88 THE WORLD'S MEAT FlTl'RE 



basin of whicli Asuncion in Paraguay has long been the centre, 

 most of the rich tropical products and all the quick trattic will 

 abandon the lazy rivers, with their hazardous bars and twisting 

 channels, and come swiftly across the rich peninsula. Tbe 

 long-horned cattle will whirl towards the south on througb 

 trucks with inches of extra fat upon their ribs, and the lolling 

 peasant who views the inspiring sight will cast away his home- 

 made cigarette, and get a tirm hold on the foreign hoc 



"We are treating of Spanish, and, indeed, to some nxtent, of 

 Indian-Spanish America; yet the prophecy is not far of fulfil- 

 ment. For the land, which for over a century was a bone of 

 contention between the keen-nosed Spanish and Portuguese 

 explorers, whose fertility received the hall-mark of Jesuit settle- 

 ment, which is bounded by mighty rivers, rich forests, and fei-tile 

 uplands, and while facing the ocean, holds also the key to the 

 main gateway of the South American continent, can never fail 

 of a generous share in the tide of i)ro5yress, which is steadily 

 carrying forward the best interests of the Argentine Republic. 



The Back Country. 



"It is highly advisable for the intending colonist in Argentina 

 to have a certain acquaintance \Yvi\\ those territories which lie 

 outside of the strictly pastoral zone. They furnish even now a 

 home market for his produce, and as the country opens up there 

 can be no doubt that certain of these districts will become of 

 much greater commercial importance than is at present 

 imagined. 



"First in the list we will i)lace the 'Gran Chaco,' a tei'ni whieh 

 meaning literally a thicket, is applied generally to all the tract 

 of forest land south of the Pilcomayo River lying between the 

 Andean foothills and the Parana. Its area is close on 9000 

 square miles (23,000,000 hectares, to be exact), of which a bare 

 tenth has passed into private hands, and of this, again, but a 

 fractional part exploited. Its formation is distinct from that 

 found in any other forest of tropic South America. A few 

 inches of surface alluvial overlie a stiff boulder clay, from 10 to 

 20 ft. thick, which in its turn rests upon a substratum of pure 

 sand. All well water must be obtained from this sand, the 

 depth at which it occurs varying in inverse proportion to the 

 distance of the bore from the banks of the great parent river. 



