Revolutions and wars interrupted the work of taming the cattle. When Galvez went from the Córdoba province to Buenos Aires at the end of the Rosas Government, he was struck by the condition of the ranches.[90] Many of them had been confiscated, or their owners driven into exile. Cattle were no longer marked, and they had become wild. The troubles of the emancipation-period were much less injurious to the Buenos Aires breeders than to those of Entre Rios. The Entre Rios herd was almost annihilated during the revolution, and some of the ranchers of the left bank crossed to the right bank of the Paraná. After 1823 the pastoral wealth of Entre Rios was rapidly restored, thanks to raids on Brazilian territory. They were so profitable that the whole population took part in them. In 1827 the inhabitants of Bajada went there in such numbers that the town was half deserted. Every day thousands of cattle were collected on the bank of the Uruguay, and crossed the river. Some of them were even taken beyond the Paraná, to the Santa Fé province. Woodbine Parish confirms this rapid restoration of Entre Rios, of which D'Orbigny was a witness. But this period of prosperity did not last long. The war with Uruguay, under Rosas, again ruined the Entre Rios ranches, and the drought of 1846 helped to scatter the remaining herds. Extensive breeding is only lightly rooted in the soil. The chief centres of production change their locality, as the political circumstances change, from one part of the Pampean plain to another.

THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. THE RIO BAMBA (IN THE SOUTH OF THE CÓRDOBA PROVINCE, 500 FEET ABOVE SEA-LEVEL).

Small circular lagoons. The underground water, which comes from the Sierras to the north-west, here reaches the surface. Zone of lucerne farms.

Photograph by the Author.

[Click to view larger image.]

THE PAMPEAN PLAIN. BUENA ESPERANZA (SAN LUIS PROVINCE, 1,166 FEET ELEVATION).

The plain is sown with quick and dead dunes, often shaped in a circle round a lagoon. A dune invaded by vegetation.