Chapter 14

Until recent years land in the Argentine Republic has been ploughed in small areas by animal labour, the farmer or colonist often employing the members of his family to assist him, and thus saving expense. Owing, however, to the immense harvests and the vast tracts of country awaiting development, it has become necessary to work on a much bigger scale, and to bring in the aid of machinery. In some places the ordinary form of steam plough has presented many practical disadvantages. They are heavy and unwieldy, and apt to sink in soft ground, from which they are extricated with difficulty. This is likely to cause damage, or more serious accidents, through explosion. Further, they require a constant train of water-carts and fuel wagons, and a staff of at least six persons to work them. At the spot where this engine was working the latter objections were obviated, as both wood and water were plentiful. In general, these difficulties are largely overcome by the adoption of the naphtha motor engine, which has been brought to a state of considerable perfection in Great Britain and the United States. It can be employed not only for ploughing and threshing, but also for traction, excavation, and embankment work, etc. An engine and plough will break up one hectarea of camp per hour, and some of these machines with two relays of workmen will break 108 hectareas per week. In a month of only twenty-three working days they will break up a league of camp.

The price of naphtha is gradually decreasing in the Argentine Republic, and the oil wells of the country will probably make the cost of fuel even less by-and-by than it is to-day.

Areas of fertile camp, which have hitherto lain fallow, owing to their being intersected by canadas, and difficult to get at, can now be treated by the motor plough, with the result that their value will rapidly rise. In an actual case near the Central Cordoba Railway, people are to-day offering $118 per hectarea for land which was bought two years ago for $25 per hectarea, but during the two years it has been thoroughly ploughed and drained by mechanical means.

In nearly all the northern lands small trees grow irregularly all over the camp, and in order to plough the land these trees must be dug up. Machines are manufactured in the United States to deal with land containing tree roots. They perform the double operation of cutting roots under ground and ploughing up the surface, but they have not yet been introduced into the Argentine in large numbers. Other machines dig holes for fence posts at the rate of fifty holes per hour, and they can be so accurately gauged that the posts may be firmly fixed without expending much labour in ramming.

The naphtha engine is likewise used with great advantage for traction purposes. A striking instance of this is to be found at Rio Gallegos, where many naphtha engines are engaged in the work of carrying wool over a track of more than 300 kilometres, a feat which would be quite impossible with animal labour, owing to the rocky and broken condition of the roads.

As the Santa Fé Land Company owns a great diversity of land, they have used both the steam traction and the naphtha engines, and time will show which machine is to be recommended.

It is a pity that the agricultural implement importers of Buenos Aires should have recently formed themselves into a ring to lift prices, because their doing so will certainly tend to lessen the progress which agriculture is making in the Argentine. These combinations, however, will not deter the Company from continuing its "march of progress," but it comes hard on the colonist, who, after all, is the chief factor in building up the fortunes of the great importing houses of Buenos Aires.

One of the greatest competitors of the British-built traction engine is the Hart-Parr oil engine, a splendid agricultural tool, which is invaluable where ordinary fuel is not easily procurable.

It was with great difficulty The Instigator could be persuaded to leave the plough, and at one time his enthusiasm (and the engine) carried him out of sight, and those remaining at the starting-point grew speculative as to whether he would return before dark. However, a recommencement of drizzling rain apparently cooled his ardour, and restored him to the party. The nomads gladly turned their thoughts and coaches towards the section house, realising as they went the sweet truth of the words, "The ploughman homeward plods his weary way." Lunch awaited them, and the fish of the morning appeared in a more pleasant guise, to be enjoyed by all. After lunch, the rain showing no signs of clearing off, the party had to give up all idea of the lake proper, but watched one form in front of the house instead, and wondered how it would be negotiated when the time came for an onward move. So they sat on chairs, baggage and benches under the verandah, and tried to keep awake, while observing the steady downpour. One member of the party at last gave up the struggle against the inevitable, and sank gracefully into the arms of Morpheus, represented by the bags of biscuits and other impedimenta. A photo was secured of him as he lay half concealed amongst the portmanteaux, packages and "pan." We refrain from publishing it, because the chief feature of the picture is in the boots of the sleeper. (We trust no weak humour is intended in the preceding paragraph?--EDITOR.)

A slight diversion was caused by a repacking of some goods after lunch. It seems that the bottles, with contents (a most important item), had been forgotten, and The Wild Man was approached with a request that the bottles might be transported to Lucero in his bag; of course, he cheerily acquiesced, but as the whole of the contents of his bag had to be turned out to pack the bottles scientifically, and as that bag happened to be the same receptacle in which The Wild Man had secreted the various articles collected during his tour of appreciation this morning, developments were interesting to all, save to the man who had laboured under the delusion that several horns and other articles which appeared from the bag, were still in his own possession. However, probably remembering The Wild Man's character (_vide_ page 205), he said nothing, but calmly looked on as his goods were repacked and removed from his sight for ever. All honour to such unselfishness.

