Argentina Part 21

The princ.i.p.al tribes which inhabit this undeveloped region are the Matacos, the Tobas, the Macovies, the Vilelas, the Chinipies, and the Payaguas. Of these the Matacos and the Tobas are the most numerous.

The Matacos are tall and bony with strong frames. They have prominent cheek-bones and black, hairy skins. Their teeth are white and far apart, their noses are flat. They cultivate the ground and raise crops of maize. The Tobas, who used to be a warlike race, are more prepossessing in appearance and are slightly more civilised.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHIRIGUANOS AND MATACOS.]

In the Chaco there is a considerable variety of fauna. The most savage beast of South America, the jaguar, is found in Riacho Ancho and on the islands of Cerrito. Its ferocity and cunning are well known, and it is very destructive both to men and cattle. The puma also belongs to the feline race, and is also destructive.[151] The wild cat (_felis Geoffroyi_) is common. A less familiar animal is a large fox (_canis jubatus_), red in skin and not unlike a hyena in both appearance and habits, for it feeds on carrion. The tapir is one of the ugliest of living creatures. It belongs to the hog family and somewhat resembles the wild boar, but its long snout and ugly dark skin give it an insignificant appearance. It is not savage. There are numerous species of deer and a great variety of small animals. The alligator is very common. The fish of the rivers is good and plentiful, and the chief varieties are the pacu, armado, raya, suruvi, bagre, and palometa.

The natural history of the Gran Chaco has been well described by Felix de Azara. The fauna, though abundant, are not particularly remarkable, and differ in few particulars from those of other South American forest tracts. Vegetation grows in boundless profusion, and the most valuable product is timber, of which a brief description is given in one of the industrial chapters. An Argentine writer[152] remarks: "The forest land or woody portion of the Chaco can be said to occupy a third part of the total area of the territory. The woods of the Chaco are met with on the banks of rivers to which they make a broad fringe; also in clumps or ma.s.ses of trees more or less extensive; or as brows of brush, as they are called in the neighbourhood--that is to say, narrow strips of trees stretching from one clump to the other--or else scattered in the form that is called thin bush. These varied formations are not capricious. They obey geological laws with that regularity which Nature demands from her handiwork, seeing that the Chaco has no artificially planted trees whatever."

The Gobernacion of the Chaco itself is a comparatively small region, not very much larger than England and Wales, and the population is only 13,937. It is bounded on the north by the Vermejo, on the east by the Parana and Paraguay, and on the west by the Provinces of Santiago del Estero and Salta. The north is marshy, the south is covered with dense forests. The capital is Resistencia, but the only place in the Territory which has any railway communication with the outer world is La Sabana, which is on a narrow-gauge railway to Santa Fe. A line, however, is projected to run through Chaco into Bolivia.

In this work the term Gran Chaco is used, as it was by the old Spaniards, to embrace all the tropical and semi-tropical north, and this opportunity is taken of giving a brief account of a few of the more interesting places, most of which are, thanks to the railways, now within easy reach of Buenos Aires.

This is the case with the pleasant town of Cordoba, to which the Central Argentine Railway provides a swift and comfortable service. It was founded in 1573 by Don Geronimo de Cabrera, and it soon became the religious and educational headquarters of the La Plata settlements. In the Spanish days it was famed as a seat of intellectual culture, but its importance seemed to have waned during the revolutionary wars.

Some eighty years ago a traveller[153] described it as situated in a shallow valley. "The hills around are insignificant in size; but partially wooded, and kept in a state of excellent irrigation. The population, from the best source of information I could obtain, in the absence of correct data, may be from eight to nine thousand, or perhaps ten.... The granite hills in its vicinity afford abundant ores, and they possess the necessaries of wood, water, mules, and pasturage for cattle in abundance. The only impediment is the want of practical miners to teach the unemployed peasants of the country the rudiments of the art." Andrews observed that even at that time, when the people were enraged with priests and bishops on account of their loyal att.i.tude, the ecclesiastical influence was probably more powerful than in any other place in South America. Trade and all prosperous activity was then in a state of stagnation owing to the wars and the traffic in mules with Peru, Cordoba's staple industry, had been completely destroyed. Andrews admired the "fine eyes" and the "symmetry" of the ladies of Cordoba, and describes an excursion to the country house of "the celebrated Dean Funes," the historian, but unfortunately says nothing about his host. He seems to have enjoyed his visit to Cordoba. About twenty years later another traveller[154]

estimates the population at fifteen thousand and says: "The city presents an extremely clean and orderly appearance; the streets, which intersect at right angles, are well kept and well lighted. The only manufacture in the place is that of leather. There is no newspaper, although formerly there were two weekly journals published....

