BUEXOS AIRES AND ITS RIVER OF SILVER 



421 



Photograph by William R. Barbour 



BEEF EXTRACT STIEE ON THE HOOF 



Frozen and chilled beef lead the list of Argentine exports, much of the meat being con- 

 verted into beef extract. There are more than six head of cattle for every inhabitant. About 

 half of the animals are of native breeds and the rest cross-bred with thoroughbred imported 

 stock. Fully one-half of Argentina's 750,000,000 acres is adapted to stock-raising. 



belt, to which are sewed little leather 

 pockets, useful for carrying money, cigar- 

 ettes, and other small personal belong- 

 ings. Always the belt supports the 

 sheath of a long knife. 



Though barefooted, he wears spurs and 

 sometimes loose leather leggings. A 

 fringed apron of soft-tanned brown 

 leather hangs to his knees, its purpose 

 being to protect him when on horseback 

 from thorns and from the pressure of his 

 lasso. Usually he carries a silver- 

 handled, flat-thonged native riding whip, 

 or revenca. 



Paraguay's grinning, beoodthirsty 

 fish 



When the boat stopped long at land- 

 ings, we whiled away the time fishing off 

 the stern. Three species of fish are com- 

 mon in the Alto Paraguay. The pacii is a 

 fish resembling a bass, which attains a 

 weight of several pounds, and is very 

 good eating. The armado is like a catfish, 

 but bears bony back plates like a sturgeon. 



It grows to be several feet long and is 

 eatable, though soft and tasteless. 



But the most interesting fish of the 

 three is the piranha, which reaches a 

 length of only six or eight inches and is 

 built like a sun-perch. Its jaws are 

 armed with a most extraordinary set of 

 teeth, keenly sharp, which mesh like the 

 teeth of a steel trap. They project in 

 such a way as to give the creature's mouth 

 the effect of a fixed grin. 



Piranhas are found in immense quan- 

 tities in all the streams of northern Para- 

 guay and are ravenous for blood. If a 

 wounded animal or person falls in the 

 water, they appear in great swarms and 

 in a few moments leave nothing but a 

 skeleton. Often they leap clear of the 

 water, and one can hear their teeth clash 

 thirty feet away. Caught and pulled on 

 deck, they squeak with rage like a cor- 

 nered rat. Bathing is not a popular 

 sport in Paraguay, and in some sections 

 it is even unsafe to wash one's hands in 

 the streams. Because of the piranhas, in 



