94 DROUGHTS CATTLE FERTILITY. 



over the plains, and eat up every leaf which retains any mois- 

 ture during the dry heats of summer. Before there were herds 

 of cattle, guanacoes ranged over the country, in great num- 

 bers, as they now do to the southward of the river Negro, 

 where I have seen them grazing in large companies, like flocks 

 of sheep. During the droughts above-mentioned vast num- 

 bers of cattle die for want of water, and perhaps this may be 

 the principal reason why so few trees grow there naturally ; but 

 it cannot be the only one, because they grow where planted, 

 and partially sheltered, though not watered. 



Most people are aware of the scale upon which the cattle 

 farms of the ' Banda Oriental' and ' Republica Argentina' were 

 carried on : but the civil wars which have succeeded the steady 

 government of Spain have broken up and ruined many of the 

 largest establishments, where from one hundred to two hun- 

 dred thousand head of cattle were owned by one man — ^^where 

 the annual increase was about thirty per cent — and where the 

 animals were, generally speaking, slaughtered for their hides 

 alone. What must be the natural fertility of a country, which, 

 without the slightest assistance from man, can nourish such 

 enormous multitudes of cattle, besides immense droves of 

 horses and flocks of sheep, and yet, except near its few towns, 

 appear almost destitute of inhabitants. 



To return to our little vessel — entering the Plata in 1832* 

 Unfavourable winds, and currents setting out of the river, 

 delayed our progress, and obliged us to anchor frequently. 

 We arrived at Monte Video on the 26th, and lost no time 

 in making observations for our chronometers, and preparing 

 for surveying the coasts southward of Cape San Antonio : but 

 as I found that it would be advisable to visit Buenos Ayres, 

 in order to communicate with the Government, and obtain 

 information, we sailed from Monte Video on the Slst, and two 

 days afterwards anchored off Buenos Ayres. There, however, 

 we did not remain an hour ; for the misconduct of a Buenos 

 Ayrean officer on board a vessel under their colours, and a 

 vexatious regulation with respect to quarantine, decided my 



