SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. .05 



flora of Northern Germany — spirits freeze and quicksilver becomes rnalle- 

 able. But it is imnecessary to continue this enumeration. 



Let us now take a rapid view of the wool-growing countries embraced 

 in the specified zones. And we will first complete the description of oui 

 own continent. 



Mexico — that portion of it north of latitude 30° — bears too close a re- 

 semblance to our Westera Territories conterminous with it, to require 

 Boparate notice. 



But a small proportion of the great peninsula of South America is in- 

 cluded between the 30th and 4oth parallels of latitude, and admittinjr, 

 what seems probable, that the contiguity of two great oceans would so af- 

 fect the climate as to carry the northern line of the wool zone a little 

 neaipr to the Equator, this zone would still embrace but, say, two-thirds 

 oi Buenos Ayres, nearly all of Chili, the little State of Uraguay, a mere 

 point of Brazil, and the north of Patagonia. 



The growing of wool has already been commenced on the vnst pampas^' 

 of Buenos Ayres — though as yet to a but limited extent. In 1832, the ex- 

 port of wool to Great Britain was 32,052 arrobas ;t but the same year 

 the import of English woolens considerably exceeded it in value. The 

 United States Tariff on foreign wools costing 7 cents per pound or under 

 being then but 5 per cent, ad valorem, the importation of wool of that 

 quality from the Argentine Repiiblic| into our country in the fiscal year 

 ending June 30, 1846, was 4,295,659 lbs., and of wool costing more than 

 7 cents (paying a duty of 30 per cent, ad valorein, and a specific duty of 

 3 cents per pound) the import was 43,831 lbs.|| 



The jyampas resemble the North American prairies, being plains cov- 

 eted with wild grasses, and entirely destitute of timber. The land is di- 

 vided by the Government into estates a league square (5,760 acres,) and 

 sold at 10 cents per acre. Until recently the pampas were depastured ab 

 most exclusively by horses and cattle, and so plenty and cheap were 

 they, that they were frequently killed for their hides alone. The herds- 

 nion and shepherds live in miserable huts, and temporary folds are formed 

 of the trunks of peach-trees. Western or south-western winds called 7^«w. 

 peros often sweep the country with destructive fury, and there are ir 

 stances in which flocks of sheep have been forced by them into streams 

 and have perished. 



The inhabitants of the pampas are, on the north, the Gauchos — descend- 

 ants of Spaniards — who, living in the saddle, and content: to subsist on 

 jerked beef and cold water — ^liaving few wants, and none which the lasso 

 .will not supply — lead a life of wild and roving liberty. Tribes of mount- 

 ed Indifins, wild, predatory, and constantly at war with the Gauchos, oc- 

 cupy the southern pampas. 



The facihties for producing wool here closely resemble those of the 

 North American prairies, though wood is wanting over much more exten- 

 sive tracts. The price of land on the pampas is less, but thev are more 

 remote from markets, as there is little or no manufacturing doric in South 

 \merica. Besides the cost of transportation, wool must pay, before reach- 

 2ig market, the duties levied by some foreign nation. The duty in th«i 

 United States, by the Tariff of 1846, is 30 per centum ad valorem, with- 

 out legard to quality, thus discontinuing that great discrimination in favor 

 of the coarse article, which allowed a large proportion of the wools of 



* This woiri, like llano$\n the Nonhern States of .«outh America, nnd prairies in >.he IIo.-lli Westort 

 United .^rales, is sinplied to extensive pluins. Those in the North of Chili are called jtamfitg del sacramrnU 

 » Mcrulloch's Commercial Dictionary. An nrroba is lOlA lbs. avoirdupois. 

 } Buenos Avres is so known in all the official documents of the United Stales, 

 i Repor' -'f the Kcg-Uter of the Treasury, Dpc, 1846. 



o 