After a cup of tea and farewells, the ladies were transferred to the coaches in a highly skilled manner, and a damp drive to Lucero followed. One sheet of drizzling rain surrounded us all through the journey, and none were sorry when, after a side slip or two, the coaches drew up (not before it was quite dark) outside the estancia house. A change into dry garments was very welcome, and there was to be noticed for the first time since the start of the Tacuruers, a dull air of respectability over the party, as they collected for their evening meal.

Shirt fronts and pretty frocks appeared once more, for here we had a lady presiding over the table. Still the old proverb proved true "Fine feathers do not make fine birds," and some members of the party did not live up to their costumes. It may have been the good dinner, or the genial glow of a fire that upset their behaviour, but the fact remains that there were two or three unusual occurrences during the course of a merry meal. The Kid was observed to be burying her face in a spoonful of jelly, and others seemed to be performing a sort of a general post during the repast. However, all ended well, and after coffee various home pets were introduced by our hostess, who is a devoted lover of animals. A nutria appeared and some friendly dogs, and we heard of tame foxes and diminutive ponies to be seen next day. It was a great regret to everyone that The Delineator did not put in an appearance for dinner; he pleaded headache and retired to bed early, perhaps in the hope of getting some sleep before The Instigator came to share the room.

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ADVERTISEMENTS.

HARD CASE NO. 1.--"T.K." writes to inquire the proper procedure under the following circumstances:--"A lady receives a plate of jelly at dinner, the gentleman on her right at once takes up her spoon and commences to feed her with the jelly." What should she do? And if she allows herself to be fed, is it etiquette, this year, for the gentleman on her left to give her a slight push, which results in her nose meeting the jelly in the spoon? We offer the problems to our readers, and a prize will be awarded for the best solution sent in.

LOST.--One pair deer's horns, nicely coloured. If this advertisement meets the eye of T.W.M. the owner would be very glad to have the horns returned to Michelot, but does not wish to make a point of it.

FOUND.--The reward of £10 for lost ear-ring is withdrawn; owner found lost property herself, and has paid for her advertisement.

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"THE TACURU."

No. 5.

_Wednesday, March 30th, 1910._

Much to everyone's relief The Delineator appeared at breakfast looking himself again; he replied to the enquiries showered upon him that his indisposition could be explained in the words used by Herbert Spencer, when he defined life as "The continuous adjustment of internal relations to external relations." The Delineator said that that formula, when one considered the various cookings, including the Oriental style we had lately sampled, exactly described the cause of his passing illness, from which he was now happily recovered.

The morning was bright, and nothing but the drying mud remained to remind us of the rains of yesterday. At breakfast some strange tales were told of a frightened nutria which generally slept peacefully under a wardrobe in the dressing-room; but last night the room had another occupant, whose sleep was not so peaceful as that of the nutria, and at the first sound of a snore the poor animal was so scared that it leapt from its usual bed and rushed round the room till it found a way of escape, through the window, to a more restful soot.

Cattle-dipping was to be the sight of the morning, and as soon as the out-door menagerie was explored, under the guidance of our hostess, who has a wonderful knack with all animals, the coach and cavalcade of riders set forth to the scene of operations. Here we found a large number of animals ready to be dipped. This process is necessary to clean the animals from the garrapata. This is a tick which has been, and still is, the terror of the north. It is the means of transmitting to cattle the disease known as "Texas Fever." The rough native cattle do not suffer badly from this fever, but any newly imported fine stock from the south generally succumb to it.

Time after time wealthy men who realized the menace this pest was to the north have attempted to fight it, but their efforts have not been successful. Often their loss has been immense, sometimes as many as 95% of the total animals brought into the neighbourhood from the Province of Buenos Aires have died.

Undoubtedly these constant failures helped to give the northern district a bad name, but the experiments with the animals should have been carried on by means of acclimatisation. Animals for the north should be carefully handled, and with constant vigilance, adapted to their surroundings. These are the principles on which the Santa Fé Land Company have been working, and they confidently predict that before long they will be selling pedigree bulls with tick on them. When this is an accomplished fact, another great barrier to the progress of the north will have been broken down.

The cattle tick has two phases in its life.

