Argentina 133 



plants characteristic of dry soil. There are only a few 

 localities, and these well toward the south, where the 

 mountain wall is low enough to allow the rain-clouds 

 to pass over, or where the chain is interrupted by valleys 

 coming down to sea-level, forming gateways for the 

 showers. Opposite these inlets on the eastern side of 

 the Andes are limited tracts where rain falls in sufficient 

 abundance to permit the growth of trees and rich pas- 

 turage. Such spots are, however, infrequent. Almost 

 the whole of northern and central Patagonia is dry, and 

 receives so little moisture that except in a few favored 

 places there is no temptation offered to the agriculturist 

 to settle. On the eastern coast in the Territories of 

 Chubut and Santa Cruz, there are colonies of Boers from 

 South Africa and of Welsh and Scotch, who are earning 

 a somewhat precarious livelihood as sheep-ranchers, 

 and about Punta Arenas there are extensive sheep, 

 ranges, but otherwise Patagonia is a land of desolation, 

 which will require a great deal of effort to make it 

 productive. ' Dry-farming, " as practised in our West- 

 ern States, may succeed to a limited extent; but the 

 higher levels must always remain more or less barren for 

 lack of water, though the lower levels are capable of 

 being irrigated by the rivers which traverse them. 

 Irrigation has been practised for a long time in some of 

 the older settlements. This is especially true about 

 Mendoza, where there are great vineyards and orchards. 

 At Mendoza the water flowing from the mountains is 

 distributed by an extensive system of canals and ditches 

 over the lower hillsides and levels, and the ground, 

 w r hich once produced little but cacti, has been made to 

 yield rich returns. The population of the country is 

 not at present so dense as to make the reclamation of 

 the arid lands a question of burning importance, except 



