de Minas, Geologia,
+e Hidrologia</cite>, published from 1908 onward (<cite>Anales del Ministerio de
+Agricultura, Secci&oacute;n geologia, mineralogia, y mineria</cite>: last
+volume published for the year 1915, Buenos Aires, vol. xii, No. 2).</p>
+
+<p>Special works are published in the same section of the <cite>Anales del
+Min. Agric.</cite>, and in the <cite>Boletines de la Direcci&oacute;n de Minas,
+Geologia, e Hidrologia</cite>. See, especially, series B (Geologia). These
+reports and the accompanying maps are the basis of all work on the
+geography of Argentina. They already cover a great deal of Argentine
+territory. The work of Keidel, in particular, which is an essential
+contribution to the geological history of the South-American continent,
+and that of Windhausen, are largely concerned with physical geography,
+the study of the relief, and the influence of the climate on the
+landscape.</p>
+
+<p>A summary of the history of study of the soil of Argentina will
+be found in E. Hermitte, <cite>La geologia y mineria Argentina in 1914</cite>
+(<cite>Tercer Censo Nacional</cite>, vol. vii, pp. 407-494).</p>
+
+<p>As to climate: Buenos Aires Ministerio de Agricultura, <cite>Servicio
+Meteorologico Argentino, Historia y Organisacion, con un resumen de los
+resultados</cite>, preparado bajo la direcci&oacute;n de G. G. Davis (Buenos
+Aires, 1914, quarto), dispenses one from consulting any previous
+works.</p>
+
+<p>There is a very complete bibliography of works on the botany
+and geographical botany of Argentina in F. Kurtz, "Essai d'une
+bibliographie botanique de l'Argentine" (2nd edition, <cite>Bol. Acad. Nac.
+Ciencias C&oacute;rdoba</cite>, xx, 1915, pp. 369-467).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There is a convenient summary of our knowledge of the primitive
+population in Felix F. Outes and Carlos Bruch, <cite>Los aborigenes de la
+Rep. argentina</cite> (Buenos Aires, 1910).</p>
+
+<h3>5. North-West Argentina.</h3>
+
+<p>The most complete general work on irrigation is that of E. A.
+Soldano, <cite>La irrigaci&oacute;n en la argentina</cite> (Buenos Aires, 1910,
+octavo). See also C. Wouters, "La irrigaci&oacute;n en el valle de
+Lerma" (<cite>An. Soc. Cient. Argentina</cite>, lxvi, 1908, pp. 117-145).</p>
+
+<p>The best description of the Puna de Atacama and the country of the
+Valles is in Eric Boman, "Antiquit&eacute;s de la r&eacute;gion andine
+de la Republique Argentine et du d&eacute;sert d'Atacama" (<cite>Mission
+scientifique G. de Crequi, Montfort, et E. Senechal de la Grange</cite>,
+Paris, 1908, 2 vols.).</p>
+
+<p>L. Brackebusch, "Ueber die Bodensverhaeltnisse des nordwestlichen
+Teiles der Argentinischen Republik mit Bezugnahme auf die Vegetation"
+(<cite>Petermann's Mitteilungen</cite>, 1893, p. 153) is a general description of
+the whole of north-western Argentina; but Brackebusch's description
+of his journey, "Viaje a la provincia de Jujuy" (<cite>Bol. Inst. Geog.
+Argent.</cite>, iv, 1883, pp. 9-17, 204-211, and 217-226) is fresher and more
+useful.</p>
+
+<p>I have mentioned in the note to p. 40 Bodenbender's work on the
+province of La Rioja.</p>
+
+<p>Of the various articles, from all quarters, on North-Western
+Argentina the following may be noticed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>J. B. Ambrosetti, "Viaje a la Puna de Atacama de Salta a Caurchari"
+(<cite>Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent.</cite>, xxi, 1900, pp. 87-116).</p>
+
+<p>F. K&uuml;hn, "Descripci&oacute;n del camino desde Rosario de Lerma
+hasta Cachi" (<cite>Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent.</cite>, xxiv, 1910, pp. 42-50).</p>
+
+<p>H. Seckt, "Contribuci&oacute;n al conocimiento de la
+vegetaci&oacute;n del Nordeste de la Rep. Arg.&mdash;Valles de
+Calchaqui y Puna de Atacama" (<cite>An. Soc. Cient. Arg.</cite>, lxxiv, 1912, pp.
+185-225).</p>
+
+<p>Juan F. Barnabe, "Informe sobre el distrito minero de Tinogasta"
+(<cite>An. Min. Agric., Seccion Geol. Mineralogia y Mineria</cite>, x, No. 4,
+Buenos Aires, 1915).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On the Puna de Atacama:</p>
+
+<p>L. Caplain, "Informe sobre el estado de la mineria en el Territorio
+de los Andes" (<cite>An. Min. Agric., Seccion Geol. Mineralogia y Mineria</cite>,
+vii, No. 1, Buenos Aires, 1912).</p>
+
+<p>On the sub-Andean chains:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Guido Bonarelli, "Las Sierras subandinas del Alto y Aguarag&uuml;e y
+los yacimientos petroliferos del distrito minero de Tartagal" (<cite>ibid.</cite>,
+viii, No. 4, Buenos Aires, 1913). See also Direcci&oacute;n General
+de Minas, Geol., e Hidrol, <cite>Boletin</cite>, series B, No. 9 (Buenos Aires,
+1914).</p>
+
+<p>On the Chaco Salte&ntilde;o:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>L. Arnaud, "Expedici&oacute;n al Chaco" (<cite>Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent.</cite>,
+vi, 1885, pp. 201-210).</p>
+
+<p>On the part of the San Luis province that lies in the zone of the
+scrub:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Av&eacute;-Lallemant, "Datos orograficos e hidrograficos sobre
+la Provincia de San Luis" (<cite>Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent.</cite>, v, 1884, pp.
+191-196, and 222-224), and "Apuntes sobre represas y baldes en San
+Luis" (<cite>An. Soc. Cient. Arg.</cite>, xi, 1881, pp. 178-188).</p>
+
+<p>A. L. Cravetti, "Investigaci&oacute;n agricola en la Provincia
+de San Luis" (Buenos Aires, 1904, <cite>An. Min. Agric.</cite>, Secci&oacute;n
+Agric., Botanica, y Agronomia, vol. i, No. 5).</p>
+
+<p>On the scrub south of Mar Chiquita:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>H. Frank, "La repoblaci&oacute;n forestal en la region de la Mar
+Chiquita" (<cite>Bol. Dep. gen. Agric. y Ganaderia</cite>, Prov. C&oacute;rdoba,
+ii, 1912, pp. 52-57), and "Contribuci&oacute;n al conocimiento de la
+Mar Chiquita" (<cite>ibid.</cite>, pp. 87-101).</p>
+
+<h3>6. Tucum&aacute;n and Mendoza.</h3>
+
+<p>On Tucum&aacute;n see Emilio Lahitte, <cite>La industria azucarera,
+apuntes de actualidad</cite> (Buenos Aires, 1902).</p>
+
+<p>The best source of the economic history of the sugar industry is
+the file of the <cite>Revista azucarera</cite> ("organa de los cultivadores de
+ca&ntilde;a y fabricantes de azucar," Buenos Aires).</p>
+
+<p>On Mendoza, "Investigaci&oacute;n vinicola" (Buenos Aires, 1903,
+<cite>Anales</cite>, Min. Agric., Secci&oacute;n Comercio, Industrias, y Economia,
+i, No. 1).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3>7. Forestry Industries.</h3>
+
+<p>Rudolf Leutgens, "Beitr&auml;ge zur Kenntniss des Quebracho-Gebietes
+in Argentinien und Paraguay" (<cite>Mitteil. Geogr. Ges. Hamburg</cite>, xxv,
+1911, pp. 1-70).</p>
+
+<h3>8. Patagonia.</h3>
+
+<h4>A. The Tableland.</h4>
+
+<p>Apart from Villarino's journey on the Rio Negro in the eighteenth
+century, the first journey across the Patagonian tableland is that of
+G. Chaworth Musters, <cite>At Home with the Patagonians</cite> (London, 1871).</p>
+
+<p>In the early volumes of the <cite>Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent.</cite> will be found
+the results of various explorations between 1878 and 1885 by Argentine
+travellers.</p>
+
+<p>With this group of documents, which provided the first material
+for his conclusions, we may associate the geological studies of
+Florentino Ameghino, "L'&acirc;ge des formations s&eacute;dimentaires
+de Patagonie" (<cite>An. Soc. Cient. Argentina</cite>, l, 1900, pp. 109-130,
+145-160, and 209-229; li, 1901, pp. 20-39 and 65-90; lii, 1901, pp.
+189-197 and 244-250; liii, 1902, pp. 161-181, 220-249 and 282-342)
+and "Les formations s&eacute;dimentaires du cr&eacute;tac&eacute;
+sup&eacute;rieur et du tertiaire en Patagonie" (<cite>An. Mus. Nac. Buenos
+Aires</cite>, series ii, vol. viii, 1906, pp. 1-568).</p>
+
+<p>On the southern part of Patagonia, south of 50&deg; S.
+lat.:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><cite>Svenska Expeditionen till Magellanslaenderna (Wissenschaftliche
+Ergebnisse der Schwedischen Expedition nach den Magellans Laendern</cite>,
+1895-1897, unter Leitung von Dr. Otto Nordenskjoeld, Band I, Geologie,
+Geographie und Anthropologie, Stockholm, 1907).</p>
+
+<p>On the Magellan region and that of the Santa Cruz:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><cite>Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia</cite>,
+1896-9, i, J. B. Hatcher, <cite>Narrative of the Expeditions, Geography of
+Southern Patagonia</cite> (Princeton and Stuttgart, 1903).</p>
+
+<p>On the Rio Negro district:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>S. Roth, "Apuntes sobre la Geologia y la Paleontologia de las
+Territorios del Rio Negro y Neuquen" (<cite>Rev. Mus. Plata</cite>, ix, 1899, pp.
+141-196).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Of more recent works we must especially notice those of the
+engineers of the Direcci&oacute;n de Minas:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>R. Stappenbeck y F. Reichert, "Informe preliminar relativo a
+la parte sudeste del Territorio del Chubut" (<cite>An. Min. Agric.</cite>,
+Secci&oacute;n Geol. Mineral., y Minas, vol. ix, No. 1, Buenos Aires,
+1909).</p>
+
+<p>Ricardo Wichmann, various studies of the eastern part of the plateau
+of the Rio Negro (<cite>ibid.</cite>, xiii, Nos. 1, 3 and 4, Buenos Aires, 1918
+and 1919).</p>
+
+<p>A. Windhausen, studies on the Rio Negro and the Neuquen (<cite>ibid.</cite>, x,
+No. 1, Buenos Aires, 1914). The geological results of Windhausen's work
+are summarized in articles that appeared in the <cite>American Journal of
+Science</cite> (4th series, xlv, 1918, pp. 1-53) and in the <cite>Bol. Acad. Nac.
+Ciencias C&oacute;rdoba</cite> (xxiii, 1918, pp. 97-128 and 319-364).</p>
+
+<p>We must add G. Rivereto, "La valle del Rio Negro" (<cite>Bol. Soc.
+Geologica Ital.</cite>, xxxi, 1912, pp. 181-237, and xxxii, 1913, pp.
+101-142).</p>
+
+<h4>B. The Andes.</h4>
+
+<p>Numerous articles in the <cite>Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent.</cite> and the <cite>An.
+Soc. Cient. Argentina</cite>, immediately after the military expedition of
+1879-1880 (Host, Av&eacute;-Lallemant, etc.).</p>
+
+<p>A detailed study of the Andean region was undertaken at the time of
+the frontier-quarrel between Argentina and Chile, and this led to a
+number of publications. The work done by the Argentinians under F. P.
+Moreno is used in <cite>Frontera Argentina-Chilena, Memoria presentada al
+tribunal nombrado por el Gobernio de su Majestad Britanica</cite> (London,
+1902, 2 vols. quarto, 1 vol. maps, and 1 vol. photographs), and in the
+<cite>Breve Replica a la memoria Chilena</cite> (London, 1 vol. quarto, 1902).
+See a summary of the results in L. Gallois, "Les Andes de Patagonie"
+(<cite>Annales de G&eacute;ographie</cite>, x, 1901, pp. 232-259).</p>
+
+<p>In the <cite>Revista</cite> and the <cite>Anales</cite> of the La Plata Museum will be
+found part of the research made during this period (1897-1900) by
+Argentine experts; especially the work of Burckhardt and Wehrli on
+the Neuquen Cordillera. The Chilean work which served as the basis of
+the <cite>Statement presented on behalf of Chile in reply to the Argentine
+Report</cite>
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>
+
+(London, 1902, 4 vols. and 2 vols. as appendices) is, on the whole,
+less valuable.</p>
+
+<p>Of later travellers we must mention P. D. Quensel, "On the
+influence of the Ice Age on the continental watershed of Patagonia"
+(<cite>Bull. Geol. Inst. Univ. Upsala</cite>, ix, 1908-9, pp. 60-92), and
+"Geologisch-petrographische studien in der Patagonischen Cordillera"
+(<cite>ibid.</cite>, xi, 1912, pp. 1-114).</p>
+
+<p>Very important surveys in the Cordillera and on the plateau
+of the Rio Negro were made under the direction of Bailey Willis
+(<cite>Northern Patagonia</cite>, Ministry of Public Works, Bureau of Railways,
+Argentine Republic; text and maps by the Comisi&oacute;n de Estudios
+hidrologicos, Bailey Willis Director, 1911-1914, New York, 1914, 1 vol
+and atlas).</p>
+
+<p>On the Patagonian forest (Argentine slope from 40&deg; S. lat.
+to Cape Horn) see Max Rothkugel, <cite>Los Bosques Patagonicos</cite> (Minist.
+Agric., Direcci&oacute;n Gen. Agric. y Defensa Agricola: Officina de
+Bosques y Yerbales, Buenos Aires, 1916).</p>
+
+<h3>9. The Pampean Region.</h3>
+
+<p>The occupation of the western part of the Pampa between 1875 and
+1880 led to a fairly large amount of research. The most important work
+is the <cite>Informe oficial de la Comisi&oacute;n cientifica agregada
+al Estado Mayor General de la Expedici&oacute;n al Rio Negro</cite>, vol.
+iii, <cite>Geologia</cite>, by Dr. Ad. Doering (Buenos Aires, 1882). We must
+also notice G. Av&eacute;-Lallemant, "Excursi&oacute;n al Territorio
+indio del Sud" (<cite>Bol. Inst. Geogr. Argent.</cite>, ii, 1881, pp. 41-49);
+D. Dupont, "Notas geograficas sobre el pa&iuml;s de los Ranqueles"
+(<cite>Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent.</cite>, 1790, pp. 47-56); and Est. Zeballos,
+<cite>Descripci&oacute;n amena de la Republica Argentina</cite>, vol. i, <cite>Viaje al
+pa&iuml;s de las Araucanos</cite> (Buenos Aires, 1881).</p>
+
+<p>Of general works on the Pampa and the Pampean deposits:</p>
+
+<p>Fl. Ameghino, <cite>La formaci&oacute;n Pampeana</cite> (Paris and Buenos
+Aires, 1881), and "Las formaciones sedimentarias de la regi&oacute;n
+litoral de Mar del Plata y Chapalmalan" (<cite>An. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires</cite>,
+series ii, vol. x, 1908, pp. 348-428).</p>
+
+<p>G. Bodenbender, "La cuenca del valle del rio Primero en
+C&oacute;rdoba: Descripci&oacute;n geologica del valle del rio Primero
+desde la Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba hasta la Mar Chiquita" (<i>Bol.
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>
+
+Acad. Nac. Ciencias C&oacute;rdoba</i>, xii, 1890, pp. 1-54); and "Die
+Pampa Ebene in Osten der Sierra von C&oacute;rdoba in Argentinien"
+(<cite>Petermann's Mitteilungen</cite>, 1893, pp. 201-237 and 258-264).</p>
+
+<p>Santiago Roth, "Beobachtungen ueber Entstehung und Alter der
+Pampasformationen in Argentinien" (<cite>Zeitschrift der Deutschen
+Geol. Ges.</cite>, xi, 1888, pp. 375-464); "Beitrag zur Gliederung der
+Sedimentablagerungen in Patagonien und der Pampas Region" (<cite>Neues
+Jahrbuch f&uuml;r Min., Geol., und Pal&auml;ont.</cite>, Beilage, Band xxvi,
+Stuttgart, 1908, pp. 92-150); and "La construcci&oacute;n de un Canal
+de Bah&iacute;a Blanca a las provincias andinas bajo el punto de vista
+hidrogeologico" (<cite>Rev. Museo de la Plata</cite>, xvi, 1909).</p>
+
+<p><cite>Nouvelles recherches sur la formation pamp&eacute;enne et l'homme
+fossile de la Republique argentine.</cite> A collection of scientific
+articles published by R. Lehmann-Nitsche (<cite>Rev. Mus. Plata</cite>, xiv, 1907,
+pp. 143-488), which contains, especially, one by C. Burckhardt, "La
+formation pamp&eacute;enne de Buenos Aires et Santa F&eacute;," and one
+by Ad. Doering, "La formation pamp&eacute;enne de C&oacute;rdoba."</p>
+
+<p>Ales Hrdlicka, <cite>Early Man in South America</cite> (Smithsonian
+Institution, Bull. 52, Washington, 1912&mdash;geological part by Bailey
+Willis).</p>
+
+<p>On the district of the Central Pampa, R. Stappenbeck,
+"Investigaciones hidrogeologicas de los valles de Chapalco y
+Quehu&euml; y sus alrededores" (Min. Agric., Dir. Gen. Minas, Geol., e
+Hidrol., Bol. No. 4, Buenos Aires, 1913).</p>
+
+<p>On various points in detail one may consult:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Lavalle y Medici, "Las nivelaciones de la Provincia" (<cite>Bol. Inst.
+Geog. Argent.</cite>, vii, 1866, pp. 57-71).</p>
+
+<p>P. A. Bovet, <cite>El Problema de los Medanos en el Pais</cite> (Buenos Aires,
+1910).</p>
+
+<p>R. Velasco, "Los Medanos de la Provincia de C&oacute;rdoba"
+(<cite>Bol. Dep. Gen. Agric. y Ganaderia</cite>, Prov. C&oacute;rdoba, i, pp.
+155-173).</p>
+
+<p>Among descriptions of an economic character, which are generally of
+poor value, we must make an exception in favour of Emile Daireaux, <cite>La
+vie et les moeurs &agrave; la Plata</cite> (Paris, 1889).</p>
+
+<p>A few useful notes on colonization will be found in Teod.
+Morsbah, "Estudios economicos sobre el Sud de la Provincia
+<span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>
+de Buenos Aires" (<cite>Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent.</cite>, ix, 1888,
+pp. 143-151) and in E. Segui, "La provincia de Buenos Aires"
+(<cite>Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent.</cite>, xix, 1898, pp. 419-440).</p>
+
+<p>A very useful summary of the results of a general inquiry into
+agriculture will be found in "Investigaci&oacute;n agricola en la Rep.
+argent." (<cite>Anales Min. Agric. Agronomia</cite>, vol. i, No. 1, 2 and 3, Buenos
+Aires, 1904: "Preliminares," by Carlos D. Girola, "Investigaci&oacute;n
+agricola en la region septentrional de la Provincia de Buenos Aires,"
+by Ricardo J. Huergo, and "Investigaci&oacute;n agricola en la
+Provincia de Santa F&eacute;," by Hugo Miatello).</p>
+
+<p>With this inquiry is associated G. D. Girola, <cite>El cultivo del trigo
+en la provincia de Buenos Aires</cite> (Buenos Aires, 1904).</p>
+
+<p>Agricultural censuses have been taken repeatedly. For 1888 F.
+Latzina, <cite>L'agriculture et le b&eacute;tail dans la R&eacute;publique
+argentine</cite> (Paris, 1889). For 1895 (<cite>Secundo censo</cite>, see Population)
+the results are given in C. P. Salas, <cite>Bureau central de Statistique
+de la province de Buenos Aires</cite> and <cite>L'agriculture, l'&eacute;levage,
+et le commerce dans la province en 1895</cite> (La Plata, 1897; maps by
+Delachaux). For 1908, <cite>Censo agro-pecuario nacional</cite>. <cite>La ganaderia
+y la agricultura en 1908</cite> (Buenos Aires, 3 vols. quarto, 1909). Vol.
+iii contains a series of monographs dealing not only with the Pampean
+region, but the economic history of the whole country.</p>
+
+<p>For 1914 (<cite>Tercer censo</cite>, see Population) the publication of vol.
+v, relating to agriculture, is unfortunately delayed. There is
+also available a census of cattle made in 1915 for the Buenos Aires
+province, <cite>Provincia de Buenos Aires, Min. Obras Publicas, Censo
+Ganadero</cite> (1916).</p>
+
+<h3>10. The Railways.</h3>
+
+<p>For the history of the railways see Rebuelto, "Historia del
+desarollo de los ferrocarriles argentinas" (<cite>Bol. Obras Publicas</cite>, vol.
+v, 1911, pp. 113-172, vol. vi, 1913, pp. 1-48 and 81-110, and vol.
+viii, 1913, pp. 1-32), and the entire series of the <cite>Boletin de Obras
+Publicas</cite>.</p>
+
+<p>A sort of annual of the Argentine railways has been published every
+year since 1906 under the title <cite>Killik's Argentine Railway Manual</cite>
+(London, 1 vol. with map, last issue 1918).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3>11. The Paran&aacute;.</h3>
+
+<p>E. A. S. Delachaux, "Los problemas geograficos del territorio
+Argentino" (<cite>Rev. Univ. Buenos Aires</cite>, 1906, v), includes a study of
+the floods of the Paran&aacute;.</p>
+
+<p>The chief source is the memoir of Repossini, "Memoria sobre el rio
+Paran&aacute;" (<cite>Bol. Obras Publicas</cite>, vol. vi, 1912, pp. 141-168
+and 254-264, vol. vii, 1912, pp. 31-48 and 163-186, and vol. viii,
+1913, pp. 33-99). It contains on a reduced scale the map issued by
+the Ministry of Public Works, which is not available in France. The
+defect is supplied by the English Admiralty Charts, "Rio de la Plata,"
+1869 (No. 2544 in the Catalogue of Admiralty Charts), and "River
+Paran&aacute;," parts i, ii, iii, iv, v, and vi of 1905 (Nos. 1982/A
+and 1982/B).</p>
+
+<p>There is an interesting economic summary in W. S. Barclay, "The
+River Paran&aacute;, an economic survey" (<cite>Geogr. Journal</cite>, xxxiii,
+1909, pp. 1-10).</p>
+
+<p>On the estuary:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Alej. Foster, "Regimen del Rio de la Plata y su correcci&oacute;n"
+(<cite>An. Soc. Cient. Argent.</cite>, lii, 1901, pp. 209-234).</p>
+
+<p>G. Rovereto, "Studi di geomorfologia argentina," ii, "Il rio della
+Plata" (<cite>Bol. Soc. Geol. Ital.</cite>, xxx, 1911).</p>
+
+<h3>12. Population.</h3>
+
+<p>Besides municipal and provincial censuses, there have been three
+general censuses:</p>
+
+<p>First census made in 1869, one folio volume published in 1872. I
+have only been able to consult <cite>Oficina del Censo</cite>. <cite>Informe sobre la
+operaci&oacute;n y resultado del Primer censo argentino</cite> (Buenos Aires,
+1870, octavo).</p>
+
+<p>Second census of the Argentine Republic, May 10, 1895 (2 vols,
+quarto, Buenos Aires, 1898).</p>
+
+<p><cite>Tercer Censo Nacional levantado el 1&ordm; de junio de 1914</cite> (10
+vols, quarto, Buenos Aires, 1916-1917). Only the fifth volume, on
+agriculture, is not yet to hand.</p>
+
+<p>A geographical interpretation of the distribution of the population
+was attempted by E. A. S. Delachaux, "La poblaci&oacute;n de la Rep.
+Argent." (<cite>Rev. Univ. Buenos Aires</cite>, iii, 1905).</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="NOTES">NOTES</a></h2>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1">
+   <span class="label">1</span></a> I take the opportunity to
+   thank M. J. B. Teran, who undertook to edit these chapters,
+   and to express, with him, my satisfaction that events have
+   falsified his rather pessimistic predictions as regards the
+   author.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a id="Footnote_2_2" href="#FNanchor_2_2">
+   <span class="label">2</span></a> See E. A. S. Delachaux, "Las
+   regiones <del>fisicas </del><ins>f&iacute;sicas </ins>de
+   la <del>Rep&uacute;blica </del><ins>Rep&uacute;blica </ins>
+   Argentina," <cite>Rev. Museo Plata</cite>,
+   <span class="smcap">XV</span>, 1908, pp. 102-131.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a id="Footnote_3_3" href="#FNanchor_3_3">
+   <span class="label">3</span></a> Holmberg, "La Flora de la
+   <del>Republica </del><ins>Rep&uacute;blica </ins>Argentina,"
+   in the <cite>Secundo Censo de la <del>Republica</del>
+   <ins>Rep&uacute;blica </ins>Argentina</cite>, vol. i.
+   (Buenos Aires, 1898).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_4_4"
+   href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">4</span></a>
+   <cite>Diario de la expedition de 1778 a las Salinas</cite> (Coll. de
+   Angelis, iv.).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_5_5"
+   href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">5</span></a> <cite>F. de
+   Azara, Diario de un reconocimiento de las guardias y fortines
+   que guarnecen la linea frontera de Republica Argentina</cite> (1796,
+   Coll. de Angelis, vol. vi.). The documents collected by de
+   Angelis show clearly that there had been some idea in the
+   middle of the eighteenth century of occupying the whole plain
+   to the east of the Sierra de Tandil. These ideas of expansion,
+   of which D'Azara's plan is another instance, were interrupted
+   by the Revolution (<cite>Diario de D. Pedro Pablo Pabon</cite>, Coll. de
+   Angelis, iv. etc.).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_6_6"
+   href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">6</span></a> M. J.
+   Olascoaga gives (<cite>La conqu&ecirc;te de la Pampa: Recueil de
+   documents relatifs &agrave; la campagne du Rio Negro</cite>, Buenos
+   Aires, 1881) valuable documents concerning both the details
+   of the fight with the Indians and the distribution of their
+   <span lang="es">invernadas</span> (common lands) in the region of the Pampas.
+   Olascoaga translates it "winter quarters"; it was pasturage on
+   which they kept their cattle and from which they set out on
+   their expeditions.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_7_7"
+   href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">7</span></a>
+   See Thomas J. Hutchinson, <cite>Buenos Aires and Argentine
+   Gleanings</cite>.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_8_8"
+   href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">8</span></a> See
+   Geronimo de la Serna, "Expedici&oacute;n militar al Chaco,"
+   <cite>Bol. I, Geog. Argentino</cite>, xv. 1894, pp. 115-79.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_9_9"
+   href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">9</span></a> <cite>Nuevo
+   plan de fronteras de la provincia de la Republica Argentina</cite>
+   (Coll. de Angelis, vol. vi).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_10_10"
+   href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">10</span></a>
+   Letter to the Minister of War, October 19, 1875.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_11_11"
+   href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">11</span></a> See
+   the curious picture, which Hutchinson gives us, of military
+   life on the Rio Salado de Santiago about the middle of the
+   nineteenth century.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_12_12"
+   href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">12</span></a>
+   Mitre, <cite>Historia de Belgrano</cite>, I, ch. i. pp. 4 and
+   5.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_13_13"
+   href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">13</span></a> D.
+   Gregorio Funes, <cite>Ensayo de la historia civil del Paraguay,
+   Buenos Aires, y Tucum&aacute;n</cite> (Buenos Aires, 3 vols., 1816).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_14_14"
+   href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">14</span></a> The
+   Woodbine Parish map (1839) puts Tinogasta eighty miles out of
+   its proper position, at the very foot of the Come Caballos
+   range, thus reducing by one half its distance from Copiapo, on
+   the Chilean slope.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_15_15"
+   href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">15</span></a>
+   B. Poncel, <cite>Mes itin&eacute;raires dans les Provinces du Rio de
+   la Plata, Province de Catamarca</cite> (Paris, 1864).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_16_16"
+   href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">16</span></a>
+   This series, stretching from the Permian to the Tertiary, also
+   includes, especially in the region of the sub-Andean chains,
+   on the fringe of the Chaco, a number of marine strata (see
+   Bonarelli, <cite>Las sierras subandinas del Alto y Aguarag&uuml;e y
+   los yacimientos petroliferos del distrito minero de Tartagal</cite>
+   "Ann. Min. Agric.," Seccion Geologia, Mineralogia, y Mineria,
+   viii. No. 4: Buenos Aires, 1913).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_17_17"
+   href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">17</span></a>
+   G. Bodenbender, <cite>Parte meridional de la Provincia de la Rioja
+   y regiones limitrofes</cite> (Ann. Min. Agric., Seccion Geol.,
+   Minerol., y Mineria, vii. No. 3: Buenos Aires, 1912).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_18_18"
+   href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">18</span></a>
+   Eric Boman, <cite>Antiquit&eacute;s de la r&eacute;gion andine
+   de la R&eacute;publique Argentine et de la Puna de Atacama:
+   Mission scient. G. de Cr&eacute;qui-Montfort et E.
+   S&eacute;n&eacute;chal de la Grange</cite> (Paris, vols. i. and ii.
+   1908).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_19_19"
+   href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">19</span></a>
+   Belmar, <cite>Les provinces de la F&eacute;d&eacute;ration
+   argentine</cite> (Paris, 1856).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_20_20"
+   href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">20</span></a> See
+   Brackebusch, "Viaje a la provincia de Jujuy," <cite>Bol. Instit.
+   Geog. Argent.</cite>, iv. 1883, pp. 9-17.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_21_21"
+   href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">21</span></a>
+   <cite>Memorias sobre el estado rural del rio de la Plata en 1801,
+   Escritos postumos de D. Felix de Azara</cite>, published by D.
+   Augustin de Azara (Madrid, 1847).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_22_22"
+   href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">22</span></a>
+   A. Rengger, <cite>Reise nach Paraguay in den Jahren 1818 bis 1826</cite>
+   (Aarau, 1835).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_23_23"
+   href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">23</span></a>
+   The fattening of cattle for Chile was no longer done in the
+   <span lang="es">invernadas</span> of Mendoza at the beginning of the nineteenth
+   century. See an article on Mendoza in the <cite>Telegrafo
+   Mercantil</cite>, January 31, 1802, which tells of the development
+   of ranches on the Tunuyan. Mendoza and San Juan were their
+   only markets, and they did not sell cattle to Chile.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_24_24"
+   href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">24</span></a>
+   T. J. Hutchinson, <cite>Buenos Aires y otras Provincias argentinas</cite>
+   (translated by L. Varela, Buenos Aires, 1866).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_25_25"
+   href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">25</span></a>
+   Azcarate de Biscay, quoted in H. Gibson, <cite>La evolucion
+   ganadera</cite> in <cite>Censo agropecuario nacional</cite>, Buenos Aires, 1909,
+   vol. iii.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_26_26"
+   href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">26</span></a>
+   A. Z. Helms, <cite>Voyage dans l'Am&eacute;rique m&eacute;ridionale</cite>
+   (Paris, 1812). The journey was in 1788.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_27_27"
+   href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">27</span></a>
+   Imperfect statistics given by Poncel for the province of
+   Catamarca give us some idea of the respective shares of the
+   various Andean districts in the export of Argentine cattle
+   about the middle of the nineteenth century. In 1855 the
+   province of Catamarca sold 2,700 head of cattle (1,300 to
+   Chile, 200 to Bolivia, 600 to San Juan and Mendoza), 3,200
+   mules (2,500 to Bolivia 600 to Salta&mdash;which also were for
+   Bolivia), and 1,200 asses (700 to Bolivia and 400 to Salta).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_28_28"
+   href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">28</span></a> For
+   instance, herds of mules are taken from Abrapampa, on the line
+   of the Quiaca, to the saltpetre mines of Antof&aacute;gasta,
+   whereas every effort to convey cattle by this route has failed.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_29_29"
+   href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">29</span></a>
+   There is an interesting study of fairs on the elevated
+   tableland by G. M. Wrigley, "Fairs of the Central Andes," in
+   the <cite>Geographical Review</cite> (New York), vii. 1919, pp. 65-80.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_30_30"
+   href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">30</span></a> On
+   Aconcagua also the moist forest serves as winter pasture for
+   the cattle from the ranches.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_31_31"
+   href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">31</span></a> The
+   title of the <span lang="es">merced</span> often shows clearly the attraction which
+   the springs at the foot of the Sierra had for colonists. The
+   land of the <span lang="es">merced</span> of Ulapes is defined thus: "The spring
+   and the land within two leagues of it in every direction." The
+   spring is the centre. There its protecting deities live.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_32_32"
+   href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">32</span></a>
+   The higher valleys of Aconcagua offer inexhaustible interest
+   to the visitor. At Sancho (Pucara valley) there is a group of
+   Italian colonists who grow maize and wheat: a unique fact,
+   I believe, in the whole of this part of Argentina. The Tafi
+   valley is mainly pastoral, the pastures of the valley being
+   used in summer and the forest for winter pasture.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_33_33"
+   href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">33</span></a> In
+   1894 it was calculated that ground that was not yet cleared
+   was worth 100 to 150 piastres a hectare at Cruz Alta, and the
+   cost of clearing 150 to 200 piastres, whereas in the moist
+   forest at the foot of the Sierra the land was worth only 75 to
+   100 piastres, the cost of clearing it was double (300 to 350
+   piastres).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_34_34"
+   href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">34</span></a>
+   Except, perhaps, in Barbadoes.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_35_35"
+   href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">35</span></a> A few
+   convoys of cattle still use the Uspallata road, especially
+   over the Espinacito pass in the Cordillera de San Juan.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_36_36"
+   href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">36</span></a>
+   There are at present in the Mendoza province 275,000 hectares
+   with a definitive right, and 303,000 with an eventual
+   right. The concessions fed by the Diamante and the Atuel at
+   San Rafa&euml;l, which amount to 120,000 hectares with a
+   definitive right and 150,000 with an eventual right, are not
+   yet entirely developed.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_37_37"
+   href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">37</span></a>
+   There are more than 6,000 owners at San Juan to 91,000
+   hectares, and more than 9,000 at Mendoza (zone of the rivers
+   Mendoza and Tunuyan) to 130,000 hectares (statistics compiled
+   in 1899).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_38_38"
+   href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">38</span></a>
+   The difference is much greater at a distance from the Cuyo
+   province. Catamarca, which specializes in the production of
+   grapes for the table, is invaded by buyers from Buenos Aires,
+   and begins to send grapes in December, two full months before
+   the harvest begins in Mendoza.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_39_39"
+   href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">39</span></a>
+   While the cultivation of the cane has, for the most part,
+   become dependent upon the sugar industry, which represents
+   large capital, wine-making is, on the contrary, usually
+   regarded as merely an annex of wine-growing.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_40_40"
+   href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">40</span></a>
+   More recent statistics are not to hand. The proportion differs
+   a little every year according to the prices of wine and
+   grapes.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_41_41"
+   href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">41</span></a>
+   Besides the causes of a geographical nature which I have
+   indicated, the separation of cultivation from wine-making has
+   other economic grounds, but they do not fall within the range
+   of this book. The large <span lang="es">bodega</span> is better situated than the
+   small cultivator for organizing the sale of his wines on the
+   distant market of Buenos Aires. Also, the <span lang="es">bodegueros</span> alone
+   are able to meet the competition of Buenos Aires merchants who
+   import European wines and make adulterated wines.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_42_42"
+   href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">42</span></a>
+   Mendoza is further protected by law against fraud. This
+   legislation is partly national and partly provincial. The
+   national law, which takes into account the interests of
+   the merchants of Buenos Aires, permits the manufacture of
+   artificial wines. The provincial law, in the special interests
+   of the productive districts, is more stringent. It prohibits
+   the manufacture of artificial wines. It also fixes the minimum
+   percentage of alcohol, and prevents the dispatch from Mendoza
+   to Buenos Aires of alcoholic wines to mix with must. Finally,
+   it defends the <span lang="es">vi&ntilde;atero</span> against the <span lang="es">bodeguero</span>
+   by fixing the quantity of grapes to be used in making a
+   hectolitre of wine and so prevents fraud at the <span lang="es">bodega</span>.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_43_43"
+   href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">43</span></a>
+   Especially during the crisis of 1902-3.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_44_44" href="#FNanchor_44_44">
+   <span class="label">44</span></a> <cite>Historia de Abiponibus.</cite>
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_45_45"
+   href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">45</span></a> See
+   the chapter on population.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_46_46"
+   href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">46</span></a>
+   Val. Virasaro<ins>,</ins> "Los esteros y lagunas del Ibera" in <cite>Bol.
+   Instit. Geog. Argent.</cite> (vi. 1887; pp. 305-31).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_47_47"
+   href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">47</span></a>
+   <cite>Diario de la navegacion y reconocimiento del Rio Tibicuari</cite>
+   (Coll. de Angelis, vol. ii.).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_48_48"
+   href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">48</span></a> It
+   is more and more necessary to deal with the extract of the
+   <span lang="es">quebracho</span> on the spot the further north one goes toward
+   the interior of the continent because the freights to the
+   exporting ports rise higher and higher.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_49_49"
+   href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">49</span></a> In
+   Brazil the saw-mills for the araucarian pines are established
+   along the S&atilde;o Paolo-Rio Grande Railway.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_50_50"
+   href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">50</span></a>
+   This anomaly is doubtless due to the proximity of the sea and
+   the respite of the westerly winds in winter. The coast, with
+   its cold waters and the land-winds causing the deeper water
+   to rise, has a special climate of fogs and mists. These,
+   which remind us of the <span lang="es">garuas</span> of the coast of Peru, do not
+   penetrate into the interior.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_51_51"
+   href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">51</span></a> The
+   calcareous flag-stone of La Tosca, which is characteristic of
+   the south-west province of the plain of the Pampa, stretches
+   in the south as far as the Rio Negro in the coast-district. On
+   the other hand, it is almost entirely absent a hundred miles
+   to the west, between the Colorado and the Rio Negro, along the
+   line of the railway from Fortin Uno to Choele Choel.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_52_52"
+   href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">52</span></a> G.
+   Rovereto, "Studi di geomorfologia argentina: la valle del Rio
+   Negro," <cite>Bull. Soc. Geol. Ital.</cite>, xxxi. 1912, pp. 101-142 and
+   181-237.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_53_53"
+   href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">53</span></a> The
+   great mass of the Patagonian Andes differs considerably in
+   geological structure from the Argentinian Andes. The Paleozoic
+   sedimentary rocks and the lofty chains of the pre-Cordillera
+   cease at 36&deg; S. lat. The Mesozoic beds&mdash;variegated
+   breccie and porphyritic conglomerates, sandstones, limestones,
+   and marls&mdash;which form the western slope of the Andes
+   in central Chile, pass to the eastern slope at 35&deg; S.
+   lat., where they develop in regular folds, in the direction
+   south-south-east, obliquely to the general line of the range.
+   These folds account for the orientation of the interior
+   valleys, which is remarkably uniform from the Rio Negro to the
+   Collon Cura. They pass in the south-west under the sandstones
+   of the tableland. West of this sedimentary zone, the zone of
+   the sub-Andean granites and diorites, which have not been
+   exposed further north except at the base of the western slope,
+   opens out in the Patagonian Andes, of which it is the main
+   body between Lake Lacar and the Gulf of Ultima Esperanza.
+   In fine, the Patagonian Andes are characterised by volcanic
+   formations. They are seen on the eastern slope about 36&deg;
+   S. lat., in the lava-flows and ashes of Payen and Tromen.
+   Further south volcanoes with acid lava and characteristic
+   cones are restricted to the central zone (Lanin, etc.) and the
+   Chilean flank, but flows of fluid basic lava cover enormous
+   stretches at the eastern fringe of the Andes, and they have
+   spread over a good deal of the Patagonian tableland outside
+   the Andean region.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_54_54"
+   href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">54</span></a>
+   Pablo Groeber, <cite>Informe sobra las causas que han producido
+   las crecientes del Rio Colarado en</cite> 1914. Dir. Gen. de Minas,
+   Geol. e Hidrol., Bol. No. 11, series B, Geologia (Buenos
+   Aires, 1916).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_55_55"
+   href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">55</span></a>
+   Most of the lacustrine depressions are continued eastward
+   across the Patagonian tableland in the shape of distinct
+   valleys. The eastern part of the Straits of Magellan is merely
+   a submerged valley on the axis of Otway Water. Useless Bay
+   also is continued eastward by the hollow which ends in the
+   Bay of San Sebastian. Sometimes the waters of the lakes flow
+   eastward, toward the Atlantic, along these valleys. Generally,
+   however, the lakes of the western slope are drained on the
+   west by means of narrow defiles across the Cordillera, or on
+   the north and south by rivers which follow the sub-Andean
+   depression and thread them together in the manner of a rosary.
+   The valley which joins the lake to the Atlantic is in those
+   cases a dead valley, and the inter-oceanic dividing line
+   of the waters is marked by the frontal moraine of the old
+   glacier, which confines the lake on the east. This arrangement
+   is found, with surprising regularity, from the Alumine and
+   the Lacar to the Neuquen, and as far as Lake Buenos Aires and
+   the Seno de la Ultima Esperanza at Santa Cruz. The capture
+   of the waters of the eastern slope by the rivers of the
+   Pacific across the Cordillera is fairly ancient, and certainly
+   pre-glacial. But during the Glacial Period the glaciers
+   obstructed the transverse valleys of the Cordillera, and the
+   waters of the eastern slope found their way to the Atlantic
+   once more. With the retreat of the glaciers the valleys of the
+   Cordillera were successively cleared. The lakes, dammed by the
+   glaciers, were suddenly released and their level lowered. The
+   valleys of the Patagonian tableland were finally abandoned,
+   and the topographical accident of secondary importance, which
+   the ancient frontal moraine of the glacier represents, came to
+   mark the limit of the domain of the Pacific. The freshness of
+   the contours of the dead valleys of Patagonia bears witness
+   to the recent date of this conquest, which was too sudden
+   or rapid to be called a "capture" in the proper sense. It
+   has not been accomplished everywhere. From Lake San Martin
+   to Lake Buenos Aires all the lakes of the eastern slope are
+   drained into the Pacific by rivers which flow into the Culen
+   fiord. But further south, Lakes Viedma and Argentino are still
+   tributaries of the Atlantic. They correspond to the zone of
+   the Patagonian Andes which is still covered by inland ice. To
+   the north, in the basin of the Puelo and the Yelcho, where
+   the trans-Andean valleys long ago ceased to be obstructed by
+   ice, the lakes of the eastern slope which drain toward the
+   Pacific are small in size. Their level to-day is much lower
+   than it used to be, and a network of streams has developed
+   east of them, on the earlier lacustrine region, which is now
+   dry.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_56_56"
+   href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">56</span></a>
+   <cite>Diario de D. Basilio Villarino del reconocimiento que hizo
+   del Rio Negro en el a&ntilde;o de</cite> 1782 (Coll. de Angelis,
+   vi).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_57_57"
+   href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">57</span></a>
+   It is Woodbine Parish who corrects Villarino's mistake in
+   confusing the Neuquen, at its confluence with the Limay,
+   with the Rio Diamante, known in the south of the Mendoza
+   province.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_58_58"
+   href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">58</span></a>
+   Carlos M. Moyano, "Informe sobre un viaje a traves de la
+   Patagonia," <cite>Bol. Instit. Geog. Argent.</cite>, ii. 1881, pp.
+   1-35.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_59_59"
+   href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">59</span></a> W.
+   Vallentin, <cite>Chubut</cite> (Berlin, 1906).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_60_60"
+   href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">60</span></a> J.
+   Popper, "Exploracion de la Tierra del Fuego," <cite>Bol. Instit.
+   Geog. Argent.</cite>, viii. 1887, pp. 74-93.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_61_61"
+   href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">61</span></a>
+   <cite>Informe de D. Basilio Villarino &agrave; Fr. de Viedma</cite>,
+   Coll. de Angelis, v.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_62_62"
+   href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">62</span></a>
+   L. J. Fontana, "Exploracion en la Patagonia austral," <cite>Bol.
+   Instit. Geog. Argent.</cite>, vii, 1886, pp. 223-239.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_63_63"
+   href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">63</span></a> J.
+   B. Ambrosetti, "Viage a la Pampa central," <cite>Bol. Instit. Geog.
+   Argent.</cite>, xiv. 1893, pp. 292-368.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_64_64"
+   href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">64</span></a>
+   J. V. Siemiradzki, <cite>Eine Forschungsreise in Patagonien</cite>,
+   Petermann's <cite>Mitteilungen</cite>, xxxix. 1893, pp. 49-62.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_65_65"
+   href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">65</span></a> J.
+   B. Hatcher, <cite>Reports of the Princeton University expeditions
+   to Patagonia</cite> 1896-9 (<cite>Narrative of the Expeditions</cite> and
+   <cite>Geography of Southern Patagonia</cite>, Princeton, 1903).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_66_66"
+   href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">66</span></a>
+   C. Villanueva, "De Mendoza a Narguin," <cite>Bol. Instit. Geog.
+   Argent.</cite>, v. 1884, pp. 171-4.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_67_67"
+   href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">67</span></a>
+   Chilean woodcutters have sometimes got as far as the eastern
+   valleys in search of larch, but these were nomads who did not
+   settle.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_68_68"
+   href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">68</span></a>
+   Furque, "Descripci&oacute;n del Pueblo General Roca," <cite>Bol.
+   Instit. Geog. Argent.</cite>, ix. 1888, pp. 124-132.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_69_69"
+   href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">69</span></a> In
+   spite of their importance we must regard as mere episodes in
+   the story of Patagonian colonization the influx of population
+   caused on the eastern coast by the discovery of placer-gold at
+   Cape Virgenes and on the Atlantic coast of Tierra del Fuego
+   (1884), and the discovery of petroleum at Rivadavia (1907)
+   in the course of drilling in search of water. Rivadavia is
+   already, with its 3,000 inhabitants, one of the chief centres
+   in Patagonia.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_70_70"
+   href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">70</span></a>
+   The search for possible routes for cattle in the districts
+   that were not yet colonized helped in the study of Patagonia.
+   Moyano was doing this when he explored the route from Santa
+   Cruz to Lake Nahuel Huapi.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_71_71"
+   href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">71</span></a> This
+   was the area studied by the Commission of which Bailey Willis was
+   chairman.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_72_72"
+   href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">72</span></a>
+   Pedro Ezcurra, "Camino indio entre los rios Negro y Chubut:
+   la travesia de Valcheta," <cite>Bol. Instit. Geog. Argent.</cite>, xix.
+   1898, pp. 134-38.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_73_73"
+   href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">73</span></a> The
+   district of the Rio Negro is not the only part of Patagonia
+   which faces the problem of increasing the winter pasture.
+   Attention has been drawn to the possibility of enlarging the
+   lucerne farms in the district of Colonia Sarmiento, south of
+   Lake Musters, and making this a great wintering area for the
+   Santa Cruz flocks.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_74_74"
+   href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">74</span></a>
+   The work now (1914) in hand will reduce the risk of floods,
+   and will enable them to enlarge considerably the extent of
+   the tilled land. The Cuenca Vidal, which opens amongst the
+   sandstone, below the level of the valley, on the tableland to
+   the north of the Neuquen, will be arranged so as to absorb the
+   flood-water, and it will feed a canal which will serve the
+   left bank over an area of 100 miles. The waters of the Limay
+   will be available for the lower valley.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_75_75"
+   href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">75</span></a> As
+   a matter of fact, of recent years there has been a practice
+   on this slope of disguising the smuggling of animals under
+   the name of "transhumation," as the removal of the sheep
+   facilitated it and helped to maintain it. The shepherds got
+   certificates exaggerating the number of their sheep from the
+   Chilean officials before they crossed the frontier, and under
+   cover of these they came back to Chile with additions to their
+   flocks which they had bought on Argentine territory.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_76_76"
+   href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">76</span></a> On
+   the left bank of the Salado, west of the Resistencia railway,
+   a great gulf of low prairie penetrates into the forest of the
+   Chaco in the north, almost as far as 28&deg; S. lat., but it
+   has rather the character of one of the floodable clearings of
+   the Chaco (<span lang="es">esteros</span>) than of the temperate Pampa.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_77_77"
+   href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">77</span></a>
+   Argentine Mesopotamia, which is a continuation of the Pampean
+   region from the climatological point of view, is also, even
+   in its northern part, without the rigorous dry seasons of
+   the Chaco. Ascending the Paran&aacute;, from Corrientes to
+   Posadas, just as in passing from C&oacute;rdoba to Buenos
+   Aires, one notices that the winter minimum decreases, and a
+   secondary maximum appears in the spring. The predominance
+   of the spring rains, which is a characteristic of southern
+   Brazil, is conspicuous on the middle Uruguay. On the lower
+   part of that river the rain-system approaches that of Buenos
+   Aires, with maxima in spring and autumn, a principal minimum
+   in winter, and a secondary minimum in summer.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_78_78"
+   href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">78</span></a>
+   While the Pampean deposits lie immediately on the crystalline
+   and Paleozoic formations in the sierras of the lower Colorado
+   and of the central Pampa, in the south of the province of
+   Buenos Aires and in Uruguay, they are, on the eastern edge
+   of the Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba, separated from it by red
+   sandstones and conglomerates of uncertain age, perhaps
+   synchronous with the continental red sandstones of Corrientes
+   which outcrop east of the Paran&aacute; and have been known
+   since D'Orbigny's time as "granitic sandstones."
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_79_79"
+   href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">79</span></a>
+   At Rancul, in the east, 660 feet of loess overlying red
+   sandstone: at Telen, in the west, 2,800 feet of sand, marl,
+   sandstone and gravel.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_80_80"
+   href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">80</span></a> Roth
+   claims to have found gravel in the San Nicolas <span lang="es">barranca</span> on
+   the Paran&aacute;. I have myself found small rounded flints in
+   the clay of the Chaco at Tartagal. But these deposits probably
+   come from the left bank of the Paran&aacute;, where the beds
+   of river gravel are considerable.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_81_81"
+   href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">81</span></a>
+   In Ales Hrdlicka, <cite>Early Man in South America</cite> (Smithsonian
+   Instit. Bull., 52, Washington, 1912).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_82_82"
+   href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">82</span></a>
+   Many attempts have been made to classify the Pampean lands,
+   but the results cannot be regarded as final. Ameghino, who is
+   first and foremost a pal&aelig;ontologist, has done a service
+   in showing the futility of these geological divisions based
+   upon the actual surface of the deposits (colour, fineness,
+   etc.). But even pal&aelig;ontology gives rather uncertain
+   results, as it is impossible to recognize and follow step by
+   step the various stages of the movement of the fossils. All
+   the classifications of the Pampean are based upon a study
+   of two groups of sections. The first group comprises the
+   cliff on the right bank of the Paran&aacute; from Rosario to
+   Buenos Aires and the coastal cliff which is a continuation
+   of it, with a break from Ense&ntilde;ada at Mar Chiquita
+   to Bah&iacute;a Blanca. Ameghino has recognized there a
+   thick series of &aelig;olian deposits separated by several
+   discordances, the oldest elements of which, at Bah&iacute;a
+   Blanca, belong to the Miocene. The second group comprises
+   the cliffs which enclose the valley of the Rio Primero above
+   and below C&oacute;rdoba. Doering and Bodenbender in this
+   case describe two stages of &aelig;olian loess, each covered
+   by torrential gravel.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   From the study of these sections geologists have drawn
+   certain conclusions as to the movements which have affected
+   the soil of the Pampa and the changes which the climate has
+   experienced. These conclusions have in each case only a local
+   value, and they have not yet been co-ordinated. The majority
+   of the observers, from Doering to Bailey Willis and Rovereto,
+   seem not to have taken into account sufficiently the fact
+   that in the continental formations the most diverse deposits
+   may come next to each other in the same series, according
+   to the particular process of deposition, and that their
+   alternation does not imply a general change in the conditions
+   of erosion.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_83_83"
+   href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">83</span></a>
+   Certain features of the hydrographic network clearly have the
+   character of having been superimposed: that is to say, the
+   path of the watercourses has been bequeathed to the actual
+   plain by former erosion-surfaces, which have now disappeared,
+   on which the valleys were originally imposed. That is why
+   in the district of the confluence of the Colorado and the
+   Chadi-Leuvu the valleys pass from Pampean deposits to the
+   crystalline sierras, which were at one time entirely covered
+   with water.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_84_84"
+   href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">84</span></a> In
+   the vicinity of San Luis and C&oacute;rdoba the hard strata
+   which are called <span lang="es">tosca</span> are beds of eruptive ashes.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_85_85"
+   href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">85</span></a>
+   The surface of the <span lang="es">tosca</span> tableland is further punctuated by
+   a great number of closed depressions of various depths: long
+   tunnels (<span lang="es">dolines</span>) which can only be explained, apparently,
+   as an effect of the dissolving of the limestone by water.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+     <a  id="Footnote_86_86"
+     href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">86</span></a>
+     Outside the districts with quick and dead dunes, a frequent
+     type of landscape on the Pampa is a plain thinly sown with
+     very small lagoons, generally circular, between which
+     develop a series of barely perceptible undulations. The
+     inequality is at times so slight that one only notices it
+     by the contrast between the vegetation of the lower and the
+     higher ground. This type of landscape, which is especially
+     seen in the district of Lincoln or of Nueve de Julio, is due
+     to the action of the wind on a plain where the level of the
+     underground water is near the surface. This level marks a
+     limit below which &aelig;olian erosion does not take place: a
+     sort of base-level. The periodic variations of level of the
+     underground water reduce or enlarge<del>s</del> the undulations of the
+     surface.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_87_87"
+   href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">87</span></a>
+   <cite>Ensayo de la historia civil del Paraguay, Buenos Aires, y
+   Tucum&aacute;n</cite> (3 vols, in 16<sup>mo</sup>) Buenos Aires,
+   1816, t. iii, p. 214.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_88_88"
+   href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">88</span></a> The
+   number of wild animals and the area over which they roamed
+   have often been exaggerated. It does not look as if they ever
+   covered the whole of the Pampean plain. A salter who crossed
+   Patagonia and the whole of the Pampa in 1753 (<cite>Voyage du San
+   Martin au fort de San Julian</cite>, Coll. de Angelis, v.) only
+   found wild herds near the Salado frontier, and he knew by this
+   that he was close to the ranches. At the beginning of the
+   nineteenth century there were no wild cattle left on the right
+   bank of the Paran&aacute;. There were still some in Entre
+   Rios.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_89_89"
+   href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">89</span></a>
+   The water problem is not as important for the history of
+   colonization in the Pampean region as in the north. Primitive
+   breeding was confined to natural supplies of water, lagoons
+   or streams, and to shallow wells (<span lang="es">jagueles</span>) dug down to
+   the superficial sheet, which is generally not deep, but is
+   liable to dry up. As colonization improved, the breeder, and
+   subsequently the farmer, were better equipped for boring
+   wells, and no longer feared drought. They got down to the
+   deeper waters, semi-artesian (Buenos Aires district) or
+   artesian (west of the Santa F&eacute; province, round San
+   Francisco). In other places the superficial waters, which are
+   fresher than the deeper layers, were used by adapting new
+   types of filters to the wells (Buena Esperanza district).
+   The only two districts where the quest of water offered any
+   difficulty are the south-west corner of the Pampean region and
+   the northern extremity of the prairie in the <del>Sante </del><ins>Santa </ins>F&eacute;
+   province. The sheets of water are very irregular there, often
+   saline, and it was a long time before the ranches got an
+   assured supply.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   One remarkable circumstance is the importance of the dunes in
+   connection with the distribution of the underground water. The
+   rain-water accumulates in the dunes and flows slowly through
+   the sand to the sub-soil. The level of the underground sheet
+   in the clay on which the dune rests is always nearer the
+   surface in the neighbourhood of the dune. The dune itself has
+   often a greener vegetation than the land around it. Nothing is
+   more surprising than to find at Medanos (west of Bah&iacute;a
+   Blanca), in the middle of a plain of arid aspect, fields of
+   lucerne and orchards lodged in the hollows of dunes that are
+   still fresh. In the whole of the Buenos Aires province the
+   dead district of the dunes is, on account of its water-supply,
+   a good place for habitation. D'Azara notices the numerous
+   water-spots which ran along the foot of the dead dunes of the
+   Cerillada. All round were the white bones of the <span lang="es">baguales</span>.
+   In the valleys of the central Pampa, where the sheet of water
+   in the centre of the valley is often saline, the underground
+   water improves gradually as one approaches the line of the
+   dunes.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_90_90"
+   href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">90</span></a>
+   V. Galvez, <cite>Memorias de un viejo</cite> (Buenos Aires, 3 vols, in
+   16<sup>mo</sup>, 4th ed, 1889).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_91_91"
+   href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">91</span></a>
+   <cite>Diario de un reconocimiento de las guardias y fortines que
+   garnecen la linea de frontera de Buenos Aires</cite> (1796), by D.
+   Felix de Azara (Coll. de Angelis, vi.).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_92_92"
+   href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">92</span></a>
+   <cite>Nueva plan de fronteras de la Provincia de Buenos Aires por
+   el Colonel Garcia</cite> (1816, Coll. de Angelis, vi.).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_93_93"
+   href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">93</span></a>
+   This is, in a special form, the first instance of
+   specialization, in the cantons of the Pampean region, in the
+   breeding industry, properly so called (producing breeders).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_94_94"
+   href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">94</span></a>
+   The variations in number are less considerable for the
+   Pampean region than for the whole of Argentina. It is better
+   supplied with capital than the other breeding districts, and
+   can rapidly replace the losses caused by excessive export by
+   buying cattle in the adjoining provinces.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_95_95"
+   href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">95</span></a>
+   Fernando Barrero, <cite>Descripci&oacute;n de las provincias del
+   Rio de la Plata</cite> (published by the Argentine Ministry of
+   Foreign Affairs, Buenos Aires, 1911).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_96_96"
+   href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">96</span></a>
+   Amongst the specialized industries connected with the
+   development of the lucerne farms we must mention the growing
+   of lucerne for seed, which has settled in the dry zones,
+   where the lucerne is not so much invaded by other species;
+   for instance, the district of Madanos, west of Bah&iacute;a
+   Blanca.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_97_97"
+   href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">97</span></a> The
+   population of the Santa F&eacute; colonies in 1882 was 52,000, of whom
+   12,000 were in the colonies of the San Javier, north of the town of
+   Santa F&eacute;.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_98_98"
+   href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">98</span></a>
+   The names of departments which belong in their entirety to
+   the maize region are given in italics. The department of San
+   Jeronimo straddles the maize region and the region of the
+   colonies. The General Lopez territory also extends, in the
+   south-west, far beyond the limit of the maize belt.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_99_99"
+   href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">99</span></a>
+   Wheat-area in 1889 in the Olavarria department, 319
+   square kilometres; in the Suarez department, 118 square
+   kilometres.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+     <a  id="Footnote_100_100"
+     href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">100</span></a>
+     Draught animals in 1908: at Chivilcoy, 17,000 cattle and
+     10,000 horses; at Junin, 15,000 cattle and 6,000 horses; at
+     Nueve de Julio, 15,000 cattle and 6,000 horses. In the region
+     of the Santa F&eacute; colonies: at Castellanos, 17,000 cattle
+     and 54,000 horses; at Las Colonias, 6,000 cattle and 35,000
+     horses. In the wheat belt (South of Buenos Aires): at Puan,
+     (no cattle) 29,000 horses. At the sierras (no cattle), 14,000
+     horses.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_101_101"
+   href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">101</span></a>
+   The Agricultural Centres Law, passed in 1887 by the province
+   of Buenos Aires to encourage colonization, has not had good
+   results. By the terms of this law, owners who professed
+   themselves willing to devote their lands to colonization
+   received an advance on the value of the lands in the form of
+   mortgages, the interest and repayment of the mortgage being
+   charged to the colonists. Many owners took advantage of the
+   law, but, after a pretence of colonization, kept the ownership
+   of their lands.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_102_102"
+   href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">102</span></a>
+   A. Jegou, "Informe sobre la provincia de San Luis," <cite>Ann. Soc.
+   Cientifica Argentina</cite>, xvi. 1883, pp. 140-152, 192-200, and
+   223-230.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_103_103"
+   href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">103</span></a>
+   For Argentina as a whole the percentage is: milch cows, 55 per
+   cent.; oxen, 26 per cent.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_104_104"
+   href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">104</span></a>
+   A large number of the cattle which are to be fattened are
+   bought at the market in Buenos Aires; but these do not, as a
+   rule, come from the Pampean region.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_105_105"
+   href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">105</span></a>
+   J. B. Ambrosetti, "Vi&agrave;je a la Pampa central," <cite>Bol.
+   Instit. Geog. Argent.</cite>, xiv. 1893, pp. 292-368.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_106_106"
+   href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">106</span></a>
+   Certain duplications in the actual scheme of the railways
+   are due to this need to correct a line that had been planned
+   hastily and was useless. The line from Justo Daract to La Paz
+   (1912), on the Pacific railway, avoids the steep inclinations
+   of the first line, which followed the course of the wagon-road
+   <span lang="la">via</span> San Luis. The interpretation of the relief is
+   particularly difficult in a country which has not been shaped
+   by normal erosion. Blunders detected by later topographical
+   inquiries were similarly committed in constructing the
+   Patagonian railways.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_107_107"
+   href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">107</span></a>
+   Coll. de Angelis, v.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_108_108"
+   href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">108</span></a>
+   Est. Zeballos, <cite>Descripci&oacute;n amena de la Republica
+   Argentina</cite>, vol. i, "Vi&agrave;je al pa&iuml;s de los
+   Araucanos" (Buenos Aires, 1881).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_109_109"
+   href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">109</span></a>
+   Martin de Moussy says that a more direct route, avoiding the
+   detour to the north by the Rio Tercero, was followed in the
+   eighteenth century between Buenos Aires and San Luis, by way
+   of Salto and the Rio Quinto as far as the latitude of fort
+   Constituci&oacute;n (Villa Mercedes). Woodbine Parish's map
+   (1839) and Napp's map (1876) both show a road by way of Salto
+   and Melincue to the Rio Cuarto, where it joins the ordinary
+   road. However that may be, these roads were never used
+   regularly, from fear of the Indians or&mdash;which comes to
+   the same thing&mdash;because the area they cross, in the south
+   of the actual territory of the provinces of Santa F&eacute;
+   and C&oacute;rdoba, was not yet colonized.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_110_110"
+   href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">110</span></a>
+   Between 1852 and 1862, during the period when relations were
+   suspended between the Argentine Confederation and Buenos
+   Aires, there was a beginning of a general reorganization
+   of the roads in harmony with the new political conditions.
+   The road from Santa F&eacute; and Paran&aacute; to
+   Concepci&oacute;n (in Uruguay) across the Entre Rios
+   tablelands, and from there to Montevideo, had owed its initial
+   importance to the closing of the lower Paran&aacute; under
+   Rosas, and Woodbine Parish records that there was already a
+   good deal of smuggling there. This road became an essential
+   artery when Paran&aacute; made itself the federal capital
+   under Urquiza. He intended to connect Paran&aacute; with the
+   western provinces, and he created a mail service from Santa
+   F&eacute; to C&oacute;rdoba. Ephemeral as the good fortune
+   of Paran&aacute; was, its influence on the organization of
+   the roads of Argentina was too material to be ignored by the
+   geographer.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_111_111"
+   href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">111</span></a>
+   According to the details given us by De Angelis (1837,
+   Introduction to the <cite>Diario del viaje al Rio Bermejo de Fray
+   Francisco Moritto</cite>, Coll. de Angelis, vol. vi) a convoy of
+   fourteen wagons from Salta to Tucum&aacute;n required three
+   relays of oxen. The first, comprising a hundred animals, went
+   from Salta to Tucum&aacute;n; the second, of 130 animals,
+   went from Tucum&aacute;n to the Buenos Aires frontier; the
+   third (84 animals), went on to the capital. The first and last
+   relays were hired animals, the second alone being the property
+   of the <span lang="es">tropero</span>.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_112_112"
+   href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">112</span></a>
+   Thirty days from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, and seventy days
+   from Buenos Aires to Jujuy, says Barrero (F. Barrero,
+   <cite>Descripci&oacute;n de las Provincias del Rio de la Plata</cite>,
+   end of the eighteenth century, published by the Ministry of
+   Foreign Affairs, Buenos Aires, 1911).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_113_113"
+   href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">113</span></a>
+   The line from Bah&iacute;a Blanca to the Rio Negro, of which
+   the Neuquen line is a continuation, was constructed in
+   1896.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_114_114"
+   href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">114</span></a>
+   The continuation of many of these lines was contemplated
+   for the future, so as to secure for them at a later date
+   a long-distance traffic. The Resistencia and Formosa
+   lines, which reach the Andes, may compete for traffic with
+   the Rosario and Tucum&aacute;n lines. In Patagonia, the
+   continuation across the Andes of the line from San Antonio to
+   Lake Nahuel Huapi has been considered. A pass has been found
+   at a height of 4,000 feet. When this plan is carried out,
+   the Trans-Andean from Nahuel Huapi would be in a position to
+   compete successfully with the Trans-Andean from Uspallata,
+   which is condemned by its elevation to remain a passenger
+   line. These plans, still far from realization, do not deprive
+   the Ramos Mejia lines of their character as colonization
+   lines, entirely devoted at present to conveying the timber of
+   the Chaco and the wool of Patagonia.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_115_115"
+   href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">115</span></a>
+   J. Lopez Ma&ntilde;an, <cite>El actual problema agrario</cite> (Buenos
+   Aires, 1912, Ministerio de agricultura, Direcci&oacute;n
+   General de agricultura y defensa agricola).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_116_116"
+   href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">116</span></a>
+   The war and the difficulties of marine freightage have
+   lessened the seriousness of the problem of carrying goods
+   rapidly by rail in Argentina.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_117_117"
+   href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">117</span></a>
+   The transport of mineral stuff, apart from salt, has been
+   greatly reduced by the war. In 1916 it was only 637,000 tons
+   for the Southern and 157,000 tons for the whole of the lines
+   of the Central Argentine, Pacific, Central C&oacute;rdoba, and
+   State.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_118_118"
+   href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">118</span></a>
+   There is still a certain amount of goods traffic in this
+   latitude between the river and the Santa Cruz district by the
+   Puerto Suarez and Puerto Pacheco tracks.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_119_119"
+   href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">119</span></a>
+   The local south winds which help the voyage upward below
+   Rosario may be due to the high temperature of the water of
+   the river; this also gives rise on the lower Paran&aacute; to
+   thick fog of which warning is given.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_120_120"
+   href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">120</span></a>
+   According to Rengger, sailing ships sometimes succeeded in
+   crossing the Salto d'Apip&eacute;.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_121_121"
+   href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">121</span></a>
+   At one time the boats on the upper Uruguay saved transport by
+   going from Salto to Arapehy, midway between Monte Caseros and
+   Concordia (see Isabelle).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_122_122"
+   href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">122</span></a>
+   It is as well to notice that the profile determined by the
+   altitude of the zero of these different scales, or the
+   low-water profile, is of a purely theoretical character. The
+   river is never at low-water over its whole course. The real
+   profile is always varied by slight movements of flood and
+   ebb.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_123_123"
+   href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">123</span></a>
+   Observations of the sediment held in the water have been
+   made at Campana, 32 miles from the estuary. At this point
+   the Paran&aacute; only holds in suspension fine particles
+   of clay, but sand travels slowly along its bed. The weight
+   of the clay in suspension varies from 179 grammes per cubic
+   metre in March during the flood, to 42 grammes at low-water in
+   July. The stuff mostly comes from the Bermejo, which carries
+   5 kilogrammes of sediment per cubic metre. The load of the
+   Paran&aacute; is much heavier than that of the Uruguay, but
+   far lower than that of the Mississippi.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_124_124"
+   href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">124</span></a>
+   The district on the right bank of the Paran&aacute;, above
+   Santa F&eacute; and Paran&aacute;, seems to be due to a recent
+   subsidence. The river is, on the other hand, compelled to
+   effect active erosion in crossing the high lands between Santa
+   F&eacute; and Buenos Aires. It is curious that the break or
+   fall at Villa Urquiza occurs precisely above the bend of the
+   Paran&aacute;. A less marked break has been recognized further
+   north, in the latitude of Lavalle, above the Goya bend. It
+   seems that the diminution in the excavation of the valley is
+   due to the erosion which the current effects laterally on the
+   cliffs of the left bank.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_125_125"
+   href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">125</span></a>
+   In the space between the frontier of Entre Rios and the Rio
+   Empedrado, south of Corrientes, the cliffs expose, above the
+   red sandstone, beds of sand and clay, fluvial alluvia left
+   by former beds of the Paran&aacute;, the traces of which can
+   be followed from the north-east to the south-west diagonally
+   across the province of Corrientes.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_126_126"
+   href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">126</span></a>
+   In point of fact, the ridge is lower at the time of low water,
+   when the current is concentrated in the main channel, so that
+   one always finds one or two feet greater depth there at low
+   water than soundings taken at high water would lead one to
+   expect.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_127_127"
+   href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">127</span></a>
+   A little above its actual position.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_128_128"
+   href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">128</span></a>
+   In studying the variations of the bed of the Paran&aacute;
+   it is necessary to avoid comparing maps drawn at dates
+   separated by long intervals. The differences of such maps are
+   such that they do not enable us to follow the processes by
+   which the actual forms have been derived from earlier forms.
+   The analogies which they show are sometimes due, not to the
+   permanence of the topography, but to the return of a complete
+   cycle of changes, or of conditions analogous to the earlier
+   conditions.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_129_129"
+   href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">129</span></a>
+   The secondary arms of the right bank, north of Santa
+   F&eacute;, were not explored until 1870. Sullivan's map (1847)
+   only mentions the Riacho de San Jeronimo, which is visible for
+   a short distance below 20&deg; S. lat. The right bank was the
+   domain of the Indians, and the Correntinos would not venture
+   near it. In 1870 ships began to use the San Javier arm, on
+   which many colonies arose. Further north the Paran&aacute;
+   Mini has been used since 1890 for exporting <span lang="es">quebracho</span>
+   timber.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_130_130"
+   href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">130</span></a>
+   As between La Paz and Paran&aacute;, it seems possible to show
+   some relation between these alluvial stretches at the foot
+   of the cliff and the confluence of the small valleys of the
+   Pampean plain.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_131_131"
+   href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">131</span></a>
+   The Paso Paraguayo, which has cost the Argentine hydrographic
+   service most work, did not exist at the middle of the
+   nineteenth century. It seems that the channel then kept to the
+   cliff as far as Benavidez, and was continued as far as the
+   source of the Paran&aacute; Pavon by a very pronounced buckle,
+   of which the Monriel lagoon is a scar. In 1895 the Paso was
+   only fifteen feet deep.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_132_132"
+   href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">132</span></a>
+   The granite which outcrops at Martin Garcia also forms the
+   platform of the English Bank in the outer harbour.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_133_133"
+   href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">133</span></a>
+   The water in the estuary, worked up by waves and tide,
+   contains more sediment than the water of the river.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_134_134"
+   href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">134</span></a>
+   The current at high tide is stronger than at low tide, and it
+   has shifted to the north-east the streams which find an outlet
+   on this side.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_135_135"
+   href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">135</span></a>
+   Movement of internal navigation at Rosario (average
+   1912-1914): entries, 1,108,000 tons, of which 690,000 in
+   ballast; clearances, 580,000 tons. At San Nicolas: entries,
+   400,000 tons, of which 440,000 in ballast; clearances, 4,000
+   tons. The difference between the entries and the clearances
+   represents ships starting straight for Europe.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_136_136"
+   href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">136</span></a>
+   The density is twenty times less in the ranches which use the
+   meagre pastures of the Rio Negro.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_137_137"
+   href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">137</span></a>
+   All Europeans, except a few tens of thousands of Bolivians in
+   the Salta and Jujuy provinces, a few thousand Brazilians in
+   Misiones, and a few thousand Chileans at Neuquen.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_138_138"
+   href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">138</span></a>
+   I have referred elsewhere to the magnitude of the stream of
+   European immigration at Mendoza. In Patagonia (territory
+   of the Rio Negro, the Neuquen, the Chubut, the Santa Cruz,
+   and Tierra del Fuego, of which the total population is only
+   104,000) sheep-breeding has attracted a considerable number of
+   immigrants (428 foreigners per 1000 in 1914).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_139_139"
+   href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">139</span></a>
+   D'Orbigny, <cite>Voyage dans l'Am&eacute;rique m&eacute;ridionale</cite>,
+   vol. i. p. 528.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_140_140"
+   href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">140</span></a>
+   Lorenzo Fazio, <cite>Memoria descriptiva de la provincia de
+   Santiago del Estero</cite> (Buenos Aires, 1889).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_141_141"
+   href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">141</span></a>
+   F. de Azara, <cite>Memorias sobre el estado rural del r&iacute;o de
+   la Plata en 1801</cite>, p. 10.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_142_142"
+   href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">142</span></a>
+   Sarmiento, <cite>El Facundo</cite>, p. 19.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_143_143"
+   href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">143</span></a>
+   Published by the <cite>Revista del Instituto Paraguayo</cite> (vol. iv.
+   p. 334).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_144_144"
+   href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">144</span></a>
+   Only two of them, Villa Mercedes and Villa Maria, are on the
+   edge of the Pampa. We have seen elsewhere the part which the
+   extensive breeding of the north-west plays in the business of
+   the Villa Mercedes cattle-market. Villa Maria also derives
+   some advantage from its nearness to the scrub. Its limekilns
+   receive limestone from the Sierra de C&oacute;rdoba, but
+   they get their fuel locally, from the men who clear the
+   scrub.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_145_145"
+   href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">145</span></a>
+   Buenos Aires and Rosario alone have independent grain markets,
+   though it is differently organized in each case. At Buenos
+   Aires the exporters have entered into direct relations with
+   the producers and eliminated intermediaries. At Rosario they
+   have to use the services of a strong body of agents.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_146_146"
+   href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">146</span></a>
+   The 1914 Census does not give reliable details on this
+   point.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_147_147"
+   href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">147</span></a>
+   During the same period the Argentinian refrigerators killed
+   1,490,000 head of cattle. Therefore, about half of these were
+   bought at Buenos Aires.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <a  id="Footnote_148_148"
+   href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">148</span></a>
+   Besides the publications of the Jesuits, which can easily be
+   consulted, a fairly large number of texts bearing upon the
+   history of colonization have been published or re-published in
+   the nineteenth and the twentieth century. See especially:
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <cite>Relaciones Geograpicas de Indias</cite> (vol. i, 1881; vol. ii,
+   1885, Madrid).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   <cite>Anales de la Biblioteca National, Buenos Aires,
+   Publicaci&oacute;n de documentos relativos al Rio de la Plata</cite>
+   (from 1900).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   Publications of the <cite>Junta de Historia y Numismatica
+   Americana</cite> (Buenos Aires, 7 vols., octavo, from 1905 to
+   1915).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   Valuable notes on some of the most important historical
+   documents will be found in E. Boman, <cite>Antiquit&eacute;s de la
+   region andine</cite> (see North-West Argentina).
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+   The most curious collection of all for the geographer is:
+   Pedro de Angelis, <cite>Colecci&oacute;n de obras y documentos
+   relativos a la historia antigua y moderna de las provincias
+   del Rio de la Plata</cite> (Buenos Aires, 1837, 6 vols, octavo,
+   containing many itineraries, journals of expeditions, etc.,
+   together with notes by D'Azara).
