52 AMERICAN LUMBER IN FOREIGN MARKETS. 



FORESTS OF TliK CORDILLERAS OF PATAGONIA. 



The line which separates the plains of Patagonia from this fertile mountain region, 

 with its wealth of timber, is very sharply defined. Beginning at Cape Negro, Ma- 

 gellan Straits, at latitude 53 south and longitude 75 50' west, it runs west-north- 

 west to the northeast extremity of Otway Water, following the channel of Fitzroy 

 Passage and the northern shores of Skyning Water to longitude 72, and then ex- 

 tends along eastern shores of Desolation Sound and Kirke Water; running thence 

 due northward towards Lake Viedora, Lake Argentina, and Lake St. Martin, which 

 are, respectively, the sources of the rivers Santa Cruz, Sheuen, and Chicos, which tra- 

 verse the territory of Patagonia and empty into the Atlantic Ocean. Beyond these 

 it continues northward to the sources of the Rio Negro, which waters, with its nu- 

 merous branches and affluents, a large territory stretching along the base of the Cor- 

 dilleras towards the province of Mendoza. Seiior Morena,* who has explored 

 the Rio Santa Cru/ to its head waters, speaks generally of the "immense virgin 

 forests" which he found at the base of the mountains. But the entire region of 

 Patagonia eastward of these timbered districts is a succession of sterile plains, 

 which rise from the coast, one above the other, like terraces,t uniformly about 

 300 feet high, and are traversed occasionally by ravines and flat-bottom depressions, 

 some of which contain salt lakes. These wastes stretch away in dreary uniformity 

 without a break to the far horizon, presenting a barren landscape so grim and so 

 monotonous as to fill the traveler with a feeling of awe. The formation of the land is 

 tertiary, resting on porphyry and quartz, ridges of which often protrude through the 

 surface. In some parts they are capped by layers of lava. The soil is sandy and covered 

 with water worn stones, with here and there an isolated tuft of grass, withered and 

 gray, whilst a peculiar gloom is further added to the melancholy of the scene by the 

 somber hue of a straggling, stunted bush, thejume (Salicernia), which grows in con- 

 siderable quantities, and which is described as a fit offspring, in its blackness aud 

 ugliness, of such uncongenial soil.} Further than this, if we except the calafate (Her- 

 beris axifolia), also a miserable thorny shrub, which, however, would anywhere else 

 be admirably adapted lor live fencing, there is nothing on these arid plains which 

 can be called timber, though in the valleys of the rivers, especially those emptying 

 into the ocean north of 40 C of latitude, there is a species of willow (Salix humboldti- 

 ana) which grows to very large proportions, and, in the absence of anything better, 

 is used for building puposes. 



THE TREELESS REGIONS OF THE PAMPA. 



The river Colorado, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean in latitude 39, is the 

 northern boundary of Patagonia, on the north side of which begin what are known 

 as the Argentine pampas, the soil of which is a complete contrast to that of the 

 former region. They occupy the entire area of the province of Buenos Ayres and 

 extend into those of Santa Fe, Cordova, San Luis, and Mendoza. They seem to be 

 uniformly level, but these boundless plains rise gently in every direction from the 

 sea, at first at the rate of about one foot per mile, and then more, until the lai -^c 

 plateaux near the Cordilleras attain an elevation of 2,000 feet above the level of the 

 sea, and ultimately terminate in the high parks of the Andes. The character of the 



* Viaje d la Patagonia Austral, 1876-'77, por Francisco P. Morena, p. 460. 



t Darwin accounts for the regularity with which these plains rise one above the 

 other by the supposition that the land has been raised in a mass from under the sea, 

 the upheaving movement having been interrupted by at least eight long periods of 

 rest, during which the sea ate deeply back into the land, forming, at succssive levels 

 long lines of escarpments, which separate the different plains. 



t" Wanderings in Patagonia," by Julius Beerbohm, 1876, pp. 22 and 105. 



$ In the language of Quichee Indians "pampas " means level. 



