Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE ELITE VIEW OF THE
RURAL FOLK, 1868
[T
[The country folk] belong to two different races, the Spanish and the
native; the combinations of which form a series of imperceptible
gradations. The pure Spanish race predominates in the rural districts
of Cordova and San Luis, where it is common to meet young shep-
herdesses fair and rosy, and as beautiful as the belles of a capital could
wish to be. In Santiago del Estero, the bulk of the rural population still
speaks the Quichua dialect, which plainly shows its Indian origin. . . .
The Negro race, by this time nearly extinct (except in Buenos Aires),
has left, in its zambos and mulattoes, a link which connects civilized man
with the denizen of the woods. . . .
With these reservations, a homogeneous whole has resulted from
the fusion of the three above-named families. It is characterized by love
of idleness and incapacity for industry, except when education and the
exigencies of social position succeed in spurring it out of its customary
pace. To a great extent, this unfortunate result is owing to the incorpo-
ration of the native tribes, effected by the process of colonization. The
American aborigines live in idleness, and show themselves incapable,
even under compulsion, of hard and protracted labor. This suggested
the idea of introducing Negroes into America, which has produced such
fatal results. But the Spanish race has not shown itself more energetic
than the aborigines, when it has been left to its own instincts in the
wilds of America. . . .
All civilization, whether native, Spanish, or European, centers in the
cities, where are to be found the manufactories, the shops, the schools
and colleges, and other characteristics of civilized nations. Elegance of
style, articles of luxury, dress-coats, and frock-coats, with other European
garments, occupy their appropriate place in these towns.
Source:
Sarmiento, Domingo F.
Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of
the Tyrants, or Civilization and Barbarism
(New York: Harper Press, 1974),
pp. 10-11, 13.
a life of rapine to any other” (Hibbert 1824, 65-66). Interprovincial trade
met additional obstacles in the form of internal customs duties. Each pro-
vincial government set up customs agents at the borders to collect taxes
on the freight produced in neighboring provinces.
