ROUNDING UP THE CATTLE 59 



Bermejo, and washes the foot of the range at the 

 edge of the plain. 



The cattle live in the scrub during the summer, when 

 the rains have brought out the grasses. In winter they 

 go up to the moist forest, with perennial vegetation, 

 which covers the flanks of the range. 1 The comparative 

 abundance of water lessens the labour of the breeders 

 and, at the same time, the discipline of the herds. 

 When the time comes, the whole ranch is mobilized 

 for the purpose of collecting the adult cattle and making 

 a convoy of them. Horsemen, with the double leather 

 apron which hangs at the saddle-bow to protect them 

 from the branches, ride up the range with their dogs 

 and plunge into the scrub. The savage beasts are 

 rounded up and held at bay. The procession is formed, 

 and sets out, either by the rugged paths across the 

 forest and mountain or along the easier tracks over 

 the plain to Embarcacion or Lumbreras, where they 

 reach the railway. If buyers from the sugar-refineries 

 at Jujuy do not take them, the cattle are put into 

 trucks and sent to the Salt a market, where there are 

 sales all the year round. At Salta the beasts are fattened 

 on the lucerne-farms before crossing the Cordillera. 

 There is hardly any tillage, either because the winter 

 drought makes the result dubious or because the 

 breeders are not good at agricultural work. 



The Sierra de los Llanos in La Rioja is another centre 

 for extensive breeding. From the railway, which 

 follows the range at some distance, between Chanar 

 and Punta de los Llanos, before it reaches La Rioja, 

 no one would have the least suspicion of the importance 

 and life of the region. It is, nevertheless, one of the 

 main foci of Argentine history. It has proved a cradle 

 of population and wealth. It was there that Quiroga 

 and, later, the strange adventurer who was known by 

 the nickname of the " Chacho " gathered the strength 



1 On Aconcagua also the moist forest serves as winter pasture for 

 the cattle from the ranches. 