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a  id="INDEX">INDEX</a></h2>
+
+<table class="indexjump" summary="index">
+   <tr>
+      <td><a href="#aix">A</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#bix">B</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#cix">C</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#dix">D</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#eix">E</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#fix">F</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#gix">G</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#hix">H</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#iix">I</a></td>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+      <td><a href="#jix">J</a></td>
+      <td class="inverse">K</td>
+      <td><a href="#lix">L</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#mix">M</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#nix">N</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#oix">O</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#pix">P</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#qix">Q</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#rix">R</a></td>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+      <td><a href="#six">S</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#tix">T</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#uix">U</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#vix">V</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#wix">W</a></td>
+      <td class="inverse">X</td>
+      <td><a href="#yix">Y</a></td>
+      <td><a href="#zix">Z</a></td>
+   </tr>
+</table>
+
+<ul class="index" id="aix">
+   <li>Abipones, the, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
+   <li><cite>Acequia</cite>, the, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
+   <li>Aconcagua, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+   <li>&AElig;olian deposits, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li>
+   <li>Agricultural Centres Law, the, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Aguadas</span>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Algarrobas</span>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li>
+   <li>Alhuampa, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
+   <li>Alumine, the, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+   <li>Ambrosetti, J. B., <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li>
+   <li>Ameghino, F., <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+   <li>Andalgala, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
+   <li>Andes, the Argentine, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
+   <li>Andes, the Patagonian, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+   <li>A&ntilde;econ, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li>
+   <li>Antof&aacute;gasta, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
+   <li>Apip&eacute; rapids, the, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li>
+   <li>Apostoles, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
+   <li>Araucanians, the, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
+   <li>Argentine hydrographic service, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Arrieros</span>, the, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li>
+   <li>Arroyo del Rey, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+   <li>Asses, trade in, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+   <li>Atamisqui, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
+   <li>Atuel, the, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
+   <li>Azcarate, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="bix">
+   <li>Bah&iacute;a Blanca, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li>
+   <li>Bajada Grande, the, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li>
+   <li>Bamboo, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Ba&ntilde;ados</span>, the, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li>
+   <li>Barra del Indio, the, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+   <li>Barrancas, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li>
+   <li>Basalt, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+   <li>Basques in Argentina, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+   <li>Bellavista, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li>
+   <li>Bellville, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
+   <li>Bermejo, the, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Bodegueros</span>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
+   <li>Bodenbender, G., <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li>
+   <li>Bolivia, relations with, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+   <li>Boman, E., <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li>
+   <li>Brackebusch, L., <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li>
+   <li>Brazil, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+   <li>Breeding, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+   <li>British Navy in Argentine waters, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_248">24<ins>8</ins></a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li>
+   <li>Buenos Aires, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>-<a href="#Page_275">275</a></li>
+   <li>Burruyacu, Sierra de, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
+</ul>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p>
+<ul class="index" id="cix">
+   <li>Calchaqui, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Caldenes</span>,<a href="#Page_163">163</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Ca&ntilde;adas</span>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Ca&ntilde;adones</span>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>-<a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+   <li>Candelaria, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Ca&ntilde;eros</span>, the, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
+   <li>Carcara&ntilde;a, the, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li>
+   <li>Carilaufquen, the, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+   <li>Carmen, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
+   <li>Carri Lauquen, Lake, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+   <li>Catamarca, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li>
+   <li>Cattle, creole, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+   <li>Cattle, pedigree, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+   <li>Cattle fairs, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
+   <li>Cattle trade, the, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>-<a href="#Page_208">208</a></li>
+   <li>Catuna, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+   <li>Cedar-forests, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+   <li>Central Argentine Railway, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li>
+   <li>Central C&oacute;rdoba, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li>
+   <li>Central Norte Railway, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Cerco</span>, the, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+   <li>Cerro Payen, the, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
+   <li>Cerros Colorados, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li>
+   <li>Chaco, the, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+   <li>Chaco, Salte&ntilde;o, the, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>-<a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
+   <li>Chamical, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Cha&ntilde;ares</span>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li>
+   <li>Charcoal-burners, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
+   <li>Chicago and Buenos Aires, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
+   <li>Chile, relations with, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+   <li>Chile road, the, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
+   <li>Chilean flour, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
+   <li>Chiriguanos, the, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
+   <li>Chivilcoy, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li>
+   <li>Choele Choel, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+   <li>Chosmalal, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+   <li>Chubut, the, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
+   <li>Climate, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Coilrue</span>, the, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+   <li>Colalao del Valle, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
+   <li>Colastin&eacute;, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+   <li>Colonia, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li>
+   <li>Colonies, the, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
+   <li>Colonization Companies, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Colonos</span>,<a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
+   <li>Colorado, the, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
+   <li>Conlara, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
+   <li>Cordillera, the, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+   <li>C&oacute;rdoba, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
+   <li>C&oacute;rdoba, Sierra de, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
+   <li>Corrientes, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Costa</span>, the, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
+   <li>Cruz Alta, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
+   <li>Cuarto, the Rio, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li>
+   <li>Cuenca Vidal, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
+   <li>Cumbre Tunnel, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li>
+   <li>Cuyo, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
+   <li>Cypresses, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="dix">
+   <li>Daireaux, E., <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li>
+   <li>Dairies, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li>
+   <li>Dams, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+   <li>Darwin, C, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+   <li>D'Azara, F., <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+   <li>Dead valleys, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Demarcaci&oacute;n</span>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
+   <li>Diamante, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li>
+   <li>Diamante, the, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
+   <li>Diez y seis de Octubre, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+   <li>Doering, A., <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li>
+   <li>Dolores, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
+   <li>D'Orbigny, A., <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+   <li>Drainage, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
+   <li>Drought, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+   <li>Dulce, the Rio, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
+   <li>Dunes, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li>
+   <li>Durham cattle, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="eix">
+   <li>English Bank, the, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li>
+   <li>Entre Rios, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
+   <li>Epecuen Lake, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li>
+   <li>Exhibition, San Francisco, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="fix">
+   <li><span lang="es">Falda</span>, the, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li>
+   <li>Famatina, Sierra de la, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
+   <li>Fiords, the Patagonian, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+   <li>Flax, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li>
+   <li>Floods, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li>
+   <li>Floods on the rivers, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li>
+   <li>Forests, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>-<a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
+   <li>Forts, the early, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+   <li>Frontiers, early, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
+   <li>Funes, Dean G., <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="gix">
+   <li><span lang="es">Galeria</span>, the, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+   <li>Gallegos, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
+   <li>Garcia, Colonel, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Garrapate</span>, the, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Gauchos</span>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+   <li>Gauge, differences of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li>
+   <li>General La valle, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+   <li>Geological formations, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>-<a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+   <li>Glaciers, the Patagonian, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+   <li>Gold, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
+   <li>Goods, traffic, analysis of, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>-<a href="#Page_231">231</a></li>
+   <li>Granite, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+   <li>Guapichas, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+   <li>Guayra, the, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li>
+</ul>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p>
+<ul class="index" id="hix">
+   <li>Harvest, labour and the, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li>
+   <li>Helms, A. Z., <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+   <li>Hides, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>-<a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
+   <li>Holmberg, E. L., <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li>
+   <li>Hrdlicka, A., <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li>
+   <li>Huari, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
+   <li>Hutchinson, F. J., <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="iix">
+   <li>Immigration, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li>
+   <li>Indians, relations with the, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>-<a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>-<a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
+   <li>Indians, the Patagonian, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>-<a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
+   <li>Ingeniero White, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Intrusos</span>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Invernadas</span>, the, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
+   <li>Irrigation, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>-<a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>-<a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+   <li>Itinerary of author, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
+   <li>Ituzaingo, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="jix">
+   <li>Japan, trade with, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
+   <li>Jegou, A., <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
+   <li>Jerked meat, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+   <li>Jesuit missions, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
+   <li>Jujuy, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
+   <li>Junin, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="lix">
+   <li>Labour-supply, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>-<a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
+   <li>Lacar, Lake, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+   <li>Land-ownership, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>-<a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
+   <li>Land, speculation in, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li>
+   <li>Lanin, Mount, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>-<a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
+   <li>Larch, the, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
+   <li>La Rioja, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
+   <li>Ledesma, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Lenga</span>, the, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+   <li>Lima, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
+   <li>Limay, the, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+   <li>Lincoln sheep, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li>
+   <li>Los Sauces, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
+   <li>Lucerne-farms, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>-<a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
+   <li>Lumbrera, Sierra de la, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="mix">
+   <li>MacKann, W., <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+   <li>Maize, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>-<a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Mallin</span>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Manantiales</span>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li>
+   <li>Maquinchao, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
+   <li>Mar Chiquita, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li>
+   <li>Markets, Argentine, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>-<a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+   <li>Martin Garcia, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+   <li>Matacos, the, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Mat&eacute;</span>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>-<a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+   <li>Matto Grosso, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Mayten</span>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+   <li>Mejia, Ramos, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li>
+   <li>Mendoza, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>-<a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Merced</span>, the, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
+   <li>Mercedario, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+   <li>Merino sheep, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li>
+   <li>Mesopotamia, the Argentine, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
+   <li>Miatello, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
+   <li>Migrations of cattle, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>-<a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+   <li>Migrations of indigenous population, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>-<a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+   <li>Misiones, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>-<a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Molle</span>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Monte</span>, the, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
+   <li>Montevideo, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li>
+   <li>Moussy, Martin de, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+   <li>Muleteers, the, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>-<a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+   <li>Mule-trade, the, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>-<a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="nix">
+   <li>Nahuel Huapi, Lake, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
+   <li>Navigation, statistics of, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+   <li>Negro, the Rio, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+   <li>Negroes captured, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+   <li>Neuquen, the, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+</ul>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p>
+<ul class="index" id="oix">
+   <li>Oases, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+   <li>Oats, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Obrajes</span>, the, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>-<a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
+   <li>Olavarria, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
+   <li>Olta, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Omber</span>, the, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li>
+   <li>Ortiz Bank, the, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li>
+   <li>Otway Water, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="pix">
+   <li>Pagancillo, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
+   <li>Pampa, the, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-<a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li>
+   <li>Pampa, extent of the, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
+   <li>Parabolic tariffs, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li>
+   <li>Paracao, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li>
+   <li>Paraguay, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li>
+   <li>Paraguay, the river, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Paraisos</span>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
+   <li>Paran&aacute;, the, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>-<a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+   <li>Paran&aacute; de las Palmas, the, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+   <li>Paran&aacute; Guazu, the, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li>
+   <li>Paran&aacute; Mini, the, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+   <li>Parish, Sir Woodbine, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+   <li>Paso Paraguayo, the, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Pasto dulce</span>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Pasto duro</span>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Pasto fuerto</span>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
+   <li>Patagones, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+   <li>Patagonia, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
+   <li>Pehuenches, the, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+   <li>Peru, relations with, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+   <li>Peru road, the, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+   <li>Piedra Blanca, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
+   <li>Pine forests, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+   <li>Plata, Rio de la, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li>
+   <li>Playa Honda, the, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+   <li>Poma, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
+   <li>Poncel, B., <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+   <li>Population, growth of, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>-<a href="#Page_263">263</a></li>
+   <li>Ports, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li>
+   <li>Portuguese, relations with the, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+   <li>Posadas, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li>
+   <li>Potatoes, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
+   <li>Pozos del Barca Grande, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+   <li>Protectionism, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
+   <li>Puerto Belgrano, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li>
+   <li>Pumpkin, the, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Puna</span>, the, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
+   <li>Puna de Atacama, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
+   <li>Punta Arenas, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="qix">
+   <li><span lang="es">Quebracho</span>, the, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>-<a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+   <li>Quebracho Herrado, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Quebradas</span>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+   <li>Quetriquile, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li>
+   <li>Quinto, the Rio, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+   <li>Quiroga, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="rix">
+   <li>Railways, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>-<a href="#Page_233">233</a></li>
+   <li>Railway tariffs, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li>
+   <li>Rainfall, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>-<a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
+   <li>Ranqueles, the, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+   <li>Refrigerators, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
+   <li>Repossini, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Represa</span>, the, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+   <li>Riachucho, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
+   <li>Rincones, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
+   <li>River-floods, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li>
+   <li>River-traffic, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>-<a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+   <li>Roads, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>-<a href="#Page_220">220</a></li>
+   <li>Roca, General, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+   <li>Rosario, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+   <li>Rosario de Lerma, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
+   <li>Rosas, General, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li>
+</ul>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p>
+<ul class="index" id="six">
+   <li><span lang="es">Saladeros</span>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+   <li>Salado, the, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li>
+   <li>Sali, the, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Salitral</span>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+   <li>Salt Lakes, the, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
+   <li>Salt Road, the, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li>
+   <li>Salta, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+   <li>San Cristobal, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
+   <li>San Feliciano, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li>
+   <li>San Javier, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li>
+   <li>San Jos&eacute;, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li>
+   <li>San Juan, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li>
+   <li>San Lorenzo, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li>
+   <li>San Luis, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
+   <li>San Pedro, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li>
+   <li>San Rafa&euml;l, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li>
+   <li>Sancho, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+   <li>Santa Cruz, the, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
+   <li>Santa F&eacute;, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+   <li>Santa Maria, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
+   <li>Santiago del Estero, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
+   <li>Saw-mills, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
+   <li>Scrub, the, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
+   <li>Seasonal migrations, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li>
+   <li>Selective breeding, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+   <li>Sheep-breeding, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>-<a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+   <li>Shipping, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_240"><del>740</del><ins>240</ins></a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>-<a href="#Page_259">259</a></li>
+   <li>Sierra de los Llanos, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>-<a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
+   <li>Sierra d'Ulapes, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
+   <li>Somuncura, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
+   <li>Spaniards, the early, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
+   <li>Stage-coaches, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+   <li>Straits of Magellan, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+   <li>Sugar-industry, the, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Suerte de agua</span>, the, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="tix">
+   <li>Tablelands, the alluvial, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
+   <li>Tandil, Sierra de, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li>
+   <li>Tannin, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
+   <li>Tehuelches, the, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+   <li>Texas fever, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+   <li>Teran, M. J. B., <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+   <li>Tercero, the Rio, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
+   <li>Tierra del Fuego, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
+   <li>Tinogasta, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
+   <li>Tobacco, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li>
+   <li>Tobas, the, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Toma</span>, the, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Tosca</span>, the, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
+   <li>Tostado, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
+   <li>Trans-Andean railway, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li>
+   <li>Transhumation, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>-<a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li>
+   <li>Transport, evolution of, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>-<a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li>
+   <li>Travelling, early difficulties of, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>-<a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>-<a href="#Page_238">238</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Travesias</span>, the, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li>
+   <li>Tronador, Mount, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Troperos</span>, the, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>-<a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+   <li>Tucum&aacute;n, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li>
+   <li>Tunuyan, the, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li>
+   <li>Tupungato, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Turno</span>, the, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="uix">
+   <li>United States, comparison with <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
+   <li>United States, trade with, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
+   <li>Urban centres, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li>
+   <li>Urquiza, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li>
+   <li>Uruguay, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
+   <li>Uruguay, the river, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li>
+   <li>Useless Bay, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="vix">
+   <li>Valcheta, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+   <li>Valle de Lerma, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+   <li>Valle Viejo, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Valles</span>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Vegas</span>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+   <li>Veinte cinco de Mayo, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li>
+   <li>Ventana, Sierra de, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
+   <li>Villa Concepci&oacute;n, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
+   <li>Villa Maria, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
+   <li>Villa Mercedes, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li>
+   <li>Villa Paran&aacute;, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li>
+   <li>Villa Rica, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
+   <li>Villarino, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
+   <li>Villa Urquiza, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li>
+   <li>Vilque, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Vi&ntilde;atores</span>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>-<a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+   <li>Vineyards, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>-<a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Volcada de agua</span>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+   <li>Volcanic eruptions, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="wix">
+   <li>Wagons, travel by, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li>
+   <li>War, the European, effect of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
+   <li>Water-power in Patagonia, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
+   <li>Water-rights, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>-<a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-<a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+   <li>Water-supply, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>-<a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>-<a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li>
+   <li>Welsh in Patagonia, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
+   <li>Wheat, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>-<a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li>
+   <li>Wheelwright, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li>
+   <li>Wild cattle, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_181">181</a></li>
+   <li>Willis, Bailey, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li>
+   <li>Wind, action of the, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li>
+   <li>Wine-industry, the, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>-<a href="#Page_95">95</a></li>
+   <li>Wool, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>-<a href="#Page_185">185</a></li>
+</ul>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a  id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p>
+<ul class="index" id="yix">
+   <li><span lang="es">Yerbales</span>, the, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>-<a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+   <li>Yguassu, the, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li>
+</ul>
+<ul class="index" id="zix">
+   <li>Zapala, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
+   <li>Zeballos, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
+   <li><span lang="es">Zonda</span>, the, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="center"><em>Printed in Great Britain by</em></p>
+
+<p class="center">UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, LONDON AND WOKING</p>
+
+<div class="covernote">
+   <p>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is
+   placed in the public domain.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="transnote">
+   <p>Transcriber's note:</p>
+   <p>Apparent printer's errors have been corrected.</p>
+   <p>The following table lists changes made by the transcriber.</p>
+
+   <table class="transcriber" summary="transcriber's changes">
+      <tr><th>PAGE</th><th>ORIGINAL</th><th>CHANGED TO</th></tr>
+      <tr><td>9</td><td>inmigraci&oacute;n</td><td>immigraci&oacute;n</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>9</td><td>despues</td><td>despu&eacute;s</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>14</td><td>Sante</td><td>Santa</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>22</td><td>fisicas</td><td>f&iacute;sicas</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>22</td><td>Republica</td><td>Rep&uacute;blica</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>23</td><td>Republica</td><td>Rep&uacute;blica</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>23</td><td>Republica</td><td>Rep&uacute;blica</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>52</td><td>C&oacute;rdoba</td><td>C&oacute;rdoba,</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>82</td><td>meet</td><td>melt</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>82</td><td>Eestero</td><td>Estero</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>91</td><td>vines</td><td>wines</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>84</td><td>Somtimes</td><td>Sometimes</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>91</td><td>regrads</td><td>regards</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>103</td><td>Sante</td><td>Santa</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>103</td><td>quebraco</td><td>quebracho</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>105</td><td>mall</td><td>small</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>105</td><td>alongs</td><td>along</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>112</td><td>props</td><td>crops</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>113</td><td>quegrachas</td><td>quebrachos</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>114</td><td>Sante</td><td>Santa</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>136</td><td>Farschungsreise</td><td>Forschungsreise</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>142</td><td>that</td><td>than</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>157</td><td>are</td><td>are are</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>167</td><td>compaign</td><td>campaign</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>175</td><td>enlarges</td><td>enlarge</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>181</td><td>Sente</td><td>Santa</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>193</td><td>diary</td><td>dairy</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>219</td><td>galeria</td><td>galera</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>266</td><td>he</td><td>the</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>291</td><td>24</td><td>248</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>287</td><td>Hrdlicker</td><td>Hrdlicka</td></tr>
+      <tr><td>295</td><td>740</td><td>240</td></tr>
+   </table>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="pg">
+<hr class="full" />
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Argentine Republic, by Pierre Denis,
+Translated by Joseph McCabe
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions 
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at 
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Argentine Republic
+       Its Development and Progress
+
+
+Author: Pierre Denis
+
+
+
+Release Date: November 2, 2014  [eBook #47264]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Adrian Mastronardi, Martin Mayer, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images
+generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 47264-h.htm or 47264-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/47264/47264-h/47264-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/47264/47264-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      https://archive.org/details/argentinerepubli00deniuoft
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      A carat character is used to denote superscription.
+      Characters enclosed by curly braces following the carat
+      are superscripted (example: 2^{nd}).
+
+      A transcriber's note follows the text.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC
+
+  +----------------------------------------------+
+  | _BY PIERRE DENIS_                            |
+  |                                              |
+  | BRAZIL                                       |
+  |                                              |
+  | Translated, and with an Historical           |
+  | Chapter by BERNARD MIALL.                    |
+  | With a Supplementary Chapter                 |
+  | by DAWSON A. VINDIN,                         |
+  | a Map and 36 Illustrations                   |
+  |                                              |
+  | _Cloth, 15/- net. Third Impression_          |
+  |                                              |
+  |                                              |
+  | "Altogether the book is full of information, |
+  | which shows the author to have               |
+  | made a most careful study of the             |
+  | country."--_Westminster Gazette._            |
+  |                                              |
+  | T. Fisher Unwin Ltd                   London |
+  +----------------------------------------------+
+
+  [Illustration: THE FALLS OF THE YGUASSU.
+  _Thirteen miles above the confluence with the Parana. Like the
+  Parana at the Salto Guayra, the river cuts through a layer of basalt
+  intercalated in the red sandstone. The forest of the province of
+  Misiones has a tropical character near the river. The araucarias cover
+  only the higher parts of the tableland._
+  PLATE I.                                              Frontispiece.]
+
+
+THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC
+
+Its Development and Progress
+
+by
+
+PIERRE DENIS, D. ES L.
+
+Agrege d'Histoire et de Geographie
+
+Translated by Joseph McCabe
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+T. Fisher Unwin Ltd
+London: Adelphi Terrace
+
+First published in English in 1922
+
+(All rights reserved)
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+In the following chapters I have endeavoured to indicate the
+essential aspects of colonization in modern Argentina: the conquest
+of the soil by man, the exploitation of its natural resources, the
+development of agriculture and cattle-breeding, and the growth of the
+population and enlargement of the urban centres.
+
+For a new country like Argentina it is not convenient to adopt the
+strictly regional plan which seems to be the best means of giving
+a complete and methodical description of the historic countries of
+western Europe, where it is the only way to keep in close touch with
+the geographical facts. In western Europe each region is really an
+independent unity. It has for ages lived upon its own resources; each
+population-group has its horizon definitely limited; and the complex
+action of the environment upon man, and of man upon the country,
+has proceeded in each district rather on the lines of an isolated
+and impassioned dialogue between the two. It is quite different in
+Argentina. There, many of the facts which we have to record consist in
+an expansion of the population, a spread of methods of exploitation
+from zone to zone of the country, and the influence upon colonization
+of commerce and of the varying needs of the markets of the world.
+
+It may be well to reply in advance to a criticism which my Argentine
+friends are sure to make. They will complain that I have paid no
+attention to the people of Argentina, the creators of the greatness of
+the country. It is true that I have deliberately refrained from any
+reference to the political and moral life of the Republic, the national
+character and its evolution, the stoicism of the gaucho, the industry
+of the colonist and the merchant, or the patriotism of the Argentinians
+generally. My work is not a study of the Argentine nation, but a
+geographical introduction to such a study.
+
+I began the work during a stay in Argentina which lasted from April
+1912 to August 1914. In the course of these two years I was able to
+visit most parts of the country; and, as the information I gathered
+during my travels is one of my chief sources, I give here a summary of
+my itineraries.
+
+     _October-November 1912_: Rosario--Region of the
+     colonies of Santa Fe--Forestry-industries of the Chaco
+     Santiagueno--Banados of the Rio Dulce--Salta--Jujuy--Sierra de
+     la Lumbrera.
+
+     _November-December 1912_: Tucuman--Valley of Tapi--Santa Maria
+     to the west of Aconcagua--Cafayate (Valley of Calchaqui).
+
+     _December 1912-January 1913_: Catamarca--Andalgala--Valley of
+     Pucara--Cordoba--Villa Maria.
+
+     _January-February 1913_: Region of the Pampas (Province of
+     Buenos Aires, south of Cordoba and of S. Luis, district of the
+     Central Pampa).
+
+     _March 1913_: Corrientes--Posadas--Asuncion--Forest-industries
+     of the Chaco of Santa Fe.
+
+     _August 1913_: Region of the Pampas (Province of Buenos Aires).
+
+     _March 1914_: Lake Nahuel Huapi--Valcheta--San Antonio--The
+     Rio Negro.
+
+     _April 1914_: Rioja--Sierra de los Llanos--San Juan--Mendoza.
+
+     _July 1914_: Entre Rios.
+
+These journeys, by rail or on well-known roads, were not supposed to
+be for the purpose of exploration or discovery. Their one object was
+to enable me to make a provisional classification of the chief types
+of country and forms of colonization, and to draw up a methodical
+programme for more thorough research. The work which I trusted to
+do in a more leisurely way was, however, suspended in 1914, and, in
+spite of my very strong desire to do so, I was unable to resume it on
+the spot in 1919. I have therefore been compelled to publish my first
+observations, completing them, as well as I could, by a bibliographical
+study of the country. I have made use of some fragments of a popular
+work which I began, at the request of the Argentine Commission, for the
+International Exhibition at San Francisco, of which several chapters
+were published in my absence by the University of Tucuman (Pierre
+Denis, _Modern Argentina: Chapters of Economic Geography_. Publications
+of the University during the Centenary of the Congress of Tucuman of
+1816. Buenos Aires, 1916).[1]
+
+     [1] I take the opportunity to thank M. J. B. Teran, who
+     undertook to edit these chapters, and to express, with him, my
+     satisfaction that events have falsified his rather pessimistic
+     predictions as regards the author.
+
+My knowledge of the publications on Argentina has two conspicuous
+gaps. The first is deliberate. I declined to study at second hand the
+documents and chronicles which are our sources, to the end of the
+eighteenth century, for the history of the various provinces that were
+to form Argentina. Hence the historical data on colonization which
+will be found in the following chapters relate almost entirely to the
+nineteenth century.
+
+The second gap I was, to my great disappointment, unable to fill up.
+A large part of the local publications--official or other--maps,
+statistics, etc., never reached Europe, and Buenos Aires is the only
+place where one can make a thorough study of them. These publications
+were available to me until 1914. Since then I have been restricted to
+the resources of the Paris and London libraries, which are very scanty;
+and less has been sent from Argentina since the war. I have not the
+complete statistics up to date.
+
+I trust, however, that this picture of Argentina has much more than
+a retrospective character; that it is not out of date before it is
+published. I may add that no statistics would enable one to solve
+the problem which Argentina in 1920 presents to an observer. Has the
+European War merely retarded the economic evolution of the country,
+or has it given that evolution a new direction? Will or will not the
+relations which Argentina is now resuming with the rest of the world be
+of the same character as the pre-war relations?
+
+The effects of the war upon the life of the country must not all be
+put on the same footing. That some of the exporters to Argentina
+have gained by the war and others lost--that the share of the United
+States, and even of Japan, has greatly increased--is a fact that
+may be regarded from the Argentinian point of view as of secondary
+importance. The war has, moreover, had the effect of disorganizing
+marine transport and bringing about a sort of relative isolation which
+is not yet quite over. The reduction in the imports of English coal has
+made the petroleum wells of Rivadavia of greater value to the country.
+It has compelled the Argentinians to make a hurried inventory of their
+natural resources in the way of fuel. Local industries have tried to
+meet the needs of the Argentinian market, where they had no longer to
+bear the competition of European goods. The grave disturbance of prices
+has enabled them to export certain products which had hitherto been
+confined to home markets. The war has, moreover, not interfered with
+the existing streams of export on a large scale from Argentina. The
+Republic continues to send its cereals, meat, hides and wool to Europe;
+and there is no reason to suppose that the competition of buyers is
+likely to diminish, or that the cultivation of wheat and lucerne must
+become less profitable.
+
+The two essential effects of the war seem to have been the stopping of
+the stream of immigration and the progressive reduction of the support
+which Europe gave to the work of colonization in the form of advances
+of capital.
+
+From 1914 to 1918 only 272,000 immigrants landed at Buenos Aires, while
+482,000 emigrants left the country. In 1918 the figure of immigration
+and emigration was only 47,000, less than a tenth of what it was in a
+normal year before the war. The withdrawal of European capital was felt
+from the very beginning of the war, and it has gone on uninterruptedly,
+capital from North America not being enough to supply the deficiency
+entirely. At the same time the extraordinarily favourable balance
+of trade has led to the storing of an ample reserve of capital in
+the country. Argentina has, in a very short time, won a financial
+independence which, in normal conditions, would have entailed long
+years of work and prosperity.
+
+However it may seem, these two facts--the interruption of immigration
+and the accumulation of capital--cannot be considered independently
+of each other. The inquiry opened by the Social Museum of Argentina
+(_La inmigracion despues de la guerra_, Museo Social Argentino, "Bol.
+Mensual," viii, 1919, nos. 85-90) show that a speedy restoration of
+immigration is expected in the Republic. Certainly it seems clear
+that the political and social insecurity in Europe, the misery of the
+old world, will probably enhance the attractions of Argentina. We
+must remember, however, that the stream of emigration from Europe to
+the Republic in the nineteenth, and the beginning of the twentieth,
+century was provoked by a complex combination of economic conditions
+which were closely related to each other. High wages in Argentina were
+connected with the high interest on money; that is to say, in other
+words, with the scarcity of capital. The future will decide whether
+immigration, and the rapid progress of colonization and production,
+which characterize pre-war Argentina can be adjusted to the policy of
+accumulation of capital to which the war has condemned the country.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                     PAGE
+  INTRODUCTION                                                          5
+
+  CHAPTER I
+  THE NATURAL REGIONS OF ARGENTINA                                     17
+       The physical environment--Colonization and the natural
+       regions--The struggle with the Indians--Argentine
+       unity--Argentina and the world.
+
+  CHAPTER II
+  THE OASES OF THE NORTH-WEST                                          36
+       The inhabited zones of the Andes in the north-west--_Valles_,
+       _Quebradas_, _Puna_--The irrigation of the _valles_--The
+       historic routes--Convoys of stock--The breeding of mules and
+       the fairs--The struggle of the breeders against drought--The
+       Sierra de los Llanos.
+
+  CHAPTER III
+  TUCUMAN AND MENDOZA                                                  68
+       Tucuman and the road to Chile--The climate and the cultivation
+       of the sugar-cane--The problem of manual labour--Irrigation at
+       Mendoza--Water-rights--Viticulture--Protection and the natural
+       conditions.
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+  THE EXPLOITATION OF THE FORESTS                                      96
+       Manual labour on the _obrajes_--The land of the _banados_
+       and the agricultural cantons of Corrientes--The timber-yards
+       of the Chaco and the tannic-acid works of the Parana--The
+       exploitation of the _mate_--The forestry industry and
+       colonization.
+
+  CHAPTER V
+  PATAGONIA AND SHEEP-REARING                                         119
+       The arid tableland and the region of glacial lakes--The
+       first settlements on the Patagonian coast and the indigenous
+       population--Extensive breeding--The use of pasture on the
+       lands of the Rio Negro--Transhumation.
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+  THE PLAIN OF THE PAMPAS                                             161
+       The limits of the prairie--The rains--The wind and the
+       formation of the clay of the Pampas--The wind and the
+       contour--The zones of colonization on the Pampas--Hunting
+       wild cattle and primitive breeding--The sheep-farms--The
+       ranches--The region of "colonies"--The region of lucerne,
+       maize, and wheat--The combination of agriculture and
+       breeding--The economic mechanism of colonization--The
+       exchanges between the different zones of the Pampas.
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+  ROADS AND RAILWAYS                                                  209
+       Roads on the plain--The salt road--The "trade
+       route"--Transport by ox-waggons--_Arrieros_ and
+       _Troperos_--Railways and colonization--The trade in
+       cereals--Home traffic and the reorganization of the system.
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+  THE RIVER-ROUTES                                                    234
+       The use of the river before steam navigation--Floods--The
+       river plain--The bed of the Parana and its changes--The
+       estuary and its shoals--Maritime navigation--The boats on the
+       Parana.
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+  THE POPULATION                                                      260
+       The distribution of the population--The streams of emigration
+       to the interior--Seasonal migrations--The historic towns--The
+       towns of the Pampean region--Buenos Aires.
+
+  BIBLIOGRAPHY                                                        277
+
+  INDEX                                                               291
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  PLATE
+
+      I. THE FALLS OF THE YGUASSU                           _Frontispiece_
+                                                              FACING PAGE
+     II. THE ARID ANDES--
+            PUNTA VACAS, ON THE TRANS-ANDEAN RAILWAY                   22
+            QUEBRADA DE IRUYA                                          22
+
+    III. THE PATAGONIAN ANDES                                          38
+
+     IV. VEGETATION OF THE INTERIOR VALLEYS (ANDES OF THE NORTH-WEST)  48
+         FOREST ON THE OUTER SLOPE OF THE SUB-ANDEAN CHAINS            48
+
+      V. DRY SCRUB OF THE CENTRAL CHACO                                58
+         MARSHES (ESTEROS OR CANADAS) OF THE EASTERN CHACO             58
+
+     VI. THE _VALLE_ OF SANTA MARIA, NORTH-WEST OF MOUNT ACONCAGUA     70
+         THE OASIS OF ANDALGALA                                        70
+
+    VII. THE OASIS DEL RINCON, BELOW SAUJIL (ANDALGALA LINE,
+         PROVINCE OF CATAMARCA)                                        82
+         THE MONTE AT EL YESO                                          82
+
+   VIII. A VINEYARD AT SAN JUAN                                        92
+         A VINEYARD AT MENDOZA                                         92
+
+     IX. THE LAND OF THE BANADOS                                      100
+         LORETO: FARMING BY INUNDATION                                100
+
+      X. LORETO: THE RIO PINTO IN THE DRY SEASON                      112
+         LA BANDA (SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO)                               112
+
+     XI. QUEBRACHO TRUNKS LYING AT THE STATIONS                       116
+
+    XII. YOKE OF CREOLE OXEN USED FOR THE TRANSPORT OF TIMBER ON THE
+         EASTERN CHACO, OR CHACO OF SANTA FE                          128
+         WORKS AT TARTAGAL (EASTERN CHACO) FOR MAKING TANNIC ACID     128
+
+   XIII. THE VOLCANO PUNTIAGUDO                                       142
+         CERCAS ON THE LIMAY (RISING IN LAKE NAHUEL HUAPI), NEAR THE
+         CONFLUENCE OF THE TRAFUL                                     142
+
+    XIV. THE PATAGONIAN TABLELAND (NEUQUEN)                           154
+
+     XV. THE PAMPEAN PLAIN--
+            TRES ARROYES (BUENOS AIRES PRAIRIE BETWEEN THE SIERRA DE
+            TANDIL AND THE SIERRA DE LA VENTANA)                      166
+            TOAY, ON THE CENTRAL PAMPA (590 FEET)                     166
+
+    XVI. THE PAMPEAN PLAIN--
+            THE RIO BAMBA (IN THE SOUTH OF THE CORDOBA PROVINCE,
+            500 FEET ABOVE SEA-LEVEL)                                 182
+            BUENA ESPERANZA (SAN LUIS PROVINCE, 1,166 FEET
+            ELEVATION)                                                182
+
+   XVII. THE PAMPEAN PLAIN--
+            BUENA ESPERANZA (SAN LUIS PROVINCE)                       194
+            JUNIN (150 MILES WEST OF BUENOS AIRES, 330 FEET
+            ELEVATION)                                                194
+
+  XVIII. AN OX WAGON                                                  210
+         THE MAIL COACH                                               210
+
+    XIX. THRESHING ON THE PAMPA                                       220
+         SACKS OF WHEAT READY FOR LOADING ON THE RAILWAY              220
+
+     XX. CONFLUENCE OF THE YGUASSU AND THE PARANA                     236
+
+    XXI. THE PARANA AT CORRIENTES                                     244
+         THE BARRANCA AT PARANA (ENTRE RIOS), LEFT BANK               244
+
+   XXII. THE PARANA ABOVE THE ESTUARY                                 250
+
+  XXIII. THE OLDER INDUSTRIES OF THE PAMPA--
+            DRYING HIDES                                              262
+            DRYING SALT MEAT                                          262
+
+   XXIV. A HERD OF CREOLE CATTLE                                      268
+         A HERD OF DURHAM CATTLE                                      268
+
+
+
+
+MAPS
+
+
+    I. ARGENTINA: THE NATURAL REGIONS                                  28
+
+   II. IRRIGATION IN THE WEST AND NORTH-WEST OF ARGENTINA              52
+
+  III. THE CATTLE-BREEDING AREAS                                      188
+
+   IV. DENSITY OF THE MAIZE CROP                                      198
+
+    V. DENSITY OF THE WHEAT CROP                                      200
+
+   VI. THE RAILWAYS                                                   226
+
+  VII. ESTUARY OF THE RIO DE LA PLATA                                 254
+
+
+
+
+The Argentine Republic
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE NATURAL REGIONS OF ARGENTINA
+
+     The physical environment--Colonization and the natural
+     regions--The struggle with the Indians--Argentine
+     unity--Argentina and the world.
+
+
+The South-American continent is divided, from west to east, into three
+great zones. The lofty chains of the Andes stretch along the Pacific
+coast; at the foot of these are immense alluvial tablelands; further
+east are the level plains of the Atlantic coast. The eastern zone,
+the tablelands, ends southward at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata.
+It enters Argentine territory only in the north-east corner of the
+province of Misiones. Below 35 deg. S. lat. the alluvial plains open
+freely upon the ocean. The position of Buenos Aires, in the threshold
+of the plain of the Pampas, is somewhat like that of Chicago at the
+beginning of the prairies; if you imagine the north-eastern States
+and eastern Canada struck off the map, and the sea penetrating inland
+as far as the Lakes.
+
+The three essential aspects of Argentine scenery are mountain, plain,
+and river. The Parana, indeed, is a whole natural region in itself,
+with its arms and its islands, and the ever-changing low plain over
+which its floods spread, as one sees it from the top of the clay
+_barrancas_ (cliffs); though it is so broad that one cannot see the
+opposite bank. It wanders over the plain like a foreigner, an emissary
+from tropical America; for it has a flora of its own and tepid waters
+which often cause a fog over the estuary where they mingle with the
+waters of the sea.
+
+From the general mass of the Argentine plains, we must set apart the
+region between the Parana and the Uruguay, which Argentinians call
+"Mesopotamia." While aeolian clays form the soil of the Pampa on the
+right bank of the Parana, fluvial deposits--sands and gravel, in which
+it is impossible to distinguish the contribution of the Uruguay from
+that of the Parana--cover a great part of Mesopotamia. The earlier beds
+of the rivers may be traced here, not only by the alluvial deposits
+they have left, but by the lagoons which still mark their course.
+Running waters have shaped the landscape and scooped out a system of
+secondary valleys, and these reflect the history of the river itself
+and the variations of base-level which led to alternate periods of
+erosion and deposit.
+
+On the right bank, on the contrary, the Parana has no tributaries of
+any importance except at the extreme north of the country. The scarcity
+of running water is, in fact, one of the characteristic features of
+the plain of the Pampas. Except in the east, along the Parana, where a
+network of permanent streams develops on a comparatively impermeable
+and fairly humid soil, and except at the foot of the mountains, where
+irregular torrents and streams, swollen after a storm and scanty in
+the dry season, disappear, as a rule, within sight of the hills that
+gave them birth, there is no superficial organized drainage. As a
+whole, the alluvial covering of the Pampas, the upper beds of which are
+cut through by the _barranca_ of the Parana, is not of river origin;
+it was brought and distributed by the wind, which took the place of
+running water. The clay of the Pampas is a present from the winds. The
+increasing dryness of the climate toward the west, as one approaches
+the Cordillera, explains the feebleness of the erosion by water and the
+extent of the erosion by wind.
+
+It is aridity, too, that gives their particular character to the
+Argentine Andes. They have little trace of perpetual snow, the lower
+limit of which approaches to within about four miles of the Bolivian
+frontier. There are no glaciers there; they reappear in the south
+only in the latitude of San Juan and Mendoza, on the flanks of the
+three giants of the southern Cordillera, Mercedario, Aconcagua, and
+Tupungato. Below the small number of steep furrows which the glaciers
+have carved, and usually up to the top of the mountain, there spreads
+what has been called, very expressively, "the zone of rubbish." In this
+the winter's snows, fretted by the sun in that clear atmosphere, form
+those multitudes of narrow pyramids which the Argentinians compare to
+processions of white-robed pilgrims. The underlying rock is rarely
+visible. It is covered with a thick cloak of rubbish, split off by the
+frost, which the slow-moving waters released by the melting of the
+snows heap up at the foot of the slopes, at the bottom of depressions.
+The half-buried summits are succeeded by basins of accumulation. In
+the valleys round the mountains there are immense beds of detritic,
+half-rounded shingle. The torrents have cut their way through the
+alluvial mass, and they flow at the foot of high terraces which mark
+the sites of former valleys.
+
+The spread of colonization toward the south during the last generation
+has extended Argentine territory beyond the limits of these classic
+scenes. The Patagonian Andes differ profoundly from the Northern Andes;
+and the change is not more sudden than that of the climate, to which
+it is due. Going toward the south, one passes, almost without a break,
+from the Atlas Mountains to Scandinavia. The moisture increases in
+proportion as the mean temperature falls. The mountains are covered
+with snow, and the glaciers lengthen. In one part of Patagonia they
+still form a continuous cap, an "inland sea," concealing the rock over
+the entire central zone of the Cordillera; though they are only the
+shrunken remainder of a glacial cap which was once far more extensive.
+Here ice was the chief sculptor of the scenery. It has made elevated
+tablelands, broadened the deep valleys which cut the flank of the
+mountain, polished their sides, and deposited at the point where they
+open out the amphitheatres of the moraines, behind which the waters
+have accumulated and formed lakes; and these lakes stretch back like
+fiords to the heart of the Cordillera, and are the pride of Patagonia.
+
+The waters of these moisture-laden mountains have, to the east, carved
+out the Patagonian tableland. It is crossed by broad and boldly cut
+valleys, several of which, abandoned by the rivers which scoured
+them, are now dead valleys. The rubbish from the wearing down of the
+mountains and the glacial moraine has been spread over the whole face
+of the tableland in the form of beds of gravel. But the rivers that
+rise in the Andes cross a country of increasing aridity as they descend
+eastward. There is no tributary to add to their volume. There is none
+of that softening of lines, of that idle flow of a meandering stream
+which characterizes the final stage of a river in a moist district.
+Their inclination remains steep, and their waters continue to plough up
+coarse sediment; and everywhere, up to the fringes of the valleys, the
+fluting of the sandstone and steepness of the cliffs bear witness, like
+the edges of the _hamadas_ of the Sahara, to some other form of erosion
+than that effected by running water--the influence on the country of
+the westerly winds. On the tableland the wind polishes the rounded
+pebbles, makes facets on them, and gives them the colouring of the
+desert.
+
+Thus from the north to the south of Argentina there is a complete
+contrast in the way in which the controlling forces of the landscape
+are distributed. In the north the moist winds come from the east;
+the rains lessen as they pass westward. The clays, capped with black
+soil, of Buenos Aires are aeolian deposits, brought by the wind from
+the desolate steppes which close the Pampa to the west, fixed and
+transformed by the vegetation of a moister region. In the south, on
+the contrary, the rains come from the Pacific, and the fluvio-glacial
+alluvial beds of the Patagonian tableland are evidence of copious
+reserves of moisture in the Andes; but the arid climate in which the
+waters have left them has made its mark upon their surface.
+
+This diversity of the physical environment is only fully brought
+out by colonization. It is colonization, the efforts and attempts
+of human industry to adjust agricultural or pastoral practices to
+the natural conditions, which enable us to assign the limits of the
+natural regions. In this differentiation it is essential to notice the
+historical element.
+
+The introduction of new crops gives a geographical meaning, which
+had hitherto escaped observation, to climatological limits such, for
+instance, as the line of 400 millimetres of rainfall which is the
+western frontier of the region of cereals. These limits of crops remain
+uncertain for a time, then experience and tradition gradually fix them.
+They always keep a certain elasticity, however, advancing or receding
+according as the market for the particular produce is favourable or
+unfavourable.
+
+Improvement in the methods of exploiting the soil--the adoption of
+better agricultural machinery, dry farming, etc.--usually leads to the
+extension of the sphere of a particular type of colonization, as it
+enables this type to overcome some natural obstacle which restricted
+its expansion. Sometimes, however, it brings to light a new obstacle
+and creates a new geographical limit.
+
+To this category belongs the northern limit of the belt of selective
+breeding, which slants across the plain of the Pampas from the Sierra
+de Cordoba to the Parana. The more or less degenerate cattle of the
+natives had spread over the whole of the South American continent,
+except the tropical forests, since the seventeenth century, adapting
+themselves easily to very different climatic conditions, from the
+Venezuelan _llanos_ to the _sertao_ of Bahia and the plains of
+Argentina. But pedigree animals, more valuable and more delicate,
+introduced on to the Pampas fifty years ago, are not able to resist the
+malady caused by a parasite called the _garrapate_. Hence the southern
+limit of the _garrapate_ suddenly became a most important element in
+the economic life of the Republic. It would lose its importance if we
+discovered a serum that would give the animals immunity against Texas
+fever.
+
+The range of one and the same cause varies infinitely with the
+circumstances. The limit of the prairie, as of the scrub (_monte_)
+which surrounds it on every side, and keeps it at a distance of 320 to
+440 miles from Buenos Aires, had no decisive influence on primitive
+colonization. Whether covered with grasses or brushwood, the plain
+is equally suitable for extensive breeding. The ranches are the same
+on both sides of the border. At the end of the nineteenth century,
+however, when the area of cultivation increased, the prairie was
+at once found to be superior. The labour required for clearing the
+brushwood before the plough can work is enough to divert from it, at
+least for some time, the stream of agricultural colonization. While the
+population of the _monte_, wood-cutters and breeders, are indigenous,
+the prairie has absorbed the immigrants from Europe, and the border of
+the scrub has become in many places an ethnographical frontier.[2]
+
+     [2] See E. A. S. Delachaux, "Las regiones fisicas de la
+     Republica Argentina," _Rev. Museo Plata_, XV, 1908, pp.
+     102-131.
+
+  [Illustration: THE ARID ANDES. PUNTA VACAS, ON THE TRANS-ANDEAN RAILWAY.
+  _The bottom of the valley is 8,000 feet above sea-level; the sides
+  buried under rubbish. It is especially in this latitude, above a height
+  of 10,600 feet, in the zone where the moisture falls as snow even in
+  summer, that the rock is everywhere buried under its own rubbish. This
+  is Keidel's_ Schuttzone. _It extends to the foot of the Alpine peaks,
+  carved by glaciers._
+                                    Photograph by Moody, Buenos Aires.]
+
+  [Illustration: QUEBRADA DE IRUYA.
+  _Eastern slope of the Sierra de Santa Victoria, 65 miles from the
+  Bolivian frontier, in the zone of summer rain. The valleys have
+  been filled with an enormous mass of torrential alluvia. The water
+  afterwards made a course through the mobile deposits._
+                                  Photograph by Keidel, Mines Division.
+  PLATE II.                                             To face p. 22.]
+
+The changes which man has made in the floral landscape are, as a rule,
+slight. The limits of the forest zone have scarcely been altered. The
+beech forest of the southern Andes seems to be less tenacious than the
+_monte_ which surrounds the Pampa, and it has been ravaged by fire
+along the whole edge of the southern steppe at 37 deg. S. lat. The work
+of man is generally confined to changing the primitive complexion of
+the natural formations, without altering their general appearance. Thus
+valuable essences are disappearing from the forest and the scrub, the
+larch and the cypress from the district of the Patagonian Lakes, and
+the red _quebracho_ from Santiago del Estero.
+
+A change that is scarcely visible, but is of considerable economic
+importance, thus takes place in the vegetation of the prairie owing to
+the presence of herds. The _pasto fuerte_, composed of rough grasses,
+which is the natural vegetation, is being succeeded by the _pasto
+dulce_, in which annual species, soft grasses, leguminous plants,
+etc., predominate. It is mainly composed of plants of European origin.
+The difference between the _pasto dulce_ and the _pasto fuerte_ or
+_duro_ is so important for the farmer that there is hardly a single
+work on Argentina which does not dwell on it. The idea, however,
+that the _pasto dulce_ has advanced steadily westward, starting from
+the vicinity of Buenos Aires and constantly enlarging its domain, is
+not strictly accurate. In 1895 Holmberg[3] traced the western limit
+of the zone of the _pasto dulce_ through Pergamino, Junin, Bragado,
+Azul, Ayacucho, and Mar Chiquita. When we compare this with earlier
+observations, we see that in the course of the nineteenth century the
+zone of the _pasto dulce_ has extended by about a hundred miles on the
+southern Pampa. When Darwin travelled from Bahia Blanca to Buenos Aires
+in 1833, he found no _pasto dulce_ except round Monte, on the right
+bank of the Salado. Further north, on the other hand, the extent of the
+_pasto dulce_ does not seem to have altered appreciably. The expedition
+to the Salt Lakes in 1778 found that there were already thistles beyond
+the line of the ranches, and these are characteristic of the _pasto
+dulce_ in the Chivilcoy region on the Salado, which was then abandoned
+to herds of wild cattle. "There was thistle enough to cook," says
+the journal of the expedition. The difference is connected with the
+history of colonization in the province of Buenos Aires, where ground
+was gained only toward the south between 1800 and 1875. Since 1895 the
+_pasto duro_ has been eliminated by agriculture rather than by the feet
+of the herds. Hence the advance of the _pasto dulce_ is no longer in
+a continuous line moving toward the west. It is sporadic, depending
+upon the construction of new railways which open up the plain to the
+plough.[4]
+
+     [3] Holmberg, "La Flora de la Republica Argentina," in the
+     _Secundo Censo de la Republica Argentina_, vol. i. (Buenos
+     Aires, 1898).
+
+     [4] _Diario de la expedition de 1778 a las Salinas_ (Coll. de
+     Angelis, iv.).
+
+Colonization does more than emphasize the individuality of each of the
+natural regions. It connects together different features, and blends
+them in a complex vital organism which goes on evolving and renewing
+itself.
+
+The occupation of the whole of the soil of Argentina by white colonists
+is quite a recent event. The second half of the nineteenth century was
+characterized by a rapid territorial expansion, and over more than
+half the country the expression "new land" must be taken literally. It
+is only one generation since it was taken from the Indians. There can
+be no question here of tracing the history of the relations between
+the white population and the free Indians of the Chaco and the Pampa.
+The most formidable of these were, in the north, the Abipones and
+the Tobas. On the Pampa, the foes of the colonists were Indians of
+Araucanian descent, Ranqueles, Pehuenches, etc., who came down from the
+mountains and took to horses. At the close of the eighteenth century
+the frontier of Buenos Aires was on the nearer side of the Salado, and
+was bordered on the south-east and north-west by the fortresses of
+Chascomus, Monte, Lobos, Navarro, Areco, Salto, Rojas, and Melincue.
+The proposal of D'Azara to extend it as far as the Salado was not
+carried out, and it was not until 1828 that there was a fresh advance
+westward.[5]
+
+     [5] _F. de Azara, Diario de un reconocimiento de las guardias
+     y fortines que guarnecen la linea frontera de Republica
+     Argentina_ (1796, Coll. de Angelis, vol. vi.). The documents
+     collected by de Angelis show clearly that there had been some
+     idea in the middle of the eighteenth century of occupying the
+     whole plain to the east of the Sierra de Tandil. These ideas
+     of expansion, of which D'Azara's plan is another instance,
+     were interrupted by the Revolution (_Diario de D. Pedro Pablo
+     Pabon_, Coll. de Angelis, iv. etc.).
+
+The new frontier, which would not be altered until 1875, passed by
+Veinte Cinco de Mayo and Blanca Grande, at the north-western extremity
+of the Sierra de Tandil. It included the entire region which lies
+between the Sierra de Tandil and the lower Salado, where the village
+of Tandil had been established in 1823. In addition, a line of forts
+stretched from Blanca Grande in the south-west to Bahia Blanca. The
+expedition sent in search of a port south of the mouth of the Plata
+had not found any nearer site that was suitable. But Bahia Blanca was
+to remain an isolated advance post until 1880, sharply separated from
+both the colonized zone of the Pampas and the establishments on the
+Patagonian coast.
+
+While the cultivated area was thus growing toward the south, it was
+being reduced in the north of the province of Buenos Aires and the
+south of Cordoba. The lands of the lower Rio Cuarto were not occupied.
+About 1860 (Martin de Moussy) the farthest establishments in this
+sector were S. Jose de la Esquina and Saladillo on the Tercero. The
+road to Chile by the Rio Cuarto, Achiras, and San Luis was threatened.
+The advance of colonization in this zone was at first in the west to
+Villa Mercedes on the Rio Quinto. The line of the Rio Cuarto by Carlota
+was reoccupied, and before 1875 the frontier had been pushed back to
+the Rio Quinto, where it joined the forts of southern Buenos Aires by
+way of Sarmiento, Gainza, and Lavalle.
+
+At last, in 1878, General Roca abandoned the classical methods
+of fighting the Indians, and took the offensive. He deprived the
+Indians of their refuges to the south of San Luis and the Central
+Pampa, and threw them back toward the desert. The Argentine troops
+followed in their steps as far as the Andes and the Rio Negro. There
+are to-day few traces in the immense territory that was won of the
+indigenous population. Its extreme mobility had masked its numerical
+inferiority.[6]
+
+     [6] M. J. Olascoaga gives (_La conquete de la Pampa: Recueil
+     de documents relatifs a la campagne du Rio Negro_, Buenos
+     Aires, 1881) valuable documents concerning both the details
+     of the fight with the Indians and the distribution of their
+     _invernadas_ (common lands) in the region of the Pampas.
+     Olascoaga translates it "winter quarters"; it was pasturage on
+     which they kept their cattle and from which they set out on
+     their expeditions.
+
+The history of the northern frontier is much the same. At the end of
+the eighteenth century the Spanish outposts ran along the course of
+the Salado. To the north of Santa Fe, at Sunchales, Soledad, and San
+Javier, they protected the direct route from Santa Fe to Santiago del
+Estero. These outposts were abandoned during the revolutionary period,
+and the Indians advanced as far as the suburbs of Santa Fe. The roads
+both to Santiago and, by the Quebracho Herrado, to Cordoba were cut.[7]
+Urquiza reorganized the Santa Fe frontier, first as far as San Javier,
+then below 29 deg. S. lat. between Arroyo del Rey on the Parana and
+Tostado on the Salado. The expedition of 1884 brought the Argentine
+army as far as the Bermejo, and broke the resistance of the Tobas. The
+forts which, more to the north, guarded the province of Salta, on the
+further side of the Sierras de la Lumbrera and Santa Barbara, had been
+dismantled at the beginning of the nineteenth century, as the tribes
+in this part of the Chaco were not hostile.[8]
+
+     [7] See Thomas J. Hutchinson, _Buenos Aires and Argentine
+     Gleanings_.
+
+     [8] See Geronimo de la Serna, "Expedicion militar al Chaco,"
+     _Bol. I, Geog. Argentino_, xv. 1894, pp. 115-79.
+
+The memory of the fights with the Indians is so completely blotted out
+to-day, and the menace of invasion by the tribes has been so rapidly
+extinguished, that it is difficult to realize fully the profound
+influence they once had on colonization. The line of forts was a frail
+barrier that was constantly broken through. The Indians of the Pampa
+stole cattle from the ranches of Buenos Aires, and sold them in Chile.
+Colonel Garcia calculates in 1816 that about 40,000 animals were stolen
+every year.[9] Colonel Roca gives the same figure in 1876. The Pampa
+put no natural difficulties in the way of the movements of the Indians,
+no points which might serve as bases for the frontier. D. Pedro Pablo
+Pabon points out that the proximity of the Sierra, instead of giving
+protection to outposts in the Tandil region, would be an additional
+source of insecurity, as it increased the difficulty of keeping watch.
+In the north the Indian incursions followed the clearings in the scrub,
+avoiding the dense and impenetrable parts. The lagoon of Mar Chiquita,
+to the west of Santa Fe, was a valuable rampart, in the shelter of
+which a fairly large population had established itself round Concepcion
+del Tio.
+
+     [9] _Nuevo plan de fronteras de la provincia de la Republica
+     Argentina_ (Coll. de Angelis, vol. vi).
+
+The enlargements of the frontier were sometimes due to expansive
+movements of colonization, the breeders occupying new land beyond the
+line of forts and demanding protection, and sometimes to the arbitrary
+action of a Government which was eager to extend its territory, though
+it was still without the means of exploiting it. Roca has well shown
+the defects of this system of premature military occupation. "To go
+far away from the populated districts in acquiring new territory is,
+in my opinion, only an aggravation of the inconveniences of defensive
+war, and it places a desert between the new lines and the settled
+regions.... Invasions occur at once."[10] We should therefore be
+likely to make serious mistakes if we were to identify the history of
+colonization with that of military occupation. Moreover, the garrisons
+of the forts did not take a very active part in the exploitation of
+the soil. The plan which D'Azara proposed, of making _blandengues_
+(lancers) colonists and rooting them to the soil by distributing it
+amongst them, seems to have been purely Utopian. His description of
+the frontier shows clearly how slight a hold the early colonization
+had on the Pampa, where the only relatively industrious element was
+represented by the groups of civilians (_paisanos_) who gathered about
+the works and moats of the forts. It was different on the Santiago del
+Estero frontier, where there was agriculture as well as breeding. Here
+the fort was identical with the village, and each soldier had his plot
+of wheat, maize, or water-melons.[11]
+
+     [10] Letter to the Minister of War, October 19, 1875.
+
+     [11] See the curious picture, which Hutchinson gives us, of
+     military life on the Rio Salado de Santiago about the middle
+     of the nineteenth century.
+
+The provinces which were to combine in forming the Argentine Republic
+had no economic unity. They were really two countries, two separate
+worlds, the coast regions and the mountain regions (_de arriba_),
+joined together, but not blended, by the main road from Buenos Aires
+to Peru, by way of Cordoba, Tucuman, and Salta. They represented two
+different branches of Spanish colonization. "Two human streams," says
+Mitre, "contributed to the peopling of the vice-royalty.... The first
+came directly from Spain, the mother country. It occupied and peopled
+the banks in the basin of the Rio de la Plata, in the name of the
+right of discovery and conquest, and fertilized them by its labour.
+The other stream came from the ancient empire of the Incas, already
+subdued by the Spanish armies. This spread toward the interior of the
+country as it passed from the Pacific to the Atlantic, occupied the
+land in virtue of the same rights, and exploited it by means of a
+feudal system.... The same year, 1535, saw the foundation of the two
+towns, Buenos Aires and Lima, and was the centre of these two cycles
+of discoveries and conquests. Thirty-eight years later, in the same
+year, 1573, the Conquistadores who came from Peru founded the town of
+Cordoba, two hundred miles away from the Parana, while those who came
+from the Rio de la Plata founded the town of Santa Fe on the banks of
+that river."[12]
+
+     [12] Mitre, _Historia de Belgrano_, I, ch. i. pp. 4 and 5.
+
+  [Illustration: MAP I.--ARGENTINA. THE NATURAL REGIONS.
+  _The map shows the distribution of the natural regions--the dry Andes
+  in the north-west, with irrigated cultivation; the monte, or brush,
+  which is still used for extensive breeding; and the Pampa, with its
+  great areas of cereals and lucerne. The line marking the frontier of
+  1875 shows the speed at which colonization has developed in the western
+  half of the plain of the Pampas. The only regions not given on the map
+  are the plateau of Misiones, with its tropical forests, and the wet
+  Andes of Patagonia._
+                                                        To face p. 28.]
+
+Tucuman and Salta were established by conquerors from Peru, while San
+Juan and Mendoza were built by the Chilean Spaniards. The line of
+demarcation between the two zones of colonization crosses the immense
+desert plains of the interior, not the elevated tablelands of the Andes.
+
+The two types of Argentinians differed in every respect, in blood as
+well as in environment. The indigenous race, which was eliminated on
+the coast, mingled intimately with the conquering race in the interior.
+
+The establishments on the Rio de la Plata had originally been merely
+stages on the road to Peru, and had no value of themselves. The
+elevated tablelands of the Andes long remained the economic centre of
+Spanish America, and the provinces of the interior, which sold them
+cattle and mules, depended very closely upon them. The end of the
+eighteenth century was marked by more rapid progress in the region of
+the Pampas. The vice-royalty of La Plata was created.
+
+Freedom of trade was secured between Buenos Aires and the Spanish
+ports. The export of hides increased. The influence of Buenos Aires
+spread over the interior and, in spite of the Cordoba tariff, reached
+the regions of the north-west. "The creation of the vice-royalty," says
+Dean Funes, "and the new direction taken by commerce had the effect
+that Buenos Aires became the centre of considerable and important
+business."[13]
+
+     [13] D. Gregorio Funes, _Ensayo de la historia civil del
+     Paraguay, Buenos Aires, y Tucuman_ (Buenos Aires, 3 vols.,
+     1816).
+
+This commercial development, which seemed destined to bring closer
+together the two halves of Argentinian territory, was interrupted
+in the first half of the nineteenth century. This did not, however,
+break the connections between the provinces to the north-west of the
+tableland and those on the Pacific slope, and indeed, they became
+more varied and more binding. Packs of mules, carrying the ore of San
+Juan and La Rioja to the foundries of the Chilean side, added life to
+the Cordillera. When Chile, transformed into an agricultural country,
+could not meet its own demand for cattle, the oases of the Argentine
+side were sown with lucerne for fattening the cattle which were to
+cross the mountains. The provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, La Rioja,
+Catamarca, Tucuman, and Salta were held within the orbit of the Andes
+districts.[14] There are historical reasons for this set-back to the
+influence of Buenos Aires. The wars of the revolutionary period and
+the conflicts between the Buenos Aires Government and the maritime
+powers checked the commercial enterprise on the banks of the Plata.
+This political isolation of the province of Buenos Aires, under the
+Rosas Government, lasted until 1853. Poncel gives us statistics of the
+imports of Catamarca which show the great importance of this date in
+the history of Argentine commerce:
+
+     [14] The Woodbine Parish map (1839) puts Tinogasta eighty
+     miles out of its proper position, at the very foot of the Come
+     Caballos range, thus reducing by one half its distance from
+     Copiapo, on the Chilean slope.
+
+  Imports into the Province of       1850  1851  1852  1853  1854
+  Catamarca:
+
+  From the Pacific across the
+  Cordillera (in millions of           72    50    71    40    12
+  piastres)
+
+  From the Atlantic (Buenos Aires
+  or Rosario)                          11     7    20    64   116[15]
+
+     [15] B. Poncel, _Mes itineraires dans les Provinces du Rio de
+     la Plata, Province de Catamarca_ (Paris, 1864).
+
+In 1854-5 the Cordillera route definitely ceased to be of commercial
+importance to Catamarca, and it was afterwards used merely for the
+export of cattle.
+
+But the attraction of Buenos Aires after 1853 was not merely due to its
+commercial life and its intermediate position between the provinces
+of the interior and Europe. It was chiefly based upon the economic
+development of the region of the Pampas, which began about this date,
+and altered the balance between the two halves of Argentina. The
+exploitation of the Pampa, the improvement in breeding methods, and the
+introduction and expansion of agriculture on the plain of the Pampa,
+which fill all publications on modern Argentina, are in themselves one
+of the great events in the economic history of the nineteenth century.
+They had also an indirect but profound influence upon the life of other
+parts of Argentina. The consuming capacity of the Pampa increased
+simultaneously with its wealth and population. It absorbed the products
+of the neighbouring provinces and in turn made customers of them,
+distributing amongst them, according to the services they rendered,
+part of the gold it obtained from beyond the Atlantic. One after the
+other the provinces lost the relations which had hitherto connected
+them with foreign lands. There was the same development all over the
+zone of cereals and lucerne--the direction of the stream of commerce
+was reversed. In some places, as at Tucuman and Mendoza the change
+was accomplished a generation ago. In other places, as at Salta and
+San Juan, it is still going on. In yet other places, the more remote
+valleys, like Jachal and Santa Maria, it will occur in the near future.
+By a singular anomaly the Far West of North America, which sprang up
+half a century ago, tends to withdraw more and more from the influence
+of the eastern States, which provided it with capital and immigrants,
+while the Far West of Argentina, which is just as old as the east and
+by no means a creation of the east, since it developed in isolation and
+freedom, and was already adult and rich when they came into contact,
+has nevertheless fallen into complete dependence upon the east in the
+course of a few years.
+
+The life of the whole country depended upon the great colonization
+movement which transformed the plain of the Pampas. This brought about
+an economic unity which was at once reflected in the political world.
+The railway from Buenos Aires reached Tucuman before 1880; Mendoza, San
+Juan, Salta, and Catamarca before 1890; and La Rioja before 1900. The
+establishment of closer economic relations between the coast and the
+provinces of the interior has nearly always inaugurated a period of
+great prosperity for the latter. In every case the influence of Buenos
+Aires vitalized them, put an end to their slumbers, and made them rich.
+
+Not only did the coast take for itself the products of the western
+provinces, which had hitherto found their way to other markets, but new
+centres of production had to be created to meet its needs. The forests
+of the Chaco received a great influx of wood-cutters, to provide the
+sleepers for the railways. The valley of the Rio Negro was planted with
+vines, to provide the wines of the colonies in the district of Bahia
+Blanca. The attraction of the Pampa was felt as far as the frontiers.
+Paraguay competed with Corrientes in the supply of tobacco and oranges;
+with Misiones in the supply of _yerba mate_. Each district chose the
+particular crop which was best suited to its climate, in order to
+secure the highest possible advantage from its relations with Buenos
+Aires.
+
+The two most brilliant satellites of the Pampa, the most important
+productive centres of the interior, are Tucuman and Mendoza. All the
+other important towns of Argentina belong themselves to the region of
+the Pampas. Tucuman and Mendoza, which live by supplying the Pampa with
+sugar and wine, have become in turn secondary centres of attraction.
+They are a sort of regional capitals, and they have their own spheres
+of economic influence. A network of commercial streams has developed
+about them, and this has led to the formation of new roads. These lines
+of local interest are easily recognized on a map of the railways,
+where one sees them superimposed upon the regular fan of lines which
+converges toward Buenos Aires. La Rioja provides the props for the
+vines of San Juan and Mendoza. From the north of Cordoba to Salta,
+a distance of about 250 miles, the wood is cut for the fuel of the
+sugar-works of Tucuman. Santiago dries the fodder for its troops of
+mules. The prairies of Catamarca, which once fattened the cattle that
+were intended for Chile, and often came even from Tucuman, now sell
+their beasts to the butchers of Tucuman. The wines of San Juan find
+their best customers at Tucuman. Even the nearest portions of the plain
+of the Pampas, to the north-east of Santa Fe and the south of San Luis,
+supply maize and wheat to Tucuman and Mendoza, instead of sending them
+to the ports for export.
+
+While Argentina lives on the Pampa, the Pampa lives on export. It has
+been developed through the inflow of European immigrants, and Europe
+pays by sending its manufactured products and capital. Except as
+regards emigration, the United States had, before the war, much the
+same relation to Argentina as the countries of Western Europe. Thus
+the economic prosperity of the Republic binds it more and more closely
+to the life of the whole world. Its position in the temperate zone of
+South America had retarded its entrance into world-commerce, and this
+explains the slowness with which its colonization proceeded at first.
+Its climate and products were too similar to those of Spain. Not only
+the mining and metallurgical centres of the Andes and of Mantiqueria,
+but even the sugar and cotton regions of Brazil, the Antilles, and the
+Guianas, were developed before the plains of the Pampas.
+
+The turn of the Argentine Republic did not come until the growth of
+population in the industrial countries of Europe made them dependent
+upon foreign lands for their food, and until the application of steam
+to ships made it possible to export wool, meat, and cereals on a large
+scale.
+
+When we compare the economic organization of Argentina with that of the
+United States, we see that it is both less complex and less capable of
+being self-contained. The difference is due to the architecture of the
+country. I said at the beginning of this chapter that Argentina has no
+equivalent for the zone of the Atlantic tablelands, which is now the
+great industrial region of North America. The industrial prosperity of
+eastern North America provides a safe home market for the farmers of
+the west, and relieves them of the need of exporting their produce.
+Moreover, the Atlantic tablelands, the original centres of population,
+where the first generations of colonists lived on land that was often
+poor, have seen the gradual formation of reserves of labour and capital
+which were afterwards used in colonizing the west. The east sifted, in
+a sense controlled, the influence of modern Europe in the colonization
+of the United States. It classified and assimilated the new emigrants
+who set out for the west, mingled with the troops of native pioneers
+on their way to the prairies. In the same way, when European capital
+flowed into the United States, it found in the eastern cities a large
+treasury and a body of financiers in whose hands it had to remain.
+
+In Argentina, on the contrary, everything speaks of the close and
+direct dependence of the country upon oversea markets. The soil itself
+bears the marks of this solidarity. It is seen in the network of the
+railways, the concentration of the urban population in the ports, and
+the distribution of the cultivated districts in concentric circles
+which are often limited, not by a physical obstacle, but by the cost of
+freightage between the productive centre and the port. Thus we get a
+geographical expression of facts which seem at first sight to belong to
+the purely economic or sociological order.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE OASES OF THE NORTH-WEST AND PASTORAL LIFE IN THE SCRUB
+
+     The inhabited zones of the Andes in the north-west--_Valles_,
+     _Quebradas_, _Puna_--The irrigation of the _valles_--The
+     historic routes--Convoys of stock--The breeding of mules and
+     the fairs--The struggle of the breeders against drought--The
+     Sierra de los Llanos.
+
+
+The whole life and wealth of the arid provinces of north-western
+Argentina depend upon irrigation; the water-supply definitively settles
+the sites of human establishments. The water resources are irregularly
+distributed. They are especially abundant in the south (San Juan,
+Mendoza, and San Rafael), where the torrents of the Cordillera are fed
+by the glaciers, and on the outer fringe of the hills above the Chaco,
+at the foot of Aconcagua, which gathers masses of cloud and rain on its
+flanks (Tucuman). In the intermediate district, on the contrary, in the
+regions of La Rioja and Catamarca, and in the interior of the hilly
+zone to the north-west of Tucuman, the amount of available water is
+small; the oases shrink into small spots far removed from each other.
+
+This natural inequality was not felt at first. For a long time the
+spread of cultivation and the progress of wealth were restricted only
+by the scarcity of population, the difficulties of transport, and the
+inadequacy of the markets. The best endowed oases paid no attention
+to the surplus supply of water, for which they had no use. We have to
+come down to the close of the nineteenth century to find men reaching
+the limits which nature has set to colonization, and mapping out
+their domain. It is not until then that La Rioja ceases to compete
+with Mendoza, or Catamarca with Tucuman. While large industrial
+enterprises develop at Mendoza and Tucuman, strong centres of urban
+life arise, the population increases, and immigrants stream in, the
+oases of the interior scarcely change. Their population does not keep
+its level. Life has an archaic character that one finds nowhere else
+in Argentina. The physical conditions have retarded, one would almost
+say crystallized, the economic development. The living generation
+exploits the soil in ways that to some extent go back as far as the
+indigenous tribes, the masters of their Spanish conquerors in the art
+of irrigation. The industry of fattening and convoying cattle, which
+was once the chief source of wealth of the whole country, is still
+alive in those districts.
+
+The zone of the elevated tablelands of the Andes without drainage
+toward the sea--the Puna--has still, below 22 deg. S. latitude on
+the northern frontier of Argentina, a width of about 250 miles. This
+breadth steadily contracts southward as far as 28 deg. S. latitude,
+where the Puna ends about the level of the road from Tinogasta to
+Copiapo.
+To the east and south of the Puna the Argentine Andes are cut from
+north to south by a series of long gullies and large basins, between
+which there are lofty and massive chains with steep flanks. Some of
+these lie in the heart of the mountains, while others often open like
+gulfs upon the edge of the plain. These depressions with rectilinear
+contours are a common feature of the topography of the Andes in this
+latitude. The central plain of Chile is closely related to them.
+In the Argentine speech they are called _valles_: Valle de Lerma,
+Valle Calchaqui, Valle de Iglesias, de Calingasta, d'Uspallata. They
+are, however, not "valleys" in the sense of hollows made by erosion
+by running water. They owe their formation to tectonic movements,
+subsidences of the surface. The scanty rivers of the arid Anacs are not
+capable of doing work of that kind. When they enter the already formed
+bed of a _valle_, they seem to be lost in the immense space. Often
+they dry up in it, leaving behind the sediment and salts with which
+the water was laden. In other places they cut at right angles across
+the _valle_, escaping by narrow breaches in it, while the depression
+continues its course on either side, taking in sections of a number of
+independent streams.
+
+Opposed to the _valle_ is the eroded ravine, carved out by water, the
+_quebrada_. It opens upon a _valle_ with a V-shaped mouth, which widens
+out at the top, and one can recognise at sight the various slopes and
+the successive stages of erosion. Narrow and winding, a level bed
+of shingle filling the entire base of the valley, it rises rapidly
+toward the mountains and provides a route from the _valle_ to the
+_puna_. These _valles_, _quebradas_ and _puna_ are the three inhabited
+zones of the Andes. The first is the richest. The inhabitant of the
+_valle_, proud of his comparative comfort, has for his neighbour in the
+_quebrada_ or the _puna_--the _coyada_--a contempt such as one finds
+the inhabitants of the good land in Europe feeling for the people in
+poorer districts.
+
+The narrower the _valle_, the less rain there is. The observations
+give 112 millimetres of rain per year at Tinogasta, 290 at Andalgala,
+and 200 at Santa Maria. Salta and Jujuy have a much moister climate,
+and have no less than 570 and 740 millimetres of rain annually. This
+is because the eastern chain of the Andes, which stretches from the
+Sierra de Santa Victoria on the Bolivian frontier to Aconcagua, sinks
+lower at the latitude of Salta, and lets in the moisture of the Chaco
+to the heart of the zone of the Andes. The rains of Salta and Jujuy are
+suspended during the winter, but they are so heavy during the summer
+months (November to March) that maize, which needs only the summer
+rain, can be cultivated without irrigation. But when we follow the
+Valle de Lerma southward from Salta the maize harvest becomes more and
+more uncertain, and it is no longer sown in dry soil when we get to
+about twenty miles from Salta, in the latitude of the confluence of the
+Arias and the Juramento. However, the summer rains, which are good for
+maize, are very injurious to the vine; they spoil the grapes. Thus the
+southern limit of the cultivation of maize in dry soil almost coincides
+with the northern limit of the vine. At that point we have the real
+beginning of the typical scenery of the _valles_.
+
+[Illustration: THE PATAGONIAN ANDES. _Mount Tronador (11,500 feet) on
+the Chilean frontier, dominating the road from Lake Nahuel Huapi to
+Chile. The glaciers still reach the bottom of the valley, which they
+filled at one time. A burnt forest in the foreground._ PLATE III. To
+face p. 38.]
+
+The need of irrigation is due to the scarcity of rain, but it is
+accentuated by a number of causes which tend to increase the aridity.
+The _valles_ are the scene of scorching day-winds, the _zonda_, like
+the _Foehn_ of the Swiss Alps, which, there being no snow, dry up
+the water of the springs and of the irrigation trenches, or use the
+deposits left by the waters to form dunes, which they push southward,
+sometimes like veritable glaciers of sand. Moreover, the soil of
+the _valles_ is generally composed of coarse and permeable alluvial
+deposits, which absorb the rain-storms immediately. There is at the
+foot of both sides of the hills which enclose each _valle_ an immense
+and far-lying bed of imperfectly rounded shingle. This double zone of
+detritus is strangely desolate, for the vegetation on it is restricted
+to isolated bushes of _jarilla_ and _tola_. From the sheepfolds on the
+mountains to the oases in the valleys one hardly meets a single house.
+The bed of the valley is not so desolate. A broad ribbon of sand marks
+the dry bed of a torrent, and on the clays of its banks, if the sheet
+of water underground is not too deep, one finds, in spite of the goats
+and asses and charcoal-burners, little forests of _algarrobas_, which
+the foundries use for fuel.
+
+The modern alluvial beds, gravel and sand, represent the upper stratum
+of a considerable series of continental deposits which lie on the
+Paleozoic crystalline rock of the Andes.[16] They chiefly consist of
+red sandstone and coloured marls, which crop up here and there through
+the alluvial covering and give the landscape a rugged character, worn
+by water and wind. There is no trace of humus: nothing to soften the
+vivid colours of the rock. Bodenbender, to whom we owe the first
+general attempt to classify the series, points out the importance of
+distinguishing the different strata in connection with the question
+of water supply and the conditions of human life.[17] A complete
+geographical study would have to follow the geological description in
+detail. In places--on the eastern edge of the Sierra de los Llanos--the
+fine modern clays are in contact with the granites of the hills and
+form above them a thick bed that is rich in fresh water. In other
+places--south-westward of the Sierra de la Famatina, as far as the
+Bermejo--the outcrop is of red sandstone only. The tablelands of
+Talampaya and Ischigualasta, which are cut across by the gorges of the
+tributaries of the Bermejo, form one of the most conspicuously desert
+regions in the whole Republic. Wherever the gypsiferous marls of the
+Calchaqui are near the surface, the springs are saline. The undulations
+of the impermeable rocky substratum bring to light the water that
+gathers in the alluvial beds. Thus the streams which come down the
+Famatina range in the west disappear in the alluvial beds on the fringe
+of the Sierra, but re-appear presently in the oasis of Pagancillo.
+
+     [16] This series, stretching from the Permian to the Tertiary,
+     also includes, especially in the region of the sub-Andean
+     chains, on the fringe of the Chaco, a number of marine strata
+     (see Bonarelli, _Las sierras subandinas del Alto y Aguarague y
+     los yacimientos petroliferos del distrito minero de Tartagal_
+     "Ann. Min. Agric.," Seccion Geologia, Mineralogia, y Mineria,
+     viii. No. 4: Buenos Aires, 1913).
+
+     [17] G. Bodenbender, _Parte meridional de la Provincia de la
+     Rioja y regiones limitrofes_ (Ann. Min. Agric., Seccion Geol.,
+     Minerol., y Mineria, vii. No. 3: Buenos Aires, 1912).
+
+Hence the _valles_ are by no means wholly productive. The oases
+represent only a limited portion of them. It would be impossible to
+imagine a more striking contrast than that of the freshness and life
+of the oases compared with the surrounding desert. Screens of poplars
+shelter them from the _zonda_. The water runs along trenches paved
+with round pebbles under the spreading vines, at the foot of which, to
+economize water and space, lucerne is sown. Each garden feeds a family.
+Near the raw-brick houses there are large earthenware vessels, as tall
+as a man, in which the corn is kept. The hammering of the cooper fills
+the air.
+
+In places the oasis is watered by a stream. In those cases there is
+on each side of the bed of the stream a narrow fringe, a continuous
+ribbon, of smiling gardens, which hide the path. Above and below Santa
+Maria a trench is opened every mile in the wet sands of the Rio. The
+water rises in it and fills it, and is directed by it toward one of the
+banks, where it is jealously collected and distributed. The water which
+flows from the irrigated fields and returns to the river, as well as
+that which the porous side of the trench has permitted to escape, goes
+to fill another trench and supply other fields farther on. The region
+of Los Sauces, in the northern part of the province of La Rioja, to the
+south of Tinogasta, shows a different type of irrigated cultivation,
+on account of the sandy course of the stream. The fields follow the
+feeding artery for about fifty miles. It is bled at the beginning of
+each bend, the waters remaining underground like hidden wealth.
+
+In most cases however, the _valle_ has no running water. What
+reaches it from the lateral _quebradas_ is lost in the alluvial beds
+accumulated at the point where the _quebrada_ enters the _valle_. In
+order to make use of it the cultivated areas are grouped on the cone of
+deposition; at least, that is the position in the great majority of the
+oases. A _costa_ is a line of separate oases with their backs to the
+same slope. When the _valle_ is narrow, the _costas_ on either side of
+the sterile depression face each other, like two parallel roads. The
+water of the _quebrada_ is never sufficiently abundant to irrigate the
+whole of the cone of the torrent. In order to create an oasis there,
+they have selected the most easily cultivable zone, which is usually
+the foot of the cone, where the deposits are finer and more fertile,
+retain the moisture better, and require less watering. The summit of
+the cone is composed of coarse stones, the first to be dropped by the
+torrent as it loses its strength. These are bad lands, where the water
+is wasted.
+
+To meet the occasional drought and the danger of sudden floods in
+this fluvial zone, which is entirely the domain of the torrent, there
+is need of constant care and ingenuity. At Colalao del Valle the
+cultivated fields are five or six miles from the summit of the cone.
