Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-04-06
Geographic News
Bulletins By the
National Geographic Society


| in many minds with kamchatka and
Timbuktu as representing the ends
of the earth. Now il has its sup
posed strangeness further empha-
sized by the reported discovery there
OF a ~pfesiosaurus, a huge ~lizard-like
creature thought to have been ex-
tinct for many thousands of years.
Something of this land which may
harbor prehistoric monsters is told
in a bulletin issued from the WASH
ington, d.. c., headquarters OF the
National Geographic Society.
IF the idea of Patagonia gen
orally held are a bit hazy," says
the bulletin, there is good reason
for it. for the region did not really
begin to be well known until a gen.
Grafton ago, and even now there are
sizable areas that have not been ex-
plored. The first fact that needs
to be understood about Patagonia is
that 1t is not an official division.
Like the Northwest Territory of the
early days of the United states, 1t
has been carved UP into states or
provinces. But even IL the name,
| Patagonia, has been pushed off many
official papers. 1t has chung in popu-
lar usage and probably will remain
for a long time.
Twice Area of California
1.-THE extreme southern trip of Ar
gentina would probably be given as
the off-hand location of Patagonia
in a large number of cases. But the
| region given this designation covers
one-half the north-and-south extern
sion OF the Republic stretching from
central Argentina for more than L.
900 miles south almost to h tip
of the continent. Its width varies
from about $50 miles in the south to
$50 u the north, and its area is
nearly twice hat OF California, our
second largest state.
IAN idea of the physical condition
and economic development OF this
| vast area can be conveyed best per-
haps by the statement that Patago-
| mia Is to Argentina what the great
| West and the Southwest were to the
United States just after the Civil
| War. There was the myth of the
| great American desert then-a dry,
cherries country that could never
be reclaimed. But with the extern
and irrigation systems this North
| American desert is disappearing.
Just 81 Patagonia was labeled a
desert for many years; but farms
| and irrigation works have already
| rescued great enclaves from the re-
| gion and millions of head of cattle
| and a score of million sheep are
supported today on only portions OF
the area. After a few thousand
more miles Of railway shall have
been constructed, a few hundred
| steam shovels shall have been set
to work, and a few million yards of
wire fencing shall have been stretch.
ed in place, the Patagonian desert
| I'LL -u4Lo Hlxr ~A tho nav IF ftc North
American precursor.
Darwin Gave Region Black Eye
1T is an interesting fact that the
| statements of a careful scientist
| Charles Darwin-did much to give
| Patagonia an undeservedly bad rep
| utation before the world. Darwin
| studied chiefly the ~forbidding desert
| coast of the lower portion of the
| country, and his d~iscouraging report
was interpreted as applying to h
| entire country. For decades no n
| thought 1t worth while even to ex-
| plore the hinterland.
'It is westward beyond the SEMI
| arid pampas or plains that the most
interesting and least Thoroughly
known portions of Patagonia are
| found. Along the eastern slopes of
| the Andes and in some of the val
legs between it's parallel ranges is a
| scenic and climatic paradise. Grassy
| meadows and forest-clad slopes al
| ternate with sheer cliffs and tow
cring, snow-mantled peaks; and
scattered everywhere are
able sparkling streams ana sky-blue
lakes. This is, in fact, n OF the
most extensive and most wonderful
lake regions in the world. A num-
Der of these bodies of water are COM
parable in size to Lake Champiain.
| Only a relatively few of the smaller
| lakes have been named and some
have been numbered. Many Of them,
however. have not been explored.
1t Is in this inter-mountain lake
| region that scientific expeditions will
| search for the strange creatures re-
ported to have been seen there.
An Argentine Natural ark
zone of the best known OF the
| Andean Lakes of Argentina Is Ma
| huel Huapi. This lake is in the edge
| of Patagonia, but is still nearly l.
600 miles north of Cape Horn. The
area of this many-branched body
| of water is probably in the neighbour
| hood of ESQ square miles. Its lati-
| tude in the southern hemisphere al
most exactly corresponds to that IN
the northern hemisphere OF the
Rocky Mountain National Park. juse
north Of Denver: and It is about 500
miles from Buenos Aires, the same
distance as that which separates
| Ddhver from Chicago. Much terri.
| TRY about the lake has been set
aside by the government, and the
| region Will be made into one of Ar
| gentina's principal national play
grounds. It is planned to harness
| the outlet river and to build at the
eastern margin of the lake, in a re-
| zion of delightful climate, a great
| Industrial city,"