612 CATTLE AND DAIRY FAEMING. 



horned oattle, for the manner of subjecting them to the dominion of man 

 is so easy and so perfect that it has never been improved on by the 

 numerous foreigners who have turned their attention to cattle-breeding 

 in this country. 



CATTLE VBKSTJS SHEEP. 



The rearing of cattle is much less laborious in the Argentine Eepub- 

 lic than that of sheep ; but the latter pursuit is considered as the mpst 

 lucrative, for the reason that five or six sheep can be maintained on a 

 pasturage that would feed only one bullock. Notwithstanding this ad- 

 vantage and the fact that sheep reproduce themselves in a much shorter 

 time, the natives prefer cattle farming, either from the fact that a much 

 smaller outlay of money is needed, or because no care or study is neces- 

 sary to render the pursuit successful. The two industries, however, do 

 not at all conilict, for the reason that, while sheep are raised only in 

 parts of the country where the soft grasses abound, the cattle farms are 

 farther out and consist of the harder grasses. In many places, however, 

 the two industries, as also that of breeding horses for slaughter, are 

 more or less combined. The management of an estancia is a very simple 

 routine of daily care, involving no hard work whatever. Almost every- 

 thing is done on horseback, every man, woman, and child belonging to 

 the establishment having their own horse, which is generally kept sad- 

 dled all day long at the palenque {eb row of posts with a horizontal bar) 

 ready for service at a moment's notice. No one thinks of walking even 

 a few hundred yards ; and it is not uncommon to see a man mount a 

 horse to go to the opposite aide of the road. 



MARKING THE TOTJNG AJSflMALS. 



The great business of an estancia is the marking and castration of the 

 animals. This occurs generally in the months of May and June, the 

 season when the flies have disappeared and the weather has become 

 cool. The young cattle are altered at two years of age, and the losses 

 resulting from it are about 4 per cent. The marking is done at the 

 same time, and it is a season of great amusement in camp-life. All the 

 peons of the establishment and many others from the neighborhood as- 

 semble iu full force. The cattle are driven into the corrals, and each 

 animal in turn is caught over the horns with a lasso by a man on horse- 

 back ; another lasso (or the " holas ") is quickly passed around his hind 

 legs, which at once throws him to the ground, and the operation is com- 

 pleted in a moment. Then a red hot iron bearing the owner's monogram 

 or mark, the purport of which is duly registered in the proper ofi&ce, is 

 firmly planted upon the poor brute's flank, while a blue smoke curls up- 

 ward from the palpitating flesh, thtfs leaving a mark which is indelible. 

 This is the only way that the owners can distinguish their cattle, there 

 being no bounds or fences to the various estancias, and in case of sale 

 they must also have the brand of the purchaser. These brandings are 

 often done so bungingly, or made so deeply that they greatly injure the 

 hide for commercial purposes. The day's work, called yerra, always 

 winds up with a feast of meat cooked in the hide(c«w'we con cuero), than 

 which nothing can be more savory or delicious. No coals or wood, but 

 only bones are employed in cooking it, each man with his own sheath 

 knife cutting off the piece that suits him best. 



HORSEMANSHIP AND DETERITY OF THE GATJCHO CATTLE HERDERS. 



The peons or gauclws generally take advantage of these merry mak- 

 ings to show off their prowess or their accomplishments. The lioise- 



