The Amazing Argentine Part 13

But civilisation has been too strong for him, and the modern gaucho is a more law-abiding and useful person. He still wears his old, picturesque costume, the broad sombrero, the shirt, and wide Turkish trousers, which may be of any colour in the spectrum, tucked into his boots. In cold weather he wears over his shoulders the poncho, a blanket which has as many varieties of hue as his trousers. His saddle is ornamented with silver, and he has fancy stirrups and jingling spurs. But the chief part of his equipment is the big knife--often a foot long, and usually of fancy pattern--stuck in his belt. This is used freely for defensive purposes, or to avenge some real or imaginary insult; it also serves when eating his lunch.

In spite of his rough appearance and manner, the gaucho is often kind-hearted. He is, however, quarrelsome in his cups, and has all the native capacity for fancying an insult and much tenacity in revenge.

Much of his spare time is spent in gambling, and any money he does not lose in this way he spends in drink or extravagant and useless purchases.

At the heart of the camp town stands the camp store, and the gauchos will always be found near it. It is the post office, the exchange, the rendezvous. Under its roof are formed and discussed the ideas that count in local self-government. Business is transacted with a delightful absence of hustle. All the slowness of Spanish courtesy is added to the deliberation of the dweller in wide solitudes. The result is an unhurrying way of buying and selling which would make a Smithfield salesman white with despair.

The gauchos are responsible for the chief amus.e.m.e.nt of the camp town--other than drinking and gambling--for it is they who organise the horse-races. These primitive meetings are not quite so frequent as they used to be, but they still take place on many Sundays and holidays, and for them the gaucho makes preparations such as he cannot be stirred to at any other time. He gets a new suit of clothes, cleans and polishes the saddle and bridle of his horse, puts round his neck a silk scarf of gorgeous design, and has an unwonted show of silver both on his horse and himself. Only on horseback is the gaucho thoroughly at home, and on these days he looks his best. There is no finesse about the racing; it is a test of sheer endurance of man and animal, and when the race is over both are exhausted. The handicapping has none of the careful science of Newmarket. When the best horse is in full course, running as fast as it can be urged, the handicapper catches one of his hind feet in a la.s.so and gives a quick jerk so that horse and rider are flung heavily to the ground. This, as may be imagined, gives the second horse a very fair chance of equalising a disadvantage in pace or staying power.

Although the riders are perfect hors.e.m.e.n, there is little attraction for the European spectator in such a wild ordeal to man and animal. The prizes are usually a saddle, a bridle, a suit of clothes, or even a piece of beef of ample size and unusual quality. The gaucho, it may be mentioned, is very fond of beef, which he roasts with the hide on.

The duties of the gaucho are to look after the stock on the ranch, chiefly in connection with the "rodeo," or mustering of the cattle.

Mounted on horseback, the gaucho drives the animals to the meeting-place. The herds are never allowed to stand still, but even at the end of their journey are kept moving in a sort of rough circle so that the chance of panic and stampede is minimised. The cattle are counted by driving them in ones or twos through a narrow line, a task requiring considerable activity--especially when the herd, after being counted, has to be divided into two or three lots--if a stampede is to be prevented.

Perhaps the only fear in the gaucho's life is that he may take anthrax from the cattle, for should he do so, and the wound be not cut or burnt out by the third day, his chance of recovery is slight.

With the changes that have come over the _estancias_ during the last twenty-five years--fenced fields of alfalfa appearing where formerly there was nothing but the open plain--the days of unrestricted gallop over the prairie are over. The rider now pa.s.ses through an endless series of enclosures, through gate after gate. The law of trespa.s.s, formerly unknown, may even prevent him from approaching the lagunas.

Barbed wire, too, has been introduced; but though injuries sometimes occur, the cattle seem to have learned to keep clear of it.

In the house itself the change is as remarkable. The old cramped quarters and ugly furniture have given place to more rooms, better furnished, and pictures, pianos, and books are not at all uncommon.

