A Tour Through South America

by A. S. Forrest

THE LONELY CAMP.

CHAPTER XVII
A Live Industry

THE rapid strides of progress made by the Argentine Republic have been accelerated by the increasing consumption in the United States of the products of her own Western cattle lands. Every year, as the population of the world increases, the heavy demands made upon cattle-producing countries bring newer fields into use. From the middle of the nineteenth until the beginning of the present century, the vast prairies of the Western States produced more than enough meat to supply their own needs and a large export canning business rapidly came into existence, whilst even live cattle were sent yearly to England (the largest consumer) and turned out to fatten on her rich pastures and meadow lands. But the enormous growth of the packing business and the increased home consumption in the States has put an end to the export of live stock or even of frozen meat. This changed situation was Argentina’s golden opportunity, and her entry into the world’s market was well described by General Bartolomé Mitre,[2] who towards the end of the last century wrote as follows:

“The natural pastures [of Argentina] allured the inhabitants towards the pastoral industry. Its vast littoral placed it in contact with the rest of the world by means of fluvial and maritime navigation. Its healthy and mild climate made life more enjoyable and labour more productive. Thus it was a country prepared for live stock breeding, appointed to prosper through commerce, and predestined to be stocked by the acclimatisation of all the breeds of the earth. So it is seen that the occupation of the soil began to be carried out by means of the cattle brought overland from Peru and Brazil, that the commercial activities of the interior are converging little by little towards the River Plate, abundance and prosperity are diffused by this means, and that the first foreign operation of the colonists after the foundation of Buenos Aires in 1580, was the exportation of a cargo of produce of their own labour (hides and tallow) that led up to the import business and induced immigration.”

The author of these words saw the sound basis upon which future developments and progress might be securely founded, for the natural advantages of the country were such as to justify the most sanguine hopes, the Republic being destined to become a great, wealthy, and civilised nation. The cattle which were brought down from Peru and Southern Brazil, where they had been introduced by the early Spanish settlers, prospered well upon the great plains of the South; plains favoured with such fertile soil and mild climatic conditions, that a rich supply of nourishing grasses is their natural inheritance. The early part of the last century saw the growth of the dry-salting industry and the beginning of a large export trade in salted meats, hides, and tallow, and the “Saladeros” of the Argentine and of the countries immediately contiguous to its northern border enjoyed a period of rich prosperity, supplying the markets of the northern states with large quantities of “jerked” or salted beef. But although they still have a standing in the country, these Saladeros are rapidly being supplanted by the modern methods of meat preserving carried on by the great freezing establishments, and in the province of Buenos Ayres these freezing factories or “Frigorificos” consume so much live stock that the Saladeros find difficulty in existing alongside of them.

The “jerked” beef of the Saladeros, unappetising to the senses of both sight and smell, is found in the stores throughout South America, and a large quantity finds its way into the islands of the Caribbean Sea. The strong odour of this meat proclaims its proximity, and its would-be purchasers need only follow their noses in almost any village to discover the commodity. The method of its preparation is both ancient and simple, the carcase of the slaughtered animal being cut into pieces, and the bones, fat, and tendons removed. The pieces of meat are then powdered with salt and maize and placed in the sun until they become shrivelled and nearly black in colour. Sometimes the meat is subjected to a smoke-curing treatment in addition, and in any case requires to be well soaked in water before being cooked, and even then it is far from tender, but soups made from it, although highly flavoured, are said to be very nutritious.

This trade, however, is now almost entirely dependent on cattle from the northern plains of Corrientes, Missiones, Uruguay and Paraguay, and the southernmost states of Brazil, for the introduction of better breeds of cattle into the Argentine, which has been going on for over fifty years, has made it more profitable to export the higher grade beef to more remote markets in a superior form.