safe over a rivulet, he turned and left them.
They advanced towards us, and my overseer
looked at them earnestly as they approached;
when they had reached us he rose and saluted
them, helped the woman to dismount, and spoke
kindly to the children. The woman was his
married wife who had come in quest of him
from the province of Cordova, where he had
left her. She had married again, for the younger
of the two children was not his. He had another
wife then actually in possession, to whom he
went at once, and taking her apart, explained,
without at all dismaying her, that she must
pack up immediately. He then set her on a
horse, handed up to her her bundle, and her
two-year old child, which was his own child
also, and she trotted off. When I had done
my work, as I took necessarily a human interest
in the case, I rode after the woman and found
her at San Martin, where she had obtained leave
to pass the night. In less than an hour one of
the pions came there and requested private
audience of me. He said he was about to
marry the lady just divorced, but did not wish
to withdraw her from my service if I objected to
her remaining at San Martin. So I gave my
benediction, and possession was immediately
taken. As for the overseer at home, he seemed
to be as fond of the child of another man that
his wife brought back to him, as he had been of
the child of his own that he had sent away.
Indeed, these people give away and change
children as if they were kittens. There is no
need of Sir Cresswell Cresswell in the pampas.
In all these arrangements, the sole point that
is considered to secure the completeness and
honesty of marriage, is recognition of the
woman's children. Children reared altogether
in the estancia are wild as unbroken colts; but
the owners of large estancias winter in Buenos
Ayres, and spend only the summer months upon
the plain.

I have often tried to make out the origin and
progress of these estancias of the provinces of the
River Plate and their dependencies. The number
of wild cattle and horses upon the plains a
century after the founding of Buenos Ayres was
almost incredibly great, and they were all
descended from some dozens of animals brought on
shore by the first settlers from old Spain. But
the modern cattle farmer of the pampas, who
reckons upon a clear doubling of his stock every
four years, after deduction of the bullocks sent
to market, can understand how the original
stock left to increase in its own way, untouched
by man, where grass and water abound, and in a
climate free from extremes of heat and cold,
that breeds among cattle no sort of epidemics,
would go on doubling every three years. Not
oftener, for though the advantages are great,
there is a certain amount of care taken by the
cattle-breeder that not only saves some from
destruction, but also ensures greater fertility.
I have converted in one year two thousand
young bulls into bullocks, with the certainty of
having the more calves when there is left only
one bull to filteen or twenty cows.

Of course we try to keep the cattle tame, and
an important branch of the business of a cattle
farmer on the Plate is the making of his apartes
—the parting off and bringing home of his stray
cattle from among the herds of neighbouring
estancias. The frequent performance of this
duty is especially necessary when bad weather
or scarcity of grass and water causes the cattle
to extend their search beyond the accustomed
grazing-ground. And there are some animals
that, like some men, have an unconquerable
propensity for travelling. Spring, before calving
time, and autumn, before the time for branding
of the calves, are the especial seasons for this
kind of search. Every cattle farmer, before
branding, is bound to give notice to his neighbours,
that they may come and part off his herd
any stray cattle of their own. The brand once
fixed is decisive of ownership. An unmarked
calf belongs to the owner of the cow it is found
following. The head man, with eight or ten
pions and chosen horses, sets forth on his circuit,
a pion riding ahead to each estancia, obtains
leave to part cattle the next morning. The
cattle having been collected first, the cows with
calves are driven out, and afterwards the single
animals. In this way the district is searched,
and I have seen as many as five hundred head of
stray cattle brought home at one time by the
searching party. These would all wander back
again to their last haunts if left alone, and have
to be treated as stock newly bought, grazing all
day in the custody of the pions, and at night
enclosed in the corral.

The cattle sold for salting are usually oxen of
from two years and a half and upwards, or cows
of from three years and upwards, the stipulated
condition being rather of good beef than fat.
The purchaser and seller "make troop" of the
herds, picking out the chosen heads after the
manner of the "apartes." I should have said that
in hunting out or selected cattle in the parting,
as in the selling, tame cattle are stationed in
what is called a señuelo, towards which the
chosen beasts are driven, and which they are
allowed to join, the tame decoys serving to form
the nucleus of the picked herd, and keep it
together. Three hundred head a day may be
picked out and parted this way, the cattle
penned together becoming towards evening half-
wild with thirst, the men blinded with the
dust that is kicked up. Another herd is then
parted, with many disputes as to cattle fit to be
passed, and cattle that will not be bought. The
selected head is looked over for the separation
of strays, and five hundred or a thousand head
are in this way taken from one farm for the
Saladeros. Cattle bought for market are required
to be of about the same age, but all fat. The
herds bought are smaller, seldom exceeding
three hundred heads.

The selling of brood mares from the estancia
is harder work. They cannot be driven like the
other cattle, but must be caught and pulled, and
the swiftness with which they dart away when
in the lasso, greatly increases the difficulty of
keeping up with them, so as to have a slack