Fruit and flower gardens have been laid out. Sometimes on a large ranch a dairy is found; there is a blacksmith's and carpenter's shop, and gardeners and book-keepers are kept. Better accommodation is also provided for the peons. Still, generally speaking, these are the exceptions.

Around the ranches of Britishers there are many signs of national individuality--a tennis court, cricket grounds, even a golf course.

Pheasants and rabbits are sometimes reared so that the exile may not be without a chance of shooting such as he would enjoy at home.

The houses themselves are not costly structures. Some are of the soft, dark red Argentine brick, which mellows rapidly, and in a few years looks as picturesque and soft-toned as English brick does after a century or so.

The houses of the colonists are mostly built of mud. The new colonist, when given his unprepared land, does not trouble to build anything but the simplest of dwellings. Boards are built up so as to leave a narrow oblong s.p.a.ce of the same shape as the outer walls of the house are to be, and in this is placed mud mixed with straw. When this has dried the boards are removed, and the four walls of the required height are left standing. s.p.a.ces for windows and doors are then cut out, a thatched roof is put on, and, without much further elaboration, the tenants put in the furniture and begin life in their new home. Sometimes the walls are made of mud bricks.

A curious feature of the camp are the large carts, with wheels 8 feet high, on which the wheat is taken from the camp to the railway station.

They are drawn by oxen, ten or twelve being required for each cart, which will carry several tons. As the axles are never greased the noise made by these carts is frightful.

Labour, especially at harvest time, is scarce, for owing to the lack of granaries and elevators the grain must be gathered and threshed quickly, and though the latest reaping machines are, of course, used, the best of them require much auxiliary labour. Even in the busy harvest time, however, the midday siesta for everyone in the camp is not omitted, as the sun is extremely hot for two or three hours about noon.

The huge flocks of sheep, varying in size from 12,000 to 80,000, are mostly owned by New Zealand ranchers who have settled in Argentina in recent years. They are shepherded on the open pampas by gauchos on horseback, whose chief duty is to keep the flocks apart, and so prevent confusion of ownership or the spread of contagious diseases. Formerly the mutton was burnt as fuel, only the wool, tallow, and skins being sold; but since the advent of cold storage it has been exported. The wool is not washed before sale, and therefore fetches a low price. The shearing, which used to be done by hand, is now nearly all done by machinery. Travelling from ranch to ranch each shearer deals, on the average, with about a hundred sheep a day.

There is one farm where a flock of about 13,000 Lincoln ewes are milked in dairies, and a considerable profit made. The milk is made into cheese, which finds a ready sale. It is only in exceptionally rich pastures that this is done, and the utmost care is taken that the lamb does not suffer from the deprivation.

One of the most important changes of recent years has been the introduction of windmills for pumping water. In the absence of rivers and lakes a well worked by hand was used in the old days to draw water for the house, while the cattle would drink at the shallow lagunas in the hollows of the plain. But as the best land is higher up wells and troughs had to be made. First there was the "jaguel," worked by a horse and rider. Next came an arrangement of buckets on an endless chain, which brought up water and emptied it into the troughs or reservoirs.

This was the "noria," and was worked by a horse or mule. But when the water level began to fall--some say through the introduction of alfalfa--and the lagunas to dry up, it was found necessary to dig deeper wells, and to adopt the use of semi-artesian wells. The water, which often is saline, is specially so when drawn from these semi-artesian wells.

The great scourge which the camp has to fight, as already shown, is the swarms of locusts which have come down annually from the north since 1905. Previous to that there had been freedom from this pest for five years. The invasion usually begins in October, when a few flying locusts may be seen. In a day or two they are arriving in millions, and at the worst are so numerous that they form a cloud over the face of the sun, and make a shadow beneath them. The princ.i.p.al damage is done by what is left behind by the locusts--for millions upon millions of eggs are deposited in the ground. In about six weeks the young are hatched. They cannot fly, but jump like gra.s.shoppers, which, indeed, they very much resemble, except for their bright colouring--red and yellow, black and green. They move in swarms from stem to stem, and every fragment of green leaf disappears before their devouring energy. After they have visited a cornfield nothing is left but naked stalks. Six weeks later they develop wings, and swarms of them begin to fly across the sky like clouds or smoke from some great conflagration. They will alight in such heaps on a railway track that they sometimes stop a train.

