RANCHLANDS 99 



South America there were here and there oases 

 of thin settlement, including even small, stag- 

 nant cities, already two or three centuries old. 

 In these oases people wholly or partly of Euro- 

 pean blood had gradually developed a peculiar 

 and backward, but real, semicivilization of 

 their own. This quaint, distinctive social cul- 

 ture has been, or is now being, engulfed by the 

 rising tide of intensely modern internationalized 

 material development. 



Among the many pleasant memories of my 

 visit to Argentina, one of the most pleasant is 

 that of a dinner at the house of the governor 

 of the old provincial capital of Mendoza. Our 

 distinguished host came of an old country family 

 which for many centuries led the life of the 

 great cattle-breeding ranch-owners, although 

 his people were more and more turning their 

 attention to agriculture, he himself being a 

 successful farmer, as well as an invaluable 

 public servant of advanced views. His father 

 was at the dinner. He had retired as a general 

 after forty-nine years' service in the Argentine 

 army. The fine old fellow represented what 

 was best in the Argentine type before the days 

 of modern industrialism. A very vigorous and 

 manly best it was, too. He wore the old Ar- 

 gentine uniform, which for his rank was the 



