THE NORTH-EAST COUNTRY
Although travellers in the Republic usually visit Rosario, it is seldom
they devote much time to studying the full capabilities of the province
of Santa Fé, of which Rosario is the chief town. Yet Santa Fé and
Corrientes to the north, and Entre Rios to the east, deserve much more
than passing recognition.
Though in the north of Santa Fé, towards the region of the Chaco, there
are thick forests, the southern part is treeless, except for the ombu,
and is a plain with rich pasturage and soil. Along the side of the
province runs the Parana River, which can be ascended by flat-bottomed
stern wheel vessels for many hundreds of miles; and from ports like
those of Santa Fé and Villa Constitucion much agricultural produce in
maize, wheat, linseed, and barley are dispatched. The sugar industry is
gradually creeping into Santa Fé province. Nearly fifty flour mills have
been erected, and there are also sawmills, meat preserving factories,
and works for quebracho extracts. Though railways are penetrating in all
directions through the province, having at the present time 3,000 miles
of lines, the River Parana is, and long will be, the chief highway,
because circumstances in the old times led to the principal towns being
constructed on its banks, and because some of its tributaries are also
navigable for a considerable distance.
The Parana River stretches away north into Corrientes. There are places
with tremendous areas of well-watered pastures; but the farther north
one journeys the more the country becomes swampy and covered with heavy
forest. The vegetation is tropical, and parrots with gay plumage disturb
the silence of the woods with their shrieks.
It is here that the forest Indians are to be found, particularly the
Tobas and the Matacos. Formerly the tribes kept to their own territory;
but with the coming of the white man, and particularly the importation
of Russians, Poles, and Scandinavians to work in the lumber camps, this
custom has gradually been broken down. The Indians resent the presence
of the intruders, and there is many a black story of massacre. The
forest Indians cannot be induced to work in the hewing of timber, but
missionaries are doing a great deal in persuading them to take to
farming and raising crops of maize or bananas.
The Indians near the towns on the Parana River are taking to wearing
European clothes. In the time of the sugar harvest in the west they will
work for a month or so, but on their tramp back of several hundred miles
they frequently fall out with one another, and there is fierce fighting
and murdering of which the outer world never hears. Far in the forests,
up to the present but little penetrated, the Indians are found in their
original state, naked save for a loin cloth, producing fire by the
rubbing of sticks, still utilising bows and arrows in warfare, and
following the practice when an enemy has been slain of cutting off his
head and using the skull as a drinking bowl.
[Illustration: THE LONGEST GIRDER BRIDGE IN
THE REPUBLIC, NEAR SANTA FÉ.]
All this may seem to suggest that Corrientes is a somewhat forbidding
province, especially as much of its territory is marshy. For instance,
Lake Ibera and its marshes covers an area of something like 15,000
square miles. The vegetation is dense, the climate is bad, and there is
little to attract man unless he be a sportsman. But so vast is the
province that there are wide areas which are very productive, because
the province is well provided with rivers and streams.
There are in the province about 5,000,000 head of cattle, over 3,000,000
sheep, and about 600,000 horses. Besides cattle, there are the timber
trade and the sugar industry, also tobacco growing, to be counted
amongst its sources of revenue.
It was only in 1908 that the province of Entre Rios entered the
Republic. As will be gathered from its name, the province lies "between
rivers," the Parana and Uruguay, both of which are navigable for many
hundreds of miles. There are many smaller rivers which, although not
much good for traffic, are most useful in watering the country. Entre
Rios has as fertile a soil as will be found in any part of the Republic.
The country is more picturesque than can be said of Argentina as a
whole, and with its many farms it is often reminiscent of England. In
the north there are extensive forests; indeed, one-fifth of the province
is covered with valuable timber. Agricultural products and live stock
are, as elsewhere, the chief source of prosperity.
In the more pleasant undulating parts of the province there are many
prosperous _estancias_, often in the possession of Englishmen. Here,
more than in any other place in the Republic, are to be found small
freeholds owned by Austrian, Poles, Russians, and Scandinavians. The
Spanish and Italian Argentines seem to have left most of this area to
north Europeans, who in many cases retain the costumes of the countries
from which they emigrated. Formerly Entre Rios had a bad name because of
the stories of the way in which the old settlers shot every Indian on
sight. That, however, is a page now far back in the history of the land.
Until comparatively recent times the only communication with the outer
world was by means of the rivers. Now, as mentioned, Entre Rios has a
fine railway system. The capital of the province, Parana, is a
happy-looking, clean town, with exquisite gardens and, of course, the
usual theatre and band.
Most of the meat extract supplied to the world by the Liebig and Bovril
companies comes from Entre Rios. Both these companies own great
_estancias_ to breed cattle for the purposes of their business. Liebigs,
which afterwards changed its name to Lemco, practically built the town
of Fray Bentos, where there were schools, public halls, and, altogether,
a model settlement. Subsequently, however, the works were removed
to Colon. The Lemco company own eighteen great estates, covering
1,750,000 acres with nearly 400,000 head of cattle. The area of their
estates is nearly equal to that of Kent and Surrey.
It was as far back as 1850, long before the frozen and chilled meat
trade came into existence, that Baron Liebig saw the possibilities,
instead of killing cattle merely for hides and tallow, of boiling down
the meat for extract. The first exportation of 80 lbs. was in 1865, and
it was sent to Germany.
The Bovril company, in Entre Rios and the adjoining province of Santa
Fé, have nearly half a million acres of freehold and a quarter of a
million acres of leasehold land. On their estates they have about
150,000 cattle. Most of the cattle are of the Durham breed. Between
80,000 and 100,000 animals are slaughtered annually, principally at
Santa Elena; and whilst the meat is sent to England to be converted into
meat extract, the hides and tallow are dispatched to Buenos Aires, where
they are sold.
Altogether there are about a quarter of a million beasts slaughtered in
Entre Rios each year. As in other parts of Argentina, all the
slaughter-houses are under Government inspection; indeed, every carcase
is subjected to examination before it is passed. Entre Rios is still a
long way from the end of its journey as a meat producing country.