Reference has already been made to the way in which the Government a.s.sists the landowners to fight this plague. Under penalty of a fine every landowner must maintain men to fight the locusts. But even if it were possible to exterminate all those on one estate, they might arrive in equal numbers from adjoining land, and a million are not missed from a thousand million. Unanimous action alone would be effective, and this the Government are trying to bring about. Meanwhile, a commission has been appointed to deal with the subject. It is probable that if the northern source from which they come could be found the country could rid itself of the trouble within a few years.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LA RAMBLA, MAR DEL PLATA.]

CHAPTER XIX

A MIXED GRILL

In the hot months, December, January, and February, it is the proper thing to move to Mar del Plata. There the rich Argentines disport themselves with the gorgeousness of the Russians at Yalta in September.

If the ladies do not bathe in pearl necklaces they wear exquisite "creations"; and propriety insists that the men must wear a costume which is a cross between a frock coat and a suit of pyjamas. The Parisian houses have their representatives in the Republic, and an Argentine lady who does not change expensive dresses five times a day is out of the fun. There is gold and gambling and dancing at the most elaborate, though not the gayest--for the Argentine is not gay--seaside resort in the world. As for the "tango" dance, no respectable Argentine ever dances it. I have seen it performed in tempestuous manner amongst those who do not mind whether they are considered respectable or not--a very different thing from the milk-and-water efforts in London ballrooms.

It is not quite decided whether the phrase "filthy lucre" comes from the United States or from Argentina. There is only one dirtier thing in the world than the American dollar note, and that is the Argentine peso; but in extenuation of its filth one has to remember it is less than half the dollar's value. I am convinced that one of the reasons money is held in small regard in the Argentine is that n.o.body can have any respect for a worn, tattered, and evil-smelling piece of paper, even though its equivalent be a shilling and eightpence. I never appreciated the genuine value of money till I changed a bilious and decrepit ten peso note for half-crowns, shillings, and threepenny bits. Of course, the Argentines have no money but paper and nickel, though you are a.s.sured there are untold millions of gold in the cellars of the national casa. But you never strike anything but paper. When I drew English gold from the bank for use on my voyage home, and swaggeringly emptied an envelope of sovereigns on the table at a luncheon party given by the British Minister, my lady neighbour gave a little shriek of delight at the blessed spectacle of a real English sovereign. The only coin which holds good the world round is the British sovereign.

Now of the cosmopolitan throng exploiting the resources of Argentina it has been left to the Jews to work on distinctive racial lines. The Hebrew population numbers 40,000, a community founded and fostered according to well-defined plans which not only ensure the comfort and well-being of the thrifty, but mark a revival of agriculture as one of the industrial arts of the Jews.

Centuries of wandering, of persecution and oppression, of lethargic waiting for the "return to the promised land," divorced the Hebrew from his original position as an agriculturist. In the Argentine he is beginning to rehabilitate himself. Backed by the Jewish Colonisation a.s.sociation, and aided by that commercial talent which has become characteristic of the Jew wherever he may be, the Jewish farmer in South America represents a new type in the great Israelitish family.

What more natural than that the Argentine should be regarded as one of the likely homes for the wandering tribes by those who for years have promoted the Jewish settlement movements? Jewish patriarchs and philanthropists looked longingly at the map of South America in search of a goal for racial and religious aspirations. The oppression and persecution of co-religionists in Russia and Roumania in the early 'nineties called for action as well as ideals. Shelter had to be found where thrift and enterprise were offered their due reward. Argentina was fixed upon, and the foundation of to-day's well organised scheme was inaugurated through the munificence of the late Baron Hirsch. Under his last will and testament the financial stability of the colonisation scheme was secured.

