132 To the River Plate and Back 



1909, Dr. Davis caught three specimens, each weighing 

 five pounds, twelve and one-half ounces, which he has 

 now preserved in jars of alcohol in his office in Buenos 

 Aires, where I had the pleasure of examining them. 

 In a few years the western lakes of Argentina will be 

 resorted to not only by those who are lovers of beauti- 

 ful scenery, but by those also who are fond disciples 

 of Isaak Walton. 



Between the high mountain ranges and plateaus of 

 the west and the wide eastern plains is a region of vary- 

 ing breadth and elevation, which is more or less arid, 

 save where irrigated by streams flowing from the cordil- 

 leras. The soil in this region is in places strongly 

 impregnated with saline and alkaline matter, and 

 there are depressions in which brackish ponds and 

 lakes have accumulated, and extensive areas in which 

 the alkali reveals itself in the form of white incrustations 

 such as are common in the 'bad-lands' of Wyoming 

 and Utah. The aridity of this tract is due to the fact 

 that the high mountains of the west intercept the cur- 

 rents of air laden with moisture which come from the 

 Pacific, while at the same time the winds from the 

 Atlantic are met and checked in their onward westward 

 flow by the downward currents of cold and dry air 

 which flow eastward from the Andes. The southern 

 part of Chili, unlike northern Chili which is almost 

 rainless and barren, is a region where the rainfall is 

 heavy and where dense and luxuriant forests of hard 

 woods cover the land. But as soon as the traveler 

 coming from the west has crossed the lofty snow-clad 

 ranges and has reached the eastern slopes of the Andes 

 and the plains at their feet, he discerns that the forests 

 of beech and other woods have disappeared and that 

 their place has been taken by cacti and crassulaceous 



