Book: Argentina From A British Point Of View

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MY FRIEND THE AXEMAN.


Eighty square leagues of dense forest. One is inclined to feel a trifle
small and overcome when this fraction of Mother Earth is put into one's
hands (metaphorically), with orders to know all about it and to be able
to answer all questions as to what is going on in it.

The work is like most other occupations: not quite so romantic as it
sounds at first, but as interesting as one cares to make it.

One's main employment can best be illustrated by a leaf out of a mental
diary.

Fulano de Tal, axeman, wants credit for provisions at the almacen or
general store--Has he sufficient wood cut to warrant it? It is the
Mayor-domo's business to find out.

With this end in view, he rides along "The Mangy" watercourse till he
comes to the lowland of "The Blind Cow." The barking of half a dozen
mongrel curs leads him into the edge of the forest, and he comes upon
the residence of Fulano de Tal. The man has perhaps recently moved to
this spot, and has not had time or energy to build himself a "rancho,"
and therefore the homestead consists of about four yards of canvas
stretched across the branch of a tree like the roof of a tent.

Beneath this is a "New Home" sewing machine, a Brummagem bedstead, and a
small trunk, made burglar-proof by innumerable bands and fastenings of
bright tin, or even gilt wall-paper. Scattered around are the little
Fulanos, in costumes varying from nothing to very little.

Their mother ceases her cooking operations, wipes her hands on the
nearest child's head, and invites the visitor to dismount.

He answers that he is looking for her husband, and she directs him with
a sweep of the hand which covers a quadrant of the compass and includes
several square leagues of thick forest. Taking a likely track, however,
he soon hears the ring of axe-strokes, and finds his man patiently
chipping away at a felled tree, which is rapidly taking the form of a
baulk, with the sides as smooth as if sawn.

His horse is tied up near, and he takes the Mayor-domo through his
"corte," showing him the wood prepared for the carters. Give him a
chance and he will count every log twice (most likely he has already
plastered mud over the marks which show the rotten patch in the wood,
and is wondering whether he has cleared the black sufficiently off a
piece of "campana" to persuade a reasonable man that it is really fresh
wood).

It is part of the inspector's stock in trade to know these and a myriad
other tricks, too numerous to take separately.

The typical axeman in the Santa Fe Chaco is more genuinely "childlike"
than, and quite as "bland" as, the famous Celestial. He never quite
grows up; he will spend his last dollar on a mouth-organ when he is
forty, and give a wild war-whoop of delight as a stack of newly piled
sleepers falls crashing to the ground.

He loves sweets and the bright clothes which he wears with childish
dignity on feast-days and holidays.

His _amour propre_ is tremendous, and influences his code of honour to a
great extent. The first ten commandments he will break most cheerfully,
but the eleventh--"Thou shalt not be found out"--he respects to the best
of his power.

Stealing, for instance, he regards as a pastime, but call him a thief
and you must be prepared for trouble. A perfect instance of this can be
quoted in the case of an estanciero who found a peon wearing one of his
shirts.

[Illustration: _Square Quebracho Logs worked by the Axeman, showing
Resin oozing therefrom._]

"You are wearing my shirt," said the master. "No, Senor; I bought it in
the store." "But you stole it from me," insisted the estanciero,
pointing to the tab at the front, where his name was written in marking
ink; "there is my name on it."

The man, being quite illiterate, had not reckoned on such damning
evidence, but he recovered himself and replied with dignity: "Very well,
Senor; if it is yours, take it; _but don't call me a thief_."

Honesty is with them, admittedly, a matter of degree. A man will always
say if questioned about some small deficiency, "Do you think I would
swindle you for a matter of two dollars?" or "Do you think I would risk
my credit with the Company for the sake of _one_ calf?" To be honest in
a case where a larger profit is involved is a height of integrity to
which he does not even pretend. "I am going to be frank with you"--that
is an expression which puts the wise man on his guard, for it is
generally followed by a cascade of lies.

Business must be done on a completely different basis to that which
obtains in England. To return to our friend Fulano, for instance: he
wishes perhaps to ask for an increase of fifty cents per ton on his
wood, and introduces the subject by a short conversation about the
points of his horse, passing on to the bad state of the bullocks and
enlarging on the chance of a rainy winter. You have just decided that he
has nothing more to say and are preparing to leave him, when he makes
his request with as much circumlocution as possible. To have come
straight to the point would have been contrary to all his ideas of
correct procedure.

