146 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



more than three parts Indian, others blond, 

 hairy creatures with the northern blood showing 

 obviously. Although they are dangerous men 

 when angered, they are generally polite, and 

 we, of course, had no trouble with them. Hides, 

 fox skins, and the like are brought by them for 

 sale or for barter. 



Order is kept by the mounted territorial police, 

 an excellent body, much like the Canadian 

 mounted police and the Pennsylvania constabu- 

 lary. These men are alert and soldierly, with 

 fine horses, well-kept arms, and smart uniforms. 

 Many of them were obviously mainly, and most 

 of them were partly, of Indian blood. I think 

 that Indian blood is on the whole a distinct 

 addition to the race stock when the ancestral 

 Indian tribe is of the right kind. The acting 

 president of the Argentine during my visit, the 

 vice-president, a very able and forceful man, 

 wealthy, well educated, a thorough statesman 

 and man of the world, and a delightful com- 

 panion, had a strong strain of Indian blood in 

 him. 



The ordinary people we met used "Indian" 

 and "Christian" as opposite terms, having cul- 

 tural rather than theological or racial signifi- 

 cance, this being customary in the border regions 

 of temperate South America. In one place 



