THE PORTS 271 



colonies with imported goods — especially agricultural 

 machinery — bankers and insurance companies, sur- 

 veyors and lawyers. Those which have the best 

 service of trains have a certain amount of industry — 

 mills and breweries — the products of which are absorbed 

 locally. These towns derive all the elements of their 

 life from the Pampean region itself, and have no 

 direct relations either with foreign markets or with 

 other parts of Argentina.^ 



But the towns of the Pampa which have grown 

 most rapidly are the ports. Rosario rose from 23,000 

 inhabitants in 1869 to 91,000 in 1895 and to 245,000 

 in 1914 ; Bahia Blanca from 9,000 in 1895 to 62,000 

 in 1914. The actual population of the Pampa ports 

 is not at all in proportion to the part which each 

 plays in the export ot Pampean products : — 



Export of Cereals in thousands of ions. 

 (Average for 1913-1915) 



Rosario. Buenos Aires. Bahla Blanca. San Nicolas. La Plata. Santa F*. 

 2,716 2,051 1,075 651 459 278 



Population in 1914. 

 245,000 1,575,000 62,000 19,000 137,000 64,000 



Some centres, such as Campana, Zarate, San Pedro 

 or San Nicolas, which load up meat or grain in great 

 quantities, have nevertheless remained small towns. 

 Neither the trade in meat nor that in cereals is enough 

 of itself to sustain a busy urban life. In point of 

 fact, the growth of the Pampa ports is mainly con- 

 nected with their function as importing ports and 

 markets of capital. The close dependence of Bahia 



• Only two of them, Villa Mercedes and Villa Maria, are on the 

 edge of the Pampa. We have seen elsewhere the part which the 

 extensive breeding of the north-west plays in the business of the Villa 

 Mercedes cattle-market. Villa Maria also derives some advantage 

 from its nearness to the scrub. Its limekilns receive limestone from 

 the Sierra de C6rdoba, but they get their fuel locally, from the men 

 who clear the scrub. 



