INCREASE OF CATTLE-BREEDING 187 



back and disputed the space with them more and more, 

 within the ancient Indian frontier. The smallness 

 of the market for cattle and their slight mercantile 

 value were very favourable circumstances for the occupa- 

 tion of the new lands, thrown open at this date by the 

 submission of the Indians. The herds which found 

 no buyers were sent to the campos de afuera. The 

 ranches developed very rapidly. Daireaux has very 

 accurately described this period of pastoral colonization, 

 and the starting of convoys that were intended to give 

 a population to the west of the Pampa. Cattle were 

 there several years before sheep. As a matter of fact, 

 breeders do not regard cattle as having a value of their 

 own. They are merely auxiliaries that must improve 

 the pasture and prepare the ground for sheep. The 

 cattle themselves are preceded by troops of half-wild 

 horses which first take possession of the virgin field 

 and begin the transformation of it. 



The number of cattle increases rapidly. In 1875 

 it was estimated that there were 5,000,000 head of 

 cattle in the province of Buenos Aires. In 1889 there 

 were 8,500,000. Since that date the variations have 

 been comparatively slight. The Census of 1895 gives 

 7,700,000 ; that of 1908 gives 10,300,000 ; that of 1914 

 gives 9,000,000; and that of 1915 gives n, 300,000.* 

 But the value of the cattle has gone up rapidly. The 

 exports of live meat, which lasted from 1889 to 1900, 

 were the beginning of the rise. It was strengthened 

 when the refrigerators ceased to confine themselves 

 to killing sheep and began to buy cattle. The exports 

 of chilled or frozen beef increased after 1898. The 

 value of them rose to 10,000,000 gold piastres in 1904, 

 double that in 1909, and more than quadruple in 

 1914. 



1 The variations in number are less considerable for the Pampean 

 region than for the whole of Argentina. It is better supplied with 

 capital than the other breeding districts, and can rapidly replace the 

 losses caused by excessive export by buying cattle in the adjoining 

 provinces. 



