The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1888-01-28
PATAGONIA.
A South American Country That
Exists Only in Name.
How Its Marauding Savages
We're Severely Punished.

Eonia. 1t appears on our Biographies
now ~ - drear and uninhabitAble waste,
upon which lords of wild horSes and
/ cattle Craze, that are hunted for their
fish by = few bands OF savage Indians
OF immense stature" ! am quoting
from = school book published in 1886,
and in common use in this country. The
SANE geography gives similar informa-
tion abou. tho Argentine Confedera-
ton" 1t makes the Ar;entiaes roar
with rage to call their country ''the
Argentine Confederation. A bitter,
bloody war WAS fouyhtto wipe that name
of III, map but our publishers still
insist upon keeping it there 1t i. not
confederation; it is a Nation. with big
IN, ike ours-oIe and iascparabie,
united we stand, divided We fall, and
all that sort of thing---thc Argentine
Republic. To call it anything else is m
Insult TO the patriots who fought to make
itso, and reflection upon our own in
tclligcrce.
Several years ago Patagonia was di-
viled between Chill and the Argentine
Republic, the Ministers from tho Unit ed
States to those two countries doing tho
carving. The SUBMITS OF the Cordll-
ierns were fixed as the boundary lines
Chill took the Strait OF Magellan and
the strip along the Pacific coast between
the mountains aad the sea, cId the
Argentine Republic the panpas. the
archipelago OF TERRA d:l Fueyo
being divided between them. Sine,
the PARTITION ranchmen have been push
ing southwark with great iapidity, and
row the vast territory is practically
occupied. There are no more wild
catt!e or horses there than in Kansas.
anal the dreary. uninhabited wastes Of
Patagonia have gone into oblivion with
the Great American Desert" The
remnant of a vast tribe of aLorigincs still
occupies the interior, but the Indian
problem of the Argentine Republic was
eoIvel in summary way There was
considerable annoyance on IL" frontier
from bands of rovils say..ycs. who
used to come north in the winter-time.
steal cattle, rob and dcspoil. and the out
posts OF civilization were rot safe.
General Roci was sent with
a brigade of cavalry to tho frontier,
to prevent this sort of thing.
East and west acr oss the territory runs
the Elo Negro, swift. turbid stream
like the Missouri, with high banks.
Fifty miles or so from the mountains
shc river makes turn in its course, a2d
leaves narrow pathway through which
that enter, or leaves Pata-
Sonia by land must 90. Across ,hi,
.'ass OF fifty miles General Roca dur
Glitch twelve fccs deep and fifteen feet
wide. The indians, to the number OF
several thousand, were north VIXEN the
work was done, rniding the settlements.
AS spring came they turned to 60. south
ms usual, IN Il long caravan, with their
stolen horses art cattle. Roca gal
lopcd around their rear, and drove shem
night and day before him. When they
the ditch they became Sewil-
Tered for they coaLd not cross it, and
after few lays OF slaughter the rem
1ant that survived surrendered, and |
were distributed through the army rs
while the women were sent into |
scml-slavcry among the ranchmen they
had robbed. The dead animals and |
men were buried together in the ditch
and there has been no further annoy
ancc fro II Indians on the frontier.
The few TINT remain seldom come |
but remain around Punta
Arenas, the only settlement IN the Strait,
hunting the ostrich and other wild game.
trading the skins for whiskcy, and max
Ing themselves rs wrctched as possible.
The robes they wear arc made of the
skins OF the guanaco, species of the
llama, AID the breasts of young ostriches.
There is nothing pre,ticr than an ostrich
robe, but each one represents the slaugh-
ter Of from sixteen t. twenty Young
birds, and they are getting rare and cx-
pensivc as the birds are being extermi-