28 STATES OF THE RIVEK PLATE. 



for instance, low strong land, with rank reedy grasses, often 

 flooded, and on some of which the ' leech ' is generated ; 

 there horses and cattle hold their own. 



In the Uruguay and Eutre-Eios cattle prevail almost 

 everywhere, and there are comparatively few estancias 

 whereon sheep alone are reared ; but the same process of 

 gradual encroachment of sheep on to the previously pure 

 cattle lands is going on there as in Buenos Ayres. 



The distribution of a cattle estancia ' plant ' is similar 

 to that of a sheep farm : — the estancia house, with horse 

 corrales and cattle corrales, and puestos in different parts 

 of the ground for the herdsmen. Each puestero has 

 his herd (rodeo) of cattle and tract of land appointed 

 to him. 



There is a ' capataz ' (overlooker) to a certain number 

 of puestos, and a mayordomo, or manager, over all : also 

 there are immense troops of wild mares and horses. A 

 ' rodeo,' or herd, is various in size, consisting of a few 

 hundreds or a few thousands semi- wild cattle. The pues- 

 tero tends the cattle and keeps them within certain hmits, 

 and prevents them mixing with other herds. On some 

 establishments they are brought up to what is called 

 ' el rodeo,' a bare piece of ground near the station or 

 puesto, at sundown, or they are only thus gathered up 

 occasionally. They are settled to rest on the rodeo by 

 ' peones ' riding round them ; it is from this practice of 

 herding them — 'rodeando,' surrounding or riding round 

 — that both the ground and the herd take the name of 

 ' rodeo.' 



In these estancias we see the true type of the gaucho 

 of the Pampas — a type now-a-days rarely found in tlie 

 sheep districts — men familiar only with the plain on which 

 they were born and have lived, without ever having known 

 or seen anything beyond it. 



