608 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



cious for the purpose. The cattle here seem to have such an instinctive 

 respect for a horseman that they run or yield at once, and seldom show 

 any obstinacy or resistance to his authority. A person on horseback 

 can quietly pass into the midst of the largest herds without fear, as the 

 animals will always at once open their ranks before him ; and they are 

 so accustomed to see tl.e people of the country dressed in clothes \pon- 

 chos) of bright hues, that the most glaring red colors do not enrage 

 them. 



One thing, which the cstancieros have to guard against, where their 

 herds are newly formed of cattle collected at different places, is the ten- 

 dency of the animals to return to their former ranges ; and frequently 

 in cases of panic they scatter in all directions, and it is difficult to get 

 them together again. This desire of cattle to return to the places 

 where they were raised (qiterencios) is much stronger should the old 

 pasturage be better or the country more saline, the latter quality of the 

 soil greatly contributing to the increase of the herds of the river Plate. 

 In no other way can be explained the remarkable fact that in places 

 where there is a lack of salt, notwithstanding the beautiful appearance 

 of the pasturage, such as for instance is found in the southeastern parts 

 of Paraguay and in the provinces of Saint Catherine's and Saint Paulo, 

 Brazil, those parts of South America are not so suitable for the raising of 

 cattle as the pampas of Buenos Ayres, or even the mesopotamiau prov- 

 inces of Entre Eios and Corrientes. In these regions, in spite of the 

 dryuess and even aridity of the soil in some places, and of a pasturage 

 which is meager in appearance, the reproduction is so considerable that 

 it is estimated that a herd of cattle will double in three years. It is to 

 this quality of the soil that the beauty of the cattle on the Vermijo 

 Eiver is attributed, where, notwithstanding the exceedingly warm sum- 

 mers and the great annoyance from flies and mosquitos, they are fully 

 as large as those in the province of Buenos Ayres, and are seldom at- 

 tacked with epizooty. 



WORKING CAT1LE AND MILCH COWS. 



Owing to their natural docility, the taming of work cattle is accom- 

 plished without difficulty. They allow themselves at once to be put to 

 the plow or the wagon, though the manner of yoking them by the head, 

 which prevents them from using their horns, may greatly assist in their 

 domestication.* If they are not so strong or robust as those we have 

 at home, it is only because their food is less substantial j for, even while 

 performing the longest journeys, they have no other nourishment than 

 the grass they can pick up, when they stop to rest, on the pampas ; and 

 this is generally very scant along the highways or near the villages. 

 Properly fed these animals, which are largo and muscular, would be 

 capable of much more unremitting work. 



For the same reason the cows give but little milk, and then only when 

 the calf is present; and it generally dries after three or four months. 

 On this account milk is almost unknown in the interior of the country, 

 in spite of the immense number of cows, and no butter is to be obtained 

 except in the immediate vicinity of the river towns, where the cows in a, 

 few cases are stabled and fed. 



*The ox-yoke of the Argentine Republic is a simple bar of hardwood, slightly 

 hollowed out on the lower side, laid across the la-ads of the animals and lashed to the 

 honiH by hide thou;;.,. The Argentines insist that an ox can pull greater loads by 

 his horns than by his shoulders, but I doubt ifc entirely. 