I have heard two natives make one another's acquaintance with a bout of
verbal sparring which an Englishman would obviate by a single sentence,
such as "Good morning; Mr. Brown, I believe?" "Yes," the other would
answer, and the business would be entered upon immediately.

The Spanish blood, however, calls for some such dialogue as the
following, which is taken from real life.

_A._--"Good day."

_B._--"Good day."

_A._--"How are you, Senor?"

_B._--"Very well, thank you, Senor; how are you?"

_A._--"Very well, thank you."

_B._--"I am glad."

_A._--"Equally."

_B._--"Don't mention it."

_A._--"I am speaking to Mr. Juan Sosa?"

_B._--"At your service."

_A._--"At yours."

_B._--"Equally."

_A._--"It gives me great pleasure to know you."

_B._--"Equally."

They are flowery always, whether in greeting, praise, commendation, or
in denunciation.

In illustration of the last point, I once heard a cartman give vent to a
quite Olympic challenge.

His cart had stuck in a deep rut up to the axles, and he commenced
operations by addressing his bullocks with tender words and soft names
swiftly followed by lurid curses. This proving useless, he invoked
higher powers, and called on his pet saints by name--"Help me, San
Pedro, San Geronimo, Santa Lucia, San Juan." Still no result:--

Then his patience failed entirely--"If you won't help me, San Pedro," he
shouted, "come down and I'll fight you;" "Come down, San Juan, and I'll
take you both on together."

Still no reply.

Taking his hat off he placed it on the ground, made the motion of
clawing his guardians from the skies and placing them in his hat.

"Stay there, San Geronimo; Stay there, San Juan; Stay there, San Marco."

When his hat was full enough for his satisfaction he leapt into the air,
came down on it with both feet, and continued to dance on it for about
three minutes.

Thus, for a real or imagined slight, the streak of black blood will show
up and convert a friend into a relentless enemy.

It is not surprising when one considers the lack of civilising
influences which ought to be exerted from the top downwards, but which
have no root in the highest power they know, which is the arm of the
law. It might be interesting to note a few proofs of the corruption
which exists among those who wield the local weapons of justice--among
the commissaries, police, and justices of the peace.

The Chief of Police of----, for instance, a town of only about 7,000
inhabitants, refused L2,000 a year for the local gambling rights.

Again, a gardener, whom I knew, was put in jail for being drunk and
disorderly. On going to the place some time later I found the man still
imprisoned. "Why," I asked, "for such a small offence"? "We found," was
the answer, "that when sober he was such a good workman that we could
not spare him from the job of cleaning the stables."

On the other hand, a friend of mine was dissatisfied with the policeman
he had, and sent the sergeant into the township to exchange him for
another. The man returned with a particularly villainous-looking
specimen, and when asked where he had got him, explained that the Chief
of Police had told him to look among the prisoners for a suitable man,
give him a uniform and take him.

"I thought this was the best of them; but they all wanted to come," he
concluded ingenuously.

Another commissary in the north of this country flattered himself on his
revolver-shooting, and used to perform the feat of shooting the hat off
a man's head without hurting him. He was in the local bar one day when a
peon entered with a brand new white hat; it was an opportunity not to be
missed. Crack--and the man fell with a bullet through his temple instead
of his hat.

Did the Comisario stand stricken with remorse, or burst into
self-reproach? No. He moved the body with the toe of his boot and
remarked: "Carramba, I am getting a very poor shot nowadays."

A story which was told me in the province of Rio Negro, and which was
well vouched for, contained serio-comic elements of which I believe the
perpetrator, whom I knew personally, quite capable.

An old man who owned a considerable quantity of land, died intestate. A
man who lived with him, Garcia by name, had no idea of letting the
property go to distant unknown relations, and concocted the following
plot (obviously with the connivance of the neighbouring Justice of the
Peace, who was a friend of his).

The law allows that a sane man "in articulo mortis," and past the power
of speech, may make statements by signs: so when the Justice was
summoned to the house, Garcia told him that the man was not yet dead,
and wished to make his will.

