CHAPTER XXIV 



THE CHACO, SUGAR-PLANTATIONS AND RICE 

 MARSHES A SEARCH FOR A RARE BIRD 



THE train for the Chaco left Perico at 9 P. M. It was 

 composed largely of second-class coaches crowded with 

 immigrants, mostly Italians bound for various parts of 

 the great land that is being rapidly thrown open to colo- 

 nization. There was, however, also a compartment-car in 

 which we had taken the precaution of making a reservation 

 some time in advance. The darkness prevented our seeing 

 the landscape through which we passed, but on our return 

 we noted that there was little change from that around 

 Perico as far as San Pedro. There were, however, numerous 

 fields of sugar-cane, some of very great size. Beyond San 

 Pedro the country is all of the Chaco type; that is, vast 

 stretches of pampas liberally sprinkled with islands of forest. 

 The Vermejo, a river about the size of the Wabash, was 

 crossed on a steel bridge three miles before reaching our des- 

 tination, which was at six o'clock the following morning. 



A group of newly erected shacks, low and so lightly built 

 of packing-cases and corrugated sheet iron that many of 

 them resembled mere skeletons of houses; narrow, crooked 

 streets; shops loaded with fruits and conducted by Italians, 

 and others festooned with bandanna handkerchiefs, gaudy 

 wearing apparel and cheap jewelry, and owned by Turks 

 or Syrians; gambling and liquor houses; a motley crowd 

 of slovenly, not overdressed people, and a tropical sun blaz- 

 ing down mercilessly on the whole assemblage. That is 

 Embarcacion, the "farthest east" to date in the north- 

 eastern part of Argentina's vast Chaco. I was told that 

 as the railroad is extended farther and farther into the in- 

 terior, many of the residents take down their abodes and 

 ship them to the new station where they are re-assembled; 



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