30 BULLETIN 1409, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
roughly with the humid and sub humid portion of the pampa region. 
The pasturage is good, water is abundant or easily provided, and no 
shelter and little or no feed are required in winter. 
The first domestic animals were brought over by Pedro Mendoza. 8 
In 1533, Charles V of Spain granted to Mendoza the right to "con- 
quer and populate " the lands of La Platta River in a document which 
stipulated, among other things, that he should introduce breeding 
animals of horses and cattle. In compliance with these stipulations, 
Mendoza is said to have landed in 1536 with 16 cows, 2 bulls, 32 
horses of both sexes, 20 goats, 46 sheep, and 18 dogs. These animals 
multiplied rapidly. In 1580, when Juan de Garay came down the 
river from Ascuncion to the abandoned city of Buenos Aires, he sent 
by land under guard of a company of soldiers 1,000 horses, 200 cattle, 
and 500 sheep. In 1581, a number of soldiers explored the country 
south of Buenos Aires as far as the Sierras of Tandil and reported 
that within 90 miles of Buenos Aires they saw great herds of horses 
"not less than 100,000" in number, which must have descended 
from those brought over by Mendoza. 
Lopez says that in the sixteenth century "the country of Buenos 
Aires contained millions of horses, so that it was a profitable business 
to hunt the animals and export horse hair as contraband in small 
boats as far as Santos, Brazil;" and that "the population has an 
abundance of meat, of bread, and of certain vegetables; . . . Many 
of them are clothed in skins like the Indians and the women may be 
seen spinning the wool of sheep which, fortunately, begins to be 
abundant." Again he says: "Our exportation is composed in great 
part of horse hair, hides, cotton cloth (Indian) , woolen blankets, fur 
hats, goatskins, and some silver that begins to come down from 
Peru." Cattle increased enormously on the open unfenced Pampa 
during the two centuries following the introduction of the first 
animals by Mendoza. They were practically wild and were hunted 
and slaughtered for their skins like wild animals. 
Gradually, as the estates spread out from Buenos Aires and other 
centers of population, grants of large tracts of land were obtained, 
often without price, the wild cattle appropriated, branded, and 
herded or followed by the half-breed Gaucho or Criollo peons who 
were the cowboys of Argentina. About the time the small group of 
business men and young enthusiasts of Buenos Aires overturned the 
local Spanish Government in 1810, possibly half the Province of 
Buenos Aires was dotted with cattle ranches, the trade in hides had 
assumed considerable proportions, and arrangements were estab- 
lished for drying meats. At that period and until the coming of the 
wire fence, it was the custom to have an annual round-up for count- 
ing and branding the herds. It is related that before the half -wild 
cattle of the pampas had been rounded up and branded, it was the 
custom for bands of men to kill them by thousands for their skins. 
It is related that a poor immigrant, seeing the waste involved in 
this method, conceived the idea of buying the cattle for the price of 
the skins, and driving them by easy marches across the open prairie 
to the establishments near Buenos Aires, where he was able to market 
both the hides and the carcasses. This operation proved very 
8 Lopez, V. F. Manuel de la Historia Argentina, Buenos Aires, Administration general Vaccaro, 1920, 
p. 75 et seq. (La cultura Argentina). 
