118 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



shady groves, a land of grain and, above all, 

 of many kinds of luscious fruits. 



As in the Argentine and Brazil, every courtesy 

 and hospitality was shown us in Chile. We 

 enjoyed every experience throughout our stay. 

 One of the pleasantest and most interesting 

 days we passed was at a great ranch, a great 

 cattle-farm and country place twenty-five or 

 thirty miles from Santiago. It was some fifteen 

 miles from the railway station. The road led 

 through a rich, fertile country largely under 

 tillage, but also largely consisting of great 

 fenced pastures. 



The owners of the ranch, our kind and cour- 

 teous hosts, had summoned all the riders of 

 the neighborhood to attend the rondeo (round- 

 up and sports), and several hundred, perhaps 

 a thousand, came. With the growth of cul- 

 tivation of the soil and the introduction of im- 

 proved methods of stock-breeding in Chile, the 

 old rude hfe of the wild cow-herders is passing 

 rapidly away. But in many places it remains 

 in modified form, and the country folk whose 

 business is pastoral form a striking and dis- 

 tinctive class. These countrymen live their 

 lives in the saddle. All these men, whose in- 

 dustries are connected with cattle, are known 

 as huasos. They are kin to the Argentine 



