RANCHLANDS 101 



in the other case. The South American Indian 

 fighting was of the same hazardous character, 

 and the Indian campaigns were fraught with 

 the same wearing fatigue, and marked by the 

 same risk and wild adventure, as in the case of 

 our own Indian campaigns. In the Argentine 

 civil wars, and in the Paraguayan War, as in 

 the wars which the Chileans have waged, the 

 fighting was, on the whole, rather more des- 

 perate than in any contest between the civilized 

 nations of Europe from the close of the Na- 

 poleonic struggles to the opening of the present 

 gigantic contest. There is no more formidable 

 fighting material in the world than is afforded 

 by certain elements in the populations of some 

 of these Latin- American countries. The gen- 

 eral of whom I am speaking was himself a most 

 interesting example of a vanishing type. Lovers 

 of good literature should read the sketches 

 of old-time Argentine life in Hudson's "El 

 Ombu." When they have done so, they will 

 understand the strength and the ruthlessness 

 which produced leaders of the stamp of the 

 scarred and war-hardened veteran who in full 

 general's uniform met us at dinner at the house 

 of his son, the governor of Mendoza. 



The old-time conditions of gaucho civiliza- 

 tion that produced these wild and formidable 



