MENDOZA. 17 



through the province on their way to Chile, and are nearly always detained long enough to 

 give them an opportunity of fattening and recruiting before attempting the mountain passes. 

 These pay so much per head to the owners of the pasturages for the time they may remain. I 

 was told that about fourteen thousand head of horned cattle, fifteen hundred horses, and six 

 hundred mules, were sent to Chile in one year, and from observation do not think the account 

 exaggerated. Of these, many are lost before they arrive. Some split their hoofs to such an 

 extent that they are unable to travel ; others die from eating the poisonous weeds on some 

 parts of the road ; and a few are lost over the precipices. The oxen are always shod on the 

 fore feet hefore they are driven across the mountains ; but notwithstanding the great care taken 

 of them, they die in such numbers that the road from the entrance on one side to the outlet on 

 the other is perfectly marked out by their skulls and bones. 



From a pamphlet published in Mendoza I translate the following statistical information : 



"■ Without doubt the most important bi'anch of our external commerce is that of quadrupeds, 

 which we carry on with the neighboring republic on the other side of the Andes. From what 

 we have been able to gather, there have been exported across the Cordillera, between the first 

 of May, 1851, and the first of January, 1852, fourteen or fifteen thousand head of horned cattle, 

 seven or eight hundred mules, about two thousand horses, and three hundred mares. 



" That which evidently gives most increment to this interesting article of our trade, 

 and consequently an augmentation to the public riches of the country, is the consumption and 

 sale of alfalfa for fattening the animals sold. The province is opulent in this precious produc- 

 tion, and will be doubly so. 



" We have made a calculation from data furnished by competent persons as regards the 

 number of cuadras — -140 English yards square — of alfalfa cultivated in Mendoza, and this gives 

 a result of eighty thousand cuadras. 



" As regards cereals, Nature and the fertility of our soil sjDread with prodigal hand their 

 savory treasures. This branch of our produce is of the most excellent quality, and yields con- 

 siderably. 



" By what the table of the annual rent of tithes furnishes we may estimate the amount of the 

 harvest of the principal grains thus : Wheat at from ninety thousand to a hundred thousand 

 fanegas — (a fanega contains two bushels and a quarter) ; Indian corn about the half, and beans 

 about a tenth part of that quantity. 



" The vintage, which has been neglected in the country, has diminished very much in its pro- 

 ducts. Nevertheless the table of rents before spoken of warrants us in computing the quantity 

 annually made at one hundred thousand arrobas of mosto, or unfermented wine." 



This last item is certainly a great exaggeration. Of crimes the most common in Mendoza is 

 theft. Murder, except in brawls, and occasionally for revenge, is very rare ; and generally 

 speaking, the lower classes, among whom those crimes are usually confined, are a peaceable, 

 civil, and good-natured peoj^le ; but as they are fond of drink, and all carry long knives in their 

 belts, they are sometimes awkward fellows to deal with. 



One thing remarkable from Mendoza to Rosario is the perfect democracy of the billiard-room. 

 At pool it is not unfrequent to see a colonel in the same game as the common soldier, the dandy 

 with the loafer, or the rich employer with the ragged and dirty laborer. Indeed, the only 

 qualification required is the necessary money to enter with, and it appeared that the poor work- 

 men who have a fondness for billiards labored all the week to gain a few reals for the pleasure 

 of losing it in good company on Sunday. 



Besides billiards, which is the favorite amusement of the young men, card-playing is very 

 common among the older ones. At the hotel in which I lived, every evening when the weather 

 was good, four or five tables were set out in the patio or court-yard^ and by nine or ten o'clock 

 they would generally be all occupied by grave-looking old Dons, smoking paper cigars, sipping 

 ice cream, and playing a dull and stupid game, somewhat like whist. Their sitting generally 

 lasted till one o'clock in the morning, when the old codjers would toddle home. 

 3* 



