Not only did the coast take for itself the products of the western provinces, which had hitherto found their way to other markets, but new centres of production had to be created to meet its needs. The forests of the Chaco received a great influx of wood-cutters, to provide the sleepers for the railways. The valley of the Rio Negro was planted with vines, to provide the wines of the colonies in the district of Bahia Blanca. The attraction of the Pampa was felt as far as the frontiers. Paraguay competed with Corrientes in the supply of tobacco and oranges; with Misiones in the supply of _yerba mate_. Each district chose the particular crop which was best suited to its climate, in order to secure the highest possible advantage from its relations with Buenos Aires. The two most brilliant satellites of the Pampa, the most important productive centres of the interior, are Tucuman and Mendoza. All the other important towns of Argentina belong themselves to the region of the Pampas. Tucuman and Mendoza, which live by supplying the Pampa with sugar and wine, have become in turn secondary centres of attraction. They are a sort of regional capitals, and they have their own spheres of economic influence. A network of commercial streams has developed about them, and this has led to the formation of new roads. These lines of local interest are easily recognized on a map of the railways, where one sees them superimposed upon the regular fan of lines which converges toward Buenos Aires. La Rioja provides the props for the vines of San Juan and Mendoza. From the north of Cordoba to Salta, a distance of about 250 miles, the wood is cut for the fuel of the sugar-works of Tucuman. Santiago dries the fodder for its troops of mules. The prairies of Catamarca, which once fattened the cattle that were intended for Chile, and often came even from Tucuman, now sell their beasts to the butchers of Tucuman. The wines of San Juan find their best customers at Tucuman. Even the nearest portions of the plain of the Pampas, to the north-east of Santa Fe and the south of San Luis, supply maize and wheat to Tucuman and Mendoza, instead of sending them to the ports for export.