After establishing itself on the animal, the tick becomes a blood sucker, and at certain seasons animals running wild over unbroken camps, become literally covered with these bichos; consequently the cattle fall back in condition, and the mortality amongst them mounts up to an appallingly large percentage. To obviate this the dip is used, and has come into general use. The animals are collected from afar, and brought into the corral (a strong enclosure), from which there is a wooden passage, having many contrivances useful for marking, branding, and dehorning cattle, all of which are used in their due season; but for dipping purposes this passage terminates in a precipitous slope, and the animals are gently forced along it from the corral to plunge suddenly into a prepared bath of a strong solution, which kills every tick; so it follows, that if the animal has been totally submerged, it is absolutely free from the parasite. The object of dipping is to kill all kinds of insects and parasites which trouble the bovine race; especially so the common Louse (the Dermatodectis Bovis) which is the scab producer. The worst pest is, however, the cattle tick or Garrapata, and known under the scientific name of Boophilus Annulatus.

This latter is the harbinger of the microbe of Texas Fever or Tristeza, as it is known in the Argentine.

The remedies that are principally employed are of a tarry basis and prepared so as to be easily mixed with water, usually in the proportion of 1 to 100.

The amount of mixture used is 2.60 litres, and the cost works out at 10 cents. per head.

The greatest number of animals that the Santa Fé Land Company have been able to put through the dip in a day is 6,700, working from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Animals certainly are frightened the first time they take this bath, but very soon they find the comfort of its effect, and come to like and enjoy it. The cattle we saw dipped to-day had mostly been through the process several times before, and walked calmly down the passage, seeming to enjoy their scramble through the dip. On emerging from the dip, the animals stand in a small corral on the other side, and are kept there for a while to allow the liquor to drain off their hides, and find its way back to the tank.

Some of the younger animals seemed scared at the first plunge, and though a very great point is made of the fact that they must all be collected and driven into the corral and down the passage, with the utmost gentleness, some of them grew so disturbed at the unusual proceeding, that they leapt on to the animal in front instead of sliding down the dip as the older animals do. However, there are always plenty of men under the superintendence of the mayor-domo to see that no harm comes to any animal, and though in the early days of dips, broken legs were not unusual occurrences, nowadays there are very seldom any accidents, though thousands of animals may be dipped in a few hours. One man holds a curious sort of wide blunt prong, with which he presses the heads of any animals, who have not been totally immersed, under the liquid as they pass him, thus ensuring the destruction of all parasites.

After this inspection The Instigator and company were taken on to see land which was being broken by bullocks, and thence to the Rio Salado, (which we are hoping to negotiate much further north to-morrow), and returned in time for lunch. After a short pause for rest and a cup of tea, the party, this time with their host and hostess, set off for various windmills, earth tanks, etc., which were of recent erection, and were to be reviewed by The Instigator. Everything he saw seemed to give satisfaction, and a weary but happy band returned to the house for dinner, in the course of which some native dishes were introduced to us.

Another lovely sunset favoured us this evening as we drove homewards, and we hear that My Lady and The Wild Man almost came to a serious quarrel over the shapes of various beautifully tinted clouds. One said a certain cloud resembled a bear, the other said it was exactly like a pork pie "shot" with a diamond tiara, and the matter was still under bitter discussion long after the cloud in question had faded away into a nebulous mist. The evening was calm and still, and we all sat outside after coffee, discussing the unknown journey of to-morrow, and the perils that might befall us on our way across the camps. The Instigator talked emphatically, and quite unnecessarily, of "an early start is imperative," till we all grew tired of his insistence and retired to bed, where some of the party wondered under what circumstances they would be sleeping to-morrow.

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CORRESPONDENCE.

LUCERO, _March 30th, 1910._ DEAR SIR,

May I use the valuable medium of your paper for the purpose of announcing that anyone who wishes to accompany the explorers on the excursion, under the guidance of The Jehu and myself to the wild north, must be ready, decently clothed and fed, with a supply of patience and drinkables in their personal luggage, not later than 6 a.m., to-morrow, March 31st, 1910.

I am, Yours, etc., THE INSTIGATOR.

P.S.--While taking suitable precautions for the safety and happiness of those who entrust themselves to our care, we wish it to be understood that we cannot hold ourselves responsible for any loss of wearing apparel or other goods, temper, meals, or rest, caused by rain, mosquitoes, frogs, snakes, overeating, or the incompatibility of other passengers, or from any cause whatsoever.--T.I.

_To the Editor of "The Tacuru."_

_March 30th, 1910_.

