54 THE OASES OF THE NORTH-WEST 



Besides the official routes there have for a long time 

 been clandestine tracks, through more difficult ravines, 

 by which stolen cattle were conveyed with impunity. 

 Guachipas was the gathering place for cattle of suspicious 

 origin, and, to avoid being seen in Salta and Jujuy, 

 they passed through the Quebrada del Toro or the 

 Quebrada d'Escoipe. When Brackebusch visited 

 Guachipas in 1880 the inhabitants still kept something 

 of their reputation as smugglers. 



A map of the cattle-tracks which are still used in 

 the Argentine Andes is a complicated network in which 

 we can trace two main directions, crossing each other 

 at right angles. One set of tracks leads to the west, 

 toward the Pacific coast, the other set to the north, 

 toward the Bolivian tableland. 



The cattle traffic is now restricted to Chile. It 

 survives at San Juan, Jachal, Vinchina, and Tinogasta. 

 The cattle descend to Chile about Coquimbo, Vallenar, 

 or Copiapo. But the trade is now busiest in the region 

 of the saltpetre-beds. The roads lead from the Valle 

 de Lerma and the Valle Calchaqui toward the table- 

 land by the Quebrada del Toro or the Quebrada de 

 Cachi or de Luracatao, crossing lofty passes at the 

 foot of the Nevados of Acay and Cachi, and reuniting 

 between Santa Rosa de Pastos Grandes and San Antonio 

 de los Cobres to cross the Puna de Atacama. Vegas 

 (pastures) and fresh water are scarce here. The track 

 passes interminably by depressions covered with a 

 carpet of glistening salt, dominated by volcanic crests. 

 It is used in every season of the year, but in winter 

 the caravans are exposed to the cold wind laden with 

 snow, the viento bianco. San Pedro is the port in this 

 desolation. Here there are, on the flanks of the 

 enormous cone of Licancour, fields of lucerne and 

 groups of figs and algarrobas. The cattle are left 

 there for a few days' rest, to prepare them for the last 

 stage, the Calama oasis on the Antofagasta railway. 



The centre of this trade is Salta, or, rather, the little 



