20 STATES OF THE RIVER PLATE. 



sheep were of so little value that they were killed that 

 the carcases might be cast into furnaces to serve as 

 fuel. 



The improvement in the sheep, and their increased 

 value, is due to the introduction of Spanish Merino and 

 Saxony breeds, with which the Creole and Pampa sheep 

 were crossed and continually refined. The flocks were 

 reduced in numbers and better tended, the increase in 

 consequence facilitated, the animals more domesticated, 

 the flesh as well as the wool improved, and the yield of 

 grease augmented. 



So important was the improvement of the sheep in all 

 points that, with the course of refining, the value year by 

 year rose until good cross-bred sheep reached the prices 

 of 40)^ and 50,^ each, and the wool of the best flocks 

 could be compared at no great disadvantage, in point of 

 fineness, with the Merino ; but in consequence of the 

 dirty condition and large quantity of ' carretilla ' or burr, 

 had a market value in no Avay commensurate with its 

 degree of fineness. 



As may readily be supposed, with the rapid increase in 

 numbers, equivalent to a compound interest of 25 to 35 per 

 cent, per annum, and augmentation in value both of sheep 

 and lands, considerable fortunes were made from very 

 small beginnings, and with little or no trouble or outlay 

 in the management. In lieu of payment in cash to 

 shepherds, the owners of the land and sheep freely gave 

 flocks on halves, say half the increase and half the wool, 

 and these men, many of them of the poorest classes of 

 English and Irish immigrants, participating in the benefits 

 of this rapid augmentation in value of the stock, throve 

 with their employers ; and on the expiration of their 

 contracts, and the division of the increase, moved with 

 their flocks on to lands rented at a mere nominal figure. 