+After a number of successive years of drought the stream of water
+which reached them on the flanks of the cone lost half its volume and
+threatened to disappear altogether. They then built a stone dam at the
+outlet of the _quebrada_, and the water accumulates behind this during
+the night. At three o'clock in the morning the sluices are opened, and
+the stream, having thus nursed its strength, reaches the fields down
+below about seven o'clock. Then the sun and the wind rise, just at the
+time when the reservoir is empty, and by the middle of the day the
+stream ceases, and irrigation is suspended. At Andalgala, above which
+rises the glittering crest of Aconcagua, the waters of the melting
+snows which feed the torrent have not time to be "decanted" before they
+reach the valley. They come down laden with mud and sand. Above the
+points where the irrigation-channels begin the people make, in the bed
+of the torrent, a dam of branches of trees which filters the water. It
+is swept away by every flood that occurs, and is at once restored.
+
+What is even more admirable than the ingenuity of the _vallista_
+in utilizing the natural resources is the minute detail of the
+water-rights. It seems as if the _vallista_ is even more cunning in
+protecting himself from his neighbour than in dealing with nature. The
+water-customs of these Andean valleys are worth an extensive study.
+The water does not belong to the State, and is not used by concession
+from the State. It is private property. The owner uses or abuses it as
+he pleases on the lands which he has selected. A man may be poor in
+land and rich in water, which he accordingly sells. There are frequent
+business deals in regard to water-rights, just as in regard to the soil
+and its produce. Appropriation of water often precedes appropriation
+of the soil. Many oases are communities where the non-irrigated lands
+are common to the whole population, and the irrigated fields alone are
+divided.
+
+A primary group of customs regulates the relations to each other of
+communities higher up and lower down the same stream. At Catamarca the
+water of a certain stream is shared by Piedra Blanca and Valle Viejo.
+Piedra Blanca, in the upper part, absorbs the whole of the water for a
+week, but it must then suspend its irrigation during the following week
+and permit the stream to flow down the valley. The same evening, or the
+next morning, according to the season, the water reaches Valle Viejo.
+It is a custom known as the _quiebras_ in the southern valleys of the
+desert side of Peru, where it allows different stages of cultivation
+to proceed simultaneously. In the same way, above Santa Maria, where
+several communities (S. Jose, Loro Huasi, etc.) receive the water
+brought by a channel from the Rio Santa Maria, each of them has a
+right to the full output of the channel for three days. At the end of
+that time the sluices are closed, and the water passes to the next
+community. There is grave trouble for any oasis that has its rights
+infringed or does not compel the communities higher up to respect them.
+
+Amongst individuals the water-right is generally defined by a
+measurement of time, a certain number of days or hours--during which
+the owner controls the entire flow of the spring or stream. It is
+only when the water is more abundant that we find another method of
+fixing the right of water, defining it by bulk. The water is then said
+to be _demarcada_, as the unit is customarily the _marco_, or the
+volume which passes through an opening about twenty-one centimetres
+in width and eight in height. The _marco_ has infinite divisions, and
+each subdivision has its own name--the _naranja_, the _bombilla_, the
+_paja_, and so on.
+
+As all the water is utilized, and the rights of all are equally
+entitled to respect, the division of the water into _marcos_
+(_demarcacion_) is in practice merely a proportional distribution of
+it amongst those who have rights to it. If the sum total of rights
+expressed in _marcos_ represents something like the total flow of
+a stream during an average season, in the time of low water it is
+disproportionate, and the water no longer flows to the tops of the
+_marcos_. In other words, the quantity of water granted to each rises
+or falls with the rise or fall of the stream itself.
+
+Theoretically, when the water-right is defined in _marcos_ it is
+permanent. Often, however, it is impossible to grant each proprietor
+a permanent title to the water. Even in oases where the water is
+"demarked," the _turno_--that is to say, the turn of the proprietors to
+have water--which is the absolute rule in the poorest oases, reappears
+during the months of scarcity, in winter, when there is no rain,
+and at the beginning of summer. It reappears also when the right of
+ownership has been broken up into fractions that are too small, and it
+is better to grant a larger volume of water for several hours instead
+of a constant stream of water which would be too scanty for profitable
+use. At Andalgala the "turn" is sometimes obligatory, and regulated by
+custom, in channels where the irrigating proprietors are too numerous;
+at other times optional, and settled by convention amongst the owners
+themselves, when water is scanty. At Valle Viejo (Catamarca), when
+the water runs low, they set up the _mita_; that is to say, the
+sluices remain closed in each channel during four days out of eight,
+each proprietor in turn giving up his right to a permanent supply in
+order to have a double allowance when his turn comes. The _turno_ is,
+therefore, a general practice. Everywhere we can see the farmers on
+the watch along the _acequias_, waiting for the moment to close their
+neighbour's trench with a pellet of clay and to let the stream into
+their own trenches with a blow of the spade.
+
+The most minute precautions are taken in order that no one shall suffer
+injury. As the irrigation is always slower and less thorough during the
+night, they take it in turns to have the day and the night alternately.
+When the community receives the water from another community higher up
+the stream, the succession of "turns" amongst its members differs every
+time. The water comes down charged with sediment, pushing in front of
+it a mass of liquid mud, as the flush of a torrent does. It takes some
+time for the stream to become regular and clear. The first irrigator
+therefore exercises his right under unfavourable conditions. In the
+local phraseology the _volcada de agua_ is not as good as the _corte
+de agua_, which means the irrigation that begins when the _acequia_ is
+full.
+
+Irrigation entails the services of quite a staff of arbitrators and
+administrators. The head men, who have jurisdiction of a higher order
+and secure the accurate distribution of the water amongst a number
+of channels or communities, are now, as a rule, officials of the
+administration, appointed by the provincial authorities (_juez de
+Irrigacion_ at Catamarca, _juez de rio_ at Rosario de Lerma). But the
+_juez de agua_ of each community or each channel is a syndic elected by
+the interested parties. At Santa Maria the _juez de agua_ is elected
+by the owners and confirmed by the Government. He controls irrigation
+throughout the department, settling all differences, submitting plans
+of work to a meeting of the owners, and assigning their respective
+charges in labour and contributions according to their rights.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+This land of customs and traditions is also a land of lively movement.
+The briskness of the traffic is primarily due to continuous exchange
+between the various zones of the mountainous district. This large
+trade, so scattered that the railways could not dream of satisfying
+its needs, is carried, in the old fashion, on the backs of mules. The
+lively aspect of the roads between the tableland and the lower valleys
+of the region, the brisk interchange of goods between zones with
+different climates, is one of the common features of life on the Andes.
+
+But the classic spectacle presents a different aspect in different
+latitudes. In Peru, and in southern Bolivia, the higher valleys--Jauja,
+Cuzco, the Pampas of Cochabamba and Sucre--have centres of dense
+population and agricultural wealth at a height of between 9,000
+and 11,000 feet. They raise cereals, and receive from the tropical
+districts (_montanas and yungas_) sugar, cane-brandy, cocoa, and
+coca-leaf. The valleys of the Argentine Andes are usually at a less
+elevation than the _yungas_ and _montanas_ of Bolivia and Peru. But
+they are not hot districts, and have not tropical vegetation. Frost
+prevents the harvesting of sugar-cane at Salta, at a height of 4,000
+feet. As to the coca-leaf, which is not as much used here as in the
+north, the Argentine _valles_ do not send it to the tableland, but
+receive it indirectly from there, through the southern _yungas_. In
+default of tropical crops, the Argentine _valles_ sow wheat and maize,
+which they sell to the Indians of the cold districts of the Puna for
+wool and salt.
+
+These commercial currents are of very ancient, probably pre-Columbian
+origin. Boman has discovered ears of maize in the prehistoric tombs
+of the Puna de Atacama.[18] The Puna, at a height of 11,000 to 12,000
+feet, is permanently inhabited, unlike the high valleys of the
+Cordillera de San Juan, which are occupied only during the summer
+season by Chilean shepherds. It is primarily a pastoral and mining
+region, but it has some tilled land, at more than 6,700 feet above the
+level of the valleys. The higher limit of annual cultivation in the
+cold districts, which is fixed by the summer temperature, does not fall
+in the same way as that of arboriculture in warm districts, because
+trees suffer from the winter frosts. The Indians of Cochinoca and
+Susques sow lucerne and barley for fodder, and the _quinoa_ and potato
+for food. Transport between the Puna and the _valles_ is carried on
+by the inhabitants of the Puna, and is not shared by the _vallistas_.
+They are especially active in the north, in the province of Jujuy.
+Belmar shows how important the sales of the Puna woollen goods were by
+the middle of the nineteenth century.[19] These fabrics were used by
+the mill-owners of the Rio Grande de Jujuy to pay for the work of the
+Indians of the Chaco, whom they employed in the sugar-cane harvest.
+The competition of the manufactured products of Europe now menaces the
+domestic weaving of the Puna, just as the competition of the flour of
+the Pampa menaces the cultivation of cereals in the _valles_.
+
+     [18] Eric Boman, _Antiquites de la region andine de la
+     Republique Argentine et de la Puna de Atacama: Mission scient.
+     G. de Crequi-Montfort et E. Senechal de la Grange_ (Paris,
+     vols. i. and ii. 1908).
+
+     [19] Belmar, _Les provinces de la Federation argentine_
+     (Paris, 1856).
+
+Besides this traffic of local interest the _valles_ serve for a traffic
+of a higher, almost a continental character. It seems certain that
+during the pre-Spanish period the road from the Peruvian tablelands to
+Chile avoided the inhospitable desert of the Puna de Atacama, entered
+the region of the _valles_ to the east, and crossed the Cordillera in
+the latitude of Tinogasta, or even a little further south. That was
+the route of the armies of the Incas, which in the fourteenth century
+came as far as Maule. The pre-Columbian roads, of which Boman has
+found traces between the Valle de Lerma and the Valle Calchaqui, seem
+to correspond with this direction of traffic. By this route the long
+_quechua_ passed amongst the Diaguites populations. The conquerors
+followed the Indian guides. Almagro, in going from Peru to Chile,
+passed through the _valles_ at the eastern edge of the Andes.
+
+Later the _valles_ were incorporated in the many variations of the
+historic high road, one of the first and busiest of Spanish America,
+which goes from the Rio de la Plata to Lima: a route both for armies
+and merchants. The plan proposed by Matienzo (1566) to make a road
+from the silver mines to the estuary of the Parana, through the Valle
+de Calchaqui, seems to have been intended merely to improve a line of
+communication that had already been in use. Buenos Aires for a long
+time received European goods by this road. About 1880 the Salta route
+recovered for a time its continental importance, during the Pacific
+War and the occupation by the Chileans of the maritime provinces of
+Bolivia.[20] At that time it was the only outlet for Bolivia.
+
+     [20] See Brackebusch, "Viaje a la provincia de Jujuy," _Bol.
+     Instit. Geog. Argent._, iv. 1883, pp. 9-17.
+
+  [Illustration: VEGETATION OF THE INTERIOR VALLEYS (ANDES OF THE
+  NORTH-WEST).
+  _Descent of Tafi del Valle, going to Santa Maria. The ravine is
+  excavated out of the mass of coarse deposits which forms a fringe
+  between the mountain and the valley. On this permeable soil the
+  vegetation is particularly thin. Cactus._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: FOREST ON THE OUTER SLOPE OF THE SUB-ANDEAN CHAINS.
+  _Sierra de San Antonio (Salta province). Perennial foliage, creepers,
+  ferns._                                     Photograph by the Author.
+   PLATE IV.                                            To face p. 48.]
+
+But of all the forms of traffic that have enlivened the _valles_ the
+most constant, and the form that has had the most profound influence on
+their existence, is the movement of cattle. The cattle trade has been
+of fundamental importance in the history of the colonization of South
+America. Animals were the only goods that could be conveyed any great
+distance. At the beginning of the conquest the productive regions of
+the continent, which supplied the export trade with Europe, were very
+limited in extent. Pastoral colonization began at once, and spread
+over a very wide area. Herds of oxen, for meat or draught, horses, and
+mules, made their way toward the centres of consumption: towns like
+Lima, Bahia, and Rio, the Peruvian mines, and the sugar-refineries of
+the north-east of Brazil, and later toward the _yerbales_ of Paraguay
+or the seaports of the Caribs and the Rio Grande do Sul, where the
+jerked meat industry developed. The cattle routes converge upon these
+centres.
+
+The export of cattle and mules from the Argentine plains to Peru was
+fully established by the close of the sixteenth century, and it seems
+to have continued without interruption ever since. Upper Peru is,
+however, not the only market on which the Argentine breeders lived. At
+the end of the eighteenth century D'Azara demanded that they should
+permit the sale of horses and mules to Brazil, for use in the mines.
+The cattle traffic with Portuguese territory had not then assumed
+the form of a regular commerce, and the Brazilians made raids on the
+north-eastern provinces for the animals they needed--60,000 a year,
+D'Azara says.[21] The export of cattle to Paraguay and Misiones was, on
+the other hand, of substantial economic importance in the eighteenth
+century. Before the Revolution, Rengger says, as many as 200,000 head
+of cattle passed yearly from Corrientes to Paraguay, which paid for
+them in _mate_ and tobacco.[22] This trade was kept up intermittently
+in the nineteenth century. The exports from Corrientes were especially
+important at the time when the Paraguay stock was reconstituted after
+the war (40,000 head of cattle in 1875).
+
+     [21] _Memorias sobre el estado rural del rio de la Plata en
+     1801, Escritos postumos de D. Felix de Azara_, published by D.
+     Augustin de Azara (Madrid, 1847).
+
+     [22] A. Rengger, _Reise nach Paraguay in den Jahren 1818 bis
+     1826_ (Aarau, 1835).
+
+Finally, the Chilean market was opened to the Argentine breeders about
+the middle of the nineteenth century. In the time of Martin de Moussy
+the convoys of cattle to Chile were so numerous that the lucerne fields
+of both slopes were stripped bare at the very beginning of the season;
+and they were rented at a high price.[23] Not only the mining provinces
+of the north, but central Chile also, bought Argentine cattle. The
+opening of the Chilean market was followed by a remarkable expansive
+movement in the pastoral colonization of Argentine territory. We can
+follow the progress of this not only in Martin de Moussy's book, but in
+all contemporary works of travel. Its chief theatres are the provinces
+of San Luis and of Santiago del Estero, north of the Rio Dulce, where
+Hutchinson, in particular, describes the activity of the ranches.[24]
+Finally, after the Pacific War (1880) the nitrate district, taken from
+Bolivia and Peru by Chile, received a great influx of population, and
+works sprang up in the midst of the desert. The nitrate fields, wholly
+barren and doomed, under their shroud of grey dust, to an unalterable
+desolation, became at once one of the chief centres of consumption for
+Argentine stock.
+
+     [23] The fattening of cattle for Chile was no longer done in
+     the _invernadas_ of Mendoza at the beginning of the nineteenth
+     century. See an article on Mendoza in the _Telegrafo
+     Mercantil_, January 31, 1802, which tells of the development
+     of ranches on the Tunuyan. Mendoza and San Juan were their
+     only markets, and they did not sell cattle to Chile.
+
+     [24] T. J. Hutchinson, _Buenos Aires y otras Provincias
+     argentinas_ (translated by L. Varela, Buenos Aires, 1866).
+
+It is difficult to give accurate details of the volume of trade in
+cattle in colonial Argentine. However, the facts given by travellers
+(though they often merely borrow from each other) suffice to show how
+important this traffic was in the life of the country and the extent
+of the zone that was occupied with it. As early as the middle of the
+seventeenth century Cordoba seems to have exported to Peru as many as
+28,000 to 30,000 mules annually.[25] At the close of the eighteenth
+century, we read in D'Azara, 60,000 mules were exported; and Helms
+gives the same figure.[26] The mules were bought young by Cordoba
+dealers at Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, and Corrientes, reared at Cordoba,
+and then sent to Salta, where they were sold in their third year to
+mule-dealers from Peru.
+
+     [25] Azcarate de Biscay, quoted in H. Gibson, _La evolucion
+     ganadera_ in _Censo agropecuario nacional_, Buenos Aires, 1909,
+     vol. iii.
+
+     [26] A. Z. Helms, _Voyage dans l'Amerique meridionale_ (Paris,
+     1812). The journey was in 1788.
+
+An article in the _Telegrafo Mercantil_ of September 9, 1801
+(reproduced in the _Junta de Historia y Numismatica americana_, Buenos
+Aires, 2 vols., 1914-5) contains very valuable information in regard to
+the mule trade. From 1760 to 1780 Salta sent between 40,000 and 50,000
+mules annually to Peru. At Salta they were worth ten piastres each
+before they were broken in, and thirteen or fourteen afterwards; and
+they were sold at the age of four years. The _arrieros_, who conveyed
+European goods and home products (_ropas y frutas_), bought a large
+number of them. The _Telegrafo_ complains that this trade has been
+gradually transformed. The mules now came from Santa Fe and Cordoba
+to Salta two years old, and after the _invernada_ they were still,
+at fair time, barely three years old. They suffered much during the
+long journey to Lima, and the losses of the caravans were heavy. They
+could not be loaded for the journey, and, as the _arrieros_ could no
+longer secure adult and strong animals, the freight to the tableland
+had risen, to the serious loss of merchants on the coast. The reply
+of a Potosi mule-dealer (December 13th) clearly shows that the last
+years of the eighteenth century had been marked by increasingly heavy
+demands from Peru for Argentine mules. In order to meet these demands
+the Cordoba breeders had developed production. The buyers, coming to
+Salta from Lima, Cuzco, and Arequipa, took, without discussion or
+examination, the batches that were offered them. The correspondent of
+the _Telegrafo_ complains bitterly of these _caballeritos_ who came
+from Peru with their 100,000 piastres, and raised the price at Salta,
+alleging that their instructions were to get mules at any cost.
+
+Robertson gave in 1813 the recollections of a mule-dealer as to the
+convoys of mules between Santa Fe and the Andes, which had already
+ceased at that time. Each convoy or _arreo_ comprised 5,000 to 6,000
+mules. They came from Entre Rios, or even from the Uruguay, whence they
+were brought, after crossing the Parana, to the Santa Fe ranches. The
+Santa Fe breeders owned the best part of the land on the left bank of
+the river. The expedition also included thirty waggons of goods and
+500 draught-oxen; and fifty _gauchos_ were in charge of it. The main
+expense was then tobacco and _yerba_. One feature of this mule traffic
+that is emphasized in all the descriptions is that it was divided
+into two stages, with an interval between them, for breaking in. As
+we have already learned from Azcarate, Cordoba, Santa Fe, Santiago,
+and Salta kept the mules for two or three years before sending them to
+Peru. Cordoba and Santiago del Estero seem to have been important in
+connection with the industry of breaking in the mules.
+
+The sending of cattle on foot to Bolivia and Chile is now only a
+subsidiary element of the national economy, but it is not yet quite
+extinct, as the table on p. 53 shows.
+
+Whatever its point of departure, the traffic in stock always passed
+through the _valles_. Transport of cattle was particularly difficult
+in the Argentine Andes. The chief obstacles were not the elevation of
+the passes or the steepness of the roads, but the scarcity of water and
+the extent of the _travesias_, which were equally poor in pasturage
+and water, and had to be crossed rapidly by doubling the stages. The
+difficulties of the journey were very profitable to the oases that
+lay along the route. The cattle-driver could not dispense with the
+hospitality of the _vallista_ or dispute the price he cared to charge.
+
+  [Illustration: MAP II.--IRRIGATION IN THE WEST AND NORTH-WEST OF
+  ARGENTINA.
+  _Extent of the irrigations in the north (zone of the great summer
+  rains), and the south (glacier zone) The historic industry of fattening
+  cattle in the invernadas and the export of cattle to the Andean regions
+  only survive in part. On the other hand large modern industries have
+  developed at Tucuman, Jujuy (sugar-cane), Mendoza, and San Juan
+  (vines), and they supply the Buenos Aires market._
+                                                          To face p. 52.]
+
+The length of the journey and the difficulty of keeping the animals
+in good condition in the poor pastures of the breeding districts
+made it advisable to stay longer in the oases. There thus arose
+lucerne-farms--the _invernadas_--to receive and fatten the cattle which
+passed through. Lucerne is the characteristic and most profitable
+produce of the _valles_. It is grown wherever there is an assured
+supply of water, and is invariably found in the upper section of the
+system of irrigation-channels; the cereals are sown lower down, and
+are the first to suffer from drought. In the _quebradas_, where space
+is more limited, the lucerne-fields cover the entire oasis. Every
+cattle track has a corresponding line of _invernadas_, which is often
+completed on the opposite slope by a last group of lucerne-farms where
+the beasts recover from the journey before they are sold and dispersed.
+
+                        1910    1911    1912    1913    1914
+  Export of Cattle:
+    To Bolivia         3,600   6,600   6,200   6,300   4,800
+    To Chile          61,200  87,500  68,400  58,000  28,300
+  Export of Mules:
+    To Bolivia         2,700   4,600   7,900   8,300   2,500
+    To Chile           2,300   3,200   5,000   2,600   3,500
+  Export of Asses:
+    To Bolivia         9,000  10,500  15,000  15,600  14,400[27]
+
+     [27] Imperfect statistics given by Poncel for the province
+     of Catamarca give us some idea of the respective shares of
+     the various Andean districts in the export of Argentine
+     cattle about the middle of the nineteenth century. In 1855
+     the province of Catamarca sold 2,700 head of cattle (1,300 to
+     Chile, 200 to Bolivia, 600 to San Juan and Mendoza), 3,200
+     mules (2,500 to Bolivia 600 to Salta--which also were for
+     Bolivia), and 1,200 asses (700 to Bolivia and 400 to Salta).
+
+Besides the official routes there have for a long time been clandestine
+tracks, through more difficult ravines, by which stolen cattle were
+conveyed with impunity. Guachipas was the gathering place for cattle
+of suspicious origin, and, to avoid being seen in Salta and Jujuy,
+they passed through the Quebrada del Toro or the Quebrada d'Escoipe.
+When Brackebusch visited Guachipas in 1880 the inhabitants still kept
+something of their reputation as smugglers.
+
+A map of the cattle-tracks which are still used in the Argentine Andes
+is a complicated network in which we can trace two main directions,
+crossing each other at right angles. One set of tracks leads to the
+west, toward the Pacific coast, the other set to the north, toward the
+Bolivian tableland.
+
+The cattle traffic is now restricted to Chile. It survives at San Juan,
+Jachal, Vinchina, and Tinogasta. The cattle descend to Chile about
+Coquimbo, Vallenar, or Copiapo. But the trade is now busiest in the
+region of the saltpetre-beds. The roads lead from the Valle de Lerma
+and the Valle Calchaqui toward the tableland by the Quebrada del Toro
+or the Quebrada de Cachi or de Luracatao, crossing lofty passes at the
+foot of the Nevados of Acay and Cachi, and reuniting between Santa
+Rosa de Pastos Grandes and San Antonio de los Cobres to cross the
+Puna de Atacama. _Vegas_ (pastures) and fresh water are scarce here.
+The track passes interminably by depressions covered with a carpet of
+glistening salt, dominated by volcanic crests. It is used in every
+season of the year, but in winter the caravans are exposed to the cold
+wind laden with snow, the _viento blanco_. San Pedro is the port in
+this desolation. Here there are, on the flanks of the enormous cone of
+Licancour, fields of lucerne and groups of figs and _algarrobas_. The
+cattle are left there for a few days' rest, to prepare them for the
+last stage, the Calama oasis on the Antofagasta railway.
+
+The centre of this trade is Salta, or, rather, the little village of
+Rosario de Lerma, nine miles south of it, where most of the caravans
+are formed. The saltpetre works make yearly contracts in advance with
+the Rosario dealers, fixing the number and price of the beasts to be
+delivered at Calama. The cost of transport includes, besides the pay
+of the cattle-drivers--eighty to a hundred piastres a journey--the
+shoeing of the mules, the rent of pasture at San Pedro, and the value
+of the beasts which die on the way. In 1913 the number of animals
+exported by this route was put at 30,000. The saltpetre works buy also
+draught-mules for their waggons. Draught-mules must be heavy, and only
+animals over five feet in height are sent to Chile. Bolivia is now the
+only market for the smaller mules and for asses.
+
+The trade in mules in its traditional form and the industry of
+breaking-in still flourish at Santa Maria. The mule-dealer's business
+is very different from that of the cattle-dealer. The mules are
+so tough that it is possible to send them by roads which would be
+unsuitable for cattle.[28] The journeys are longer, and the contracts
+are less settled in advance. Moreover, breaking-in is a delicate
+operation that requires experience. The survival of the mule-trade at
+Santa Maria is an example of the maintenance of an industry owing to
+the presence of skilled handicraft. The men who break in the mules at
+Santa Maria have a remarkable caste-pride. Their first job is to go to
+Santiago or Cordoba to buy the mules. They bring them back to Santa
+Maria by way of Catamarca or the valley of Tafi. At Santa Maria the
+mules are broken in, then taken to the lucerne-farms at Poma to be put
+into good condition. There they remain in pasture for several months;
+and at length, when the season is suitable, the little band of Santa
+Marienos gathers together and, driving the now docile beasts in front
+of them, and putting no loads on them in order that they may keep
+fresh, make for the fair at Huari in Bolivia, or even as far as Sucre.
+There they sell at a hundred and fifty piastres each the animals which
+they had bought for half that price before being broken in. The number
+of mules hibernating at Poma is about 4,000.
+
+     [28] For instance, herds of mules are taken from Abrapampa, on
+     the line of the Quiaca, to the saltpetre mines of Antofagasta,
+     whereas every effort to convey cattle by this route has failed.
+
+The business done in the fairs of the southern Andes is very varied in
+character, but their main function was always as markets for stock.[29]
+They are held in March or April, when the rains do not fall, but
+pasture is still abundant and travelling easy. The fair at Vilque,
+north of Lake Titicaca, is no longer visited by dealers in Argentine
+mules. The Salta fair which was held at Sumala, near Rosario de Lerma,
+has ceased to be important; at the close of the eighteenth century
+it was the chief centre of the mule-trade. The fair held at Jujuy is
+still, like the annual pilgrimage to the Virgen del Valle de Catamarca,
+one of the great dates in the life of the Andes. In the eighteenth
+century it was mainly a cattle-fair, but it is now frequented only by
+mule-dealers. The development of the railways is gradually causing it
+to decline.
+
+     [29] There is an interesting study of fairs on the elevated
+     tableland by G. M. Wrigley, "Fairs of the Central Andes," in
+     the _Geographical Review_ (New York), vii. 1919, pp. 65-80.
+
+The cattle-trade has long been really a form of barter. The
+Argentinians who took their herds to Peru brought back with them
+European goods that had come via Panama and the Pacific. At Jachal
+direct communication with Argentina is still so costly that they
+prefer to get many manufactured articles from Chile. Everywhere
+else, however, the sellers of stock take payment in cash. The Santa
+Marienos bring back from Bolivia only a few bags of coca and, for
+chief payment, letters of exchange, which they cash in the Salta banks
+when they return. Their gains swell the profits of the merchants of
+Salta, Catamarca, and Jujuy, who get their goods at the large importing
+houses of Buenos Aires. It is the first form under which the influence
+of Buenos Aires reaches the _valles_. It gets their custom before it
+begins to absorb their produce.
+
+A large proportion of the stock sent to Chile now comes from the
+Andean valleys themselves. The most arid and desolate regions round
+the oases breed only goats and asses; but as soon as the soil improves
+sufficiently to give a better vegetation, it is found good enough for
+a hardy and tenacious breed of horned cattle. The land is divided
+into large ranches, and the owners have also lucerne-farms, either
+individually or communally, the tillers of the oasis each putting in
+their beasts, which wander about in small groups without control.
+During the summer they go of their own accord up to the _cerros_,
+where the rains have brought out the vegetation, and drinking-water is
+found in the ravines for several months. In the winter they return to
+the valley, within range of the reservoirs and permanent _acequias_.
+Bodenbender gives us a few details about movements from place to place
+owing to such differences, as they are in vogue in the western part of
+the province of La Rioja, in the district of Guandacol. There the herds
+are taken during years of drought up to the mountains of the west.
+
+Apart from the Andes, the zone which used to feel the influence of
+the trans-Andean markets has been steadily reduced in the last forty
+years. At one time it comprised the whole range of the scrub, and
+even overflowed upon the prairie region, but it is now limited to the
+nearest cantons to the fringe of the mountains. Over the greater part
+of the _monte_ the cattle are now sent in other directions; either to
+Buenos Aires or to other Argentine towns with a growing population,
+such as Cordoba, Mendoza, and Tucuman.
+
+The rupture of commercial relations with Chile has, however, not made
+any notable change in the pastoral industry. Pastoral life in the scrub
+has very uniform characters. It is chiefly dominated by the question of
+water-supply. Natural open water is scarce, and the cattle can drink
+only where man's industry makes it possible. The problem of taming the
+beasts, which the breeders on the prairies have not always been able to
+solve, is simplified by the scarcity of water. There is no need to hunt
+the cattle, no periodical _rodeos_, when the herd is drawn in every
+night by thirst to the water-supply. Advance in colonization means the
+provision of wells and reservoirs (_baldes_ and _represas_), without
+which the breeders cannot occupy the plain permanently, but have to
+fall back during the dry season upon the few streams that cross it.
+The word _balderia_ means districts where the presence of a sheet of
+water not far underground has enabled them to form a system of wells.
+The best known is the Balderia Puntana, in the northern part of the
+province of San Luis.
+
+Of the regions apart from the Andes which still depend on the Chilean
+market it will be enough to mention two, which may be regarded as
+typical. The first is the Chaco Salteno, on the eastern slope of the
+Sierra de la Lumbrera. The Lumbrera is a lofty anticlinal range of
+limestones and red sandstones, which pass to the west underneath the
+clay of the Chaco plain, and separate it from the great longitudinal
+sub-Andean corridor, which was followed by the old road, and is now
+followed by the railway from Tucuman to Jujuy. Colonization began
+beyond the Lumbrera in the eighteenth century by passing round it, from
+south to north, by the valleys of the Juramento and the San Francisco
+(which joins the Bermejo). The ranches, which employed the Indians--the
+occupation of the Chaco at this point being pacific--bordered the
+Bermejo and the Rio del Valle, which flows from the Lumbrera range
+toward the former bed of the Bermejo, and washes the foot of the range
+at the edge of the plain.
+
+  [Illustration: DRY SCRUB OF THE CENTRAL CHACO.
+  _On the Anatuya line (province of Santiago del Estero). Cactus. The
+  leafless tree in the foreground is a red_ quebracho. _The leafy trees
+  are white_ quebrachos.
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: MARSHES (ESTEROS OR CANADAS) OF THE EASTERN CHACO.
+  _On the Tartagal line (province of Santa Fe). It is by means of these
+  marshes, which form in the forest, that this part of the plain is
+  drained._
+                                               Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE V.                                               To face p. 58.]
+
+The cattle live in the scrub during the summer, when the rains have
+brought out the grasses. In winter they go up to the moist forest, with
+perennial vegetation, which covers the flanks of the range.[30] The
+comparative abundance of water lessens the labour of the breeders and,
+at the same time, the discipline of the herds. When the time comes,
+the whole ranch is mobilized for the purpose of collecting the adult
+cattle and making a convoy of them. Horsemen, with the double leather
+apron which hangs at the saddle-bow to protect them from the branches,
+ride up the range with their dogs and plunge into the scrub. The savage
+beasts are rounded up and held at bay. The procession is formed, and
+sets out, either by the rugged paths across the forest and mountain or
+along the easier tracks over the plain to Embarcacion or Lumbreras,
+where they reach the railway. If buyers from the sugar-refineries at
+Jujuy do not take them, the cattle are put into trucks and sent to
+the Salta market, where there are sales all the year round. At Salta
+the beasts are fattened on the lucerne-farms before crossing the
+Cordillera. There is hardly any tillage, either because the winter
+drought makes the result dubious or because the breeders are not good
+at agricultural work.
+
+     [30] On Aconcagua also the moist forest serves as winter
+     pasture for the cattle from the ranches.
+
+The Sierra de los Llanos in La Rioja is another centre for extensive
+breeding. From the railway, which follows the range at some distance,
+between Chanar and Punta de los Llanos, before it reaches La Rioja,
+no one would have the least suspicion of the importance and life of
+the region. It is, nevertheless, one of the main foci of Argentine
+history. It has proved a cradle of population and wealth. It was there
+that Quiroga and, later, the strange adventurer who was known by the
+nickname of the "Chacho" gathered the strength that enabled them to
+dominate part of Argentina. Colonization is even older here than in
+the Chaco Salteno. It occupied two distinct periods, separated by a
+long interval. At first it advanced from north to south, passing round
+the foot of the Sierra. It is marked by a line of springs, poor but
+permanent, the waters of which are absorbed as soon as they flow down
+to the porous alluvial beds of the plain. They appear much in the names
+of the district--_aguitas_, _aguaditas_, and so on, abound. The road
+from La Rioja to San Luis passed these springs, and some population
+grew up about them. Thus the two sides of the range--the _costa baja_
+in the east and the _costa alta_ in the west--became inhabited. The
+estate of Facundo is one of these _aguaditas_ of the _costa alta_.
+
+The two _costas_ form the historic territory of the Llanos. It was from
+there that colonization swarmed over the plain long afterwards. This
+expansive movement began about 1850; that is to say, at a time when the
+breeders enjoyed comparative peace and security, and especially when
+the _invernadas_ of San Juan and Mendoza were developed, together with
+the export of cattle to the agricultural provinces of Chile. The price
+of stock rose, and the unoccupied land became of value. The occupation
+and exploitation of the plain was the work of the last two generations.
+They pushed on to the very edge of the salt lakes, leaving no vacant
+space. The _travesias_ which surrounded the narrow inhabited zone of
+the _costas_ were filled with life. The Sierra and its two _costas_
+are no longer an oasis in the desert, as they were in the time of
+Sarmiento; though they still differ from the remainder of the pastoral
+zone in the density of their population and the variety of their
+resources.
+
+The early date of the colonization may be traced in a special system
+of tenure, though this is also found in parts of the provinces of
+Catamarca and Santiago del Estero. On the plain the right of ownership
+was obtained in the nineteenth century by purchase or by concessions
+of public lands which belonged to the provincial Government. They were
+allotted in very large estates, and these, intact or broken up, are
+the actual ranches. In approaching the foot of the range one passes
+estates in the _mercedes_. The name indicates concessions that date
+from the colonial epoch, and they are, in all parts of South America
+that were early colonized, the source of land-ownership. But what is
+peculiar to the _mercedes_ of the Llanos is that they have never been
+divided amongst the heirs of the first owner.[31] Sometimes the number
+of co-proprietors is small. They are conscious of their relationship
+to each other and know the value of the rights of each. The _merced_
+is in that case only an undivided property held in common. Sometimes,
+however, the numbers of _comuneros_ is so great that they have lost
+count of the exact share of the _merced_ which belongs to each of them.
+The _merced_ feeds a whole population, legitimate heirs and usurpers
+mixed together. In these cases it is a real communal property, and one
+might compare it, in spite of its different origin, with the Indian
+communities which exist in Argentine territory as well as that of most
+of the other Andean States.
+
+     [31] The title of the _merced_ often shows clearly the
+     attraction which the springs at the foot of the Sierra had for
+     colonists. The land of the _merced_ of Ulapes is defined thus:
+     "The spring and the land within two leagues of it in every
+     direction." The spring is the centre. There its protecting
+     deities live.
+
+The economy of the Llanos is less simple than that of the Chaco
+Salteno. There is agriculture as well as breeding. There is not much
+rain, and it is confined to the summer months. The mean rainfall is,
+no doubt, higher than what we find at La Rioja (about 30 centimetres),
+but it is not good enough to dispense with irrigation. The _aguadas_,
+springs and brooks at the foot of the range, are the only provision of
+permanent water, and it is very limited. The oases watered by these
+springs and brooks cover only a few acres at the foot of the steep
+cliffs of the range. It has not been possible to cultivate the land
+far from the mountains. At Chamical a trench that was made to convey
+water to the railway dried up. All that can be done is to follow for
+a few miles with a line of wells a subterranean stream of fresh and
+not very deep water. At Bella Vista a _comunero_ has dug an _acequia_
+several miles long, and he sells the water at a rate of five piastres
+for forty-eight hours. But when it reaches the end of the _acequia_, it
+is lost between the trench and the field to which they would conduct
+it. At Ulapes, though it is one of the chief centres, it takes the full
+outflow of the spring during sixteen hours to irrigate one _cuadra_ (a
+little over two acres), and each man's "turn" is for seventeen days.
+The entire oasis measures about fifty acres. At Olta the thin stream of
+water is surrounded by so many cupidities that the "turn" comes only
+every fifty-eight days, so that each field has to live fifty-eight days
+on one watering. At Catuna where a trickle of brackish water is eagerly
+collected at the foot of a dejection-cone, the water-right is regulated
+by an arrangement of turns that covers ninety days, so that plants die
+of thirst in the interval. The plots vary according to the quantity,
+quality, and regularity of the water. The orange-tree is the most
+exacting, the fig the most tenacious, of the trees. The poorest oases
+consist only of a few gardens of dusty fig-trees.
+
+However small it is, the oasis always stands for a rudiment of communal
+life, a _poblado_, a centre round which life is organized in this
+pastoral, anarchic, amorphous world. Land that has a water-right is
+regarded as detached from the _merced_ and never remains undivided.
+
+Besides these properly irrigated lands there are the _banados_:
+cultivated plots in the hollows, where the moisture left by the storms
+is concentrated and preserved. These are much more extensive, and they
+are very irregularly distributed. Inequalities of the alluvial ground
+that almost escape the eye are sufficient to direct the streaming of
+the water after rain, and it is quickly absorbed. Man assists nature as
+well as he can, and one sees everywhere tiny ridges of earth across the
+paths, for the purpose of diverting the water to the plots. These are
+the _tomas_. When you follow a _toma_ downward, you see it after a time
+pass under a hedge of dry thorn, and this encloses a field, a _cerco_.
+The crops have to be jealously guarded against the cattle which roam in
+the scrub. The _cercos_ are sometimes so numerous that they give the
+impression of a regular agricultural district. Most of them are planted
+with maize. The maize harvest rarely fails in the summer, for it is
+then, on account of the regular rains, that the maize grows and ripens.
+When the ears have been gathered, the cattle are let into the _cerco_,
+as maize-straw is excellent fodder. But wheat also grows well in the
+_banados_. Provided the year has had a few late showers, the wheat sown
+in autumn stands the winter drought more or less well, and ripens after
+the early rains, at the beginning of summer. The Llanos produce a hard
+wheat; it is not milled, but eaten, like rice, in the grain. There have
+been times when the Llanos have exported wheat. The census of 1888
+gives the Department of General Belgrano, on the eastern slope of the
+Llanos, an area of 900 acres under maize and 1,900 under wheat. When
+the Chilecito railway was constructed, this wheat competed with that
+brought on mules from Jachal, in the mining district of the Famatina
+range. Like the gardens in the oases, the _cercos_ may be divided, and
+they are the personal property of those who cultivate them.
+
+Sowing and reaping are, however, mere episodes in the life of the
+_Llanero_. He is mainly occupied with cattle-breeding. The quality
+of the pasture differs considerably according to the nature of the
+soil and the good and bad character of the season. Sometimes it forms
+a thick carpet under the brushwood, but in other places it is poor
+and there is nothing but the leaves and pods of the _algarroba_. If
+the herd is too large, the grass will not grow again; the breeder
+recognizes at a glance the _campo recargado_--the field which has had
+its capacity overstrained. The pasture has to be carefully nursed. But
+the most urgent problem is to get a supply of water for the cattle.
+Round the Sierra the underground water is often fresh, and there are
+plenty of wells. Still, in order to avoid having to draw the water,
+they dig large trenches at suitable spots in the clay, and round
+these they arrange the earth that has been dug out, with an opening
+toward the hills to catch the water when it is raining. These are the
+_represas_. As in the case of the _banados_, ridges of earth direct the
+stream to the _represa_. It is surrounded by a hedge as carefully as
+the field is. On the plain rain is rare, and the _represas_ are usually
+the only reserve. They have to last the whole year; even two years if
+there is a particularly dry summer that prevents re-filling. Thus they
+become sometimes veritable lakes. From a distance you can see, above
+the top of the brushwood, the bald curve of the mound of beaten earth
+which encircles them. The water flows over it when there has been much
+rain. The mound is sometimes 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 yards high; as it is at
+Tello, between the Sierra d'Ulapes and the Sierra de los Llanos, where
+the San Juan coach used to change horses.
+
+The _represa_ is the real centre of the estate. The house is built near
+it, and guards the entrance. From early morning until dusk the cattle
+come to it, singly or in groups. The rancher admits them, lets them
+drink, and closes the gate behind them. If the thirsty cattle have not
+his mark and belong to a neighbour, he sends them to drink at their own
+_represa_; but he gives water to lost beasts, from a distance, whose
+owner will presently come for them. Near the _represa_ is the enclosure
+(_potrero_) for calves that have just been born. The cows come there
+every morning, and they are milked for a few months to make cheese.
+Like the _cerco_, the _represa_ is the personal property of the man who
+made it, or of one who has inherited it and sees to its upkeep.
+
+The cattle of the Llanos move a good deal. There are certain irregular
+migrations, and others that are periodic or connected with the seasons.
+Everywhere on the fringe of the Sierra the cattle remain in the ravine
+and on the foot-hills during the winter. In the summer they return of
+themselves to their _querencia_ on the plain. The irregular migrations
+are due to scarcity of water or pasture. Driven by hunger, the beasts
+travel a long distance of their own accord. They mingle with other
+herds, sometimes so far from the ranches where they were born that no
+one recognizes their mark. Sometimes, again, the rancher himself goes,
+when his _represa_ is dry, to ask hospitality in some more favoured
+canton. He is fortunate if the drought has not been general; if part of
+the country has been spared and can offer a refuge.
+
+But it sometimes happens that the whole district has suffered, and the
+land is naked and scorched everywhere. There is then no help except
+a long journey, to San Luis or to the lucerne-farms of San Juan, for
+the cattle. The misfortune of the Llanos sends up at once the rent
+of the _invernadas_ all round. A general evacuation of the cattle is
+a desperate remedy, and is, in fact, often impracticable. During the
+whole summer the men wait patiently, hoping for the end of the drought.
+There is room for hope until April, when storms are still possible. If
+the month ends without rain, it is too late to remove the exhausted
+cattle; the stages across the desolated country are too severe.
+
+The memory of the worst years of drought--the "epidemics," as the
+Llanero calls them--lives for a long time. They make a deep impression
+on the popular imagination, and legend makes plagues of them, in the
+Biblical way. The drought of 1884 was particularly disastrous. The
+herds were destroyed, and families that had been wealthy the day before
+set out on foot, "having nothing to put a saddle on": a touching
+picture of misery for this race of centaurs, people who feel themselves
+mutilated when they are not on horse. The rain returns next year. The
+pasture grows all the better because the herd is smaller, and the
+Llanos give the traveller who crosses them an exaggerated impression of
+their natural wealth.
+
+Until quite a recent date the cattle reared in the Llanos were destined
+exclusively for Chile. Dealers from Jachal or Tinogasta came in the
+autumn, and the cattle passed the winter in the _invernadas_ at the
+foot of the Cordillera. From the Sierra d'Ulapes, which is a southward
+continuation of the Llanos, the cattle destined for Chile were first
+sent to San Juan. They took one or two weeks to reach it. Five men were
+needed for a herd of a hundred beasts: eight for a herd of two hundred.
+The caravan was directed by an _estanciero_ (rancher) or his _capataz_,
+or by dealers who came originally from the Llanos.
+
+Exports to Chile have not entirely ceased. In 1913 the dealers from
+Tinogasta and Jachal, who had not appeared in 1912, came back. The
+southern part of the Sierra d'Ulapes, which is some distance from the
+railway, reserves its cattle for San Juan. The cattle are, however,
+more and more sent by rail to the coast. In the Sierra d'Ulapes the
+dealers from Villa Mercedes, which has become one of the great markets
+of Argentina, come every year, rent an enclosure (_protrero_), and
+collect in it, one by one, a herd of cattle, which they then take away
+on foot. They are sold at the fair at Villa Mercedes, and they disperse
+in every direction toward the fattening zones of the Pampa.
+
+This commercial revolution has led to a rise in the price of cattle,
+and this in turn has raised the value of land. When the value of the
+land rises, the methods of working it are necessarily improved, there
+is greater security, and thefts of cattle (_cuatrerismo_) become
+impossible. The farmers are not content merely to enlarge their
+_represas_ or dig deeper wells. They divide the fields by fences--cheap
+iron wire stretched on home-made posts, or hedges of spines like those
+which protect the _banados_. Thus pasture can be reserved untouched for
+the difficult months.
+
+This subdivision of the land by fences began in the south, in the
+Ulapes district, in touch with the richer districts of San Luis and
+Cordoba. In the Llanos proper the practice has scarcely begun. At
+Ulapes it is even done on the _mercedes_. Each _comunero_, without
+opposition, encloses as much space as he can, and leaves his cattle
+outside, on the common land, as long as possible. He only brings them
+into his enclosed land when the common pasture is exhausted. This will
+bring about the end of the _mercedes_; and, indeed, communal ownership
+is not suited to modern conditions. The latest sign of progress is the
+appearance of lucerne fields. Lucerne can be grown on the _banados_
+wherever anything else can be grown; and the creation of lucerne-farms
+will give the pastoral industry a security and stability it never had
+before, besides enabling the breeders to collect stores of dry forage
+and exploit the full pastoral capacity of the _monte_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+TUCUMAN AND MENDOZA THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES
+
+     Tucuman and the road to Chile--The climate and the cultivation
+     of the sugar-cane--The problem of manual labour--Irrigation at
+     Mendoza--Water-rights--Viticulture--Protection and the natural
+     conditions.
+
+
+The great industrial forms of cultivation, the sugar-cane and the
+vine, gave a new aspect to the scenery of Tucuman and Mendoza at the
+end of the nineteenth century. The increase of population and wealth
+which they entailed was so sudden, the economic advance so swift,
+that the owners of vineyards and the sugar-makers have now lost all
+recollection of the primitive industries which gave life to colonial
+Tucuman and Mendoza, and were maintained until the last generation.
+Nevertheless, if one compares Tucuman or Mendoza with some centre of
+irrigated tillage in north-west Argentina, one quickly perceives the
+original features which three centuries of history have given them. The
+system of land-tenure, water-rights, the distribution of the cultivated
+zones, and a thousand other features, show that the colonization is
+old. The exploitation of the soil and utilization of the water have
+not proceeded on a methodical plan, conceived in advance, which would
+make each piece of work--the dams and channels of distribution, for
+instance--subordinate to the whole. The engineers who constructed the
+great modern dams of Mendoza, San Juan and Sali, had not to create a
+region of new estates, but merely to improve the water-supply, which
+was used wastefully by the existing estates. There is nothing more
+suggestive than the contrast between these stone dams, built according
+to all the rules of hydraulics, and the network of irregular channels,
+following the accidental variations of the land and the slope, which
+preceded them, and to which they have been accommodated as far as
+possible. In some cases the primitive _acequias_ could not be altered
+so as to start from the dam. The accumulations of water succeed each
+other down the slope, held up by a simple barrier of branches and earth
+which is periodically destroyed by floods. The modern flood-proof dam
+(_dique nivelador_), which cuts the torrent in its entire width, and
+enables them to make use of its whole volume, allows a certain amount
+of water to pass, for the use of the _acequias_ lower down. This falls
+back into the broad, stony bed, exposed to evaporation and infiltration
+as it was before.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Long before the development of the sugar industry on a large scale,
+there was a typically urban life, added to the common fund of pastoral
+life, at Tucuman. The neighbouring cantons of the scrub--Trancas,
+Burruyacu, and Graneros--sent cattle and mules to Peru and Chile, like
+the other Argentine plains. But Tucuman drew still greater profit from
+its position as chief stage on the high road to Peru, at the point
+where the plain passes into the mountain. Primitive Tucuman was an
+excellent type of high-road village. The road determined its position
+at the point where the Sali had to be crossed. The first site of the
+town, near Monteros, was abandoned in the eighteenth century, when
+the high road to Peru settled in the sub-Andean region and ceased
+to run through the Calchaqui valley. The road sustained its chief
+industries, tanning and harness-making for the muleteers of the Andes,
+and waggon-making for the _troperos_ of the plain. The road and the
+people travelling along it afforded an outlet for its wheat and flour,
+and facilitated the export of its tobacco to the coast-provinces. The
+waggon-owners were really contractors, conveying stuff at their own
+cost. Moreover, part of Bolivia came to make its purchases at the shops
+(_tiendas_) of Tucuman, and the merchants of the town took in exchange
+Bolivian ore for export. Thus the road built up a nucleus of available
+capital at Tucuman. This capital was invested, at the close of the
+nineteenth century, in sugar; and it has increased a hundredfold. Most
+of the works still belong to old families of the town.
+
+The sugar-region is comparatively small. It covers an area which
+has exceptional climatic features, owing to the vicinity of Mount
+Aconcagua. While the higher chains of the Andes further north are
+separated from the Chaco plain by lower ranges, on which the east winds
+leave their stores of moisture less freely, Tucuman has on its west the
+great mass of Aconcagua. It rises, a giant landmark, at the beginning
+of the plains, from which there is nothing to separate it, and gathers
+the clouds round it.
+
+  [Illustration: THE VALLE OF SANTA MARIA, NORTH-WEST OF MOUNT ACONCAGUA.
+  _At the bottom of the valle one can see the sandy bed of the river as
+  a white line in the foreground. Zone of torrential terraces, which
+  follows the edge of the valle._            Photograph by the Author.]
+
+
+  [Illustration: THE OASIS OF ANDALGALA.
+  _At the western foot of Aconcagua, the snowy crest of which can be
+  seen._                                      Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE VI.                                             To face p. 70.]
+
+On the eastern slope of Aconcagua is the limit of the crescent of
+tropical forest, which begins about three thousand miles away, on the
+flank of the Venezuelan and Colombian Cordilleras, and is connected
+in the centre, in the equatorial zone, from Guaviare to Mamore, with
+the forests of the Amazon region. At its two ends it is reduced to a
+narrow belt which does not reach, in the east, the alluvial plains,
+the savannahs of the Orinoco and the scrub of the Chaco. The humid
+forest of the Argentine Andes is nowhere more luxuriant than near its
+southern limit, above Tucuman. There are no palms or tree-ferns, but
+the convolvulus abounds, and the evergreen trees are covered with
+epiphytes. Aconcagua is one of the sharpest climatological limits in
+the world. In the latitude of Salta one has only to go about 150 miles
+to pass from the moist forests of the sub-Andean chain of the Lumbrera
+to the arid valley of Cachi. On both sides of Aconcagua there are less
+than fifty-five miles between the sugar-cane fields won from the forest
+and the oasis of Andalgala, or that of Santa Maria, which are right in
+the desert zone. According as one approaches Aconcagua from the east or
+the west, one finds, from base to summit, either the successive stages
+of vegetation of the humid Andes--from forest to grain-sown prairie
+(_paramo_ or _pajonal_)--or those which are characteristic of the arid
+Andes, from the spiny scrub of the valleys to the fields of resinous
+_tola_ of the Puna. The contrast of climates is repeated in the
+character of the soils. Aconcagua contains in itself the entire Andes
+in miniature. At the foot of the narrow zone of Alpine crests, in the
+few square miles of the elevated valleys of Tafi and Pucara, there is a
+small agricultural and pastoral world, in a temperate climate, that has
+nothing quite like it elsewhere, narrowly confined between the forest
+and the desert.[32]
+
+     [32] The higher valleys of Aconcagua offer inexhaustible
+     interest to the visitor. At Sancho (Pucara valley) there is a
+     group of Italian colonists who grow maize and wheat: a unique
+     fact, I believe, in the whole of this part of Argentina. The
+     Tafi valley is mainly pastoral, the pastures of the valley
+     being used in summer and the forest for winter pasture.
+
+The sugar district of Tucuman is not, properly speaking, an oasis; that
+is to say, it is not an irrigated canton in the midst of a desert, but
+a moist patch in the heart of a less favoured region. The traveller who
+comes from the Chaco finds that the dust disappears from the moister
+air as he approaches Tucuman. The rainfall approaches 974 millimetres
+at Tucuman. Irrigation is a valuable aid to the farmer, but it is not
+indispensable. Maize is generally raised without watering, and part
+even of the sugar-cane crop is raised on land that is not irrigated. It
+is not the relatively heavy rainfall that has led to the development of
+the sugar-cane estates at Tucuman, but the evenness of the temperature,
+together with the atmospheric moisture and the rareness of frost.
+The mists which develop at the foot of Aconcagua form a protecting
+mantle above Tucuman which prevents nocturnal radiation. The nearer
+one gets to the mountain, the later, rarer, and lighter the frosts
+are. If, on the contrary, one goes out some distance westward toward
+the plain, the frost becomes more severe, and it is impossible to grow
+sugar-cane. Not only the humidity, but the contour also, has some
+influence on the changes of temperature and the distribution of frost.
+The depressions in which the cold air accumulates, in virtue of the
+well-known meteorological phenomenon of inversion of temperature, are
+more exposed than sloping districts, where the air circulates regularly
+and freely. The eastern limit of the zone spared by the frosts passes
+about thirty-five miles from the foot of Aconcagua. It has only been
+made clear by experiment, and one can still see there the traces of
+abandoned plantations.
+
+The water-supply in the Tucuman district consists, primarily, of
+numerous evenly flowing streams which come down the eastern flank of
+Aconcagua (Lules, Famailla, Angostura, Gastona, Medinas, etc.). They
+join the Sali to the south of Tucuman. The Sali is an irregular torrent
+which rises in the sub-Andean depression to the north and Tucuman,
+and, after squeezing Aguadita between the north-eastern extremity of
+Aconcagua and the sub-Andean chain of Burruyacu, enters the plain
+at Tucuman. It then flows southward, meandering over a large bed of
+shingle in which it has not had force enough to excavate a valley, and
+the inclination of the land on its left bank (to the east) is toward
+the east and south-east. The lands on the right bank of the Sali are
+consequently better provided with water than those on the left bank.
+The difference is so marked that, as the estates on the right bank get
+most of their supply elsewhere, the water of the Sali nearly all goes
+to the left bank. In 1912 a siphon was actually constructed underneath
+the bed of the Sali to convey the unused water of the Rio Lules to the
+right bank. Lastly, to the north of Tucuman the Sierra de Burruyacu
+provides a few intermittent streams of water, which the _estancias_
+(ranches) formerly conducted, with great labour, to their _represas_.
+These do not suffice for irrigation on a large scale.
+
+The sugar-cane was first grown at the gates of the town and, to the
+east, at Cruz Alta, on the left bank of the Sali. These were some
+distance from the mountain because, as there was less rain and the
+soil was fairly dry, the natural vegetation was less luxuriant, and
+it cost less to prepare the ground.[33] The Central Cordoba Railway,
+which passes along the right bank of the Sali south of Tucuman, is the
+axis of another zone of cultivation and of old factories. Colonization
+afterwards went further west. A new provincial railway, describing a
+section of a circle, was grafted at Tucuman (1888-90) and Madria upon
+the Central Cordoba line. It keeps close to the foot of the range, the
+_falda_, and enables farmers to settle on it. The new estates have not
+confined themselves to the alluvial plain; they have crept up the foot
+hills, and are constantly going higher. In the latitude of Tucuman
+the mountain approaches within eight or twelve miles of the Sali, and
+the possibilities of extension westward are strictly limited; indeed,
+they are already exhausted. Further south, on the contrary, the plain
+extends more than fifteen miles to the east of the provincial railway.
+West of Monteros, Concepcion, and the existing line of works, there
+is a reserve of available land; there is room for a fresh advance
+westward. There is also room for expansion to the north-east, at the
+foot of the sub-Andean chain of Burruyacu, where the frosts are slight.
+It is in this direction that most of the clearing is now going on.
+
+     [33] In 1894 it was calculated that ground that was not yet
+     cleared was worth 100 to 150 piastres a hectare at Cruz Alta,
+     and the cost of clearing 150 to 200 piastres, whereas in the
+     moist forest at the foot of the Sierra the land was worth only
+     75 to 100 piastres, the cost of clearing it was double (300 to
+     350 piastres).
+
+These various districts do not offer quite the same conditions to the
+farmer. The _Falda_ is the most suitable, not only on account of the
+rareness of frost, but because of the fertility of the soil, as the
+tropical forest has accumulated inexhaustible stores of humus. The
+sugar-cane returns are higher there than anywhere else. Irrigation
+is not necessary, but, on the other hand, the humidity reduces the
+proportion of sugar in the cane. Irrigation is the rule in the next
+belt, between the local railway and the Central Cordoba line (on the
+right bank of the Sali). On the left bank a large number of the estates
+must still do without watering.
+
+The most original feature of the organization of the sugar industry
+at Tucuman is the maintenance of a class of independent cultivators,
+the _caneros_, side by side with the large enterprises. This survival
+of small and medium properties is a fact to which we find no parallel
+in the other sugar districts of tropical America.[34] Everywhere
+else, in Brazil and in the Antilles, the farms which worked up their
+own produce, on primitive methods, have been absorbed by the central
+works. The home-worker has lost his land as well as been ruined in
+his industry by the competition of the modern factory. At Tucuman, on
+the contrary, the sugar industry never passed through the stage of
+domestic production. It was set up in full development, some devoting
+their capital to building works, others to growing the cane. Irrigation
+seemed from the first to dictate a concentration of ownership; the
+refineries at Cruz Alta constructed costly special canals to bring the
+water of the Sali. It is only large proprietors who have the resources
+needed to carry out work of this kind, and sufficient influence to
+secure permission to conduct the water over adjoining estates. However,
+the law of 1897 reorganized irrigation and withdrew the water-supply
+from the control of a few privileged big capitalists. Public works,
+undertaken by the provincial authorities, brought the water within the
+reach of every farmer. Since 1897 the number of water-concessions has
+risen from 230 to nearly 2,000.
+
+     [34] Except, perhaps, in Barbadoes.
+
+The interests of the factory (_ingenio_) and the farmers (_caneros_)
+are not indissolubly connected. Their respective parts in the final
+product of the sugar industry are not invariable. The increase in the
+number of factories means an increase in the number of cane-buyers,
+and so tends to raise the price. During the years antecedent to 1895
+the refineries improved their machinery, and their productive capacity
+increased faster than the cultivated acreage. The price of the cane
+then rose to about twenty piastres a ton. As this figure is far above
+the net cost, the refineries endeavoured to profit themselves by the
+advantages that accrued to the _caneros_, and they bought land for
+cultivation. It is to this period that the big concerns of Cruz Alta
+belong. Afterwards the production of cane increased, and nearly met
+the demands of the refineries, so that their competition relaxed. They
+ceased to buy land, and the price of cane was lowered.
+
+The refineries now deal with cane which they grow themselves, with
+paid workers of their own; with cane that they buy at a reduced price
+from tenants (_colonos_), who grow it on their own estates; and with
+cane sold them by _caneros_ who own their own fields. The range of the
+country absorbed by each refinery is often very extensive. The Sugar
+Congress of 1894 estimated that half the cane-harvest was transported
+by rail, and that freight from one canton to another in the sugar
+district brought the railways more than a third of what they got for
+conveying sugar from Tucuman to the coast. Each railway company tries
+to keep along its own line the cane it carries to the refineries, so
+that the transport of the sugar when it is made will fall to itself.
+Thus the cane-market is divided into two separate compartments, with
+very little exchange between them. The first comprises the zone that
+depends on the Central Argentine and the State Railway; the second is
+the zone of the Central Cordoba and the old local line bought by the
+Central Cordoba.
+
+Certain parts, such as Cruz Alta and the district round the town, have
+too many works in proportion to their production of cane, and they are
+centres of import. The price of the cane is always higher here than
+in the agricultural districts. Each works has its customers. At the
+stations it instals weighing machines for receiving and weighing the
+cane. It is only the more important _caneros_ who have the privilege
+of selling by the truck-load, or selling to distant works. The small
+growers are compelled to deal with the local refinery. They sell it
+their canes direct, or, sometimes, through agents and dealers. In the
+days when the works were competing for cane it became the custom to
+sign the purchase-contracts as early as possible; sometimes at the
+beginning of October, as soon as the harvest of the year is over. In
+order to make sure of the loyalty of the _canero_ the manufacturers
+advance money to him, in proportion to their difficulty in getting cane.
+
+_Caneros_ and mill-owners have had to work together to settle the
+problem of labour. There was not enough at hand, and it had to be
+recruited elsewhere. Agents were sent all round--to Catamarca and
+Santiago del Estero, and even to the province of Cordoba--to collect
+and bring gangs of workers. They were a mixed, unsteady, undisciplined
+lot. The owners of the works advanced them money in order to keep
+them, and then, fearing to lose the money advanced, would not dismiss
+them for laziness and irregularities. These troubles are not felt as
+much now as they were at the time when the industry was expanding.
+The population of immigrant workers has settled down and taken root.
+Besides creoles it includes a small number of Italians and Spaniards;
+but while the creoles have been definitely incorporated in the sugar
+industry, the European immigrants use their savings to buy a bit of
+land and take to farming.
+
+In normal times Tucuman has all the labour it requires, but the harvest
+always compels it to seek help in other provinces. In May and June
+the agents, well supplied with money, set out for the Salado, the
+districts round the Sierra d'Ancasti, etc. The temporary attraction of
+Tucuman at this season is felt over a considerable distance. At Santa
+Maria, on the far side of Mount Aconcagua, 600 people--men, women,
+and children--emigrate for five months, and live on the cane-fields.
+The merchants of Santa Maria make them advances, in the name of the
+refiners, to the amount of about sixty piastres per worker. Further
+north the Tucuman _enganchadores_ come into collision with those from
+Salta and Campo Santo, and they divide the available labour between
+them. Some of the temporary immigrants settle down permanently every
+year, and swell the normal population of the sugar industry.
+
+Outside the Tucuman district an unfortunate attempt was made to plant
+the sugar industry at Santiago del Estero, and large works were
+constructed. But the frost is severe there. For some years they tried
+to keep the Santiago works going with cane brought from Tucuman, but
+the freight was too heavy, and the works had to be abandoned, or else
+dismantled and set up elsewhere. The valley of the Rio Grande, from
+Jujuy to 200 miles north of Tucuman, in the sub-Andean depression
+between the Sierra de Zenta and the Lumbrera, has, on the other hand,
+suitable conditions for the cultivation of the cane. Frost is rare.
+The climate is warmer than at Tucuman, the canes ripen more quickly,
+and the average return is higher. The water-supply also is good. There
+have long been plantations in this region. Their first market was
+the region of the tableland and the valleys, where they chiefly sold
+brandy: a traffic of long standing, which one always finds round the
+cold districts of the Andes, from Colombia to the north of Argentina.
+The modern refineries of Ledesma and San Pedro took the place of the
+primitive mills as soon as the railway approached Jujuy, and even
+before it entered the valley of the Rio Grande. They then sent their
+sugar by waggon in November and December, between the close of the
+sugar season and the commencement of the rains, which spoil the roads.
+
+The sugar district of Jujuy now has a very different economic
+and social organization from that of Tucuman. Here there are no
+farmer-proprietors. Each centre is a large estate, in the midst of the
+forest, where the workers are lodged and fed by the works that employs
+them. The contractors who clear the ground for them are obliged by
+the terms of their contract to import their workers directly from the
+south, so that they will not take any away from the farming. There is
+no available labour, no free market, on the spot. Since the completion
+of the Quebrada de Humahuaca line, however, there has been a good deal
+of immigration, to settle or temporarily, of the mountaineers of the
+tableland. The sphere of influence of San Pedro now extends as far as
+Bolivia. For the harvest, which, like that of Tucuman, requires a good
+deal of additional manual labour, the works look to the wild Indians
+of the Chaco. This curious stream of seasonal migration, which the
+sugar campaign of Jujuy provokes every winter outside the zone of white
+colonization, is of very old date, going back more than sixty years.
+Belmar notices it about the middle of the nineteenth century. The
+recruiting agents of San Pedro and Ledesma set out from Embarcacion,
+where the railway ends, and enter the Chaco, from which each of them
+brings a troop of some hundreds of natives between March and June.
+The number of these temporary immigrants seems to be about 6,000. The
+Chiriguanos of the north leave their families on the Chaco, and the men
+come alone. The Matacos immigrate in whole tribes. They camp in huts
+like those of their own villages, under the shelter of the works, and
+are paid in maize, meat, and cigars. In October, when the _algarroba_
+flowers and makes them dream of their own country, they receive the
+remainder of their pay in money, and spend it in brandy, clothing,
+knives, and firearms.
+
+The history of Mendoza resembles that of Tucuman in many ways. In the
+province of Cuyo, as at Tucuman, urban life has been precocious. In
+the middle of the eighteenth century Mendoza and San Juan exported
+wines, dried fruit (_pasas_ and _orejones_), and flour to the coast
+and to Paraguay. Part of the so-called "Chilean flour" consumed on the
+Pampa, really came from Jachal and Mendoza. This trade ceased in the
+nineteenth century, but San Juan and Mendoza found another source of
+wealth in fattening cattle and sending them to Chile. Belmar, in 1856,
+estimates the extent of the lucerne farms of Cuyo to have been 150,000
+_cuadres_(440,000 acres).[35] As at Tucuman, the present period is
+characterized by a rapid expansion of cultivation and a rapid growth
+of population. But, whereas at Tucuman the neighbouring provinces
+have provided the whole of the manual labour required, and the actual
+population is essentially creole, at Mendoza there has been a larger
+number of foreign immigrants. In 1914, foreigners were 310 per 1,000
+of the entire population of Mendoza: a larger proportion than for the
+whole country. The immigrants going straight to Mendoza from the ports
+numbered 12,000 in 1911, and 15,000 in 1912; almost as much as for the
+province of Santa Fe, and more than for the province of Cordoba. Thus
+Mendoza plays a part of its own in the charm which Argentina has for
+the imagination of Europe. When we examine a chart of the population
+of South America, we notice that the oases of Cuyo contain the only
+important groups of European population at any distance from the coast.
+
+     [35] A few convoys of cattle still use the Uspallata road,
+     especially over the Espinacito pass in the Cordillera de San
+     Juan.
+
+The prosperity of Mendoza to-day depends upon the cultivation of the
+vine, just as that of Tucuman depends upon sugar. The cultivation of
+the vine is possible in the greater part of Argentina. In the early
+days of colonization there were vineyards as far as the Paraguay.
+They still flourish at Concordia on the Uruguay and at San Nicolas
+on the lower Parana. But the wet summers of the eastern provinces
+are not suitable for them. The climate for them improves as one goes
+westward, and there is less rain. The dry zone of eastern Argentina
+is the special field of the vine. There it has spread over nearly
+twenty degrees of latitude, and it depends, like other cultivation,
+upon irrigation. In the Andean valleys of the north-west it rises to
+a height of 7,500 feet. South of Mendoza the higher limit of the vine
+sinks rapidly, and there are no vineyards in the mountainous district
+itself. On the other hand, its range increases; in the east it spreads
+as far as the Atlantic coast, in the valley of the Rio Negro.
+
+The former centres of viticulture in the north-west, in the oases
+of the _costas_ of La Rioja, Catamarca, and Salta, have scarcely
+been affected by the advance; and, in any case, their extent is very
+limited. The vine-district of the Rio Negro is only in process of
+creation, and its output is still small. Thus the area of production
+on a large scale is limited to the three oases of San Juan, Mendoza,
+and San Rafael, which in 1913 yielded 4,750,000 hectolitres, out
+of the total Argentine production of 5,000,000 hectolitres. These
+three centres differ from each other to-day rather in their economic
+development than in their physical conditions. At San Juan, the
+transformation of the earlier methods of production and the traditional
+creole industries is only now taking place. At Mendoza it is quite
+finished. The San Rafael centre, on the other hand, is of recent
+origin; it was created on the site of a fortress which guarded the
+Indian frontier until 1880. Cultivated areas have appeared on virgin
+soil, in the midst of the desert. These different circumstances account
+for diversities which, though they will disappear in the course of
+time, are still obvious to the traveller. The general scene is the
+same everywhere. Arid and desolate mountains close the horizon in the
+west; at their feet spreads the immense alluvial deposit on which the
+vineyards, surrounded by rows of poplars, grow wherever water is to be
+found.
+
+There are so few gaps in the lower slopes of the Cordillera that the
+available water is gathered at a small number of points. The Rio San
+Juan alone drains a belt of the Cordillera at least 140 miles broad.
+Each of the two oases, Mendoza and San Rafael, has two streams of water
+to feed it. The Mendoza and the Tunuyan at Mendoza, and the Diamante
+and the Atuel at San Rafael, approach each other, when they leave
+the mountains, so closely that the estates they water blend into a
+continuous area. Then, however, instead of uniting, they diverge and
+are lost, separately, in the plain. These streams have less fall than
+the thinner torrents of the oases of the north-west, and the average
+inclination of the dejection-cones which bear the vineyards is slight.
+The upper slopes of the cone, where thin beds of clay lie upon shingle,
+give clear wines of excellent aroma. Hence, in the Mendoza district,
+the vineyards of Lujan and, further down, of Godoy Cruz, Guaymallen,
+and Maipu produce choice brands. On the plain, to the east of Mendoza,
+at San Martin and Junin, the harvest is larger, but the wine is rough,
+and one can often taste the saltpetre of the clayey soil. There is the
+same difference between the upper and lower district at San Juan and
+San Rafael.
+
+The oases of San Juan and San Rafael spread evenly over the most
+suitable parts of the alluvial talus, but the oasis of Mendoza has a
+peculiar shape which can only be explained by historical causes. The
+cultivated belt is a narrow strip along the Tunuyan, for more than
+sixty miles, as far as the heart of the plain, out of sight of the
+Cordillera. It is one instance, out of a thousand, of the influence of
+traffic on colonization. As a matter of fact, the road from Mendoza
+to the coast, by which the cattle convoys of San Luis went to the
+_invernadas_, passes along the Tunuyan. The estates grew up by the
+side of it. The villages of Santa Rosa, Las Catitas, and La Paz, which
+mark the various stages of it, are all of ancient origin. Strangers
+are rarely found there. One still sees in them very old houses, built
+before the railway was made, dating from the days of the _carril_ or
+waggon-road. The importance of this line of water across the desert is
+clearly seen on the Woodbine Parish map.
+
+The use of irrigation in this district raised different technical
+problems from those of the north-western provinces. In this latitude
+the torrents of the Andes are formidable when the snows melt, at the
+beginning of summer. The flood is all the greater and more sudden as
+the heat is late. From all the ravines of the mountains the muddy
+waters then converge toward the valley. The flood scours the bed of
+the river, erodes its banks, and threatens to find a way amongst the
+estates. Even the towns of Mendoza and San Juan have more than once
+been in danger. The fear of diverting the flood and of bringing it
+upon themselves compelled them to be content with raising only light
+and frail dams in the path of the torrent. At San Juan they used, for
+a long time, the waters of the Arroyo del Estero, a small brook fed by
+infiltration from the Valle de Zenda, and it was some time before they
+ventured to draw upon the river itself.
+
+  [Illustration: THE OASIS DEL RINCON, BELOW SAUJIL (ANDALGALA LINE,
+  PROVINCE OF CATAMARCA).
+  _The dejection-cone, at the foot of which is the very small oasis, is
+  seen resting against the Sierra d'Ambato._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: THE MONTE AT EL YESO.
+  _Zone of clay hills at the foot of the Sierra de San Antonio, at
+  the edge of the Chaco. Corral (cattle park) made from tree-trunks._
+                                              Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE VII.                                            To face p. 82.]
+
+Another problem, which the smaller oases of the north-west hardly
+know--the problem of drainage--is of paramount importance at San
+Juan and Mendoza, as far as a large part of the irrigated surface is
+concerned. The water infiltrating into the soil forms a subterranean
+sheet which approaches more or less to the surface according to the
+topography. It comes to the surface at the foot of the cone, where
+the slope diminishes and the cone gradually passes into the plain.
+Hence the cone has, at its base, a belt of marshes (_cienagas_), and
+sometimes a line of good springs (_barbollon_). At San Juan, if you
+move far enough away to get a comprehensive view of the whole of the
+estates, you see that they occupy the middle belt, half-way down the
+cone, the top of which is composed of coarse shingle, while the bottom
+is too wet. The advance of the plots upward and the steadily increasing
+use of the available water tends to raise the level of the underground
+sheet and enlarge the area of marsh.
+
+There is a fine black soil, very fertile when it is drained, and no
+irrigation is needed; as it is possible, according to the depth of the
+drainage-trenches, to regulate the level of the underground water so
+as to make it reach and feed the roots. The draining of the marshes,
+again, opens up a field for the further expansion of the estates,
+especially at San Juan, where it has scarcely begun. Moreover, the
+water that is obtained by draining the marshes enables them to create
+new irrigated estates further on. At Mendoza there is already a
+considerable area irrigated by drainage-canals (_desague_).
+
+The level of the water in the marshes sinks in the summer and rises
+in winter, at the time when the irrigation of the upper districts is
+suspended or greatly reduced, and when the surplus of the _acequias_,
+which the fields no longer take, flows or infiltrates downward in any
+way that it can. Thus, contrary to the torrent itself, it is in winter
+that the drainage-canals are at their fullest. At Barriales (Mendoza),
+and on the lower course of the Zanjon canal, thousands of acres,
+watered by the drainage-canals and exposed to drought in the summer,
+have the right to take water from the river or the canal during the
+three summer months, from November to January. During the remainder of
+the year they are restricted to the use of the drainage-canals. This
+sort of concession seems to provide a means of using the surplus of the
+river during the summer.
+
+With this exception there are no temporary rights limited to the
+high-water season and enabling them to raise quick crops, that ripen
+in a few months, round the area of perennials. At least, the expansion
+of the estates and the wish to use the full water-supply have led to
+the creation of eventual rights, besides the definitive rights. They
+do not come into play, theoretically, until the definitive rights
+have had their full supply, and then only in a fixed order. They are
+subordinated to the ordinary rights, and the market value of land with
+eventual water-rights is much lower than that of land with definitive
+rights.[36] At San Rafael, where colonization preceded the systematic
+inventory of the natural resources, the concession of eventual
+water-rights was a means of facilitating the development of estates;
+though they were very badly informed as to the surplus of the Atuel and
+the Diamante and the area that the new land might cover.
+
+     [36] There are at present in the Mendoza province 275,000
+     hectares with a definitive right, and 303,000 with an eventual
+     right. The concessions fed by the Diamante and the Atuel at
+     San Rafael, which amount to 120,000 hectares with a definitive
+     right and 150,000 with an eventual right, are not yet entirely
+     developed.
+
+In practice, the co-existence of eventual and definitive rights
+presents many difficulties, and more than one pretext for fraud.
+Sometimes the owners of eventual rights have access to the river
+higher up than the older intakes, which ought to be served first. A
+whole group of canals feeding land with eventual rights is in this
+way grafted upon the Tunuyan above La Paz, the rights of which are
+definitive and ancient.
+
+At Mendoza and San Juan the water-rights, codified in provincial laws
+which date, like the dams, from the end of the nineteenth century, are
+very different from the water-rights which hold in the Andean provinces
+of the north-west. The variety of the physical conditions is reflected
+in the institutions. Here water is not an object of private ownership
+independently of the soil. The concession of water is assigned to a
+definite estate, and it is formulated in superficial measurements. The
+law fixes the volume of water that goes with each unit of surface.
+If the output of the river is not large enough to provide the volume
+stated in the law to the whole of the irrigated district, all the
+lands with definitive rights receive at least an equal amount, and the
+available water is shared by the canals in proportion to the extent of
+the surface they irrigate.
+
+No law could secure for the farmers of Cuyo, even those with definitive
+rights, a constant supply of water, or save them from suffering in
+common from the variation in the volume of the torrents, and it was not
+even possible to guarantee them water in any permanent fashion. The
+_turno_ is used everywhere when the water is low. Lower down, where the
+drought lasts nearly the whole year, the _turno_ is the standing rule.
+At La Paz, on the fringe of the irrigated area, it has to be applied
+rigorously. The turn of each owner comes every eight, ten, or twelve
+days. In normal times he receives the _suerte de agua_; that is to say,
+the output of a sluice of a fixed size during a half-hour for each
+hectare (a little over two acres) of land. But if the river runs low,
+it becomes impossible to supply several neighbours simultaneously, and,
+in order to avoid making the interval between supplies too long, the
+duration of the _suerte de agua_ is reduced by half or three-quarters.
+
+The oases of Cuyo are like the small oases of the north-west as
+regards the function of those who are engaged in the administration of
+irrigation. The water-laws give the provincial functionaries general
+directions. Below them, however, to arrange the distribution of the
+water and the upkeep of the canals in detail, they have allowed to
+survive, and have merely regulated, certain primitive democratic
+organisms. At San Juan the superintendence of the irrigation is
+entrusted to elected municipal councils and the governor of the
+department. At Mendoza, the owners appoint a council of three delegates
+and an inspector for each canal, and these settle the annual budget of
+the canal, submit it to the provincial authorities, receive the taxes,
+carry out the necessary repairs, and so on. The great subdivision of
+property and the large number of electors make these little republics
+very lively; and they are very jealous of their autonomy.[37]
+
+     [37] There are more than 6,000 owners at San Juan to 91,000
+     hectares, and more than 9,000 at Mendoza (zone of the rivers
+     Mendoza and Tunuyan) to 130,000 hectares (statistics compiled
+     in 1899).
+
+Even within the narrow limits of the Cuyo district the climatological
+conditions, which control the growth of the vine, are not everywhere
+the same. The opening of the vineyards varies by several weeks,
+according to the locality.[38] The northern slope of the cone, exposed
+to the sun and protected from the southern winds, is more precocious.
