"It is interesting to note the occupations of the various nationalities as they settle in this new country. The descendants of the original conquerors are generally known as _Guachos_, or 'countrymen;' they rarely live in the cities, preferring the wild life of the interior, where they dwell in rude huts, subsist on the flesh of cattle or wild game, and have an existence little better than semi-civilized. They are the finest horsemen in the world, if half the stories we hear of them are true, and a group of guachos ought to put to shame the best circus troupe that was ever organized. [Illustration: A GUACHO ON HORSEBACK.] "Apropos of this, I am told that a circus company came to Buenos Ayres, years ago, when the place was the resort of the guachos, and gave a performance. Just as the show ended a group of guachos rode into the ring and completely outdid the circus men in every one of their tricks, besides several that were not down in the bills. The circus company sailed away for Valparaiso, but it had no better luck there than at Buenos Ayres. The Chilians are splendid horsemen, and defeated the professional performers at their own game. It was probably the same company we heard about at Lima. "The Italian emigrants engage in building houses and in raising vegetables in the market-gardens surrounding the principal cities; those from Genoa have almost a monopoly of the boating business on the rivers, and they man the coasting ships and other craft. The Catalonian Spaniards are mostly wine-merchants; the Andalusians are shop-keepers and cigar dealers; and the Galicians are employed as domestics, porters, watchmen, and railway servants of the lower grades. Emigrants from the Basque provinces are the most numerous, next to the Italians, and their employments are similar to those of the Galicians, in addition to bricklaying, sheep-tending, and farm-work in general. The Irish are the sheep-farmers of the country, and it is said there are thirty millions of sheep in the Argentine Republic owned by Irish settlers. The English, Scotch, and Germans are generally occupied with commerce, though some of them have gone into cattle and sheep farming, like the Irish; the French are commercially inclined, some branches of trade being almost monopolized by them, and they assimilate with the native Argentines more readily than do the English and Germans. The aboriginal Araucanians generally retain their independence, leading a nomadic life, and keeping large herds of cattle and horses, which furnish their subsistence. [Illustration: POST-STATION ON THE PAMPAS.]