The climate is very salubrious, though the rain does not fall in sufficient quant.i.ty. There are no foreigners in the town, nor even in the province, except a few French and two or three English: the government architect is a Frenchman, who possesses both wealth and influence." Cordoba must at that time have been a much pleasanter place of residence than Buenos Aires, and possibly is so still. With peace, renewed prosperity has visited the town, and it now has a population of about sixty thousand. It is distant 435 miles from Buenos Aires, and is an important railway centre. In old times it stood on the high road to Peru, and it is now on what will be the trunk line to the central Pacific coast. It is already connected with Bolivia by a line running northwards through Jujuy. Twelve miles from Cordoba are the reservoir and dam (Dique San Roque), on the river Prisnero, which supply the city with water and are the largest works of the kind in South America. The city is lighted by the electric light and has electric trams.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CORDOBA.]

Cordoba with Mendoza has the reputation of being the town in Argentina where the religious spirit is strongest. The number of churches is remarkably large and some of them are handsome.

The University is the oldest in South America with the exception of that at Lima. It was founded in 1613 by the Jesuits, who were always foremost in the encouragement of learning and piety, and in 1621 it was confirmed by the Bull of Pope Gregory XV. In Spanish times it had a high reputation, but it greatly decayed under the tyranny of Rosas, and in 1861 possessed only two faculties--Law and Theology. It was much improved in 1880. Cordoba also is reputed to be a place where culture is highly valued, but provincial seats of learning tend to be overshadowed by Buenos Aires. Dr. Ernesto Quesada remarked: "In Cordoba there is an active literary life, and a band of young men who in society and magazines work with ardour, but their names are hardly known in the capital." However, Cordoba has better than any other town maintained its humanistic position, as Rosario has its commercial, against this overpowering preponderance, and it may be hoped that healthy non-political rivalries will be kept up and strengthened all over the country.

Another large and flourishing city is Tuc.u.man, a town of forty-nine thousand inhabitants, situated on the right bank of the Tala, a sub-tributary of the Salado. It was founded in 1565[155] by Diego de Villaruel, and has always played a prominent part in history. The old house in which the declaration of independence was signed is still preserved. In revolutionary days the communicative Andrews[156] thus describes it: "The city of Tuc.u.man is like most others in South America, of rectangular form. The public edifices and works are in a wretched state. The arts and sciences are almost unknown, literature, of course, included. Music alone seems to be a little cultivated, but a general spirit of liberality, a wish to improve, and a thirst for knowledge, is very observedly diffusing itself, and will not allow this state of things to last. Unfortunately, the channels of information are few and narrow, and I fear the people are without instructors, or have very ill-chosen ones, though perhaps the best they can obtain." He estimates the population at ten or twelve thousand.

Another traveller,[157] who was at Tuc.u.man at the time the overthrow of Rosas was announced, remarks: "If the tide of immigration could only be diverted for a time towards this quarter, it appears to me that this province is capable, in an agricultural point of view, of largely supplying an export commerce. The sugar-cane, coffee, cocoa, cotton, fruits of the most delicious kinds, and an abundance of superior cattle, offer to the enterprising and industrious a certain field of ultimate success. The united provinces of Cordova, Tuc.u.man, and Salta, have already gained a well-merited reputation for their tanned leather, saddlery, and boots, superior to that of other parts of South America." He declares that he left Tuc.u.man with the conviction that it stood unrivalled as the garden of the Argentine Republic.

Like all other up-country towns, it long remained depressed by the political troubles, and in 1875 the population was no more than seventeen thousand. It had increased to twenty-seven thousand by 1884, and has since been making steady progress. The Matriz Church is a fine Doric building, erected in 1856, and there is a large National College. In the suburbs stands the Plaza Belgrano on the site of the village formerly called Cuidadela, where Belgrano gained a great victory over the Spaniards. Like Cordoba, the city is on the trunk line to Bolivia. The Province of Tuc.u.man is famous for the sugar industry, and many of the plantations and factories are near the town.

The Province of Salta one day can hardly fail to be of great importance. It was first settled by one Lerma in 1582, and until 1776 was in the charge of a Lieutenant-Governor under the Governor of Tuc.u.man. During the first half of the nineteenth century it suffered less than its neighbours owing to its remote situation. The forests, hills, and rich pasture make the scenery charming, and the soil is remarkably fertile, maize, wheat, lucerne, and sugar being extensively cultivated. The mineral wealth, though insufficiently exploited, is very great. The town of Salta, which is 935 miles from Buenos Aires, has a population of about twenty thousand. It is well built, but not particularly healthy, owing to malaria and bad water.