Garcia seated himself at the foot of the bed, while the Justice at the
side addressed questions to the deceased on the following lines:--

"Do you wish me to record your last will and testament?"

The corpse nodded.

"Do you wish your property to pass into your cousins' hands?"

The head moved from side to side.

"Do you intend to make Garcia your sole legatee?"

The deceased nodded several times.

Two witnesses were brought, and the business was settled with
commendable promptitude.

I think it was Garcia himself who explained, some time afterwards, that
as the dead man wore a full beard and whiskers, it was easy enough to
hide the strings passing from his ears and chin to the foot of the bed
under the coverings.

In this connection I have since heard that one of the legal ceremonies
in a coroner's inquest in Central America is to solemnly ask the
deceased who killed him.

To return to the point, however; if such things exist among those in the
highest positions of trust it is not surprising to find wholesale
chicanery among the lower orders; that they realise their shortcomings
is evidenced by the fact that if they wish to impress you with the truth
of a statement, they add "palabra de Ingles," i.e., "on the word of an
Englishman."

Their Indian descent is answerable for a great deal, the white and black
blood being so mixed that it is almost impossible to note the dividing
line. Their dusky ancestors were blessed with an extremely limited
intelligence, only being able to count up to four. The following
incidents were related to me by an old estanciero. He once saw a
trainload of Indian prisoners who had had oranges given them throwing
the skins against the windows and showing great surprise when they fell
inside.

In another instance a woman came with her daughter to place her in
domestic service at the estancia, and as the mother did all the talking,
the estanciero's wife asked if the daughter could speak Spanish.

"Oh, yes," answered the mother, "but she is barefoot, and would not
presume to talk Spanish unless she had shoes on."

This same girl at first insisted on turning up the carpet whenever she
entered a room and walking along the boards at the side.

I fear that I have given a black character to the people I work among,
but there are lights as well as shades, and I have had many a weary
hour's ride wiled away by the philosophy and anecdotes of some peon or
small contractor, without mentioning the enjoyment of that hospitality
which is a characteristic of the nation.

Beside a camp fire, under the stars, while the mate pot passes from hand
to hand, or when huddled under a horse cloth with the rain dousing the
last embers, I have found the Correntino, or Santa Fecino, a cheery and
uncomplaining companion, who compares well with the recently arrived
Englishman, who, under the same circumstances, is generally sleepy or
bad tempered.

Treat him well and he will treat you well, but if it is necessary to
chasten him for his soul's good, keep your hand a little nearer to your
revolver than his is to his knife.

DUST AND OTHER STORMS.





DUST AND OTHER STORMS.


Life in South America has many and varied experiences, though not so
uncomfortably exciting perhaps to-day as they were, when more than three
years seldom passed without a revolution of some kind, either national
or provincial. The year 1893 was marked by two revolutions in Rosario,
the first provincial and the second national, with perhaps little more
than two months between them. It sounds terribly alarming to hear that a
revolution has broken out, and pictures of the French Revolution
immediately rise before one, but, fortunately, those of South American
cities are not of that calibre; reports and rumours fly about of the
terrible things that are going to be done, but these generally end in
rumour, and after a few persons, those who have nothing to do with the
movement, have been killed, probably by soldiers letting off their
rifles up some street just on the chance of hitting something (often
that at which they are _not_ aiming), the revolution fizzles out very
quickly.

