WOOL GROWING. 279 



Already all the available portion of Tierra del Fuego is occupied by 

 sheep farms, as well as that portion of the mainland lying adjacent to 

 the coast. The methods of overland transportation at present prevail- 

 ing in this region are so crude as to render the growing of wool unprofit- 

 able, where it has to be transported for a greater distance than sixty miles 

 to the coast. For this reason there is a considerable tract of land along 

 the base of the Andes and extending northward from the Santa Cruz River, 

 which, though among the richest of the pastoral lands of this region, 

 still remains entirely unsettled. The land at present occupied by the 

 wool-growers has been either leased or bought in large blocks from the 

 Chilian and Argentine governments. Most of the farms are large and 

 capable of supporting from thirty to fifty thousand head of sheep, while 

 there are several that could easily carry upwards of one hundred thousand 

 head. The climate, as well as the grass, is especially well adapted to sheep 

 raising. Sheep subsist throughout the year without feed or shelter, other 

 than such as they are able to procure from the country, so that the only 

 attention they require comes with the shearing and lambing seasons and 

 in dipping and the other necessary precautions incident to keeping them 

 free from scab, which in this country is the bane of the wool-grower. 

 Heretofore there has been little or no outlet for Patagonian mutton, so 

 that the only source of income to the farmer has been the sale of his wool 

 and hides and the increase of his flock. The old sheep were left to die of 

 old age on his hands through his inability to market them for mutton, 

 when of a proper age. Notwithstanding this serious drawback, however, 

 wool-growing has, from its inception, been an exceptionally remunerative 

 occupation, and now that more stringent laws are being enacted for the 

 extermination of the scab, and enterprises are being undertaken for 

 exporting live sheep and frozen mutton, this industry may reasonably 

 be expected to become even still more profitable and to increase in 

 importance. 



Dependent upon the wool-growing industry, there are a considerable 

 number of persons engaged in the mercantile business, the various 

 mechanic trades and as common carriers, the latter usually by steam or 

 sailing vessels plying about the coast. The population engaged in these 

 various occupations is most varied as to nationality. Indeed, it would 

 be difficult to find a more cosmopolitan population. Almost every civilized 

 nation is represented. Among the sheep farmers the Scotch prevail in 