+Some districts, poorly sheltered from the southern winds, and very
+liable to have late frost, have not been planted with vines (district
+of the Tucuyan below San Carlos, to the south of Mendoza). Everywhere
+the dryness of the atmosphere causes the ripe grapes to remain long
+on the vine, so that the harvest may last two months or more without
+any harm. It thus requires a relatively small supplement of manual
+labour, and does not necessitate seasonal migrations. The length of the
+harvest, moreover, facilitates the trade in grapes, which is one of the
+special features of the Argentine vine-industry.
+
+     [38] The difference is much greater at a distance from the
+     Cuyo province. Catamarca, which specializes in the production
+     of grapes for the table, is invaded by buyers from Buenos
+     Aires, and begins to send grapes in December, two full months
+     before the harvest begins in Mendoza.
+
+The climate is not so suitable for making wine as it is for growing
+vines. The temperature is high at the time of the harvest, and it
+retards fermentation in the cellars. The grapes have too much sugar
+and too little acid for the transformation of the must to proceed of
+itself. Hence it is necessary to have an expensive equipment, improved
+cellars, and skilled workers. This industrial organization is beyond
+the reach of the small cultivators. The cultivation of the vine and
+the making of wine are, therefore, not always associated. They are
+taken up by two different classes of the population. Tucuman has its
+_caneros_ and factories, and Mendoza, by a division of labour which
+seems to the European visitor as strange as the climate which partly
+explains it, has its vine-growers (_vinateros_) and its manufactures
+(_bodegueros_).[39]
+
+     [39] While the cultivation of the cane has, for the most part,
+     become dependent upon the sugar industry, which represents
+     large capital, wine-making is, on the contrary, usually
+     regarded as merely an annex of wine-growing.
+
+Each of these two classes has had its share in the common work. The
+_vinatores_ have created the vineyard. The creole vine, imported into
+Peru from the Canaries and spreading over the whole of the southern
+Andes, yields great quantities of a sugary, but rough fruit, which
+does not lend itself to imitating the wines of Europe. At Mendoza it
+has almost entirely disappeared, though it survives at San Juan. It
+is grown on trellis-work, wooden frames resting on forked branches of
+_algarroba_; though sometimes the strong stems rise without support to
+a height of about six feet and are crowned with shoots and leaves. The
+new vine has been grown from French cuttings. While the creole vines
+look like orchards, the French vines are grown in rows of iron wire.
+
+The plantations were first made by creole workmen, who were paid by
+the day. Afterwards, as immigration from Europe increased, long-term
+contracts came into vogue, in virtue of which the colonist received
+the bare land and undertook to have it planted with vines at the end
+of three, four, or five years. The owner supplied the material, and
+at the end of the contract the colonist received a few _centavos_ for
+each vine, or sold the whole or part of the first harvest. On account
+of these contracts there were always a great many foreigners in the
+districts where vineyards were in course of formation. The proportion
+is now less at Mendoza than at San Rafael, where colonization is more
+recent. Whenever they could, the owners left to the colonists, not only
+the business of planting the vines, but the upkeep of adult vineyards.
+In those cases the colonist receives a fixed sum per hectare (100
+piastres, for instance), and has to dig, prune, irrigate, etc. A large
+number of these agricultural workers and small contractors have saved a
+small capital, and purchased land of their own. This they have planted,
+and they thus form a new class of working owners.
+
+While the _vinatores_ were multiplying vineyards, the _bodegueros_ were
+transforming the methods of making wine. The weakness of imperfectly
+fermented wines, which turn sour and evaporate quickly, was all the
+worse for the growers of the colonial period because transport was
+slow, and there was no protection against the sun, which cooked the
+_algarroba_ casks or the leather bottles on the backs of the mules.
+The vineyard-owners often preferred to distil their wine and export
+brandy, flavoured with aniseed, to the Andean tablelands or the coast.
+The climate and the risks of transport had brought into existence an
+astonishing variety of methods of treating the must. Sometimes it was
+concentrated by boiling until it became a thick syrup (_arrope_),
+something like, apparently, the thick wines of the Mediterranean in
+former times. At other times the must was cooked without thickening
+it, to prevent immediate fermentation, as is done with the _chicha_ in
+Chile to-day; or sour wines were mixed with boiled must and ashes of
+the shoots, which masked the acidity.
+
+These traditions are now lost, but it is curious to see the
+_bodegueros_ still endeavouring to meet the taste of the creole
+population of the north-west, which has retained the preference for
+sweet and fruity wines. San Juan, which caters to these customers,
+manufactures _mistelas_--fresh boiled must with an addition of
+alcohol--which are mixed with mature wines in order the imitate the
+imperfect fermentation of earlier days. Perhaps there is no part of
+the world where the art of wine-making has been pushed so far as in
+the _bodegas_ of Mendoza. The correction of the must, and the analysis
+and treatment of diseased wines, follow the most modern of methods.
+The _bodegas_ produce a very steady wine, which is guaranteed by their
+trade marks. The wine of the Mendoza type, which they endeavour to
+produce, is a strong red wine, of heavy colour, with twelve or thirteen
+per cent. of alcohol. It may euphemistically be called a blended wine,
+but is in reality diluted wine. Argentina does not produce very light
+wines, and has no use for diluted wine.
+
+The number of wine-making cellars in 1913 was 997 at Mendoza and 336
+at San Juan. But they differ very much from each other in size. Most
+of them have only a small equipment and modest capital. Some, on the
+other hand, are large enterprizes which could produce enough to supply
+a city: vast constructions of brick or _adobe_, with light roofs as a
+precaution against earthquakes.
+
+The owners of the cellars almost always have their own vineyards, but
+they also buy the harvests of cultivators who have not cellars. In 1908
+it was calculated that 140,000 tons of grapes were sent to the press
+by the owners and 175,000 tons bought by the _bodegueros_.[40]
+
+     [40] More recent statistics are not to hand. The proportion
+     differs a little every year according to the prices of wine
+     and grapes.
+
+The conflicts of the interests of the _vinateros_ and the _bodegueros_
+are the very woof of life at Mendoza. The price of grapes is infinitely
+more variable than that of wine, and the _vinatero_ who has no cellar
+is at the mercy of the _bodeguero_. If he does not want to see his
+harvest go to waste, he has to accept unconditionally the price that is
+offered him. The _bodeguero_ has, moreover, the advantage of disposing
+of the grapes grown on his own estates. If the circumstances do not
+encourage him to produce all he can, he sends to the press merely
+his own harvest and will not buy any other. Thus the whole burden of
+commercial crises falls upon the vineyard with no cellar.
+
+The prices paid for the grapes differ a little for different parts
+of the vineyard, but the variation is more due to the number of
+_bodegas_ in the district and their capacity than to the quality
+of the grapes. Transport of the grapes to a great distance is very
+expensive. In exceptional times grapes have been brought from San
+Rafael to the Mendoza cellars, but each _bodega_ gets its supply as
+far as possible from its own district. At San Juan the capacity of the
+cellars is proportionately less than at Mendoza, and the _bodegueros_
+have imposed very hard conditions on the growers. The price fixed in
+the purchase-contract does not of itself give a complete idea of the
+benefits which the _bodeguero_ enjoys. The grapes are purchased by
+weight, but the _bodeguero_ reserves the right to say at what date
+they are to be delivered. He begins to harvest his own vines when the
+fruit is scarcely ripe, but he puts back the harvesting of the grapes
+he buys as far as possible, even to April or May. These grapes exposed
+on the plant to the heat of the sun, become overripe; they gain in
+sugar and lose in weight. They make wines with a higher percentage of
+alcohol, and with these he can correct the lighter wines made during
+the preceding weeks. Finally, the _bodeguero_ does not advance money to
+the _vinatero_, as the manufacturer does to the _canero_ in the sugar
+industry.
+
+The only safeguard of the vine-growers is the lack of understanding
+between the _bodegueros_ and the competition between them. Although
+there are conventions amongst the _bodegueros_ which lay down
+officially, before the vintage, the basis of all transactions, they
+are not respected except in so far as they serve a man's interest.
+If it is expected that the wine will easily be sold, and that grapes
+will be short, buyers are abundant, and contracts are signed before
+the fruit appears. It is a sort of gamble, as in the case of wheat and
+cotton. Bulls and bears struggle for the market. If the bulls win, the
+_vinateros_ grow rich.[41]
+
+     [41] Besides the causes of a geographical nature which I have
+     indicated, the separation of cultivation from wine-making has
+     other economic grounds, but they do not fall within the range
+     of this book. The large _bodega_ is better situated than the
+     small cultivator for organizing the sale of his wines on the
+     distant market of Buenos Aires. Also, the _bodegueros_ alone
+     are able to meet the competition of Buenos Aires merchants who
+     import European wines and make adulterated wines.
+
+When we compare the diagrams which show the production of wine and
+sugar in Argentina during the last thirty years, we see that they
+clearly illustrate the condition of dependence of the vineyard industry
+and the sugar industry as regards the home market. The prosperity of
+the region of the Pampas, especially during the years before 1914,
+is reflected at Mendoza and Tucuman. The expansive movement of the
+estates is similarly bound up with the construction of railways to
+connect them with the coast. Industry, on a large scale, began at
+Tucuman in 1876: that is to say, at the opening of the Central Cordoba
+line. The area planted with cane rose from 2,200 hectares in 1876 to
+14,800 in 1886. The production of sugar was trebled in four years,
+from 1876 to 1880. But the Central Cordoba was a narrow-gauge line,
+expensive to use and necessitating a transfer of goods at Cordoba. In
+1891 the broad-gauge line from Buenos Aires to Rosario was extended to
+Tucuman; and in 1892 the narrow-gauge line from Rosario to Santa Fe,
+San Cristobal, and Tucuman was also brought into use. The following
+years were marked by rapid advances of the sugar industry. From 1891 to
+1895 the area planted with canes rose from 14,200 to 40,700 hectares,
+and the manufacture of sugar from 31,000 to 135,000 tons. At Mendoza,
+also, the development of the vineyards dates from the completion of the
+San Luis Railway in 1885. Plantations were at once started, and three
+years later they came into touch. In 1887, the railway carried 27,000
+hectolitres of wine from Mendoza to the coast; in 1890-91 it carried
+268,000 hectolitres. Production had increased tenfold in that short
+space of time.
+
+As the home-production of wine and sugar increased, the imports from
+abroad fell. As early as 1885 Tucuman was able to meet the home demand
+for raw sugar, and refined only was imported. In 1888, a refinery was
+erected at Rosario to deal with Argentine sugar which came by rail,
+and foreign sugar which came up the river. Import ceased at this date,
+or there have since only been occasional years of import, to meet a
+scarcity. The imports of ordinary foreign wines continued to increase
+until 1890 (800,000 hectolitres), or as long as the wine produced at
+Mendoza did not suffice to meet the demand. They have steadily declined
+since that date (350,000 hectolitres in 1913), and are now only seven
+per cent. of the national production. We should add that, even in
+regard to ordinary wines, the Mendoza and the imported wine are not
+strictly comparable, that the competition between them is not simply
+a matter of price, and that some customers continue to prefer foreign
+wine.
+
+  [Illustration: A VINEYARD AT SAN JUAN.
+  _Trellissed creole vines._
+                                    Photograph by Boote, Buenos Aires.]
+
+  [Illustration: A VINEYARD AT MENDOZA.
+  _French vines on wire. An irrigation-trench along the path. In
+  the foreground (left) a wine-cellar_(bodega).
+           Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados, Buenos Aires.
+  PLATE VIII.                                           To face p. 92.]
+
+The elimination of foreign wines and sugar and the development of
+Mendoza and Tucuman were facilitated by a Protectionist tariff. The
+details of this are very curious, as they had to be adjusted to the
+natural conditions. The need of protection is chiefly due to the
+distance of the market from the productive centres. Mendoza is 650
+miles from Buenos Aires, Tucuman more than 750 miles. Freightage
+on the railways is dear. It is thirty-five piastres a ton for wine
+between Mendoza and Buenos Aires, or nearly double the normal maritime
+freight for the European wines sent from Bordeaux or Genoa. The charge
+for sugar is about thirty piastres a ton between Tucuman and Buenos
+Aires. Thus the cost of transport is nearly one sixth the entire cost
+of production. In spite of this common burden, the need of protection
+is not at all the same in Mendoza and Tucuman. The climate of Mendoza
+is excellent for the vine. The dryness of the atmosphere keeps down
+cryptogamic diseases, and the risks of cultivation are slight. The crop
+is abundant, the frosts late, and not serious. Hail is frequent, it is
+true, at the mouths of the Cordillera valleys, but it is never general;
+it affects only a small part of the harvest. The curve of production
+is very regular. It rises every year very gradually, and in proportion
+to the increase of the cultivated area. As a result of all this, the
+wine market has a stability which the vine-growing countries of Europe,
+with their less reliable climate, do not enjoy. The protective tariff,
+therefore, remains fixed. The duty on foreign wines in the cask--eight
+centimes (gold) per litre--has not been altered since the introduction
+into Argentina of the wine-industry on a large scale.[42]
+
+     [42] Mendoza is further protected by law against fraud.
+     This legislation is partly national and partly provincial.
+     The national law, which takes into account the interests of
+     the merchants of Buenos Aires, permits the manufacture of
+     artificial wines. The provincial law, in the special interests
+     of the productive districts, is more stringent. It prohibits
+     the manufacture of artificial wines. It also fixes the minimum
+     percentage of alcohol, and prevents the dispatch from Mendoza
+     to Buenos Aires of alcoholic wines to mix with must. Finally,
+     it defends the _vinatero_ against the _bodeguero_ by fixing
+     the quantity of grapes to be used in making a hectolitre of
+     wine and so prevents fraud at the _bodega_.
+
+The curve of sugar-production is just as irregular as that of
+wine-production is regular. From one year to another the output may
+vary by as much as 100 per cent., and the changes cannot be predicted:
+147,000 tons in 1912, 335,000 tons in 1914, 150,000 tons in 1915. The
+reason is that the sugar output depends upon the season. Canes which
+have been touched by frost go sour and ferment in the ground. They
+have to be milled quickly, and the harvest must not be prolonged. Even
+in good years the costly equipment of the works is active during only
+three months (July to September, but at Jujuy, July to October).
+
+This irregularity of production, which makes protection inevitable,
+also complicates it infinitely in practice. Sometimes the harvest
+is not large enough to meet home demands, and imports have to be
+permitted. Sometimes production is far beyond the home demand, and
+the sugar-manufacturers have to export the surplus so as to prevent
+a slump in prices on the overloaded home market. In order to meet
+these very different situations, the protecting tariff has had to be
+repeatedly modified and complicated. But it is impossible for us to
+give the history of it in detail here. The duties on foreign sugar were
+fixed, in successive instalments, between 1883 and 1891; and special
+protective measures were taken in the interest of the refiners in 1888.
+Over-production appeared for the first time in 1895. Export at a loss,
+to relieve the home market, was at first organized by an association
+of the producers themselves (in 1896). But in 1897 the Government
+developed it by putting a premium on export. The export period lasted
+from 1897 to 1904. The law of 1912, which gives its latest form to
+the Protectionist regime, gives the Government the right to suspend
+for a time the duties on imports and allow foreign sugar to come in.
+As at Mendoza, the provincial Government intervenes as well as the
+national. The alternation of bad and exceptionally good harvests leads
+to the appearance of all sorts of unforeseen laws, modifying the bases
+of taxation, regulating production in the works, and restricting the
+acreage of cultivation.[43] Thus Tucuman has lived in an atmosphere of
+storm and uncertainty and unceasing discussion, of discouragement and
+insecurity; the price of its geographical position at the extreme limit
+of the area in which cane can be grown.
+
+     [43] Especially during the crisis of 1902-3.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE EXPLOITATION OF THE FORESTS
+
+     Manual labour on the _obrajes_--The land of the _banados_
+     and the agricultural cantons of Corrientes--The timber-yards
+     of the Chaco and the tannic-acid works of the Parana--The
+     exploitation of the _mate_--The forestry industry and
+     colonization.
+
+
+From the Andes of Tucuman and Salta to the banks of the upper Parana
+in the province of Misiones the north of Argentina is now a vast
+timber-yard for the exploitation of the forests. It resounds everywhere
+with the axe. This exploitation of the forest is of early origin on
+the river; in the eighteenth century Buenos Aires was supplied with
+wood from the Parana. In the western Chaco the difficulty of transport
+by land retarded the development of the forestry industry. The only
+market for the timber of Tucuman was the Andean region. It was not sent
+to Mendoza after the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the
+willow was acclimatized in the oases of Cuyo. Below Rosas the wood of
+the _quebracho_ was at first taken in waggons from Santiago to Buenos
+Aires, but this traffic ceased when the river-route was reopened,
+and we do not find it resumed until recent times, when railways were
+constructed.
+
+The outer fringe of the forest and the scrub where the industry has
+had to find labour, is inhabited by a very sparse pastoral population.
+There are, however, besides the thinly populated districts of the
+farms, certain busy hives which lend animation to the scrub. These
+over-populated cantons are districts of cultivation by _banados_, or
+the cultivation of flood-lands. There is constant intercourse between
+these ancient centres of creole life and the timber-yards of the
+forest. The forestry industry recruits its workers there, on temporary
+contracts. The wages paid are brought back to these centres and spent
+there. They help to maintain social groups of an archaic type, which
+the meagreness of their production would otherwise doom to extinction.
+
+The _banados_ are scattered over the range of all the sierras within
+the limits reached by the torrents from the mountains before they are
+lost. They also stretch along the two rivers that are considerable
+enough to cross the scrub, the Salado and the Dulce. The course of
+the Bermejo, where the natural conditions are much the same, lies
+outside the sphere of primitive creole colonization. The tilled lands
+are not continuous on the Salado or the Dulce. There are no _banados_
+wherever the bed of the river is enclosed by high banks which prevent
+flooding. The course of the Salado threads together, in the manner of
+a rosary, three main groups of _banados_ below 26 deg. S. lat., (Matoque
+and Boqueron) between 27 deg. and 28 deg. S. lat. (Brea), and between 28
+deg. and 29 deg. S. lat. (Le Bracho and Navicha). But the classic country
+of the _banados_, where they cover the widest extent and sustain the most
+considerable body of population, is the interior delta of the Rio Dulce
+below Santiago del Estero, in the departments of Loreto, Atamisqui, and
+Salavina.
+
+Santiago is situated almost at the top of it. In its upper part the
+Rio Dulce is enclosed between high clay cliffs (department of the Rio
+Hondo). Below Santiago the river seems to run to the top of a sort
+of flattened alluvial cone, over which it wanders. Instances of the
+migration of rivers during the historical period are plentiful in the
+north of the Argentine plain. The scrub is scored east of the Salado
+with a network of dry beds, the edges of which gradually disappear as
+the vegetation extends over them. But there is no other part where
+the erratic nature of the waters is so marked, the vagabondage so
+considerable, as in this section of the basin of the Rio Dulce. The
+small towns of Atamisqui and Salavina, which lived on the waters of the
+Dulce, were suddenly ruined in 1825, when the river, in consequence
+of a particularly violent flood, turned away to the south and lost
+itself in the Salinas Grandes. A canal was dug in 1897 to irrigate the
+district of Loreto, on the left bank of the Dulce, but the entrance
+was badly protected, and the flood of 1901 swept into it, and, guided
+by it, reached the bed it had abandoned a century before, going
+south-eastward toward Atamisqui. That town and Salavina recovered their
+prosperity, while it was necessary to abandon the farms on the Rio des
+Salines, which now has water only during high floods. Actual beds, old
+beds that are always ready to serve again, and traces of canals changed
+and cut by the stream, form a great network in the midst of the plain;
+and the flood rolls to one side or the other according to the road open
+to it, and the facility with which the various elements of the network
+lend themselves to the passage of the water. Such is the land of the
+_banados_.
+
+You enter it to-day at Loreto station, where the line from Santiago
+to Frias approaches within a few miles of it. This station is erected
+in the midst of the arid _monte_, and owes its existence to the
+neighbouring _banados_. Turning eastward from the railway, as soon
+as one has crossed the broad, sandy bed of the Rio des Salines, one
+finds oneself in the heart of the _banados_ farms. The road passes
+between hedges (_cercas_), over the top of which one sees the green of
+the wheat and lucerne. The plots are very small: gardens rather than
+fields. In clearing the ground they have preserved the best-situated
+trees, and the light foliage gives a useful shade to the crops. The
+crown of the _algarrobas_ rises everywhere above the top of the hedges.
+
+The fields do not cover the whole area of the annual inundations.
+They are confined to the part where the flood is fertilizing; where
+it leaves behind it a fine, useful clay which keeps the store of
+moisture for several months. In other places the current is too rapid.
+It furrows the soil, leaves large holes in it like the _lones_ in the
+flood-area of the Rhone, and sweeps away the barriers; or the water
+brings sterile sand which it deposits in long stretches; or again, if
+it is not drained away in time and evaporates on the spot, it deposits
+the salts it contains, and the land, looking as if it had a white
+leprosy, becomes unfit for vegetation.
+
+The floods begin in summer, during November or December. They are
+caused by the rain-storms in the Tucuman district, and are very
+irregular. Some of the houses are evacuated, and others are protected
+by walls of earth, which are raised from hour to hour according to the
+rise of the waters. Behind these walls the people await the abatement
+of the flood. When the mud which is left behind has the proper
+consistency, they till it and sow wheat. The wheat grows in the winter,
+and is harvested in November quickly, so that the fresh flood may not
+overtake it.
+
+The caprices of the flood compel them frequently to change the sites of
+their houses and fields. The ancient village of Loreto was evacuated
+after a flood, and is now merely a mass of deserted ruins. Round the
+naked trunks of the _algarrobas_, killed by excessive deposits of
+sand or salt, are uniform colonies of plants of the same age and the
+same species, which invade the area where the adult scrub has been
+destroyed. The mill has been rebuilt less than a mile away, and has not
+lost its customers, who have raised their _ranchos_ some distance away.
+The insecurity of the plots has prevented the development of small
+ownership. The farmers are tenants of the ranches, which stretch from
+the river to a considerable distance in the interior.
+
+The use of _banados_ for agriculture is of long standing. It probably
+goes back to the pre-Columbian period. Father Dobritzhoffer, who
+is the first to refer clearly to it, compares the Rio Dulce to the
+Nile[44]; and in point of fact, the _banados_ have some resemblance
+to farming in Pharaonic Egypt, while there is nothing like them in
+the irrigated zones of the Andean valleys. The _banados_ were then
+devoted to the cultivation of wheat and pumpkins. The pumpkin, which
+is of American origin, had not yet been eliminated by wheat, which
+was introduced by the Spaniards. The wheat produced in the _banados_
+maintained a fairly active export trade at the beginning of the
+nineteenth century, and the _banados_ were at times called, with some
+exaggeration, the "granary of the Vice-royalty." It is difficult to
+trace accurately the movements of the population of the _banados_
+because of the constant changes of the administrative areas in the
+province of Santiago. The total population of the province is not now
+more than three per cent. of the total population of Argentina, but its
+comparative importance was much greater in the middle of the nineteenth
+century (nearly eight per cent. at the census of 1861). The departments
+of Loreto, Atamisqui, and Salavina on the Rio Dulce, which live mainly
+on the estates of the _banados_, comprised 46,000 inhabitants in 1861,
+and only 43,000 in 1895. The Woodbine Parish map and Hutchinson's
+description clearly give one an impression of a dense population in the
+area of the _banados_. I refer elsewhere to the antiquity and constancy
+of the streams of temporary immigration which spread the population of
+the _banados_ over a large part of the territory of Argentina.[45] The
+temporary emigration of the Santiaguenos is distributed amongst most
+of the provinces of central and northern Argentina, but it is chiefly
+of interest in connection with the frontier region. The Santiagueno is
+a woodman above all else, and the forest area has the advantage over
+the other labour-markets of wanting workers at all seasons, summer or
+winter, whereas the sugar-cane harvest at Tucuman and the harvest in
+the south only last a few months. They emigrate from the _banados_
+to Tucuman in May; to Cordoba and Santa Fe in October, November and
+December; but to the forests of the Chaco all the year round.
+
+     [44] _Historia de Abiponibus._
+
+     [45] See the chapter on population.
+
+  [Illustration: THE LAND OF THE BANADOS.
+  _On the Rio Dulce, near Loreto, in the dry season. Its actual bed,
+  excavated at a recent date by a flood in soft clay, is not yet
+  stable._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: LORETO: FARMING BY INUNDATION.
+  _In the zone of the scrub, where the floods of the Rio Dulce spread.
+  The interior delta of the Rio Dulce is one of the earliest centres of
+  population in Argentina._                   Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE IX.                                            To face p. 100.]
+
+Apart from the _banados_ of the Dulce and the Salado, the province of
+Corrientes contains the main reservoir from which the timber industry
+drew its manual workers. Just as at Santiago del Estero, one finds
+at Corrientes also the opposition between agricultural and breeding
+districts which is so common in the older colonized regions of South
+America. The _estancieros_ (ranchers), who are breeders, are the
+masters of Corrientes, but the line of low hills of sand and red
+clay, punctuated by lagoons, which crosses the north-western corner
+of the province, is not subject to their domination. There the land
+is subdivided; there are once more fields. Tobacco was an article of
+export for this fraction of Corrientes, especially after the political
+isolation of Paraguay, the chief producer of tobacco in the nineteenth
+century. During the whole of the first half of the nineteenth century
+the tobacco-buyers travelled all over Corrientes after the harvest, in
+January and February. The fertile soil, moreover, with a mild climate
+in which tropical plants flourish as well as those of the temperate
+zone, provides the elements of a local comfort which is complete in
+itself. Here again agricultural colonization has created a relatively
+dense nucleus of population, capable of great increase. Although the
+administrative divisions do not exactly correspond with the natural
+divisions, the unequal distribution of the population in Corrientes
+is made plain by the figures given in the census of 1895. The density
+rises in the agricultural areas to eight inhabitants per square
+kilometre, in the department of Bellavista; ten at San Cosma; fourteen
+at Lomas; thirty at San Roque. It is only between one and two in the
+purely pastoral departments (Concepcion and Mercedes).
+
+Corrientes also has its forests, and in these we find most of the
+species of the forests of the Chaco, in straight lines, along the
+water-courses, and in somewhat larger patches on the tablelands which
+separate the lower valleys near the Parana. They at first supplied the
+Curupai bark which was used in the Corrientes tanneries. The yards for
+the construction of river-boats emigrated from Paraguay to Corrientes
+at the beginning of the nineteenth century, at the same time and for
+the same reasons as the tobacco trade. The exploiting of the red
+_quebracho_ did not begin until about 1850. In 1887 Virasoro relates
+that fifty ships are engaged in loading with Nandubai timber on the
+banks of the Rio Corrientes and transporting it to Rosario.[46] Born on
+the left bank of the Parana, the forestry industry emigrated toward the
+end of the century to the right bank, whither the workers of Corrientes
+followed it.
+
+
+     [46] Val. Virasoro, "Los esteros y lagunas del Ibera" in _Bol.
+     Instit. Geog. Argent._ (vi. 1887; pp. 305-31).
+
+We find the same movement further north, on the Paraguay. The
+exploitation of the woods is in that case a very old industry on
+the tributaries of the left bank. D'Azara draws attention to its
+importance.[47] Robertson found, when he went from Corrientes to
+Asuncion in 1814, a population of wood-cutters in the marshy belt near
+the river. During floods they took refuge in the agricultural cantons
+of the frontier on high ground, where they were well received. It
+seems, then, that wood-cutting was already a seasonal industry at this
+time. The exploitation of the forests is now rapidly invading the right
+bank, which was long abandoned to the wild Indians.
+
+     [47] _Diario de la navegacion y reconocimiento del Rio
+     Tibicuari_ (Coll. de Angelis, vol. ii.).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Santiaguenos and Correntinos do not mix. The two zones of expansion
+and of forestry, of which they are the pioneers, are independent of
+each other. The _quechua_, which is the language of the _banados_ of
+the Rio Dulce, is spoken in the timber-yards of the Chaco de Santiago;
+the _guarani_, the language of Corrientes and the Paraguay, is most
+common along the river, in the Chaco de Santa Fe. Their respective
+spheres will not come into touch with each other until the Quimili
+branch of the Central Norte Railway, which comes from the Santiago
+province, joins the line of penetration at Resistencia, on the Parana,
+in the west.
+
+The forestry industry of the interior and that of the river-districts
+differ not only in the character of the workers, but in their
+organization and their market. The variety of red _quebracho_ which
+is exploited in the west is not quite the same as the variety that is
+found in the east. Each has a name of its own--_quebracho santiagueno_
+and _quebracho chaqueno_. The former contains ten per cent. of tannin,
+the latter thirty per cent. The former is cut down for timber, the
+latter in order to extract the tannic acid. The one is sold in
+Argentina, and the other sent abroad.
+
+The working of the timber at Santiago has remained in the hands of a
+number of small capitalists and contractors who do not own the land
+and do not work there. They are content to buy in small amounts and
+according to the demand at the moment, the right to exploit the forests
+(_derecho de monte or derecho de lena_). The trunks of exceptionally
+large _quebracho_ provide logs that are sold by cubic measurement, but
+the district of the _quebracho santiagueno_ mainly exports sleepers.
+_Quebracho_ sleepers have been used in constructing the railways, both
+narrow and broad gauge, during the last twenty years on the Pampa.
+Tall and thin trees make telegraph posts; the smaller branches make
+stakes for wire fences. In parts of the bush where there is no red
+_quebracho_, the _retamo_ is used, to make posts for enclosures, and
+also the white _quebracho_, which is sold in round logs. Finally,
+the forests provide wood for fuel. The works at Tucuman, and the
+locomotives over a good part of the land, use wood-fuel. The wood of
+the red _quebracho_, if left for some years in the yards where the
+sleepers are made and is rid of the sap-wood, which rots and falls
+out--the _lena campana_--is excellent fuel. Charcoal is cheaper to
+transport than the wood, and can therefore be sent farther over the
+whole prairie district. It is made in the _monte_, along all the
+railways, and especially in the thinner forests on the edge of the
+prairie.
+
+The forestry of the interior is unstable as well as scattered and
+primitive. The equipment--saws that are easily taken down and set
+up--is not costly, and does not require much capital. When one canton
+of the forest has been exhausted, the saws are taken down and removed.
+The cuttings are not made in such a way as to allow the forest to
+recover, and so permit a continuous exploitation. Everything of any
+value is taken. The _quebracho_ is, moreover, a tree of slow growth.
+The forestry industry has at times returned, after an interval, to land
+that had been stripped, but that is not because they had planted a new
+generation of trees. It is because it became profitable, as the state
+of the market and the cost of transport changed, to cut down the small
+trees which had not been considered good enough on the earlier occasion.
+
+When the master _obrajero_ removes, he is followed by the greater part
+of the workers. But to induce them to emigrate, or to recruit cutters
+in the _banados_ who will agree to work in remote or new districts,
+he has to be liberal and offer higher wages. Hence the conditions
+of work and the rate of wage are not the same in every part of the
+forest. The oldest area of working, which is crossed by the Central
+Cordoba, between the provinces of Catamarca and Santiago del Estero,
+has a surplus of good workers. On the other hand, the _obrajeros_ of
+the valley from San Francisco to Jujuy, where the exploitation is more
+recent, have only a moderate amount of labour at their command. The
+returns are not higher there than in the south, though the forests
+are incomparably denser and richer. It has been very expensive to
+bring about a continuous stream of immigration toward the main region
+of forest work, which is now called the Chaco, along the railway that
+starts from Anatuya and goes about 130 miles further north. As the
+worker is on piece-work, the price per sleeper when the work was begun
+on the Chaco had to be double, on the Anatuya line, what was paid in
+the older line from Santiago to Frias, close to the _banados_.
+
+The work is profitable only within a short distance from the railways.
+Waggon transport raises the price rapidly. Moreover, the forestry
+industry is just as dependent on the railways for provisions as it is
+for the carriage of its wood. The _obraje_ has no source of food-supply
+on the spot. The marshy estates which begin to spread in the area of
+irrigation-canals at Banda, eastward of Santiago del Estero, supply
+only their customers at Anatuya and the Chaco line. Sometimes the
+railway has to bring water as well as food. Over a great part of the
+Chaco de Santiago there is no running water, and the underground sheets
+are little known, or inaccessible, or salty. The _obraje_ is a land of
+thirst. In order to meet the demand for water they dig reservoirs like
+the _represas_ on the ranches, which are filled by the rains. But as
+soon as the dry season sets in they become stagnant green pools, and
+the men have to rely on waggon-cisterns.
+
+While the Chaco de Santiago is now a democracy of small _obrajeros_ and
+contractors, the eastern Chaco, along the Parana, has quite a different
+type of society. It is entirely in the hands of the big tannic-acid
+factories, where the _quebracho_ trunks are stripped and boiled, and
+their sap is concentrated in a viscous resin. The lofty chimneys of
+these works rise above the forest at intervals. Here the work assumes
+a capitalistic and industrial character which it has not in other
+places. It is controlled by powerful concerns, highly organized, which
+conduct it on a pre-arranged plan. It is true that the works do not
+deal with the entire output of _quebracho_,[48] but they almost control
+the market, even as regards the unworked wood which is exported, and
+they reserve a good deal of it for their branches in Europe. In order
+to secure the heavy loans which the works represent, the companies
+that have built them have been obliged to take over large forests,
+and they have come to own these. The concentration of the area in
+their hands goes on daily, and the number of companies is reduced by
+amalgamation or by the purchase of rival concerns and their estates. On
+the territory of the Chaco, where the administration of public lands
+was in the hands of the Federal Government, some precautions were taken
+to prevent the monopoly of the country; but the forests of the province
+of Santa Fe belong entirely to two firms.
+
+     [48] It is more and more necessary to deal with the extract of
+     the _quebracho_ on the spot the further north one goes toward
+     the interior of the continent because the freights to the
+     exporting ports rise higher and higher.
+
+The eastern Chaco has received from Europe, not only the capital that
+was needed for the construction of works, but also a number of workers,
+either for administration or for technical direction. These have proved
+more exacting than the creoles of the Santiago saw-mills. Beside most
+of the works there are now comfortable villas and brick towns for the
+workers. The expense was quite prudently incurred, as the industry is
+less erratic in this region. A tannic-acid factory cannot be removed
+like a saw-mill. When the timber-supply is exhausted in the district,
+the works gets its material from a distance, as long as the freightage
+permits. It depends on the railway, not only for the carriage of its
+products, as the saw-mills do, but for the supply of raw material.
+
+The works are not all equally wealthy. They are scattered over about
+ten degrees of latitude, north of 30 deg. S. lat., within reach of the
+river, which keeps them in communication with the world, and at the
+same time has enabled them to tackle the full breadth of the forest.
+The _quebracho_ is particularly abundant north of Santa Fe and south
+of the Argentine part of the Chaco, where it is the life and soul of
+the forest. The works which have been set up there, in the midst of the
+denser forests, have plenty of capital, and this enables them to nurse
+their supplies and buy timber at a distance. The forest is still almost
+virginal at their gates, so that they have a long future in front of
+them. On the other hand, the oldest works, on the southern fringe of
+the forest, and that of Corrientes, on the left bank of the Parana, are
+already paralysed for want of timber.
+
+The works are all at a short distance from the river; not only for
+convenience of exporting their products, but because this is the only
+part of the Chaco where one can find fresh water. And the tannic-acid
+factory needs a great deal of fresh water. Along the river, in a belt
+about thirty to sixty miles wide, we find a permanent hydrographic
+network such as is found nowhere else on the plain. It consists of long
+series of marshes covered with rushes (_canadas_), and in places they
+become at their mouths regular streams with well defined beds. The
+underground water also is generally fresh and plentiful, whether it is
+due to the abundant rain or to infiltration from the Parana, and many
+of the works have successfully bored for it. In these parts one suffers
+from too much water as frequently as from thirst. On these immense and
+almost horizontal surfaces the water spreads from the _canadas_ over
+the whole forest. The railway, and even the houses, then stand out of
+a sheet of stagnant water, which takes months to disappear. Trunks
+which are badly placed, lying in the stations to be removed--sometimes,
+according to the market, lying there for years--are half buried in the
+mud. The waggons find it hard to move in the roads. Mules, which pay
+very well in the dry forests of the west, could not make the effort
+that is required here, and they use oxen--the finest beasts for a muddy
+country. The long-horned, lean creole cattle drag the waggons with
+difficulty, and a _correntino_, with long slender legs, shod with mud,
+guides and urges them, looking like a crane with his slow and cautious
+steps. The work of these drivers is much harder than that of the
+wood-cutters. They earn nearly twice as much, and it is the difficulty
+of getting enough men for this work that keeps down production.
+
+The importance and stability of the large works has fixed the labour
+market on the right bank of the Parana, and there is no need to go to
+Corrientes to look for men. They come of their own accord. A daily
+service of small steamers brings them to all the ports which dispatch
+_quebracho_. The left bank, on Argentine territory, has also no hiring
+centre, such as there still are at Asuncion and Concepcion in Paraguay.
+
+Even on its own land the works leaves the working of the forest to
+contractors, from whom it buys the timber. But the _obrajeros_, whether
+they work in the company's forests or their own, are very dependent
+upon the works. The contracts vary according as they are owners or
+otherwise; according to whether they undertake to deliver the timber at
+the stations or leave it where it is felled; and according to whether
+they have the requisite oxen and waggons or have to loan these from the
+company. They draw advances from the company, and, on the other hand,
+they pledge themselves to purchase what they require for their workers
+at the company's stores. The profit of these sales increases the
+revenue of the works. The company monopolizes all trade, both import
+and export. It exercises an absolute sovereignty over the forest.
+It has merely deigned to grant the railway company space enough to
+construct its lines and its stations.
+
+The last forestry centre in modern Argentina is in the province
+of Misiones on the upper Parana. Posadas is its chief station, and
+protects its southern outlet. Its influence extends beyond the
+Argentine frontier, over a small part of Brazil and Paraguay. In
+Misiones there are two types of forest, which differ a good deal from
+each other, while neither resembles the _quebracho_ forest. One is the
+forest of araucarias (_pinos_) which covers the elevated tablelands
+at a height above 2,000 feet. The other is the tropical forest, rich
+in essences and of perennial vegetation, which fills the bottoms and
+slopes of the valleys. The pine, which is also much worked on the
+Brazilian tableland, yields an excellent white wood, suitable instead
+of the northern pine. It would find a ready market at Buenos Aires,
+but it has never been worked on Argentine territory because of the
+great distance of the woods from a navigable river. On account of its
+position on the tableland the araucaria has to wait for the railways
+of some future date.[49] As to the leafy tropical forest it includes
+a number of useful varieties (_timbo_, _lapacho_, _etc._), but the
+most esteemed of all is the cedar. Its wood is rose-coloured, scented,
+and fine-grained, and very suitable for furniture. At the time of
+D'Orbigny's travels the inhabitants of Corrientes were looking out for
+cedars from the mountains brought down the river when in flood. The
+_obrajes_ of cedar-wood now extend twenty miles or so on the Argentine
+bank, and forty miles in the Paraguay bank, which is more even and
+better for transport. The trunks are floated in rafts down to Posadas;
+as the cedar, which is less dense than the _quebracho_, not only
+floats, but is improved by parting with sap in the water. At Posadas
+the rafts are taken to pieces, and the trunks are delivered to the
+saw-mills.
+
+     [49] In Brazil the saw-mills for the araucarian pines are
+     established along the Sao Paolo-Rio Grande Railway.
+
+But timber is not the chief forest industry in Misiones, as it is on
+the Chaco. Beside the _obraje_ in the forest there is the _yerbal_,
+a works for dealing with the _mate_ (_Ilex paraguayensis_). It
+is well known that an infusion of _mate_ (a kind of tea) is an
+important element in the food of the western States of South America.
+Gathering the leaves of the _mate_ has been a profitable occupation
+for centuries: a unique instance, perhaps, in the forest industries
+of South America. It has never been interrupted, though it has often
+changed its locality.
+
+The plantations made by the Jesuits were abandoned when the
+missionaries were dispersed. After the close of the eighteenth century
+Paraguay became the chief area of production. Villa Rica seems to have
+been the most prolific centre of the _yerba_. After that date, however,
+the Jujuy basin, further north, was exploited, and the _yerbateros_,
+who came from Curuguati, advanced eastward as far as the Falls of
+the Guayra on the Parana. In the nineteenth century the trade in
+Paraguay _mate_ seems to have suffered less than the tobacco trade
+from the policy of isolation adopted by the Dictators of Paraguay. The
+descriptions given by Mariano Molas, Demersay, and others, show that
+the business continued fairly actively. It even extended northward,
+and reached as far as the Rio Apa. Villa Concepcion became a rival
+_yerba_ market to Villa Rica. The monopoly exercised by the Paraguay
+Government, however, and the restrictions put upon the navigation
+of the river, led to the development of the _yerba_ industry in the
+eastern Misiones on the left bank of the Uruguay. Itaquy served as
+port of embarkation. In the last third of the nineteenth century the
+yards moved from the left to the right bank of the Uruguay. Since
+1870 the Parana has supplanted the Uruguay, and the _yerba_ trade has
+concentrated at Candelaria. This meant the resurrection of Misiones.
+In 1880 San Javier, on the Uruguay, worked up 800 tons of _yerba_,
+and Candelaria more than 1,000 tons. The _yerbales_ round San Javier
+began to run out, and the _yerbateros_ had to go further and further
+up the Uruguay, toward the _yerbales_ of the tableland of Fracan and
+San Pedro. Candelaria was mainly fed by the _yerbales_ of the right
+bank of the Parana, on Paraguayan territory. Posadas has now succeeded
+Candelaria, and the _yerbales_ that depend upon it are scattered over
+both banks up the Parana.
+
+The _yerbales_ of Misiones lie outside the tropical forest proper.
+They are on the lower fringe of the pine-forest, and begin at some
+distance from the river, with which they are connected by muddy and
+difficult mule-tracks. _Mate_ can bear a cost of transport that would
+be fatal to timber. At the point where these tracks reach the river,
+the river-steamers stop at the foot of a shed that is almost hidden in
+the foliage. These are the "ladders" of the _yerbales_.
+
+Work in the _yerbales_ lasts six months out of the twelve. The pruners
+who collect the bunches of leaves and bring them to the furnaces, where
+they are dried, include Brazilians, Paraguayans and Argentinians. The
+Brazilians go to the _yerbal_ to offer their services. The Paraguayans
+and Argentinians, nearly all from the province of Corrientes, are
+recruited at Posadas and the sister-town of Encarnacion, which is
+opposite to it on the Paraguay bank.
+
+The hiring at Posadas is done according to a traditional custom that
+does not seem to have changed for more than a century. The description
+given by D'Azara is not yet out of date. "The people of Villa Rica,"
+he says, "depend mainly on being hired for the _yerbales_. The _yerba_
+industry is sometimes profitable to the masters, but never to the
+natives, who work cruelly without any profit. Not only are they paid
+in goods for the _yerba_ they gather, but the goods are put at so high
+a price that it is terrible. They have even to pay for the hire of a
+bill for cutting the _mate_.... The natives contract as much debt as
+they can before they start for the _yerbales_, and as soon as they have
+done a little work, they say good-bye to the _yerbatero_, who loses
+his money. And the _yerbatero_ in turn is exploited by the merchants
+who control him." Before he starts for the _yerbal_, says Robertson,
+the contractor (_habilitado_) gets an advance of four or five thousand
+piastres. With this he hires about fifty workers, supplies their needs,
+and gives them two or three months' pay in advance. The three essential
+and inseparable elements of the _mate_ business are the _yerbal_ in the
+forest, a shop at Posadas for hiring and paying wages in advance, and a
+_yerba_ mill at Rosario or Buenos Aires.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The forestry industry in its various forms is not a definite occupation
+of the soil by man. After having stripped the forest, it leaves,
+and the land is open for colonization. Nearly everywhere there is a
+complete separation between forestry and permanent colonization. They
+do not employ the same workers; the wood-cutter (_hachador_) and the
+charcoal-burner are not the men who clear the soil. The clearing away
+of the stumps, which must precede agricultural work, is not their
+business, but the work of diggers. At Tucuman, where most of the
+workers in the cane-fields are Santiaguenos, Italians and Spaniards are
+used for clearing the soil. The gangs of Mendocinos who go to cut crops
+in the bush round Villa Mercedes will not sign on for clearing the
+ground in order to plant lucerne.
+
+  [Illustration: LORETO. THE RIO PINTO IN THE DRY SEASON.
+  _One of the arms through which the flood of the Dulce flows._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: LA BANDA (SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO).
+  _Irrigated lucerne fields on the left bank of the Rio Dulce. Zone
+  of modern colonization: a contrast with the older farms of the
+  flood-zone._                               Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE X.                                             To face p. 112.]
+
+The history of forestry and colonization is one of the most diversified
+chapters in the general economic history of modern Argentina. Round the
+region of the Pampas, the first point where agricultural colonization
+came into touch with the forest belt is the district of the older
+colonies of Santa Fe. There it found the forestry industry already
+long established, on the banks both of the Salado and of the Parana.
+The export of timber and charcoal to Buenos Aires and the lime-kilns
+of Entre Rios was at this time one of the few elements of economic
+life which Santa Fe had preserved. The colonists did not enter the
+forest, and did not mingle with the charcoal-burners, but they
+profited indirectly from their presence by selling them maize. Later,
+agricultural work spread over the Central Pampa and the province of
+Cordoba, as far as the edge of the scrub in all parts of the prairie.
+Wood-cutting is carried on there, on a small scale, everywhere, at Toay
+as well as at Villa Mercedes and Villa Maria. The price of the wood he
+sells is a small supplementary income to the farmer, and clearing the
+soil helps to fill up his time during the dead season for agriculture.
+The lands covered with brushwood remained for a long time at a lower
+price than cleared land. They thus formed a sort of reserve which
+partly escaped the speculations in land, and on which small owners
+can find a footing more easily than on the Pampa. There is to-day a
+movement of Santa Fecinos eastward and southward in the belt of scrub
+to the south of Mar Chiquita along the line from Lehmann to Dean Funes.
+
+The forest area of the Chaco, in northern Argentina, between the Andes
+and the Parana, seems on the other hand to be intended for pastoral
+colonization. In point of fact, the forest of the Chaco, as well as the
+lighter scrub which is its southern extension, can be used for breeding
+without preliminary labour. The Indians have fed cattle and horses on
+it since the seventeenth century. The herds find food on every side,
+both in the very numerous clearings (_abras_) which cross the forest
+and in the forest itself, where the underwood and the herbaceous
+carpet grow fairly thick beneath the scanty foliage of the mimosas and
+quebrachos.
+
+Over a good deal of the western Chaco pastoral colonization is earlier
+than the forestry. In the district of Santiago del Estero the farmers
+had advanced far beyond the wood-cutter and the railway; beyond the
+Salado, almost as far as the existing line from Anatuya to Tintina,
+where there are sheets and wells of fresh water. The old ranches go
+as far as Alhuampa. The old pastoral population has taken very little
+part in the forestry industry. It has been content to profit by it by
+renting the scrub to the _obrajes_. It was a sheer gift to them, as
+the felling of a few trees does not in the least lower the value of the
+pasture. The forestry has not entailed any change in the ownership of
+the land or in the breeding methods. The _obrajes_ are merely passing
+guests whose traces are quickly obliterated.
+
+In the eastern Chaco, however, the wood-cutters are real pioneers. It
+is they who have made the conquest of the forest, often in direct touch
+with the Indians, and the ownership of the land fell to them. They
+have themselves played an essential part in the actual development of
+breeding.
+
+Leaving the river and travelling toward the forest on the west, one
+first crosses a narrow belt of estates which form an almost unbroken
+line from San Javier to Resistencia. These are old colonies, mostly
+founded about 1870, at the same time as the first colonies in the
+centre of Santa Fe. They had the advantage of being within reach of the
+river-route, the network of railways that serves the colonies of Santa
+Fe not being constructed until after 1880. They have not shown the same
+capacity for extension as the colonies on the prairie, but they are
+firmly rooted, on high and well-drained land, very different from the
+clays of the Chaco, where the alluvial beds of the Parana alternate
+with stuff that seems to come from the left bank. They grow flax,
+earth-nuts, sugar cane, and cotton. Behind this slight agricultural
+facade are the large estates of the factories. In the division of the
+land the industrial firms sought the districts which were richest
+in _quebracho_. Buyers of land who had no industrial plans--foreign
+capitalists and Portenos--and who obtained large concessions in
+little-known regions, sold back to the factories the plots where there
+was plenty of wood, after they had taken stock of their property. They
+converted the remainder into _estancias_ (ranches). The district to
+the north of the Central Norte Railway, from San Cristobal to Tostado,
+where the forest, which will presently yield to the plain, breaks
+into patches and looks like a park, includes a number of these modern
+_estancias_, in which lucerne is beginning to replace the grasses of
+the natural vegetation.
+
+  [Illustration: QUEBRACHO TRUNKS LYING AT THE STATIONS.
+  _Eastern Chaco, on the Resistencia line (Santa Fe province). Here the
+  quebracho is exploited for tannic acid, not sleepers_.
+                                             Photographs by the Author.
+  PLATE XI.                                            To face p. 116.]
+
+When one passes to the interior, the pastoral industry at once assumes
+a more primitive character. The _quebracho_ concerns themselves go in
+for breeding, in order to make use of their large estates, when the
+timber has been removed but the works have not yet been set up. They
+need a large number of cattle, both for moving the timber and feeding
+their workers, and they endeavour to meet their needs themselves. In
+this district the forest is capable of feeding a far heavier herd than
+is the more arid scrub of the eastern Chaco. There are often a thousand
+head of cattle to 2,500 hectares. To the north and west of that part
+of the forest where the big companies have taken over the whole of the
+land, in the province of Chaco, a fairly large number of estates has
+been created. Further still, on either side of the Bermejo, cattle
+from Corrientes and the Paraguay have been put on the public lands
+by men with no rights. As their future is uncertain, they cannot do
+any expensive work, such as making wells, reservoirs, and enclosures.
+Sometimes they are compelled by drought to fall back upon the river.
+
+Conditions are quite different in the forests of Misiones. The damp
+forest of Misiones does not lend itself to breeding. While the
+forest-workers on the west of the Parana eat fresh meat, thanks to the
+proximity of the breeders, in the _yerbales_ and _obrajes_ of Misiones,
+the use of dried or "jerked" meat (_carne seca_), which is brought
+some distance, has remained the common practice, as it is in most
+parts of tropical America. On the other hand, there is now developing
+in Misiones an agricultural colonization of an original kind, quite
+distinct from the ordinary Argentinian type. This is because Misiones
+is a province apart in Argentina. It really belongs, by its geological
+structure and its climate, to the Brazilian tableland. The colonies
+in Misiones are merely an extension into Argentine territory of the
+great belt of colonies of southern Brazil, which stretches from the
+neighbourhood of Santa Catalina and the Rio Grande do Sul to the River
+Paraguay. The Brazilian type of colonization is based upon work with
+the hoe, in clearings that have been made in the forest by the axe and
+by fire. Ordinary farming would be impracticable between the large
+stumps which the clearers have to leave in the ground, to rot there
+slowly. It would, moreover, be useless, as the land, though rich in
+humus, is light and aerated. The red soil, a decomposition-product
+of the diabases which are at the root of all agricultural wealth
+in southern Brazil, covers a great part of Misiones. The economic
+inferiority of this agricultural colonization in the forest to the
+Pampean type which has conquered the grassy plains of the Rio de la
+Plata, is twofold. On the one hand, the surface that a man can develop
+is very small. The plots of the Brazilian colonies are ten times
+smaller than the average estate on the Pampa. On the other hand, it is
+difficult to get about in the forest, and this hinders the export of
+the produce.
+
+The colonies in Misiones are still confined to the edge of the
+great forest, into which they will advance as the agricultural
+population grows. They form two groups: one on the river above Posadas
+(Candelaria, Bonpland, Corpus, San Ignacio, and Santa Ana), the other
+on the slopes of the hills, above the line from Posadas to Uruguay (San
+Jose and Apostoles). Foodstuffs, tobacco, fowl and eggs, which they
+now send by rail as far as Buenos Aires, are their chief resources.
+As it is possible for them to reach the big markets of the Pampas,
+by river or rail, they have a certain advantage over the Brazilian
+colonies. On the other hand, the various elements of their population
+are inferior. They are very mixed, comprising aboriginals--relics of
+the ancient Indian or half-breed population of Misiones who have got
+land but are in no hurry to cultivate it--Poles (grouped in a few
+villages, such as Apostoles and San Jose), and German-Brazilians from
+the left bank of the Uruguay. At the present time there is a constant
+stream of German-Brazilians through the province of Misiones, to embark
+at Posadas, sail up the Parana, and settle, further north, in Matto
+Grosso. No doubt it would be possible to induce part of them to settle
+on Argentinian territory by offering them suitable land.
+
+These peasant clearers of the land rarely find means to sell their
+timber. The tropical forest has an immense variety of species, but only
+a few of these are of value. The _obrajero_ does not cut down the whole
+forest; he chooses his victims. In the waste land of the colonist it is
+by no means possible to utilize everything. Even in the area where the
+forestry industry flourishes, trunks with no faults, felled in order to
+make room for farming, are pitilessly burned and destroyed.
+
+Yet the indirect advantages of the forestry to agriculture are
+numerous. Just as in the whole of southern Brazil, it affords a good
+market for agricultural produce. The crops from the colonies are stored
+in the shops at Posadas, and from there they go to the _obrajes_ and
+_yerbales_. In addition, the industry finds work for more men. On
+the Rio Grande do Sul, and later on the Parana, the wages paid for
+collecting _mate_ have long been the surest resource of the colonies,
+and it is this that enabled them to subsist during the difficulties
+of their early period. In Misiones the attraction of the _yerbales_
+is not so strongly felt by the inhabitants. There are comparatively
+few colonists who are willing to leave their plots and hire themselves
+for distant work. The _yerbales_ find their recruits, not amongst
+the immigrants from Europe, but amongst the ancient _pobladores_;
+that is to say, men who hold land without a title, whose position was
+recognized when the colony was formed--a floating population, not
+deeply rooted in the soil.
+
+Agricultural colonization in turn will react upon the forestry industry
+in developing the cultivation of _mate_. Large plantations of _ilex_
+have already been established above Posadas. Already they enter
+the common life. They are scattered either over the estates of the
+national colonies or over the larger estates of the richer colonists;
+for planting demands a considerable expenditure. Some of them belong
+to dealers who also work natural _yerbales_ elsewhere. They are, if
+possible, set up in the forest, or at least on the fringe of it,
+in order to have a good supply of wood to dry the leaves. Thus the
+primitive industry of collecting _mate_ is undergoing transformation
+while the natural growths are disappearing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+PATAGONIA AND SHEEP-REARING
+
+     The arid tableland and the region of glacial lakes--The
+     first settlements on the Patagonian coast and the indigenous
+     population--Extensive breeding--The use of pasture on the
+     lands of the Rio Negro--Transhumation.
+
+
+The northern limit of the Patagonian region passes to the north of the
+Colorado, in the latitude of the Cerro Payen and of the ridge which
+leads from Malarue to the Rio Grande in the sub-Andean zone (36 deg. S.
+lat)., and to the Sierra de Lihuel Calel in the southern part of the
+Pampa province. South of this line, from the Andes to the Atlantic,
+on the territory of the Neuquen, the Rio Negro, the Chubut, and the
+Santa Cruz, is the region of the sheep farms, their refuge since more
+profitable branches of farming have driven the sheep from the Pampa.
+The extensive breeding practised on these poor lands is not profitable
+enough to justify much expenditure, and is therefore all the more
+controlled by the physical conditions. It is true that cattle-breeding
+was once undertaken in the Spanish settlements of the lower Negro, and
+still exists in western Patagonia at the foot of the Andes, but one
+never finds there the particular combination of cattle-breeding and
+sheep-breeding which is characteristic of the Pampean region, in which
+the main function of the cattle is to improve the pasture and make it
+ready for sheep.
+
+The climate is trying. The west winds are violent during the greater
+part of the year, especially on the coast, and merely relax a little
+in the winter. The mean temperature on the Atlantic coast falls nearly
+one degree for each degree of latitude (14.6 deg. at San Antonio, below
+41 deg. S. lat.; 8.5 deg. at Santa Cruz, below 50 deg. S. lat.; and 5.3
+deg. at Ushuaia, below 55 deg. S. lat.). The summer temperature falls
+even more steeply, but the difference is less notable in winter (21.4
+deg. at San Antonio, 14 deg. at Santa Cruz, and 9.2 deg. at Ushuaia).
+The low summer temperature does not allow cereals to ripen south of the
+Chubut. In the sub-Andean valleys the summer is comparatively warm (16
+deg. in January at Diez y seis de Octubre at a height of 1,800 feet),
+but there is severe frost, especially at the beginning of the winter,
+and no month of the year is quite free from it.
+
+Rain is plentiful in the Cordillera, and on its western border: 800
+millimetres at Junin, nearly two metres at San Martin (which the wet
+westerly winds reach by the gap of Lake Lacar), and nearly a metre at
+Bariloche, on Lake Nahuel Huapi. It diminishes rapidly, however, as
+soon as one leaves the mountainous region and goes further east over
+the tableland. The whole tableland has a rainfall of less than 200
+millimetres (Las Lajas 180, Limay 150, San Antonio 180, Santa Cruz
+135). It is only south of the Rio de Santa Cruz that the rainfall rises
+once more (Gallegos 400 millimetres, Ushuaia 500 millimetres). Hence
+Patagonia as a whole is, with the exception of a narrow belt at the
+foot of the Andes, a semi-arid region with a sub-desert climate. In the
+Patagonian Andes the rain falls, as on the coast of Chile, mainly in
+winter. Between Mendoza, which has the summer-rain feature of central
+and tropical Argentina, and Chosmalal, in the Neuquen Andes, the
+contrast is absolute. The summer months there (January and February)
+are dry, and the rain is confined to the winter months, from May to
+August. It is the same further south, at Bariloche and at Diez y seis
+de Octubre. On the Atlantic coast the winter-rain feature is less
+regular and uniform. At San Antonio the heaviest rains fall in autumn
+(April and May). There is a secondary maximum in August, and a few more
+showers in the spring (September and October). South of San Antonio the
+winter maximum, which is always marked, is cut by a short dry period
+(July and August at Camerones, June at Deseado and Santa Cruz).[50]
+In the interior, on the other hand, the winter-rain system remains
+unchanged. The predominance of the precipitations of the cold season is
+of great importance to the breeders. As a rule, they come down in the
+form of snow, which melts slowly, and the small quantity of moisture is
+at least all absorbed in the soil. South of the Santa Cruz the humidity
+increases, but the rainy season alters. At Gallegos the wettest month
+is December; at Ushuaia, the rains last from September to March. The
+snow-season (May-August) is the dry season, and the snowfalls are not
+heavy enough to interfere with breeding.
+
+     [50] This anomaly is doubtless due to the proximity of the sea
+     and the respite of the westerly winds in winter. The coast,
+     with its cold waters and the land-winds causing the deeper
+     water to rise, has a special climate of fogs and mists. These,
+     which remind us of the _garuas_ of the coast of Peru, do not
+     penetrate into the interior.
+
+The surface of the Patagonian tableland is very uneven, though it bears
+traces of having been much worn by the agencies of its desert climate,
+which seems to have lasted through the whole Tertiary Era. Going up
+the Rio Negro, one sees the grey sandstones and Tertiary tufas which
+form the cliffs, on both sides of the lower valley. They give place
+higher up to the variegated marls and red sandstones of the Cretaceous
+which form the tableland at the foot of the first Andean chains. The
+core of ancient granites and porphyries crops up at places from under
+the mantle of Cretaceous and Tertiary sandstones. The horizon of the
+peneplain passes from the Tertiary and Cretaceous tableland to level
+masses of crystalline rock, the contour of which has been almost
+entirely effaced. Volcanic eruptions have occurred until quite recent
+times, and so eruptive areas are the salient features of the tableland,
+at Anecon and at Somuncurra, south of the district of the Rio Negro,
+in the ridge on the left bank of the middle Senguerr, in the Chubut
+province. The basalts have spread out in sheets, the surface of which
+seems to have cooled not long ago. Basalt flows are found as far as
+northern Patagonia, south of Valcheta and Maquinchao; but their chief
+seat is in eastern Patagonia. They cover the inhospitable tablelands to
+the east of Lakes Buenos Aires and Pueyrredon. The Rio Chico and the
+Santa Cruz cross them for the upper two-thirds of their course, South
+of Coile and Gallegos they spread almost to the coast, and the Tertiary
+Pampas in this part are dominated by an archipelago of small volcanic
+cones.
+
+The tableland is crossed from west to east by deep and broad valleys,
+enclosed between high cliffs, often strangled by ridges of basaltic or
+crystalline rock, and very little ramified. The ravines (_canadones_),
+which make breaches in their cliffs on both sides, go only a little way
+into the sandstone Pampa or the lava tableland. Only a certain number
+of these valleys are occupied by important rivers (the Rio Negro and
+the Santa Cruz, for instance) which are born in the Andes, but receive
+little addition from the light rains of eastern Patagonia. Most of
+the valleys have only intermittent streams (Sheuen, Coile) or are
+altogether dry and sown with salt lakes (Deseado). The west wind is now
+the ruler of this network of fossil valleys. It carves their slopes,
+and brings into them sand, with which it makes dunes.
+
+We must not confuse with these dead valleys the long depressions, with
+no outlet, which are scattered over the granite and sandstone tableland
+(_bajos_, _valles_, _cuencas_). Some have obstinately, but wrongly,
+sought in these the traces of rivers that have disappeared; and the
+_bajos_ of Gualicho and Valcheta have wrongly been regarded as the
+former bed of the Rio Negro and the Limay. Erosion by wind seems to
+have had something to do with these depressions. Their persistence, at
+all events, is one of the effects of the aridity which prevents normal
+erosion from moulding the surface of the tableland. The chief of them
+are centres for collecting running water. There is a group of valleys
+all round them, and alluvial beds accumulate in them.
+
+The climate determines the character of the soil in Patagonia. The
+rounded pebbles of granite and eruptive rock, so often described since
+the time of Darwin, sometimes free and sometimes embedded in red sand
+or limestone,[51] are spread over the tableland like aureoles round
+the masses of rock, and they are particularly abundant in the coast
+region. On the Rio Negro they seem to be confined to the vicinity of
+the valley; they disappear as one goes away from it. The progressive
+reduction in the volume of the Rio Negro gravels, as one goes downward,
+has been observed to begin in the Andean zone, and it is from the
+Andes that they come. South of Santa Cruz, in a moister climate, in
+which the circulation of the water is less localized, the bed is more
+continuous, and it covers the Tertiary sandstones and clays. It is
+of fluvio-glacial origin, and comes from the destruction of the old
+moraines, before the excavation of the actual valleys. But it is the
+wind that explains the concentration of the gravel at the surface.
+It separates the pebbles from the more mobile material about them.
+Wherever the outcrop-strata contain pebbles, the wind eventually
+converts the place into a field of shingle. It has done this with the
+terraces of the Limay. The Tertiary marine deposits of the coast region
+also are rich in pebbles torn from the rocky promontories of the shore;
+hence the extent of stony soils in the coast region. The wind similarly
+strips naked the angular stones, of local origin and incompletely worn,
+round the isolated rocks of the desert tableland or on the flanks of
+the secondary ravines.
+
+     [51] The calcareous flag-stone of La Tosca, which is
+     characteristic of the south-west province of the plain of
+     the Pampa, stretches in the south as far as the Rio Negro in
+     the coast-district. On the other hand, it is almost entirely
+     absent a hundred miles to the west, between the Colorado and
+     the Rio Negro, along the line of the railway from Fortin Uno
+     to Choele Choel.
+
+On the other hand, the bedding action of the wind creates deposits
+consisting of small and uniform elements from the sands of the dunes to
+the finest dust. The lightest particles, caught up repeatedly by the
+squalls and carried to a great height in the atmosphere, go beyond the
+Patagonian region and reach the bottom of the Atlantic or the plain of
+the Pampa. Some of this, however, is deposited in the depressions of
+the tableland, where the moisture fixes it and prevents the wind from
+regaining it. These aeolian deposits in the depressions, a dark-grey
+clay, which hardens when it is dry, but is softened by water, form two
+entirely different kinds of soil. If the depression is closed in, or if
+the circulation of the water is too slight, there is a concentration of
+the mineral salts; this is the _salitral_, either naked or sustaining
+a halophytic vegetation, which the saline efflorescences cover with a
+white coat during the dry season. If on the other hand, the underground
+waters have a free course, the aeolian clay forms the _mallin_. Bushes
+and fine grasses grow on it, and, as they decay, gradually give it a
+darker shade and modify its composition. The soil above the _mallin_
+is rich in organic elements. It covers the bottom of the valleys
+between low terraces, covered with faceted pebbles, and dominated by
+the vertical cliffs of tufa and lava. The contrast between the verdure
+of the _mallin_ and the arid, dusty, yellow steppe of the tableland
+is one of the most characteristic features of Patagonian scenery. The
+area in which _mallin_ has been formed coincides with the most humid
+districts in the vicinity of the Andes and round the higher hills. On
+the road that runs along the right bank of the Limay, at some distance
+from the river, on the surface of the tableland, the limit between the
+country of the _salitrales_ and that of the _mallinas_ passes between
+Tricaco and Chasico, a hundred miles south-east of Neuquen; it almost
+tallies with the curve of a 200 millimetres rainfall.[52] Though the
+word _mallin_ is not used at Santa Cruz, similar aeolian soils are found
+in the western part of the tableland up to this latitude. Further south
+glacial deposits, clays with moraine-blocks, fill the valleys, and from
+Gallegos onward, cover the greater part of the tableland.
+
+     [52] G. Rovereto, "Studi di geomorfologia argentina: la valle
+     del Rio Negro," _Bull. Soc. Geol. Ital._, xxxi. 1912, pp.
+     101-142 and 181-237.
+
+On the eruptive flows of recent date the rock is naked. The wind
+carries away the products of its decomposition, and the dust
+accumulates only in the fissures. Traffic is difficult, sometimes
+impossible.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Toward the west the tableland is separated from the Cordillera by
+a longitudinal depression, though the continuity of this has been
+exaggerated. This depression, which outlines the contact between
+the folded zone of the Andes and the flat zone of the tableland, is
+very important from the point of view of colonization. Just at the
+frontier of the steppe and the forest, it is the most hospitable part
+of Patagonia, the richest in natural resources. Amidst the glacial
+lacustrine deposits which are accumulated on it there rise masses of
+different kinds of rock which break it up into compartments, granitic
+ridges of laccolites exposed to view, eruptive structures that have
+been dismantled. In the south the sub-Andean depression forms a broad
+passage between Lake Maravilla and Punta Arenas, about two hundred
+miles long, enclosed between the basalt cliffs of the tableland on the
+east and the mountains of the Brunswick Peninsula and William IV Land.
+The bottom of it is a singular glacial landscape, sown with lagoons,
+punctuated by scattered hills, with an impermeable soil of drift and
+mud. From Lake Argentina to Lake Buenos Aires the elevated tablelands,
+which rise to a height of 5,000 feet, back upon the Cordillera, and the
+sub-Andean depression is interrupted. Similarly, between Lake Buenos
+Aires and Lake General Paz the contour of the Patagonian tableland is
+not very marked above the sub-Andean zone. The glacial alluvia at the
+foot of the Cordillera rise to the level of the tableland, which sinks
+steadily eastward toward the Genua and the Senguerr. To the north,
+between Carrenleufu and Lake Nahuel Huapi, the retreat of the lakes has
+left long narrow beds right in the Cordillera, such as the Valle Nuevo
+del Bolson, the bed of which has been taken over by the Futaleufu west
+of the Cerro Situacion. Further east the topographical features of the
+edge of the tableland (the valleys of the Chubut, Tecka, and Norquineo)
+lie from north to south. Hence within a space of little more than a
+hundred kilometres the sub-Andean zone has a series of parallel roads,
+communicating with each other by means of broad, transverse gaps, which
+at one time were occupied by the lower lobes of the glaciers. The
+sub-Andean depression does not go north of Lake Nahuel Huapi.
+
+
+The morphological features of the Patagonian Andes begin at 36 deg. S.
+lat.[53] The edge of the Cordillera, in the Malargue depression, below
+35 deg. S. lat., still presents the typical scenery of the central
+Andes. The dejection-cone of the Atuel resembles that of the Mendoza.
+The fringe of torrential deposits, distributed in cones over which the
+waters spread, is due to the rapidity of the disintegration of the
+rocks in a desert climate. Keidel has pointed out the part played by
+the summer rains in transporting mobile elements, which the water
+drops as soon as the slope diminishes; the amount of precipitation
+being too slight to permit the formation and spread over the plain of
+a regular network of streams. From the Rio Grande onward the dejection
+cones disappear. The streams tend to become permanent, and sink into
+narrow valleys. The summer rains cease, and the water produced by the
+melting of the snows has only a feeble capacity for transporting stuff.
+The soil of the Cordillera is protected by a denser vegetation. The
+first thickets of _molle_ appear in the valleys, the first scattered
+cypresses on the slopes, at the Rio Agrio, a tributary of the Neuquen.
+Then the forest invades the mountain: at first, from 38 deg. S. lat. to
+39 deg. 30' S. lat., a resinous forest of araucarias. At length, at Lake
+Nahuel Huapi, the forest assumes the general appearance which it has as
+far as the Magellan region. It is chiefly made up of different kinds
+of beeches. The _coihue_ (_Notofagus dombeyi_) is the most conspicuous
+for about three quarters of a mile, rising above an impenetrable
+undergrowth of bamboo. Higher up the domain of the _lenga_ (_Notofagus
+pumilio_) extends as far as the fringe of the Alpine forests.
+The forest does not reach the eastern limit of the lakes. In the
+sub-Andean depression it is reduced to thickets of _nirre_ (_Notofagus
+antarctica_) and _mayten_ and clumps of _calafate_ (something like
+myrtles).
+
+     [53] The great mass of the Patagonian Andes differs
+     considerably in geological structure from the Argentinian
+     Andes. The Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and the lofty chains
+     of the pre-Cordillera cease at 36 deg. S. lat. The Mesozoic
+     beds--variegated breccie and porphyritic conglomerates,
+     sandstones, limestones, and marls--which form the western
+     slope of the Andes in central Chile, pass to the eastern slope
+     at 35 deg. S. lat., where they develop in regular folds, in the
+     direction south-south-east, obliquely to the general line of
+     the range. These folds account for the orientation of the
+     interior valleys, which is remarkably uniform from the Rio
+     Negro to the Collon Cura. They pass in the south-west under
+     the sandstones of the tableland. West of this sedimentary
+     zone, the zone of the sub-Andean granites and diorites, which
+     have not been exposed further north except at the base of the
+     western slope, opens out in the Patagonian Andes, of which it
+     is the main body between Lake Lacar and the Gulf of Ultima
+     Esperanza. In fine, the Patagonian Andes are characterised by
+     volcanic formations. They are seen on the eastern slope about
+     36 deg. S. lat., in the lava-flows and ashes of Payen and Tromen.
+     Further south volcanoes with acid lava and characteristic
+     cones are restricted to the central zone (Lanin, etc.) and the
+     Chilean flank, but flows of fluid basic lava cover enormous
+     stretches at the eastern fringe of the Andes, and they have
+     spread over a good deal of the Patagonian tableland outside
+     the Andean region.
+
+It is on the Alumine, about 39 deg. S. lat., that we find traces of
+glacial erosion, as they spread over the landscape. At present there
+is no ice on the mountain except on the peaks of Lanin and Tronador,
+but from the Rio Puelo onward (42 deg. S. lat.), glaciers clothe all
+the summits which rise above 6,500 feet. North of the Aisen they form
+a narrow, but almost continuous, line. From the Aisen to the Calen
+fiord, and beyond the gap of the fiord as far as 52 deg. S. lat., the
+ice spreads in a considerable sheet which in some places attains a
+breadth of eighty miles. The tongues of the glaciers reach the Pacific
+below 46 deg. S. lat., and Lake San Martin on the Argentine slope
+below 49 deg. S. lat. In Tierra del Fuego the snow-line is at 2,300
+feet, and the glaciers which the snows feed, reach as far as the
+fiords and Lake Fagnano.
+
+Lake Carri Lauquen, on the Barrancas (36 deg. 20' S. lat.), which
+was almost entirely drained in 1914 through the breaking down of the
+natural dam of soft earth which confined its waters, is not a glacial
+lake.[54] The chain of glacial lakes stretches from the Alumine to the
+Seno de la Ultima Esperanza, and is continued southward by Skyring
+Water, Otway Water, and Useless Bay--genuine lakes in communication
+with the Pacific by means of narrow channels. The lakes sometimes lie
+in a narrow and deep glacial valley, the bottom of which they fill;
+sometimes they branch out into the neighbouring valleys; at other times
+they advance eastward beyond the zone of the mountains and spread into
+round basins surrounded by circles of moraines. The largest of them
+include groups of ramified fiords, which represent their western half,
+while the eastern half spreads between lower banks.[55]
+
+     [54] Pablo Groeber, _Informe sobra las causas que han
+     producido las crecientes del Rio Colarado en_ 1914. Dir. Gen.
+     de Minas, Geol. e Hidrol., Bol. No. 11, series B, Geologia
+     (Buenos Aires, 1916).
+
+     [55] Most of the lacustrine depressions are continued eastward
+     across the Patagonian tableland in the shape of distinct
+     valleys. The eastern part of the Straits of Magellan is merely
+     a submerged valley on the axis of Otway Water. Useless Bay
+     also is continued eastward by the hollow which ends in the
+     Bay of San Sebastian. Sometimes the waters of the lakes flow
+     eastward, toward the Atlantic, along these valleys. Generally,
+     however, the lakes of the western slope are drained on the
+     west by means of narrow defiles across the Cordillera, or on
+     the north and south by rivers which follow the sub-Andean
+     depression and thread them together in the manner of a rosary.
+     The valley which joins the lake to the Atlantic is in those
+     cases a dead valley, and the inter-oceanic dividing line
+     of the waters is marked by the frontal moraine of the old
+     glacier, which confines the lake on the east. This arrangement
+     is found, with surprising regularity, from the Alumine and
+     the Lacar to the Neuquen, and as far as Lake Buenos Aires and
+     the Seno de la Ultima Esperanza at Santa Cruz. The capture
+     of the waters of the eastern slope by the rivers of the
+     Pacific across the Cordillera is fairly ancient, and certainly
+     pre-glacial. But during the Glacial Period the glaciers
+     obstructed the transverse valleys of the Cordillera, and the
+     waters of the eastern slope found their way to the Atlantic
+     once more. With the retreat of the glaciers the valleys of the
+     Cordillera were successively cleared. The lakes, dammed by the
+     glaciers, were suddenly released and their level lowered. The
+     valleys of the Patagonian tableland were finally abandoned,
+     and the topographical accident of secondary importance, which
+     the ancient frontal moraine of the glacier represents, came to
+     mark the limit of the domain of the Pacific. The freshness of
+     the contours of the dead valleys of Patagonia bears witness
+     to the recent date of this conquest, which was too sudden
+     or rapid to be called a "capture" in the proper sense. It
+     has not been accomplished everywhere. From Lake San Martin
+     to Lake Buenos Aires all the lakes of the eastern slope are
+     drained into the Pacific by rivers which flow into the Culen
+     fiord. But further south, Lakes Viedma and Argentino are still
+     tributaries of the Atlantic. They correspond to the zone of
+     the Patagonian Andes which is still covered by inland ice. To
+     the north, in the basin of the Puelo and the Yelcho, where the
+     trans-Andean valleys long ago ceased to be obstructed by ice,
+     the lakes of the eastern slope which drain toward the Pacific
+     are small in size. Their level to-day is much lower than it
+     used to be, and a network of streams has developed east of
+     them, on the earlier lacustrine region, which is now dry.
+
+  [Illustration: YOKE OF CREOLE OXEN USED FOR THE TRANSPORT OF TIMBER
+  ON THE EASTERN CHACO, OR CHACO OF SANTA FE.
+  _On the Central (or Santiago) Chaco mules are used for transport._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: WORKS AT TARTAGAL (EASTERN CHACO) FOR MAKING TANNIC ACID.
+  _These works, built by powerful firms, are permanent centres, drawing
+  timber from a great stretch of forest, while the saw-mills of the
+  Central Chaco move about freely, to be near the felling sites._
+                                              Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE XII.                                           To face p. 128.]
+
+Pastoral colonization has now spread over almost the entire surface
+of Patagonia. The parts that are not yet occupied are of slight
+extent; they consist only of the most desolate regions in the south
+of the Rio Negro district and north of Santa Cruz. The expansion of
+white colonization began only about 1880. Until then the interior was
+abandoned to the indigenous tribes and was almost entirely unknown. The
+Atlantic coast alone had been explored. The travels of Villarino along
+the Rio Negro and the Limay as far as Lake Nahuel Huapi had left only
+a faded memory.[56] North of the Rio Negro, Woodbine Parish (1859),
+making use of the notes left by Cruz, who had crossed the Andes and the
+Indian territory between Antuco and Melincue in 1806, was the first to
+publish definite information, to which no addition would be made during
+the next forty years.[57]
+
+     [56] _Diario de D. Basilio Villarino del reconocimiento que
+     hizo del Rio Negro en el ano de_ 1782 (Coll. de Angelis, vi).
+
+     [57] It is Woodbine Parish who corrects Villarino's mistake in
+     confusing the Neuquen, at its confluence with the Limay, with
+     the Rio Diamante, known in the south of the Mendoza province.
