The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-05-18

wonderful development of the railway
system has accelerated the settlement
Of the interior and brought the com
forts of civilization to its towns,
Buenos Aires has continued to main
tain It's supremacy by constantly
drawing people from the interior. 1t
is, moreover. the gateway through
which all must pass to and from
Europe
Thus the porteno is the type and
flower of Argentina-the type OF It's
character. the flower Of its civilj-
cation.
y Country That Is Sine-Tcnths Plain.
I The northwestern part Of the repub-
/ lie. lying west of northern Chill and
south Of western Bolivia, is a table,
/ land, sometimes rugged, sometimes
undulating, the higher parts OF It
much like the rest of the country,
/ nfne-tenths of the whole. Is an I'M
mense plain more than two thousand
miles long from Magellan's Straits to
the frontiers of eastern Bolivia ana
Paraguay. 1t is interrupted in a few
points by low ranges. but. speak1nS
generally, is a prairie like that Whicn
in North America lies between the
hills of southern Oklahoma and the
Canadian border, though mere level,
for It wants the undulat1ng sweils and
ridges of Kansas and Iowa, and Is less
scanned by river beds
The climate varies with the latitude.
RI Is severe in the PatagoHian south,
, and almost tropical in the north. But
in the region called the Pampas. that
, Is to say, sort of square, six rundreo
miles wide from the estuary OF the Rio
, de- la Plata to the outlying foothills OF
, the Andes and about as long from
( m south 1T reaefn nleS that OIL
west central Europe. for the heat Ii
, great only during the middle of sum
mer and the winter cold Is moderate
+ Except In the far north. which has
a wet summer season with a heavy
, precipitation. the rainfall is scant5
! and diminshes as one goes from easl
tn west SO that much Of the western
belt. lying under the Andes, Is too dry
10 he cultivated except by irrigation
r Fortunately, the streams that descend
, from the SHOWS provide irrigation
, along their banks. Many of then
, lose themselves in the arid ground OF
, thoir course further eastward, but a
this ground has n slight uniform fal
2 toward the east, they supply cer1alr
, amount OF subterranean moisture, SO
, that in many districts where there are
no superficial streams, water can ot
had by digging.
All this level Pampa, except tina
sub-tropical northern section, Is bare
and open prairie. covered. as were th'
former prairies of North America
with grass and flowers, the grass
sometimes six or seven feet high, bu
with no trees save here and there
along the beds of the few and feeble
streams.
An Almost Uninhabited Wilderness.
n When the Spaniards arrived. this
vast region was occupied only by {
few wandering Indian tribes, most o.
them low in the scale of civilization
They did not cultivate the soil. the,
had no milk-g giving animals, and in
deed hardly any animals TO feed upor
; except the guanaco and the small
South Amerfctn ostrich.
As the chase furnished but LITTLE
food to these nomads, their number
did not increase. Only In the hilly re
gions Of the northwest were Their
settled tribes which had learned som'
of the arts of life from their Peruvian
neighbors. The rest Of the countr.
| was vast open wilderness like tn
, lands beyond the Missouri. but tn
, tribes were fewer and legs formidabl