FIGHTING THE DROUGHT 63 



are very irregularly distributed. Inequalities of the 

 alluvial ground that almost escape the eye are suffi- 

 cient to direct the streaming of the water after rain, and 

 it is quickly absorbed. Man assists nature as well as 

 he can, and one sees everywhere tiny ridges of earth 

 across the paths, for the purpose of diverting the water 

 to the plots. These are the tomas. When you follow 

 a toma downward, you see it after a time pass under 

 a hedge of dry thorn, and this encloses a field, a cerco. 

 The crops have to be jealously guarded against the 

 cattle which roam in the scrub. The cercos are sometimes 

 so numerous that they give the impression of a regular 

 agricultural district. Most of them are planted with 

 maize. The maize harvest rarely fails in the summer, 

 for it is then, on account of the regular rains, that the 

 maize grows and ripens. When the ears have been 

 gathered, the cattle are let into the cerco, as maize- 

 straw is excellent fodder. But wheat also grows well 

 in the banados. Provided the year has had a few late 

 showers, the wheat sown in autumn stands the winter 

 drought more or less well, and ripens after the early 

 rains, at the beginning of summer. The Llanos produce 

 a hard wheat ; it is not milled, but eaten, like rice, 

 in the grain. There have been times when the Llanos 

 have exported wheat. The census of 1888 gives the 

 Department of General Belgrano, on the eastern slope 

 of the Llanos, an area of 900 acres under maize and 

 1,900 under wheat. When the Chilecito railway was 

 constructed, this wheat competed with that brought 

 on mules from Jachal, in the mining district of the 

 Famatina range. Like the gardens in the oases, the 

 cercos may be divided, and they are the personal 

 property of those who cultivate them. 



Sowing and reaping are, however, mere episodes in 

 the life of the Llanero. He is mainly occupied with 

 cattle-breeding. The quality of the pasture differs 

 considerably according to the nature of the soil and 

 the good and bad character of the season. Sometimes 



