Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TESTIMONY ON THE RISKS OF
THE MULE BUSINESS, 1773
Those [mules] purchased on the . . . pampas, from one and one-half
to two years old, cost 12 to 16 reales each [up to 2 pesos]. [In
Potosí, mules sold for 9 pesos per head.] . . . The herds taken from the
fields of Buenos Aires comprise only 600 to 700 mules. . . .
The purchaser who is going to winter the horses [in Córdoba]
may also turn them over, at his expense to the ranchers, but I do not
consider this wise because the attendants who round up and guard the
mules maim the horses for their own purposes and those of the owner,
an act in which they have few scruples. The aforementioned 12 men nec-
essary for the drive of every herd of 600 to 700 mules, earn, or rather
they are paid, from 12 to 16 silver pesos . . . and in addition they are
provided with meat to their satisfaction and some Paraguay mate. . . .
Now we have a herd capable of making a second trip, to Salta, where
the [mule fair] is held, leaving Córdoba in the end of April . . . so as to
arrive in Salta in early June, making allowance for accidental and often
necessary stops for the animals to rest in fertile fields with abundant
water. In this second journey the herds are usually composed of from
1,300 to 1,400 mules. . . .
These herds rest in the pastures of Salta around eight months, and
in selecting this locale one should observe what I said at the outset
about . . . the illegal acts of the owners [of the pastures], who, although
in general they are honorable men, can perpetrate many frauds, listing
as dead, stolen, or runaways, many of the best mules of the herd, which
they replace with local-born animals . . . not suited for the hard trip to
Peru.
For every herd, two droves of horses are necessary; one to separate
and round up the animals, and 4 reales a day per man must be paid to
the owners, even if each one rides 20 horses, crippling them or killing
them. . . . Each herd leaving Salta is comprised of 1,700 or 1,800 mules.
Source:
Concolorcorvo (Alonso Carrió de la Bandera).
El Lazarillo: A
Guide for Inexperienced Travelers Between Buenos Aires and Lima, 1773
.
Translated by Walter D. Kline (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1965), pp. 112-115.
and corrals nearby retained the thousands of animals for which they
bargained. Obviously, the main commodity was the mule; yearly sales
of the beast of burden varied from 11,000 to 46,000 animals.
