capitalists among their friends and neighbours. The _estanciero’s_ life is a rather lonely one, for his neighbours are few and far between. If he is an Englishman or Scotchman, as many of them are, you will find the British atmosphere all about. There will be tennis courts, cricket grounds, and, perhaps, a golf course where the family and their friends will find recreation. Pheasant hatcheries are sometimes maintained, and these birds and the long-eared rabbits, which are very plentiful, furnish the shooting so popular with the British sportsman. The Camp store, however, is the centre of life on the _estancia_. It is the post office and the general place of rendezvous. There are heaps of padlocks and nails, stacks of lamps and coils of wire. Beside quaintly carved native saddles will be fierce-looking knives a foot or more in length, which peacefully repose in bright new leather sheaths. Boots that might have graced a cavalier of old jostle against bottles of patent medicine guaranteed to cure every ill to which human flesh is heir. Business is never done in haste. The gaucho measures time by the progress of the sun, and an odd half hour or so never bothers him. There is always a little time for gossip before and after the purchase has been made, and then there must be a drink for friendship’s sake. Drouths come sometimes, and the locusts, to break in upon the prosperity of both colonist and _estanciero_. But there is seldom an absolute failure. The locusts are present almost every year, and it is a constantly recurring fight against the scourge of these pests. The real development of the live stock industry in Argentina began with the discovery that meat could be frozen and shipped any distance. Since that time the growth has been almost phenomenal. It used to be that long-horned, rakish, bony _criollos_ (native stock) wandered over the pampas feeding on the succulent grasses, and dying by the thousands during a season of drouth. Now the sleek short-horned stock have taken their places, and they fatten upon the rich alfalfa pastures which have been sown by the planter. This plant roots so deep that it will remain green in drouths that would cause the native grass to become dry and dead. Fine sheep have superseded the scrubby animals that once stalked the plains; and even the horse has acquired finer legs and shoulders, and developed a more graceful arch to his neck. Indeed, it may be said that the average stock in Argentina will compare favourably with those of any other nation on the globe. The change has been brought about by the importation of the very best breeding stock from Europe, which have formed the nuclei for the present herds.