A society representative of Israelites in Berlin, London, Frankfort, Paris, and Brussels, as well as the Anglo-Jewish and other Hebrew a.s.sociations, was formed under English jurisdiction. Only the interest of the fund left by the baron may be spent in a.s.sisting Jewish colonists to the ownership of their farms, and the tiding over of the inevitable depressions in agriculture. Every two months the executive of this society meets in Paris and considers the destinies of Jewish colonists not only in the Argentine, but in the United States, Canada, Asia Minor, Palestine, Brazil, and Russia.

The memory of Baron Hirsch is perpetuated in Argentina by the prosperous colony bearing his name in the province of Buenos Aires. Altogether the Jewish Colonisation Society owns some 250 leagues of land in the country. The property in the Baron Hirsch Colony alone covers 44 square leagues, and is served by three important stations.

In many respects the colonisation of the Jews in the Republic sets an example in thoroughness that might well be copied. The main purpose of the scheme--to succour the oppressed--is carried out without prejudicing the financial security of the society. Houses are provided in each of the Jewish colonies for the new immigrant, and here the family is cared for till work on one of the farms has been found for the father. Only those who have fled from oppression are granted the financial a.s.sistance of the Colonisation Society in establishing their own independence. Jews from Germany and Great Britain are not granted holdings by the society.

The probable explanation of this rule is that the English or German emigrant arrives forearmed, and is financially equipped for colonial enterprise before leaving these free countries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ESPLANADE, MAR DEL PLATA.]

The applicant for a holding, roughly 350 acres, must first of all have had two years' residence in the country, and show that he has had practical experience in farm work. His application is sent to Buenos Aires, where the interests of the Jewish Colonisation Society in the Argentine are watched by a permanent administration. From there a report is forwarded to the international executive in Paris before the land is finally allotted to the applicant. The rest follows the ideals of those who are working at the rural and agricultural problems in Great Britain.

At practically cost price the land is sold to the new tenant farmer. The rate of interest charged by the society is 4 per cent. Twenty years for repayment of the capital is fixed as a minimum as well as a maximum period. However successful the farmer may be, he is not allowed to receive the t.i.tle deeds of his allotment until twenty years have elapsed. The value of this precaution has often been proved. For one thing, it hinders any tendency to traffic in the land and to raise mortgages on the slightest provocation. The successful tenant can always find use for his year's surplus in developing and improving the estate which is one day to be his own. On the other hand, the rapid increase in land values leaves the society on the safe side should the tenant purchaser be unfortunate or lacking in enterprise. Apart from the land, the society advances the tenant 3,000 dollars in the form of horses, machinery, and equipment. In the event of the farmer failing to make his way, the society only stands to lose a year or two's interest on the capital outlay. And the natural increase in the value of the land, as I have before shown, is sufficient to cover any such deficit. A variation of these conditions operates in the Baron Hirsch Colony. Here, instead of being advanced the value of 3,000 dollars, the applicant for a farm has to prove possession of such a sum before he is qualified to take over an allotment.

With wise foresight the Jewish colonies have been set up in various parts of the Republic. This prevents the scheme from being dedicated to one cla.s.s of agriculture, and enables the colonist to try his hand, say, at cattle rearing if crop-raising does not prove to his liking. In the northern colonies the industry is chiefly in cattle, corn, and olive growing, while in the south the cultivation is chiefly in wheat, rye, and oats.

A good year sees the industrious farmer with a surplus of anything from 10,000 to 20,000 dollars (Argentine). Should bad weather or working misfortunes turn the account the other way he has only to apply to the administration in Buenos Aires, and the money advanced is simply added to the purchase price of his holding.

On the whole the Jewish colonists are thrifty and prosperous. They have their own co-operative societies for the purchase of necessities and the distribution of their products; they have their sick funds and local hospitals; religious freedom has enabled them to establish their own tabernacles and to observe the Jewish feasts. They have set a splendid example in citizenship to their neighbouring colonists. In the Argentine, perhaps more than elsewhere, the Jews are on the high road to a restoration of their ancient virility, and are best fulfilling their destiny as a great race.