In the second revolution of 1893 great excitement was caused in Rosario
by a revolutionary gunboat being pursued by a Government boat and a
naval battle (!) being fought on the river outside Rosario. These two
boats blazed away at each other till the revolutionary gunboat was
reduced to a wreck; the Government boat then threatened to turn its guns
on Rosario unless the revolutionists capitulated. The town was given
twenty-four hours to decide, and, after various disasters, including a
terrible battle, had been threatened, as usual the revolution came to a
sudden end, on this particular occasion owing to the revolutionist
leader, D. Alem, committing suicide. That same year, 1893,
distinguished itself by drawing to a close with three of the most
terrible dust storms ever seen in a country that, after any lengthened
period of dry weather, suffers from dust storms of a greater or lesser
degree. The first of these occurred early in December, after many months
of drought, on a brilliantly sunny afternoon. Standing at the front door
of a house at Fisherton, a suburb about six miles from Rosario, we
noticed right down in the S.W., on the horizon, great banks of
grey-looking clouds, which, to our surprise, seemed to be rolling
rapidly up the sky towards us. They had a most alarming appearance, for
these masses of grey cloud approaching so rapidly seemed to portend a
storm of terrible force. In less than twenty minutes from the time we
first saw the clouds the afternoon had changed from brilliant sunshine
to pitchy darkness. So rapidly had the darkness come on us that no one
was prepared, and no matches or lights were forthcoming; so there we
stood in a room in absolute darkness, no glimmer of light even revealing
where the windows were situated in the room. Though all doors and
windows were closely shut, we could feel the dust entering in clouds
through the cracks, making it quite unpleasant breathing. When the storm
caught us we had to stand and wait, I must own with some fear as to how
it was going to end. Up to this time the storm had come up and fallen on
us in total silence: now, after about ten minutes of pitch darkness, we
could hear in the far distance the wind coming. It came up with cyclonic
force, and then everything in the way of tins and buckets began to be
blown in every direction, and the horses to gallop about neighing,
evidently very much frightened. The wind was the forerunner of the rain,
which gradually began to clear the air, though, of course, for some time
it rained mud, much to the detriment of the houses, and to anyone
unfortunate enough to be caught out of doors in the storm; indeed, one
of our friends, who insisted on starting for the station just as the
storm descended on us, was found crouching under his umbrella by one of
the posts of the railway fence, with a face as black as a sweep's, and,
by then, deeply repentant that he had started for the station against
advice. Indeed, many caught out in camp by the storm lost their lives
through falling into wells, and, in some cases, the river. But,
fortunately, nowadays--principally, I fancy, owing to the larger area of
country under cultivation--these dust storms do not recur.




LOCUSTS.


During the past century considerable study has been centred upon the
life and habits of the locust, mainly from the desire to seek its
subjugation and destruction, and, whilst much general biological
information has been written upon the subject, there are things which we
do not yet know about this insect or its habits. We do not know what
precise influences cause their migration, nor do we know what is the
exact length of life of the locust or its breeding power, or the precise
locality in any country which may be defined as its permanent abode.
Locusts are classified under the order of orthopterous insects of the
family Acrydiidae, and are very closely related to grasshoppers.

There are a large number of species, the differentiating features being
more or less the form and sculpture of protorax, the size of the head,
the length and size of the prosternal spine, the comparative length and
size of the hind thighs and shanks, the amount and arrangement of the
tegmina mottlings, the comparative length of wings, and the general
build of the entire insect, which may be robust or fairly slender.

A general description of the distinctive physical features of migratory
locusts might be given as a strong, wild-looking head, a strong collar
inside which the neck moves, powerful and peculiarly-formed legs
attached to a short, strong, square trunk or thorax, four wings, two
antennae or feelers, six legs, and a long segmentary abdomen. The ground
colour of the locust is generally brownish, straw, or red, but its
colour varies somewhat according to the particular season of the year
or some other peculiar circumstance, but nothing certain is known as to
what influences the shade of colour. Mere ground colour is immaterial
and does not signify a new species.

Besides having a pair of compound eyes which form so noticeable a
feature in its head, there are three other simple little eyes, placed
like shining dots at three angles of a triangle below the two feelers.

The mouth, which is a fearful apparatus, consists of nine distinct and
well-marked organs; an interior or upper lip, consisting of a plate
deeply cleft and capable of opening enormously; two true jaws or
powerful mandibles; and two pairs of jointed organs called (maxillary)
palpi, and two lower jaws. The mandibles and jaws move laterally from
right to left.

The thorax or trunk consists really of three rings. To the first is
attached the two front legs; to the second, the two middle legs and the
first pair of wings, and to the third, the two hind legs and the second
pair of posterior wings. Along the posterior margin is a well marked
serrated (spinous) arrangement by means of which the locust adheres and
grips forcibly. The trunk appears to be full of a fatty sort of
substance.

The abdomen consists of a number of horny segments which are joined
together by an elastic membrane, a construction which enables the insect
to extend its body several centimetres beyond its normal extent. It can
also be increased in thickness.

