REVOLUTION IN CATTLE TRADE 159 



exports of Pampean cattle to Chile ceased after 1885, 

 the whole Andean region of the Neuquen still lived 

 entirely on the Chilean market until very recently. The 

 attraction of the Chilean market is one of the reasons 

 for the survival of transhumation. It was to the advan- 

 tage of the Argentine breeders to keep near the Cordillera 

 and the passes through which the buyers came from 

 Chile in the summer. The life of the small centres in 

 the upper valleys which developed rapidly after the 

 conquest (Chosmalal, Norquin, Codihue, Junin, and 

 San Martin) was bound up with the Chilean cattle trade, 

 and was reflected on the opposite side of the Andes 

 in the prosperity of the corresponding markets in 

 Chile. 



In the years immediately preceding 1914, a sudden 

 revolution upset the cattle traffic on the Neuquen, 

 and the attraction of Buenos Aires took the place of 

 that of the Chilean market. The commercial influence 

 of Buenos Aires was first felt in the wool-market. The 

 tropas of wagons which brought wool to Zapala loaded 

 up, in exchange, with the flour and salt that were needed 

 for sheep-breeding in the pastures of the Cordillera 

 {pastos dukes). The import trade followed the path 

 traced by the export trade. The small Chilean wagons 

 which still cross the Cordillera now only bring to the 

 Neuquen the coarse flour of Chile, haricot beans, and 

 wine. They return empty to Chile. After the wool- 

 buyers, the cattle-merchants of Buenos Aires next 

 found their way to the Cordillera. The centres where 

 the sales of cattle for Chile used to be held are now in 

 decay, and have lost part of their population. The 

 cattle are sent to the fattening centres on the Pampa, 

 or to the Bahia Blanca and Buenos Aires markets. 

 Thus we have under our eyes, unexpectedly, in the 

 north of Patagonia a transformation that occurred 

 gradually half a century ago in all the western and 

 north-western parts of Argentina, In its many forms 

 it is the essential fact in the modern history of Argentine 



