THE SPECIES OF TIMBER 103 



quechua, which is the language of the banados of the Rio 

 Dulce, is spoken in the timber-yards of the Chaco de 

 Santiago ; the guarani, the language of Corrientes and 

 the Paraguay, is most common along the river, in the 

 Chaco de Sante Fe. Their respective spheres will not 

 come into touch with each other until the Ouimili 

 branch of the Central Norte Railway, which comes from 

 the Santiago province, joins the line of penetration at 

 Resistencia, on the Parana, in the west. 



The forestry industry of the interior and that of the 

 river-districts differ not only in the character of the 

 workers, but in their organization and their market. 

 The variety of red quebracho which is exploited in the 

 west is not quite the same as the variety that is found 

 in the east. Each has a name of its own — quebracho 

 sanHagueno and quebraco chaqueno. The former con- 

 tains ten per cent, of tannin, the latter thirty per cent. 

 The former is cut down for timber, the latter in order 

 to extract the tannic acid. The one is sold in Argentina, 

 and the other sent abroad. 



The working of the timber at Santiago has remained 

 in the hands of a number of small capitalists and con- 

 tractors who do not own the land and do not work 

 there. They are content to buy in small amounts and 

 according to the demand at the moment, the right to 

 exploit the forests {derecho de monte or derecho de Una). 

 The trunks of exceptionally large quebracho provide 

 logs that are sold by cubic measurement, but the district 

 of the quebracho sanHagueno mainly exports sleepers. 

 Quebracho sleepers have been used in constructing the 

 railways, both narrow and broad gauge, during the last 

 twenty years on the Pampa. Tall and thin trees make 

 telegraph posts ; the smaller branches make stakes for 

 wire fences. In parts of the bush where there is no 

 red quebracho, the retamo is used, to make posts for 

 enclosures, and also the white quebracho, which is sold 

 in round logs. Finally, the forests provide wood for 

 fuel. The works at Tucuraan, and the locomotives over 



