shes, animals, flowers, trees, good friends,
and the fine natives of the Northern Chaco.

WORK IN THE WOODS.

WORK IN THE WOODS.

The worker in the forests is of necessity an early riser, the nature of
his task requiring that he should be up betimes. His preparations for
breakfast are simple, and he is ready to start out after half an hour
spent in imbibing a few mates full of yerba infusion. The cartmen tie in
their bullocks, kept overnight in a corral, and drive off to bring in
wood prepared by the axemen, the bullock-herd takes his charges to
pasture and the men's employer mounts his horse to visit the camp of his
axemen, or goes to the store to fetch meat and provisions. The axemen
generally live in tents or temporary shelters, convenient to their work,
and some distance from the contractor's rancho. They have to work hard,
stripped to the waist in summer; they fell the trees, and either square
the logs for baulks and sleepers, or cut the bark and outside layer of
white wood off to make logs for export, working by moonlight when the
heat of the day is excessive. Their food consists of biscuits, called
Galleta, dried to the consistency of flint; these they soften in soup
made from fresh meat or dried "Charki." To this soup is added rice,
maize, or "Fido's," which is coarse macaroni.

The favourite roast, called the "Asado," is made from ribs of beef
impaled on a stick and placed near the fire till sufficiently cooked.
This delicacy, usually as hard as nails, is enjoyed by the men, who cut
off portions, which they hold in their teeth, while, with a jack-knife,
mouthfuls are sawn off close to the nose, at the risk of shortening that
organ. Water is drunk, or coffee sweetened liberally with moist sugar.
This coffee is made in the country, chiefly from beans or maize, with a
large percentage of chicory to give it body.

It is picturesque to see a long string of carts enter a deposit to the
sound of pistol cracks from long whips, and to watch the cartmen unload
the heavy logs.

A cartman will load his cart with logs of a ton and upwards, each with
the aid of his team of bullocks, placing the chains so that the animals,
at the desired moment, by advancing a short distance, roll the log from
the ground on to the cart. In the case of very heavy logs the cart is
placed upside down on the log, which is then bound to it, and the
bullocks pull the whole thing over. The distances which have to be
covered by t