Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-01-03
PArAcoNTAss FArk



How . South American Country was Alb
soreed By ITS NesghborA
There used to be place called Pata,
gonna. 1t appears on our geographic
now as a drear and uninhabitabls
waste, upon which herds Of wild horses
and cattle Craze. that are hunted TO,
their flesh by few bands OF savage
Indians of immense stature" / am
quoting from school-bosk published
in 1886, and In common use in this
country. The same geography give
similar information about 1.-THE Areen
tine Confederation 1t makes til.
Argentines roar with rage to call thei,
country 1.-THE Argentine Confederation.
1t would be just as polite and proper te
call this the Confederate States
America" A bitter, bloody war wa
fought to wipe that name off the map
but our publishers still insist upor
keeping it there. 1t is not a confeder-
alton; il is Nation, with big en-
like onrs--one and inseparable. united
we stand, divided we fall, and all thai
sort Of thing-the Argentine Republic.
10 call it any thing else is an insult to
the patriots who fought to make 1t 80,
and reflection upon our own intelli.
gence.
Several years ago Patagonia was d.
yided between Chill and the Argentine
Republic, the Ministers from the
United States to those two countries
doing the carving. The submits o.
the Cordilleras were fixed as the bound.
airy lines. Chill took the Strait Of
Magellan and the strip along the Pa
citic coast, between the mountains and
the sea, and the Argentine Republi,
the pampas. the archipelago of TERRA
del Fuego being divided between them.
Since the partition ranchmen have
been pushing southwark with great
rapidity. and now the vast territory
is practically occupied. There are No
more wild cattle or horses there than
in Kansas, and the drearv, nninhabited
wastes of Patagonia have gone into
oblivion with the Great American
Desert" The remnant of vast tribe
OF aborigines still occupies the interior,
but the Indian problem of the Ar
gentine Republic was solved in sum.
mary way. There was considerable an
noyance on the frontier from bands o.
rowing savages, who used to come nortl
in the winter time, steal cattle. rol
and ravish, and the outposts Of civiliza
ton were not safe. General Roca, tn,
Sheridan of the River Plate, was sen
with a brigade Of cavalry to the frontier
to prevent this sort of thing. East ant
west across the territory runs the Rit
Negro. swift, turbid stream like tn.
Missouri, with high banks. Fifty mile
or so from the mountains the rive
makes turn in its course. and leave
narrow pathway through which ever,
thing that enters or leaves Patagoni;
by land must go. Across this pass o
fifty miles General Roca dug ditcl
twelve feet deep and fifteen feet wide
The Indians, to the number of severa
thousand. were north when the wor
was done, raiding the settlements. A
spring came they turned to go south
ward as usual, in long caravan, witt
their stolen horses and cattle Roc
| galloped around their rear, and drov
| them night and day before him. Whel
they reached the ditch they became be
wil,ered. for they could not cross it, an,
| after few days of slaughter the rem
nant that survived surrendered and wer
| distributed through the army as sol
| dieTS, while the women were sent into
semi-slavery among the ranchmen the
had robbed. The dead animals and me
were buried together in the ditch, an
there has been no further annoyanc
| from Indians on the frontier.
The few that remain seldom com
northward. but remain around Punt
| Arenas, the only settlement in tn
Strait, hunting the ostrich and othe
wild game, trading the skins for viii:
ky, and making themselves as wretche
as possible. The robes they wear ar
made of the skins of the guanaco.
species of the llama. and the breasts {
young ostriches. There is nothin
pretier than All ostrich robe. but eac
one represents the slaughter of froi
sixteen to twenty young birds, an
they are getting rare and expensive 3
the birds are being exterminated. q
our butfaloes have been. - William 1
Curt,s, IN Harper's Nagasine.