282 To the River Plate and Back 



German and French capital and brains have been 

 utilized to bring about the greatest economy in manufac- 

 ture. A number of the establishments are truly impres- 

 sive in their size and the perfection of their equipment. 

 To find here within sight of the Andes great estab- 

 lishments covering an area as large as is covered by 

 some of the larger steel-mills in the United States, 

 devoted to the production of sugar, was to me at first 

 sight a matter of astonishment. I had the pleasure 

 of meeting several German chemists, who are charged 

 with the conduct of one of these great concerns. I 

 found them to be men of scientific training, thorough 

 masters of the subject. While the industry has as- 

 sumed large proportions, the product at the present 

 time is only about equal to the domestic demand, and 

 Argentina has not yet come to the point where it can 

 export sugar profitably and in quantity. Not all of the 

 refining is done on the ground at Tucuman. A certain 

 proportion of the raw sugar is shipped to Rosario, where 

 there are extensive refineries. 



The population of Tucuman reveals a considerable 

 infusion of Indian blood, much more than is the case in 

 Buenos Aires. Not a few of the people I saw were 

 evidently pure-blooded Indians. One old woman, w r ho 

 daily sat at the entrance of the hotel where I took my 

 luncheon and dinner, told me with evident pride that 

 she was an Indian. She was engaged in selling cheap 

 embroideries of native workmanship. I saw many 

 others whose features indicated that they belonged to 

 the same race. Some of the children and girls were 

 decidedly pretty. As a class these people did not 

 impress me as being very robust, and some of them 

 appeared to be more or less under-sized and under-fed. 

 Pulmonary disease is reported to be very prevalent 



