The Republican journal., 1904-04-28
The interior Of Patagonia.
looks BEYOND THE MOUNT
HI" VAST TERRA INC0GNITA
WHICH a'BI FEW WHITE MEN HAVE nl.1z. Wis ;
OSTRICH LORE. HUNTING
o,r p1RDs WITH THE BOLAS.

,,IarcH FEW WHITE MEN HAVE Wis
\ nn OSTRICH LORE. HUNTING
4 BIC BIRDS WITH THE BOLAS.
H p--aal correspondence Of The Joufnal]
ARENAS, Patagonia, March
When you sit down to read
4 steer will you do me favor to
fore YOU a map of South
" ,. such a map as may be
il, any encyclopedia will answer
.,nose If newer one is not easily
able want to call your
.,o particularly to that portion
'-' ..ufteru continent between the
,..Jrp and the Strait of Magellan,
territory nearly thousand miles
.aJ 4~U miles across in the widest
AhItb Is known to the world
.. a.,A enormously, as Patagonia.
,t4} area of $4,000 square
f. larger than either France,
England, yet it is about the
...uA populated section of the
..I t.0lgh now the joint proper
..glIy civilized countries, its
...- lmOSt as complete terra
s-5 is it was centuries ago.
otlonues state the number of
..rautS as 5000, outside of
-.. A.tlls. and none go higher
......a low the eastern shore is
-.....- succession of bays and in
.. sinai noble streams flow into
.- mighty Rio Negro; the
.. r "Chubut' as it is often
U is greatest tributary, the
...-, ltt santa Cruz, which runs
.. valley from one to fifty
Nl and fourteen hundred feet
t.r level of the plain, till it
.. larger Rio Chico neaI the
F. santa Cruz; and numt.0us
.... ANS. unnamed and unknown,
-....- .y a few migratory Indians
... u,asionally pitch their moving
-..4. dong the banks. See how the
western. side is lined with countless
--U- 'Aat crowd one another around
t.-mut Of the great peninsula, with
...# deep-sea tiords between,-
husbands, most of them en-
. -XpIored, and all apparently a
Ill.,. the adjacent Cordillera,
n apart in some remote age by
1u those stupenduons changes
Writer'S lightly term a "convul-
III. at lature." The interior of Pata-
.4 -urally divides itself into two
Us unequal i'll size as distinct
a features. That narrow strip
t .l the Cordilleras, including
uralns themselves and all the
- IS now claimed by Chill;
uugh good for nothing ag-
Iy, is believed to be rich in coal
and possibly in gold and silver,
u- mention an inexhaustible
inf timber. The distance is SO
.etWeen the Andes and the
.. mat its longest river, rising
Nr summit, measures barely
miles i'll its WindlngS to the
,' ne mean temperature of this
y degrees Farh. both summer
liter, for the weather seldom
r Tom damp, penetrating chilli
aNca is more trying to man and
.-. VAN a greater degree of cold in a
nosphere. In spite of the cold,
nal dampness has produced
.. NJ tropical luXurance, i'll whose
..F- aguars lurk, and fierce pumas
mn lions) and the shy guanaco,
the five species of ''camel
-. peculiar to south America;
ong the coast seals and sea-
's abound.
.grutine Patagonia" which COM
!ouTlifths of the whole country
.aai by square miles, stretches
l- 'np Andes eastward to the Allan
alJ is commonly spoken of as
mpas," though most of it bears
ls-emblance to plains. The true
i-t, Jegin away up north not far
The Rio Negro. South of this
mole country is a succession of
teppes and grass-g grown mead
tued by salt lakes and brackish
aHes. The pebbly surface is mixed
F' arth of pale gray color, over
.- masses of porphyry and strewn
normous boulders, gradually
- IN natural terraces from the
n 10 the cordilleras. The soil is
%".y impregnated with saltpetre,
-lN t-p numerous small salt lakes are
nduded by dazzling, snow-white
cusr
10 seVeral of these lakes the water is
ieNgHous, and all have the popularity
being extremely cold in summertime
fqi comespondingly warm in winter
'l'e places are overgroWn with tall
-1's- SO rank and coarse as to resemble
.a' g. alternated by patches Of thorny
A9s.r wood, morasses salter than the
s5t Itself, and Salinas" or beds of
sI'd salt, often several feet thick and
''rug miles; While toward the west
dead level of the landscape is
''sfn by basaltic ridges, the home of
/