6 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



in general in an east and Avest direction for several kilometers before 

 turning again to the south. At Puerto Pinasco the International 

 Products Co. maintained a quebracho mill and headquarters for 

 their cattle ranches, that in the aggregate covered several hundred 

 square leagues of land. The Americans stationed here received me 

 with greatest hospitality, and I owe much to their friendly assist- 

 ance, in particular to Frank Branson, in charge of the large ranch 

 at Kilometer 80, to Carl Hettman, his assistant, and to Fred Hett- 

 man, engineer for the companj^ at Puerto Pinasco. On September 

 1 I visited a low hill, covered w'ith dense forest located 35 kilometers 

 west of the port. This hill or cerro, noted as being the only elevation 

 of the sort in this part of the Chaco, was formed by an outcrop of 

 what appeared to be quartzite, porphyritic in spots, overlaid with 

 a deposit of limestone in which were traces of molluscan fossils. 

 It rose 15 to 18 meters above the surrounding level. Apparently it 

 is an outlier of the higher land that here forms the eastern bank 

 of the stream. On September 3 I worked near the river at Puerto 

 Pinasco and on September 4 proceeded inland to the ranch at Kilo- 

 meter 80, located 80 kilometers west of the port. A narrow-gauge 

 railroad used in transporting quebracho logs and supplies ran out 

 for 56 kilometers; the rest of the journey was performed on horse- 

 back. The region showed the diversity usual in the Chaco. Broad 

 savannas were broken by belts of low woodland, with dense under- 

 growth of spiny plants, or had scattered bushes and trees over their 

 surface. Abundant growth of grasses furnished almost limitless 

 feed for cattle. Lagoons, usually U shaped, and often a kilometer 

 or two long, were numerous, and harbored many water birds. A 

 meandering stream, the Riacho Jacare, wound across the country 

 which was divided by fences into huge pastures 5 kilometers square 

 each, thus embracing a league of land. Broad areas were covered 

 with open stands of tall slender palms. A large open lagoon at 

 the ranch house furnished an attractive point at which to observe 

 shore birds passing abundantly in migi'ation. It was much w^armer 

 here, there was no frost, and the discomforts of cold quarters in the 

 Chaco of Argentina were soon forgotten. Warm, dry winds from 

 the north prevailed. 



On September 23, in company w'ith Carl Hettman, I made a brief 

 trip into the unexplored interior in a motor car. We continued west 

 to a puesto, or outlying shelter hut at Kilometer 110, where we re- 

 mained for the afternoon and night, collecting about a lagoon. The 

 following morning we passed out through the last fences and con- 

 tinued west over Indian footpaths. The country was level and, as 

 in the Chaco in general, the alternate belts of savanna and woodland 

 ran east and west. Large areas grown with scattered palms were 

 evidently inundated by summer rains; the forest groAvth became 