+
+The settlements founded on the coast by the Spaniards at the close of
+the eighteenth century (S. Jose and P. Deseado) were ephemeral. Only
+one of them maintained an obscure existence, Carmen de Patagones, some
+miles above the mouth of the Rio Negro. One of its chief resources
+was the export of salt. Expeditions for this purpose began on the
+Patagonian coast about the middle of the eighteenth century (_Journey
+from San Martin to Puerto San Julian about_ 1753, Coll. de Angelis,
+V). After the revolution, Buenos Aires finally abandoned these costly
+expeditions by land to the salt districts of the Pampa, and was
+supplied with salt by schooners from Carmen. During the war with Brazil
+and the blockade of the Rio de la Plata, Carmen, protected by the bar
+of the Rio Negro, and the Bay of San Blas were the harbours in which
+Argentine, English and French privateers concealed their prizes and did
+their repairs after the storms of the Gulf of Santa Catarina. D'Orbigny
+visited Carmen during this period of equivocal prosperity. One of the
+most curious effects of the hospitality offered to the privateers
+was the unloading upon the Patagonian coast of blacks, intended for
+Brazil, who were taken from the slave-traders. Thus an unforeseen eddy
+brought to the south of the Pampean region part of the current of
+the slave-trade intended for the sugar-cane plantations in tropical
+America. A number of the Carmen ranches had coloured workers at this
+time.
+
+Breeding, in fact, was just beginning to spread in the neighbourhood
+of Carmen at the time. The cattle had been brought by land from Buenos
+Aires, and had multiplied along the coast and the river above Carmen.
+South of Carmen, at San Jose, the cattle had run wild after the fort
+was abandoned. The Carmen herds were estimated, before the revolution,
+at 40,000 head. They disappeared during the revolutionary period,
+but were reconstituted immediately afterwards, and even during the
+war with Brazil there was an active export of hides and salt beef.
+Carmen profited mainly by trade with the Indians. It lived in terror
+of them, and had garrisons to give the alarm on the routes by which
+they could approach. But this state of chronic warfare did not prevent
+trade. Near Carmen there was a group of peaceful Indians who served as
+intermediaries with the tribes of the interior, who were jealous and
+hostile. Guides and interpreters were found in this colony, and through
+it came the first news of the interior. The traffic with the Indians
+continued for a long time to be of great use to the colonists. In 1865
+the Welsh colony established on the Chubut, which had many difficulties
+at first, was saved from complete disaster by its trade with the
+Indians.
+
+The indigenous population comprised two groups: the Tehuelches,
+or Patagonians proper, men of tall stature, and the Araucans,
+the Ranqueles, the Pehuenches and the Pampas. There was no fixed
+geographical limit between them. The Tehuelches lived in southern
+Patagonia; but the Araucans advanced eastward as far as the Pampas
+region and southward beyond the Chubut. The Indian population of the
+valley of the Genua and the Sanguerr, south of the colony of San
+Martin, comprised in 1880,[58] and still comprises,[59] a mixture of
+Araucans and Tehuelches. The Araucans were acquainted with agriculture,
+but, once they had tamed the horse, they became mainly a pastoral and
+hunting people, like the Tehuelches.
+
+     [58] Carlos M. Moyano, "Informe sobre un viaje a traves de la
+     Patagonia," _Bol. Instit. Geog. Argent._, ii. 1881, pp. 1-35.
+
+     [59] W. Vallentin, _Chubut_ (Berlin, 1906).
+
+In so far as they were hunters, the Indians of Patagonia were nomadic.
+The taming of the horse only made it easier for them to shift from
+place to place, and gave them a greater range. Their nomadism has too
+often been regarded as an aimless wandering. They had laws, settled by
+the physical conditions; and we can gather a few of these. They kept
+away from the coastal districts except in winter; that is the season
+when the rains provide water-courses there. It has been observed that
+names of Indian origin are lacking on the coast of Patagonia. The
+Spanish navigators who landed there during the summer found the country
+deserted and the camps abandoned. On the other hand, the share of the
+Indians in giving names is very considerable in the interior, as far
+as the foot of the Andes. During the summer the Indians approached the
+mountains, where they found good hunting grounds. In particular they
+chased the young guanacos in the breeding season, December and January.
+Popper has indicated similar migrations amongst the Onas of Patagonia;
+they approach the coast in winter, and leave it in summer, to hunt in
+the interior.[60] The district of Lake Nahuel Huapi and Collon Cura
+had some attraction from afar. The forest of araucarias produced seeds
+(_pinones_) which the Indians went to gather; and they also liked the
+wild apples which ripened on the former estates of the old Jesuit
+missions. The clusters of bamboo on the Cordillera provided the lances
+of the Aucas and Tehuelches.
+
+     [60] J. Popper, "Exploracion de la Tierra del Fuego," _Bol.
+     Instit. Geog. Argent._, viii. 1887, pp. 74-93.
+
+Lake Nahuel Huapi is the first stage of the busiest of the routes used
+by the Indians. It came from the lower Santa Cruz, went up the Rio
+Chico, and from there northward followed the foot of the Cordillera.
+D'Orbigny was told about it: "All the Indians who live near the Andes
+go along the eastern foot of the mountains in their journeys, because
+they find water there, whereas they would find none if they went by the
+coast; in that way they travel from the Straits of Magellan to the Rio
+Negro." The Indian track only left the sub-Andean depression between
+the Rio Chico and Lake Buenos Aires, in the district where the high
+basalt _mesetias_ extend as far as the Cordillera, and on the Pampa of
+the Sanguerr.
+
+From Lake Nahuel Huapi the Indians of the south descended the Limay
+and the Rio Negro, and reached the island of Choele Choel, some 230
+miles above Carmen, where they met the Aucas and Puelches. There they
+exchanged their _guanacos_ hides for woollen fabrics made by the Aucas.
+Choele Choel was the only large, purely indigenous market; the whites
+never visited it. Geographical reasons fixed the site of this market of
+the nomads. In the latitude of Choele Choel the Rio Negro approaches
+the Colorado and the archipelago of the Sierras of the southern Pampa,
+which mark so many stages on the routes from the Pampa to the Andes.
+To the south the coast-route, less exposed to snow than the sub-Andean
+track, began from Choele Choel. The Indians followed this to reach
+the Gulf of San Jorge and the Santa Cruz in winter, during the rainy
+season. Darwin notes the importance of the site and the ford of Choele
+Choel. Villarino had suspected it, and had, as early as 1782, pleaded
+for the building of a fort there. By holding this point, he said,
+they could prevent the tribes from attacking Buenos Aires, or from
+approaching the Patagonian coast in the district of San Jose.[61]
+
+     [61] _Informe de D. Basilio Villarino a Fr. de Viedma_, Coll.
+     de Angelis, v.
+
+As far back as we can go, the life of the Indians seems to have been
+deeply influenced by their relations with the whites. The Aucas brought
+to Choele Choel, not only the products of their industry, but also
+objects stolen or bought from the Christians on the Pampa. The report
+of Musters, who followed a Tehuelche tribe from Santa Cruz to the
+country of the Manzanas ("land of apples"), shows clearly that the
+attraction of the Nahuel Huapi region for the Indians was less due to
+its natural resources than to the presence of the Chilean settlements
+at Valdivia, from which came across the passes of the Cordillera
+certain quantities of brandy.
+
+The Indian never took to cattle-breeding. His herd never consisted of
+more than mares and a few sheep. But trade in stolen cattle quickly
+became the chief occupation of the tribes. It would, however, be a
+mistake to imagine that the thievish Indian was merely and always a
+dreaded enemy of the ranches of Carmen. They sometimes had recourse to
+his services and profited by his misdeeds. After the Revolution, it was
+the Indians who helped to fill once more the ranches of the Rio Negro,
+bringing runaway cattle which had remained in the San Jose district.
+Later, Carmen bought the cattle stolen by the Indians at Buenos Aires.
+From 1823 to 1826 the number of the cattle sold by the Indians to the
+colonists on the Rio Negro is estimated at 40,000. Hence the breeders
+of Carmen had, as regards the Indians, alternate periods of armed
+conflict and complicity.
+
+But Chile was always the great market for stolen cattle. Raids
+(_malones_) and the crossing of the Cordillera by convoys began in the
+eighteenth century, and continued throughout the nineteenth, until
+1880, when the consolidation of Argentine authority on the eastern
+side gave a more regular form to the cattle-trade. The convoys came to
+a halt at Antuco and Chillan from which the Chilean buyers sometimes
+accompanied the Indian tribes as far as the _tolderias_ on the edge of
+the Pampa. The trade in stolen cattle made use of all the passes of the
+Cordillera, from the Planchon pass below 35 deg. S. lat., which Roca
+had covered in 1877 by the fortress of Alamito, to the source of the
+Bio Bio. The one most used was the Pichachen or the Antuco pass. On the
+tableland the cattle-tracks formed a regular network with innumerable
+strands, spreading over a width of about two hundred miles. The most
+northern route started east of the Poitague district and, after fording
+the Salado and the Atuel, and passing the _aguadas_ of Cochico and
+Ranquilco, entered the Cordillera at the bend of the Rio Grande.
+Another track ascended the Colorado and then reached the high valley of
+Neuquen. A third crossed from the Colorado to the Rio Negro, and, above
+the confluence of the Limay, to the Rio Agrio or the Alumine.
+
+The first exact information about the range of the Patagonian Indians
+is supplied by a group of bold travellers who followed their tracks
+from 1870 to 1880: Musters, Moreno, Moyano, Ramon Lista, etc. Their
+discoveries had already outlined the geographical survey of Patagonia
+when the campaign of 1879-1883 opened it to colonization.
+
+The story of white colonization since 1880 shows us several distinct
+streams of population. The first, starting from the region of the
+Pampa, went from north to south along the Atlantic coast, and gradually
+extended its sphere toward the interior. The breeders used the
+sea-route, the ancient Indian track with recognized sources of water,
+to convey their first herds. In 1884, the only spot inhabited on the
+coast between the Rio Negro and the Deseado was the Welsh colony on the
+Chubut. In 1886 Fontana reports ranches in the Punta Delfin district,
+south of the Chubut.[62] About 1890 the whole district round the Gulf
+of San Jorge was occupied; and a little later the stream from the north
+met the stream from the south about San Julian and Santa Cruz. The
+expansion of colonization was less rapid in the interior. Ambrosetti
+tells us of the establishment of the first ranches round the Sierra de
+Lihuel Calel in 1893,[63] and at the same time Siemiradzki still found
+few traces of colonization on the Colorado.[64]
+
+     [62] L. J. Fontana, "Exploracion en la Patagonia austral,"
+     _Bol. Instit. Geog. Argent._, vii, 1886, pp. 223-239.
+
+     [63] J. B. Ambrosetti, "Viage a la Pampa central," _Bol.
+     Instit. Geog. Argent._, xiv. 1893, pp. 292-368.
+
+     [64] J. V. Siemiradzki, _Eine Farschungsreise in Patagonien_,
+     Petermann's _Mitteilungen_, xxxix. 1893, pp. 49-62.
+
+The second stream of colonization came from the Magellan region. It
+started in Chilean territory, about Punta Arenas. It was about 1878
+that sheep-breeding spread round Punta Arenas, and between 1885 and
+1892 was the most rapid growth of the ranches of the Magellan district.
+North of the Straits they occupied the lowlands round Skyring Water
+and Otway Water, then the plateau south of Gallegos. They spread
+along the Atlantic as far as the Santa Cruz. In 1896 the limit of
+the sheep-region was on the Santa Cruz about forty miles from the
+coast.[65] To the west, Puerto Consuelo was founded in 1892, and in
+1896 colonization came up against the mountain barrier which the Cerro
+Payen and the basalt tableland of the Cerro Vizcachas interpose between
+Lake Argentine and Ultima Esperanza fiord.
+
+     [65] J. B. Hatcher, _Reports of the Princeton University
+     expeditions to Patagonia_ 1896-9 (_Narrative of the
+     Expeditions_ and _Geography of Southern Patagonia_, Princeton,
+     1903).
+
+The spheres of primitive colonization in southern Patagonia on the
+coast still differ from each other in regard to density of population.
+But breeders in search of unoccupied land have not hesitated to push
+beyond. In 1895 and 1900 they passed west of the Gulf of San Jorge
+toward the basin of the Sanguerr and the Genua, (establishment of the
+Sarmiento colony, south of Colhuapi, 1897: establishment of San Martin
+on the Genua 1900). Since 1900 the population has also advanced up the
+Santa Cruz and the Rio Chico as far as the zone of the Andes, and the
+lagoon which still existed twenty years ago, between the district of
+the Sanguerr and that of Lake Argentino, and is easily recognized on
+the maps of the Frontier Commission, has been almost entirely filled up.
+
+The story of colonization in the northern part of the Patagonian
+Andes is more complicated. Immediately after the campaign of 1883 the
+valleys of the Neuquen were invaded by Chilean immigrants, half-breeds
+of the frontier, who cannot always be easily distinguished from pure
+Araucans. A certain number of Chilotes, and even Germans from the
+southern colonies of Chile, were mixed with the half-breeds. This
+stream of immigration had begun before the conquest. As early as 1881
+Host notices that there are at Chosmalal various families of Chilean
+farmers who held their lands from the Indian _cacique_. During the
+summer they took care of the migratory herds from the Chilean plain.
+Once the country was pacified, they grew rapidly in number. It was they
+who provided the manual labour for the placer miners of the Neuquen,
+where gold began to be worked in 1890. The area of Chilean colonization
+extends from the Rio Atuel, where Villanueva found Chilean immigrants
+in 1884, to the south of Lake Nahuel Huapi, where Chileans were still
+met by Vallentin in 1906, on the Rio Pico, close to 44 deg. S. lat.[66]
+South of Nahuel Huapi there is no regularly used route across the
+Cordillera.[67] The Chilean colonists of the southern zone came from
+the north, therefore, along the eastern foot of the Andes. Bailey
+Willis calculated that there were 2,000 Chileans in a total population
+of 3,500 in the sub-Andean area from Nahuel Huapi to Diez y seis de
+Octubre. The total number of Chilean immigrants may be about 20,000. It
+is not on the increase, as immigration from Chile was suspended from
+1890 to 1895. Since the reconstruction of the frontier the Chilean
+Government has tried to bring back part of the emigrants to its own
+territory. Many have gone to settle in the valley of the Lonquimay. In
+1896 Moreno saw traces everywhere in the valley of the Collon Cura of
+the departure of Chilean colonists who had left the country.
+
+     [66] C. Villanueva, "De Mendoza a Narguin," _Bol. Instit.
+     Geog. Argent._, v. 1884, pp. 171-4.
+
+     [67] Chilean woodcutters have sometimes got as far as the
+     eastern valleys in search of larch, but these were nomads who
+     did not settle.
+
+At first it was only the Argentinians of the western provinces, San
+Juan and Mendoza, who vied with the Chileans for the soil. It is they
+whom Furque found in 1888 at Roca, on the Rio Negro. But beginning
+with 1890-95, immigrants of various nationalities have settled on the
+Neuquen and the Negro.[68] Foreign capitalists organized their first
+ranches there. In 1888, on the other hand, the Welsh of the lower
+Chubut, led by Indian guides, went from the coast to the sub-Andean
+region, and settled in the valley of Diez y seis de Octubre. Between
+1895 and 1900 the neighbouring valleys began to be inhabited, and
+the colonization areas of Nahuel Huapi and the Sanguerr came into
+contact.[69]
+
+     [68] Furque, "Descripcion del Pueblo General Roca," _Bol.
+     Instit. Geog. Argent._, ix. 1888, pp. 124-132.
+
+     [69] In spite of their importance we must regard as mere
+     episodes in the story of Patagonian colonization the influx
+     of population caused on the eastern coast by the discovery
+     of placer-gold at Cape Virgenes and on the Atlantic coast of
+     Tierra del Fuego (1884), and the discovery of petroleum at
+     Rivadavia (1907) in the course of drilling in search of water.
+     Rivadavia is already, with its 3,000 inhabitants, one of the
+     chief centres in Patagonia.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The most striking feature of colonization in Patagonia is the very low
+density of population. The Census of 1914 gives 81,000 inhabitants
+altogether for the territories of the Rio Negro, the Neuquen, the
+Chubut, the Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego. A well-kept ranch of
+25,000 square kilometres has only a staff of about a hundred men at
+the most, counting strangers, settled on its land; three hundred
+inhabitants, or scarcely more than one to ten square kilometres.
+This population falls into two distinct classes. One is the class of
+proprietors with regular titles: a rooted and stable class. At first
+the Government granted enormous concessions, which were taken up
+especially by English buyers, but it now seeks to break up the land,
+and the plots which it puts on the market for new pastoral colonies
+have not more than 625 hectares. This is too small for breeding, no
+matter how good the situation may be, and there will inevitably be,
+one would think, a concentration of estates in the hands of a few
+proprietors. The other part of the population occupy lands which they
+do not own. They are displaced steadily as the regular concessions
+are sold to new ranches. They live, so to say, on the margin of
+colonization, and are more and more restricted to the poorest lands.
+Sometimes these _intrusos_ or _pobladores_ get hospitality for their
+herds on the land of some ranch in return for their services. They
+have little capital, and never make material improvements. They take
+no care to nurse the pasture, and it matters little to them if it is
+impoverished.
+
+The climate divides Patagonia into two distinct regions. In the west,
+the moist Andean zone is suitable for cattle-breeding. About 1870 the
+Chileans of Valdivia hunted wild cattle in the Nahuel Huapi district.
+Similarly the Frontier Commission met large herds of wild cattle on
+the shores of Lake San Martin, which were not yet occupied. Sheep do
+not get on well in the moist zone, where the rains have washed out
+the soil and carried away the salts which seem to be indispensable
+to the sheep. It is the arid tableland that is the land of the
+sheep. There it has displaced cattle, even in the area which the
+early breeders at the end of the eighteenth century had filled with
+cattle. Between the sheep-area and the cattle-area is a mixed region,
+where the two are combined. It extends more or less according as the
+transition from a moist to a desert climate is gradual or sudden. It
+is especially important in the districts where colonization is already
+old, as in the Fuegian and Neuquen regions. It is lacking in districts
+where the colonization is recent (Chubut and Santa Cruz), where the
+sheep-breeders have had a free run as far as the Andes. The ranches of
+the Cordillera, which specialize in cattle-breeding, all have small
+flocks of sheep for their own use, their staff being so small that it
+does not pay to kill the cattle.
+
+The sheep-area is by far the more extensive of the two. The patches of
+agricultural colonization are very scattered and small on its surface.
+They are restricted to the river-oases of the Rio Negro and the Chubut.
+These small tilled districts have preserved a remarkable economic
+independence as regards the pastoral zone, in which they seem lost.
+Thus the farmers on the Chubut exported their wheat to Buenos Aires
+until about 1900, and they still send their bales of dry lucerne there.
+Some of the ranches have tilled small oases in suitable places, but
+these are merely intended to increase their stores of fodder; not for
+their flock of sheep, but for the saddle-horses used in watching the
+estate and the draught-horses used for transport.
+
+The pastoral capacity of the Patagonian scrub is, on the average,
+from 800 to 1,200 head of sheep to 25 square kilometres: less than a
+tenth that of the prairies of the eastern Pampa. The ranch fixes its
+residence in the best part of the estate, where there is least fear of
+a shortage of water, and where pasture is most plentiful. To this the
+sheep are brought periodically to receive disinfecting baths against
+the scab, and for shearing. These incessant movements toward the
+centre of the ranch cause an almost permanent strain on the pasture,
+and this is one of the chief anxieties of the breeder. The area of the
+estate is divided as soon as possible into sections (_potreros_) by
+steel-wire fences, which enables them to watch over the reproduction
+and improvement of the flock and make the best use of the pasture.
+Fencing is more advanced near the Cordillera, as timber for the posts
+is found there.
+
+Certain districts are still uninhabited on account of the lack of
+water. Some of the sources of water are permanent. The water issues
+at the base of the volcanic rocks, when the underlying rock is
+impermeable, and above the various levels of the marl in the Patagonian
+swamps; for instance, in the _canadones_ round the Gulf of San Jorge.
+Besides this, the rain and melting snow leave on the surface of the
+tableland a great number of pools, which evaporate in the dry season.
+These are temporary supplies, the _manantiales_, to which the breeders
+are reduced over large areas of the tableland. Most of the stagnant
+sheets of water which are permanent are saline. The proportion of salt
+in them is very variable, and changes in each case according to the
+cycle of dry and wet years. The water of the Carilaufquen was fresh in
+1900, and in 1914 it had become brackish, though it could still be used
+for the flocks.
+
+Finding permanent sources of water is the first concern of the breeder.
+In some districts he has succeeded in tapping sheets of fresh water
+by means of wells. There are none of these wells in the crystalline
+zones, the closed hollows, where the sheets of water are often large,
+but they are always saline. Neither are there any in the red sandstone
+district, the dryest of all. In the western region the wells are sunk
+in the arid valleys, along the track of the underground stream. Thus
+the Picun Leufu, the visible course of which is lost seventeen miles
+above its confluence with the Limay, may be traced by a continuous line
+of wells. It is especially in the coastal districts that the wells have
+transformed the conditions of breeding. Water was first discovered at
+the foot of the dunes, along the coast itself (district of Viedma, San
+Jose, etc.). Since then deep borings have been made over the whole
+of the Tertiary platform on both sides of the lower part of the Rio
+Negro, north of San Antonio. There every ranch has its sheet-iron tank,
+sheltered by a clump of tamarinds, with a windmill to fill it.
+
+All pastures are not equally available in every season. Those which are
+at a height of more than 4,000 feet in the north, and 2,300 to 2,600
+feet in the south, are covered in winter with a thick mantle of snow.
+These are summer pastures. During the winter the animals are brought
+down to the principal valleys or to sheltered _canadones_ below the
+level of the tableland. The _mallin_ is, as a rule, a winter pasture.
+When it is too wet, however, it is treacherous, and the animals are
+buried in it. They have to wait for fine weather before going into
+it. The pastures, too, which have no permanent water supply, or have
+only _manantiales_, which dry up at the beginning of summer, can only
+be used during the winter. Hence each ranch has to have, besides its
+assured water supply, a suitable combination of summer and winter
+pasturage, and it is far from certain that this will be found on every
+estate, cut up geometrically for colonization, as they were, by the
+administration of lands.
+
+  [Illustration: THE VOLCANO PUNTIAGUDO.
+  _On the Chilean side, to the north of the road from Lake Nahuel Huapi.
+  The glaciers come down lower on the western side, as the moist winds
+  come from the west, and the rain becomes less and less frequent as one
+  goes eastward toward the Patagonian tableland._]
+
+  [Illustration: CERCAS ON THE LIMAY (RISING IN LAKE NAHUEL HUAPI), NEAR
+  THE CONFLUENCE OF THE TRAFUL.
+  _Here the Limay enters the sub-desert tableland. Last trees (cypresses)
+  in the valley in the foreground._ Photograph by Bailey Willis.
+  PLATE XIII.                                            To face p. 142.]
+
+The constitution of the flock and the first occupation of the land have
+compelled breeders to undertake difficult journeys, and more than one
+of these proved disastrous. The earliest arrivals, driving their sheep
+along little-known tracks, could not avoid losses in crossing the arid
+parts of the tableland: parts which D'Orbigny, translating literally
+the Spanish word _travesia_, calls "crossings."[70] When the ranch is
+established, the breeding does not necessitate any further movements of
+the flocks to a great distance, apart from certain special migrations,
+or "transhumations," which I will consider later. It is on each ranch,
+sometimes on each group of ranches combined in a single estate, that
+they pass alternately from winter to summer pasture. The only transport
+necessary is that of wool. The fleeces, which the west wind has heavily
+laden with dust, are collected in the sheds belonging to the ranch, or,
+in the case of the _intrusos_, on the premises of certain small traders
+(_bolicheros_) who are scattered over the tableland even at its extreme
+limits. Convoys of wagons then take them to the ports on the coast.
+
+     [70] The search for possible routes for cattle in the
+     districts that were not yet colonized helped in the study of
+     Patagonia. Moyano was doing this when he explored the route
+     from Santa Cruz to Lake Nahuel Huapi.
+
+For some years now, however, wool has ceased to be the sole product
+of the ranches. A little before 1895 the first slaughter-houses, for
+killing the older sheep that were no longer fertile, were erected on
+the Straits of Magellan. Refrigerators have succeeded these, and were
+opened at Puerto Callegos and San Julian. A third refrigerator is being
+constructed (1915) at Puerto Deseado. In southern Patagonia, also, part
+of the flock is sent to the refrigerators or to the slaughter houses
+of the Pampean region. The creation of the refrigerator has compelled
+breeders to adapt their work to the new economic conditions. The merino
+breed is being eliminated by the Lincoln in all districts which feel
+the influence of the refrigerator; the Lincoln is of greater weight and
+quicker growth, but the merino survives in arid northern Patagonia.
+
+Besides this, the establishment of the refrigerators has caused
+important movements of transport. The flocks which are to go to the
+refrigerators or the northern railways are moved in the good season,
+after the shearing, from November to April. The routes they take are
+not invariable. One of the most frequented, leading from the sub-Andean
+tablelands to San Julian, follows the Santa Cruz valley. When the land
+was cut up, there was no reason to foresee these movements, and nothing
+was done to facilitate them. The roads cross the ranches, which are
+compelled to allow it. It is a serious burden for some of them, unless
+they can make a profit out of their situation on the road by hiring
+pasture for the flocks as they pass.
+
+The Andean zone itself is still mainly pastoral, but it is nevertheless
+far more varied and richer in possibilities of development than the
+tableland. Agriculture is already combined with breeding in that area.
+
+The name _vegas_, which in the Puna and at San Juan means alpine
+pasture, is applied here to tilled patches in the Andean valleys.
+They are found in the north in the valley of the Neuquen, round
+Chosmalal. In the south, the valley of the Rio Pico marks the limit of
+cultivation. Irrigation is almost always necessary north of Lake Nahuel
+Huapi, where the _vegas_ have, as a rule, a soil of coarse alluvia or
+permeable tufa, which dries up quickly. Water is plentiful, it is true,
+and increases in quantity rapidly as one travels southward. The chief
+obstacle to the extension of cultivation is the frequency of frost in
+spring and summer. The deep hollows of the sub-Andean depression south
+of Lake Nahuel Huapi, the height of which drops to 1,000 feet at the
+Bolson, and 1,600 feet at Diez y seis de Octubre, have no frosts in
+summer, and they sustain small agricultural communities. At higher
+levels, in the basin of the lake or on the _vegas_ of the Traful and
+Lake Lacar, at an altitude of about 2,600 feet, the distribution of the
+summer frosts is closely related to the contour and lie of the land,
+which may facilitate or impede the circulation of the layers of cold
+air, and the play of what has been called atmospheric drainage. The
+valleys which are very open from west to east, at the outlet of the
+lakes, where the west winds have a free passage, are little liable to
+frost. Wherever frost is frequent, cultivation has to be restricted to
+fodder plants. The more favoured cantons, which grow wheat, rye and
+potatoes, help to feed the local pastoral population, and export part
+of their produce to some distance on the tableland.
+
+Cattle-breeding is, like sheep-breeding on the tableland, practised
+both by the _pobladores_ on public lands and by ranchers who have
+settled on regular concessions, which they have worked up and fenced
+round. The high alpine pastures, above the fringe of the forest, are
+partly used, from December to March, as summer-pasture. The forest also
+serves for pasture; it is a sort of common land, available both in
+winter and summer. Below the height of 3,500 feet the clumps of bamboos
+in the underwood provide shelter during the winter and fodder which
+is not buried under snow. The fires lit by the breeders have changed
+part of the primitive forest into a scrub which has been invaded by a
+leguminous climbing fodder, and it has superior pastoral capacity to
+the forest. East of the forest, the prairie, which is too much exposed
+to the winds, is not generally suitable for winter-pasture. The cattle
+take refuge in sheltered valleys and in the _mayten_ thickets which
+follow the depressions. Bailey Willis puts the pastoral capacity of the
+virgin forest at 400 cattle to each 2,500 hectares, 600 for the burnt
+forest, and 350 for the sub-Andean prairies. The essential problem in
+connection with the question of completely developing the pastoral
+resources of the sub-Andean region is the problem of transit. There
+are no roads from one district to another and to the higher prairies.
+The fallen trunks which lie about the forest obstruct the way of the
+cattle. Collecting the animals for sale and watching them are both
+difficult.
+
+It seems that the profit of exploiting the timber must necessarily be
+small. The forest, thinned by fire and difficult of access, is partly
+composed of trees that are too old. The _libocedrus_ has disappeared
+from one-third of it. The larch, which is the most valuable, passes
+into Argentine territory at few places. Saw-mills are not so numerous
+on the eastern slope of the Andes as they are in the Magellan area.
+
+The essential function of the forest is, according to Argentine experts
+on forestry, to control the water-circulation. In this land of glacial
+erosion and recent captures, where the water-courses have always a
+great variety of form, and there are lakes to make their output more
+regular, it is particularly easy to make use of hydraulic power. "White
+coal" will, Bailey Willis says, make a great industrial region of
+it, and plant an urban life in it. Bailey Willis, whose optimism and
+prophetic gift will not fail to surprise the European reader, has drawn
+the plans in detail of a future town of 40,000 souls at the eastern end
+of Lake Nahuel Huapi. The Patagonian land will supply the raw material
+of its industries; timber, leather, and wool.
+
+One, at least, of the indispensable conditions of the development of
+urban life is fully realized in the district of Lake Nahuel Huapi and
+the Limay. It is a remarkable meeting-place of natural roads, and its
+economic value will increase in the future. It is the point where the
+road from eastern Patagonia by the sub-Andean depression, from the Gulf
+of San Antonio on the Atlantic, and from the Rio Negro by the Limay,
+and the roads that lead to Chile across the Cordillera, meet. The whole
+zone of the Andes between 36 deg. S. lat. and 42 deg. S. lat., the
+latitude of the southern part of the Chilean plain, has numerous and
+easy passes. There has always been close communication between the two
+slopes, and people have emigrated freely from one to the other. But north
+of 39 deg. S. lat. the passes are rarely lower than 5,000 feet. They are
+covered with snow in the winter, and can be used for traffic only in
+certain seasons. It is not the same south of the volcano Lanin. That
+is the beginning of the glacial valleys which go to the heart of the
+Cordillera, some of them crossing the mountains from east to west. They
+have not yet been entirely explored. The Bariloche pass, south of the
+Tronador, by which the Chilean missionaries reached Nahuel Huapi in the
+eighteenth century, is no longer used. The Cajon Negro pass, west of
+Lake Traful, through which Bailey Willis traces the line of a southern
+trans-Andean railway, was only recently discovered, and the valleys
+which run into it on the Chilean side are not yet well known. The two
+best-known trans-Andean routes to-day are the Perez Rosales road, which
+leads from Chile to Nahuel Huapi by the north of the Tronador, and
+further north, the road from Lake Lacar to San Martin. Both these have
+received some attention, and the lakes are connected by telegraph or
+telephone. The frequent need to unload and reload makes the traffic
+costly, but it is permanent and is not interrupted in winter. The
+reduction of the export of cattle to Chile has cut down the traffic for
+a time, but it is sure to recover. The permanent importance of it is
+one of the facts most clearly written by nature upon the soil of South
+America.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is not easy, in the absence of documents, to attempt to give for
+Patagonia as a whole a detailed description of the pastoral industry,
+and to follow step by step on the spot its efforts to adjust itself to
+the natural conditions. But the analysis may be attempted in regard
+to the region between San Antonio and Lake Nahuel Huapi south of the
+Rio Negro,[71] the valley of the Rio Negro, and the tableland which
+stretches westward between the Neuquen and the Limay. This part of
+Patagonia is now easily accessible, and it is entered by two parallel
+railways. One starts from San Antonio on the Atlantic, and goes
+westward to Lake Nahuel Huapi. It has (1914) reached Maquinchao, on
+the tableland, mid-way across the Andes. The other starts from Bahia
+Blanca. At Choele Choel it enters the valley of the Rio Negro, and
+ascends it as far as the confluence of the Neuquen. Then it goes 130
+miles westward as far as Zapala, at the foot of the first sub-Andean
+chains. Each of these lines is ambitious to attract the trans-Andeans.
+At all events, they are in a hurry to reach the humid zone at the foot
+of the Andes, which could maintain a busier traffic than the desolate
+tableland.
+
+     [71] This was the area studied by the Commission of which
+     Bailey Willis was chairman.
+
+The railway from San Antonio, and the road which is a continuation
+of it west of Maquinchao, cover a distance of 320 miles from the
+Atlantic to the Andes, and cross five distinct regions. The first is
+the coastal plain, composed of horizontal marine Tertiary sedimentary
+rocks, both of sand and clay. The plain rises slowly toward the west,
+and it attains a height of 650 feet at a distance of seventy miles
+from the coast. This coastal platform divides, on the north-west,
+the enclosed hollow of the Bajo del Gualicho from the Gulf of San
+Antonio. Its surface is very even. The gravel on it has formed a sort
+of conglomerate, and in spite of appearances, this gravelly soil is
+not bad for vegetation. It quickly absorbs the rain-water, which thus
+escapes evaporation. The vegetation is comparatively rich. There are
+no springs, but the autumn rains sustain _manantiales_ in the marly
+surface, and these do not dry up until the spring. During the summer
+the plain is deserted, and there is no water. But the flocks return in
+the winter and remain there until spring. There is very little snow, as
+the temperature is moderate. In spite of the density of the pastoral
+population in winter, the pasturage is not injured. The grass grows
+plentifully amongst the thickets. This is because the flocks leave
+the district before the season when the grasses flower and reproduce,
+so the next generation is secured. Part of the flocks which winter
+on the coastal plain pass the summer in the south-west, on the high
+basaltic tablelands of Somuncura. However, the whole of the surface of
+the tableland cannot be used permanently, or during the entire summer.
+There is plenty of water in spring, when the snows have melted. In the
+middle of the summer the flocks collect round the permanent springs,
+and they scatter once more over the mountain pastures during the autumn
+rains, before they return to the plain.
+
+The second region is that of Valcheta. From Aguada Cecilia to Corral
+Chico the railway follows for sixty miles the edge of the outpour of
+lava from the south, which covers the Tertiary clays. In front of the
+basalt cliff the land dips in the north toward a closed depression, the
+Bajo de Valcheta, the bottom of which consists of clays impregnated
+with salt. Tertiary marine strata surround this hollow in the west and
+north, where they divide it from the Bajo del Gualicho, but here they
+form only a thin skin which covers the crystalline platform. The line
+of contact of the basalt and the Tertiary marls is marked by a series
+of good springs, and these give rise to permanent streams, such as the
+Arroyo Valcheta and the Nahuel Niyeu. At first they flow in a narrow
+valley crowned by basalts, with peaty prairies at the bottom, then over
+Tertiary marls, and, in the latitude of the railways, they pass into a
+gorge cut through the granites before losing themselves to the north in
+the _salitral_. A small agricultural oasis is sustained by the waters
+of the Valcheta.
+
+The site of Valcheta has an exceptional importance in the story of
+Patagonian colonization. It marks a necessary stage in the Indian track
+from the Atlantic to Nahuel Huapi, which is now followed by the line
+of the railway. Musters halted there. The track from Choele Choel, on
+the Rio Negro, to the southern coast and the Santa Cruz also passed
+by there. It was so much used, says Ezcurra, that the hoofs of the
+horses had hollowed it.[72] The Argentine village dates from 1890.
+At first it lived by supplying fodder to the convoys of wagons which
+carried the wool. The railway has suppressed this traffic, and the only
+outlet of the oasis to-day is the small port of San Antonio, where the
+wool is shipped, and where the district is unsuitable for any kind of
+cultivation.
+
+     [72] Pedro Ezcurra, "Camino indio entre los rios Negro
+     y Chubut: la travesia de Valcheta," _Bol. Instit. Geog.
+     Argent._, xix. 1898, pp. 134-38.
+
+Like the coast region, the Valcheta district seems marked out by its
+moderate altitude to serve as winter pasture. In point of fact, it
+is used during the whole year. The springs do not dry up in summer.
+The streams which flow from the south toward the Bajo de Valcheta are
+permanent. In addition, a few wells have been bored in the Tertiary
+strata. Contrary to experience on the coast, therefore, cattle can be
+kept here during the summer. There is less chance for the grasses to
+reproduce, and the pasture tends to become impoverished.
+
+The third zone, 130 miles from the coast, is that of the tableland
+of the Cerros Colorados, where low masses of red granite rise like
+an archipelago amongst the Tertiary formations deposited in the
+intervening depressions. In the west its altitude rises from 650 to
+1,300 feet. It is one of the poorest parts of the tableland, and the
+size of the flock is reduced to 600 head to the square league. The
+naked rock crops up, not covered, as it is further east, by a bed of
+gravel. In the valleys there is little water, and it lies very deep.
+There are no periodical removals of the animals. Winter and summer they
+remain within range of a few poor springs, which are caused by various
+outcrops of lava of limited extent; and they leave these, and wander
+over the tableland, only in the rainy season.
+
+Beyond the Cerros Colorados the line rises rapidly, and at Maquinchao
+it reaches the basin of Lake Carilaufquen. This occupies the bottom of
+a closed depression, at an altitude of 3,000 feet, dominated on every
+side by a plateau of lava, toward which, in the south, a number of
+important valleys run (Nahuel Niyeu, Quetriquile, Maquinchao). These
+valleys rise in the south in the basalt plateau, at a height of 4,000
+and 4,700 feet, and have no running water except at their upper ends.
+South of Carilaufquen they open upon a broad plain, round which there
+is a sombre cornice of lava, about 350 feet high. Water has collected
+on the plain, which consists of alluvial beds redistributed by wind:
+angular pebbles from the terraces, fine dust from the _mallinas_, and
+sand from the dunes round the lake.
+
+This region is much better than that of the Cerros Colorados. There
+are many springs at the base of the lava-flows, on the sides of
+the valleys, and it has as yet not been necessary to look for the
+subterranean sheets which accompany some of the valleys. The elevated
+basin of the Quetriquile, though it is only occupied by _intrusos_,
+seems to have a particularly high pastoral density, and, I am told,
+feeds 500,000 sheep. In the western part of the region the spring
+is late, and there is risk of snow during the lambing season. There
+are, however, no rams there; the lambs are brought from Maquinchao.
+This arrangement of special zones for the multiplication of the flock
+enables them rapidly to improve the breed. Here again there are no
+removals of the animals to a great distance in order to use the
+pasture. The vegetation of the valleys suffered from the continuous
+presence of the flocks during the years of drought before 1914; the
+reproduction of useful grasses was prevented. There is, however, less
+danger here than on the Cerros Colorados, because the _mallinas_ are
+extensive, and they suffice for feeding the sheep during the periods
+when the _manantiales_ of the tableland dry up, and the animals are
+confined to the valleys.
+
+The fifth region comprises the high ridge which divides the basin of
+the Carilaufquen from Nahuel Huapi, the water of which flows northward
+toward the Limay and southward toward the Chubut: successive eruptions
+have covered the surface with lava and ash, which at Anecon rise to a
+height of 6,700 feet. The granite platform which emerges in the north,
+at the Cerro Aspero and the Quadradito, rises to a height of 4,400 and
+4,700 feet, and in some places presents a bold and rejuvenated aspect.
+The whole has been cut up in all directions by erosion, and it affords
+comparatively easy means of getting about, which the Indian tracks have
+followed. Below the higher slopes the valleys deepen into gorges, and
+these broaden out in the soft tufa and are lost at the cross-streams
+of lava or the outcrops of the granite. In so varied a land, with
+such marked differences of altitude, the winter and summer pastures
+are always close together. Precipitation is more plentiful than at a
+distance from the Cordillera; the pasturage is richer, and the size
+of the flock rises to 1,600 sheep to the league. The sheep pass the
+winter on the lower slopes, where they are sheltered from the winds and
+the snow. They descend to the _mallin_ when the dry season sets in and
+makes the soil firm. In summer they go on to the tablelands, where the
+pastures extend to a height of 5,000 feet.
+
+Bailey Willis, studying the improvements that might be made in the
+pastoral processes, concluded that the essential point was to use each
+pasturage in its best season, and establish a carefully considered
+rotation on the various lands. This system, which alone would enable
+them to nurse the natural resources of the scrub in the way of plants
+for fodder, is used to-day in only a small number of districts--in
+the east, where the flocks winter on the coastal plain and spend the
+summer on the Somuncura tableland, and in the west, round the Anecon,
+where the summer and winter pastures are not far from each other. The
+custom ought to be general. The area which ought to be reserved for
+winter pasture comprises the coastal plains, the whole of the low-lying
+district round Valcheta, and the lower part of the valleys to the
+south of the Carilaufquen. They are less extensive than the available
+summer pastures, but their capacity could be enlarged by developing
+the irrigated areas in the Bajo de Valcheta, and sowing lucerne in the
+_mallinas_ of the basin of the Carilaufquen. The low valleys round the
+Carilaufquen ought to be reserved for winter pasture. In the summer the
+sheep would be taken south to the higher-level valleys, which afford
+permanent pasture. From there they would spread after the melting of
+the snow, and after the first rains in autumn, over the high tablelands
+which surround them.
+
+This plan is obstructed in the first place by the actual terms of
+ownership, which were imprudently fixed before the examination of the
+country in detail had been concluded. Thus the Maquinchao ranch, in the
+lower valley, does not own the upper valley with the summer pastures
+that ought to belong to it. A more serious obstacle is that it is
+extremely difficult to remove the sheep. It is not merely roads that
+are wanting, but a water supply at the various stages.[73]
+
+     [73] The district of the Rio Negro is not the only part of
+     Patagonia which faces the problem of increasing the winter
+     pasture. Attention has been drawn to the possibility of
+     enlarging the lucerne farms in the district of Colonia
+     Sarmiento, south of Lake Musters, and making this a great
+     wintering area for the Santa Cruz flocks.
+
+Between the railway that runs from San Antonio to Lake Nahuel Huapi and
+the Rio Negro, there is a desert region about seventy miles in width.
+Red sandstone predominates in it, and it remains uninhabited. North of
+this _travesia_ the valley of the Rio Negro opens. Its width between
+Neuquen and Patagones ranges from five to fifteen miles. Its slope
+diminishes gradually toward the bottom (from 0.67 to 0.49 per 1,000
+above Chelfaro; from 0.45 to 0.29 per 1,000 above Conesa).
+
+The sandstone and marl cliffs which enclose it become gradually lower
+as one goes downward. They dominate the valley at a height of 650 feet
+at the confluence of the Neuquen, and are only 100 to 130 feet high at
+Patagones. At the foot of them are broad terraces cut by dissymetrical
+ravines, in which the beds of sandstone outcrop on the western slope,
+exposed to the winds, while the eastern slopes are covered with
+gravel. On the banks of the river there is a strip about two miles
+wide with abundant herbaceous vegetation between lines of willows.
+This is covered by the normal floods. The remainder of the river
+plain, to the foot of the cliffs, has only a thin scrub, with dunes at
+intervals. Saline clays here overlie the river gravels. The level of
+the underground water, which is fed by the river, sinks lower as one
+goes from the banks toward the cliffs. Few parts of the tableland have
+so desolate an aspect as the bottom of these great Patagonian valleys,
+when they have not been transformed by irrigation. The pasturage is
+poor. At Conesa, however, the valley (_costa_) is used as summer
+pasture when there is a shortage of water on the surrounding tableland
+(_planeza_).
+
+The water-supply is good, the volume of the river ranging from 200
+to 900 cubic metres a second. Low water lasts from February to April
+(end of the summer). From May to July the river has sudden and violent
+floods--an effect of the autumn rains. The curve sinks again in August
+and September, to rise once more in October and December, when the
+snow melts on the Andes. The Limay, the upper basin of which contains
+large, lacustrine sheets, is more regular than the Neuquen, which has
+very pronounced low-water, as well as dangerous floods in the autumn.
+The first attempts at irrigation date from 1885, when the canal of the
+Roca colony was dug. Others were made lower down at a later date. The
+co-operative groups organized for the administration of the canals have
+not been quite as successful as might have been expected. The advance
+of agricultural colonization has been slow. Costly preparatory work is
+needed to level the ground and organize the drainage, otherwise saline
+patches form and spread like leprosy at the expense of the cultivable
+areas. Lastly, the centre of the valley is exposed to floods.[74]
+
+     [74] The work now (1914) in hand will reduce the risk of
+     floods, and will enable them to enlarge considerably the
+     extent of the tilled land. The Cuenca Vidal, which opens
+     amongst the sandstone, below the level of the valley, on the
+     tableland to the north of the Neuquen, will be arranged so as
+     to absorb the flood-water, and it will feed a canal which will
+     serve the left bank over an area of 100 miles. The waters of
+     the Limay will be available for the lower valley.
+
+  [Illustration: THE PATAGONIAN TABLELAND (NEUQUEN).
+  _Indigenous vegetation. Rocks eroded by wind._
+                            Photographs by Windhausen, Mining Division.
+  PLATE XIV.                                           To face p. 154.]
+
+The chief crops are lucerne, cereals, and the vine. All the efforts and
+hopes of the colonists are now centred upon the vine. It is for the
+purpose of extending the vineyards that they are endeavouring to secure
+more workers. These are a singularly mixed lot, Chileans from the
+Neuquen rubbing shoulders with Latin immigrants (Italian and Spanish)
+from the region of the Pampas.
+
+The lucerne is made up in bales and exported by rail to Bahia Blanca
+and Buenos Aires. The economic life of the agricultural oasis of the
+Rio Negro is no more connected with that of the pastoral tableland
+than is life on the Chubut. Neither sheep nor cattle are fattened on
+the Rio Negro. It is a curious contrast to the spectacle offered by
+the Andean regions of western and north-western Argentina, where for
+generations there has been a close association between the breeding
+industry of the scrub and the fattening on the lucerne-farms. This is
+because the currents of the cattle-trade are not here as permanent and
+stable as they are in the north. The time when the convoys of Pampean
+cattle bound for Chile used the valley of the Rio Negro preceded the
+agricultural colonization of the banks of the river. The conquest
+of Patagonia put an end to this traffic. There was an interval of
+twenty-five years between the period of the export of Pampean cattle
+to Chile and the export of cattle from the Neuquen to Buenos Aires,
+to which I will refer presently. As to sheep-breeding, it did not for
+a long time rear the animals for the meat-market, and it is only a
+few years since it found transport necessary. The farmers of the Rio
+Negro, who have little capital, and who sell and are paid in advance
+for their dry fodder, have not yet been able to take advantage of the
+reorganization of the cattle-trade.
+
+West of the confluence of the Neuquen and the Limay the railway ascends
+the sandstone tableland, from 1,700 to 3,000 feet high, and goes as
+far as the foot of the first sub-Andean chain, the Zapala ranch. The
+eruptive rocks here have thrown up the sandstone, and the profiles
+raised north and south of Zapala, across the Sierra de la Vaca Muerta
+and the Cerro Lotena, cut through folds of Mesozoic strata which have
+been reduced by erosion to the level of the plateau. One already feels
+the vicinity of the Cordillera. Pasture is plentiful, the _mallin_
+is thick, and springs abound. The sheep-area stretches westward of
+Zapala, as far as the Rio Cataluin and the Rio Agrio. East of Zapala,
+on the other hand, the desolate condition of the country gets worse
+and worse. The supplies of water dry up in the summer, and the entire
+zone that lies east of 70 deg. W. long. is useless, on account of the
+lack of permanent water, except as winter commonage. Hence, transhumation
+is here indispensable. It has been practised for a long time on the
+Chilean slope of the Cordillera from the latitude of Coquimbo and San
+Juan to the north of Lake Quillen. At present it tends to disappear
+from the Andes of the Neuquen.[75] But there is still transhumation on
+the Argentine side. The sheep of the plateau, driven from their winter
+pasture when the water dries up, ascend the Cordillera. Sometimes the
+mountains are not yet free from snow. In that case the journey is
+delayed, and the sheep feed on the way, to the great detriment of the
+land they cross.
+
+     [75] As a matter of fact, of recent years there has been a
+     practice on this slope of disguising the smuggling of animals
+     under the name of "transhumation," as the removal of the sheep
+     facilitated it and helped to maintain it. The shepherds got
+     certificates exaggerating the number of their sheep from the
+     Chilean officials before they crossed the frontier, and under
+     cover of these they came back to Chile with additions to their
+     flocks which they had bought on Argentine territory.
+
+There are many routes, and frequently they coincide with those which
+were formerly taken by the cattle of the Pampas in ascending to the
+passes of the Cordillera. Groeber mentions a transhumation track south
+of the Rio Barrancas and Lake Carri Lauquen. From the left bank of the
+Neuquen the flocks ascend by Chosmalal and Butamallin to the pasture
+of the Pichachen pass, or by Las Lajas to the Pino Hachado pass. From
+Zapala and the tableland further south they go to spend the summer
+in the Cataluin Cordillera, where the number of sheep in summer is
+calculated to be 70,000. Others go still further, to the source of the
+Alumine and the Arco pass. The volcano Lanin almost marks the southern
+limit of the zone of transhumation. The chief group of migrating sheep
+comes from the district of the Coyunco, the Canadon Grande, and the
+Picun Leucu.
+
+Transhumation is practised only by the _intrusos_. They go from the
+unowned lands of the tableland to the unowned lands of the Cordillera.
+The renting of winter pasture to owners is quite exceptional. The
+concessions of land granted by the Argentine Government are steadily
+reducing the area of the migrators in the Cordillera, and also the
+ways of communication between the tableland and the mountains. The
+proprietors do not care to receive the migrating flocks, and they
+put obstacles in their way by enclosing the land. The routes of the
+transhumation are now fixed by the spaces which remain open between the
+enclosed ranches. Moreover, the migrating _intrusos_ are haunted by
+the fear of finding the winter pasture occupied by others during their
+absence, and they have no proprietary title. The splitting up of the
+land and the organization of ownership will before long lead to the
+extinction of the practice of transhumation, and the greater part of
+the winter pasturage will be turned into permanent pasture by boring
+wells and nursing the water-supply.
+
+The district round the Zapala ranch has become very busy since the
+construction of the railway, which has deeply affected the conditions
+of life there. It has made a sort of capital of Zapala. It is curious
+to contrast the renaissance which has followed upon the appearance of
+the railway in this district with the much less material changes which
+it has made at Maquinchao. The life which the railway concentrates at
+Zapala includes not only the wool trade, as at Maquinchao, but also
+the cattle trade. The herds which are to be exported gather round the
+ranch at the same time as the _tropas_ of wagons, and a good price is
+paid for the right of pasturage. While the Maquinchao line ends at the
+port of San Antonio, which is merely fitted up for the export of wool,
+the Zapala railway feeds the refrigerator at Bahia Blanca. It joins up
+with the network of railways of the Pampa. Sheep arrive at Zapala, not
+only from the surrounding district and from the Neuquen, but from a
+good part of the Rio Negro, and even the Chubut. The convoys of animals
+coming from the south find it best to keep near the Cordillera, where
+the pasturage is better. Only a few of them descend the Limay as far
+as Senillosa. From Zapala to Senillosa there is no suitable road in
+connection with the railway, and further east it is necessary to go as
+far as Choele Choel to find tracks which lead to it. The exporting of
+the sheep lasts five months, from November to March.
+
+Zapala station is also a point of convergence of herds of cattle.
+There are people at Zapala who still remember the time when the cattle
+brought from the Pampa to go to Chile passed through their valley.
+Although these exports of Pampean cattle to Chile ceased after 1885,
+the whole Andean region of the Neuquen still lived entirely on the
+Chilean market until very recently. The attraction of the Chilean
+market is one of the reasons for the survival of transhumation. It was
+to the advantage of the Argentine breeders to keep near the Cordillera
+and the passes through which the buyers came from Chile in the summer.
+The life of the small centres in the upper valleys which developed
+rapidly after the conquest (Chosmalal, Norquin, Codihue, Junin, and
+San Martin) was bound up with the Chilean cattle trade, and was
+reflected on the opposite side of the Andes in the prosperity of the
+corresponding markets in Chile.
+
+In the years immediately preceding 1914, a sudden revolution upset
+the cattle traffic on the Neuquen, and the attraction of Buenos Aires
+took the place of that of the Chilean market. The commercial influence
+of Buenos Aires was first felt in the wool-market. The _tropas_ of
+wagons which brought wool to Zapala loaded up, in exchange, with the
+flour and salt that were needed for sheep-breeding in the pastures
+of the Cordillera (_pastos dulces_). The import trade followed the
+path traced by the export trade. The small Chilean wagons which still
+cross the Cordillera now only bring to the Neuquen the coarse flour of
+Chile, haricot beans, and wine. They return empty to Chile. After the
+wool-buyers, the cattle-merchants of Buenos Aires next found their way
+to the Cordillera. The centres where the sales of cattle for Chile used
+to be held are now in decay, and have lost part of their population.
+The cattle are sent to the fattening centres on the Pampa, or to the
+Bahia Blanca and Buenos Aires markets. Thus we have under our eyes,
+unexpectedly, in the north of Patagonia a transformation that occurred
+gradually half a century ago in all the western and north-western parts
+of Argentina. In its many forms it is the essential fact in the modern
+history of Argentine colonization. The more distant provinces are
+detached in succession from foreign markets, and the whole national
+life is being organized round the great economic focus which the region
+of the Pampas has become.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE PLAIN OF THE PAMPAS
+
+     The limits of the prairie--The rains--The wind and the
+     formation of the clay of the Pampas--The wind and the
+     contour--The zones of colonization on the Pampas--Hunting
+     wild cattle and primitive breeding--The sheep-farms--The
+     ranches--The region of "colonies"--The region of lucerne,
+     maize, and wheat--The combination of agriculture and
+     breeding--The economic mechanism of colonization--The
+     exchanges between the different zones of the Pampas.
+
+
+The Pampean landscape is doubtless one of the most uniform in the
+world. Its monotony is tiring to the eye; it is partly responsible for
+the mediocrity of most of the descriptions of the Pampas. But this
+uniformity is an advantage for the purpose of colonization. Attention
+has often been drawn to the rapidity with which plants and animals
+introduced by Europeans spread in the Buenos Aires district, and,
+pushing ahead of the breeders and farmers, colonized the Pampas. In the
+second half of the nineteenth century, when the whole extent of the
+plain beyond the ancient Indian frontier was occupied, the development
+of it was so much easier because it was possible to use simpler and
+more uniform methods of exploitation. It needed neither large capital
+nor long personal experience on the part of the immigrant. Basques
+and Italians who had only just landed could take an active part in it
+almost without apprenticeship. The primitive groups of population could
+advance from one zone of the plain to another and take with them their
+own methods of farming and breeding, their own form of rural economy.
+
+A close study will, however, enable us to detect appreciable physical
+differences in the Pampean plain. Neither climate nor soil is the same
+all over it.
+
+The name "Pampa" chiefly means a vegetal growth, a prairie. Its
+limits are the frontier of the scrub (_monte_), and strange as it may
+seem, it is still difficult to trace them exactly. North of Santa
+Fe, between the Salado and the Parana, the Pampa stretches as far as
+Fives-Lille, a little beyond 30 deg. S. lat.[76] On the Central Norte
+and the Central Argentine lines the fringe of the _monte_ reaches to
+Fuertin Inca and Malbran, about 170 miles north-west of Santa Fe. It
+then turns south-east and south, passing round the entire depression of
+Los Porongos and Mar Chiquita; and the line from Santa Fe to Cordoba
+crosses it at Francia and approaches the Rio Secundo. South of the Rio
+Secundo it goes westward and joins the foot of the Sierra de Cordoba
+south of the Rio Tercero (at the stream Tequia). From this point to La
+Cambre, some sixteen miles east of San Luis, the prairie extends as far
+as the edge of the sierras, and penetrates into the southern half of
+the Conlara depression, between the hills of Cordoba and of San Luis
+(Pampa de Naschel). The mimosa forest enters the steppe in narrow belts
+along the Rio Quinto to within a few leagues below Villa Mercedes,
+along the Rio Tercero as far as the confluence of the Saladillo, and
+along the Salado to the south of Santa Fe. There are, in addition, many
+isolated clumps of _chanares_ and more extensive patches of wood in
+the north-west corner of the prairie (Santa Fe province). The _monte_
+along the Salado is continued south of Santa Fe along the Parana, as
+far as the point where the chief arm of the river reaches the cliffs
+on the right bank, at San Lorenzo. This is the domain of the _ombu_, a
+tree with thick trunk and naked roots which is found scattered over the
+prairie in the Parana region as far as south of Buenos Aires.
+
+     [76] On the left bank of the Salado, west of the Resistencia
+     railway, a great gulf of low prairie penetrates into the
+     forest of the Chaco in the north, almost as far as 28 deg. S.
+     lat., but it has rather the character of one of the floodable
+     clearings of the Chaco (_esteros_) than of the temperate
+     Pampa.
+
+In the west, between San Luis and the mouth of the Colorado, the
+transition from the Pampa to the _monte_ is gradual. Just as at Santa
+Fe, the approach of the _monte_ is announced by the appearance of
+_chanares_, in the south-west corner of the Cordoba province and on
+the southern slope of the Sierra de la Ventana. The _monte_, properly
+so called, though impoverished, invaded by the _jarilla_, and mainly
+composed (as in northern Patagonia) of dwarf mimosas, covers the area
+of the Pampean sierras on the left bank of the Chadi Leuvu and the
+Colorado. Between this area and a line passing through Rancul, Anguil,
+Atreuco, and Bernasconi, where the naked prairie begins, there is a
+mixed zone which one may call the _calden_ zone. This mimosa, a near
+relative of the _algarroba_, which has a wider range than the other
+plants of the _monte_ in this latitude, forms woods at intervals in
+the south of the San Luis province and on the flanks of the parallel
+valleys of the central Pampa. Between these woods the tableland
+is generally covered by the prairie, with occasional patches of
+_chanares_. About twenty-five miles east of Buena Esperanza the line
+from San Rafael touches the far corner of a forest of _caldenes_, which
+stretches south-westward, and reaches the Rio Salado about 35 deg. 30'
+S. lat. Beyond Buena Esperanza it keeps on the prairie as far as the
+crossing of the Salado, which here marks the limit of the _monte_. The
+Rio Negro line passes directly from the prairie to the Patagonian scrub
+mid-way between Bahia Blanca and the Colorado.
+
+Within these limits the prairie extends without a break. The sierras of
+the Buenos Aires province have no arborescent vegetation.
+
+The zone of the prairie, intermediate between tropical Argentina and
+the sub-desert regions of western Patagonia, has a medium rainfall. It
+decreases gradually from north-east to south-west. There is a rainfall
+of 1,200 to 1,000 millimetres on the lower Parana, and only 400 to
+600 millimetres on the western edge of the Pampa. The zone which lies
+between the 800 millimetres and 600 millimetres average is more than
+270 miles in breadth. But what is most characteristic of the climate
+of the Pampa is the equal distribution of the rain throughout the
+year, and the absence of a real dry season. In this the Pampa differs
+from the surrounding regions, both in the south-west and the north.
+At Buenos Aires the six months of the (relatively) dry season yield,
+nevertheless, 44 per cent. of the total rainfall, and at Bahia Blanca
+40 per cent. This regularity diminishes in proportion as one approaches
+the coast. At Rosario the six months of the dry season only yield 30
+per cent. of the year's rain; at Villa Mercedes (San Luis province) 25
+per cent. When one goes beyond the limits of the prairies the ratio
+of rain in the dry season decreases rapidly; it is only 20 per cent.
+at Cordoba and 18 per cent. at San Luis. At Cordoba, the curve of the
+rainfall indicates a typical tropical regime, with a summer maximum
+and a very low minimum in winter. Passing south-eastward from Cordoba,
+at Bellville, Villa Maria and especially Rosario, the dryness of the
+winter diminishes, and at the same time a secondary minimum appears
+in the middle of summer (January-February). At Buenos Aires, the form
+of the curve changes completely. The summer minimum is almost as low
+as the winter minimum, and most of the rainfall is in the spring
+(September) and the beginning of the autumn (March).[77]
+
+     [77] Argentine Mesopotamia, which is a continuation of the
+     Pampean region from the climatological point of view, is also,
+     even in its northern part, without the rigorous dry seasons of
+     the Chaco. Ascending the Parana, from Corrientes to Posadas,
+     just as in passing from Cordoba to Buenos Aires, one notices
+     that the winter minimum decreases, and a secondary maximum
+     appears in the spring. The predominance of the spring rains,
+     which is a characteristic of southern Brazil, is conspicuous
+     on the middle Uruguay. On the lower part of that river the
+     rain-system approaches that of Buenos Aires, with maxima
+     in spring and autumn, a principal minimum in winter, and a
+     secondary minimum in summer.
+
+These various shades of the Pampean climate are of essential importance
+in the history of colonization and the spread of cultivation. The belt
+of summer rain is the belt of maize-growing, whereas the cultivation of
+wheat requires spring rain and a comparatively dry summer.
+
+While the isohyetic curves, which represent the precipitation for the
+whole year, are orientated from north-west to south-east, the curves of
+rainfall during the cold season, from April to September (dry season
+in the north), cut diagonally across the preceding, and are oriented
+directly north and south. Bahia Blanca receives in winter as much rain
+as Rosario, and General Acha (in the district of the central Pampa)
+as much as Cordoba. Unless one attends to this, one cannot explain
+the extension of wheat-growing, in the south-west, as far as the 400
+millimetre curve, and even beyond it on the Atlantic coast.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The relief of the Pampean plain is known fairly accurately, thanks
+to the observations made along the railways. The ground rises slowly
+toward the west. The 100-metre curve describes a deep gulf some 300
+miles west-south-west of Buenos Aires. The belt comprised between 100
+and 150 metres above sea-level is more than sixty miles broad in the
+latitude of Santa Fe, and 130 miles in the latitude of Buenos Aires.
+Beyond the 150-metre curve the land rises rapidly toward the west and
+north-west, and reaches 400 metres in the Cordoba district and 500 in
+the Villa Mercedes district. It is at the altitude of 150 metres, and
+the break in the inclination which this marks, that the Rio Quinto is
+lost, near Amarga, south of General Lavalle.
+
+The ridge between the Pampa and the basin of the Salado in the south
+of the San Luis province is about 450 metres above sea-level. South of
+the province of Buenos Aires the Sierras de Tandil and de la Ventana
+are joined together by a ridge which does not fall below 200 metres.
+Certain irregularities of the surface, such as the depression of Mar
+Chiquita to the east of Cordoba, the thrust of the plateau on the right
+bank of the Parana, south of Villa Constitucion and San Nicolas, can,
+apparently, only be explained by recent tectonic movements.
+
+The Pampean deposits which cover the plain rest upon a rocky base of
+which the salient representatives are the sierras of the province of
+Buenos Aires and the hills at Cordoba and San Luis. This base also
+appears east of the Pampean basin in the granite island of Martin
+Garcia, in the middle of the estuary of the Plata, and in the hills on
+the coast of Uruguay.[78]
+
+     [78] While the Pampean deposits lie immediately on the
+     crystalline and Paleozoic formations in the sierras of the
+     lower Colorado and of the central Pampa, in the south of the
+     province of Buenos Aires and in Uruguay, they are, on the
+     eastern edge of the Sierra de Cordoba, separated from it by
+     red sandstones and conglomerates of uncertain age, perhaps
+     synchronous with the continental red sandstones of Corrientes
+     which outcrop east of the Parana and have been known since
+     D'Orbigny's time as "granitic sandstones."
+
+Underneath the even sheet of the alluvial deposits the surface of the
+sub-Pampean platform is very irregular. Its shape has been discovered
+by deep borings in search of arterial waters. It has been warped and
+cut up by faults, some of these deformations being probably synchronous
+with the formation of the Pampean deposits which have concealed them
+as they have been produced. A subterranean rocky ridge continues the
+Sierra de Cordoba southward and joins it with the sierras of the
+Colorado. The granite emerges at Chamaico, on the western railway, and
+on both sides the borings have passed through great depths of clay and
+sand.[79] This ridge isolates the eastern Pampa from the sub-Andean
+chains, and marks the limit of the area with sheets of underground
+water. In the north of the Pampean region, between the Sierra de
+Cordoba and the Parana, the loose continental formations are more than
+2,000 feet thick at Bellville, and more than 3,500 feet north-west of
+Santa Fe (fodder farms of San Cristobal and El Tostado). At Buenos
+Aires the granite has been found 985 feet below the surface.
+
+     [79] At Rancul, in the east, 660 feet of loess overlying red
+     sandstone: at Telen, in the west, 2,800 feet of sand, marl,
+     sandstone and gravel.
+
+  [Illustration: THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. TRES ARROYES (BUENOS AIRES PRAIRIE
+  BETWEEN THE SIERRA DE TANDIL AND THE SIERRA DE LA VENTANA).
+  _Zone of wheat and oats on large scale. The Pampa is a tableland here
+  (400 feet above sea-level), with clay overlying the limestone of the
+  Tosca. The valleys are well marked._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. TOAY, ON THE CENTRAL PAMPA (590 FEET).
+  _The tableland, with a strong framework of limestone Tosca, is cut
+  across by well-marked dry valleys which sink lower toward the east. At
+  the edges of the valleys the sand is the prey of the winds. Here we are
+  near the limit of the wheat belt._
+                                              Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE XV.                                            To face p. 166.]
+
+The Pampean formation consists almost entirely of loose deposits,
+sand and clays of various sorts. There is no gravel.[80] Even in the
+vicinity of the sierras the beds of gravel, with round or angular
+pebbles, are almost always covered by clay, and are exposed only in the
+banks of the streams. Olascoaga mentions the surprise of the _gauchos_
+of General Roca's army when they found Patagonian pebbles on the ground
+during their stay at Choele Choel on the Colorado, in the course of
+the campaign on the Rio Negro. Officers and soldiers dismounted to
+pick them up. Sand and clay form a thick bed of continental alluvia.
+The Tertiary maritime transgressions, which have left their mark in
+the clays and limestones of the left bank of the lower Parana, and the
+layers of shells at San Pedro on the right bank, never penetrated far
+into the interior of the Pampean region, and one finds no trace of them
+when one leaves the coast or the river.
+
+     [80] Roth claims to have found gravel in the San Nicolas
+     _barranca_ on the Parana. I have myself found small rounded
+     flints in the clay of the Chaco at Tartagal. But these
+     deposits probably come from the left bank of the Parana, where
+     the beds of river gravel are considerable.
+
+The source of the elements which compose the Pampean alluvia is very
+uncertain. Their composition does not clearly show their origin. The
+clays are comparatively rich in calcareous matter, which seems to
+indicate that they do not come from tropical America or the upper basin
+of the Parana. Wright and Fenner insist upon the high proportion of
+siliceous glass of volcanic origin which they contain, which points
+to an intense eruptive activity during or before their formation.[81]
+Doering had already noticed in the Cordoba region the prevalence of
+beds of volcanic ash, which become thicker as one approaches the
+sierra. It is certain that the Pampean sierras have had their share in
+the formation of the Pampean beds. But the main mass is probably of
+Andean origin. However that may be, as soon as one gets away from the
+fringe of the mountains, the only variety noticeable in the lands of
+the Pampa is that which they owe to the conditions in which they have
+been deposited.
+
+     [81] In Ales Hrdlicka, _Early Man in South America_
+     (Smithsonian Instit. Bull., 52, Washington, 1912).
+
+River deposits strictly so called, estuary deposits, lagoon deposits,
+aeolian deposits, aeolian deposits redistributed by water, river deposits
+redistributed by wind--all these different types are represented in the
+Pampean formation, but their relative importance is still disputed.[82]
+
+     [82] Many attempts have been made to classify the Pampean
+     lands, but the results cannot be regarded as final. Ameghino,
+     who is first and foremost a palaeontologist, has done a service
+     in showing the futility of these geological divisions based
+     upon the actual surface of the deposits (colour, fineness,
+     etc.). But even palaeontology gives rather uncertain results,
+     as it is impossible to recognize and follow step by step
+     the various stages of the movement of the fossils. All the
+     classifications of the Pampean are based upon a study of two
+     groups of sections. The first group comprises the cliff on
+     the right bank of the Parana from Rosario to Buenos Aires
+     and the coastal cliff which is a continuation of it, with a
+     break from Ensenada at Mar Chiquita to Bahia Blanca. Ameghino
+     has recognized there a thick series of aeolian deposits
+     separated by several discordances, the oldest elements of
+     which, at Bahia Blanca, belong to the Miocene. The second
+     group comprises the cliffs which enclose the valley of the Rio
+     Primero above and below Cordoba. Doering and Bodenbender in
+     this case describe two stages of aeolian loess, each covered by
+     torrential gravel.
+
+     From the study of these sections geologists have drawn
+     certain conclusions as to the movements which have affected
+     the soil of the Pampa and the changes which the climate has
+     experienced. These conclusions have in each case only a local
+     value, and they have not yet been co-ordinated. The majority
+     of the observers, from Doering to Bailey Willis and Rovereto,
+     seem not to have taken into account sufficiently the fact that
+     in the continental formations the most diverse deposits may
+     come next to each other in the same series, according to the
+     particular process of deposition, and that their alternation
+     does not imply a general change in the conditions of erosion.
+
+When we confine ourselves to studying the actual conditions in which
+the deposits were formed, we are first struck by the poverty of the
+hydrographic network of the Pampa. It is slight except in the vicinity
+of the sierras, where the slope of the ground is pronounced, and in the
+eastern area, on the right bank of the Parana and Entre Rios, where
+the climate is more humid, and the streams flowing over an impermeable
+soil more numerous. The only one of the streams born in the Pampean
+sierras that reaches the Parana is the Rio Tercero or Carcarana. All
+the others dwindle as they descend, and disappear in a low-lying
+district marked by lagoons which they only reach in time of flood. The
+floods themselves never bring the Rio Cuarto and the Rio Quinto and the
+Salado de Buenos Aires into touch with each other. The waters of the
+northern slope of the Sierra de Tandil, and even those of the Sierra
+de Curumalal, on the other hand, reach the Salado after the rains,
+either by way of streams which drain the strings of lagoons, or by
+flood-sheets, which spread over large areas.
+
+The watercourses of the plain are unstable in their direction. The
+traces of their wanderings remain in the form of stretches of alluvial
+sand crossing the fine aeolian clays. These river sands sometimes spread
+over extensive areas, the distribution depending upon a hydrographic
+scheme which is now partially effaced. The sands of the departments of
+General Lopez (south of the Santa Fe province) and General Arenales
+(Buenos Aires province), where the Salado is now developed, were
+probably brought by the Rio Cuarto, and mark an earlier junction of
+the Cuarto and the Salado. These sands run along the Salado as far as
+the confluence of the Saladillo, and the contrast between the light
+soil and the clay of the bank of the Parana is so striking that the
+sand has long been regarded as a marine deposit, indicating an ancient
+shore. Along the Saladillo also, north-west of the Guamini lagoons,
+there is a sandy belt which corresponds with an important direction
+taken by the actual flow of the river, crossing the Bolivar and Veinte
+Cinco de Mayo departments.
+
+While the agency of running water in transporting alluvia is confined
+to certain sections of the plain, the action of the wind is seen over
+its entire surface. The wind everywhere supplements or replaces running
+water. Like running water, it classifies the elements it conveys, and
+selects them according to their weight and size, the finest clays being
+deposited in the moist eastern zone and the coarsest sands in the
+sub-desert zone of the west. The mechanism of erosion explains this
+contrast. The grains of sand that are driven by the wind travel at the
+surface of the ground as long as the vegetation is too sparse to fix
+them. If one goes further east, to a moister district with a thicker
+vegetal carpet, the grains of sand no longer move at the surface of
+the ground, but the wind still carries fine particles of clay, which
+it bears to a great height. The bed of clay does not at all imply an
+arid climate, as is said sometimes, but corresponds to the region of
+the steppes, with moderate rainfall. It is, however, during dry seasons
+that the deposition of clay is at its greatest. Darwin mentions that
+after the droughts of 1827-1830 in the area round the Parana, the marks
+were buried under dust to such an extent that one could no longer
+recognize the limits of the various lands. Apart, however, from these
+sorts of floods or storms of dust caused by the _pampero_, the summer
+atmosphere is clearly laden with dust, which colours the skies in the
+east of the Buenos Aires province, as far as Entre Rios.
+
+The contour of the plain bears, like the soil, the double marks of
+erosion by running water and aeolian erosion. The rivers of the Pampa,
+when they leave the sierras, flow between high cliffs, the height
+diminishing as one goes downward. Presently these _barrancas_ become
+low, approach each other, and at last merely mark the banks of a larger
+bed which the floods fill. There is no trace of valleys. Bailey Willis,
+surprised at this weakness of watercourses that have, nevertheless, an
+appreciable fall, attributes it to the fact that the cycle of erosion
+opened by the last upheaval of the Pampa has not yet had time to
+penetrate into the interior. In reality, it means that here we are at
+the limit of the zone of erosion by running water, and that in this
+climate the essential factor in shaping the landscape is the wind.
+
+The region of the right bank of the Parana (east of the Salado),
+which alone has a complete hydrographic network, must be considered
+apart. From the latitude of Rosario to that of Buenos Aires it is cut
+by flat-bottomed valleys which are sometimes a hundred feet deep.
+The excavation of these valleys is due to an upheaval which raised
+this part of the Pampa above the base-level. The rapids of the lower
+Carcarana also bear witness to this resumption of excavation. Farther
+on an inverse movement has put the bottom of the valleys below this
+level, and led to their being filled up (lagoon deposits of the
+Lujanense of Ameghino). South of Buenos Aires the upheaval has been
+less important, and the valleys are not so deep. Some of them (middle
+Salado and its tributaries on the left bank) are now occupied by long
+lagoons with steep banks, branching along the side-valleys, and these
+owe their origin to the same negative movement, subsequent to the
+excavation of the valleys. The upheaval did not extend to the eastern
+part of the province of Buenos Aires south of the Salado, a low-lying
+flat area, badly drained, exposed to floods, the contour of which has
+been minutely studied in connection with the construction of a great
+network of drainage-canals. North of Rosario, on the only slightly
+permeable clay, the water circulates, after rain, not by means of
+valleys in the proper sense, but along broad and almost imperceptible
+depressions (_canadas_) where the current is slow, and the water dries
+up in the dry season. Their general relations are not yet known.
+
+The loose deposits of the Pampean offer little resistance to erosion.
+The cycles are run through rapidly, and the traces of earlier cycles
+are faint, and are soon effaced.[83]
+
+     [83] Certain features of the hydrographic network clearly have
+     the character of having been superimposed: that is to say, the
+     path of the watercourses has been bequeathed to the actual
+     plain by former erosion-surfaces, which have now disappeared,
+     on which the valleys were originally imposed. That is why
+     in the district of the confluence of the Colorado and the
+     Chadi-Leuvu the valleys pass from Pampean deposits to the
+     crystalline sierras, which were at one time entirely covered
+     with water.
+
+An ancient erosion-surface, dissected by the existing valleys, has
+survived in the south-west of the Pampean plain, thanks to the presence
+on the surface of a sheet of hard limestone, the _tosca_. The _tosca_
+is the result of the concentration of calcareous elements contained
+in clay at the surface in a dry climate. The formation of it implies
+a prolonged stability of the surface on which it has accumulated.
+Like the deep decomposition-soils in moister regions, it indicates
+a peneplain on which erosion has ceased. The bed of _tosca_ covers
+the whole district between the Sierra de Tandil and the Sierra de la
+Ventana, the south-western slope of the Ventana, and most of the area
+of the central Pampa. In the north it does not go beyond the line from
+Buenos Aires to San Rafael. Its eastern limit goes almost by Ingeniero
+Malmen, Monte Nievas, and Atreuco, where it joins the southern bank of
+the lagoons of Carhue and Guamini in the east.[84] In some places the
+tosca is about forty feet thick.
+
+     [84] In the vicinity of San Luis and Cordoba the hard strata
+     which are called _tosca_ are beds of eruptive ashes.
+
+To-day the region of the _tosca_ forms a plateau cut by narrow valleys,
+sometimes 200 feet deep, west of the Sierra de la Ventana and in
+the central Pampa. These parallel valleys, with few ramifications,
+generally lying south-west to north-east, open to the east upon the
+Pampean plain about the frontier of the Buenos Aires province. On the
+other hand, the southernmost of them begin at the foot of the Ventana,
+and seem to blend in the south-west with a general depression that
+is still little known, though it appears to end at the bottom of the
+estuary of Bahia Blanca. None of them has permanent running water.[85]
+The origin of the dry valleys of the _tosca_ is one of the most obscure
+problems of the morphology of the Pampean plain. Perhaps they are due
+to aeolian erosion, like the depressions which are found on the plateau
+of the Colorado and the Rio Negro further south.
+
+     [85] The surface of the _tosca_ tableland is further
+     punctuated by a great number of closed depressions of various
+     depths: long tunnels (_dolines_) which can only be explained,
+     apparently, as an effect of the dissolving of the limestone by
+     water.
+
+The action of the wind in shaping the landscape is more clearly seen
+in the formation of the dunes. When one starts from Buenos Aires or
+Rosario, and gets beyond the region of the level Pampas, the dunes are
+the first feature to meet the eye on the surface of the plain. The
+first fresh dunes are encountered at Carlota, on the line from the Rio
+Cuarto; at Lavalle on the line from Villa Mercedes; and at Trenque
+Lauquen on the line from Toay. The dunes spread northward as far as the
+latitude of Mar Chiquita, but do not enter the Chaco. They are also
+found in parts of the scrub on the west, but their proper domain is the
+western border of the steppe, the upper part of the plain at the foot
+of the Sierra de Cordoba, the south of the San Luis province, and the
+central Pampa.
+
+Any accident that causes the vegetal covering to disappear, such as
+the tread of cattle near a drinking place or an enclosure, is enough
+to set aeolian erosion at work. The wind raises the sand in a sort of
+tossing sea. Then the dune assumes a circular shape. A depression
+appears in the centre, and it deepens until it reaches the average
+level of the plain. Frequently there is a little lake in it. From this
+point onward the deformations are less rapid. The vegetation again
+creeps over the ground, and the dune falls a prey to the rains, which
+slowly reduce its mass.
+
+In the central Pampa, where the elevation is considerable, the dunes
+do not form separate circular patches, but stretch in lines parallel
+to the valleys--sometimes in the heart of the valley, at other times
+backing against one of its slopes.
+
+Far to the east of the zone of the quick dunes, in the south of the
+Cordoba province and the centre of the Buenos Aires province, there
+are certain soft undulations, covered with vegetation, with a sandier
+soil than that of the plain around them. These are dead dunes. The
+district of the dead dunes is characterized by the extreme irregularity
+of the surface-soil, the humus, which gains in richness and depth, as a
+general rule, as one goes eastward, because there it is in some places
+covered by recent aeolian deposits.
