The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-11-27
THE TIP END OF THE WESTERN
HEMISPHERE.

Patagonia ana Ilorrh uoA EuosO' ~
Secret of ChiIian Animosity Toward
Americans.
OFF CoRoNEI, Sept. "a, 1891. When
YOU and went to school, dear reader,
there was Patagonia on the maps that
we studied, and also Terra del Fuego;
but now there are no such countries any
where, although the old names still cling
to the localities. A few years ago 1t nap
pened by rare chance that the two most
powerful republics of South America
Chile and the Argentine-found them
selves with no internal revolutions on
hand; and SO they combined in a sort of
missionary enterprise against their
weaker because less civilized neighbors,
the Patagonians and Terra del FuegOans,
killing off most of them. enslaving the
remainder, and dividing their possessions
between themselves. When 1t came TO a
division of the spoils the United States
was called upon to assist, through her
ministers in Buenos Ayres and Santiago;
and SO entirely to the satisfaction of the
yjctors was the matter adj iusted that they
afterwards presented costly testimonials
OF regard to the ministers aforesaid.
It was agreed that the boundary line
of Chile should be extended down the
coast and then run eastward just north
Of the Strait of Magellan, so that the Ar
rentine should have the vast pampas, or
prairies of Patagonia, and Chile the StralC
and most of the islands-thus making
correct map of Chile look, as somebody
expresses it, like the leg of tall man,
long and lean, with very mgh lnstep
and several conspicuous bunions." IL is
difficult to say which country got the
best of the Experimentation the great
Snnth-
western archipelago comprising thou
sands of unexplored islands, believed to
he rich in gold, silver, coal and copper,
is most valuable. or the broad plains
that fell to the share of the Argentines,
which rise in regular terraces from the
.Seabord to the summit of the Cordilleras,
a. extensive as those that stretch be-
tween the Mississippi river and the
mountains of Colorado, and as useful tor
agricultural purposes as for cattle
raising.
About this h-handed dissection of a
peaceful country Mr.. w. E. Curtis says:
1T is commonly the custom to divide
property after the owner death-0ut IN
this instance the inheritance was first
shared by the heirs and then the owner
was mercilessly slaughtered. They called
1T a grand triumph of the genius of civil
Hzation over the barbarians; but, as i'll
many other cases, the impeachment to
civi ization was swept away in cataract
of blood" General ROca, recent Pres
jdcnt of the Argentine Republic, was the
author and executor of the scheme OF
ciyilizing Patagonia; and he accom-
plished it as the early COnquistadOres in
tlOduced Christianity-with the keen
edge of sword. The following true in
cident is fair sample of his missionary
work. The old dividing line between
Patagonia and the Argentine was the Rio
Negro, a mighty river which flows along
the forty first parallel nearly thousand
miles north of the Strait of Magellan.
The southern end of this great stretch of
country is bleak and barren, being mere
shale beds covered with thorny shrubs
and coarse grass, upon which nothing
but ostriches can subsist; but farther
north the well-watered pampas rise in
successive terraces up the Andean slopes.
During half the year the region of the
Straits is swept by those fierce winds
called pamperOs. which are the dread of
both navigatOrs and landsmen. From
time out OF mind the Patagonians had
been in the habit of driving their cattle
from the cold and windy lowlands to win
ter in the foothills of the Andes-and
these gentle savages also had a habit of
leaving their herds and their women in
the mountains, while they made eXcur-
SinrS into Argentina, stealing, burning
and killing. At every raid the terror
Stri, ken ranchmen fled toward the cities,
80 that year by year the frontier line OF
that republic receded toward the capital
instead of advancing.
President Roca-then general of cav
airy, who had won some renown in the
war against Lopez, the tyrant OF Para
guay--waS sent out with three regiments
10 discipline the Indians" And this is
the way he did it: While the Indians
were enjoying their customary winter
picnic, he sent three thousand soldiers to
digging an enormous ditch. twelve feet
wide and fifteen feet deep, all the way
from the mountains to the Rio Negro,
and gave the diggerS particular orders tc
scatter the earth from the excavation III
such 4 manner as to leave no evidence of
their work. When the ditch was com
plctvd, he hanked the Indians with his
cavalry and drove them southwark ON the
double quick. Ignorant of the trap that
mad bern set for them the Patagonians
galloped pell-mell into the waiting grave,
where presently thousands of men, wO-
men and children, cattle and horses, were
piled one above another, a writhing,
screaming, struggling mass. Most of
chem were killed outright by the fall, or
were crushed by those who tumbled on
top, and the few who managed to crawl
ont were dispatched by the sabres of the
Cayalrymen. Those who were not driven
into the ditch fled eastward along the
river, hunting for crossing. which the
soldiers allowed them no time to make.
The PatagOnians had no tools for bridge
building; picks, spades and shOvels were
unknown among them; and as they
were not the wards of any nation, mus
kets and ammunition had never been
furnished them. 1t was about such
case aS that willy rascal, Chief Joseph of
''Nez Perces," gave our General Howard
few years ago, and finally ended in
Roca's driving the Indians into corner,
with the impossible Rio Negro behind
them, where the slaughter was continued
until most of the warriors fell. The re-
mainder were made prisoners and dis
tTibuted among the several regiments of
the Argentine army, in which they after
ward proved excellent soldiers; and the
women and children were sent to the Ar
gentine cities, where they have since been
held in state of semi slavery by the
families of influential men. The dead
were never counted, but were buried in
the ditch which caused their destructi IN; ;
and so Patagonia was wiped out of exis-
tence d the great Indian nation which
the early explorers TOmanced so much
about was nearly exterminated. Both
history and tradition have falsely report
cd them as a race of giants and attributed
70 them traits of fierceness and courage