The cost of transport by wagon was, naturally, high. It also varied a good deal, but we cannot possibly go into these variations here. It will be enough to give, by way of illustration, the details which Hutchinson gives for the year 1862. The freightage was fixed either for a complete load of 150 _arrobes_ (1,725 kgs.) or so much per _arrobe_ (11-1/2 kgs.). Conveying a load from Rosario to Cordoba cost forty to fifty piastres (eight to ten pounds). The cost of carrying an _arrobe_ from Rosario to Mendoza was five to six _reales_ (about two shillings to two-and-six); from Rosario to Tucuman nine _reales_ (three shillings and fourpence); from Rosario to Salta eighteen _reales_ (seven shillings and sixpence). The tropas were, therefore, quickly ousted by the railways. In a few places they made a very unequal fight against the railways. The _Memoria del departemento de Ingenieros de la Nacion_ of 1876, quoted by Rebuelto, mentions the competition of the _tropas_ with the Andino railway, opened from Villa Maria to the Rio Cuarto in 1873 and to Villa Mercedes in 1875. The merchants of San Juan and Mendoza continued to use them. The railway had to sign a contract with the _troperos_ by which wagons were to bring goods as far as Villa Mercedes, where they could be entrained. The total freight was fifty Bolivian _centavos_ (about two shillings) per _arrobe_ from Mendoza to Rosario, and sixty _centavos_ from San Juan. Of this the share of the railway was fifteen _centavos_. * * * * * The first Argentine railway was opened in 1859, between Buenos Aires and Maron, a distance of about thirteen miles. In 1870 the Argentine railways formed two independent systems. The first radiated fan-wise from Buenos Aires (Western line, open as far as Chivilcoy in 1870, and Southern line, open as far as Chascomus in 1865). Farther north a line (the Central Argentine) started from Rosario, and reached Bellville in 1866 and Cordoba in 1870. [Illustration: THRESHING ON THE PAMPA. Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados.] [Illustration: SACKS OF WHEAT READY FOR LOADING ON THE RAILWAY. _There are elevators only in a few of the ports._ Photograph by Soc. Fotografica de Aficionados. PLATE XIX. To face p. 220.]