102 EXPLOITATION OF THE FORESTS 



Corrientes also has its forests, and in these we find 

 most of the species of the forests of the Chaco, in straight 

 lines, along the water-conrses, and in somewhat larger 

 patches on the tablelands which separate the lower 

 valleys near the Parana. They at first supplied the 

 Cunipai bark which was used in the Corrientes tanneries. 

 The yards for the construction of river-boats emigrated 

 from Paraguay to Corrientes at the beginning of the 

 nineteenth century, at the same time and for the same 

 reasons as the tobacco trade. The exploiting of the 

 red quebracho did not begin until about 1850. In 1887 

 Virasoro relates that fifty ships are engaged in loading 

 with Nandubai timber on the banks of the Rio Corrientes 

 and transporting it to Rosario.^ Born on the left bank 

 of the Parana, the forestry industry emigrated toward 

 the end of the century to the right bank, whither the 

 workers of Corrientes followed it. 



We find the same movement further north, on the 

 Paraguay. The exploitation of the woods is in that 

 case a very old industry on the tributaries of the left 

 bank. D'Azara draws attention to its importance.^ 

 Robertson found, when he went from Corrientes to 

 Asuncion in 1814, a population of wood-cutters in the 

 marshy belt near the river. During floods they took 

 refuge in the agricultural cantons of the frontier on 

 high ground, where they were well received. It seems, 

 then, that wood-cutting was already a seasonal industry 

 at this time. The exploitation of the forests is now 

 rapidly invading the right bank, which was long 

 abandoned to the wild Indians. 



The Santiagueiios and Correntinos do not mix. The 

 two zones of expansion and of forestry, of which they 

 are the pioneers, are independent of each other. The 



' Val. Virasaro " Los esteros y lagunas del Ibera " in Bol. Instil. 

 Geog. Argent, fvi. 1887 ; pp. 305-31). 



» Diario de la navegacion y reconocimiento del Rio Tibicuari (Coll. 

 de Angelis, vol. ii.). 



