84 THE WORLD'S MEAT FUTURE 



leave him unconvinced until modern engineering drains the 

 fertile basin, and liis superstitions vanish with the miasma of 

 the rush-grown swamps. 



"Of the two provinces, that more favoured, both l)y its own 

 resources and by reason of its unique position on tlie Plate, is 

 undoubtedly Eutre Rios. Its rolling lands are eomjiosed of a 

 stiif, black alluvium, overlaying a subsoil well adapted to the 

 planting of trees. There is little trace here of the sand which 

 makes it so easy for the farmer to break up the flat Pampas of 

 Buenos Aires. The limestone deposits near the town of Parana, 

 previous to the discovery of the quarries of Cordova, set up 

 kilns which supplied the whole Republic. About one-third of 

 the coimtry is covered ^nth open belts of hardwood, in which 

 the nandubuy predominates. This tree grows in the likeness 

 of those straight-stalked, bunch-headed parodies that ai-e palmed 

 off on confiding childhood in Noah's arks — a design which Provi- 

 dence has manifestly created for the purpose of fence-posts. As 

 the land has no companion hills from which to tap its water 

 supply, surface springs are rare, but between the rolling downs 

 run frequent watercourses. Banking these gullies to catch the 

 surface drainage is the commonest and easiest system of provid- 

 ing water to the stock, but it is a broken reed in time of drought, 

 and much of the mortality during recent years can be traced 

 to this cause. Well-water may be found at depths varying 

 from 10 to 50 yards, according to locality. 



"The near outlet of the province to the sea-board, its dower of 

 fair pastures, and its equable climate, have marked it from the 

 earliest days of Spanish occupation as a desirable possession ; 

 yet this very fact has retarded its advance. Happy is the 

 country \Wthout a history. Throughout the turbulent growth 

 of the young Republic Entre Rios has been a hot-bed of political 

 unrest — the chosen stumping ground of revolutionists. It was 

 by way of the iMesopotamia that troops were led to fight Brazil 

 in the early twenties, and Paraguay in the seventies of last 

 century; it was across this province that the irrepressible 

 patriots marched who struck for the independence of Uruguay, 

 and it is here that discontented i-efugees from that small 

 adjoining State, have ever found sympathy and a safe refuge. 

 Here it was finally that General I^rquiza upheld throughout a 

 whole decade the standard of revolt that led to the overthrow 

 of the dictator Rosas, after the latter had ruled the land v.'ith 

 blood and iron for over twenty years. And these have been 

 Tout the main episodes in the drama. 



