CHAPTER XXIV

ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE BRITISH IN THE NINETEENTH

CENTURY (II)

Influence of the practical atmosphere of the Americas-Some unlooked for results of the British expedition-Early military and naval settlersTreaty rights-Relations between the British and South American agriculturalists-How the British adapted themselves to local customs-Tricks of speech-Town communities-Early British pastoralists of the river Plate-The foundation of the livestock industryAdvent of the Scottish colony-The importation of pedigree stockLater progress-First experiments in meat preserving-Development of the industry-The career of Robert Billinghurst-Some early estancia records-Success of the Irish pioneers-A scourge of "Camp" duellists-Pastoral incidents-Success and failure-The Henley colony-The Welsh colony at Chubut-Ideals and difficulties of the settlers-The Australian colony in Paraguay-Reasons for its foundation. Mr. Stewart Grahame on an experiment in socialism-Its collapse-A tentative exportation from Bolivia of llamas, alpacas, and Vicuñas-Objections of the Bolivian Government-How its officials were outwitted-Some explorers, mountain-climbers, and travelers— The influence of sport.

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O doubt as many delusions have been concerned with South America as with any other continent. Many Englishmen have sailed for the Spanishspeaking countries of that continent, expecting the voyage's end to reveal to them a fantastic, paradoxical world such as was truly conjured up from Spain in Europe by that mellow and delightful author, Richard Ford. Surely no writer ever opened the doors of a country more gently, and at the same time more widely -and the doors of Spain are the heaviest and creak the loudest of all at the push of an unskilled and ponderous hand!

But at no time were Ford's "Cosas de Espana" translated with their full peninsular flavor across the West

ern Ocean. In certain respects the atmosphere of the Americas has always proved unsympathetic. Its practical influence has chilled, for instance, even the proverbs of Spain, and has reduced their resounding bulk to a handier collection of lesser volume. It has exercised a similar effect on many trappings, whether of speech, office, or general social environment.

It need not be inferred from this that the Spanish South American has lacked his Iberian graces. The Spanish South American can be as eloquent as the Spaniard. The flow of his oratory is such as may be envied by the speakers of less fluent nations. But he has his strong practical side, for all that, and when occupied by the hard-and-fast business of the day, he is capable of turning the streams of his imagination and eloquence in a single-minded fashion upon even such prosaic and profitable objects as bulls, rams, and sires!

It was, indeed, this pastoral side of his existence, which-in the South, at all events-led to the first real intimacy between him and the British. As has been seen, the advent of these latter was heralded in a somewhat truculent manner by the military expeditions to the Rio de la Plata The final results of this could by no means have been foreseen, when Admiral Home Popham's fleet first cast anchor in the muddy waters that washed the town of Buenos Aires. From out of the smoke of battle grew the beginnings of a mutual respect and friendship.

The expedition that had failed from a military point of view was crowned with an unexpected success in the affairs of every-day and commercial life. The influence of the British occupation had been greater than had been suspected at the time. It had served to disseminate new ideas, which had been eagerly drunk in by the South Americans. Moreover, although most of the British merchants who had flocked to the spot had departed with the fleet, a certain number had remained, while of

the rest there were not a few who returned to the tempting field after the lapse of a year or two.

As for the colonists themselves, the added confidence of their own strength, which the events of the expedition had taught them, had the effect of urging them to display more openly that warmth toward the foreigner, which they had experienced almost from their first contact with the outer world, but to which the laws of Spain had not permitted them to give expression.

We have seen that the War of Independence was responsible for the arrival of many British soldiers and sailors, a certain number of whom remained as settlers, in the Southern continent. The most pronounced immigration of the British, however, followed the conclusion of this war, and the signing of the treaty which guaranteed to British subjects full protection, liberties, and trading rights, as well as exemption from all local claims such as those for military service and the like. It was after this that the British went beyond the first stage common to the immigrants in a foreign country: they took up land, and settled themselves for better or worse in the new territories of the South.

I doubt if there has been a parallel in the entire history of British immigration of the ease with which these settlers threw out their sentimental roots, and adapted themselves to their surroundings. The more practical side of the influx was marked by the arrival of pedigree cattle, horses, and sheep, and soon the Shorthorns and Herefords, Hackneys and Clydesdales, Lincolns and Romney Marsh, began to transform the livestock population of the pastoral plains.

On the whole, nothing could have been happier than the relations between these newcomers and their Argentine or Uruguayan neighbors. The influence was mutual. The South American rapidly adapted himself to the British notions of breeding and sport. He took to polo, and learned how to go out with a gun á l'anglais;