[75] As a matter of fact, of recent years there has been a practice on this slope of disguising the smuggling of animals under the name of "transhumation," as the removal of the sheep facilitated it and helped to maintain it. The shepherds got certificates exaggerating the number of their sheep from the Chilean officials before they crossed the frontier, and under cover of these they came back to Chile with additions to their flocks which they had bought on Argentine territory. There are many routes, and frequently they coincide with those which were formerly taken by the cattle of the Pampas in ascending to the passes of the Cordillera. Groeber mentions a transhumation track south of the Rio Barrancas and Lake Carri Lauquen. From the left bank of the Neuquen the flocks ascend by Chosmalal and Butamallin to the pasture of the Pichachen pass, or by Las Lajas to the Pino Hachado pass. From Zapala and the tableland further south they go to spend the summer in the Cataluin Cordillera, where the number of sheep in summer is calculated to be 70,000. Others go still further, to the source of the Alumine and the Arco pass. The volcano Lanin almost marks the southern limit of the zone of transhumation. The chief group of migrating sheep comes from the district of the Coyunco, the Canadon Grande, and the Picun Leucu. Transhumation is practised only by the _intrusos_. They go from the unowned lands of the tableland to the unowned lands of the Cordillera. The renting of winter pasture to owners is quite exceptional. The concessions of land granted by the Argentine Government are steadily reducing the area of the migrators in the Cordillera, and also the ways of communication between the tableland and the mountains. The proprietors do not care to receive the migrating flocks, and they put obstacles in their way by enclosing the land. The routes of the transhumation are now fixed by the spaces which remain open between the enclosed ranches. Moreover, the migrating _intrusos_ are haunted by the fear of finding the winter pasture occupied by others during their absence, and they have no proprietary title. The splitting up of the land and the organization of ownership will before long lead to the extinction of the practice of transhumation, and the greater part of the winter pasturage will be turned into permanent pasture by boring wells and nursing the water-supply.