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diff --git a/47264-8.txt b/47264-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..62b9f00 --- /dev/null +++ b/47264-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11119 @@ +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 + 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 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*** + + +******* This file should be named 47264-8.txt or 47264-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/7/2/6/47264 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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