+
+The distribution of the dead dunes is connected with the stretches of
+river sand across the Pampa, which have offered an easy victim to the
+winds. A line of dead dunes follows the upper course of the Salado in
+the district of Junin and Bragado. On the line from Buenos Aires to San
+Luis one crosses it between Chacabuco and Vedia, and then one comes
+again upon the horizontal plain, which has fresh dunes, only further
+west, at 120 miles from Villa Mercedes. Its elevation is so conspicuous
+on the level plain that the first breeders who used its pasturage gave
+it the emphatic name of the _cerillada_. D'Azara correctly appreciated
+the nature of it. "It is," he says, "only a dune of very fine sand."
+It is only a few yards high. The dead dunes of the Bolivar and Veinte
+Cinco de Mayo departments, which Parchappe described, have a more
+conspicuous relief, and in their disposition sometimes remind us of
+the fresh circular dunes with a central lagoon. The lines of coastal
+dunes in the eastern part of the Buenos Aires province obstruct the
+proper flow of the water there, and form a group apart, which must be
+clearly distinguished from the dunes on the plain.[86]
+
+     [86] Outside the districts with quick and dead dunes, a
+     frequent type of landscape on the Pampa is a plain thinly
+     sown with very small lagoons, generally circular, between
+     which develop a series of barely perceptible undulations. The
+     inequality is at times so slight that one only notices it
+     by the contrast between the vegetation of the lower and the
+     higher ground. This type of landscape, which is especially
+     seen in the district of Lincoln or of Nueve de Julio, is
+     due to the action of the wind on a plain where the level of
+     the underground water is near the surface. This level marks
+     a limit below which aeolian erosion does not take place: a
+     sort of base-level. The periodic variations of level of the
+     underground water reduce or enlarge the undulations of the
+     surface.
+
+Thus the impression of monotony which the Pampa makes in us is
+corrected to some extent by close observation. High and low land
+alternate on it. Parchappe himself had noticed the contrast between
+the area that stretches from Buenos Aires to the Salado, with its soft
+undulations and its well-developed hydrographic network, the horizontal
+plains on the right bank of the Salado, with their irregular dunes, and
+the southern plateau of the _tosca_ between the Sierra de Tandil and
+the Sierra de la Ventana.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We may now distinguish the following regions in the Pampa as a whole:
+
+1. The central part of the Santa Fe province forms what is called
+the district of the "colonies": that is to say, the domain of the
+colonies established two generations ago, and the zone in which the
+type of cultivation introduced by them took root. The chief crops here
+are wheat and flax. Hedges of service trees (_paraisos_) surround the
+fields. In contrast with the parts of the Pampa which have remained
+naked, the region of the colonies seems a veritable grove. It stretches
+westward beyond the frontier of the Cordoba province, and it reaches
+the fringe of the _monte_ between San Francisco and Mar Chiquita.
+For the north, Miatello gives 30 deg. S. lat. as the normal limit of the
+wheat-growing area; beyond this it suffers both from the low rainfall
+of winter and the excessive rainfall in summer. As a matter of fact,
+the large estates only reach this latitude on the line from San
+Francisco to Ceres. On the Resistencia line, north of Santa Fe, they
+stop at 30 deg. 30' S. lat. In the intervening district the limit of the
+region of the colonies almost coincides with that of the department of
+Castellanos, about 30 deg. 45' S. lat. The area lying between this line
+and the northern edge of the Pampa is given up to breeding. In the
+south the region of the colonies stretches as far as Las Bandurias and
+Irigoyen.
+
+2. South of the region of the colonies, the tableland on the right bank
+of the Parana, west of Rosario and San Nicolas, is the maize region,
+the corn belt of Argentina. Flax is generally cultivated as well as
+maize. It is the agricultural country _par excellence_ of Argentina.
+The soil, of fine clay, dark red in colour and retentive of moisture,
+and the abundant summer rains, are very suitable for maize. The limits
+of the maize region describe an arc of a circle round Rosario with a
+radius of 60 to 100 miles. They do not quite reach the frontier of
+Cordoba in the west, and they leave out the entire south-western corner
+of the Santa Fe province. The maize belt touches the Parana between
+32 deg. S. lat. and the Baradero. In the north it passes suddenly into
+the region of the colonies. In the south, on the other hand, there is at
+the edge of the corn belt an extensive transition-area, where maize and
+wheat occupy pretty much the same surface; it stretches as far as the
+Rio Salado de Buenos Aires.
+
+3. The region of the lucerne farms is much larger. It comprises the
+whole north-west corner of the Buenos Aires province, from the Salado,
+in the district of Junin, to the southern limit of the Nueve de Julio
+and Pehuajo departments, and as far as the latitude of Guamini. The
+limit of the lucerne farms does not include the lands of the central
+Pampa, but advances westward and takes in part of the Pedernera
+department in the San Luis province. The lucerne farms run along the
+San Rafael line to Batavia, and at this point they reach the limits of
+the colonized zone. In addition, the zone of the lucerne farms includes
+the whole south-eastern part of the Cordoba province, as high up as the
+line from Villa Mercedes to Villa Maria, and the southern part of the
+Santa Fe province. In the whole of this area, fifteen to twenty-five
+per cent. of the surface is planted with lucerne. The conditions
+required for its cultivation are a moderate depth of the underground
+water and a light soil that allows the roots to penetrate easily. The
+eastern belt of clays is not good for lucerne, which survives there for
+much less time than in the west, where it may live fifteen or twenty
+years.
+
+The lucerne belt is above all a great breeding area for horned cattle,
+as sheep-pasturage injures the lucerne. It is not nearly so monotonous,
+however, as the preceding regions. In the south-east, in the Buenos
+Aires province, the creation of the lucerne farms was undertaken at a
+time when agricultural colonization had already begun. We therefore
+find two types of exploitation side by side. The cultivation of maize
+enters it in the south-west, in spite of the comparatively unfavourable
+climatic conditions. The centre of the lucerne area in the south of
+the Cordoba province is also a great agricultural zone; but there
+agriculture is directly connected with the creation of the lucerne
+estates. It is, in fact, entrusted to colonists who till the ground
+for four or five years, and restore it to the owners sown with lucerne
+at the expiration of their lease. The crops consist almost exclusively
+of wheat and flax. Lastly, in the west (San Luis province and extreme
+south-west of Cordoba province) the soil gets increasingly more sandy,
+and the climate drier. A single tillage suffices to destroy the natural
+vegetation and clear the place for lucerne. The lucerne fields have
+been created by the breeders themselves, the sole masters of the
+region, without the aid of the colonists.
+
+4. Beyond the lucerne belt, at the point where the plain rises toward
+the Sierra de San Luis and the Sierra de Cordoba, the subterranean
+water sinks deeper. This zone at the foot of the ranges, unsuitable
+for lucerne, yet with a soil comparatively rich in humus, has been
+taken up by agricultural workers. The wheat area extends, in the San
+Luis province, as far as Fraga and Naschel, in the Conlara depression.
+The maize area extends to Oncativo, in the Cordoba province, between
+the Tercero and Secundo rivers, where the summer rainfall is heavier.
+Thanks to the nearness of the mountains, this area has a water-supply
+for irrigation, and this sustains several small centres of good farms.
+
+5. The south of the Buenos Aires province and the central Pampa are the
+wheat zone. The bed of _tosca_, which is not far below the soil, does
+no harm to the wheat except in years of drought. The valleys, where
+the _tosca_ is interrupted, and the dunes, where the soil is deep, are
+very carefully used for lucerne fields of limited extent. Wheat-growing
+seems now, both in this and the preceding zone, to have reached its
+limit, as the dryness makes it improbable that there will be any
+extension westward.
+
+6. Lastly, the east of the Buenos Aires province, the centre of
+which is fairly indicated by the little town of Dolores, is the only
+part of the Pampean plain which has not been reached by agricultural
+colonization. The land lies low, and is badly drained. The only change
+that has taken place in the vegetation is a progressive improvement due
+to the hoofs of the cattle during their long stays there. This pastoral
+area is clearly limited in the south by the Sierra de Tandil. In the
+north it is continued in the more varied region that lies between
+Buenos Aires and the lower Salado, where the alternation of winter
+pasture on the dry lands and summer pasture in the valleys, encourages
+the best methods of breeding, and has made it the region of the dairy
+industry.
+
+In the Entre Rios province the limit of the large estates of wheat and
+flax is marked by 32 deg. S. lat. The part of Entre Rios which extends
+north of 32 deg. and the Corrientes province do not strictly belong to
+the Pampean region.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Extensive breeding was the first form taken by white colonization on
+the Pampa. The word breeding is, in fact, hardly the correct name for
+an industry that mainly consisted of hunting, and was wholly distinct
+from the patient and advanced methods used at the same time in the
+northern provinces.
+
+"The real wealth of the province of Buenos Aires," says Dean Funes,
+"was, and always will be, the trade in hides" (_la pellejeria_).[87]
+A good part of the hides exported came from the hunting of the wild
+cattle and horses which had grown numerous on the area of the Pampa
+beyond the Rio Salado.[88] It was mainly after 1778, when trade with
+Spain had been authorized and there was an increased demand for hides,
+that the hunting of these ownerless beasts was taken up. Two thousand
+Spaniards from Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Mendoza hunted every day,
+says D'Azara, killing an animal for each of their meals in addition
+to those they killed for hides. From 1775 to the Revolution, the
+Spanish Government made continuous efforts to regulate and reduce the
+massacre of the herds. It laid down penalties for every person selling
+hides that did not bear his own mark; it farmed out the right to hunt
+animals with no mark, and organized the destruction of wild dogs, etc.
+The ranches developed under shelter of this legislation. Still, the
+Revolution did not witness the end of this cattle-hunting. D'Orbigny
+took part in 1828 in two hunts of wild horses (_baguales_) in Entre
+Rios. The Argentine _gaucho_ long retained the ways of a hunter rather
+than those of a breeder in the strict sense; witness Urquiza's soldiers
+who, says Demersay, during the campaign of 1846, when they could not
+find trees to which they could fasten their horses, killed cattle and
+tied the reins to their horns.
+
+     [87] _Ensayo de la historia civil del Paraguay, Buenos Aires,
+     y Tucuman_ (3 vols, in 16^{mo}) Buenos Aires, 1816, t. iii, p.
+     214.
+
+     [88] The number of wild animals and the area over which they
+     roamed have often been exaggerated. It does not look as if
+     they ever covered the whole of the Pampean plain. A salter who
+     crossed Patagonia and the whole of the Pampa in 1753 (_Voyage
+     du San Martin au fort de San Julian_, Coll. de Angelis, v.)
+     only found wild herds near the Salado frontier, and he knew by
+     this that he was close to the ranches. At the beginning of the
+     nineteenth century there were no wild cattle left on the right
+     bank of the Parana. There were still some in Entre Rios.
+
+Passing from the hunting country to the zone of ranches, one notices
+that the main work of the breeder is to prevent his cattle from running
+wild. "The ranches of this country," said Dean Funes, "having been set
+up on immense plains, on which it was not easy to confine the herds
+within fixed limits, it sometimes happened that the animals went vast
+distances in search of water or pasture, and ended by being regarded
+as wild and ownerless," When D'Azara wants to show that the ranches
+of Paraguay are superior to those of Buenos Aires, he is content to
+say that there the animals are tamer (_mansos_). With the wild animal
+(_alzado_) is contrasted the _de rodeo_ animal: that is to say, the
+cattle which are rounded up periodically in the centre of the ranch to
+be taken to the pasture where they must live (_aquerenciar_). It is the
+difficulty of preventing the dispersal of the herd that fixes the price
+of the _rincones_ (surrounded by inundated areas) of Corrientes, in
+which the animals are captives.
+
+MacKann's description of pastoral life in the Buenos Aires province in
+the middle of the nineteenth century give us a very clear impression
+of the stage of transition between exploiting the natural increase of
+a herd that multiplies without man's intervention, and breeding in
+the strict sense. The value of a horse in the former case is almost
+exclusively the cost of breaking it in. The breeder is actually anxious
+when he sees his horses increase, as he fears he may not have the
+resources for breaking them in. The most formidable of the dangers that
+threatened the feeble discipline of the herd was drought. That in the
+year 1827 was a disaster. The animals left the ranches in a body to go
+southward, where they mixed.[89]
+
+     [89] The water problem is not as important for the history of
+     colonization in the Pampean region as in the north. Primitive
+     breeding was confined to natural supplies of water, lagoons
+     or streams, and to shallow wells (_jagueles_) dug down to
+     the superficial sheet, which is generally not deep, but is
+     liable to dry up. As colonization improved, the breeder, and
+     subsequently the farmer, were better equipped for boring
+     wells, and no longer feared drought. They got down to the
+     deeper waters, semi-artesian (Buenos Aires district) or
+     artesian (west of the Santa Fe province, round San Francisco).
+     In other places the superficial waters, which are fresher
+     than the deeper layers, were used by adapting new types of
+     filters to the wells (Buena Esperanza district). The only two
+     districts where the quest of water offered any difficulty are
+     the south-west corner of the Pampean region and the northern
+     extremity of the prairie in the Santa Fe province. The sheets
+     of water are very irregular there, often saline, and it was a
+     long time before the ranches got an assured supply.
+
+     One remarkable circumstance is the importance of the dunes in
+     connection with the distribution of the underground water. The
+     rain-water accumulates in the dunes and flows slowly through
+     the sand to the sub-soil. The level of the underground sheet
+     in the clay on which the dune rests is always nearer the
+     surface in the neighbourhood of the dune. The dune itself has
+     often a greener vegetation than the land around it. Nothing
+     is more surprising than to find at Medanos (west of Bahia
+     Blanca), in the middle of a plain of arid aspect, fields of
+     lucerne and orchards lodged in the hollows of dunes that are
+     still fresh. In the whole of the Buenos Aires province the
+     dead district of the dunes is, on account of its water-supply,
+     a good place for habitation. D'Azara notices the numerous
+     water-spots which ran along the foot of the dead dunes of the
+     Cerillada. All round were the white bones of the _baguales_.
+     In the valleys of the central Pampa, where the sheet of water
+     in the centre of the valley is often saline, the underground
+     water improves gradually as one approaches the line of the
+     dunes.
+
+Revolutions and wars interrupted the work of taming the cattle. When
+Galvez went from the Cordoba province to Buenos Aires at the end of the
+Rosas Government, he was struck by the condition of the ranches.[90]
+Many of them had been confiscated, or their owners driven into exile.
+Cattle were no longer marked, and they had become wild. The troubles
+of the emancipation-period were much less injurious to the Buenos
+Aires breeders than to those of Entre Rios. The Entre Rios herd was
+almost annihilated during the revolution, and some of the ranchers of
+the left bank crossed to the right bank of the Parana. After 1823 the
+pastoral wealth of Entre Rios was rapidly restored, thanks to raids on
+Brazilian territory. They were so profitable that the whole population
+took part in them. In 1827 the inhabitants of Bajada went there in such
+numbers that the town was half deserted. Every day thousands of cattle
+were collected on the bank of the Uruguay, and crossed the river. Some
+of them were even taken beyond the Parana, to the Santa Fe province.
+Woodbine Parish confirms this rapid restoration of Entre Rios, of
+which D'Orbigny was a witness. But this period of prosperity did not
+last long. The war with Uruguay, under Rosas, again ruined the Entre
+Rios ranches, and the drought of 1846 helped to scatter the remaining
+herds. Extensive breeding is only lightly rooted in the soil. The
+chief centres of production change their locality, as the political
+circumstances change, from one part of the Pampean plain to another.
+
+     [90] V. Galvez, _Memorias de un viejo_ (Buenos Aires, 3 vols,
+     in 16^{mo}, 4th ed, 1889).
+
+  [Illustration: THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. THE RIO BAMBA (IN THE SOUTH OF THE
+  CORDOBA PROVINCE, 500 FEET ABOVE SEA-LEVEL).
+  _Small circular lagoons. The underground water, which comes from the
+  Sierras to the north-west, here reaches the surface. Zone of lucerne
+  farms._
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. BUENA ESPERANZA (SAN LUIS PROVINCE,
+  1,166 FEET ELEVATION).
+  _The plain is sown with quick and dead dunes, often shaped in a circle
+  round a lagoon. A dune invaded by vegetation._
+                                              Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE XVI.                                           To face p. 182.]
+
+Primitive breeding affords few examples of periodical migration for the
+better use of pasturage. In 1822, in the course of a journey amongst
+the Sierras de Tandil and de la Ventana, Colonel Garcia noticed that
+the Indians kept their cattle round the temporary lagoons of the
+plain in the winter, and went up to the mountain-streams in summer.
+Transhumation movements of this kind were difficult for the creole
+ranchers, whose fairly large herds could not be handled easily. The
+Chascomus breeders, however, at the close of the eighteenth century,
+drove their cattle to the low banks of the Salado during the dry
+season.[91] Garcia also notices the importance of the Salado pastures
+for the ranches of Salto, Areco, and Lujan.[92] The need to remove the
+herds in the dry season, and to find _invernadas_ within reach of the
+former ranches, was due to the change brought about in the natural
+vegetation of the Pampa and the spread of the _pasto dulce_. The
+annual herbs which compose the _pasto dulce_ die and disappear after
+fertilization. Until the autumn rain they leave the ground quite naked,
+whereas the tough grasses of the _pasto duro_ afforded a thin but
+permanent pasture.
+
+     [91] _Diario de un reconocimiento de las guardias y fortines
+     que garnecen la linea de frontera de Buenos Aires_ (1796), by
+     D. Felix de Azara (Coll. de Angelis, vi.).
+
+     [92] _Nueva plan de fronteras de la Provincia de Buenos Aires
+     por el Colonel Garcia_ (1816, Coll. de Angelis, vi.).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The first improvements of the pastoral industry of the Pampa are
+connected with the development of sheep-breeding. Exports of wool
+began about 1840, and made great progress after 1855 (17,000 tons
+in 1860, 65,000 tons in 1870). From 1850 to about 1890 the economic
+returns on sheep-breeding were far better than on cattle-breeding.
+During the whole of this period the multiplication of sheep farms was
+only restricted by the supply of workers. The first shepherds had been
+Basques, in the south of the Buenos Aires province, and Irish, in the
+north. The owner settled them as small farmers in the _puestos_ on the
+edge of the ranch, the central part of which was devoted to cattle.
+They could thus, while they guarded their sheep, see that the limits of
+the estate were respected, and prevent the cattle from roaming.
+
+Wool was for a long time the only product of the sheep-rearing
+industry. From 1866 onward it was decided to use the hides and tallow
+also. As the material of the grease-works was cheap, they spread all
+over the sheep zone. Many ranches had works of their own. From 1867
+to 1877 the _saladeros_ that had been built long before for killing
+cattle undertook the slaughter of sheep on a large scale. The number
+of sheep sold to the _saladeros_ rose to 3,000,000 a year. In 1880 the
+first cargoes of frozen mutton were sent abroad. The creation of the
+grease-works had made no difference to the breeding, but the building
+of the refrigerators brought about a rapid transformation of the flock.
+The Lincoln breed, heavier and more meaty, displaced the fine-wool
+Merinos. This substitution of Lincolns for Merinos is now complete
+throughout the Pampean region.
+
+Until 1880 sheep-rearing was concentrated east of the Salado, north
+and south of Buenos Aires, beginning with a line that passes through
+Quilmes, San Vicente, Pilar, and Campana, which marks the limit of the
+suburban zone. In addition it had spread on the right bank of the lower
+Salado as far as the foot of the Sierra de Tandil, in an area where the
+first stations date from 1823, though the population did not make much
+progress until after 1855. About 1880, after the pacification of the
+Pampa, the sheep-farms began to expand westward. It was then that the
+wool of the _pasto fuerte_ appeared on the Buenos Aires market. It came
+from the Azal district in 1870, from Olavarria in 1880, from Bolivar in
+1885, and from Villegas in 1890. The Census of 1889 ascribes 51,000,000
+sheep to the province of Buenos Aires; that of 1895 gives much the same
+figure (52,000,000). Detailed comparison of the two enumerations shows
+that the expansive movement to the west continued, and was completed
+during this period. The flocks in the north-west zone of the province
+(Lincoln, Villegas, Trenque, Lauquen) more than doubled; the flocks of
+the south-west area (Alsina, Puan, Bahia Blanca, Villarino) continued
+to grow, and increased by a third. Those on the lands of the central
+Pampa increased threefold. On the other hand, in the departments
+north and south of the Sierra de Tandil, where colonization is older,
+sheep-breeding is stationary. The north-east and south-east areas,
+between the Parana and the Salado, have diminished: one losing a fifth,
+and the other a half, of its flocks.
+
+From 1895 onward the number of flocks of sheep on the Pampean plain
+decreased rapidly. The number of sheep had sunk from 34,000,000 in 1908
+to 18,000,000 in 1915 for the Buenos Aires province; from 2,800,000
+in 1908 to 2,300,000 in 1914 for the central Pampa. The reduction was
+general, and found in every district; but it was not equally great
+everywhere, and did not begin at the same date in every district.
+Sheep-breeding has almost entirely disappeared from the eastern belt,
+east of the Salado, which was its cradle. South of Buenos Aires
+the sheep are giving place to horned cattle, and they had almost
+disappeared by 1908. North of Buenos Aires they survived long, but
+the reduction of the flocks has only been the more rapid since 1908.
+This corresponds with the advance of maize-growing. In six years the
+Bartolome Mitre and Pergamino departments have lost, respectively,
+four-fifths and five-sixths of their sheep. In the north-west of the
+Buenos Aires province the sheep began to be reduced at the time when
+the lucerne farms were founded, about 1900. The decrease has since
+gone on uninterruptedly. The actual flocks represent one-fourth of
+the flocks of 1895. In the south-west (wheat belt) there was a rapid
+shrinkage before 1908, but it seems to have almost been arrested since
+then, thanks to the combining of sheep-rearing with wheat and oats. The
+actual flocks are about one-half the flocks of 1895. Finally, in the
+area north of the Sierra de Tandil the sheep retreat before the cattle,
+as they do further north, but they are not so completely wiped out as
+in the lucerne belt, and the flocks are still two fifths of the flocks
+of twenty years ago.
+
+In the province of Entre Rios and south of Corrientes the number of
+sheep continued to rise until 1908, but the increase is only in the
+northern departments, outside the agricultural belt. The southern
+departments, which are large growers of wheat and flax, lost one-third
+of their flocks between 1895 and 1908.
+
+Cattle-breeding was restricted for a long time by the difficulty of
+disposing of its products. The hides alone found ready buyers. The
+making and export of salt beef dates from the eighteenth century, and
+it was to help this industry that the expeditions to the salt-beds of
+the Pampa and the journeys of salters to the Patagonian coast were
+organized. From 1792 to 1796 no less than 39,000 quintals of jerked
+beef were sent from the Rio de la Plata to Havana. But the market for
+salt meat (_tasajo_) was always limited. It consisted only of the
+Antilles and Brazil, and the _saladeros_ never fully exploited the
+meat-producing capacity of the Argentine herds. The crisis of the
+_saladeros_ occurred before the time when the refrigerators began to
+compete with them. By 1889 there were only three left in the province
+of Buenos Aires.
+
+Although the price of cattle was not very remunerative, and provided
+no incentive to improve the breeding; although the _saladero_ was not
+at all exorbitant, merely asking for animals in good condition, the
+improvement of the herd by introducing selected pedigree-breeders had
+begun about the middle of the nineteenth century. The Basque dairies
+established in the district near Buenos Aires sold pedigree-calves
+to the ranches, and these were used for breeding purposes.[93] About
+1880 the advance of sheep-breeding pressed the cattle-ranches back and
+disputed the space with them more and more, within the ancient Indian
+frontier. The smallness of the market for cattle and their slight
+mercantile value were very favourable circumstances for the occupation
+of the new lands, thrown open at this date by the submission of the
+Indians. The herds which found no buyers were sent to the _campos
+de afuera_. The ranches developed very rapidly. Daireaux has very
+accurately described this period of pastoral colonization, and the
+starting of convoys that were intended to give a population to the west
+of the Pampa. Cattle were there several years before sheep. As a matter
+of fact, breeders do not regard cattle as having a value of their own.
+They are merely auxiliaries that must improve the pasture and prepare
+the ground for sheep. The cattle themselves are preceded by troops of
+half-wild horses which first take possession of the virgin field and
+begin the transformation of it.
+
+     [93] This is, in a special form, the first instance of
+     specialization, in the cantons of the Pampean region, in the
+     breeding industry, properly so called (producing breeders).
+
+The number of cattle increases rapidly. In 1875 it was estimated that
+there were 5,000,000 head of cattle in the province of Buenos Aires.
+In 1889 there were 8,500,000. Since that date the variations have
+been comparatively slight. The Census of 1895 gives 7,700,000; that
+of 1908 gives 10,300,000; that of 1914 gives 9,000,000; and that of
+1915 gives 11,300,000.[94] But the value of the cattle has gone up
+rapidly. The exports of live meat, which lasted from 1889 to 1900, were
+the beginning of the rise. It was strengthened when the refrigerators
+ceased to confine themselves to killing sheep and began to buy cattle.
+The exports of chilled or frozen beef increased after 1898. The value
+of them rose to 10,000,000 gold piastres in 1904, double that in 1909,
+and more than quadruple in 1914.
+
+     [94] The variations in number are less considerable for the
+     Pampean region than for the whole of Argentina. It is better
+     supplied with capital than the other breeding districts, and
+     can rapidly replace the losses caused by excessive export by
+     buying cattle in the adjoining provinces.
+
+The difference between the price paid by the refrigerators for
+pedigree-cattle and the price of animals of creole blood, which the
+local market takes, hurries up the transformation of the herd. In
+order to watch reproduction and nurse the pasture, the ranches put up
+wire-fences. But the breeding methods are especially modified by the
+introduction of lucerne. It spread in the south of Cordoba and west of
+the Buenos Aires province from 1895 onward, and from 1905 onward in
+part of the San Luis province. There were already small lucerne farms
+in the Buenos Aires province. A description that was written at the
+end of the eighteenth century speaks of lucerne farms round the town
+which were reserved for feeding draught cattle.[95] But the area from
+which the cultivation of lucerne started at the close of the nineteenth
+century is the district of the Cordoba province that is crossed by the
+line from Rosario to Cordoba, completed about 1870 to Bellville and
+Villa Marina. The lucerne farms there were not created by the breeders,
+and the lucerne was at first intended for export to Rosario and Buenos
+Aires in the form of dry fodder. The trade in dry fodder has remained
+good there. The 1908 Census gives 128 square kilometres of lucerne for
+cutting in the Tercero Abajo department (Villa Maria) and 267 square
+kilometres in the Union department (Bellville).[96]
+
+     [95] Fernando Barrero, _Descripcion de las provincias del Rio
+     de la Plata_ (published by the Argentine Ministry of Foreign
+     Affairs, Buenos Aires, 1911).
+
+     [96] Amongst the specialized industries connected with the
+     development of the lucerne farms we must mention the growing
+     of lucerne for seed, which has settled in the dry zones, where
+     the lucerne is not so much invaded by other species; for
+     instance, the district of Madanos, west of Bahia Blanca.
+
+  [Illustration: MAP III.--THE CATTLE-BREEDING AREAS.
+  _The density of the herd is slight in the maize belt. It is
+  considerable in the centre and east of the Pampean region, which supply
+  the refrigerators with pedigree stock of good weight. The density is
+  considerable also in the north of Mesopotamia, but the cattle there
+  are less valuable and are taken by the saladeros of the Uruguay. The
+  presence of the tick, which inoculates cattle with Texas fever, is
+  the chief obstacle to the improvement of the herd in the north of
+  Argentina._                                             To face p. 188.]
+
+The lucerne spread southward and south-westward from this point; and
+the improvement of the herds kept pace with it. I have shown elsewhere
+how this improvement was checked north of a line along the course of
+the Parana, the northern frontier of the Constitucion and General Lopez
+departments, in the province of Santa Fe and on the Rio Cuarto, and
+in the Cordoba province, by the presence of the _garrapate_, which
+inoculates the cattle with a dreaded disease, Texas fever. The creole
+cattle are immunized against the _garrapate_, but pedigree cattle
+quickly succumb to it. In order to protect the southern zone, where
+the _garrapate_ does not reproduce, the Argentine Government imposes
+severe restrictions on the transport of cattle from north to south;
+the cattle have to have disinfectant baths at the frontier-stations.
+This cuts pastoral Argentina in two. While the Durham cattle of the
+south are intended for the refrigerators, the creole cattle of the
+north still supply the _saladeros_, which have disappeared from Buenos
+Aires, but survive on the Uruguay. Yet the advantages of crossing with
+European breeds are such that the northern breeders, in spite of the
+risk and the expense, have not given up all hope of accomplishing it.
+The transformation of the herd, however, is bound to be very slow.
+Pedigree breeders are brought from the south and kept in the stable.
+Their progeny, born on the spot, resist Texas fever better and can be
+put out to pasture. There has been more progress in the contaminated
+zone on the right bank of the Parana than in Entre Rios and Corrientes.
+Pedigree animals have been introduced at Santa Fe, not only in the
+region of the colonies, but further north, in the extreme northern
+corner of the Pampa (San Cristobal department), colonized by ranchers
+from the north of Buenos Aires and the south of Santa Fe, who were
+ousted by the progress of maize. They have brought with them to the
+new lands the cultivation of lucerne and the methods they followed on
+their former property. At Corrientes, on the other hand, breeding is an
+historic industry. The staff of the ranches is indigenous. The pastoral
+traditions are unchanged.
+
+When we study the variations in the numbers of cattle in different
+parts of the Pampa, by comparing the results of recent Censuses
+we find that the number has risen rapidly since 1895 in the whole
+of the eastern area, north of the Sierra de Tandil. The increase
+is particularly conspicuous north of the Rio Salado, in the dairy
+district. (Mean density in 1915, 40 to 60 horned cattle per square
+kilometre.) In the south-west region (wheat belt) the density has
+always been low (12 per square kilometre), and it shows no tendency
+to increase. In the north and western region of Buenos Aires (lucerne
+belt) there has been a rapid increase, especially between 1895 and 1908
+(creation of the lucerne farms), and it has not been interrupted since
+(density 50 to the square kilometre). There is the same increase in
+the whole area of the lucerne farms in the Cordoba, Santa Fe, and San
+Luis provinces, where the herds doubled between 1895 and 1908. Only two
+regions have suffered a reduction: the agricultural area of the centre
+(Chacabuco, Chivilcoy), where there has been a decrease since 1895, and
+the maize district (north of Buenos Aires), where cattle-rearing did
+not diminish until after 1908.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Agriculture had begun to develop by the end of the eighteenth century
+in the district round Buenos Aires. D'Azara admits the enormous
+preponderance of breeding, but mentions that the right bank of the
+Parana exported flour to the left bank, which was exclusively pastoral.
+Barrero also observes that between the belt of orchards and lucerne
+fields, about a league in width, which surrounded Buenos Aires, and
+the area of the ranches, which did not begin for six or eight leagues,
+there was an agricultural belt, the district of the _chacras de pan
+llevar_. The main crop was wheat, and the tillage was chiefly done in
+the rich soils at the bottom of the valleys, which are called _canadas_
+in the local dialect (canada de Moron, canada du Rio Lujan, etc.).
+
+It was, however, not at Buenos Aires, but in the Santa Fe province,
+that modern agricultural colonization began in the nineteenth century.
+It goes back to the foundation (in 1854) of the colony of Esperanza,
+west of Santa Fe, from which it was separated by the strip of forest
+which follows the course of the Salado. European immigrants--Swiss,
+French, and Piedmontese--had settled there. The early years of
+colonization at Santa Fe were difficult, and the colonies did not begin
+to develop rapidly until after 1870. About that date we can distinguish
+three nuclei of agricultural colonization at Santa Fe. The first group
+of colonies was settled in the north, on the bank of the Parana. In the
+centre the Esperanza group advanced steadily westward. A third group
+of colonies lay along the Central Argentine railway from Rosario to
+Cordoba.
+
+The Esperanza colonists had at first grown maize, but the prosperity
+of the colonies was mainly due to wheat. Zeballos, who visited the
+colonies in 1882, describes them as a vast lake of wheat. Wheat
+predominates, not only in the department of Las Colonias, west of Santa
+Fe, where it survives in full strength, but further north, at Garay,
+whence it has since been displaced by flax and earth-nuts, and in the
+south, round Rosario, in the belt which is now given up to maize. It is
+for the wheat that the mills of Carcarana and the granaries of Rosario
+have been built. The land sown with wheat at Santa Fe rose in 1882
+to 102,000 hectares out of a total of 127,000 hectares of cultivated
+land.[97] By 1889 the area of wheat was quadrupled. It spread like a
+drop of oil, reaching Rafaela and Castellanos on the west. In 1895 the
+advance was still more rapid. Wheat-growing has crossed the Cordoba
+frontier, and spread round San Francisco and east of Mar Chiquita
+(departments of San Justo and Marcos Juarez). The agricultural regions
+in the centre of the Santa Fe province and those of the Central
+Argentine have met, and the wheat has invaded the whole of the San
+Martin department. It extends even south of the old colonies of the
+Central Argentine toward the south-west of Santa Fe, in the General
+Lopez department.
+
+     [97] The population of the Santa Fe colonies in 1882 was
+     52,000, of whom 12,000 were in the colonies of the San Javier,
+     north of the town of Santa Fe.
+
+The 1908 Census shows a very different state of things. The density of
+the wheat-cultivation has continued to grow appreciably in the whole
+of the northern region, and also in the south-west of the province,
+at some distance from the Parana (General Lopez department). On the
+other hand, it has been reduced in the adjoining district of Rosario
+(departments of Iriondo, Belgrana, Caseros, and Constitucion), where
+maize-growing has developed. Maize has won part of the wheat belt.
+
+  ----------------+----------------------+---------------------
+                  |       Wheat Area     |    Maize Area
+                  |    (in kilometres).  |  (in kilometers).
+  Departments.[98]|------+-------+-------+------+------+-------
+                  | 1889 |  1895 |  1908 | 1889 | 1895 | 1908
+  ----------------+------+-------+-------+------+------+-------
+  Las Colonias   }|1,623{| 1,307 | 1,621 |}  82 |{  24 |    31
+  Castillanos    }|     {| 1,845 | 3,425 |}     |{   4 |     7
+  S. Jeronimo    }|  664{|   854 |   849 |}  65 |{  15 |   264
+  S. Martin      }|     {|   964 | 1,884 |}     |{  22 |    35
+  _Iriondo_      }|  971{|   929 |   442 |}  65 |{  81 |   641
+  _Belgrano_     }|     {| 1,137 |   638 |}     |{  37 |   296
+  _S. Lorenzo_   }|  652{|   387 | 1,390 |} 178 |{ 150 | 1,169
+  _Caseros_      }|     {| 1,139 |   468 |}     |{  83 |   970
+  Gal. Lopez     }|   12{|   888 | 1,370 |}  51 |{ 373 | 1,558
+  _Constitucion_ }|     {|   227 |   165 |}     |{ 575 |   736
+  S. Justo       }|   12{|   732 | 2,345 |}  48 |{   7 |    34
+  M. Juarez      }|     {| 1,504 | 1,442 |}     |{  53 |    92
+  ----------------+------+-------+-------+------+------+-------
+
+Restricted in the south by the extension of the maize belt, the region
+of the colonies has now a very distinctive character amongst the
+agricultural areas of the Pampa.
+
+     [98] The names of departments which belong in their entirety
+     to the maize region are given in italics. The department of
+     San Jeronimo straddles the maize region and the region of the
+     colonies. The General Lopez territory also extends, in the
+     south-west, far beyond the limit of the maize belt.
+
+This originality is not so much in virtue of its crops (hard wheat and
+flax) as on account of the age of colonization and the division of
+property. Most of the colonists are owners, and estates of 50 to 200
+hectares are the rule. The houses are comfortable; they are surrounded
+by orchards and kitchen-gardens. Moreover, the rural economy has been
+complicated, and it has assumed a familiar aspect for the European
+observer, owing to the introduction of cattle-rearing on a small
+scale by the farmers. The number of horned cattle doubled between
+1908 and 1914 in the Castellanos department, and increased by a third
+in Las Colonias. The area of lucerne has extended in proportion. The
+farms have been multiplied on the low lands (_canadas_), unsuitable
+for wheat, which the older colonists had disdained; but they are
+now regarded as the best bits of land. The recent rise in the value
+of land in the region of the colonies is connected, not with an
+increase of agricultural production, but a development of breeding. A
+few co-operative dairy societies have been established. In general,
+however, breeding is solely for the meat-market. The cattle-trade goes
+on very different lines from those of the large estates and ranches. It
+has remained in the hands of small dealers (Jews of Moisesville).
+
+Agricultural colonization in the Buenos Aires province was at first
+entirely independent of the Santa Fe colonization. The crops of the
+adjoining region of Buenos Aires never disappeared altogether. In the
+period to which Daireaux's description of the economic life of the
+Pampa refers (1880-89), the farmers disputed with the breeders a belt
+some ten leagues broad round the capital. But sheep-breeding left no
+place for agriculture in the next belt, which enclosed the first on
+every side, and extended almost as far as the Salado. Agricultural
+colonization had found free land only beyond the sheep-farm area, 170
+miles west of Buenos Aires, round Chivilcoy, Chacabuco, and Bragado.
+As early as 1872 the Chivilcoy district produced 130,000 hectolitres
+of wheat; or nearly half the total production of the Buenos Aires
+province. In 1889 it formed a comparatively dense agricultural patch,
+the cultivated area being devoted half to wheat and half to maize.
+
+               Wheat.      Maize.
+
+  Chivilcoy    307 kms.    399 kms.
+
+  Chacabuco    155  "      164  "
+
+  Bragado      147  "      261  "
+
+At that date the whole west and south of the Buenos Aires province
+was exclusively pastoral. There were only two isolated nuclei of
+agricultural colonization. The first was round Olavarria, on the old
+Indian frontier, where Russo-German colonies had been established in
+1878. The second was in the Suarez department, at the extreme north of
+the Sierra de la Ventana, where a group of French colonists settled
+five years later, at Pigue.[99] The opening of the line from Buenos
+Aires to Bahia Blanca ought, one would think, to have prepared the
+way for agricultural colonization in this section. However, the 1895
+Census shows a check to these first attempts at tillage in the south.
+It fell by one half at Suarez, and by three-fourths at Olavarria. The
+Pigue colonists have succeeded in keeping to their lands, but those of
+Olavarria have abandoned them, and most of them have emigrated to the
+Entre Rios province.
+
+     [99] Wheat-area in 1889 in the Olavarria department, 319
+     square kilometres; in the Suarez department, 118 square
+     kilometres.
+
+  [Illustration: THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. BUENA ESPERANZA (SAN LUIS PROVINCE).
+  _The first_ chanares.
+                                             Photograph by the Author.]
+
+  [Illustration: THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. JUNIN (150 MILES WEST OF BUENOS
+  AIRES, 330 FEET ELEVATION).
+  _The clays. A line of dead dunes crosses the Junin district, following
+  the course of the Salado. They are indicated by light, sandy soil, very
+  different from the clays of the north of Buenos Aires province._
+                                              Photograph by the Author.
+  PLATE XVII.                                          To face p. 194.]
+
+On the other hand, colonization has kept the land won in the district
+of the middle Salado, and it extends in a sporadic way toward the
+south-west and west. (Nueve de Julio, 252 square kilometres of wheat
+and 400 of maize: Veinte Cinco de Mayo, 84 square kilometres of wheat
+and 218 of maize: Junin, 197 square kilometres of wheat and 204 of
+maize in 1895). It has been maintained ever since, with slow progress,
+but without being ousted by breeding. This is one of the regions of
+the Pampa where the most different types of rural exploitation are
+mingled together. Agricultural colonization has been carried on both by
+small proprietors and farmers or tenants. Wheat and maize seem to be
+permanently associated, and the climate is equally good for both; the
+maize crop being the better if the summer is wet, and the wheat crop
+when the summer is dry. The two cereals follow each other on the same
+land, in rotation, the wheat being helped by the constant weeding and
+clearing which the maize requires. The colonists use oxen in the work,
+and fatten them afterwards.[100]
+
+     [100] Draught animals in 1908: at Chivilcoy, 17,000 cattle
+     and 10,000 horses; at Junin, 15,000 cattle and 6,000 horses;
+     at Nueve de Julio, 15,000 cattle and 6,000 horses. In the
+     region of the Santa Fe colonies: at Castellanos, 17,000 cattle
+     and 54,000 horses; at Las Colonias, 6,000 cattle and 35,000
+     horses. In the wheat belt (South of Buenos Aires): at Puan,
+     (no cattle) 29,000 horses. At the sierras (no cattle), 14,000
+     horses.
+
+Agricultural colonization in the lucerne region dates from 1895 to 1905:
+
+  ------------------+----------------+----------------
+                    |  Wheat Area    |   Flax Area
+                    |(in kilometres).|(in kilometres).
+                    +-------+--------+-------+--------
+                    |  1895 |  1908  |  1895 |  1908
+  ------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------
+  Buenos Aires:     |       |        |       |
+  Lincoln           |  152  |   819  |   --  |  100
+  Pehuajo           |  106  |   727  |   --  |   --
+    Guamini         |   20  |   528  |   --  |   --
+    Trenque Lauquen |  100  | 1,439  |   --  |   59
+    Villegas        |    4  |   812  |    1  |   84
+    Pinto           |   --  |   469  |   --  |   60
+  Cordoba:          |       |        |       |
+    Gal. Roca       |   --  | 1,009  |   --  |   89
+    Rio Quarto      |    5  | 1,156  |   --  |  172
+    Juarez Celman   |  144  | 1,679  |   --  |  183
+    Union           |  373  | 2,548  |   12  |  316
+  ------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------
+
+Ihave shown how this was bound up with the development of the lucerne
+farms themselves. The extreme west of the lucerne belt (Pedernera
+department and San Luis) is the only place where the cultivated area
+was reduced. The contracts by which the ranchers entrust their lands to
+the colonists, on condition of returning them sown with lucerne, were
+gradually modified as the stream of colonization developed. The land
+was at first left to the colonist rent free, the rancher being paid by
+the creation of the lucerne fields. But in proportion to the increasing
+volume of the stream of immigrants, and the keener competition of the
+colonists, the rancher asked better terms. There are similar contracts
+in regard to the restoration of lucerne fields which have been worn
+out by pasturage, so that the land has to be ploughed up periodically.
+The men who clear the land in the lucerne belt have mostly been
+recruited in the district of the old colonies of Santa Fe, where the
+new generation had begun to feel the pinch. The crops which they raise
+during the four or five years of their lease are chosen without any
+idea of sparing lands which they are not to keep. Wheat succeeds wheat,
+and the first and last crop is often flax. The proportion of flax is
+lower only in the southern part of the lucerne belt. In the Buenos
+Aires province the colonist grows lucerne on his own account, either to
+sell as dry fodder or for breeding or fattening.
+
+Colonization does not in these parts correspond with the division of
+property. Not only does the farmer not become the owner of the soil,
+but he does not live on it permanently; he is a veritable nomad. His
+house has a temporary look that strikes one at the first glance. The
+area cultivated is almost stable, if the region is considered as a
+whole. But cultivation passes periodically from one section to another,
+and its removals cause sudden alterations or crises in the railway
+traffic and the development of the urban centres.
+
+The lucerne belt has been peopled by Santafecinos, and it has in
+turn sent colonists to the western agricultural belt at the foot
+of the Sierras de San Luis and de Cordoba. They have less suitable
+climatological conditions, but they have the advantage of greater
+stability, as the breeders do not dispute the land with them.
+
+While agricultural colonization has been an aid to pastoral
+colonization in the north-west of Buenos Aires, it tends to displace
+breeding, or restrict its sphere, in the north-east and the south.
+Maize-growing started on the banks of the Parana, where it was already
+paramount in 1889, between Campana (north of Buenos Aires) and San
+Nicolas. In 1895 it advanced up the Parana as far as the Santa Fe
+province (Constitucion) and spread over the interior for some sixty
+miles in the Salto department. In the next few years it made rapid
+progress toward the west and north-west, covering the departments of
+Pergamino, Rojas, and Colon, and part of General Lopez, San Lorenzo,
+and Constitucion in the province of Santa Fe.
+
+  ---------------+-----------------+------------------
+                 |   Maize Area.   |    Flax Area.
+                 |-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
+                 | 1889| 1895| 1908| 1889| 1895| 1908
+  ---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
+  Campana        |  67 |  45 |   22|  15 |  31 |  17
+  Baradero       | 339 | 260 |  291|  26 |  78 | 173
+  S. Pedro       | 398 | 353 |  420|   5 |  73 | 235
+  Arrecifes      | 124 | 126 |  155|  15 |  50 | 265
+  Salto          |  16 | 326 |  236|  13 |   3 |  75
+  Gal. Lopez   } |  51 |{373 |1,538|  -- |  70 | 752
+  Constitucion } |     |{575 |  736|  -- | 270 | 404
+  Pergamino      | 168 | 160 |  340|  50 |  30 | 275
+  Rojas          |  86 |  81 |  247|   4 |  23 | 275
+  Colon          |  -- |  44 |  126|  -- |  14 |  78
+  S. Lorenzo     | 178 | 150 |1,169|  11 |  36 | 450
+  Caseros        |  -- |  83 |  990|  -- |  13 | 319
+  ---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
+
+Export of Argentine maize on a large scale began in 1895. Flax-growing
+was not added to maize until 1900.
+
+The heavy land requires a good deal of harrowing, and the weeding and
+harvesting of the maize give employment to a comparatively large staff.
+The estates are of moderate size, often only 50 hectares. Ownership
+was not divided at the period of colonization, the land, thanks to the
+breeders, having already acquired so high a value that the colonists
+could not buy it. On the lands which have been farmed out there has
+developed a rural, and often far from docile, proletariat. It is in
+the maize region that the worst agricultural strikes have taken place.
+The struggles of the owners and the colonists are the more prolonged
+because the sowing of the maize can be put back to the end of the
+spring without much harm being done. The adjoining zone of the Parana
+produced some of the _maiseros_ who have scattered over the north-west.
+But the modern colonies include, in addition, a large proportion of
+immigrants who have recently landed from Italy and Spain. The maize
+growers do not mix with the wheat-growers. Each group has its own area.
+
+The increase of wheat-growing in the south dates only from 1898:
+
+  ------------------+----------------------------
+                    | Wheat Area (in kilometres).
+                    |------------+---------------
+                    |    1895    |     1908
+  ------------------+------------+---------------
+  Alsina            |     45     |    1,296
+  Puan              |     52     |    1,321
+  Suarez            |    104     |      978
+  La Madrid         |     75     |      249
+  Pringles          |     13     |      724
+  Darrego           |     --     |      885
+  Terr. de la Pampa |     --     |    1,731
+  ------------------+------------+----------------
+
+  [Illustration: MAP IV.--DENSITY OF THE MAIZE CROP.
+  _As it needs more heat and moisture than wheat, the maize does not go
+  so far to the west and south. It is concentrated for export at the
+  ports of the Rio de la Plata and the Parana, especially at Rosario. The
+  Argentine "corn belt," the chief maize area, extends back of Rosario
+  and San Nicolas to beyond Casilda and Pergamino._
+                                                       To face p. 198.]
+
+Wheat first spread along the line from Buenos Aires to Bahia Blanca,
+west of the Sierra de la Ventana, then in the coastal district,
+east of Bahia Blanca. These two wheat-areas became connected after
+1904, when the opening of the direct line from Olavarria to Buenos
+Aires facilitated the development of the intermediate region
+(Pringles-Laprida). From Bahia Blanca it spread to the west and
+north-west along the Toay line, and southward as far as Colorado on
+the coast. In the whole area of the Central Pampa it is still possible
+to distinguish two strata of immigrants, of different dates, one
+superimposed upon the other: the sheep-breeders and the farmers. Round
+Toay the contrast between the two elements of the population is even
+more striking, because the first pastoral colonization, which dates
+from 1890, was to a great extent the work of creole _puntanos_ (from
+the San Luis province). The actual agricultural colonies, on the other
+hand, include recent European immigrants and colonists from other parts
+of the provinces of Buenos Aires and Entre Rios.
+
+The yield of the wheat grows less and less as one goes westward. The
+harvest may be injured either by late frost or drought, or, especially,
+by hot winds which scorch the plants and blight the half-realized hopes
+of the farmers in the weeks just before the harvest. But the relative
+poorness of the return is compensated by the extent of the farms and
+the cheapness of labour. The harvest is often done with machines that
+peel and pack the wheat, and the workers are not compelled, as they
+are at Santa Fe, to wait for the threshing machine. The aridity does
+not permit flax-growing, but oats can be grown, especially between the
+Sierra de la Ventana and the Sierra de Tandil; and it is good to sow
+oats when the land has been impoverished by consecutive crops of wheat.
+Exports of oats through Bahia Blanca began in 1906.
+
+The displacement of breeding by farming is less thorough than in the
+maize belt. Oats, sown about the beginning of autumn, serve for fodder.
+The animals are kept in the fields during the winter, and the oats are
+cut and put into the mill, without being threshed, as a reserve fodder.
+Moreover, the wheat farmers have themselves taken to rearing sheep,
+and the sheep feed in the stubble and fallow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From this short account of the history of colonization we draw certain
+important conclusions. At the time when agricultural colonization
+began, it was admitted that farming was the best way to exploit the
+soil, and that the Pampa would sooner or later pass from the pastoral
+to the agricultural cycle; or, to use the local phraseology, that the
+"colony" would replace the ranch everywhere. This idea was wrong.
+The only area in which the facts seem to give it any support is the
+corn belt. The general rule is, on the contrary, that in its progress
+colonization develops a mixed type of exploitation, combining farming
+and breeding; either one alternates with the other in a sort of
+periodic rotation, as in the lucerne area, or both proceed together,
+the farmers including breeding amongst their occupations, as in the
+district of the Santa Fe colonies or in the wheat area in the south of
+the Buenos Aires province.
+
+It seems, moreover, that the development of colonization depends not
+only upon physical conditions, but upon factors of a purely economic or
+social character, which the geographer must not overlook. It will be
+enough here to indicate the chief of these.
+
+We have seen the part that has been played in the exploitation of
+the soil by groups of colonists who swarm from one area to another.
+Whether we think of the ranchers of the eastern part of Buenos
+Aires transplanting themselves to Cordoba or north of Santa Fe, the
+sheep-breeders moving westward, or the Santa Fe colonists settling in
+the lucerne area, they all take with them their own habits and methods
+of work, and they take time to adjust them to a new environment.
+
+  [Illustration: MAP V.--DENSITY OF THE WHEAT CROP.
+  _The wheat belt stretches in a broad section of a circle from Bahia
+  Blanca to Santa Fe, which is now reached by maritime vessels. The
+  cultivation of wheat crosses the line of 600 millimetres of rainfall,
+  and even the 400-millimetre line, in proportion as one passes from the
+  area of summer rain to that of spring and autumn rain._
+                                                       To face p. 200.]
+
+The colonist, whether breeder or farmer, is not left to himself.
+Colonization is sustained and directed by speculation in land, and
+is influenced by it. Speculation discounts the work of the colonist,
+and attaches to the land a value which is not based upon the revenue
+it has produced, but upon that which the speculator calculates that
+it may produce in the future. If the speculator is audacious, he does
+not let himself be discouraged by initial bad experiences; it takes
+repeated checks to exhaust his optimism. The colonist, even if his
+farming accounts do not show a profit, may nevertheless gain something
+if the value of his land goes up. The increase of his capital conceals
+from him the smallness of his returns, especially as he can easily get
+advances on the value of his property from the banks, and this enables
+him to draw upon his wealth every year.
+
+Speculation is concerned with new lands on the fringe of the area
+already colonized, where the soil is, as a general rule, already in the
+hands of the exploiters themselves. The speculators, having paid a high
+price for these lands, try to organize the development of them. It is
+partly owing to their influence that colonization continuously enlarges
+its domain, instead of concentrating its labour in the older districts
+where it might sometimes be more productive. In fine, speculation in
+land has a profound influence on the conditions of colonization, making
+it more difficult for the colonist to buy the land he is developing.
+The owner who grants him the use of the land means to keep for himself
+any increment of its value. He rents, but he will not sell.
+
+Thus the history of colonization cannot be separated from the
+traffic in land. The special features of this traffic in the
+Pampean region--its concentration at Buenos Aires; the creation of
+a land-market resembling a stock market; the practice of selling on
+the instalment plan, which enables small capitalists to enter the
+market; the repeated transfers of pieces of land which the buyers have
+never seen and which they know only from plans--are one of the most
+original aspects of modern Argentina. They are partly due to a fact of
+a geographical nature--the uniformity of the Pampean plain, on which
+every piece of land is worth about as much as the adjoining piece.
+
+Colonization is easy and rapid in proportion as it requires less
+capital and labour. The expansion of breeding in the west between 1880
+and 1890 was facilitated by the low market price of cattle at that
+time. Breeding has the advantage over farming of not needing so large
+a staff, but it requires a larger capital. Of the crops, assuming that
+the conditions of soil and climate are equally favourable, wheat is
+better than maize for colonization, because the preparing of the soil
+and the harvest can be done more speedily, and the same number of hands
+can plant a larger area with wheat than with maize.
+
+The action of the Argentine Government and the provincial authorities
+has been restrained, apart from the earliest period of the
+establishment of the Santa Fe colonies, both as regards the securing of
+immigrants, the distribution of lands, and the administration of the
+colonies.[101] Colonization has been, on the whole, a private affair.
+The work of organizing colonization has at times been undertaken by
+the proprietors themselves; they leased pieces of land and got a
+good price for them, at the same time increasing the surplus value
+of the plots they kept for themselves by promoting the increase of
+population. Sometimes it was undertaken by Colonization Companies,
+which bought land to divide and sell. More frequently it was undertaken
+by merchants who advanced credit to the colonists they settled, on
+condition that the colonists bought what they needed of the merchants,
+and entrusted them with the sale of their crops. The migration of the
+Santa Fe colonists was partly due to, and sustained by, a corresponding
+migration of merchants who had acquired wealth in the older colonies,
+and who thus got a larger body of customers. The merchant who organizes
+colonization often acts as the intermediary between the owner and
+the colonist, guaranteeing the owner a fixed rent for his land and
+receiving so much per cent. of his harvest from the farmer. This system
+is very widespread in the corn belt, but it is found all over the plain
+of the Pampas. It tends to disappear when the colony is older and
+deeper-rooted, as the colonist gradually earns his independence; he
+buys his lease, his equipment, and his furniture, and controls the sale
+of his own crops. In the districts where he has not become owner, the
+leases are generally variations of two types: farming leases, where the
+colonist has capital enough for working, and renting leases, where the
+capital is provided by the owner or the middleman.
+
+     [101] The Agricultural Centres Law, passed in 1887 by the
+     province of Buenos Aires to encourage colonization, has
+     not had good results. By the terms of this law, owners
+     who professed themselves willing to devote their lands to
+     colonization received an advance on the value of the lands
+     in the form of mortgages, the interest and repayment of the
+     mortgage being charged to the colonists. Many owners took
+     advantage of the law, but, after a pretence of colonization,
+     kept the ownership of their lands.
+
+Lastly, colonization can make no progress unless it finds markets on
+which it can put its produce. Up to the present western Europe has
+been the chief market for the wool, leather, meat, and cereals of the
+Pampean region; tropical America absorbs part of the output of the
+_saladeros_, flour, and dry fodder; and North America has recently
+begun to compete with Europe for wool, leather, and frozen meat. The
+facility with which the products of the Pampa have found their way into
+the world's markets, as is seen in the comparative stability of the
+returns, explains the continuous advance of colonization and the short
+duration of the crises which have disturbed it.
+
+The home market, however, has had an importance in connection with
+colonization that must not be overlooked. When wheat-growing spread
+at Santa Fe the crop was at first devoted to supplying Buenos Aires,
+and as late as 1883 Zeballos thought that the essential result of
+agricultural colonization was the fact that Chilean flour was beaten
+off the Argentine market. Even to-day the districts on the outskirts of
+the cereal area depend upon the home market. The Villa Mercedes mill
+supplies Mendoza. Cordoba and Santa Fe send their flour to Tucuman.
+The price of cereals still shows slight fluctuations in these parts as
+compared with prices in Buenos Aires.
+
+_Table of Exports of the Chief Products of the Pampean region_ (_in
+thousands of tons_):
+
+  ---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
+                 |  1901 |  1905 |  1910 |  1913 |  1914
+  ---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
+  Wheat          |   904 | 2,868 | 1,883 | 2,812 |   980
+  Maize          | 1,112 | 2,222 | 2,660 | 4,806 | 3,542
+  Flax           |   338 |   654 |   604 | 1,016 |   841
+  Flour          |    71 |   144 |   115 |   124 |    67
+  Wool           |   228 |   191 |   150 |   120 |   117
+  Salted hides   |    28 |    40 |    61 |    65 |    63
+  Dried hides    |    26 |    24 |    29 |    21 |    14
+  Chilled beef   |    44 |   152 |   253 |   306 |   368
+  Chilled mutton |    63 |    78 |    75 |    45 |    58
+  ---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
+
+     The heading "cereals" appears in the statistics of Argentine
+     exports in 1882. In 1900 the value of the agricultural produce
+     exported is equal to that of the products of breeding. In 1904
+     it is higher.
+
+Pastoral colonization, again, has not been entirely independent of the
+home market. Martin de Moussy says, it is true, that the area which
+sent the products of breeding to Europe in 1865 extended as far as the
+Sierra de Cordoba. But this statement needs correction. The hides from
+the whole of this zone were, in point of fact, sent down to the ports
+on the Rio de la Plata, but live animals were sent to Chile from the
+whole of the north-west of the Pampean region. It was for the purpose
+of selling cattle to Chile that ranches were multiplied about 1860 in
+the neighbourhood of Villa Mercedes and lower down, on the Rio Quinto.
+Jegou's description shows that even in 1883 the breeders of the San
+Luis province devoted themselves exclusively to supplying the Chilean
+market.[102] Buyers from Chile and the Andean provinces still visit
+Villa Mercedes, and until a recent date they came to Villa Maria, in
+the province of Cordoba. The Santa Fe ranches found their customers,
+until the opening of the Cordoba line (1870) amongst the _troperos_,
+who bought draught oxen for their waggons. The loss of these customers
+and the crisis that followed are one of the reasons why agricultural
+colonization met with so little resistance on the part of the breeders,
+and was able to take root so easily at Santa Fe. In the San Cristobal
+department the breeders who settled there after 1890 found their first
+market in the _obrajes_ of the neighbouring forest. The opening of the
+railway to Tucuman afterwards enabled them to send their cattle to the
+provinces of the north-west. The Buenos Aires buyers were late in this
+remote canton of the Pampean plain. They did not arrive until 1911.
+
+     [102] A. Jegou, "Informe sobre la provincia de San Luis,"
+     _Ann. Soc. Cientifica Argentina_, xvi. 1883, pp. 140-152,
+     192-200, and 223-230.
+
+The importance of the Pampean region itself as a market of consumption
+grew in proportion to the increase of its population. The extent to
+which it absorbs the products of breeding and agriculture varies a
+good deal. For some of them it is paramount. Horse-breeding, for
+instance, which is still one of the great industries of the Pampa, has
+never contributed to the export trade. It is the same with regard to
+potatoes, which are concentrated in two strictly limited districts,
+round Rosario and north of the Sierra de Tandil. Only a small part of
+the dry fodder is exported. As regards cereals, a comparison of the
+statistics of production with the statistics of export shows that the
+home consumption is about one-third of the production. It is almost nil
+for flax, and nearly fifty per cent for wheat.
+
+The average of production and export for the years 1912, 1913, and
+1914, in thousands of tons, is:
+
+  ------------+--------+--------+-------+-----------------
+              |        |        |       |    Total
+              | Wheat. | Maize. | Flax. |(including Oats).
+  ------------+--------+--------+-------+-----------------
+  Production  | 4,241  | 6,398  |  931  |    12,662
+  Export      | 2,140  | 4,227  |  790  |     8,038
+  ------------+--------+--------+-------+-----------------
+
+As the chief centres of consumption are the ports themselves, it
+follows that the commercial currents that have to supply them are
+confused with the currents which maintain the exports. The exchanges
+between the various regions of the Pampa are more interesting to the
+geographer. In their tendency to specialize, these regions have ceased
+to be self-contained, and they have to look to adjoining regions. The
+feeding of the mills necessitates the transport of wheat in different
+directions. The chief mills are at Buenos Aires, where they are
+suitably located to work both for the home market and for export; and
+the mills in the interior have some difficulty in competing with them.
+Some of these, however, are still active. They mix hard wheat, bought
+in the district of the Santa Fe colonies, with the soft wheat that is
+grown in the middle and south of Buenos Aires province.
+
+But this inter-regional transport of cereals is a small thing in
+comparison with the transport of cattle. The extension of the lucerne
+farms has developed the fattening industry in many districts, while
+others still confine themselves to breeding in the ordinary sense, and
+they feed the other centres. The most specialized fattening district
+is that of Villa Mercedes and the western part of the lucerne belt,
+while the eastern part of the province of Buenos Aires and Entre Rios
+are still areas of production. The differentiation of the pastoral
+zones can be gathered from a study of the statistics. According to the
+1908 Census, milch cows represent 53 per cent. of the whole of the
+cattle in all the departments which form the heart of the breeding area
+east of Buenos Aires, and only 45 per cent. in the departments of the
+north-west of Buenos Aires and south of Cordoba and in the Pedernera
+department of San Luis, where fattening is common.
+
+According to the 1914 Census oxen are 24 per cent. of the herd in the
+same departments of eastern Buenos Aires; 24 per cent. also in Entre
+Rios; and the proportion rises to 31 per cent. in the lucerne area.
+Dolores department (eastern Buenos Aires) has 64 per cent. milch
+cows and 21 per cent. oxen. Pedernera department (San Luis, in the
+lucerne area) has 49 per cent. cows and 38 per cent. oxen. General
+Roca department (Cordoba) has 48 per cent. cows and 34 per cent.
+oxen. Arenales (Buenos Aires) has 39 per cent. cows and 46 per cent.
+oxen.[103]
+
+     [103] For Argentina as a whole the percentage is: milch cows,
+     55 per cent.; oxen, 26 per cent.
+
+Oxen intended for the refrigerators are bought either on the ranches
+or at Buenos Aires, where beasts in good condition are consigned to
+buyers, but oxen for fattening are bought at fairs which are held
+periodically in the towns of the interior. Another transaction at these
+fairs is the trade in pedigree breeders. The best known of them is
+held at Villa Mercedes (province of San Luis), where 8,000 oxen are
+sold every month. At the Mercedes fairs one may see Durham steers from
+the east of Buenos Aires which are to be fattened and sent back to the
+refrigerators or the slaughter-houses of Buenos Aires. There are also
+creole cattle from the north of the San Luis province and Rioja which
+will later be eaten in Mendoza or in Chile. There is, in fact, on the
+western frontier of the Pampa no line of demarcation corresponding to
+that set up in the north by the limit of the area contaminated by the
+_garrapate_, separating the district of creole breeding from that of
+selective breeding. There is free communication here between the two
+zones, and the lucerne fields for fattening at Villa Mercedes are used
+in common by the breeders of the Pampa and of the bush.[104]
+
+     [104] A large number of the cattle which are to be fattened
+     are bought at the market in Buenos Aires; but these do not, as
+     a rule, come from the Pampean region.
+
+_Cultivated Areas in the Argentine Republic_ (_in square kilometres,
+almost exclusively in the Pampean region_).
+
+  -----+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------
+       | Wheat. | Maize. | Oats.  | Flax.  | Lucerne.
+  -----+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------
+  1896 | 25,000 | 14,000 |    --  |  5,600 |  8,000
+  1900 | 33,000 | 12,000 |    --  |  6,000 | 15,000
+  1902 | 36,000 | 18,000 |    --  | 15,000 | 17,000
+  1905 | 56,000 | 22,000 |    700 | 10,000 | 29,000
+  1910 | 62,000 | 32,000 |  8,000 | 15,000 | 54,000
+  1912 | 69,000 | 38,000 | 12,000 | 17,000 | 59,000
+  1913 | 65,000 | 41,000 | 11,600 | 17,000 | 66,000
+  1914 | 62,000 | 42,000 | 11,400 | 17,000 |    --
+  -----+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------
+
+  _Exports for 1913, 1914, and 1915 at each port._
+
+  --------------+------+-------+-----+-----+-------+--------
+                |Wheat.| Maize.|Flax.|Oats.|Totals.|Average.
+  --------------+------+-------+-----+-----+-------+--------
+               {| 782  | 1,757 | 275 |  13 | 2,829 |}
+  Rosario      {| 242  | 1,952 | 248 |   1 | 2,445 |} 2,716
+               {| 717  | 1,790 | 366 |  -- | 2,875 |}
+                |      |       |     |     |       |
+               {| 441  | 1,389 | 246 | 240 | 2,318 |}
+  Buenos Aires {| 297  |   906 |  55 |  78 | 1,537 |} 2,051
+               {| 511  | 1,349 | 342 |  96 | 2,299 |}
+                |      |       |     |     |       |
+               {| 927  |     2 |  -- | 462 | 1,393 |}
+  Bahia Blanca {| 241  |    -- |  -- | 222 |   463 |} 1,075
+               {| 921  |    -- |  -- | 442 | 1,364 |}
+                |      |       |     |     |       |
+               {|   5  |   910 |  74 |  -- |   989 |}
+  S. Nicolas   {|   1  |   430 |  60 |  -- |   492 |}   651
+               {|   5  |   420 |  48 |  -- |   474 |}
+                |      |       |     |     |       |
+               {| 333  |   358 |  14 | 170 |   876 |}
+  La Plata     {| 160  |    51 |  16 |  49 |   278 |}   459
+               {| 152  |    45 |   6 |  16 |   222 |}
+                |      |       |     |     |       |
+               {| 265  |    51 | 158 |  -- |   476 |}
+  Santa Fe     {|   7  |    23 | 128 |  -- |   159 |}   278
+               {| 114  |     7 |  77 |  -- |   199 |}
+  --------------+------+-------+-----+-----+-------+--------
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ROADS AND RAILWAYS
+
+     Roads on the plain--The salt road--The "trade
+     route"--Transport by ox-waggons--_Arrieros_ and
+     _Troperos_--Railways and colonization--The trade in
+     cereals--Home traffic and the reorganization of the system.
+
+
+The chapter devoted to primitive breeding and the transport of cattle
+contains a sketch of the network of routes over the Andes. One cannot
+expect to find in the scheme of routes over the Argentine plains the
+stern and obvious influence of natural conditions. The surface of these
+plains is, as a whole, broadly open to traffic. Still, the map of the
+roads bears much evidence of geographical exigencies.
+
+The hills which rise like islands out of the alluvial plain are not all
+incapable of being crossed, and the roads do not always skirt them. The
+road from Buenos Aires to Peru runs north of 30 deg. 40' S. lat. on the
+very axis of the granite peneplain which forms the northern part of the
+Sierra de Cordoba. The Dean Funes ridge, which begins with an altitude
+of 2,500 feet between the Sierra Chica and these tablelands, has always
+been used for communication between Cordoba and the north-western
+provinces. There the railway has taken the place of the primitive
+track. Another important track crosses the Sierra de Cordoba in the
+north of the Pampa de Achala, and used to join Cordoba with Villa
+Dolores and the north of the San Luis province. The southern part of
+the Sierra de Cordoba and the Sierra de San Luis are, on the other
+hand, an insurmountable obstacle, which diverts southward the high road
+to Chile _via_ Achiras, San Jose, del Morro, and San Luis.
+
+The sierras of the Buenos Aires province are not so high and extensive.
+They are, moreover, broken into isolated hills with the plain passing
+between them. As early as 1822 Colonel Garcia pointed out the
+importance, in connection with the migrations of the Indian tribes,
+of the passage between the Sierra Amarilla and the Sierra de Curaco,
+that is to say, the Olavarria ridge. It is there that the first railway
+between Buenos Aires and Bahia Blanca crosses the line of sierras. It
+then skirts the Sierra de la Ventana, to the north, by the Pigue ridge,
+between the mass of Curumalan and the Puan hills. The dunes of the
+western Pampa also are an impediment to traffic, not so much because
+of their height as because of the looseness of the ground. The strip
+between General Acha and Toay was very trying for the stage-coaches.
+Travellers had to cross the dunes on foot during the winter season,
+when the horses were in a bad condition.[105]
+
+Natural supplies of water increase in number as one gets away from the
+Andean zone toward the east. Still, the chief work, often the only
+work, to be done in making a road is the arrangement of permanent
+supplies of water. Martin de Moussy mentions the digging of wells on
+the new road from Cordoba to Rosario, which was opened about 1860.
+The _aiguade_ was generally a _represa_, a reservoir, where the water
+accumulated behind a barrier of earth raised across the course of an
+intermittent stream. The upkeep of the _represa_ is the chief duty of
+the post-master. The edge of the sierras and the opening point of the
+ravines which come down them is a good place for making _represas_,
+and the roads frequently keep to these (variant of the road from
+Cordoba to Tucuman _via_ Totoral, Dormida, Rio Seco and Sumampa, on
+the eastern edge of the Sierra de Cordoba, etc.) Long stages with no
+water supplies, the _travesias_, are not found on the made roads, as a
+rule, except west of the meridian, of Cordoba. However, the direct road
+from Santa Fe to Santiago del Estero by the lagoon of Los Porongos,
+which was used in the eighteenth century, seems to have been abandoned
+afterwards, as much on account of the difficulty of supplying water as
+because it was exposed to attack from the Indians.
+
+     [105] J. B. Ambrosetti, "Viaje a la Pampa central," _Bol.
+     Instit. Geog. Argent._, xiv. 1893, pp. 292-368.
+
+  [Illustration: AN OX WAGON.
+                        Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.]
+
+  [Illustration: THE MAIL COACH.
+  _The horses saddled with the_ cincha.
+                         Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.
+  PLATE XVIII.                                         To face p. 210.]
+
+The only difficulty which the caravans encountered on the roads over
+the plain was the crossing of the rivers. They were forded. Fords with
+a muddy bottom on the lower course of the rivers, such as that on the
+Saladillo near the confluence of the Rio Tercero, were more difficult
+for wagons than the fords with sandy bottoms in the upper course, near
+the fringe of the mountains, such as those of the Rio Tercero on the
+Cordoba road, or of the Rio Cuarto on the road to Chile. After rain,
+certain parts of the plain are flooded and impassable. That is the case
+in the district to the south of the lower Salado, at the very spot
+where Pere Cardiel notices the lack of water in the dry season (1747).
+The direct road from Buenos Aires to the sierras was at that point
+exposed, alternately, to drought and flood. The line of the Southern
+railway, which crosses this low district, is still cut periodically on
+both sides of Las Flores by floods. The lack of an organized network of
+streams, the irregularity of the rains, the difficulty of ascertaining
+the inclination, and the flow of the waters over a plain which seems to
+the eye to be perfectly level, have led to more than one miscalculation
+on the part of the railways, which were constructed hurriedly, and
+before the general survey of the Pampa was finished. Some lines, on the
+Pampa or on the Chaco, have had to be partially reconstructed, and
+raised higher, after a series of rainy years.[106]
+
+     [106] Certain duplications in the actual scheme of the
+     railways are due to this need to correct a line that had
+     been planned hastily and was useless. The line from Justo
+     Daract to La Paz (1912), on the Pacific railway, avoids the
+     steep inclinations of the first line, which followed the
+     course of the wagon-road _via_ San Luis. The interpretation
+     of the relief is particularly difficult in a country which
+     has not been shaped by normal erosion. Blunders detected by
+     later topographical inquiries were similarly committed in
+     constructing the Patagonian railways.
+
+The colonization of that part of the plain which actually constitutes
+the province of Buenos Aires was late. It belongs to the era of the
+railways. There is only one historic road crossing this area, which
+remained until the last third of the nineteenth century in the hands
+of the Indian tribes. This is the salt road. We do not know exactly
+when it began to be used. In the eighteenth century, in spite of the
+competition of salt from Cadiz and Patagonia, imported by sea, the
+Pampa salt was the main part of the supply of Buenos Aires. The salt
+road was not abandoned until after 1810. We still have the diary of
+several journeys from Buenos Aires to the salt-pits. They were military
+expeditions. Hundreds of wagons, with a strong escort, collected at
+Lujan and Chivilcoy, and they reached Atreuco, west of the Guamini and
+Carbue lakes, after a fifteen to twenty-five days' march.
+
+The itinerary was fixed in detail. In 1796 D'Azara noticed the wells
+sunk by the salters, north of the Palentelen lagoon (Bragado), when
+they found the lagoon dry. From Palentelen south-westward the salt
+road followed the track used by the Indians of the south-west in their
+expeditions against the ranches of the Buenos Aires frontier. Near Lake
+Epecuen, north of Carbue, it was joined by another track which came
+from Olavarria, the stages of which were marked by the streams that
+came from the Sierra de Curumalan. The Carbue district, the cross-roads
+of the tracks, was one of the places where the tribes collected. "This
+place," says the diary of the 1778 expedition, "is the first point
+where the hostile Indians meet and rest when they leave the Sierra
+and on returning from their invasions. They not only rest there, but
+have their winter pasture there" (in the dry season).[107] Zeballos
+has described the Indian track, the _rustrillada_, between Epecuen,
+Atreuco and Traru Lauquen, where the _travesia_ on the road to Chile
+began.[108] It was not less than 1,000 feet in width. At the foot of
+the dunes there were deep parallel grooves made by the feet of the
+raided cattle, which were taken away by the "Chilenos."
+
+     [107] Coll. de Angelis, v.
+
+     [108] Est. Zeballos, _Descripcion amena de la Republica
+     Argentina_, vol. i, "Viaje al pais de los Araucanos" (Buenos
+     Aires, 1881).
+
+The two main roads of the colonial period are the roads to Chile and
+Peru. On leaving Buenos Aires there was one road for a distance of
+about 320 miles. The "trade road" passed through Lujan, Areco and
+Sauce, and reached the Carcarana, or Rio Tercero, at Esquina. It
+therefore kept at some distance from the Parana (32 to 16 miles), on
+the tableland, crossing the valleys which were embedded in it and
+represented so many bad parts. It then ascended the Tercero on the
+right bank as far as the Paso Fereira, at the spot where Villa Maria is
+to-day. At Esquina de Medrano (Villa Maria) the road to Chile branched
+off to the south-east, reached San Luis by following the Rio Cuarto,
+going through Achiras and San Jose del Morro, and, after a _travesia_
+seventy-eight miles in length, came to the Rio Tunuyan at La Paz, and
+ascended the river to Mendoza.[109]
+
+     [109] Martin de Moussy says that a more direct route, avoiding
+     the detour to the north by the Rio Tercero, was followed in
+     the eighteenth century between Buenos Aires and San Luis, by
+     way of Salto and the Rio Quinto as far as the latitude of
+     fort Constitucion (Villa Mercedes). Woodbine Parish's map
+     (1839) and Napp's map (1876) both show a road by way of Salto
+     and Melincue to the Rio Cuarto, where it joins the ordinary
+     road. However that may be, these roads were never used
+     regularly, from fear of the Indians or--which comes to the
+     same thing--because the area they cross, in the south of the
+     actual territory of the provinces of Santa Fe and Cordoba, was
+     not yet colonized.
+
+From Esquina de Medrano the Peru road made for Cordoba in the
+north-west. From the tablelands which continue the Sierra de Cordoba
+northward it descended toward the Rio Dulce, which it reached west of
+Atamisqui, and which it followed as far as Santiago del Estero, where
+it crossed to the north bank. It crossed the Sali in the latitude of
+Tucuman, and, passing through Tracas and Metan, followed the depression
+which separates the Andes from the sub-Andean chains. From Salta it
+went north to Jujuy, and passed through the Quebrada de Humahuaca to
+reach the Puna.
+
+The influence of rivers is not much seen in the scheme of the primitive
+roads. There were in the sixteenth century many routes from Peru to
+the Paraguay, across the Chaco, but not a permanent road in the strict
+sense. In the eighteenth century there was a direct road from Santa Fe
+to Tucuman, by the north of the Los Porongos lagoon and the course of
+the Rio Dulce. There was another from Santa Fe to Cordoba. These roads
+were not exclusively used for conveying cattle. The river route which
+they joined at Santa Fe provided them with a certain amount of traffic
+coming from the higher provinces. Paraguayan _mate_ reached the Andean
+regions by this road, and in return the boatmen at Santa Fe loaded
+up with the wines and dried fruit of the Andean provinces to take to
+Asuncion.
+
+The question of joining the road on to a river was not of very great
+importance until the time when the Parana began to be used for
+Argentine imports and exports, and to maintain the communication of
+the interior provinces with Europe. This question of connection with a
+river controls the history of the construction of the railway system.
+But the great importance of it can be seen from the first half of
+the nineteenth century. D'Orbigny had a presentiment of it. Speaking
+of the future of Santa Fe, he says: "When peace is restored, it is
+certain that the wares of Cordoba may, instead of going by land from
+that town to Buenos Aires, be sent to Santa Fe, where shipping them to
+the Argentine capital will reduce to one-third the journey by land,
+which is always more costly than going by water." Martin de Moussy,
+foreseeing the making of a road across the Chaco from Tucuman to the
+Parana, in the latitude of Corrientes, calculates that Corrientes may
+later serve as port for part of the west and north of Argentina. At the
+date of the publication of his book, however, it was neither Santa Fe
+nor Corrientes, but the new town Rosario, that began to play the part
+of interior port, and led to the construction of a new system of roads.
