[23] The fattening of cattle for Chile was no longer done in the _invernadas_ of Mendoza at the beginning of the nineteenth century. See an article on Mendoza in the _Telegrafo Mercantil_, January 31, 1802, which tells of the development of ranches on the Tunuyan. Mendoza and San Juan were their only markets, and they did not sell cattle to Chile. [24] T. J. Hutchinson, _Buenos Aires y otras Provincias argentinas_ (translated by L. Varela, Buenos Aires, 1866). It is difficult to give accurate details of the volume of trade in cattle in colonial Argentine. However, the facts given by travellers (though they often merely borrow from each other) suffice to show how important this traffic was in the life of the country and the extent of the zone that was occupied with it. As early as the middle of the seventeenth century Cordoba seems to have exported to Peru as many as 28,000 to 30,000 mules annually.[25] At the close of the eighteenth century, we read in D'Azara, 60,000 mules were exported; and Helms gives the same figure.[26] The mules were bought young by Cordoba dealers at Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, and Corrientes, reared at Cordoba, and then sent to Salta, where they were sold in their third year to mule-dealers from Peru. [25] Azcarate de Biscay, quoted in H. Gibson, _La evolucion ganadera_ in _Censo agropecuario nacional_, Buenos Aires, 1909, vol. iii. [26] A. Z. Helms, _Voyage dans l'Amerique meridionale_ (Paris, 1812). The journey was in 1788.