CHAPTER V 

 PATAGONIA AND SHEEP-REARING 



The arid tableland and the region of glacial lakes The first settle- 

 ments on the Patagonian coast and the indigenous population 

 Extensive breeding The use of pasture on the lands of the 

 Rio Negro Transhumation. 



THE northern limit of the Patagonian region passes 

 to the north of the Colorado, in the latitude of the 

 Cerro Payen and of the ridge which leads from Malargue 

 to the Rio Grande in the sub-Andean zone (36 S. lat)., 

 and to the Sierra de Lihuel Calel in the southern part 

 of the Pampa province. South of this line, from the 

 Andes to the Atlantic, on the territory of the Neuquen, 

 the Rio Negro, the Chubut, and the Santa Cruz, is 

 the region of the sheep farms, their refuge since more 

 profitable branches of farming have driven the sheep 

 from the Pampa. The extensive breeding practised 

 on these poor lands is not profitable enough to justify 

 much expenditure, and is therefore all the more con- 

 trolled by the physical conditions. It is true that 

 cattle-breeding was once undertaken in the Spanish 

 settlements of the lower Negro, and still exists in 

 western Patagonia at the foot of the Andes, but one 

 never finds there the particular combination of cattle- 

 breeding and sheep-breeding which is characteristic 

 of the Pampean region, in which the main function of 

 the cattle is to improve the pasture and make it ready 

 for sheep. 



The climate is trying. The west winds are violent 

 during the greater part of the year, especially on the 



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