130 To the River Plate and Back 



regions. The first includes the plains of the eastern 

 and northern parts of the country ; the second embraces 

 the Andean ranges and the high plateaus between 

 them ; the third is the elevated, more or less broken, and 

 arid plateau of Patagonia. 



The eastern portion of the country from the Rio 

 Negro to the Pilcomayo is a vast plain raised but little 

 above the level of the sea along the Atlantic, but grad- 

 ually sloping upward toward the Andes and the north- 

 ern interior. This is the region of the pampas. The 

 word 'pampa, ' which is of Indian origin and means 

 ' flat land, " is used in Argentina very much in the same 

 sense that the people of the Mississippi Valley employ 

 the word ' ' prairie. ' It designates a broad, level expanse 

 of country more or less densely clothed with low vegeta- 

 tion. The character of the vegetation varies according 

 to latitude. In the Provinces of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, 

 Santa Fe, Entre Rios, and the Territory of Pampa, the 

 prairies are absolutely treeless, except where in recent 

 years groves have been planted ; in the north they are 

 more or less densely covered with palms and other trop- 

 ical vegetation. These growths in the hot regions do 

 not, however, form unbroken and continuous masses of 

 forest, but are interspersed with open spaces, as was 

 the case in the semi- wooded prairies of Illinois, when 

 the land was first occupied. The appearance of the 

 country is in certain localities park-like, and those who 

 have visited the Gran Chaco dwell upon the fact that 

 the forest-masses often display such regular lines as to 

 suggest that they might have been planted by the hand 

 of man, which, however, is not the case. 



Along the entire western boundary of the republic 

 rise the lofty ranges of the Andes, some of the peaks, as 

 that of Aconcagua, reaching a height far exceeding that 