The front and middle feet of this insect are short and weak, but the
length, strength, and formation of the hind legs enable it to take
extraordinary leaps. A full-grown locust can jump seven or eight feet in
height, whilst it is said to be able to leap more than 200 times the
length of its body.

The female is normally larger by 1/4 or 1/2 inch in length than the
male, and has a rather thicker body.

The average length of the migratory locust is from 2-1/2 to 3 inches and
about 3/8 inch in thickness in the abdomen. Locusts generally lay their
eggs in the spring, and the manner in which the females, having selected
a favourable site, make an excavation in the earth for depositing their
eggs is intensely interesting and wonderful.

At the very extremity of the abdomen the female has two pairs of horny
valves or hooks, each pair placed back to back with their points
directed outwards, and arranged so that all four hooks can be brought
with their points close together. By this means a sharp pointed lever is
formed which can be turned around, evolved, and forked. With this
apparatus she drills a small hole and by means of a series of muscular
efforts and the continuing opening and closing of the valves provided
with the formation of the abdomen, she actually bores to a depth of 6 to
7 centimetres, or about 3 inches. Here she deposits her eggs--normally
about eighty--regularly arranged in a long cylindrical mass and
envelopes them in a spumous or sort of glutinous secretion, so that the
whole are quite tapped up and level with the surface of the ground. This
substance when dried is more or less impassable and affords protection
to the eggs from the elements and secures an easy outlet to the surface
for the young locust when hatched. The eggs resemble in shape grains of
small rice and are about 1/4 inch long.

The eggs hatch in from twenty-five to sixty days, usually about forty
days, but the period may vary a little according to temperature,
humidity, etc. The young locusts are known as "hoppers," in which stage
they pass some forty-five or fifty days before arriving at the fully
developed stage known as "fliers." To reach the "flying" or "migratory"
stage they pass through six different states, changing the colour of
their skin several times, gradually approaching to full growth, and
finally growing wings.

They have no quiescent stage, and whilst they are naturally yet
incapable of flight, their locomotive powers are very considerable, and
they are very destructive, for their voracity is great. Comparatively
speaking, the flying locusts do less damage to the growing crops than
the hoppers, who devour everything clean before them.

It is interesting to state that the "hoppers" in the first stage are in
length about 7 to 9 mm., or not quite one-third of an inch, and that the
feelers have thirteen divisions, extending to twenty-seven divisions at
full growth.

During the cold weather they usually gather together in thousands,
clinging closely to all kinds of vegetation and to each other. In this
season the general rule seems to be that comparatively little food is
taken of any kind. For the purpose of watching the development of their
eggs, several hundred locusts have been opened during the winter months
by entomologists, and invariably their cases have been found empty.

Perhaps the most feasible suggestion as to the cause of their migratory
impulse is that locusts naturally breed in dry sandy districts in which
food is scarce, and are thus impelled to wander in order to procure the
necessaries of life.

The rate of travel varies according to circumstances. With an
unfavourable wind, or little wind, they seldom travel more than five
miles an hour. At other times, when the wind is favourable, they will
cover fifteen to twenty miles per hour. When on the wing it is certain
that a distance of 1,000 miles may, in particular cases, be taken as a
moderate estimate of flight, and whilst, probably, it is often much
less, it is sometimes much more. Their height of flight has been
variously estimated at from forty to two hundred feet. "A dropping from
the clouds" is a common expression used by observers when describing the
apparition of a swarm.

It will not be denied that the presence of locusts in force constitutes
a terrible plague. They make their appearance in swarms and eat up
everything. It is wellnigh impossible to estimate the number in a cloud
of locusts, but some idea may be formed from the fact that when they are
driven, as sometimes is the case in a storm, into the sea and drowned,
so many are washed ashore, that it is said by one observer that their
dead bodies formed a bank of nearly 40 miles long and 300 yards wide,
and many feet in depth, and the stench from the corruption of their
bodies proceeded 150 miles inland.

When a swarm of locusts temporarily settles in a district, all
vegetation rapidly disappears, and then hunger urges them on another
stage. Such is their voracity that cannibalism amongst them has been
asserted as an outcome of the failure of other kinds of food.

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