PREFACE.


In May last I was asked to read, towards the end of the year, a paper on
Argentina, before the Royal Society of Arts. The task of compiling that
paper was one of absorbing interest to me; and though I fully realise
how inadequately I have dealt with so interesting a subject, I venture
to think that the facts and figures which the paper contains may be of
interest to some, at any rate, of the Shareholders of the Santa Fé Land
Company. It is upon this supposition that it is published.

Whilst I was obtaining the latest information for the paper (which was
read before the Royal Society of Arts on November 30th, 1910), several
members of the staff of the Santa Fé Land Company aided me by writing
some useful and interesting notes on subjects connected with Argentina,
and also giving various experiences which they had undergone whilst
resident there. I am indebted to the writers for many hints on life in
Argentina, and as I think that others will find the reading of the notes
as engaging as I did, they are now reproduced just as I received them,
and incorporated with my own paper in a book of which they form by no
means the least interesting part.

The final portion of the book--Leaves from a journal entitled "The
Tacuru"--is written in a lighter vein. It describes a trip through some
of the Northern lands of the Santa Fé Land Company, and it is included
because, although frankly humorous, it contains much really useful
information and many capital illustrations, I should, however, mention
that this journal was written by members of the expedition, and was
originally intended solely for their own private edification and