The fertile northern region of Argentina has. .h.i.therto been somewhat neglected, in spite of the fact that it is the oldest settled part of the country. When communications between Tuc.u.man and Peru were interrupted the country declined, and the easily earned wealth of the Pampas diverted the attention of capital from less accessible parts.

On the western side communications are excellent, and on the east they are fast improving. The towns and provinces are gradually increasing in wealth and population and, besides their great fertility in soil and every kind of produce, they will also be important as recipients of trade from places over the frontier. This importance, of course, will depend upon the development of the places in question. Those countries that lie about the upper waters of the Parana will not be trade centres for many years. As regards Bolivia, the case is doubtful. That country has a large mining industry, but her population is scanty and backward, and it is probable that it will still be more economical to despatch the greater part of its products by sea.

In fact, the Argentine Government has raised objections to the prolongation of the railway into Bolivia, on the ground that it will not be a commercial success. However that may be, Tuc.u.man, Salta, Cordoba, Parana, and many other towns with their adjacent districts will always have sufficient wealth to be of considerable importance in themselves, and when more immigrants have been attracted thither they will be regarded, in many respects, as the best part of the Republic.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TUc.u.mAN.]

FOOTNOTES:

[150] "Descripcion Chorographica," p. 1.

[151] South Americans say that it will not harm man under any circ.u.mstances.

[152] M. Gonzalez, "El Gran Chaco Argentino," pp. 89, 90.

[153] Captain Andrews, "Journey from Buenos Aires," i. pp. 59, 60.

[154] W. MacCann, "Two Thousand Miles' Ride through the Argentine Provinces," ii. 52, 3.

[155] "The land was rich in wheat, barley, and maize, and had fine pastures to fatten fine cattle. Game was abundant, the trees were of hard wood and of great size, and there was much cotton and flax which was woven into fine linen. There were traces of gold, and above all the climate was the best in the whole governorship" (Pedro de Lozano, "Coleccion," iv. 228).

[156] "Journey from Buenos Aires," i. 241, 2.

[157] Bonelli, "Travels in Bolivia," &c., ii. 247.

CHAPTER XXIII

INFORMATION FOR ENGLISH TRAVELLERS

The first information which the traveller seeks is, naturally, how to get to Buenos Aires, and though such information is very accessible, it seldom seems to come his way, for not uncommonly persons are found who appear to have no idea that there is any route except that which they hit on by chance, and if in the course of the journey any change becomes necessary, they usually have considerable difficulty in discovering the means of making the change. Of course any agent will furnish a number of particulars, and any given line will give the fullest information about itself. The ocean voyage is not made as quickly as it might be, for the liners proceed first to Brazil and call at one or two ports, and there are also several stops made in Europe and the islands. The best thing to do is to take one of the fine vessels of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company from Liverpool.

The boats call at La Pallice--La Roch.e.l.le, Corunna, Vigo, Leixoes (Oporto), Lisbon, St. Vincent, Rio de Janeiro. The only drawback is that the vessels do not go to Buenos Aires, but stop at Montevideo; however, the pa.s.sengers are speedily transhipped, and the whole voyage lasts about twenty-four days. In comfort and safety the service reaches the highest possible standards, and the traveller can, if he wishes, continue his voyage southward and proceed up the Pacific Coast as far as Panama; this is a charming trip, for the Pacific is usually smooth, and some of the very best boats engage in the coasting service. There are many other English lines--the Royal Mail Steam Packet, Southampton to Buenos Aires, the Lamport and Holt from Liverpool, the Harrison Line, Houlder Bros., the Houston Line, the Allan, the Nelson, the David MacIver, all from Liverpool, the Prince Line from London. The New Zealand Shipping Company's boats, on the homeward voyage only, call at Montevideo.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PACKET STEAM NAVIGATION CO.'S _ORCOMA_.]

There are many foreign lines. France is represented by the famous Messageries from Bordeaux, and also by the Soc. Generale de Transports from Genoa, Ma.r.s.eilles, and Barcelona, and the Chargeurs Reunis from Havre. The Italian boats from Genoa and Barcelona are very numerous. A Spanish line, the Cia Transatlantica de Barcelona, plies between the latter port and Buenos Aires. Germany has the Hamburg-American, the Norddeutscher Lloyd, and the Kosmos. There is also a Dutch line. The Italian boats are large, well-fitted, and fast. If time were an important object, probably the quickest way would be to take an Italian boat to Barcelona, whence London is rapidly reached by rail, but though there is a good accommodation, both British and foreign, it is safe to say that the P.S.N. Co. will be found the most satisfactory.