+Traffic between Rosario and Cordoba at first followed the old road
+from Buenos Aires to Peru, which one struck after leaving Rosario and
+making a detour to the south-west, on the right bank of the Carcarana
+(at Rio Tercero). But this itinerary was presently replaced by a direct
+road to the west-northwest, following the line which the railways would
+adopt.[110]
+
+     [110] Between 1852 and 1862, during the period when relations
+     were suspended between the Argentine Confederation and Buenos
+     Aires, there was a beginning of a general reorganization of
+     the roads in harmony with the new political conditions. The
+     road from Santa Fe and Parana to Concepcion (in Uruguay)
+     across the Entre Rios tablelands, and from there to
+     Montevideo, had owed its initial importance to the closing of
+     the lower Parana under Rosas, and Woodbine Parish records that
+     there was already a good deal of smuggling there. This road
+     became an essential artery when Parana made itself the federal
+     capital under Urquiza. He intended to connect Parana with the
+     western provinces, and he created a mail service from Santa Fe
+     to Cordoba. Ephemeral as the good fortune of Parana was, its
+     influence on the organization of the roads of Argentina was
+     too material to be ignored by the geographer.
+
+In the greater part of Argentina transport was by means of wagons
+before railways were constructed. The limit between the area of
+wagon-transport and the area in which goods were conveyed on the backs
+of animals is quite stable. It is still of some significance, in
+spite of the development of the railways; wagons and mules are used
+at each station to collect and distribute goods. The area of farming
+and of selective breeding on the Pampa, the sheep-area in Patagonia,
+and the timber belt on the Chaco, still make use of wagons; and goods
+are carried on the backs of mules in the Andean area. The Peru road
+was, broadly speaking, fit for wagons as far as Salta, but it is rough
+between Tucuman and Salta, and wagons that used it generally stopped
+at Salta. In this way wagons avoided the ford of the Sali, which was
+easier for mules. On the plain itself the water-sources were often so
+distant from each other, and the stages so long, that mules had to
+be used instead of wagons. Wagons could easily get to Mendoza by the
+road along which the Tunuyan runs at its driest section, but all the
+convoys from Cordoba to San Juan, or Rioja to Catamarca, were composed
+of mules. Hence Cordoba was, like Tucuman, a station for changing on
+the road from Buenos Aires to the north-west. Lastly, while the scrub
+presented no insuperable obstacle to wagons, they could not enter the
+humid tropical forest, where the soil never dries. On the fringe of the
+Misiones forest, the wagons that came from San Tome unloaded at San
+Javier, and mules took the goods on to the _yerbales_.
+
+The two areas of different kinds of transport were not sharply
+distinct. The muleteers (_arrieros_) sometimes avoided the domain of
+the wagoners, and competed with them as far as the banks of the Parana.
+In 1860 (Hutchinson) the muleteers carried about a fifth, in weight, of
+the goods from the interior to Rosario, and they got more than a third
+of the transport from Rosario to the interior. They had, however, to
+offer to carry goods at two-thirds the price charged by the wagoners.
+It appears that this invasion by the muleteers is connected with
+a transport-crisis in the Andean area, which left a number of the
+San Juan muleteers without work. It did not last. By 1862 mule-back
+transport between Rosario and the interior was almost over.
+
+The wagons of the Argentine plain have often been described by
+travellers. They were heavy vehicles, carrying 150, sometimes 180,
+_arrobes_ (1,725 to 2,070 kgs.), covered with a leather hood stretched
+on hoops. A long spur decorated with ostrich feathers was balanced
+on a ring fixed in the roof, and was used to guide the front pair of
+oxen. An earthenware pot containing water enough for each stage hung
+between the rear uprights. As a rule, three pair of oxen were yoked to
+it, one pair being in the shafts. At Corrientes it was necessary to
+cross the marshes and _esteros_, and a special type of wagon had been
+evolved. It had a sort of horizontal division forming an upper story,
+and the driver sat in this. Everywhere, on the Pampa as well as at
+Corrientes, the wheels were enormous; sometimes, as Darwin says, ten
+feet in diameter. They were, therefore, able to get through the bad
+parts. Mud was, as a matter of fact, the worst enemy of the convoys.
+The soil of the Pampa is clayey and soft in the districts near the
+river. As the road was not limited in width, the wagons turned to the
+right or the left when the ruts became too deep, and the track in time
+covered a broad belt of ground. This, however, could not be done in the
+vicinity of towns, where the traffic was concentrated. Buenos Aires
+came to be surrounded by formidable quagmires that dried up only in the
+summer. The paving of the streets and environs was becoming a problem
+of national importance when the construction of the railway began.
+
+Wagons did not travel singly. The _tropero_, or contractor for
+transport, organized caravans. In peaceful districts, where no military
+escort was required, the convoys could be split up; they consisted,
+as a rule, of from fifteen to fifty wagons. Besides the six oxen
+yoked to the wagon, there had to be others for relief as well as
+horses for the staff. Usually they allowed ten oxen to each wagon; in
+exceptional cases twenty.[111] The convoy to the salt-lakes in 1778
+had no less than 12,000 oxen to 600 wagons. There was a driver to each
+wagon, but there had also to be drivers for the starting animals, and
+carpenters to make repairs. The leader of the caravan, the _capataz_,
+was generally a master-carpenter. He looked after the interests of the
+_tropero_. There were about three men to each wagon. The _carreros_
+were an original type, nomadic, and very different in costume and
+character from the _gauchos_ (breeders) of the plain. At the close of
+the eighteenth century Buenos Aires had more than a thousand wagons
+employed in the traffic to Mendoza and Tucuman (Borrero).
+
+     [111] According to the details given us by De Angelis (1837,
+     Introduction to the _Diario del viaje al Rio Bermejo de Fray
+     Francisco Moritto_, Coll. de Angelis, vol. vi) a convoy of
+     fourteen wagons from Salta to Tucuman required three relays of
+     oxen. The first, comprising a hundred animals, went from Salta
+     to Tucuman; the second, of 130 animals, went from Tucuman to
+     the Buenos Aires frontier; the third (84 animals), went on to
+     the capital. The first and last relays were hired animals, the
+     second alone being the property of the _tropero_.
+
+The stages were rarely more than four or five leagues of five
+kilometres each (thirteen to sixteen miles). At this rate it took a
+convoy forty to fifty days to go from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, thirty
+days from Rosario to Tucuman, three months (with the necessary rests)
+from Buenos Aires to Salta.[112] When water ran short, the journey
+might be greatly prolonged, as the animals could do less work, or not
+work at all if the _aiguades_ had dried up. The season was a matter for
+consideration. In the Buenos Aires district the winter made the ground
+sodden and traffic difficult. Farther north, winter is the dry season,
+so that pasture was scarce, and it was difficult to feed the _tropas_.
+The summer had difficulties of its own. In January and February the
+floods of the Rio Dulce often made it impossible to cross the ford at
+Santiago. The carriers preferred to start from the northern provinces
+about the end of the summer, in April or May. The best season for
+leaving Buenos Aires was the spring, from August to November. In this
+way each _tropa_ could make the double journey once a year.
+
+     [112] Thirty days from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, and seventy
+     days from Buenos Aires to Jujuy, says Barrero (F. Barrero,
+     _Descripcion de las Provincias del Rio de la Plata_, end of
+     the eighteenth century, published by the Ministry of Foreign
+     Affairs, Buenos Aires, 1911).
+
+There had been attempts to speed up the transport before the railways
+were made. The _galera_ (diligence), with its swarm of horses harnessed
+with the _cincha_ (saddle to which the lasso was attached), did
+not carry goods. It did not replace the convoy of wagons, but the
+_tropilla_ of spare horses which travellers on the plain drove before
+them. The _galera_ went from Rosario to Cordoba in three days and to
+Mendoza in ten days, and from Cordoba to Salta in fourteen days. About
+1860 a quicker goods service was organized, light wagons drawn by mules
+replacing the ox-wagons. They made the journey from Rosario to Cordoba
+in six days. Similarly, on the Pampa, the ox-wagons had been replaced
+before 1889 by quicker wagons, drawn by horses, to convey wool from the
+ranches to the railway stations.
+
+The cost of transport by wagon was, naturally, high. It also varied
+a good deal, but we cannot possibly go into these variations here.
+It will be enough to give, by way of illustration, the details which
+Hutchinson gives for the year 1862. The freightage was fixed either for
+a complete load of 150 _arrobes_ (1,725 kgs.) or so much per _arrobe_
+(11-1/2 kgs.). Conveying a load from Rosario to Cordoba cost forty
+to fifty piastres (eight to ten pounds). The cost of carrying an
+_arrobe_ from Rosario to Mendoza was five to six _reales_ (about two
+shillings to two-and-six); from Rosario to Tucuman nine _reales_ (three
+shillings and fourpence); from Rosario to Salta eighteen _reales_
+(seven shillings and sixpence). The tropas were, therefore, quickly
+ousted by the railways. In a few places they made a very unequal fight
+against the railways. The _Memoria del departemento de Ingenieros de la
+Nacion_ of 1876, quoted by Rebuelto, mentions the competition of the
+_tropas_ with the Andino railway, opened from Villa Maria to the Rio
+Cuarto in 1873 and to Villa Mercedes in 1875. The merchants of San Juan
+and Mendoza continued to use them. The railway had to sign a contract
+with the _troperos_ by which wagons were to bring goods as far as Villa
+Mercedes, where they could be entrained. The total freight was fifty
+Bolivian _centavos_ (about two shillings) per _arrobe_ from Mendoza to
+Rosario, and sixty _centavos_ from San Juan. Of this the share of the
+railway was fifteen _centavos_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The first Argentine railway was opened in 1859, between Buenos Aires
+and Maron, a distance of about thirteen miles.
+
+In 1870 the Argentine railways formed two independent systems. The
+first radiated fan-wise from Buenos Aires (Western line, open as far
+as Chivilcoy in 1870, and Southern line, open as far as Chascomus
+in 1865). Farther north a line (the Central Argentine) started from
+Rosario, and reached Bellville in 1866 and Cordoba in 1870.
+
+  [Illustration: THRESHING ON THE PAMPA.
+                        Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.]
+
+  [Illustration: SACKS OF WHEAT READY FOR LOADING ON THE RAILWAY.
+  _There are elevators only in a few of the ports._
+                         Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.
+  PLATE XIX.                                           To face p. 220.]
+
+The political isolation of Buenos Aires between 1852 and 1862, during
+the time when the first concessions were issued, made upon the railway
+system an impression that would not be effaced until twenty-five years
+afterwards. It was not until 1886 that Rosario was connected by rail
+with Buenos Aires. The line to Mendoza and Chile, begun in 1870 (F. C.
+Andino), joins the line from Rosario to Cordoba. It reached Mendoza
+at the foot of the Andes before going on to Buenos Aires; and it was
+in 1888 that the Pacific railway was completed between Buenos Aires
+and Villa Mercedes, and established direct communications between the
+capital and the province of Cuyo.
+
+The line from Rosario to Cordoba is, therefore, the chief branch
+round which the Argentine system developed. It is remarkable that at
+the time of the original concession in 1855 a westward extension was
+contemplated, and that there was some idea of making it a stage in
+a trans-Andean. The first concessionaire, Wheelwright, had made the
+oldest railway in South America, from Caldera to Copiapo, in Chile in
+1851. The 1855 concession authorized Wheelwright to extend the Cordoba
+line westward and link it with the Copiapo line. When he opened the
+Cordoba station in 1870, Wheelwright, not suffering himself to be
+discouraged at the slowness with which the line had crossed the Pampa,
+still said that the goal was the Pacific, by way of Rioja, Copacabana
+and the San Francisco pass. This ambitious programme deserves to be
+recalled, if only as a reminiscence of the former orientation of the
+trade of Rioja and Tinogasta toward the Pacific, and as a proof of the
+importance, in the imagination of the men of that generation, of the
+old trans-Andean roads from north-western Argentina.
+
+Even before the Rosario line had reached Cordoba, it had been continued
+northward as far as Tucuman. The work was pushed vigorously, and
+Tucuman was reached in 1875. The Cordoba-Tucuman line was the first to
+be constructed entirely in the region of the scrub, and _quebracho_
+sleepers were then used for the first time. The earliest lines of the
+Buenos Aires province and the Argentine had, on the model of the Indian
+railways, a gauge of 5 feet 8 inches, but the Central Cordoba, from
+Cordoba to Tucuman, had a narrow gauge of forty inches. Hence goods
+coming from Tucuman had to be transferred at Cordoba. At the same time
+(1875) the line from Concordia to Monte Caseros was opened, and this
+made it possible to avoid the rapids of the Uruguay, which was to be
+a source of supply to the whole Mesopotamian system. Its gauge was
+fifty-seven inches. Differences of gauge are, and will continue to be,
+one of the characteristics of the Argentine system.
+
+During the period from 1875 to 1890 were constructed the main lines
+which took the place of the old roads from province to province. The
+Andean railway reached San Luis in 1882 and Mendoza and San Juan in
+1885. Branches of the Central Cordoba reached Santiago del Estero in
+1884 and Catamarca in 1889. In 1891 the Central Argentine opened a new
+direct broad-gauge line from Rosario to Tucuman; and almost at the
+same time the narrow-gauge line of the Central Norte, from Santa Fe to
+Tucuman, was finished further north. The Tucuman line was continued
+northward to the foot of the Andes as far as Salta. In the province
+of Buenos Aires the Bahia Blanca line was opened in 1884. Since 1900
+the railways have pushed on to the frontiers and are linked in various
+directions with those of the adjoining countries. The Cumbre tunnel on
+the Mendoza trans-Andean was completed in 1910, and traffic with Chile
+by rail is now permanent. The Salta line was continued in 1908 to the
+Bolivian tableland. In Mesopotamia, in fine, the north-eastern line
+reached Posadas in 1911 and effected a junction with the Paraguay line.
+
+These details, however, give a very imperfect idea of the history of
+the development of the Argentine railway system. It has not merely been
+superimposed upon the old roads, but has, on the other hand, helped
+to open up and develop new lands, which could not have been colonized
+without it. As early as 1883 Valiento Noailles, examining the general
+plan of the system, noticed the profound difference between the
+railways of Argentine and those of Europe. "In Europe," he said, "the
+railways are constructed to serve existing centres of production and
+consumption.... Our Argentine railways are to facilitate colonization."
+Corresponding to each occupation of a new area of the Pampean plain by
+the farmer or the breeder is the construction in that area of a new
+network of lines which are fed by its traffic and in turn help it to
+increase its production. The more productive the region is, the closer
+are the meshes of this network. They are wider in the pastoral than in
+the agricultural areas. The period of the development of the southern
+lines in the province of Buenos Aires corresponds with the expansion
+of breeding when the Pampa had been pacified. The railway reached Azul
+in 1876. The Ayacucho branch was opened in 1880, and continued as far
+as Tres Arroyos in 1887. The completion of the Bahia Blanca line, via
+Azul and Olavarria, in 1884, is itself merely one of the dates in this
+colonizing period. The great period of agricultural colonization at
+Santa Fe and the construction of the system of lines that serve it
+begin a little later, and last from 1880 to 1890 (extension of the
+Central Argentine system, the railways of the province of Santa Fe, and
+the narrow-gauge railway from Rosario to Cordoba).
+
+The part that the railway has played in colonization is plainly seen
+in the present completion of the system which has developed freely on
+the even surface of the Pampean plain. The lines radiate round the
+port of Buenos Aires and, in a less degree, round the ports of Rosario
+and Bahia Blanca. What seems at first sight to be the symmetry of the
+railway map will be found on closer examination to be less perfect;
+while the Atlantic coast between La Plata and Bahia Blanca has no
+ports, the Parana has quite a number of suitable places for shipping
+cereals. La Plata, San Nicolas and Villa Constitucion are served by
+lines which cut across the lines going to Rosario and Buenos Aires.
+This complexity of the system west of the Parana continues to the north
+of Rosario, where the lines that go to Santa Fe cut across all the
+lines going to Rosario. The lines which run along the southern frontier
+of the province of Buenos Aires (at Juancho, Necochea, etc.) have,
+unlike the lines serving the secondary parts of the Parana, all their
+traffic directed toward the interior, and they serve only to bring to
+Buenos Aires and Bahia Blanco the crops of the districts they cross.
+They are dependencies of the main lines of the southern system, and not
+rival lines.
+
+When the most fertile part of the Pampean plain, on which there is a
+regular rainfall to guarantee the crops, had been completely colonized
+and covered with railways, the national Government took up the policy
+of colonization by rail in the national territories. The minister Ramos
+Mejia has attached his name to this work. It has been suspended since
+the beginning of the war, but it filled the last period of construction
+of the Argentine railways. Ramos Mejia's railways include the lines
+penetrating the Chaco opened toward the north-west from Resistencia
+and Formosa, and the lines leading to the interior of Patagonia from
+the ports of San Antonio, Puerto Deseado, and Rivadavia. We must add
+the line from Neuquen to the Andes, made by the Southern Company, but
+with a Government subvention.[113] These lines, serving districts with
+little population and inadequate resources, will not for a long time
+make any profit.[114]
+
+     [113] The line from Bahia Blanca to the Rio Negro, of which
+     the Neuquen line is a continuation, was constructed in 1896.
+
+     [114] The continuation of many of these lines was contemplated
+     for the future, so as to secure for them at a later date a
+     long-distance traffic. The Resistencia and Formosa lines,
+     which reach the Andes, may compete for traffic with the
+     Rosario and Tucuman lines. In Patagonia, the continuation
+     across the Andes of the line from San Antonio to Lake Nahuel
+     Huapi has been considered. A pass has been found at a height
+     of 4,000 feet. When this plan is carried out, the Trans-Andean
+     from Nahuel Huapi would be in a position to compete
+     successfully with the Trans-Andean from Uspallata, which is
+     condemned by its elevation to remain a passenger line. These
+     plans, still far from realization, do not deprive the Ramos
+     Mejia lines of their character as colonization lines, entirely
+     devoted at present to conveying the timber of the Chaco and
+     the wool of Patagonia.
+
+Hence railway construction must be regarded in modern Argentina as
+one of the aspects of the problem of developing the soil. The railway
+companies have been compelled to intervene directly in the work
+of colonization. In 1863 the Central Argentine received from the
+Government a strip of land three miles wide on each side of the line it
+was making, between Rosario and Cordoba, on condition that it colonized
+the land. The company had its own immigration agents and its colonizing
+staff, and it opened its first colonies west of Rosario between 1870
+and 1872. This kind of concession is exceptional in Argentina. On the
+other hand, the irrigation law of 1909 obliges the railway companies to
+undertake, on behalf of the Government, the work that is necessary to
+develop irrigation in the areas they serve, such work being immediately
+reflected in an increase of population and traffic. In compliance with
+this law the Southern railway is constructing a canal which will water
+the whole valley of the Rio Negro below the confluence of the Neuquen.
+The Central Argentine and the Pacific also have undertaken to construct
+dams on the Rio Tercero and Rio Quinto, in the provinces of Cordoba and
+San Luis.
+
+As it is the essential function of a railway to convey the produce of
+the area it serves to the exporting port, the problem of the relations
+between the administration of railways and the administration of
+ports is of primary importance. The chief ports served by different
+companies, such as Rosario and Buenos Aires, may maintain their
+independence, but a secondary port will be at the mercy of the single
+line which conveys goods to it. In such circumstances the ports have
+become, in many cases, mere dependencies of the railways. The port of
+Colastine belongs to the railways of the Santa Fe province. The port
+of Bahia Blanca consists of a number of distinct ports constructed by
+the different railway companies, and run by them. Each of them ships
+the goods which it brings. The port Ingeniero White, which belongs to
+the Southern Company, was constructed in 1885, immediately after the
+opening of the line from Buenos Aires to Bahia Blanca. Puerto Galvan
+belongs to the Pacific Company. Puerto Belgrano is the port of the line
+from Rosario to Bahia Blanca. At Buenos Aires the Southern Railway
+Company has acquired control of the Buenos Aires Southern Dock Company.
+At La Plata it manages the docks.
+
+The spread of agricultural colonization was at first hampered by the
+cost of freightage which cereals could bear over an area with a radius
+of about 200 miles from the ports. That is the figure given by Girola
+in the _Investigacion Agricola_ of 1904. The period 1895-1905 saw the
+birth of a series of plans for making canals in the Pampean region
+for the purpose of transporting grain in the area which the railway
+did not seem able to serve economically. Not one of them was carried
+out, but the railways quickly enlarged their sphere of influence in
+the interior. There is, however, a reminiscence of this pause in
+colonization in what Argentinians call "the parabolic tariffs." The
+Argentine railways practically, apart from cases of competition with
+rival lines, use proportional tariffs up to a distance of 218 miles,
+and degressive tariffs beyond that limit. In this way the railways have
+helped in the conquest of the west. Degressive tariffs have certainly
+played a part in the spread of colonization during the years antecedent
+to 1912. They have helped to mask the inferiority of the new land to
+the better land in the east.[115]
+
+     [115] J. Lopez Manan, _El actual problema agrario_ (Buenos
+     Aires, 1912, Ministerio de agricultura, Direccion General de
+     agricultura y defensa agricola).
+
+  [Illustration: MAP VI.--THE RAILWAYS.
+  _It is impossible to give the entire system. Only the main lines are
+  given. Of the narrow-gauge lines of the Pampean region only those which
+  connect the system of northern Argentina with Buenos Aires are given.
+  The map shows the double direction of the Pacific system from Villa
+  Mercedes, to Buenos Aires and Bahia Blanca. It gives only an imperfect
+  idea of the way in which the lines ending at the ports of the Parana
+  and the Rio de la Plata (Santa Fe, Rosario, San Nicolas, Buenos Aires
+  and La Plata) overlap and cross each other._
+                                                       To face p. 226.]
+
+The rise in the value of land and the advance of colonization led,
+at each of those crises of development which characterize the recent
+history of Argentina, to a multiplication of railway concessions
+granted by the national Government and the various provincial
+authorities. These have to be bought up by the leading companies, as
+each of them wanted to keep exclusive control of the region in which it
+had established itself. This concentration could not be accomplished
+in a perfectly methodical way, and the various systems now overlap,
+which is not to the interest of the companies. Thus Villa Maria, on
+the Central Argentine line from Rosario to Cordoba, is also served by
+a line belonging to the Santa Fe railways and by a line of the Pacific
+Company which puts it in communication with Buenos Aires. On the other
+hand, the Central Argentine penetrates to the very heart of the area of
+the Pacific at Junin.
+
+However, competition between the various companies has had the
+effect of dividing the Pampean plain into three great spheres of
+influence. The first, in the north, is that of the Central Argentine
+and the Buenos Aires y Rosario line. In 1908 the Argentine Government
+officially sanctioned the fusion of the two companies, though it had
+really been accomplished a few years before. The second sphere, in
+the south, is that of the Pacific, the attraction of which was the
+line from Buenos Aires to Villa Mercedes, and which in 1907 bought the
+line from Villa Mercedes to Mendoza and the Trans-Andean, a natural
+continuation of its system. Moreover, in 1904 the Pacific absorbed the
+line from Bahia Blanca to the north-west, which has been linked up
+once more with its original system at Villa Mercedes. It thus has two
+outlets, to Buenos Aires and Bahia Blanca, and completely encloses the
+third sphere with its branches. The third sphere, which comprises the
+centre and south of the Pampean plain, is the domain of the Southern
+and Western Companies. In 1912 these two companies asked the Argentine
+Government to authorize them to amalgamate. Although they withdrew
+their proposal in 1914, in face of the conditions imposed upon them,
+they are still closely associated. Part of the traffic of the western
+lines of the Western passes over Southern lines at Carbue, and is
+shipped at the port Ingeniero White. At Buenos Aires also, and at La
+Plata, part of the Western Company's traffic in cereals and cattle uses
+the premises of the Southern Company. The Western and the Southern,
+jointly, bought in 1908, before it was finished, the narrow-gauge
+Midland of Buenos Aires line at Carbue, which was to cross their sphere
+of influence. It was opened in 1911.
+
+The importance of the transport of cereals in the life of the leading
+Argentine systems will be seen from the following figures. In
+percentages of the total of goods carried, both from the interior to
+the ports and _vice versa_, the tonnage of exported cereals was:--
+
+  ---------------+--------+--------+--------+----------
+                 |  1913  |  1914  |  1916  | Average.
+  ---------------+--------+--------|--------|----------
+  Southern       |  31.0  |  34.3  |  32.5  |   32.6
+  Western        |  58.3  |  61.7  |  55.1  |   58.4
+  Pacific        |  29.0  |  41.8  |  33.8  |   35.0
+  Central        |  36.5  |  46.6  |  34.8  |   39.5
+  ---------------+--------+--------+--------+----------
+
+The figures are rather less for the Southern, which covers an area
+that has remained chiefly pastoral and, by means of its Rio Negro
+line, serves for part of the transport of cattle from Patagonia
+(cattle-transport on the Southern, average for the years 1913, 1914
+and 1916: 17.2 per cent. of the total tonnage, 19 per cent. of total
+receipts; 1.4 per cent. of tonnage and 6.5 per cent. of receipts). They
+are higher for the Western, the only system that lies entirely in the
+Pampean region and has no continuations beyond it, as the Pacific has
+to Mendoza and the Central to Tucuman.
+
+The share of each company in the total traffic varies from year to year
+according to the harvest. Of the four to ten million tons of cereals
+carried every year, the greater part--about a third--falls to the
+Central Argentine, and one-sixth to the Southern. The Central Argentine
+carries the greater part of the maize and flax, the maize alone
+representing 26 per cent. of the total tonnage carried by the line, and
+the flax 5.6 per cent. Of the other lines the Western alone carries
+any appreciable quantity of maize, which comes from the Junin district
+(19 per cent. of its tonnage, but only 12 per cent. of its receipts,
+because of the slight distances the stuff is carried). The transport of
+wheat is about equally divided amongst the four leading lines, but the
+proportion of it to total traffic is highest in the case of the Western
+(34.4 per cent. of total traffic). The Southern is the chief carrier of
+oats (9.8 per cent. of the total tonnage). The tonnage carried annually
+is particularly irregular in the case of the Central, on account of
+the irregularity of the maize crops, and the Pacific, because its
+lines north-west of Buenos Aires serve a wheat-area that is exposed to
+drought (wheat carried by the Pacific in 1913, 15.9 per cent. of the
+total tonnage; in 1914, 27.2 per cent.).
+
+The clearing of the cereals gives the Argentine railways a delicate
+problem in the organization of traffic. The crops of flax, wheat and
+oats must be cleared in the four to six months following the harvest
+(December-January). The maize harvest, which is later, is also much
+slower; it lasts the whole of the autumn. Hence the removal of the
+maize is spread over a long period, and sometimes the work of one year
+runs into that of the next. This gives the Central an advantage over
+the other lines. The wool also must, on account of its great value, be
+transferred to the ports speedily after the shearing; but this is only
+a matter of about a hundred thousand tons.[116]
+
+     [116] The war and the difficulties of marine freightage have
+     lessened the seriousness of the problem of carrying goods
+     rapidly by rail in Argentina.
+
+Export, however, is by no means the one source of traffic on the
+Argentine railways. Transport of goods for home consumption is chiefly
+a question of a large part of the wheat crop. Building materials
+also--bricks, lime and stone--are an important item on the various
+lines which link Buenos Aires with the Sierra de Cordoba and the
+Sierra de Tandil. In 1913 the Southern line carried 1,134,000 tons of
+minerals, including 997,000 tons of stone and 101,000 tons of lime
+from the Sierra de Tandil and 34,000 tons of salt from the salt-mines
+of Lavalle, between Bahia Blanca and the Colorado. In the same year,
+the Pacific, Central Argentine, Central Cordoba and State railway
+carried 880,000 tons of minerals (half being lime) from the Sierra
+de Cordoba.[117] All the timber carried on the lines of northern
+Argentina, except the _quebracho_ from the banks of the Parana, is
+for home use: sleepers, fence-posts, firewood and charcoal are the
+chief items on most of the lines in the scrub. The war has checked
+railway construction and reduced the use of sleepers, but it has also
+deprived Argentina of combustible minerals and increased the transport
+of firewood. Even on railways like the Pacific and Central Argentine,
+which have very few of their lines on the scrub, the tonnage of wood
+carried is 6 per cent. of the whole (average for 1913, 1914 and 1916),
+and the proportion rises to 30 per cent. of the total tonnage on the
+Central Cordoba. For several companies the sugars of Tucuman and the
+wines of Mendoza are an important element of their receipts, not so
+much on account of the tonnage as the high cost of freightage and the
+great distance to the centres of consumption in the Pampean region. The
+carriage of wine and casks brings the Pacific 38.3 per cent. of its
+receipts (1913-14-16). The transport of sugar on the Central Argentine
+in a normal year amounts to 5 per cent. of its receipts. On the Central
+Cordoba the tonnage of sugar-cane and sugar carried amounted in 1914,
+a year of exceptional harvest, to 42 per cent. of the total tonnage,
+and was still 20 per cent. in 1916, a year of very poor crop. The
+supplying of meat to the market of Buenos Aires and the Pampean area,
+with its dense population, means a good deal of long-distance traffic
+in cattle; the refrigerators taking the better cattle of the adjoining
+region for the foreign market, and the slaughter houses of Buenos Aires
+being forced to content themselves with inferior beasts reared in the
+provinces and the adjoining districts.
+
+     [117] The transport of mineral stuff, apart from salt, has
+     been greatly reduced by the war. In 1916 it was only 637,000
+     tons for the Southern and 157,000 tons for the whole of the
+     lines of the Central Argentine, Pacific, Central Cordoba, and
+     State.
+
+The importance of these currents of internal traffic has made
+itself felt in the organization of the Argentine system. It has
+made it necessary for each system to have not only an outlet to an
+exporting town, but a direct connection with the chief centre of home
+consumption, Buenos Aires. The narrow-gauge system, which until the
+end of the nineteenth century had been restricted to the northern half
+of Argentine territory, north of the latitude of Rosario, developed in
+the province of Buenos Aires after 1900, and ventured to compete in
+the carriage of cereals with the broad-gauge system (Company of the
+Province of Buenos Aires and Provincial railway of La Plata). This
+system connected with the narrow-gauge lines of the north. The Central
+Cordoba, which had reached Rosario in 1912 and so had escaped the
+need to transfer its export-traffic at Cordoba to the broad-gauge,
+began immediately afterwards to effect a direct communication with
+Buenos Aires (Central Cordoba, extension to Buenos Aires, opened in
+1913). The line from Rosario to Buenos Aires of the Province of Buenos
+Aires Company also serves to carry trains of the Province of Santa Fe
+Company, which is closely associated with it. The medium-gauge lines
+of Mesopotamia also have effected a communication with Buenos Aires
+by means of a ferry-boat that plies on the Parana between Ibicuy and
+Zarate, and by using a section of the Buenos Aires Central.
+
+The concentration of narrow-gauge and medium-gauge lines seemed to be
+issuing in a complete fusion of their interests in 1913. The Argentine
+Railway Company got control of the lines of Entre Rios, Corrientes and
+the Paraguay. It promoted the development and extension of the Central
+Cordoba, and it also had large interests in the French companies of the
+Buenos Aires and Santa Fe provinces. All the narrow-gauge lines would
+have concentrated in its hands if it had been able to get the State
+railway. The broad-gauge line from Rosario to Puerto Belgrano had, as
+its interest conflicted with those of the great broad-gauge English
+systems, joined the narrow-gauge group engineered by the Argentine
+railway. But the amalgamation attempted by the Argentine railways did
+not succeed, and, after its failure, the companies it had temporarily
+brought together resumed their independence.
+
+The river-route of the Parana has sometimes been an auxiliary, at other
+times a rival, of the railways.
+
+Until the line from Buenos Aires to Rosario was opened in 1886, the
+navigation of the Parana was the only link between the system of
+northern Argentina and that of the Buenos Aires province. Before the
+line was completed, the company had established a service of boats on
+the Parana, and in this way it kept up a traffic in goods consigned to
+stations on the Central Argentine, to be transferred at Rosario. These
+combinations of railway and river service disappeared when the line
+from Buenos Aires to Rosario was finished.
+
+In regard to export traffic the railways have not attempted to compete
+with the river anywhere where it is open to maritime navigation; they
+have merely been concerned to connect with it. On the other hand, the
+railway and the river are rivals for the home traffic and the traffic
+of the upper districts which sea-going boats do not reach. Before the
+time of the railways the river had taken all the goods traffic, but had
+tolerated on its left bank a post-road between Santa Fe, Corrientes and
+Asuncion. The railway still has the advantage over the river in regard
+to speed (in carrying passengers between Rosario and Buenos Aires, and
+live cattle from the Chaco and the Paraguay for Buenos Aires or the
+salting works of the lower Uruguay). Even in regard to certain kinds of
+heavy goods--_quebracho_ timber--the river has not secured a monopoly,
+and there is a good deal of transport by rail.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE RIVER-ROUTES
+
+     The use of the river before steam navigation--Floods--The
+     river plain--The bed of the Parana and its changes--The
+     estuary and its shoals--Maritime navigation--The boats on the
+     Parana.
+
+
+The problem of the use of the river-routes of the Parana and the
+Paraguay is not of interest to Argentina alone. It affects the whole
+history of colonization in South America. The very name of the Rio de
+la Plata is a reminiscence of the anxieties of the early navigators who
+landed there, chiefly in search of a route to the mineral districts of
+the Andes [Plata = silver]. It is remarkable that the Amazon, which
+opens a more direct and better route to the Andes, was never used for
+reaching Peru. It was at the most, and only occasionally, used as a
+return-route, whereas expeditions to the Cordillera were organized on
+the banks of the Parana during the whole of the sixteenth century. The
+routes linking the Parana and the Paraguay with the tableland furrow
+the whole plain of the Pampa and the Chaco, from the latitude of the
+estuary to about 16 deg. S. lat. (expedition of Nuflo de Chavez in 1557).
+An especially close network starts from the river between 18 deg. and 22
+deg. S. lat. and ends at Santa Cruz, the most northern centre established
+by the Spaniards on the plain, at the foot of the Andes, as a consequence
+of the use of the Parana.[118]
+
+     [118] There is still a certain amount of goods traffic in this
+     latitude between the river and the Santa Cruz district by the
+     Puerto Suarez and Puerto Pacheco tracks.
+
+Spanish colonization, however, did not succeed in making permanent
+settlements on the Chaco. The Indians, who were masters of it, disputed
+their passage, and the only practicable route was the southernmost of
+the roads to the tableland, south of the Rio Salado, which ends at the
+estuary. From this time onward the prosperity of Buenos Aires eclipsed
+that of Asuncion. The river ceased to be a great continental route.
+
+The division of the Parana between the Spanish and the Portuguese was a
+check upon the full development of the river-route. The Portuguese held
+the upper part of its basin, which now belongs to Brazil. They expelled
+the Spanish missionaries from the upper Parana about the middle of
+the seventeenth century, and made themselves masters of the Paraguay
+north of 20 deg. S. lat. Their forts at Coimbre and Albuquerque prevented
+any from ascending. D'Azara insists that it would have been Spain's
+interest to disarm these forts; it would have enabled them to go up the
+river as far as the Spanish missions to the Mojos and the Chiquitos. On
+their side, the Portuguese only used the upper section of the river,
+where it is joined by the Paulist road north of the Coimbre, as a means
+of access to the gold mines of the Matto Grosso. Even now, although
+the Parana is open to every flag, the development of the river-route
+is not independent of political conditions. In making the railway from
+Saint Paul to Corumba, and so creating on its own territory a means of
+direct communication with the upper Paraguay, Brazil diverts from the
+lower districts part of the traffic which ought normally to go there.
+Again, the ports of southern Brazil and the lines which go to them try
+to attract to the Atlantic the produce of the basins of the Uruguay and
+the upper Parana, which would have followed the thread of the river
+to foster the trade of Buenos Aires if the frontiers had been fixed
+otherwise.
+
+Before the Revolution the river-trade was confined to exchanges between
+the Misiones and Paraguay on the one hand, and Buenos Aires and the
+Andean provinces on the other. After the extinction of the missions
+Paraguay was the chief centre of traffic on the river. At the close of
+the eighteenth century it had a fairly large population. According to
+D'Azara, it amounted to 97,000, and 47,000 for the area of the former
+Missions (Misiones), while Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Entre Rios and
+Corrientes had not more than 103,000 inhabitants collectively. Paraguay
+exported tobacco, _mate_ and timber by the river. The Buenos Aires
+Estano received 800 tons of tobacco a year. The exports of _mate_ from
+Paraguay to Peru, Chile and the interior provinces amounted to 1,725
+tons, and 2,250 tons went to Buenos Aires. The timber came mostly from
+the Tebicuary, where the _angadas_ (loads of timber) were formed. The
+chief constructive sheds also were on the Tebicuary. Boats of twenty to
+200 tons were launched there; and they had armed boats, when they went
+down the river, to detect ambushes of the Indians, who were masters of
+the right bank north of Santa Fe.
+
+The development of navigation on the Parana during the first half of
+the nineteenth century was checked by the disturbances and wars of the
+period of the emancipation and unification of Argentina. The river was
+blockaded several times and traffic interrupted. Only a few smuggling
+schooners succeeded in getting through the side branches, which the
+ships stationed in the river could not watch. Robertson escaped the
+Spanish vessels in this way. The picture which D'Orbigny has given
+us of the life of the river belongs to the year 1827. At that time
+the estuary was blockaded by the Brazilian fleet in the whole area of
+the delta as far as San Pedro. Piracy was so rife, and the insecurity
+so great, on the Uruguay and the Parana, that few ventured as far as
+Buenos Aires, the ships being linked in convoys. Up stream, Corrientes
+was the limit of navigation. The dictator Francis closed the Paraguay,
+and even the small boats no longer sailed on the upper Parana, along
+the frontier of Paraguay. The Correntinos, who spoke _Guarani_, could
+merely get permission at rare intervals to send a few boats up river.
+Armed boats convoyed these as far as Neembucu, and they returned with
+hides and _mate_. Corrientes thus became the market-centre of the upper
+river and replaced Asuncion in the trade. The flotilla on the Parana
+included flat-bottomed barges, which were only used in coming down,
+and strong keeled ships--schooners, sloops and brigs--with their ropes
+made of leather. Down stream there was a little more diversity in the
+traffic. The island sent cargoes of firewood and charcoal to Santa Fe
+and Buenos Aires. The orchards of the delta provided Buenos Aires with
+oranges and peaches. Hides for export were shipped at Goya and Santa
+Fe. But the chief freight was lime from La Bajada, which was burned in
+the kilns on the Barranca, at the outcrops of the beds of conchiferous
+limestone.
+
+  [Illustration: CONFLUENCE OF THE YGUASSU AND THE PARANA.
+  _In the foreground is the left bank of the Yguassu, on Argentine
+  territory. The right bank is Brazilian territory. At the back, on the
+  right bank of the Parana, is Paraguayan territory._
+  PLATE XX.                                            To face p. 236.]
+
+The navigation was fairly easy, the journey from Corrientes to Buenos
+Aires (675 miles) lasting, as a rule, from fifteen to twenty days.
+Going up, the time was more irregular. They had to stop when there was
+no south wind, or a little progress was made by hauling (_silgar_).
+D'Orbigny took a month to travel up.[119] In 1822, before the war with
+Brazil, there were 651 boats entered at Buenos Aires for coasting trade
+on the rivers and 1,035 at San Fernando or on the Tigre, the advance
+port of Buenos Aires. In 1833 Isabelle put at one thousand the number
+of vessels at work on the Parana and the Uruguay.
+
+     [119] The local south winds which help the voyage upward below
+     Rosario may be due to the high temperature of the water of the
+     river; this also gives rise on the lower Parana to thick fog
+     of which warning is given.
+
+In 1841 Rosas forbade navigation on the river. There was then a double
+blockade checking the trade of Argentina. The Franco-British fleet
+closed the Rio de la Plata and blockaded Buenos Aires, where the
+Government of Rosas was established. In addition, Rosas's troops on the
+_barranca_ of the right bank prevented any from going up the Parana,
+and cut off the interior provinces from the rest of the world. The
+injury then done to interests which were already fully self-conscious
+may be gathered from the agitation provoked by the decision of France
+and England in 1845 to break the blockade of the river. A convoy was at
+once organized at Montevideo, consisting of no less than ninety-eight
+ships, of 6,900 tons in all (MacKann). It went up the Parana under the
+protection of war-ships, which removed the chains slung across it by
+Rosas. The convoy dispersed up river as soon as it was out of range of
+Rosas. But it had needed so great an effort that the attempt could not
+be made again before the fall of Rosas.
+
+The closing of the Parana compelled a diversion of the trade of
+Paraguay toward the south-east. It crossed the isthmus of Misiones,
+between the Parana and the Uruguay, and passed down the Uruguay. At
+this time the whole commercial activity of Paraguay was concentrated
+at Itapua, on the upper Parana. The prosperity of the Uruguay was some
+compensation for the misery that reigned on the Parana. The populations
+of Paysandu and Montevideo greatly increased.
+
+In 1852, at the fall of Rosas, the modern period began for the Parana.
+The river-population changed rapidly. It ceased to be exclusively
+creole. Basques, and later Italians, had settled upon the Uruguay ten
+years before, and they now spread along the Parana. In 1850 MacKann
+found fifty vessels, of 20 to 100 tons, belonging to Italians at
+Santa Fe. This wave of immigration coincided with the development of
+relations between the Parana and the port of Montevideo. From 1852 to
+1860 Buenos Aires was isolated, and it remained outside the economic
+life of Argentina. Montevideo took its place. Urquiza's administration
+sought, in addition, to establish direct maritime communication between
+over-seas ports and the ports on the river: Gualeguy in Entre Rios, and
+Rosario in Santa Fe. Under a system of preferential duties (1857-59),
+which reduced the burden on goods carried by the river, Rosario grew
+rapidly, and between 1853 and 1858 increased its population from
+4,000 to 22,700. The period from 1852 to 1860 was also the time when
+steam-navigation was developing, and this doubled the value of the
+river-route. From 1860 onward Buenos Aires was connected by regular
+services of steamboats with Rosario, Santa Fe, Corrientes, Asuncion
+and Cuyaba. On the upper Parana goods (timber, tobacco and oranges)
+were still carried by sailing boats between Corrientes and Apipe, where
+they stopped at the commencement of the rapids. Steamboats did not sail
+up the rapids of Apipe until 1868.[120] From 1850 to 1860 there were
+repeated explorations of the Salado and the Bermejo, as the interior
+provinces hoped to be able to find a connection with the vivifying
+artery of the Parana (voyage of Page on the Salado from Salta in 1855,
+and of Lavarello on the Bermejo in 1855 and 1863).
+
+     [120] According to Rengger, sailing ships sometimes succeeded
+     in crossing the Salto d'Apipe.
+
+In 1860 the entry of Buenos Aires into the Confederation re-established
+the normal condition of free competition between Buenos Aires and
+Rosario. From that time the life of the river reflects the advance of
+colonization in the Pampean region. The Parana became the highway for
+the export of cereals.
+
+The two rivers, of which the Rio de la Plata forms the common estuary,
+differ considerably in their features. The Uruguay has irregular
+floods, especially in autumn (May) and at the end of the winter
+(August-October). Low water is in summer (January-February). Its basin
+belongs to the temperate zone, and does not extend northward as far as
+the area of tropical summer-rain. The Uruguay also differs from the
+Parana in its low capacity for transport and alluvial deposit. While
+the Parana has built up a vast deltaic plain, the Uruguay ends in an
+ordinary estuary, with rocky or sandy bed and clear water. The estuary
+of the Uruguay is 130 miles long and five or six miles wide. The
+eastern shore is rocky and broken. The Argentine shore is low. It is
+formed in the south by the deposits of the delta of the Parana, while
+further north, from Gualeguacha to Concepcion, the hills of Entre Rios
+are hidden behind a screen of flat islands covered with palms, formed
+by the stuff brought by the streams of Entre Rios. The river-floods are
+lost in the great sheet of the estuary. The tide in the estuary or a
+flood in the Parana is enough to turn the current.
+
+Maritime navigation goes beyond the estuary and beyond Paysandu, as
+far as the rapids which prevent further advance at Salto. The twin
+towns of Concordia (right bank) and Salta (left bank) mark the limit
+of navigation on the inner course of the river. It begins again above
+the falls, at Monte Caseros, from which the river-boats go to San Tome
+and occasionally to Concepcion. Small ships go higher, as far as Salto
+Grande in Misiones (27 deg. 20' S. lat.).[121]
+
+     [121] At one time the boats on the upper Uruguay saved
+     transport by going from Salto to Arapehy, midway between Monte
+     Caseros and Concordia (see Isabelle).
+
+The navigable system of the Parana is four times as large. The first
+survey of the river was made about the middle of the nineteenth century
+by the British Navy. At the beginning of the twentieth century the
+Argentine Government took up the study of the bed and the peculiarities
+of the Parana, and the Ministry of Public Works published a map, on
+the scale 1:100,000, of the course of the river between Posadas and
+San Pedro, at the beginning of the delta. A precise survey was made,
+and twenty-six fluvio-metrical scales were established, the zero of
+which represents mean low-water.[122] Transverse soundings were taken
+at equal distances of 670 and 1,000 feet, the distance being reduced
+to 160 and even 80 feet at critical points. Thanks to this work, the
+Parana is now, no doubt, the best known of all rivers of that size.
+
+     [122] It is as well to notice that the profile determined by
+     the altitude of the zero of these different scales, or the
+     low-water profile, is of a purely theoretical character. The
+     river is never at low-water over its whole course. The real
+     profile is always varied by slight movements of flood and ebb.
+
+Its output is estimated at 6,000 cubic metres a second at mean
+low-water, in the latitude of Rosario, and 25,000 to 30,000 cubic
+metres a second during flood at a height of six metres above
+low-water.[123] Its features bear the mark of its tropical origin.
+The tropical character is typical on the Paraguay, which is, by its
+situation in the central South-American plain, the real continuation of
+the lower Parana. The slightness of the fall of the Paraguay, however,
+and the extent of the marshes over which it spreads in Brazil and
+Paraguay, have the effect of regulating and retarding the flood, which
+only attains its maximum at Asuncion in May. The flood of the Paraguay
+extends the period of high water on the lower Parana until the end of
+autumn. The upper Parana has most of its basin in the tropical zone
+of summer rain. But its behaviour is also influenced by the spring
+or autumn rains of the southern part of the Brazilian tableland. Its
+floods are sudden and violent. They reach a height of sixty or seventy
+feet in the region of the confluence of the Yguassu. They sweep rapidly
+down stream, and reach the lower Parana before the flood of the
+Paraguay, which they hold back.
+
+     [123] Observations of the sediment held in the water have been
+     made at Campana, 32 miles from the estuary. At this point
+     the Parana only holds in suspension fine particles of clay,
+     but sand travels slowly along its bed. The weight of the
+     clay in suspension varies from 179 grammes per cubic metre
+     in March during the flood, to 42 grammes at low-water in
+     July. The stuff mostly comes from the Bermejo, which carries
+     5 kilogrammes of sediment per cubic metre. The load of the
+     Parana is much heavier than that of the Uruguay, but far lower
+     than that of the Mississippi.
+
+From Posadas the flood-waves reach Corrientes in five days (235 miles).
+From Corrientes they reach Parana in eight days (380 miles), travelling
+about two miles an hour. That is one-third the speed of the current, as
+the flood is retarded, and more or less absorbed, by the ramifications
+of the broader bed in which it moves.
+
+At Bajada Grande the lowest water is in September. The flood appears
+in December or January, though sometimes in October or November. The
+maximum is in March or April. The rise is rapid at first, but it
+gradually moderates, and the level of the water is raised about one
+metre per month during three months. It then sinks in corresponding
+order. The ebb is often interrupted in June, and sometimes as late
+as August, by a sudden leap upward of the curve, representing an
+ascensional movement of the water three times as rapid as that of the
+main flood (one metre in ten days). The level reached in this late
+flood is sometimes higher than that of the normal flood in April or
+May. The range of the ordinary flood-movements is from ten to sixteen
+feet. Exceptional floods rise to a height of twenty-three feet above
+the low-water mark.
+
+The curves established for the years 1908 to 1910 by the Argentine
+hydrographical service enable us to analyse the mechanism of the flood
+with a good deal of confidence. The beginning of the flood at Bajada
+Grande in October corresponds to the first flood of the upper Parana.
+During this first phase the curve of the Bajada is parallel (thirteen
+days later) to that of Posadas. There is the same parallelism in
+November, December and January. If the summer rains are light on the
+upper Parana, the flood is late on the lower Parana, and the water is
+still low there in December (0.20 below the low-water mark on December
+31, 1910). At the beginning of March, before the maximum of the flood,
+the curve of Bajada Grande differs from the curve of Posadas. It is
+the time when the flood of the lower river is caused by the rise of
+the Paraguay. The secondary floods of June and July again have their
+origin in the upper Parana, but, as they are added to the flood of
+the Paraguay on the lower river, they reach a higher level there than
+at Posadas; the difference gradually disappears as the flood of the
+Paraguay subsides. It is the addition of the late floods of the upper
+Parana to the flood of the Paraguay that causes on the lower river the
+abnormal floods that occur there at irregular intervals (in 1825, 1833,
+1858, 1878, 1905 and 1917).
+
+Below the Bajada the height of the floods progressively declines. On
+the estuary they are no longer perceptible; variations of level are
+due entirely to the tides. In the channels of the delta of the Parana
+the tide does not reverse the current as it does in the estuary of the
+Uruguay, but it causes a slight rise of the water; and this has been
+observed sometimes, at very low water, as far as Rosario.
+
+It is near Corpus, about forty miles above Posadas, that the upper
+Parana escapes from the restraint of the Brazilian tableland, which
+imprisons its valley, from the falls of the Guayra, in a deep fissure
+between lofty basalt cliffs. Below Posadas the river leaves the
+region of hills and red earth. Below Corrientes it flows everywhere
+over its own alluvia. Even above Corrientes its form has surprising
+characteristics of youth. The precise survey done on its banks has
+brought to light a very distinct break of its fall above Villa
+Urquiza, about 400 miles from Buenos Aires. The fall, which from
+Corrientes onward remains between sixty and forty millimetres per
+kilometre, sinks suddenly to thirteen over a stretch of twenty-five
+miles, and then rises again to thirty to forty-five millimetres.[124]
+Below Rosario the mean descent is twelve millimetres to the kilometre,
+below San Pedro only six.
+
+     [124] The district on the right bank of the Parana, above
+     Santa Fe and Parana, seems to be due to a recent subsidence.
+     The river is, on the other hand, compelled to effect active
+     erosion in crossing the high lands between Santa Fe and Buenos
+     Aires. It is curious that the break or fall at Villa Urquiza
+     occurs precisely above the bend of the Parana. A less marked
+     break has been recognized further north, in the latitude of
+     Lavalle, above the Goya bend. It seems that the diminution in
+     the excavation of the valley is due to the erosion which the
+     current effects laterally on the cliffs of the left bank.
+
+Above Corrientes the width of the main arm of the Parana varies, as
+a rule, from 2,600 to 6,500 feet. The width of the river-plain over
+which the floods spread is still more irregular. Between Santa Fe and
+Parana, where it is especially narrow, it is still ten miles wide.
+Lower down it gradually broadens to a width of sixty-five miles at the
+head of the estuary. The scenery is not the same in all sections of it.
+The vegetation on the islands is richer and more varied up river, and
+tropical essences (laurel-timbo) are found below the Bajada, forming
+clumps of trees covered with creepers.
+
+  [Illustration: THE PARANA AT CORRIENTES.
+  _Banks and islands partially fixed by vegetation._
+                                               Photograph by Widmayer.]
+
+  [Illustration: THE _BARRANCA_ AT PARANA (ENTRE RIOS), LEFT BANK.
+  _It is composed of clays and of beds of conchiferous terrestrial
+  limestone, which have supplied the lime-kilns for more than a century._
+                                                   Photograph by Boote.
+  PLATE XXI.                                           To face p. 244.]
+
+But the different scenes of the river region are most of all due to
+different conditions of erosion and formation. Above Rosario the
+configuration is due to floods. Each succeeding flood alters it and
+leaves some trace of itself in the topography. The beds of sand that
+it lays down are fixed by rushes and floating weeds, then by willows
+(_Salix humboldtiana_). This screen of vegetation encourages accretion,
+and the edges tend to rise higher. In the middle of the island are low,
+marshy lands. The irregularity of the alluvial deposits causes marked
+undulations in the whole region of the river, and everywhere gives rise
+to alternate beds of clay and sand. Below Rosario the river gradually
+loses its power. The islands become more stable and flatter. Clumps
+of willow and spiny _ceibos_ (_Erythrina cristagalli_) still cover
+the edges of them, and sometimes spread over the interior. But as the
+climate is now less humid, the vegetation fixes the soil less firmly,
+and the wind becomes the chief sculptor of the landscape. It heaps up
+the sand during the low-water season, and makes dunes which rise above
+the level of the greatest floods. These dunes form an unbroken line
+along the land in the southern part of Entre Rios, in the north of the
+main arm, with ridges at right angles, advancing toward the south,
+which rest upon the river clay; like the one which the Ibicuy railway
+follows across the floodable area. The cattle of the district take
+refuge on the dunes during floods. During periods of drought, on the
+other hand, they retain a quantity of water, and this is drawn from
+surface-wells at their base.
+
+The limits of the zone of the river are clearly marked on the whole
+of the lower Parana. It is enclosed on both sides by high _barrancas_
+(cliffs), vertical in places where the main current washes their feet,
+but sloping slightly where there is only a secondary arm with little
+erosive power. The cliff is broken only at the confluences of small
+valleys, the flat, filled-up bottoms of which are on the level of the
+alluvial plain of the Parana. The cliffs are at their highest in the
+district of Villa Parana, where they rise in places to a height of 300
+feet. On the right bank the cliffs show a section of the upper layers
+of the Pampean clays. On the left bank there are aeolian clays only at
+the top of them. Below these are Tertiary marine strata (marls and
+sandstones with beds of shells). The cliffs of the left bank stretch
+northwards, with a few breaks, as far as Corrientes, and even into
+Misiones. Their height gradually diminishes, and the Tertiary marine
+strata are replaced by granitic red sandstone.[125] On the right bank
+the height of the cliffs gradually diminishes up river. They are still
+conspicuous at the confluence of the Carcarana, but at Santa Fe they
+rise only about thirty-four feet. North of 31 deg. S. lat., and for some
+distance beyond Pilcomayo, the plain of the Chaco is very low, and it
+is impossible to define exactly the limit of the alluvial zone of the
+Parana. The fine clays, grey and white, which form the soil of the
+Chaco, reach the left bank north of Corrientes, in the _esteros_ of
+Neembucu. The red sandstone hills of the Asuncion district rise like an
+archipelago out of this level bed of lacustrine deposits.
+
+     [125] In the space between the frontier of Entre Rios and the
+     Rio Empedrado, south of Corrientes, the cliffs expose, above
+     the red sandstone, beds of sand and clay, fluvial alluvia
+     left by former beds of the Parana, the traces of which can
+     be followed from the north-east to the south-west diagonally
+     across the province of Corrientes.
+
+There is no obstacle to navigation in the entire stretch from Posadas
+to the falls of the Guayra on the Parana and the Salto Grande on the
+Yguassa. Sixteen miles below Posadas the Parana passes through a series
+of graduated rapids for about sixty miles (1,467 kil. to 1,558 kil.
+from Buenos Aires) wrongly called the Salto de Apipe. The current then
+rises to a speed of eight knots, and the depth is three feet at low
+water. These rapids are due to beds of melaphyre, which emerge amongst
+the granitic sandstone, and the water makes its way between large rocky
+islands. At Ituzaingo (1,455 kil.) the current loses force. There is,
+however, still a rocky bottom lower down, for ninety miles, at a depth
+of five feet. Below this the rock only appears on the left bank, and in
+a few ridges near the bank, or in isolated reefs which it has been easy
+to mark with buoys.
+
+From Corrientes to La Paz the river flows from north to south at
+the feet of the Corrientes cliffs. These line the main stream
+between Corrientes and Empedrado, and for thirty-five miles south of
+Bellavista. In the latitude of Riachucho, especially about Bellavista,
+the cliffs form a series of creeks and capes, in which the west winds
+create a heavy sea that was dreaded by ships of light draught coming
+down the river. North of Bellavista, and for more than a hundred miles
+south of Goya, the main stream is separated from the cliff by a series
+of alluvial islands; behind these are lateral arms (_riachos_) into
+which pour the rivers of Corrientes. These arms were much used by the
+early navigators.
+
+Between Esquina and La Paz the main bed, which is not in touch with the
+land on either of its banks, flows in a meandering path for some seven
+miles, the scale of the bends being double that of the meandering of
+the Paraguay north of the confluence. The islands are very small, and
+are strung in a rosary at the top of each bend. The depth is sixty feet
+at the top of the bend. The shallows are in a line with the islands at
+the point where the current runs evenly again before the next curve.
+The depth here is seven, and sometimes even five feet.[126] These
+shallows change their places quickly, and it is not always the same bad
+spot that determines the maximum draught for ships that are to be used
+in this section. This migration of the shallows is very different from
+the permanence of the rocky bottom of the stretch between Corrientes
+and Posadas.
+
+     [126] In point of fact, the ridge is lower at the time of low
+     water, when the current is concentrated in the main channel,
+     so that one always finds one or two feet greater depth there
+     at low water than soundings taken at high water would lead one
+     to expect.
+
+From La Paz to Parana the main course is outlined by the Entre Rios
+cliffs. There is no further meandering. The cliffs of hard rock offer
+far more resistance than the soft alluvia over which the river wanders
+freely. The permanence of the bed in front of the cliffs leads to
+a depth of as much as eighty feet. Only here and there a fringe of
+alluvial stuff separates the channel for a time from the cliff. These
+curves seem, as a rule, to coincide with the confluence of rivers,
+which bring a heavy load of clay from the tableland; as, does, for
+instance, the San Feliciano, north of Hernandarias. They are marked
+by shallows, in strong contrast to the great depths of the straight
+sections. The San Feliciano _paso_, which is twelve feet broad to-day,
+was only six feet broad in 1908. It appeared on Sullivan's map in
+1847.[127]
+
+     [127] A little above its actual position.
+
+Below Parana, as far as the estuary, the careful observations that
+have been made since 1903 on the movement of the river have enabled us
+to learn some of its laws.[128] We can distinguish four sections of
+unequal length. From Parana to Diamante the river remains in touch with
+the cliffs of the left bank. It is not straight; it describes a series
+of linked crescents of equal radius, which seem to be traces of so many
+meanders. Only one in two of the windings of the cliff is followed by
+the channel. The wandering of the river is confined within limits as
+in a fixed mould. The Paracao shallow, which for a long time prevented
+ships from reaching Santa Fe (gradually deepened by dredging from eight
+to nineteen feet between 1907 and 1911) is at the angle where two of
+these curves meet. On the right bank the secondary arms continue to
+follow the river (Parana viejo, Riacho de Coronda).[129]
+
+     [128] In studying the variations of the bed of the Parana it
+     is necessary to avoid comparing maps drawn at dates separated
+     by long intervals. The differences of such maps are such
+     that they do not enable us to follow the processes by which
+     the actual forms have been derived from earlier forms. The
+     analogies which they show are sometimes due, not to the
+     permanence of the topography, but to the return of a complete
+     cycle of changes, or of conditions analogous to the earlier
+     conditions.
+
+     [129] The secondary arms of the right bank, north of Santa
+     Fe, were not explored until 1870. Sullivan's map (1847) only
+     mentions the Riacho de San Jeronimo, which is visible for a
+     short distance below 20 deg. S. lat. The right bank was the domain
+     of the Indians, and the Correntinos would not venture near it.
+     In 1870 ships began to use the San Javier arm, on which many
+     colonies arose. Further north the Parana Mini has been used
+     since 1890 for exporting _quebracho_ timber.
+
+Below Diamante the river leaves the cliff on the left bank and slants
+across the alluvial plain to the cliff on the right bank, which it
+reaches at San Lorenzo. Over the whole of its thirty miles width it
+resumes the freedom and regularity of features which it had above La
+Paz. A comparison of the successive maps of the river shows that the
+scheme of its movements, which one would be tempted to draw up with a
+regular migration of the islands and loops down river, would not be
+accurate. The changes of the bed of the river are essentially due to
+variations in the volume of the different arms, which are constantly
+changing their size and adapting their shape to the body of water that
+flows in them. The radius of the curve of each arm is proportional
+to its volume. A long island is formed between two arms of equal
+size which both describe symmetrical curves. If the volume of one of
+them is reduced, its original curve is replaced by sinuosities of
+smaller radius, and these nibble the edges of the island and give it
+an irregular shape. If the volume increases again, the winding bed is
+abandoned and becomes a dead bed, and a larger meander begins. The
+track followed by the ships then breaks up into a series of meanders
+over a course of about eight miles and a half, and this means the
+concentration in a single channel of the greater part of the water of
+the river, and in narrower bends in the sections where the current is
+divided between several arms.
+
+From San Lorenzo to San Pedro the river flows by the cliff of the
+right bank. It is remarkably regular, and has only one slight bend:
+an exceptionally good site, on which the town of Rosario is built. At
+almost equal intervals, differing by only about ten to thirteen miles,
+the river leaves the cliff, and is separated from it by an alluvial
+strand, or by an insular zone a few miles in width.[130] Below this
+bend the current again touches the cliff and landing is easy. The
+small, older ports of the Parana--Constitucion, San Nicolas, Puerto
+Obligado and San Pedro--are built on similar sites. It does not seem
+that the islands at the foot of the cliff tend to extend downward in
+front of these ports; the points where the river reaches the cliff are
+fixed. The depth is often considerable at the foot of the cliff (138
+feet opposite Puerto Obligado). The shoals are distributed irregularly
+at the bends, where the channel moves away from the cliff. They all
+have to-day a minimum depth of twenty-one feet.[131] On the left bank
+the secondary arms sprawl over the alluvial plain for thirty-five miles
+north of the river.
+
+     [130] As between La Paz and Parana, it seems possible to show
+     some relation between these alluvial stretches at the foot
+     of the cliff and the confluence of the small valleys of the
+     Pampean plain.
+
+     [131] The Paso Paraguayo, which has cost the Argentine
+     hydrographic service most work, did not exist at the middle of
+     the nineteenth century. It seems that the channel then kept
+     to the cliff as far as Benavidez, and was continued as far as
+     the source of the Parana Pavon by a very pronounced buckle, of
+     which the Monriel lagoon is a scar. In 1895 the Paso was only
+     fifteen feet deep.
+
+The delta begins at San Pedro. The Parana Guazu, or main arm, leaves
+the cliff on the right bank and passes to the Uruguayan bank opposite
+Carmelo. The Parana de las Palmas, which branches off from it to
+the south and passes before Campana and Zarate at the foot of the
+tableland, is deep and easy to navigate, but it is closed at the bottom
+of the estuary by a six-foot bar, which makes it a sort of blind alley
+opened only above. The arms of the zone of the delta differ from those
+of the river-zone proper in the irregularity of their course. Flowing
+between long islands, they sometimes lie in straight stretches and at
+other times in meanders or almost perfect buckles. The channels of the
+southern part of the delta, near Buenos Aires, are called _caracoles_
+(snails) on account of their winding shape. The weakness of the
+current, which is held up by the tide, is seen also in the distribution
+of the greater depths; they are no longer uniformly found along the
+concave edge of the bends, but are scattered irregularly. On the Parana
+Guazu a depth of 130 feet has been ascertained. Its minimum depth is
+twenty-two feet.
+
+  [Illustration: THE PARANA ABOVE THE ESTUARY.
+  _Right bank. The river has moved away from the_ barranca, _leaving at
+  its foot an alluvial plain of imperfect spiral form_.
+  PLATE XXII.                                          To face p. 250.]
+
+The study of the estuary may be taken separately from that of the
+river. It consists of three parts, unequal in size, which open with
+increasing breadth toward the Atlantic. The upper Rio de la Plata,
+above Colonia and Punta Lara, has a width of about thirty-five miles.
+The middle Plata, twice as wide, extends to the latitude of Montevideo
+and Punta de las Piedras. Then the outer harbour opens between
+Maldonado and Punta Rasa. The water is still fresh in the middle
+estuary up to eighty miles below Buenos Aires.
+
+The bottom is alluvial except in the channels between Martin Garcia and
+Colonia.[132] Differently from up the river, where the channels have
+sandy bottoms, while the banks are of fine clay, the channels of the
+estuary have bottoms of mud and clay. In the outer harbour the pilots
+recognize the approach of banks by the sand which is brought up by
+the sounding-lead. The action of the waves, which is not found in the
+river, accumulates stuff of comparatively large size and weight on the
+banks.
+
+     [132] The granite which outcrops at Martin Garcia also forms
+     the platform of the English Bank in the outer harbour.
+
+In spite of the conclusions embodied in the nautical instructions,
+which describe the estuary as a theatre of rapid changes "occasioned
+by the continual deposits of sand brought down by the Parana and the
+Uruguay,"[133] the estuary is, as a matter of fact, in a remarkable
+state of equilibrium, and there is no trace of a gradual accumulation
+of alluvia, or of important changes of channel. The shore of the
+delta north of the Parana de las Palmas, covered with rushes which
+protect it from the attack of the waves, shows neither advance nor
+retreat. The broad lines of the hydrography of the Rio de la Plata
+are plainly indicated on Woodbine Parish's map. The English Navy map
+of 1869 (on the basis of observations in 1833, 1844 and 1856) only
+differs in detail from the present map. The stability of the channels
+is surprisingly different from the changes in the bed of the river
+in the flood-zone. The permanence of the bottom, in spite of the
+loose deposits of the estuary, is explained by the regularity of the
+currents. These currents, which determine the submarine topography of
+the Rio de la Plata and the distribution of the banks, are not of river
+origin. They are tidal currents.
+
+     [133] The water in the estuary, worked up by waves and tide,
+     contains more sediment than the water of the river.
+
+There are two groups of shoals in the estuary. The first, the Playa
+Honda, occupies the whole western part of it up to a line drawn from
+Buenos Aires to Colonia. These banks leave a narrow passage in the
+north, opposite the Uruguayan shore, and this is followed by ships
+going to Uruguay and the Parana Guazu. The second group of shoals is
+the Ortiz Bank, triangular in shape, which rests in the north on the
+Uruguay coast below Colonia, while its point extends south-eastward to
+eighteen miles north of the Punta de las Piedras. It keeps the zone of
+deepest water in the middle estuary to the south, near the Argentine
+shore. In the latitude of the point of the Ortiz Bank, on a line from
+Montevideo to Punta de las Piedras, the middle estuary is separated
+from the outer harbour by a bar (_barra del Indio_) with thirty-eight
+feet of water, caused by the transverse currents which circulate from
+point to point inside the English Bank.
+
+The tide in the estuary is very irregular. The south-east winds
+increase the flow and retard the ebb. When they are blowing, it often
+happens that the level of the water in the upper estuary keeps up from
+one tide to the next, sometimes for several days. The tide, which
+is slight at Montevideo, is greater at the bottom of the harbour on
+the Barra del Indio, sometimes rising nearly forty inches there. From
+there it advances with difficulty northward, over the Ortiz Bank, along
+the Uruguayan shore, whereas it passes freely into the deeper zone on
+the Argentine side.[134] At Buenos Aires it still has a depth of thirty
+inches. From there it advances northward by the Martin Garcia channels
+beyond the Playa Honda. The channel of the Pozos del Barca Grande,
+which crosses the Playa Honda bank from north to south, parallel to the
+edge of the delta, is oriented in conformity with the tidal currents
+and maintained by them. It is not attached to the river, and it is
+separated from the mouths of the Parana de las Palmas or the Parana
+Mini by shallows which are navigable only to small boats. The _Rias_
+of the Uruguay, where the tide raises the water twelve inches, forms
+a sort of reservoir which, at the ebb, feeds a strong current round
+Martin Garcia and sweeps the channels there.
+
+     [134] The current at high tide is stronger than at low tide,
+     and it has shifted to the north-east the streams which find an
+     outlet on this side.
+
+The work done for the improvement of the estuary includes the deepening
+to thirty feet of the Barra del Indio and the dredging of a straight
+channel from that point to Buenos Aires. Steamers of large tonnage
+going up the Parana leave this channel twenty-six miles east of Buenos
+Aires, and turn north in order to pass east of Martin Garcia, and
+enter the river by the Parana Guazu or the Parana Bravo. Since 1901
+the Argentine Government has considered a plan of opening a direct
+route from Buenos Aires to the Parana de las Palmas, either by cutting
+an artificial canal at the foot of the cliffs, across the Tigre
+archipelago, or by using the channel of the Pozos del Barca Grande and
+cutting the narrow bar which closes the Parana de las Palmas below. If
+this were done, the ports of the Parana de las Palmas would have direct
+access to the sea. Moreover, the new route from the Parana to the
+Atlantic would be entirely within Argentine territory, out of range of
+the Uruguayan shore, and Buenos Aires would become a necessary port of
+call both on departure and return.
+
+Above the estuary, the work for the improvement of the Parana began
+in 1904 and 1905. Since 1910 the material dredged from the bed of the
+river has risen to 3,500,000 cubic metres a year on the average. The
+experience gained in the course of this work has enabled the Argentine
+hydrographic service to adjust its methods to the incomparable force
+of the river. It is impossible to maintain a general rectification of
+the bed and the banks, as is possible with European rivers. The only
+thing to do is to submit quietly to the plan which the river sketches
+for itself, and be content to deepen the difficult passages on the
+line of the main arm. Suction dredges, which work easily in the sand,
+attack each ridge or _paso_ from below, making a channel into which
+the waters flow, so that it tends to enlarge itself up stream. The
+dredges are shifted from bank to bank according as the soundings tell
+of the formation of fresh obstacles to navigation. They were at first
+concentrated below Rosario, where the Argentine Government had to carry
+out certain engagements contracted with the Port Company; then they
+were scattered as far up as Santa Fe. The actual equipment suffices to
+carry out the programme that had been drawn up--to maintain a depth of
+twenty-one feet as far as Rosario and of nineteen feet as far as Santa
+Fe.
+
+  [Illustration: MAP VII.--ESTUARY OF THE RIO DE LA PLATA.
+  _The channels of the estuary are parallel to the direction of the
+  tidal currents, which account for their depth. Those which cross the
+  shoals of the Playa Honda, at the bottom of the estuary, finish as
+  no-thoroughfares, and do not give access to the southern arms of the
+  river. From Buenos Aires ships going up the river have to go round by
+  Martin Garcia and the mouths of the Parana Guazu._
+                                                       To face p. 254.]
+
+As regards the section above Santa Fe, the engineer Repossini advises
+that, instead of adopting a programme of expensive dredging with
+uncertain results, they should first think of adjusting navigation to
+the natural conditions, and they are such as would be considered very
+favourable in Europe. The hydrographic service would, however, still
+have two functions: in the first place, the topographical study of the
+river and the constant placing of buoys, and, in the second place, the
+observation of its behaviour and anticipation of variations of level.
+The utility of the work of foreseeing floods, which has been carried on
+since 1907, has been abundantly proved. It published a daily bulletin
+of forecasts, based upon observation of the pluviometric scales of
+the upper river, which is equally valuable to the navigators and to
+breeders in the floodable area. It enables the breeders to get their
+cattle into safety before the floods come. On the other hand, the ship
+can, thanks to the bulletin, foretell what depth of water it will find
+at critical passages, and calculate exactly the load it can carry, and
+so complete its cargo lower down. The service of forecast of floods
+has morally improved navigation on the Parana by suppressing every
+possible pretext for wilful stranding, which had become a current form
+of speculation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Nothing is more varied than the fleet which now serves the Parana. It
+includes tramps, and long, slim European ships, which load up with
+cereals and meat; large river boats, luxurious and light; barges
+and tugs, lighters and schooners, which have compensation for their
+slowness in their cheapness.
+
+As regards navigation, the river is now divided into three sections.
+Maritime navigation ascends as far as Santa Fe. At Rosario and Santa Fe
+it goes right to the heart of the zone of cereals and to the fringe of
+the forest area. The upper section, between Rosario and Santa Fe, is
+less safe than the lower section, and this is reflected in the cost of
+freightage from Santa Fe.
+
+The ports of the lower Parana, between Santa Fe and Buenos Aires,
+may be classed in three categories. The ports of the first group
+are built on low land that is liable to be flooded. Every year the
+floods threaten their traffic. That is the character of Colastine,
+east of Santa Fe, which specializes in shipping _quebracho_ timber,
+or Ibicuy, on the Parana Pavon, in the south of the province of Entre
+Rios, which, however, is protected by excellent works. The small ports
+of the _barranca_ of the southern bank, on the main river and on the
+Parana de las Palmas, form a second group. They ship meat (Campana and
+Zarate) and cereals (San Nicolas and Villa Constitucion), and they are
+admirably adapted for this by their natural situation. Steamers come
+right up to the cliff without any need of special works on the shore.
+The sacks of wheat are let into the ships down sloping gangways from
+stores excavated in the cliff or from wagons. None of these ports are
+equipped for receiving imports. The third group comprises ports with
+complete apparatus for both export and import. The chief of these is
+Rosario. It was the increase of imports between 1850 and 1860 that
+stimulated its early progress. To-day the tonnage of the goods unloaded
+at Rosario is nearly one-half the tonnage of the cereals shipped there.
+Yet, in spite of appearances, it is the imports that account mainly
+for the busy life of its quays. The port company does the unloading
+itself, as well as the handling and storing of the goods imported, but
+it is content to receive dues on all exports within the area for which
+it has a monopoly. Only a small part of the cereals exported uses its
+elevators. A deep-water port, equipped like that at Rosario for import
+and export, has just been constructed at Santa Fe. Already it competes
+with Colastine for the export of _quebracho_. Its import trade is still
+small, as such trade requires large capital and a whole network of
+relations with the adjoining country, and that is not the work of a day.
+
+The second section of the river stretches from Santa Fe to Corrientes,
+and is continued up the Paraguay. The transport of _quebracho_ timber
+and tannic acid is the chief item of its trade. The maximum draught
+of the vessels it admits at normal low water is six feet. Some of the
+ports on the left bank (Esquina, Goya) and all the ports on the right
+bank (Reconquista, Barranqueras, etc.) are at some distance from the
+main bed, or lateral arms. The Chaco works have generally a flotilla
+of steamers and barges. It is the exporters of timber and extract
+of _quebracho_ to Europe who most strongly demand the deepening of
+the bed of the Parana above Santa Fe. Sailing ships share with the
+river steamers the transport of the products of the Paraguay and of
+Corrientes (hides, tobacco and _mate_). The transport of oranges alone
+from San Antonio, Villeta, Pilar and Humaita represents an item of tens
+of thousands of tons.
+
+The third section of the river stretches from Corrientes to Posadas,
+and beyond. Sailing ships have disappeared from this section, as they
+cannot make the Apipe rapids. Steamers of four and a-half feet draught
+and 150 tons are now used on it, but they cannot proceed at low water.
+They provide a direct service between Buenos Aires and Posadas, though
+the service is not very economical, because it does not permit them to
+use to the full the transport-capacity of the river below Corrientes.
+Most of the goods for Posadas are, therefore, trans-shipped at
+Ituzaingo, below the rapids, or at Corrientes. The steamboat companies
+which serve Posadas are obliged, in order to secure the economical
+transport of goods shipped on the upper Parana, to maintain lines which
+go up the Paraguay as far as Asuncion, and take on at Corrientes the
+goods that come from Posadas. Higher up, the falls of the Guayra and
+the Yguassu set an impassable limit to the enterprise of Argentine
+vessels. Boats on the stretch above Yguassu on the Parana feed the
+railways of the Brazilian tableland. The traffic of the upper Parana
+consists chiefly of _mate_ from Misiones and cedar-planks from the
+Posadas saw-mills. Rafts of timber are stopped at Posadas and rarely
+follow the river further.
+
+The Argentine statistics of navigation are obscure. They confuse under
+one heading the river-traffic between Posadas and Brazilian territory,
+or between Corrientes and the Paraguay, and the exports of the Pampean
+region to Europe. It is difficult to get from them an idea of the real
+traffic, or to distinguish the tonnage loaded or unloaded at each port
+from that which merely touches its quays in ships going up or coming
+down the river. They credit a score of ports with a total tonnage of
+(entries and clearances together) more than 500,000 tons.
+
+At all events, they do enable us to distinguish between ports
+exclusively devoted to river traffic and those with direct relations
+to oversea ports. Nearly all the boats destined for the Parana touch
+at Buenos Aires, which remains the chief importing centre, on the way
+up, and unload there. They then go empty to Rosario, San Nicolas, or
+Santa Fe to take on a full cargo of cereals or timber, and set out down
+the Parana for Europe without calling at Buenos Aires. Clearances for
+interior navigation at the port of Buenos Aires are far more numerous
+than entries. From 1912 to 1914 Buenos Aires received on the average,
+coming from interior ports, 1,750,000 tons, of which 1,635,000 were
+cargo. It cleared for the same ports ships totalling 3,275,000 tons, of
+which 1,580,000 were in ballast. The latter figure fairly represents
+the tonnage of sea-going ships sent up river empty after discharging on
+the quays of Buenos Aires. At Rosario, San Nicolas and San Pedro, on
+the other hand, the tonnage of clearances for Argentine ports is much
+less than the tonnage of entries.[135] The total movement of goods at
+the port of Rosario is 410,000 tons entries and 375,000 tons clearances
+for interior navigation, and 1,100,000 tons entries and 1,824,000 tons
+clearances for navigation abroad.
+
+     [135] Movement of internal navigation at Rosario (average
+     1912-1914): entries, 1,108,000 tons, of which 690,000 in
+     ballast; clearances, 580,000 tons. At San Nicolas: entries,
+     400,000 tons, of which 440,000 in ballast; clearances, 4,000
+     tons. The difference between the entries and the clearances
+     represents ships starting straight for Europe.
+
+According to Repossini's calculations the tonnage of exports on the
+lower Parana south of Santa Fe rose in 1910 to 4,000,000 or 4,500,000.
+The imports, almost entirely confined to Rosario, were about a fourth
+of this figure. For the middle and upper Parana, Repossini estimated
+the volume of the traffic at 800,000 tons, of which _quebracho_ was
+two-fifths.
