Only those of us who have gone horse
riding for more than one day through the vast lands of the Argentinean
Pampa can understand the fact that the gauchos who inhabited those lands
valued their freedom above anything else. They needed nothing else. They
rode their horses during the day, along
territories so similar to each other that only in their fatigue
could they find the measure of the
distances covered. They would sleep wherever the night
found them, lying on the
same piece of leather and sheep
skin
that they would use to ride, under a sky full
of stars, which gave them the necessary clues to find their way. They would
eat whenever they felt
hungry: they would simply kill a cow, roast the tastiest
pieces on an open fire, and leave the rest as food for dogs and birds. Until
the beginnings of the XX Century, anyone who felt hungry in the Argentinean
Pampa was authorized to kill a cow.
They were
only required to leave the animal's
skin stretched out in the sun, the only part of the animal that was valued in
a land of such abundance.
Since then, much work has been done in the Argentinean tanneries to obtain leather that, apart from its smoothness and natural gloss, has the optimal resistance to wear and tear.