THE PAMPA 159 



Swift animals, rheas, hares, and now horses and 

 even cattle, roam over the pampa, which affords them 

 a magnificent pasturage. After the wild Indians, the 

 half-breed Gauchos, wonderful horsemen, took possession 

 of the ground, mostly as horse-breeders. Agriculture, 

 however, at first restricted to the moister and more 

 fertile canadas, has gained a firm foothold in the east, 

 and is extending westward in limitless fields of corn, 

 maize, flax, and alfalfa where the wild grasses once 

 stood, so that the eastern provinces especially have now 

 become one of the important granaries of the world, 

 competing with Australia, Russia, and North America. 



A notable fact is the invasion of the east of the 

 country by European and more especially mediterranean 

 weeds, which seem to push back the native herbs and 

 find a congenial habitat : the invaders are mostly thistles 

 and grasses. Perhaps the most striking change in the 

 pampa is the sudden outburst of woodlands : the rich 

 black soil has needed only ploughing and aerating to 

 ensure the rapid growth of large plantations of various 

 kinds of trees and of prosperous orchards of peach, 

 plum, quince, and many other fruits, on what were 

 twenty years ago treeless solitudes. The native Indians 

 of the big plains were primarily nomad hunters, and 

 knew very little of agriculture. 



Uruguay and Entre Rios. The lower course of the 

 Parana is bordered by wide flood territories in process 

 of building up, and presenting much the same appear- 

 ance as the vast swampy country to the north. The 

 region between the Parana and the Uruguay, Entre 

 Rios, forms a low tableland built up by deposits brought 

 from inland, but already in process of erosion. On 

 that account it assumes a slightly rolling appearance. 



With a warm, temperate climate, this region also 