+
+The navigation of the Parana is one of the chief sources of the
+prosperity of Buenos Aires. Even if the development of the import
+trade at Rosario or Santa Fe is partly at the expense of the capital,
+and the boats laden with cereals do not stop at its quays, still the
+coasting traffic on the river is in great part meant for Buenos Aires.
+In returning, rather than go empty, the boats take cargoes of European
+products bought from the Buenos Aires importers. By means of the Parana
+the import-trade sphere of influence of Buenos Aires reaches beyond the
+frontiers of Argentina, as far as Paraguay and part of Brazil. Buenos
+Aires is, moreover, the main centre for equipping the steamboats of the
+river. Its capital dominates the Parana. Lastly, the Parana supplies it
+with an export freight which must not be overlooked. It is at Buenos
+Aires that the hides, tobacco and timber and extracts of _quebracho_
+for oversea markets, shipped on schooners in the upper reaches of the
+river which are impassable for steamers, are trans-shipped for abroad.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE POPULATION
+
+     The distribution of the population--The streams of emigration
+     to the interior--Seasonal migrations--The historic towns--The
+     towns of the Pampean region--Buenos Aires.
+
+
+A large-scale chart of the mean density of the population for each
+province--like those which were published in the latest Argentine
+Census-reports--has no geographical value for the west and north-west,
+where oases of slight extent are separated by vast desolate stretches,
+deserted because of the lack of water. In the Pampean region, on the
+other hand, the population is distributed in a very regular manner, and
+the mean densities calculated fairly represent the facts.
+
+To the several types of exploitation, of which we have studied the
+distribution on the Pampa, there correspond unequal densities of
+population. Cattle-breeding, for instance, requires only a thin
+population. The early pastoral colonization of the plain on the west
+of the Salado was carried out, between 1880 and 1890, with a very
+small number of workers. A large ranch of 400 square kilometres on the
+northern edge of the Pampa (the Tostado ranch) only employs about a
+hundred men, or one for four square kilometres. The density increases
+appreciably for sheep-breeding on the _pastos tiernos_ of Buenos Aires
+province, where a ranch of a hundred square kilometres, devoted to
+producing wool, with fifty or sixty shepherds, sustains at least 200
+persons, or two to the square kilometre.[136] The density is not
+appreciably greater in the area of wheat-growing on a large scale,
+where the extent cultivated by one family reaches, including fallow,
+200 hectares. But it may, even apart from the urban population, be more
+than ten to the square kilometre in the maize belt.
+
+     [136] The density is twenty times less in the ranches which
+     use the meagre pastures of the Rio Negro.
+
+The growth of the population of Argentina can be followed closely
+from the middle of the eighteenth century. A Census taken in 1774
+gives the Buenos Aires district within the first line of forts 6,000
+inhabitants. At the end of the eighteenth century (Census of 1797,
+quoted by D'Azara) the population of the province of Buenos Aires,
+without the town, was a little over 30,000 souls, the zone occupied
+having been extended in the meantime, at least in part, as far as the
+Salado. Woodbine Parish estimates the population at 80,000 in 1824, at
+the time when the expansion southward, beyond the Salado, as far as the
+Sierra de Tandil, began. It doubled between 1824 and 1855. The northern
+departments then counted 45,000 inhabitants, the western 58,000 and the
+southern 63,000. The density was still a little greater in the north,
+along the road to Peru, but the advance of sheep-rearing in the south
+was beginning to change the centre of gravity of colonization. The
+first regular Census of the Argentine Republic in 1869 showed a still
+more rapid advance. The population of the Buenos Aires province had
+grown to 315,000 inhabitants. The increase was greatest in the west,
+where tillage began to extend round Chivilcoy, beyond the pastoral
+area, and in the south, where sheep-farms multiplied. The population of
+the southern departments more than doubled in fourteen years (137,000
+inhabitants to 70,000 square kilometres in occupation, or two to the
+square kilometre).
+
+However, the Pampean region--Buenos Aires (including the capital),
+Santa Fe, and the southern part of Cordoba--still had a smaller
+population than that of the northern and north-western provinces:
+626,000 as compared with 813,000. The Mesopotamian provinces had then
+263,000 inhabitants.
+
+The proportion was reversed twenty-five years later at the 1895 Census.
+The population of the Pampas had increased threefold, and was more than
+a half of the entire population of the country. That of the western and
+north-western provinces was about a third of the whole, and had only
+increased by fifty per cent.
+
+If one considers in detail the distribution of the population of the
+Pampean plain in 1895, one sees that beyond the suburbs of Buenos Aires
+the area of greatest density--five to eight per square kilometre--was
+in the north-west, between San Andres de Giles and Pergamino, a
+district of advanced methods, where the cultivation of maize was
+beginning to occupy a good part of the land. The population was
+confined to the west of the preceding zone, in the agricultural area of
+Junin, Chacabuco and Chivilcoy. This area, where maize and wheat were
+next each other, already embraced Viente Cinco de Mayo (five to the
+square kilometre) on the west and Nueve de Julio (2.5). In the south
+of Buenos Aires, the departments of the left bank of the Salado, which
+were entirely given up to breeding, but long colonized, had a density
+of three to five per square kilometre. The region lying between the
+lower Salado and the Sierra de Tandil, a sheep-breeding area, then
+giving good returns but of recent colonization, had not more than
+three. The density falls rapidly as one goes westward. It sinks to less
+than one in the north-west and west of the Buenos Aires province, in
+the area where the cattle-breeders from the east had settled. At Santa
+Fe, the region of the colonies, at the level both of Rosario and Santa
+Fe, had five inhabitants per square kilometre. But beyond the Cordoba
+frontier the density falls to two in the San Justo department, and
+still less further south, at Marcos Juarez, Union and General Lopez.
+
+  [Illustration: THE OLDER INDUSTRIES OF THE PAMPA: DRYING HIDES.
+                        Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.]
+
+  [Illustration: DRYING SALT MEAT.
+                         Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.
+  PLATE XXIII.                                         To face p. 262.]
+
+In 1914 the density was more than fifteen in the whole of the maize
+area in the Buenos Aires and Santa Fe provinces, and it approached
+this figure in the departments of the old agricultural colonies on the
+middle Salado. In the region of the lucerne farms it was three to five,
+except in the south-east (departments of Veinte Cinco de Mayo, Nueve
+de Julio and Bolivia), where it rose, thanks to the co-existence of
+ranches and of wheat and maize. It sank to between two and three in the
+wheat area in the south and south-east of Buenos Aires. At Santa Fe the
+district of the colonies had seven to the square kilometre.
+
+The growth of the population is partly explained by immigration
+from Europe. Foreigners were, in 1914, 30 per cent. of the total
+population.[137] The proportion of foreigners to the total population
+is one of the indications by which we can best follow the advance
+of colonization. As soon as it relaxes in any region, the number of
+immigrants diminishes. (The children born of foreign colonists in
+Argentina are considered indigenous in Argentine statistics.) In 1869
+the proportion of foreigners rose to 417 per 1,000 in the province
+of Buenos Aires (without the capital). This was the great period
+of pastoral colonization and the development of sheep-breeding. It
+was then only 156 per 1,000 at Santa Fe. In 1895 the proportion of
+foreigners sank to 309 per 1,000 at Buenos Aires, but rose to 419 at
+Santa Fe, where the date almost marks the end of the great period of
+agricultural colonization. In 1914 the proportion of foreigners at
+Buenos Aires rose to 340 per 1,000 (development of the maize region and
+the southern wheat area). It sank at Santa Fe (350 per 1,000), in spite
+of considerable immigration in the southern maize-growing departments.
+At the same time there was a great influx of foreign population in the
+province of Cordoba (200 per 1,000) and in the area of the Central
+Pampa (360 per 1,000).[138]
+
+     [137] All Europeans, except a few tens of thousands of
+     Bolivians in the Salta and Jujuy provinces, a few thousand
+     Brazilians in Misiones, and a few thousand Chileans at Neuquen.
+
+     [138] I have referred elsewhere to the magnitude of the stream
+     of European immigration at Mendoza. In Patagonia (territory
+     of the Rio Negro, the Neuquen, the Chubut, the Santa Cruz,
+     and Tierra del Fuego, of which the total population is only
+     104,000) sheep-breeding has attracted a considerable number of
+     immigrants (428 foreigners per 1000 in 1914).
+
+The recent enumerations also enable us to follow the displacements of
+the indigenous population on Argentine territory and the part this
+has had in colonization. Outside the Pampean region the parts of the
+country which have proved centres of attraction for the Argentine
+population are the sugar provinces of Tucuman and Jujuy and the
+province of Mendoza. In 1895 Tucuman had 40,000 inhabitants who had
+been born in other provinces, Jujuy 15,000 and Mendoza 19,000. The
+attraction of Tucuman was mainly felt in the adjoining province of
+Santiago (12,000 immigrants) and Catamarca (12,000). At Mendoza the
+immigrants came mainly from San Juan (7,000) and San Luis (3,000).
+The attraction of the timber region is more difficult to estimate,
+because most of the _obrajes_ are in the province of Santiago, which
+found the workers itself, and the enumerations have not taken into
+account displacements within each province. Nevertheless, immigration
+into the land of the _quebracho Chaqueno_, along the Parana, can be
+recognised from 1895 onward. It was maintained by the Corrientes
+province. Santa Fe has 10,000 immigrants from Corrientes, of whom 6,500
+are in the forestry departments of Reconquista and Vera. The Chaco
+region maintains 2,000 Corrientes wood-cutters and several hundred
+from Santiago and Salta. Corrientes has also sent 5,000 emigrants to
+Misiones.
+
+In the Pampean region the population of Buenos Aires in 1895 included
+very few who came from other provinces. The population of Santa Fe was
+more mixed. The attraction of the agricultural colonies had brought
+65,000 Argentine immigrants. They came mainly from the left bank of
+the Parana and Cordoba. The immigrants from Cordoba are localized
+along the railway from Rosario to Cordoba, in the Belgrano and Iriondo
+departments and the town of Rosario. The migration of the Santa Fe
+colonists to the new lands in the west had scarcely begun at that time.
+They were still only 3,000 in the Buenos Aires province, and 5,000 at
+Cordoba; most of them were in departments adjacent to the old colony
+area. The colonization of Cordoba began simultaneously in the east,
+toward Santa Fe, and in the south-west, in the Rio Cuarto department,
+to which the breeders from San Luis went. Similarly, the Argentine
+population of the Central Pampa includes elements from the east as
+well as European colonists and elements from the north-west (10,000
+immigrants from the Buenos Aires province, 3,000 from San Luis).
+
+The 1914 Census has less complete details in regard to interior
+immigration than its predecessor. The migrations had not ceased.
+The attraction of Tucuman and Mendoza had, in fact, decreased. The
+province of Tucuman had 55,000 Argentine immigrants, the province of
+Jujuy 15,000, the province of Mendoza 34,000. The provinces of Mendoza
+and Corrientes remained nuclei of considerable immigration (38,000
+and 63,000 immigrants). At Santa Fe the number of emigrants who left
+the province to settle at Cordoba and in the remainder of the Pampean
+region rose from 14,000 to 87,000. The Patagonian territory also had a
+large excess of immigrants from other provinces.
+
+Periodic migrations with no definitive change of residence are not
+given in the official statistics. The importance of these migrations in
+northern Argentina has been noted in the chapters we devoted to Tucuman
+and the forestry industry. They occur also in the Pampean region,
+where they are due chiefly to the need of labour for the harvest and
+the threshing of wheat and flax, and for reaping the maize. Miatello
+has given us a detailed analysis of the phenomenon for the province
+of Santa Fe in 1904. The period when the wheat and flax growers need
+help is from November to February. It begins in March for the maize
+farmers, and lasts so much longer when the harvest is good. The
+temporary immigrants come partly from Europe. Not only is the stream
+of immigration to Argentina fuller during the months which precede the
+harvests, while the stream of re-emigration to Europe is greatest in
+the autumn, but it is not a rare thing for Italians to go every year
+to Argentina merely to stay there during the harvest, when wages are
+high. This seasonal immigration from Italy is of long standing; it is
+mentioned by Daireaux in 1889. These foreigners, however, are only
+part of the adventurous crowd enlisted for the harvests on the Pampean
+plain. Seasonal migration is everywhere a national practice. The labour
+employed in reaping the maize includes elements borrowed from the towns
+near the maize belt. But all the provinces round the Pampean region
+send their contingent of temporary immigrants. Some even come from the
+valley of the Rio Negro at Bahia Blanca, from San Luis, and even from
+Mendoza to the Central Pampa and the Cordoba province.
+
+The oldest, and still the largest, stream is that which comes from the
+Santiago province. D'Orbigny notices in 1827 the temporary streaming
+of Santiaguenos to the coast. In that year slow progress was made with
+the wheat-harvest of Buenos Aires because of the shortage of labour.
+"The forced levies for the army prevented the Santiaguenos from going
+to hire themselves, as was their custom, in fear lest they should be
+compelled to serve."[139]
+
+     [139] D'Orbigny, _Voyage dans l'Amerique meridionale_, vol. i.
+     p. 528.
+
+Temporary emigration began, no doubt, with the journeys which
+brought the northerners to Buenos Aires as drivers of convoys of
+wagons. Santiaguenos were numerous amongst these _troperos_. Lorenzo
+Fazio collected reminiscences of these journeys in the land of the
+_banados_.[140] They go back to the first quarter of the nineteenth
+century, the period before the diversion of the Rio Dulce and the ruin
+of Salavina and Atamisqui. "My father," said one of his informants,
+"drove wagons of wheat to Cordoba, and sometimes to Buenos Aires,
+where he sold them and bought goods-stuffs in exchange. He bought the
+wheat at Loreto, Atamisqui or Salavina. It was a year before he got
+back, because it was necessary to wait for the rain and the growth of
+the vegetation, otherwise his animals would have died of thirst or
+hunger on the road." The journeys of the _troperos_ meant a long spell
+of idleness in the Pampean region, precisely at the harvest season.
+Naturally, they would lend a hand in it.
+
+     [140] Lorenzo Fazio, _Memoria descriptiva de la provincia de
+     Santiago del Estero_ (Buenos Aires, 1889).
+
+The temporary emigration of the Santiaguenos continued throughout the
+nineteenth century. It was maintained even during the disturbances
+under the government of Rosas, which almost entirely put an end to
+commercial relations between Buenos Aires and the northern provinces.
+When Galvez passed through the villages on the Rio Dulce he noticed
+that there were few men in them. They had scattered over the roads or
+were, as he says, _andariegos_. Only the women remained. The province
+of Buenos Aires received the Santiaguenos in crowds, offering their
+services. Chivilcoy and the whole region of the _chacras_ of maize and
+wheat received their caravans for the harvest, and some were kept for
+the sowing. Even the ranchers took advantage of this reinforcement,
+and hired the men for marking. In the autumn they went back with their
+_tropillas_, much dreaded by the breeders whose land they crossed,
+stealing any horses that were not well guarded.
+
+The province of Santa Fe, especially in the agricultural departments
+of the north-west, is now the chief theatre in the Pampean region
+for the immigration of the Santiaguenos. It does not always come by
+rail, but has to some extent preserved its primitive and picturesque
+features. The immigrants arrive in troops on mules and horses, and
+scatter in November over the colonies.
+
+The population of Argentina has also felt the attraction of the urban
+centres. The growth of the towns is due to both foreign and national
+immigration. The development of urban life, which is one of the
+characteristic features of modern Argentina, is a recent phenomenon.
+There was no indication of its coming in the eighteenth century.
+D'Azara was, on the contrary, struck by the absence of communal life
+(_pueblos unidos_). The scattering of the population was a result
+of the predominance of breeding. "If these people found profit in
+agriculture, one would see them gather together in villages, instead
+of the whole population being dispersed in ranches."[141] It is
+this scattering of the population rather than an absolute numerical
+inferiority--the solitude, "the desert, the universal horizon that
+forced itself into the very entrails of the land"[142]--that moulded
+the fiery soul of the _gaucho_.
+
+     [141] F. de Azara, _Memorias sobre el estado rural del rio de
+     la Plata en 1801_, p. 10.
+
+     [142] Sarmiento, _El Facundo_, p. 19.
+
+  [Illustration: A HERD OF CREOLE CATTLE.
+                                               Photograph by Widmayer.]
+
+  [Illustration: A HERD OF DURHAM CATTLE.
+                         Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.
+  PLATE XXIV.                                          To face p. 268.]
+
+The primitive urban sites were all either on the river or on the
+historic roads to Chile and Peru. The only towns of the Parana region
+at the end of the eighteenth century were Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and
+Corrientes. As to towns in the interior, Helms's journey in 1778
+gives us some idea of their size. Cordoba, at the crossing of the
+Peru road and the tracks to the province of La Rioja, had then 1,500
+white inhabitants and 4,000 blacks. As it was near the Sierra, which
+provided granite and lime, it had some semblance of architecture, and
+had paved streets, which struck even the traveller from Buenos Aires.
+The attraction of its schools was felt over a wide area. We still have
+a list of students from Paraguay who studied at Cordoba University in
+the eighteenth century.[143] Tucuman and Salta, especially Salta, also
+were busy centres. Salta had 600 Spanish families and 9,000 inhabitants
+in all, and its influence extended as far as Peru and Chile. Jujuy,
+on the other hand, was a very small town. Helms mentions the decay of
+Santiago del Estero. The trade which had once flourished there had, he
+says, gone in a different direction. The prosperity of Santiago was, as
+a matter of fact, connected with traffic on the direct route from Santa
+Fe to Tucuman, which ceased at the close of the eighteenth century.
+Santa Fe also was a decaying town at the close of the eighteenth
+century, and would remain such until the middle of the nineteenth. Its
+distress was due, not merely to the suspension of its direct trade
+with Peru, but also to the decay and isolation of Paraguay, which had
+provided most of its trade and for which it acted as intermediary with
+the Andean provinces.
+
+     [143] Published by the _Revista del Instituto Paraguayo_
+     (vol. iv. p. 334).
+
+The great development of urban life in Argentina dates from the time
+of the colonization of the Pampean region. The ratio of the urban
+population has risen considerably during the last twenty-five years.
+In 1895, 113 centres with more than 2,000 inhabitants comprised 37 per
+cent. of the total population of Argentina; in 1914 the number of urban
+centres was 322, and they comprised 53 per cent. of the population.
+The population of towns with 5,000 to 20,000 inhabitants has increased
+threefold in twenty years, rising from 312,000 in 1895 to 977,000 in
+1914. Large new towns like Rosario and Bahia Blanca were created. The
+relative sizes of the older towns changed rapidly. Tucuman and Mendoza
+(121,000 and 92,000 inhabitants) shot beyond Santiago and Salta (22,000
+and 28,000 inhabitants). The towns of the north-west, Catamarca and
+Rioja, are, on the other hand, scarcely developed.
+
+When one examines a chart of the urban population of the Pampean
+region, one finds that colonization has led to the creation in it of
+ten chief centres, of from 15,000 to 25,000 inhabitants, and some fifty
+secondary centres, of from 5,000 to 12,000 inhabitants, which all
+have a distinctly urban character. This association of urban centres
+and a scattered agricultural or pastoral population is one of the
+original features of the way in which the Pampa was peopled. There is
+no village, or purely rural group. The distribution of these centres
+on the plain is fairly regular. They are a little closer together in
+the districts near the Parana, to the north of Buenos Aires, where
+the population is older, and where the density, even of the rural
+population, is at its highest. The territory of the Pampa is divided
+between the spheres of influence of these various centres. Their radius
+is as low as ten miles in the north-west, and is about twenty miles in
+the south of Buenos Aires and twenty-five in the extreme west.
+
+A secondary railway nucleus has generally settled the sites of them
+(San Francisco-Pergamino, Junin). Their population comprises all the
+workers needed for the flow of the economic life of the Pampa: agents
+for the exporters of cereals, merchants who supply the colonies
+with imported goods--especially agricultural machinery--bankers and
+insurance companies, surveyors and lawyers. Those which have the
+best service of trains have a certain amount of industry--mills and
+breweries--the products of which are absorbed locally. These towns
+derive all the elements of their life from the Pampean region itself,
+and have no direct relations either with foreign markets or with other
+parts of Argentina.[144]
+
+     [144] Only two of them, Villa Mercedes and Villa Maria, are on
+     the edge of the Pampa. We have seen elsewhere the part which
+     the extensive breeding of the north-west plays in the business
+     of the Villa Mercedes cattle-market. Villa Maria also derives
+     some advantage from its nearness to the scrub. Its limekilns
+     receive limestone from the Sierra de Cordoba, but they get
+     their fuel locally, from the men who clear the scrub.
+
+But the towns of the Pampa which have grown most rapidly are the ports.
+Rosario rose from 23,000 inhabitants in 1869 to 91,000 in 1895 and to
+245,000 in 1914; Bahia Blanca from 9,000 in 1895 to 62,000 in 1914. The
+actual population of the Pampa ports is not at all in proportion to the
+part which each plays in the export of Pampean products:--
+
+  _Export of Cereals in thousands of tons._ (Average for 1913-1915)
+     Buenos      Bahia       San  Nicolas.       La   Santa
+     Aires.    Blanca.  Rosario.             Plata.     Fe.
+      2,716      2,051     1,075       651      459     278
+                     Population in 1914.
+    245,000  1,575,000    62,000    19,000  137,000  64,000
+
+Some centres, such as Campana, Zarate, San Pedro or San Nicolas, which
+load up meat or grain in great quantities, have nevertheless remained
+small towns. Neither the trade in meat nor that in cereals is enough of
+itself to sustain a busy urban life. In point of fact, the growth of
+the Pampa ports is mainly connected with their function as importing
+ports and markets of capital. The close dependence of Bahia Blanca upon
+Buenos Aires in both these respects seems to forbid it all hope of ever
+becoming the equal of Rosario. The prosperity of Rosario was founded
+during the time when Buenos Aires was isolated, between 1853 and 1860;
+this enabled them to organize an import trade there and to accumulate a
+nucleus of independent capital.[145]
+
+     [145] Buenos Aires and Rosario alone have independent grain
+     markets, though it is differently organized in each case. At
+     Buenos Aires the exporters have entered into direct relations
+     with the producers and eliminated intermediaries. At Rosario
+     they have to use the services of a strong body of agents.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The development of Buenos Aires must be studied separately. It does
+not merely reflect the success of the colonization of the Pampa; it is
+a phenomenon of a national order. The attraction of Buenos Aires has
+been felt throughout the whole land. In 1895, of a total population
+of Argentine birth of 318,000 souls, more than a half--167,000--were
+born in the provinces.[146] The way in which the prosperity of Buenos
+Aires is bound up, not only with that of the adjacent territory but
+with that of the whole country, is seen in the stability of the figure
+representing the number of the inhabitants who have come from foreign
+lands. While the proportion of foreigners in each of the provinces
+varies from one census to another, according to the displacements of
+the stream of colonization, it remains almost the same at Buenos Aires:
+496 per 1,000 in 1869, 520 in 1895, 493 in 1914.
+
+     [146] The 1914 Census does not give reliable details on this
+     point.
+
+The population of the city of Buenos Aires was estimated by Helms
+in 1788 to be between 24,000 and 30,000. D'Azara put it at 40,000
+in 1799. The Revolution did not interrupt its growth. According to
+the estimate of Woodbine Parish the city had 81,000 inhabitants in
+1824. On the other hand, the Rosas Government involved a period of
+stagnation (90,000 inhabitants in 1855). But after 1855 Buenos Aires
+resumed its progress, even before the political unity of Argentina was
+re-established, and has never since relaxed. Its population has doubled
+almost regularly at intervals of fifteen years: 177,000 in 1869,
+433,000 in 1887, 663,000 in 1895, and 1,575,000 in 1914. The latter
+figure, in fact, is inadequate. Greater Buenos Aires, including the
+outlying parts, has really 1,990,000 inhabitants.
+
+The site on which the city is built is a regular plateau, sixty-five
+feet above sea level, cut by flat-bottomed, marshy valleys. The
+Riachuelo, at the mouth of one of these valleys, provided Buenos Aires
+with its first port. The low and badly drained lands of the valleys are
+occupied by the poorest quarters. Their sides, the _barrancas_, bear
+the aristocratic residences, and the gardeners have been able to use
+the sites to great advantage in their plans.
+
+As a whole, the growth of Buenos Aires presents the same feature of
+regularity, on account of the uniformity of the soil, as the spread
+of colonization over the plain of the Pampas. The city is distributed
+in concentric zones, and it is thus a model on a small scale of the
+distribution of the various types of exploitation on the Pampa which
+surrounds it. The central nucleus, the business quarter, contains
+not only the offices, but the warehouses of imported goods. Round
+this centre, with a radius of one to three miles, are the residential
+quarters in which the density is greatest (250 to 350 to the hectare).
+Beyond this the density sinks to less than 200 per hectare and less
+than fifty on the outskirts. The central quarters developed the maximum
+density after 1900. Those of the first outer zone have gained greatly
+between 1904 and 1909. Since the latter date, the progress of these
+quarters has been arrested in turn, and the recent growth is mainly in
+the remote working-class suburbs in the south and on the bank of the
+Riachuelo.
+
+Buenos Aires has preserved in its central district, and reproduces
+in all its outer districts, the primitive draught-board plan of a
+Spanish colonial city. This plan is not suited to its needs to-day.
+The rapid growth of the city and its expansion--the mean density is
+not more than fifty-four inhabitants to the hectare, as against 360 at
+Paris--complicate the problem of transport. At the present time the
+city is considering plans for reconstructing its thoroughfares and
+making diagonal streets, starting from the centre and following the
+direction of the main streams of traffic. In this way the city would
+reproduce the fan-wise distribution of railways over the Pampean plain.
+
+Buenos Aires is the intermediary between the provinces and oversea
+countries. It has three titles to this profitable part. In the first
+place, it is the chief centre of the import trade. The merchants of the
+cities in the interior are customers of the Buenos Aires importers,
+and are closely bound to them by a system of long-term credit. Buenos
+Aires is, secondly, the centre for the distribution of the European
+capital which has been used in the development of the country. Lastly,
+it divides immigrant workers amongst the provinces, just as it divides
+capital. As an immigration port its position is unrivalled. The efforts
+that were made to divert part of the immigrants to Bahia Blanca failed,
+and direct immigration to the Santa Fe province ceased at the close
+of the first period of colonization, about 1880. It is also at Buenos
+Aires that immigrants who are not going to settle in Argentina embark;
+re-emigration, which is regarded as a national plague by Argentine
+economists, is another source of profit to the capital. Hence the
+fortune of Buenos Aires is due in the first place to the close contact
+between the economic life of Argentina and that of Europe and North
+America.
+
+But its very growth has led to a gradual change in the part it plays
+in the interior of the country. In proportion as its population and
+wealth grew, it became a great national market. The products of the
+provinces go to it, not merely to meet its own needs as consumer, but
+in order to be distributed over the entire country. The figures of
+the cattle trade on the Buenos Aires market are instructive in this
+respect. From January to July 1919 there were 1,130,000 head of cattle
+sold, 240,000 being for the supply of the capital and 700,000 for the
+refrigerators.[147] Of the remainder, 120,000 were bought for fattening
+and 40,000 by the butchers of other towns. The capital of its own which
+has accumulated at Buenos Aires is invested either in real estate or in
+industry, which has found great profit both in the development of local
+consumption and in the great stock of labour provided by immigration.
+Buenos Aires is not now content to be merely an intermediary between
+the country and foreign lands. It contributes by its own resources
+and work to the task of colonization and the supply of manufactured
+articles to the agricultural and pastoral districts. It is, finally, a
+luxurious city, with every opportunity for the men who have grown rich
+by the rise in the price of lands to spend their income, and providing
+pleasure for the country folk who come up occasionally, tired of their
+laborious, rough and solitary existence.
+
+     [147] During the same period the Argentinian refrigerators
+     killed 1,490,000 head of cattle. Therefore, about half of
+     these were bought at Buenos Aires.
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+I give here only the most important and most recent works. A list of
+the articles I have consulted would be long and uninteresting, while
+a complete list of those which might have been consulted, and from
+which information might have been gleaned, is impossible. For a work
+of this character there is no account of travel, no study of the soil,
+the climate, or the vegetation, no statistical document or journal or
+purely historical text, that has not a perfect right to be regarded as
+a source.
+
+
+1. PERIODICALS.
+
+Of the periodicals published in Argentina, and partly or wholly devoted
+to the study of the land and its development, the principal are:--
+
+_Boletin del Instituto Geografico Argentino_ (Buenos Aires, since 1879;
+vol. i, 1879, vol. ii, 1881; one vol. yearly from 1881 to 1901; has
+appeared irregularly since).
+
+_Anales de la Sociedad Cientifica Argentina_ (Buenos Aires, 2 vols,
+yearly from 1876).
+
+_Revista de la Sociedad Geografica Argentina_ (Buenos Aires, only
+appeared from 1883 to 1889).
+
+_Boletin de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Cordoba_ (Cordoba,
+since 1874, 23 vols. to 1918).
+
+The publications of the Buenos Aires and La Plata museums also contain,
+besides copious anthropological, archaeological, palaeontological,
+and historical material, a large number of articles of interest to
+geographers:--
+
+_Anales del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Buenos Aires._ Begins
+1864, 25 vols., folio and quarto, to 1914.
+
+_Anales del Museo de la Plata._ First series 1890-1900, second series
+from 1907.
+
+_Revista del Museo de la Plata._ From 1890-1891, 17 vols. to 1910-1911.
+
+All these reviews contain especially articles on the parts of the
+country which were last explored--Patagonia, Chaco, Misiones. They
+contain little about the parts that were early colonized, though these
+are not always the best known.
+
+
+2. MAPS.
+
+The maps published in the eighteenth century (D'Anville's map, 1733, in
+the _Lettres edifiantes_, 19th collection, Paris, 1734: Bellin's map in
+vol. ii of the _Histoire du Paraguay_ of the R.P.P.F.X. de Charlevoix,
+Paris, 1756, 3 vols., etc.) are based upon information collected by the
+Jesuit missionaries.
+
+D'Azara's map (1809) shows a remarkable advance.
+
+Important corrections of D'Azara's map are found in Woodbine Parish's
+map (1838).
+
+Brackebusch's two maps are essential documents: _Mapa del interior de
+la Republica Argentina_, por el Dr. L. Brackebusch, 1:1,000,000 (Gotha,
+1835) and _Mapa geologico del interior de la Republica Argentina_,
+1:1,000,000 (Gotha, 1890).
+
+The results of earlier work have been used in the _Atlas de la
+Republica Argentina construido y publicado por el Instituto Geografico
+Argentino_ (Buenos Aires, 1894), which includes a list of its sources.
+
+Since that date many maps have been published: maps of the various
+provinces and surveys drawn up by the railway companies, the Chile
+Frontier Commission (see Patagonia), the Mines Division (see Natural
+Regions), and the Ministerio de Obras Publicas (see River Routes). A
+brief account of the history of Argentine cartography and a list of
+maps of provinces will be found in Colonel B. Garcia Aparicio, _La
+carta de la Republica (Anuario del Instituto Geografico Militar_, i,
+1912, Buenos Aires, pp. 1-27).
+
+The Military Geographical Institute has itself published a large number
+of maps, either on the basis of fresh surveys or by compiling earlier
+work, chiefly:--
+
+About thirty sheets on the scale 1:25,000 (Pampean region) since 1904,
+interesting for studying the relief of the plain.
+
+"Governacion de la Pampa," 1:500,000 (Estado Mayor, 3A Division, Buenos
+Aires, 1909).
+
+Three sheets on the scale 1:1,000,000 (Buenos Aires, Concordia, and
+Corrientes). Buenos Aires, provisional edition 1911 of a map of
+Argentina on the scale 1:1,000,000, which is to comprise twenty-one
+sheets.
+
+A convenient reference map, though of no scientific value, is the map
+of the railways, on the scale 1:2,000,000, in three sheets, published
+in 1910 by the Ministerio de Obras Publicas.
+
+
+3. STATISTICS.
+
+A summary of the chief statistics is published annually in _The
+Argentine Yearbook_ (from 1902 at Buenos Aires; from 1909 at Buenos
+Aires and London).
+
+The _Anuario de la Direccion General de Estadistica_, which has
+appeared since 1880 in one, two or three vols. quarto, gives the
+figures of trade, immigration, agriculture, railways, navigation, etc.
+(last volume consulted is for 1914, Buenos Aires, 1915).
+
+In the third volume of the _Anuario_ for 1912 will be found a list of
+the publications of the Direccion de Estadistica. Besides the _Anuario_
+the Direccion publishes a bulletin with commercial statistics (last
+number consulted 181, "El comercio exterior Argentino en los primeros
+trimestres de 1918 y 1919," Buenos Aires, 1919). _Boletin_ 176 contains
+a review of Argentine trade from 1910 to 1917.
+
+The statistical department of the Ministry of Agriculture, under the
+direction of E. Lahitte, publishes the _Boletin Mensual de Estadistica
+Agricola_ (last volume consulted, xxi, 1919).
+
+
+4. GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS.[148]
+
+     [148] Besides the publications of the Jesuits, which can
+     easily be consulted, a fairly large number of texts bearing
+     upon the history of colonization have been published or
+     re-published in the nineteenth and the twentieth century. See
+     especially:
+
+     _Relaciones Geograpicas de Indias_ (vol. i, 1881; vol. ii,
+     1885, Madrid).
+
+     _Anales de la Biblioteca National, Buenos Aires, Publicacion
+     de documentos relativos al Rio de la Plata_ (from 1900).
+
+     Publications of the _Junta de Historia y Numismatica
+     Americana_ (Buenos Aires, 7 vols., octavo, from 1905 to 1915).
+
+     Valuable notes on some of the most important historical
+     documents will be found in E. Boman, _Antiquites de la region
+     andine_ (see North-West Argentina).
+
+     The most curious collection of all for the geographer is:
+     Pedro de Angelis, _Coleccion de obras y documentos relativos
+     a la historia antigua y moderna de las provincias del Rio de
+     la Plata_ (Buenos Aires, 1837, 6 vols, octavo, containing many
+     itineraries, journals of expeditions, etc., together with
+     notes by D'Azara).
+
+The scientific study of this part of South America may be traced back
+as far as D'Azara. His observations are collected in Don Felix de
+Azara, _Voyages dans l'Amerique meridionale_, published by Walckenaer
+(Paris, 1809, 4 vols. in 12^{mo} and atlas) and _Descripcion e historia
+del Paraguay y del Rio de la Plata_, published by D. Agustin de Azara
+(Madrid, 1847, 2 vols. octavo).
+
+The _Voyage dans l'Amerique meridionale_ of Alcide d'Orbigny contains
+his observations on the Parana, the province of Corrientes, the Pampa
+(Parchappe's voyages), and Patagonia (1828). (Historical section, vol.
+i, Paris, 1835; vol. ii, Paris, 1839-43; vol. iii, third part, geology,
+Paris, 1842).
+
+Darwin also visited the coast of Patagonia and crossed the Pampa
+(1833): _Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of H.M.S. "Adventure" and
+"Beagle"_ ... vol. iii, as _Journal_ and _Researches_ (London, 1839).
+
+Sir Woodbine Parish's work, _Buenos Aires and the Provinces of the Rio
+de la Plata_ (London, 1838), is remarkably well-informed, and is based
+upon a thorough study of previous publications and archives.
+
+W. MacKann's _Ten Thousand Miles' Ride through the Argentine Republic_
+(London, 1855, 2 vols.) is interesting, and the work of a close
+observer.
+
+Martin de Moussy, _Description geographique et statistique de la
+Confederation argentine_ (Paris, 1858, 3 vols. octavo and atlas), is
+unequal, but full of information.
+
+The work of H. Burmeister, _Description physique de la Republique
+argentine_ (Paris, 2 vols., 1876), is of little value, and has been
+overrated.
+
+Richard Napp, _Die Argentinische Republik_ (Buenos Aires, 1876, I vol.
+octavo), includes a valuable chapter by P. G. Lorentz on the flora
+("Vegetationsverhaeltnisse Argentiniens," pp. 87-149).
+
+The second volume ("Territoire") of the _Second recensement de
+la Republique argentine_ (Buenos Aires, 1898) includes a joint
+geographical study by a number of writers.
+
+_Geologie_, by J. Valentin.
+
+_Climat_, by G. G. Davis.
+
+_Flore_, by E. L. Holmberg.
+
+Some attempt at a general consideration of our geographical knowledge
+of Argentina has been made by E. A. S. Delachaux, "Las regiones fisicas
+de la Republica Argentina" (_Rev. Mus. Plata_, xv, 1908, pp. 102-131).
+
+Our physical knowledge of Argentina has been greatly promoted by the
+work of the Direccion de Minas. The results are summarized in the
+_Memorias de la Direccion general de Minas, Geologia, e Hidrologia_,
+published from 1908 onward (_Anales del Ministerio de Agricultura,
+Seccion geologia, mineralogia, y mineria_: last volume published for
+the year 1915, Buenos Aires, vol. xii, No. 2).
+
+Special works are published in the same section of the _Anales del Min.
+Agric._, and in the _Boletines de la Direccion de Minas, Geologia, e
+Hidrologia_. See, especially, series B (Geologia). These reports and
+the accompanying maps are the basis of all work on the geography of
+Argentina. They already cover a great deal of Argentine territory. The
+work of Keidel, in particular, which is an essential contribution to
+the geological history of the South-American continent, and that of
+Windhausen, are largely concerned with physical geography, the study of
+the relief, and the influence of the climate on the landscape.
+
+A summary of the history of study of the soil of Argentina will be
+found in E. Hermitte, _La geologia y mineria Argentina in 1914_
+(_Tercer Censo Nacional_, vol. vii, pp. 407-494).
+
+As to climate: Buenos Aires Ministerio de Agricultura, _Servicio
+Meteorologico Argentino, Historia y Organisacion, con un resumen de los
+resultados_, preparado bajo la direccion de G. G. Davis (Buenos Aires,
+1914, quarto), dispenses one from consulting any previous works.
+
+There is a very complete bibliography of works on the botany
+and geographical botany of Argentina in F. Kurtz, "Essai d'une
+bibliographie botanique de l'Argentine" (2nd edition, _Bol. Acad. Nac.
+Ciencias Cordoba_, xx, 1915, pp. 369-467).
+
+There is a convenient summary of our knowledge of the primitive
+population in Felix F. Outes and Carlos Bruch, _Los aborigenes de la
+Rep. argentina_ (Buenos Aires, 1910).
+
+
+5. NORTH-WEST ARGENTINA.
+
+The most complete general work on irrigation is that of E. A. Soldano,
+_La irrigacion en la argentina_ (Buenos Aires, 1910, octavo). See also
+C. Wouters, "La irrigacion en el valle de Lerma" (_An. Soc. Cient.
+Argentina_, lxvi, 1908, pp. 117-145).
+
+The best description of the Puna de Atacama and the country of the
+Valles is in Eric Boman, "Antiquites de la region andine de la
+Republique Argentine et du desert d'Atacama" (_Mission scientifique
+G. de Crequi, Montfort, et E. Senechal de la Grange_, Paris, 1908, 2
+vols.).
+
+L. Brackebusch, "Ueber die Bodensverhaeltnisse des nordwestlichen
+Teiles der Argentinischen Republik mit Bezugnahme auf die Vegetation"
+(_Petermann's Mitteilungen_, 1893, p. 153) is a general description of
+the whole of north-western Argentina; but Brackebusch's description
+of his journey, "Viaje a la provincia de Jujuy" (_Bol. Inst. Geog.
+Argent._, iv, 1883, pp. 9-17, 204-211, and 217-226) is fresher and more
+useful.
+
+I have mentioned in the note to p. 40 Bodenbender's work on the
+province of La Rioja.
+
+Of the various articles, from all quarters, on North-Western Argentina
+the following may be noticed:--
+
+J. B. Ambrosetti, "Viaje a la Puna de Atacama de Salta a Caurchari"
+(_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, xxi, 1900, pp. 87-116).
+
+F. Kuehn, "Descripcion del camino desde Rosario de Lerma hasta Cachi"
+(_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, xxiv, 1910, pp. 42-50).
+
+H. Seckt, "Contribucion al conocimiento de la vegetacion del Nordeste
+de la Rep. Arg.--Valles de Calchaqui y Puna de Atacama" (_An. Soc.
+Cient. Arg._, lxxiv, 1912, pp. 185-225).
+
+Juan F. Barnabe, "Informe sobre el distrito minero de Tinogasta" (_An.
+Min. Agric., Seccion Geol. Mineralogia y Mineria_, x, No. 4, Buenos
+Aires, 1915).
+
+On the Puna de Atacama:
+
+L. Caplain, "Informe sobre el estado de la mineria en el Territorio de
+los Andes" (_An. Min. Agric., Seccion Geol. Mineralogia y Mineria_,
+vii, No. 1, Buenos Aires, 1912).
+
+On the sub-Andean chains:--
+
+Guido Bonarelli, "Las Sierras subandinas del Alto y Aguarague y los
+yacimientos petroliferos del distrito minero de Tartagal" (_ibid._,
+viii, No. 4, Buenos Aires, 1913). See also Direccion General de Minas,
+Geol., e Hidrol, _Boletin_, series B, No. 9 (Buenos Aires, 1914).
+
+On the Chaco Salteno:--
+
+L. Arnaud, "Expedicion al Chaco" (_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, vi, 1885,
+pp. 201-210).
+
+On the part of the San Luis province that lies in the zone of the
+scrub:--
+
+Ave-Lallemant, "Datos orograficos e hidrograficos sobre la Provincia
+de San Luis" (_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, v, 1884, pp. 191-196, and
+222-224), and "Apuntes sobre represas y baldes en San Luis" (_An. Soc.
+Cient. Arg._, xi, 1881, pp. 178-188).
+
+A. L. Cravetti, "Investigacion agricola en la Provincia de San Luis"
+(Buenos Aires, 1904, _An. Min. Agric._, Seccion Agric., Botanica, y
+Agronomia, vol. i, No. 5).
+
+On the scrub south of Mar Chiquita:--
+
+H. Frank, "La repoblacion forestal en la region de la Mar Chiquita"
+(_Bol. Dep. gen. Agric. y Ganaderia_, Prov. Cordoba, ii, 1912, pp.
+52-57), and "Contribucion al conocimiento de la Mar Chiquita" (_ibid._,
+pp. 87-101).
+
+
+6. TUCUMAN AND MENDOZA.
+
+On Tucuman see Emilio Lahitte, _La industria azucarera, apuntes de
+actualidad_ (Buenos Aires, 1902).
+
+The best source of the economic history of the sugar industry is the
+file of the _Revista azucarera_ ("organa de los cultivadores de cana y
+fabricantes de azucar," Buenos Aires).
+
+On Mendoza, "Investigacion vinicola" (Buenos Aires, 1903, _Anales_,
+Min. Agric., Seccion Comercio, Industrias, y Economia, i, No. 1).
+
+7. FORESTRY INDUSTRIES.
+
+Rudolf Leutgens, "Beitraege zur Kenntniss des Quebracho-Gebietes in
+Argentinien und Paraguay" (_Mitteil. Geogr. Ges. Hamburg_, xxv, 1911,
+pp. 1-70).
+
+
+8. PATAGONIA.
+
+
+_A. The Tableland._
+
+Apart from Villarino's journey on the Rio Negro in the eighteenth
+century, the first journey across the Patagonian tableland is that of
+G. Chaworth Musters, _At Home with the Patagonians_ (London, 1871).
+
+In the early volumes of the _Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._ will be found
+the results of various explorations between 1878 and 1885 by Argentine
+travellers.
+
+With this group of documents, which provided the first material for
+his conclusions, we may associate the geological studies of Florentino
+Ameghino, "L'age des formations sedimentaires de Patagonie" (_An.
+Soc. Cient. Argentina_, l, 1900, pp. 109-130, 145-160, and 209-229;
+li, 1901, pp. 20-39 and 65-90; lii, 1901, pp. 189-197 and 244-250;
+liii, 1902, pp. 161-181, 220-249 and 282-342) and "Les formations
+sedimentaires du cretace superieur et du tertiaire en Patagonie" (_An.
+Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires_, series ii, vol. viii, 1906, pp. 1-568).
+
+On the southern part of Patagonia, south of 50 deg. S. lat.:--
+
+_Svenska Expeditionen till Magellanslaenderna (Wissenschaftliche
+Ergebnisse der Schwedischen Expedition nach den Magellans Laendern_,
+1895-1897, unter Leitung von Dr. Otto Nordenskjoeld, Band I, Geologie,
+Geographie und Anthropologie, Stockholm, 1907).
+
+On the Magellan region and that of the Santa Cruz:--
+
+_Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia_, 1896-9,
+i, J. B. Hatcher, _Narrative of the Expeditions, Geography of Southern
+Patagonia_ (Princeton and Stuttgart, 1903).
+
+On the Rio Negro district:--
+
+S. Roth, "Apuntes sobre la Geologia y la Paleontologia de las
+Territorios del Rio Negro y Neuquen" (_Rev. Mus. Plata_, ix, 1899, pp.
+141-196).
+
+Of more recent works we must especially notice those of the engineers
+of the Direccion de Minas:--
+
+R. Stappenbeck y F. Reichert, "Informe preliminar relativo a la parte
+sudeste del Territorio del Chubut" (_An. Min. Agric._, Seccion Geol.
+Mineral., y Minas, vol. ix, No. 1, Buenos Aires, 1909).
+
+Ricardo Wichmann, various studies of the eastern part of the plateau of
+the Rio Negro (_ibid._, xiii, Nos. 1, 3 and 4, Buenos Aires, 1918 and
+1919).
+
+A. Windhausen, studies on the Rio Negro and the Neuquen (_ibid._, x,
+No. 1, Buenos Aires, 1914). The geological results of Windhausen's work
+are summarized in articles that appeared in the _American Journal of
+Science_ (4th series, xlv, 1918, pp. 1-53) and in the _Bol. Acad. Nac.
+Ciencias Cordoba_ (xxiii, 1918, pp. 97-128 and 319-364).
+
+We must add G. Rivereto, "La valle del Rio Negro" (_Bol. Soc. Geologica
+Ital._, xxxi, 1912, pp. 181-237, and xxxii, 1913, pp. 101-142).
+
+
+_B. The Andes._
+
+Numerous articles in the _Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._ and the _An.
+Soc. Cient. Argentina_, immediately after the military expedition of
+1879-1880 (Host, Ave-Lallemant, etc.).
+
+A detailed study of the Andean region was undertaken at the time of
+the frontier-quarrel between Argentina and Chile, and this led to a
+number of publications. The work done by the Argentinians under F. P.
+Moreno is used in _Frontera Argentina-Chilena, Memoria presentada al
+tribunal nombrado por el Gobernio de su Majestad Britanica_ (London,
+1902, 2 vols. quarto, 1 vol. maps, and 1 vol. photographs), and in the
+_Breve Replica a la memoria Chilena_ (London, 1 vol. quarto, 1902).
+See a summary of the results in L. Gallois, "Les Andes de Patagonie"
+(_Annales de Geographie_, x, 1901, pp. 232-259).
+
+In the _Revista_ and the _Anales_ of the La Plata Museum will be
+found part of the research made during this period (1897-1900) by
+Argentine experts; especially the work of Burckhardt and Wehrli on
+the Neuquen Cordillera. The Chilean work which served as the basis of
+the _Statement presented on behalf of Chile in reply to the Argentine
+Report_ (London, 1902, 4 vols. and 2 vols. as appendices) is, on the
+whole, less valuable.
+
+Of later travellers we must mention P. D. Quensel, "On the
+influence of the Ice Age on the continental watershed of Patagonia"
+(_Bull. Geol. Inst. Univ. Upsala_, ix, 1908-9, pp. 60-92), and
+"Geologisch-petrographische studien in der Patagonischen Cordillera"
+(_ibid._, xi, 1912, pp. 1-114).
+
+Very important surveys in the Cordillera and on the plateau of the
+Rio Negro were made under the direction of Bailey Willis (_Northern
+Patagonia_, Ministry of Public Works, Bureau of Railways, Argentine
+Republic; text and maps by the Comision de Estudios hidrologicos,
+Bailey Willis Director, 1911-1914, New York, 1914, 1 vol and atlas).
+
+On the Patagonian forest (Argentine slope from 40 deg. S. lat. to Cape
+Horn) see Max Rothkugel, _Los Bosques Patagonicos_ (Minist. Agric.,
+Direccion Gen. Agric. y Defensa Agricola: Officina de Bosques y
+Yerbales, Buenos Aires, 1916).
+
+
+9. THE PAMPEAN REGION.
+
+The occupation of the western part of the Pampa between 1875 and 1880
+led to a fairly large amount of research. The most important work is
+the _Informe oficial de la Comision cientifica agregada al Estado Mayor
+General de la Expedicion al Rio Negro_, vol. iii, _Geologia_, by Dr.
+Ad. Doering (Buenos Aires, 1882). We must also notice G. Ave-Lallemant,
+"Excursion al Territorio indio del Sud" (_Bol. Inst. Geogr. Argent._,
+ii, 1881, pp. 41-49); D. Dupont, "Notas geograficas sobre el pais de
+los Ranqueles" (_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, 1790, pp. 47-56); and Est.
+Zeballos, _Descripcion amena de la Republica Argentina_, vol. i, _Viaje
+al pais de las Araucanos_ (Buenos Aires, 1881).
+
+Of general works on the Pampa and the Pampean deposits:
+
+Fl. Ameghino, _La formacion Pampeana_ (Paris and Buenos Aires, 1881),
+and "Las formaciones sedimentarias de la region litoral de Mar del
+Plata y Chapalmalan" (_An. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires_, series ii, vol. x,
+1908, pp. 348-428).
+
+G. Bodenbender, "La cuenca del valle del rio Primero en Cordoba:
+Descripcion geologica del valle del rio Primero desde la Sierra de
+Cordoba hasta la Mar Chiquita" (_Bol. Acad. Nac. Ciencias Cordoba_,
+xii, 1890, pp. 1-54); and "Die Pampa Ebene in Osten der Sierra von
+Cordoba in Argentinien" (_Petermann's Mitteilungen_, 1893, pp. 201-237
+and 258-264).
+
+Santiago Roth, "Beobachtungen ueber Entstehung und Alter der
+Pampasformationen in Argentinien" (_Zeitschrift der Deutschen
+Geol. Ges._, xi, 1888, pp. 375-464); "Beitrag zur Gliederung der
+Sedimentablagerungen in Patagonien und der Pampas Region" (_Neues
+Jahrbuch fuer Min., Geol., und Palaeont._, Beilage, Band xxvi, Stuttgart,
+1908, pp. 92-150); and "La construccion de un Canal de Bahia Blanca a
+las provincias andinas bajo el punto de vista hidrogeologico" (_Rev.
+Museo de la Plata_, xvi, 1909).
+
+_Nouvelles recherches sur la formation pampeenne et l'homme fossile de
+la Republique argentine._ A collection of scientific articles published
+by R. Lehmann-Nitsche (_Rev. Mus. Plata_, xiv, 1907, pp. 143-488),
+which contains, especially, one by C. Burckhardt, "La formation
+pampeenne de Buenos Aires et Santa Fe," and one by Ad. Doering, "La
+formation pampeenne de Cordoba."
+
+Ales Hrdlicka, _Early Man in South America_ (Smithsonian Institution,
+Bull. 52, Washington, 1912--geological part by Bailey Willis).
+
+On the district of the Central Pampa, R. Stappenbeck, "Investigaciones
+hidrogeologicas de los valles de Chapalco y Quehue y sus alrededores"
+(Min. Agric., Dir. Gen. Minas, Geol., e Hidrol., Bol. No. 4, Buenos
+Aires, 1913).
+
+On various points in detail one may consult:--
+
+Lavalle y Medici, "Las nivelaciones de la Provincia" (_Bol. Inst. Geog.
+Argent._, vii, 1866, pp. 57-71).
+
+P. A. Bovet, _El Problema de los Medanos en el Pais_ (Buenos Aires,
+1910).
+
+R. Velasco, "Los Medanos de la Provincia de Cordoba" (_Bol. Dep. Gen.
+Agric. y Ganaderia_, Prov. Cordoba, i, pp. 155-173).
+
+Among descriptions of an economic character, which are generally of
+poor value, we must make an exception in favour of Emile Daireaux, _La
+vie et les moeurs a la Plata_ (Paris, 1889).
+
+A few useful notes on colonization will be found in Teod. Morsbah,
+"Estudios economicos sobre el Sud de la Provincia de Buenos Aires"
+(_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, ix, 1888, pp. 143-151) and in E. Segui, "La
+provincia de Buenos Aires" (_Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent._, xix, 1898, pp.
+419-440).
+
+A very useful summary of the results of a general inquiry into
+agriculture will be found in "Investigacion agricola en la Rep. argent."
+(_Anales Min. Agric. Agronomia_, vol. i, No. 1, 2 and 3, Buenos Aires,
+1904: "Preliminares," by Carlos D. Girola, "Investigacion agricola en
+la region septentrional de la Provincia de Buenos Aires," by Ricardo J.
+Huergo, and "Investigacion agricola en la Provincia de Santa Fe," by
+Hugo Miatello).
+
+With this inquiry is associated G. D. Girola, _El cultivo del trigo en
+la provincia de Buenos Aires_ (Buenos Aires, 1904).
+
+Agricultural censuses have been taken repeatedly. For 1888 F. Latzina,
+_L'agriculture et le betail dans la Republique argentine_ (Paris,
+1889). For 1895 (_Secundo censo_, see Population) the results are
+given in C. P. Salas, _Bureau central de Statistique de la province
+de Buenos Aires_ and _L'agriculture, l'elevage, et le commerce dans
+la province en 1895_ (La Plata, 1897; maps by Delachaux). For 1908,
+_Censo agro-pecuario nacional_. _La ganaderia y la agricultura en 1908_
+(Buenos Aires, 3 vols. quarto, 1909). Vol. iii contains a series of
+monographs dealing not only with the Pampean region, but the economic
+history of the whole country.
+
+For 1914 (_Tercer censo_, see Population) the publication of vol.
+v, relating to agriculture, is unfortunately delayed. There is also
+available a census of cattle made in 1915 for the Buenos Aires
+province, _Provincia de Buenos Aires, Min. Obras Publicas, Censo
+Ganadero_ (1916).
+
+
+10. THE RAILWAYS.
+
+For the history of the railways see Rebuelto, "Historia del desarollo
+de los ferrocarriles argentinas" (_Bol. Obras Publicas_, vol. v, 1911,
+pp. 113-172, vol. vi, 1913, pp. 1-48 and 81-110, and vol. viii, 1913,
+pp. 1-32), and the entire series of the _Boletin de Obras Publicas_.
+
+A sort of annual of the Argentine railways has been published every
+year since 1906 under the title _Killik's Argentine Railway Manual_
+(London, 1 vol. with map, last issue 1918).
+
+
+11. THE PARANA.
+
+E. A. S. Delachaux, "Los problemas geograficos del territorio
+Argentino" (_Rev. Univ. Buenos Aires_, 1906, v), includes a study of
+the floods of the Parana.
+
+The chief source is the memoir of Repossini, "Memoria sobre el rio
+Parana" (_Bol. Obras Publicas_, vol. vi, 1912, pp. 141-168 and 254-264,
+vol. vii, 1912, pp. 31-48 and 163-186, and vol. viii, 1913, pp. 33-99).
+It contains on a reduced scale the map issued by the Ministry of Public
+Works, which is not available in France. The defect is supplied by the
+English Admiralty Charts, "Rio de la Plata," 1869 (No. 2544 in the
+Catalogue of Admiralty Charts), and "River Parana," parts i, ii, iii,
+iv, v, and vi of 1905 (Nos. 1982/A and 1982/B).
+
+There is an interesting economic summary in W. S. Barclay, "The River
+Parana, an economic survey" (_Geogr. Journal_, xxxiii, 1909, pp. 1-10).
+
+On the estuary:--
+
+Alej. Foster, "Regimen del Rio de la Plata y su correccion" (_An. Soc.
+Cient. Argent._, lii, 1901, pp. 209-234).
+
+G. Rovereto, "Studi di geomorfologia argentina," ii, "Il rio della
+Plata" (_Bol. Soc. Geol. Ital._, xxx, 1911).
+
+
+12. POPULATION.
+
+Besides municipal and provincial censuses, there have been three
+general censuses:
+
+First census made in 1869, one folio volume published in 1872. I have
+only been able to consult _Oficina del Censo_. _Informe sobre la
+operacion y resultado del Primer censo argentino_ (Buenos Aires, 1870,
+octavo).
+
+Second census of the Argentine Republic, May 10, 1895 (2 vols, quarto,
+Buenos Aires, 1898).
+
+_Tercer Censo Nacional levantado el 1º de junio de 1914_ (10
+vols, quarto, Buenos Aires, 1916-1917). Only the fifth volume, on
+agriculture, is not yet to hand.
+
+A geographical interpretation of the distribution of the population
+was attempted by E. A. S. Delachaux, "La poblacion de la Rep. Argent."
+(_Rev. Univ. Buenos Aires_, iii, 1905).
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Abipones, the, 24
+
+  _Acequia_, the, 45, 69, 83
+
+  Aconcagua, 19, 38, 59, 70, 71
+
+  Aeolian deposits, 21, 124, 170
+
+  Agricultural Centres Law, the, 202
+
+  _Aguadas_, 61, 210
+
+  _Algarrobas_, 39, 54, 64
+
+  Alhuampa, 113
+
+  Alumine, the, 128, 129
+
+  Ambrosetti, J. B., 136, 282
+
+  Ameghino, F., 168
+
+  Andalgala, 42
+
+  Andes, the Argentine, 19, 37, 46, 54, 57, 70, 126
+
+  Andes, the Patagonian, 19, 120, 126, 129
+
+  Anecon, 122, 151
+
+  Antofagasta, 54, 55
+
+  Apipe rapids, the, 239
+
+  Apostoles, 116
+
+  Araucanians, the, 24, 121
+
+  Argentine hydrographic service, 254
+
+  _Arrieros_, the, 51, 216, 217
+
+  Arroyo del Rey, 26
+
+  Asses, trade in, 53
+
+  Atamisqui, 97, 98
+
+  Atuel, the, 81, 84
+
+  Azcarate, 51, 52
+
+
+  Bahia Blanca, 25, 32, 148, 155, 164, 168, 173, 198, 223, 227, 271
+
+  Bajada Grande, the, 242, 243
+
+  Bamboo, 133
+
+  _Banados_, the, 62, 63, 67, 97, 98, 101
+
+  Barra del Indio, the, 253
+
+  Barrancas, 17, 245
+
+  Basalt, 122, 125, 149
+
+  Basques in Argentina, 183, 186
+
+  Bellavista, 246
+
+  Bellville, 167, 188
+
+  Bermejo, the, 40, 115
+
+  _Bodegueros_, 87-90
+
+  Bodenbender, G., 40, 57, 168, 286
+
+  Bolivia, relations with, 48, 50, 52, 53, 70
+
+  Boman, E., 47, 282
+
+  Brackebusch, L., 48, 54, 278, 282
+
+  Brazil, 109, 116, 182, 235
+
+  Breeding, 22, 131, 179, 188, 189
+
+  British Navy in Argentine waters, 238, 248, 252
+
+  Buenos Aires, 17, 29, 30, 32, 57, 109, 112, 155, 159, 164, 184, 209,
+      218, 220, 239, 254, 259, 272-275
+
+  Burruyacu, Sierra de, 72, 73
+
+
+  Calchaqui, 48, 54
+
+  _Caldenes_,163
+
+  _Canadas_, 107
+
+  _Canadones_, 122-141
+
+  Candelaria, 110, 116
+
+  _Caneros_, the, 74, 75
+
+  Carcarana, the, 171, 212, 246
+
+  Carilaufquen, the, 141
+
+  Carmen, 130
+
+  Carri Lauquen, Lake, 128, 151, 157
+
+  Catamarca, 31, 43, 45, 55, 80
+
+  Cattle, creole, 22, 131, 179-183, 189
+
+  Cattle, pedigree, 22, 188, 189
+
+  Cattle fairs, 209
+
+  Cattle trade, the, 48, 50, 53, 66, 80, 131, 179-189, 206-208
+
+  Catuna, 62
+
+  Cedar-forests, 109
+
+  Central Argentine Railway, 76, 191, 220, 225
+
+  Central Cordoba, 74, 76, 91, 104, 221
+
+  Central Norte Railway, 114
+
+  _Cerco_, the, 63
+
+  Cerro Payen, the, 119, 136
+
+  Cerros Colorados, 150, 151
+
+  Chaco, the, 32, 78, 96, 104-115
+
+  Chaco, Salteno, the, 58-60
+
+  Chamical, 62
+
+  _Chanares_, 163
+
+  Charcoal-burners, 112
+
+  Chicago and Buenos Aires, 17
+
+  Chile, relations with, 25, 29, 30, 48, 49, 53, 54, 57, 134, 137,
+      138, 204, 205, 210
+
+  Chile road, the, 210, 213
+
+  Chilean flour, 79
+
+  Chiriguanos, the, 79
+
+  Chivilcoy, 190, 194, 195, 212, 263
+
+  Choele Choel, 133, 134, 149
+
+  Chosmalal, 120, 137, 144
+
+  Chubut, the, 138, 140, 155
+
+  Climate, 46, 70, 71, 72, 77, 80, 92, 119, 120, 139
+
+  _Coilrue_, the, 127
+
+  Colalao del Valle, 42
+
+  Colastine, 226, 253
+
+  Colonia, 251, 252
+
+  Colonies, the, 191, 193, 195, 196
+
+  Colonization Companies, 202
+
+  _Colonos_,75
+
+  Colorado, the, 172
+
+  Conlara, 178
+
+  Cordillera, the, 19, 20, 48, 81, 121, 126, 129
+
+  Cordoba, 29, 33, 50, 57, 164
+
+  Cordoba, Sierra de, 209
+
+  Corrientes, 32, 49, 102, 107, 108, 189, 215, 257, 269
+
+  _Costa_, the, 41, 42, 60
+
+  Cruz Alta, 73, 74, 75
+
+  Cuarto, the Rio, 25, 211
+
+  Cuenca Vidal, 155
+
+  Cumbre Tunnel, 222
+
+  Cuyo, 79, 85, 86, 96
+
+  Cypresses, 127
+
+
+  Daireaux, E., 187, 193, 287
+
+  Dairies, 186, 190, 193
+
+  Dams, 69-70
+
+  Darwin, C, 23, 123, 133, 170, 217, 280
+
+  D'Azara, F., 25, 28, 49, 102, 174, 180, 212, 279, 280
+
+  Dead valleys, 122, 129
+
+  _Demarcacion_, 44
+
+  Diamante, 248, 249
+
+  Diamante, the, 81, 84
+
+  Diez y seis de Octubre, 120, 144
+
+  Doering, A., 168, 286
+
+  Dolores, 178
+
+  D'Orbigny, A., 130, 131, 133, 142, 180, 236, 237, 280
+
+  Drainage, 83
+
+  Drought, 65, 66, 105, 120
+
+  Dulce, the Rio, 97, 98
+
+  Dunes, 173, 174, 181
+
+  Durham cattle, 189, 207
+
+
+  English Bank, the, 252
+
+  Entre Rios, 169, 182, 186, 194
+
+  Epecuen Lake, 212
+
+  Exhibition, San Francisco, 7
+
+
+  _Falda_, the, 73, 74
+
+  Famatina, Sierra de la, 40
+
+  Fiords, the Patagonian, 20, 128
+
+  Flax, 176, 196, 197
+
+  Floods, 97, 99, 211
+
+  Floods on the rivers, 240, 241
+
+  Forests, 23, 96-118
+
+  Forts, the early, 26, 27
+
+  Frontiers, early, 25
+
+  Funes, Dean G., 30, 179
+
+
+  _Galeria_, the, 218
+
+  Gallegos, 120, 121, 136
+
+  Garcia, Colonel, 27, 182, 183, 210
+
+  _Garrapate_, the, 22, 189, 207
+
+  _Gauchos_, 218
+
+  Gauge, differences of, 221, 222, 231, 232
+
+  General La valle, 165
+
+  Geological formations, 40, 121, 122, 124-126, 129, 166, 168
+
+  Glaciers, the Patagonian, 19, 36, 123, 128, 129
+
+  Gold, 138
+
+  Goods, traffic, analysis of, 228-231
+
+  Granite, 121, 125, 149
+
+  Guapichas, 54
+
+  Guayra, the, 246
+
+
+  Harvest, labour and the, 266
+
+  Helms, A. Z., 51
+
+  Hides, 178-180
+
+  Holmberg, E. L., 23, 281
+
+  Hrdlicka, A., 168, 287
+
+  Huari, 56
+
+  Hutchinson, F. J., 50
+
+
+  Immigration, 9, 116, 137, 191, 263, 264
+
+  Indians, relations with the, 24-28, 47, 131-135
+
+  Indians, the Patagonian, 131-135
+
+  Ingeniero White, 226
+
+  _Intrusos_, 139, 157
+
+  _Invernadas_, the, 51, 53, 60, 65, 183
+
+  Irrigation, 36, 41-46, 61, 64, 74, 83-86, 144, 154
+
+  Itinerary of author, 6
+
+  Ituzaingo, 246, 257
+
+
+  Japan, trade with, 8
+
+  Jegou, A., 205
+
+  Jerked meat, 115
+
+  Jesuit missions, 110
+
+  Jujuy, 38, 56, 77
+
+  Junin, 194
+
+
+  Labour-supply, 76, 77, 79, 88, 108-111
+
+  Lacar, Lake, 144
+
+  Land-ownership, 61, 201-203
+
+  Land, speculation in, 201
+
+  Lanin, Mount, 128-147
+
+  Larch, the, 146
+
+  La Rioja, 32, 33, 59, 80, 209
+
+  Ledesma, 78
+
+  _Lenga_, the, 127
+
+  Lima, 29, 48
+
+  Limay, the, 120, 123, 124, 130, 146, 154
+
+  Lincoln sheep, 184
+
+  Los Sauces, 41
+
+  Lucerne-farms, 53, 67, 155, 176-178, 196
+
+  Lumbrera, Sierra de la, 58, 70, 77
+
+
+  MacKann, W., 180, 280
+
+  Maize, 71, 192-194, 197, 198, 230
+
+  _Mallin_, 124, 125, 142, 151
+
+  _Manantiales_, 142, 148
+
+  Maquinchao, 148, 150, 151, 153, 158
+
+  Mar Chiquita, 113, 162, 173, 176, 191
+
+  Markets, Argentine, 203-210
+
+  Martin Garcia, 166, 251, 253
+
+  Matacos, the, 79
+
+  _Mate_, 33, 109-112, 117
+
+  Matto Grosso, 117, 235
+
+  _Mayten_, 128
+
+  Mejia, Ramos, 224
+
+  Mendoza, 19, 32, 33, 50, 57, 79-93, 218, 270, 271
+
+  _Merced_, the, 61, 67
+
+  Mercedario, 19
+
+  Merino sheep, 184
+
+  Mesopotamia, the Argentine, 18
+
+  Miatello, 176
+
+  Migrations of cattle, 65, 143, 157-159
+
+  Migrations of indigenous population, 264-267
+
+  Misiones, 33, 109-112, 115
+
+  _Molle_, 127
+
+  _Monte_, the, 22, 96
+
+  Montevideo, 238, 251
+
+  Moussy, Martin de, 25, 50, 204, 210
+
+  Muleteers, the, 216-7
+
+  Mule-trade, the, 49, 51-2, 53, 55
+
+
+  Nahuel Huapi, Lake, 120, 126, 127, 130, 132, 133, 144, 225, 245, 247
+
+  Navigation, statistics of, 258
+
+  Negro, the Rio, 32, 80, 119, 121, 130, 153
+
+  Negroes captured, 131
+
+  Neuquen, the, 129, 130, 137, 138, 153
+
+
+  Oases, 36, 41, 86
+
+  Oats, 199
+
+  _Obrajes_, the, 103-105, 107
+
+  Olavarria, 194
+
+  Olta, 62
+
+  _Omber_, the, 163
+
+  Ortiz Bank, the, 252
+
+  Otway Water, 129, 136
+
+
+  Pagancillo, 40
+
+  Pampa, the, 17, 21, 33, 161-208, 261, 262
+
+  Pampa, extent of the, 102
+
+  Parabolic tariffs, 226
+
+  Paracao, 248
+
+  Paraguay, 109, 110, 236, 269
+
+  Paraguay, the river, 116, 165, 235, 241, 247
+
+  _Paraisos_, 175
+
+  Parana, the, 17, 26, 111, 112, 171, 214, 234, 236-50
+
+  Parana de las Palmas, the, 250, 252, 253
+
+  Parana Guazu, the, 251
+
+  Parana Mini, the, 253
+
+  Parish, Sir Woodbine, 30, 100, 130, 182, 213, 215, 261, 280
+
+  Paso Paraguayo, the, 250
+
+  _Pasto dulce_, 23, 24, 183
+
+  _Pasto duro_, 23, 24, 183
+
+  _Pasto fuerto_, 23
+
+  Patagones, 153, 154
+
+  Patagonia, 119-160
+
+  Pehuenches, the, 24, 131
+
+  Peru, relations with, 28, 29, 49, 51
+
+  Peru road, the, 209, 210, 213, 214, 216
+
+  Piedra Blanca, 43
+
+  Pine forests, 109
+
+  Plata, Rio de la, 28, 29, 234, 239
+
+  Playa Honda, the, 252, 253
+
+  Poma, 56
+
+  Poncel, B., 31, 53
+
+  Population, growth of, 261-263
+
+  Ports, 225
+
+  Portuguese, relations with the, 235
+
+  Posadas, 111, 116, 242, 248, 249
+
+  Potatoes, 205
+
+  Pozos del Barca Grande, 253
+
+  Protectionism, 93, 94
+
+  Puerto Belgrano, 232
+
+  Pumpkin, the, 100
+
+  _Puna_, the, 37, 38
+
+  Puna de Atacama, 47, 48
+
+  Punta Arenas, 136
+
+
+  _Quebracho_, the, 23, 96, 103, 256-7
+
+  Quebracho Herrado, 26
+
+  _Quebradas_, 38, 41, 53
+
+  Quetriquile, 151
+
+  Quinto, the Rio, 26
+
+  Quiroga, 59
+
+
+  Railways, 74, 76, 91, 104, 114, 191, 211, 220-233
+
+  Railway tariffs, 226
+
+  Rainfall, 21, 38, 39, 71, 72, 80, 120-121, 164
+
+  Ranqueles, the, 24, 131
+
+  Refrigerators, 143, 187, 188, 209
+
+  Repossini, 254
+
+  _Represa_, the, 64, 210
+
+  Riachucho, 247
+
+  Rincones, 180
+
+  River-floods, 240, 241, 243
+
+  River-traffic, 235-258
+
+  Roads, 210-220
+
+  Roca, General, 26, 27
+
+  Rosario, 92, 164, 171, 173, 191, 215, 221, 239, 245, 253
+
+  Rosario de Lerma, 55, 56
+
+  Rosas, General, 30, 238
+
+
+  _Saladeros_, 184, 189
+
+  Salado, the, 23, 26, 112, 171
+
+  Sali, the, 69, 77
+
+  _Salitral_, 124, 149
+
+  Salt Lakes, the, 24
+
+  Salt Road, the, 212
+
+  Salta, 29, 32, 33, 38, 46, 48, 51, 59, 70, 214, 218
+
+  San Cristobal, 114
+
+  San Feliciano, 248
+
+  San Javier, 110, 114, 249
+
+  San Jose, 116, 134
+
+  San Juan, 19, 32, 33, 50, 66, 79, 82
+
+  San Lorenzo, 249
+
+  San Luis, 33
+
+  San Pedro, 78, 289, 250
+
+  San Rafael, 80, 81, 82, 172, 177
+
+  Sancho, 71
+
+  Santa Cruz, the, 120, 121, 122
+
+  Santa Fe, 26, 52, 112, 114, 175, 191, 196, 198, 253
+
+  Santa Maria, 55, 56, 77
+
+  Santiago del Estero, 26, 28, 50, 60, 77, 97, 113
+
+  Saw-mills, 106-8
+
+  Scrub, the, 22, 96
+
+  Seasonal migrations, 266
+
+  Selective breeding, 21, 179, 188, 189
+
+  Sheep-breeding, 139-144, 183-186
+
+  Shipping, 236, 240, 253-259
+
+  Sierra de los Llanos, 59-63, 67
+
+  Sierra d'Ulapes, 66
+
+  Somuncura, 122, 152
+
+  Spaniards, the early, 28, 29, 48
+
+  Stage-coaches, 210
+
+  Straits of Magellan, 129
+
+  Sugar-industry, the, 69-79
+
+  _Suerte de agua_, the, 85
+
+
+  Tablelands, the alluvial, 17, 37
+
+  Tandil, Sierra de, 25, 172, 179, 182, 184, 190
+
+  Tannin, 102, 105, 106, 107
+
+  Tehuelches, the, 131
+
+  Texas fever, 22, 189
+
+  Teran, M. J. B., 7
+
+  Tercero, the Rio, 211, 213
+
+  Tierra del Fuego, 128, 140
+
+  Tinogasta, 48
+
+  Tobacco, 101
+
+  Tobas, the, 24, 26
+
+  _Toma_, the, 63
+
+  _Tosca_, the, 123, 172, 173, 178
+
+  Tostado, 114
+
+  Trans-Andean railway, 220, 221, 222
+
+  Transhumation, 143, 156-159, 182
+
+  Transport, evolution of, 215-220, 228
+
+  Travelling, early difficulties of, 211-219, 237-238
+
+  _Travesias_, the, 52, 60, 142, 211
+
+  Tronador, Mount, 128, 147
+
+  _Troperos_, the, 217-19
+
+  Tucuman, 29, 32, 33, 69-79, 218, 221, 270, 271
+
+  Tunuyan, the, 81, 82
+
+  Tupungato, 19
+
+  _Turno_, the, 44, 85, 86
+
+
+  United States, comparison with 32, 34
+
+  United States, trade with, 8
+
+  Urban centres, 268, 269
+
+  Urquiza, 26, 180, 215
+
+  Uruguay, 116
+
+  Uruguay, the river, 110, 235, 238, 259
+
+  Useless Bay, 129
+
+
+  Valcheta, 122, 123, 149, 150, 153
+
+  Valle de Lerma, 48, 54
+
+  Valle Viejo, 43, 45
+
+  _Valles_, 37-48
+
+  _Vegas_, 54, 144
+
+  Veinte cinco de Mayo, 194, 262
+
+  Ventana, Sierra de, 172, 182, 198, 199
+
+  Villa Concepcion, 110
+
+  Villa Maria, 113, 213
+
+  Villa Mercedes, 25, 66, 113, 164, 174, 177, 207, 221
+
+  Villa Parana, 245
+
+  Villa Rica, 110, 111
+
+  Villarino, 130, 133
+
+  Villa Urquiza, 244
+
+  Vilque, 56
+
+  _Vinatores_, 87-93
+
+  Vineyards, 80-93
+
+  _Volcada de agua_, 45
+
+  Volcanic eruptions, 122, 125
+
+
+  Wagons, travel by, 216, 217
+
+  War, the European, effect of, 8
+
+  Water-power in Patagonia, 146
+
+  Water-rights, 43-46, 61, 64, 84-86
+
+  Water-supply, 36, 38, 39, 41-46, 61, 64, 72, 83-86, 141, 154, 181
+
+  Welsh in Patagonia, 138
+
+  Wheat, 190-192, 194, 198, 199, 230
+
+  Wheelwright, 221
+
+  Wild cattle, 179-181
+
+  Willis, Bailey, 138, 146, 147, 152, 171
+
+  Wind, action of the, 20, 124, 170
+
+  Wine-industry, the, 80-95
+
+  Wool, 139, 183-185
+
+
+  _Yerbales_, the, 49, 109-112, 115, 117
+
+  Yguassu, the, 242, 246, 257
+
+
+  Zapala, 156, 158
+
+  Zeballos, 204, 213
+
+  _Zonda_, the, 41
+
+
+_Printed in Great Britain by_
+
+UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, LONDON AND WOKING
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Small capitals have been rendered as ALL CAPITALS.
+
+Apparent printer's errors have been corrected.
+
+The following table lists changes made by the transcribers.
+
+ +----+---------------+---------------+
+ |PAGE|  CHANGED TO   |   ORIGINAL    |
+ +----+---------------+---------------+
+ |   9|  inmigracion  |  immigracion  |
+ |   9|    despues    |    despues    |
+ |  14|     Santa     |     Sante     |
+ |  22|    fisicas    |    fisicas    |
+ |  22|   Republica   |   Republica   |
+ |  23|   Republica   |   Republica   |
+ |  23|   Republica   |   Republica   |
+ |  52|   Cordoba,    |    Cordoba    |
+ |  82|     melt      |     meet      |
+ |  82|    Estero     |    Eestero    |
+ |  91|     wines     |     vines     |
+ |  84|   Sometimes   |   Somtimes    |
+ |  91|    regards    |    regrads    |
+ | 103|     Santa     |     Sante     |
+ | 103|   quebracho   |   quebraco    |
+ | 105|     small     |     mall      |
+ | 105|    alongs     |     along     |
+ | 112|     crops     |     props     |
+ | 113|  quebrachos   |  quegrachas   |
+ | 114|     Santa     |     Sante     |
+ | 136|Forschungsreise|Farschungsreise|
+ | 142|     than      |     that      |
+ | 157|      are      |    are are    |
+ | 167|   campaign    |   compaign    |
+ | 175|    enlarge    |   enlarges    |
+ | 181|     Santa     |     Sente     |
+ | 193|     dairy     |     diary     |
+ | 219|    galera     |    galeria    |
+ | 266|      the      |      he       |
+ | 291|      248      |      24       |
+ | 287|   Hrdlicka    |   Hrdlicker   |
+ | 295|      240      |      740      |
+ |----+---------------+---------------+
+
+
+
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