Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1888-01-28

what Became or Patagonia.
There used to be place called Pat
agonia. 1t appears on our Geo yraphies
now as "a drear and uninhGbitable
waste. upon which herds of wild horses
and cattle Craze, that arc hunted fol
their flesh by a few bands of savage
Indians of immense stature" | am
quoting from schoOl-book published
in 1856. and i'll common use i'll this
country. The same geography gives
similar information about the Argen-
tine Confederation" 1t makes the
Argentincs roar with rage to call their
country "thc Argentine Confedcra-
ton 1t woul he just as polite and
proper To call this the confederate
war was sought to wipe the name off
the map, but our publishers still insist
upon keeping il there. 1t is not a con-
federation; it is Il Nation, with Il big
N. " like ours one and inscparable,
united we stand. divided we fall, and
all that sort of thing the Argentine
Republic. To call it anything else is
an insult to the patriots who fought to
make it so. and reflection upon our
own intelligence.
Several years ago Patagonia was di
vidcd between Chilli and Argentine
Republic. the Ministers from the
United States to those two countries
doing the carving. The SUBMITS of
the COTdillcraS were fixed as the
boundary lines Chilli took the Strait
of Magellan and the strip along the
Pacific coast between the mountains
and the sea. aud the Argentine Repub-
lie the pampaS. the archipelago of
TERRA del Fucgo being divided between
them. Since the partition ranchmen
have been pushing southwark with
great rapidly. and now the vast terri
tory is practically occupied. There
are no more wild cattle or horses there
than in Kansas, and the dreary unn-
habitcd wastes of Patagonia have gone
into oblivion with the Great Ameri-
can Desert The remnant of a vast
tribe of Aborigines still occupies the
interior, hut the Indian problem OF
the Argentine Republic was solved
in summary way. There was
considerable annoyance on the from
tier from bands of rowing savages. who
used to come north in the Wiutcr-time,
steal attic, rob, and ravish, and the
OutpoStS of civilization were not safe.
GEN. Roca, the Sheridan of the River
Plate, was sent with Il brigade of cav
airy to the frontier to prevent This SOr,
of thing. East and west across the
territory runs the Rio Negro, a swift,
turbid stream like the Mississippi,
with high banks. Fifty miles or so
from the mountains the river makes a
II n / T. nd ~
pathway through which everything
land must go. Across this pass of
fifty miles Gen. Roca dug ditch
twelve feet deep and fifteen feet wide.
The indians, to the number of several
thousand were north when the work was
was done, raidmg the settlements. AS
spring came they turned southwark as
usual, in long caravan, with their
stolen horses and cattle. ROca gal
lOpcd around their rear. and drove
them night and day before him. When
they reached the ditch they became
bewildcred, for they could not cross ii,
and after IL few days of slaughter the
remnant that survived surrendered,
and were distributed through the army
as soldiers, while the women were sent
into a scmi-slavcry among the ranch
men they had robbed. The dead ami
mails and men were buried together in
thesGitch. and there has been no fur
Their annoyance from Indians on the
frontier.
The few that remain seldom come
nOrthWard, but remain around Punta
Arenas, the only settlement in the
Strait, hunting the ostrich and other
wild game, trading the skins for
whiskey, and making themselves as
Wrctchcd as possible. The robes they
wear are made of the skins of the gu
anaco, a species Of the llama, ana the
breasts of young ostriches. There is
nothing prcttier than an ostrich robe.
but each one represents the slaughter
of from sixteen to twenty young birds,
and they are getting rare and eXpen-
sivc as the birds are being eXtermin,
atcd, as our bulfalocS have been
IjUEnn +. Curtis, in Horper'S -NoWt-
zinc.