The traveller ought to carry with him everything he needs, and his needs should be few, because luggage is a great trouble. Unlike some South American lines, the railway companies in Argentina are responsible in that respect, but porters and others are exorbitant, and a piece of luggage rapidly devours its own value in transport charges. Exactly the same clothing should be taken as in England, and ordinary riding kit should be added, also a soft hat, as affording a better protection against the sun than a hard felt or cap. Revolvers or other weapons are unnecessary; indeed nothing is required but what is constantly used at home.

Banks are to be found everywhere, so there is no difficulty about money. The Argentine dollar, which is in universal use, is worth about 1s. 9d.

The hotels at Buenos Aires, as has been said, are not remarkably good, and they are certainly expensive. All are noisy, for the trams run early and late, and a very high price has to be paid for good rooms.

But any one who is prepared to pay handsomely can make himself very comfortable. As regards up-country hotels, it is not possible to give a favourable account. At Rosario there are several good-sized houses of entertainment, but they have no particular merit, except that they are cheaper than in the capital. In this rapidly expanding city a very large hotel is being built, which will certainly supply a long-felt want, and doubtless it will be much superior to anything at present to be found at Rosario. At Mendoza there is a large hotel of very handsome appearance, but probably the best accommodation there is to be afforded by a hotel kept by a genial old Frenchman, who has almost abandoned the Parisian in favour of the tongue of Castile. The courtyard, dotted with fruit-trees, and the low buildings with their screened doors, are strongly reminiscent of an Indian up-country hotel. Hotels in other provincial towns are by no means good. It is from the cooking that the traveller will chiefly suffer, for there is usually little to complain of on the score of cleanliness, and the rooms are large, though bare. The Argentine has a good appet.i.te, but he appears to be content to satisfy it chiefly with meat, and this is more often tough than not. The menu contains an imposing array of dishes, which are served without stint, but they are almost all beef, mutton, or veal in some form or other, and this diet, moderate in quality and cooked without art, is extremely monotonous. The light wines of the country are a valuable help in getting through these indigestible meals, and the white wine is particularly good. The peaches, grapes, and other fruits are of excellent quality, but they are not always easy to obtain.

As regards travelling in Argentina, the traveller will find no difficulty as long as he keeps to the railway lines, which give a splendid service to almost every part of the country except Patagonia.

When the railway fails, he will of course have to make his own arrangements for horses and mules and the like. An extremely useful work is the fifth edition of the Mulhalls' "Handbook of the River Plate." A new edition of this book is urgently needed,[158] for the last appeared in 1885, and the extremely full statistical information is quite out of date, and travelling in the country, which the handbook well describes, is much easier than it was in those days. But the writers draw up with great care a number of interesting routes, and the traveller, using them as a foundation, can easily bring the information up to date, and will find an interesting study in noting the wonderful changes which have come over Argentina in exactly a quarter of a century. In the bibliography an attempt has been made to enumerate the important books on the whole subject, and that of Captain Musters on Patagonia may be recommended. A great many wanderers in the early part of the nineteenth century have left highly interesting accounts of their adventurous travels. In those days ferocious Indians, who ma.s.sacred every small party of white men at sight, revolutionary soldiers, and cruel bandits added greatly to the dangers of such excursions, and a journey across the Pampas was looked upon as almost equivalent to taking leave of the world. A young gentleman in the first edition of his book remarks with gentle melancholy that, being disappointed in his hopes of happiness by a "beloved female," he had decided to travel in the Plate district. His editorial friend appends a note that the gentleman had been last heard of in a remote part of Chile many years ago, and was believed to have perished. However, the traveller happily returned and published a second edition or work in which he accounted for his long silence by a series of hardships, among which a lengthy term of imprisonment was only one item. Among these books that of Head is one of the most entertaining, but Darwin's "Voyage of the _Beagle_," must be held to be probably the best work ever published on Argentina, and he observed the country at a most interesting period. Adventures would be hard to find nowadays in the Pampas, but the greater part of Patagonia is as wild and inaccessible as ever, and in many regions of the Gran Chaco the explorer carries his life in his hands owing to the fierce disposition of the Indians.

