39 s 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and in each of the three years 1886 to 1888 the number consider- 

 ably exceeded one hundred thousand. The branch of agriculture 

 mostly pursued by these immigrants is not tillage, as in the north- 

 ern region of European immigration, but the rearing of live stock 

 (chiefly sheep and cattle). Tillage, however, is receiving greater 

 attention, especially in the agricultural colonies, which have been 

 planted in large numbers since 1856, principally along the banks 

 of the Parana; and the result of this is seen in the rising export 

 of wheat and maize. The cultivation of maize is not at present 

 nearly so extensive as the climate of the settled districts admits 

 of, which is chiefly due to the want of a market for the produce ; 

 but there is reason to believe that its cultivation might be profit- 

 ably stimulated by the establishment of the " pork-packing " in- 

 dustry on the same basis as in the United States. 



The chief export is wool. The natural facilities for inland 

 commerce afforded by the Paraguay and lower Parana have been 

 mentioned ; and here it may be added sea-going vessels can ascend 

 the Parana to Rosario, that the Parana is likewise navigable for 

 steamers above the confluence of the Paraguay as far as the limit 

 of the Argentine frontier, that steamers can ascend the Uruguay 

 River on the eastern frontier as far as the falls which occur in 

 about 314° south (at the Urugayan town of Salto), and that sea- 

 going vessels of fourteen or fifteen feet draught can reach as high 

 as the Uruguayan town of Paysandu. The Pilcomayo, on the 

 northern frontier, is navigable for two hundred and forty miles, 

 and the Rio Negro in the north of Patagonia affords three hun- 

 dred miles of navigation through a region deemed a few years 

 ago scarcely fit for settlement, but which is now being rapidly 

 stocked and settled along the whole course of the river. Pata- 

 gonia, the territory south of the Rio Negro, is mainly a stony 

 desert, but recent explorations have shown that it embraces a 

 considerable amount of fertile land along the base of the Andes. 

 On the coast of this territory there has long been a Welsh colony 

 at Chubut, in latitude 43°, where, among other things, wheat is 

 grown. 



As in the United States, railways are being rapidly extended 

 to promote the commerce on which the immigration depends. 

 The Argentine Republic is the part of South America in which 

 railway construction has been, and still is, most active. There 

 are projects for no less than three railways across the Andes into 

 Chili. Of these the farthest advanced is the continuation of the 

 railway from Buenos Ayres to Mendoza across the Uspallata Pass. 



The capital of the republic is Buenos Ayres, which stands on 

 the River Plate, and is at the same time the chief seaport, carry- 

 ing on about one third of the shipping of the republic. This pro- 

 portion would probably be larger if it were not for the defective- 