With the exception of the Welsh settlements already alluded to, the Jews stand alone as colonists on purely racial lines. The effectiveness of their organisation is the measure of their contentment and prosperity.

We have the contrast in the case of other immigrants. Many of them are captured by the political agitator. They are taught to see in revolt and industrial uprising the short cut to affluence and ease. Strikes are frequent, discontent is sown, and time is devoted to attacks upon authority which might be better employed in individual effort. Politics are so inseparable from the daily affairs of the country that discontent in the main becomes wholly political. Its manifestations have no bearing upon the social and commercial possibilities of the Argentine. With wise and tolerant government on the one hand, and patience and perseverance on the other, much of the friction that now arises would disappear.

For it has to be admitted that some of the attacks upon the bureaucracy are not altogether inexcusable. With the influence of officialdom forcing itself upon every interest of the working cla.s.ses, the inevitable increase in the cost of living, and the instances of bureaucratic tyranny frequently brought to light, it is not to be wondered that the unorganised labourer adopts the exaggerated point of view of the agitator, and sees in revolution alone the pathway to reform.

In Buenos Aires, for example, the cost of living is greater than elsewhere, though the scale of wages is also higher. Imported goods are dear, rent high, efficient labour scarce, and munic.i.p.al rates heavy. The result is that even the highly paid worker finds himself with only a moderate balance when all charges are met.

With the agriculturist things are not so bad. He can produce for himself most of the necessaries of life, and can avoid many of the burdens of the townsman in the way of expensive clothing and other imported luxuries. Strange as it may appear in a country supplying most of the world's markets, meat in Buenos Aires is nearly as dear as in England.

The same applies to many other commodities produced or producible in the country. A comparative list shows few things cheaper in the Argentine than in the Old World.

The cost of the breakfast table might be reduced considerably if more trouble were taken with what one might describe as the by-products of agriculture. The people are invariably out for the big deal in cattle or corn. Insufficient attention is paid to dairy-farming, poultry rearing, gardening, fruit-growing, and the production of those little comforts that are now part and parcel of agriculture in England and France. The cultivator's first and, in the majority of cases, only thought is the land and its direct yield. With the same opportunities many an English small-holder would make a quick fortune in Argentina. In this oversight the Argentine has gone the way of most new countries. The question of "agricultural smalls," however, as I have shown, is now being considered in conjunction with the increased cost of living.

Labour is so scarce in some parts that the introduction of Chinese or j.a.panese colonists has been suggested. Such a step, however, would arouse as fierce a criticism as did the introduction of Chinese coolies on the South African Rand mines. They were tried in Chili, and are by no means liked. The lumber trade of Posados still requires thousands of workers. The natives cannot be kept at work to any extent, and to meet the demand Russians, Poles, and Finns have been brought over in thousands. Timber for railway sleepers is the princ.i.p.al product. Each year some two million logs are sent down the Parana River to be used in railway construction at home and abroad.

The lessons of the great coal strike in England during 1912 were quickly grasped by the Government of Argentina. Like other countries depending upon Great Britain for coal supplies, Argentina had to consider the disastrous consequences of any disorganisation of her transport service.

Subst.i.tutes for coal fuel had to be counted. The crisis of this period proved a blessing in disguise. Government attention was directed towards the discovery of oil in widely separated districts of the Republic. A law has now been pa.s.sed reserving to the Government 12,500 acres of the petroleum zone of Comodora Rivadavia, and prohibiting the issue of any mining or proprietary rights. To displace coal, Argentina would require 2,000,000 tons of oil fuel and about 150 wells. A start has been made in the south, where fresh wells are being sunk at Comodora Rivadavia. Five wells produced 18,000 tons of petroleum in a year of experiment. In 1913 it rose to 28,000 tons. When the Argentine can turn its attention from the sources of wealth now being tapped, who knows what will follow the enterprise in oil? But nothing has been found which would warrant a "boom" in Argentine oil.