Indeed, about Argentina as usually visited by Europeans everything is so simple in the matter of getting there and travelling north, south, or west, that there is very little to say, and no more special information is required than in a journey to the United States. But the pioneer still has ample scope in Argentina without crossing the frontier. The impenetrable forests of the north have formed a rich field of exploration for Mr. W. S. Barclay, of the Royal Geographical Society, and there and in the neighbouring wilds of Paraguay the primitive ravage still wanders. "In 1893," says Mr. Barclay,[159] "a party of 700 native-born Australians took up land in the forests of northern Paraguay. In these new surroundings they deteriorated to such an extent that in 1905 the remnants of the original settlers, with their few descendants, attracted the serious attention of the South American Mission, whose ordinary field of work lies among the Indian aborigines of the Chaco. In the tropic forest a man's moral and mental horizon appears to shrink in direct proportion to the range of his physical vision. No aborigines yet discovered, not even the canoe-dwellers round Cape Horn or the black-fellows of Australia, have sunk to the brutish degradation of the Bootcudo club Indians, who smash their trails through the bamboo-smothered forests at the back of Parana and Sao Paulo states." In fact, from Colombia to Entre Rios there lies a tract which will hardly be fully explored, certainly not settled, by the end of the century. Again there are vast fields in the Andes and Patagonia of which many explorers have taken advantage, but considering their importance, due to their being the actual territory or borderland of two great and flourishing Republics, the mountains and plains of the south may be considered to have been neglected.

In the matter of information for travellers to South America, mention must be made of the South American edition of the _Times_, published December 28, 1909. This colossal number of 56 pages contains an invaluable store of accurate articles by the best authorities on South America, and Argentina has its full share. It is characteristic of our history in Argentina that this fine piece of work is due to private enterprise.

To celebrate the Centenary of the Revolution of the 25th of May, 1810, there will be held this year a group of exhibitions in Buenos Aires.

They will be as follows: The International Exhibition of Railways and Land Transport; the International Exhibition of Agricultural and Pastoral Products; the International Exhibition of Hygiene; the National Exhibition of Industry; the International Exhibition of Art.

There will also be held the International Congress of America, and the International Congress of South American Railways.

The Railway Exhibition will have its site in the city itself. English exhibitors have applied for a far larger s.p.a.ce than any of their foreign rivals. The Agricultural Exhibition will be held in the suburb of Palermo, and is sure to present splendid stock. Of cattle (excluding dairy cattle) there will be the following cla.s.ses--Shorthorns (Durhams), Polled Durhams, Herefords, Polled Angus, Red Polled, Red Lincoln, Devon.

The cla.s.ses of sheep will be--Merinos, Lincolns, Leicesters, Romney Marsh, Southdowns, Shropshires, Oxford and Suffolk, Hampshires.

The increased number of English people visiting Buenos Aires this year will add to the interest which the average newspaper reader takes in this country. Our stake in the country is already so large that, well known as Argentina now is compared to most parts of South America, it is surprising that the country does not fill a larger s.p.a.ce in the public mind. The English railways are being fast extended by English capital. English farmers and ranchers are busily at work, and English blood is improving the breeds of sheep and cattle. It is certain, therefore, that our relation with Argentina will become yearly closer and still more mutually advantageous, and the more we learn about the country the better. We have to depend almost entirely upon private enterprise, for, as has been shown in an earlier part of this book, our Government does little in the way of collecting information and putting it in an accessible and attractive form. There are many ways in which the Foreign Office could help traders and others without extravagant expense or incurring the suspicion of grand-motherly legislation. However, these defects are balanced by the splendid enterprise and liberal att.i.tude of private companies which have for years been instructing our countrymen in South American affairs. The railway offices, whether in London or Buenos Aires, are ever ready to give facilities to those who wish to study the industries of Argentina and the same is the case with other commercial organisations. The building up and consolidating of our position in Argentina is one of the proudest exploits of English industry.

Argentina is a nation of which the historical continuity was very roughly broken, and within the last half-century she had to begin her life over again with less help from the past than is afforded to most peoples by tradition and historical a.s.sociations. Kept in subjection by the Spaniards as one of the less important corners of their dominions, and regarded with a certain measure of indifference and even suspicion as being a discordant factor in the Colonial system and its great industry of exporting gold and silver, Argentina owed her spiritual and intellectual progress chiefly to the Jesuits and her material progress chiefly to benevolent Governors and spirited Creoles. The first rude shock was the expulsion of the Jesuits, and this was followed by a much ruder breach of historical continuity in the Revolution. Misfortune and incompetence long paralysed her, and in fifty years she lost most of what was good in the old system and gained little good from the new. Then the revival came. It was a revival in material prosperity, and also in courage and self-reliance, strenuously fostered by one or two great men. She has prospered beyond the utmost expectations of the world, but hitherto has experienced the usual fate of new countries in failing to grow in wealth of ideas in proportion to her increase in material riches.

One good legacy she had from old days--the Spanish love of liberty.

This became perverted as years of anarchy and tyranny ran their demoralising course, and now it is somewhat overgrown by abuses which have been described in the earlier chapters.