SIR,

We should be glad to know if anything can be done to stop the public nuisance in the shape of the amalgamation of two members of the party, who are obviously descended from some long ago Christy Minstrels. We believe that, taken separately, one at a time, at long intervals, the aforesaid members can be tolerated for a few minutes (personally, we find them nauseating to a degree, under the most favourable circumstances), but together, when they attempt to be bright and amusing, and fancy they have a sense of humour and intelligent wit, they are absolutely impossible. They might have been useful (say in 1500) as the final torture decreed by the Inquisition, but in this year of grace of 1910, they are unwarrantable, and we shall be grateful if immediate steps can be taken for their separation, if not for their entire suppression. We are, Dear Sir, still suffering from violent headaches, caused by being shut up in the same coach for three hours with these imbeciles.

Yours truly,

T.D. and M.L.

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HARD CASE No. 1.

The prize of five cents has been awarded to a correspondent O.G. (who is requested to forward his real name and address as soon as possible) for the best solution to the Hard Case we published yesterday. He says that in those circumstances the lady should undoubtedly allow herself to be fed, and should do all in her power by opening her mouth widely, and turning her head slightly in the direction of the gentleman on her right, to assist him in his self-imposed task, and thus to avoid giving him the impression that he had committed an unusual social solecism in commencing to feed her.

Numerous correspondents have sent in solutions, but we consider the above the best. Several answers have also been sent to the second part of the question, and all agree that the gentleman on the left had no shadow of excuse for causing the lady's nose to rest in the jelly. Such a proceeding is totally without precedent in the highest circles.

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"THE TACURU."

No. 6.

_Thursday, March 31st, 1910._

THE LARGEST CIRCULATION OF ANY DAILY PAPER PUBLISHED ON THIS TRIP.

Everyone was astir early this morning, remembering The Instigator's final warning last night of the necessity for an early start, but, on assembling for breakfast at 7 a.m., The Instigator himself was missed. His hawk-like eye (we apologise to Our Guest) had noticed some Galpon, or drinking trough, or something, which he must, of course, investigate before leaving Lucero, and dragging off The Delineator and The Jehu, he quite forgot breakfast and the "early start," as he fussed over his new-found interest, and it was not until he was captured forcibly by a search party that his companions were allowed to come in to breakfast--after the rest of the party had finished. Much to everyone's delight the morning was bright and fine, and all promised favourably for the excursion into the unknown.

While waiting for the start, considerable interest was caused by the home-building operations of some birds, who were constructing a nest under the eaves of the outbuilding, and manipulating the mud for its construction in a most clever manner. One bird flew off to get some mud while the other energetically fashioned the last piece into shape in the nest, then, when the first returned, the second bird flew off to get her contribution of clay; so the moulding of that nest grew apace while we watched its progress.

Before we set out a pleading message came (and it was not the first, either) from those left at headquarters, begging us to give up our exploration scheme, and, in view of weather reports, to return in peace to the civilisation of San Cristobal; but needless to say, nothing daunted, The Instigator still kept to his determination to see all there was to be seen, and the more people try to dissuade him from a thing, once he has decided to do it, the more fixed becomes his intention to do that thing. So, expostulations were useless, the final preparations and farewells were made, a last communication held with Our Hostess at Cristobal, before our passing into the wilds, and the Tacuru coaches with their freight of precious humans, and still more precious food and drink, started off from their pleasant rest at Lucero. Someone was heard to murmur as the coaches drove off--

"Then hey! for boot and horse, lad, And round the world away; The Instigator _must_ have his tour, lad, And _never_ will give way!"

But this puerile parody met with the indifference it deserved, and, accompanied by the Section Manager, we commenced our journey, travelling for some hours over the land which is in his charge. "Monte," too, seemed to consider that his presence as a guide and friend would be necessary to the party, and came along with us; he is a "wild" dog of the deerhound type, who was taken as a tiny puppy from a litter found in a wood near Los Moyes, and has ever since been devoted to his captors. There is a calm air of disinterested abstraction about "Monte" which is very satisfying, and he is undoubtedly a philosopher. One of the two Indian guides we picked up during the day's journey also had a dog, but it was of a very different appearance and character to "Monte." "Monte" looked on mankind in general as needing his care and supervision, while the little black smooth-haired terrier felt "the great passion" for one alone. His master was evidently his god, and if he lost sight of "master" for two minutes it was really touching to hear his cries, almost like those of a child, as he tried to trace his master through the shallow water which we sometimes crossed.

His yelps as he splashed along, nose to the ground, almost voiced the sentiment:--

"Rank and wealth I pass unheeding, Never giving them their due; For my heart and soul are needing, Nothing in the world but "YOU!"

And he and his "YOU" were never very far apart.

In a country where kindness to animals is not considered necessary, and is very rarely found, this example of devotion between dog and man was all the more noticeable and appreciated. Needless to say, as soon as The Saint observed it she wanted to "give the man a present," and was only restrained from doing so because she had nothing suitable for presentation in her luggage, or in that of The Instigator.