Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-12-12
, UNITING OSTRICHES.
lie Principal Industry in One Dis
trict of Patagonia.
DEXTRoUs FLYING THE BoLAs
The Way the Big Birds Are Captured-How
They Are Cooked for Food-Interesting
Description Of Region About Which Very
Little 10 Known.
FROM III. Star, Travelipe Commissioned.

1toH Nc SSar lraNellnS COuI1isSlOnef
PUSTA ARENAS, PATAGONIA.
WHEN YOU SIT DOWN To READ THIS
w letter will you DO me the favor to have
before you q map Of South America? Such a
map as may be found in any encyclopedias or
common school atlas will answer the purpose if
. better is not easily core-at-able. / want to
call your attention particularly to that portion
of the southern continent between the Rio Ne
gro and the Strait of Magellan vast territory.
nearly 900 miles long and $50 miles across in the
widest part, which is known to the world
though now erroneously) as Patagonia With
otal area of 35O, COO square miles, it is larger
n either France, Spain or England, yet is
out the most thinly populated section Of the
ODE, and, though now the joint property Of
10 highly civilized countries, its interior il
Almost complete terra incognita as when
Magellan touched its shores, Just three hun
bred and seventy-two years ago Some au-
thorities state the number of its inhabitants
5000; none go higher than 10. 900. and prob
ably half the latter number would come near
est to the truth The thinness of its popula-
ton Is not entirely due to natural disadvan-
tages. for many more barren and forbidding
sections are densely inhabited; and most of
thjs-bGrring an excess of rain and snow in the
souihwest-is not unpleasant, either as regards
soil or climate.
Observe how the eastern shore is broken by
n succession of bays and inlets, and what noble
streams flow into them-the mighty Rio Negro
l'.Black river the Chupat or ''Chubut," as it
Is often called. and its greatest tributary, the
Senegal; the Santa Cruz, which runs through n
valley from one to fifty miles wide and 1, 400
feet below the level of the plain till il joins the
larger Rio Chico near the Port de Sta Cruz,
and numerous smaller streams unnamed and
unknown. except by a few migratory Indians,
who occasionally pitch their moving toldas
along the banks. See how the western side is
lined with countless islands that crowd one
another around the point Of the great penin-
suIa, with narrow deep sea fords between
mountain islands, most of them entirely unex-
plored, and all apparently part of the ada
cent Cordillera. wrenched apart in some remote
age by one of those stupenduous changes
which writers lightly term q ''convulsion of
nature"
TWO DISTINCT REGIONS.
The interior of Patagonia naturally divides
itself into two regions unequal in size as dis
inct in general features. That narrow strip
sest of the Cordillera. including the mountains
themselves and all the islands. is now claimed
By Chile, and. though good for nothing agri-
eutturniiy, Is believed TO be rich in eeal and
copper. and possibly in gold and silver, not to
mention an inexhanstibie amount of timber
The distance Is so short between the Andes and
the Pacific that its longest river rising near the
summit. measures barely thirteen miles in its
windings to the coast. There are several active
volcanoes among Its mountains, the largest of
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., opposite the Island of
Chiloe-is 900 feet high. The mean tempera-
ture Of thi~ region is 80 degrees Fair. both
winter and summer. for the weather seldom
varies from damp, penetrating cLilliness
which Is more trying to man and beast than a
greater degree OF cold In a dryer atmosphere
The reason for this lies in the fact that western
winds prevail, and these. heavily surcharged
with moisture drawn from the lirnitless wastes
OF the Pacirie: strike against the cold, high
mountain wall and fall in almost perpetua rain
sieet or snow. In spite of the cold this eternal
dampness has produced forests of tropical
Iuxuriance. IN whose depth jaguars Turk and
ncrce pumas (mountain hons) and the shv
guanaeo-one of the five species of ''camel
sheep peculiar to South America-while
along the coast seals and sea elephants abound.
WHAT TIE ''PANPAs' ARE
argentine Patagonia" which comprises
about four-fifths Of the whole country reckoned
by square miles. stretches from the Andes east
ward TO the Atlantic and il commonly spoken
OF as 1.-THE pampas (plains), though mos: OF i
bears no resernOlln 10 the name The true
PamPas begin away up north near the Rio de
N Plata and end not far below the Rio Negro.
South Of this the whole country is a succession
OF stony steppes AID grass-croyn meadows
varied by salt lakes and bracklsh marshes. the
peebly surface - mixed with earth of a male
sra! eolor, oSeEiying masses Of Porphyry and
strevn with enormous bOulders, gradually ris-
ing In natural terraces from the ocean 10 the
Cordiliera, the highest terrace reaching An alti-
tude OF 5000 feet The soil il strongly imrreo-
mated with saItpeter and the numerous snail
salt iaAes are surrounded by dazzling. snow
white crest In several of these lakes the ,ya.o,
spoisoaOus ana ali have the popularity of being
extremely cold IL summer time and corresD,r,J,
tngly warm N winter. O:her places ara ovor
grown with tall grass rank and coarse as 10 re-
sembie rushes; alterna;ed by patches of thornv
brush wood. mOrGs-es sdlter than the sea itseIr
and salinas or beds of solid salt often TWO nv
three feet thick and covering an area several
mics square. while toward the west the dead
level OF the landscape Is broken bv bssaltie
ridges-the home Of hawks and eagles Tia
great Andean condor here crosses the cont.
neat for the first and only time and does mot
disdain to build his clumsy nest upon bare
rOchs overhangiug inland streams, as well as
on ellis thai front the sea lie is accompanied
into exile By the big. black turkey buzzard and
also by two species OF pclyborus or eagle yul-
lures, known IN local pariance as ''carranchas''
and ''chiaiangoes."
WAS ONCE THE BED OF THE OCEAN
biologists tell US that all this country was
once sea bottom. for everywhere marine sheeis
are found. aud other evidences that the ocean
once rolled over it Far inland the remains of
fossil monsters are met-the Giant arpa,l;IIo
0Iyptodon) and colossal Inylodovs and me-
gatherlCms-and several hundred miles of the
southern coast Is one vast deposit of tertiary
strata. Underlying white pumaceous sub
In surprising contrast TO western Patagonia
the eastern side is mostly dry aud hot. for the
prevailing west winds, having been drained bv
the Andes, bring no moisture Traveller. who
nave seen both countries declare that portions
OF This bear striking similarity to the deserts
OF southern Africa-the resenbla being
heightened by tie presence of os.riches two
species OF which may always be seen scuddinp
over the Pstagonian plans like ships under
sai others compare this TO bad lands Of
the Colorado and the barren grounds" of The
Hudson Fay Company and others generally
those who have no: been here) to the Peruvian
desert OF Ataearns and even 20 Ss.ilara COBB Kali
Affair and tee steppes of kaurezm. VI. Guinnard
she noted French scientist, who explored this
country thoroughly few years ago declares
tEat Patagonia has TO. nearly so much sterile
soil rs has been believed: that nearly all OF il ia
susceptible Of cultivation, and at least three
fourtns Of it Is extraordinarily fertile. How
ever taat may be. 1t has never been cultivated
- all, except in the immediate neighborhood
OF Punta Arenas; but there are q few estaucias
trAnehes), especially near the Rio Negro, where
horses and cattle are bred. There are deep
valleys, too. which the dreaded pamperos can
not penetrate. furrowed by mountain torrents
and dotted with picturesque lakes bIackened
BY wild duck that are tame as BARNARD
fowls, having never learned the fear OF man