882 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1865. 



Proceeding southward, we come to the Ar- 

 gentine Confederation. The province of Men- 

 doza in this Confederation, whose chief city 

 was in 1864 nearly destroyed by an earthquake, 

 has been daring 1865 explored with considera- 

 ble care, and its census taken by the authori- 

 ities. From this census we glean the follow- 

 ing facts : The province of Mendoza is divided 

 into twelve sub-delegations and fifteen depart- 

 ments. Its area is 11,250 square leagues, or 

 1,800,000 square quadras (the square league 

 contains 160 square quadras). Of this quanti- 

 ty 138,599 quadras were under cultivation, and 

 309,633 square quadras were capable of cultiva- 

 tion. The principal crops were grain, wine, 

 and fruits. The population of the province was 

 57,476 souls, of whom 28,599 were males, and 

 28,879 females ; 12,048 were married, 42,907 un- 

 married ; - 706 were widowers, and 1,815 widows ; 

 20,251 were between one and ten years of age, 

 24,263 between ten and thirty, 9,981 between 

 thirty and fifty, and 2,965 between fifty and 

 one hundred. Twenty- four persons were 

 over one hundred years of age. 



The live stock consists of 150,961 neat cat- 

 tle, 77,054 horses, of which about 20,000 were 

 saddle-horses, 7,188 mules, 227,753 sheep, G6,- 

 819 goats, 124,089 head of poultry, 15,000 

 asses, and 3,600 fatted beasts. 



There are in the province some remarkable 

 warm springs or geysers, one of which, with a 

 breadth of about 195 feet, throws the hot wa- 

 ter periodically to a height of from 150 to 160 

 feet, and others of less extent send it to a 

 height of 100 to 130 feet. The temperature of 

 the hot springs is about 113 Fahrenheit. The 

 waters are charged with sulphur, and are re- 

 garded as of advantage in rheumatic and scrof- 

 ulous diseases. 



In the province of Corrientes, in the Argen- 

 tine Confederation, there is a large lake on the 

 elevated plateau which overlooks Paraguay, 

 called the Lake of Irira, signifying in the Gua- 

 rani tongue, Clear- water Lake. This lake has 

 had from the discovery of the country an isl- 

 and containing about fifty square leagues. 

 Some time since a mysterious darkness envel- 

 oped the island, and remained for several days. 

 When this finally cleared up, a pillar of smoke 

 was seen ascending from the island, and all 

 over the lake small islands not previously ex- 

 isting were discovered to the number it is said 

 of thousands, some of which seemed to float 

 upon the waters. The caymans or alligators, 

 which abounded in the lake, soon took posses- 

 sion of these and basked upon them. The in- 

 habitants of the borders of the lake are greatly 

 terrified at these occurrences, and cannot be in- 

 duced by any rewards to go to the principal 

 island, though it is said that several Jesuits, 

 expelled from the neighboring mission, escaped 

 thither, and have a beautiful plantation there ; 

 and that an Indian of the Tobas tribe, the last 

 of his family, has also taken up his residence 

 there. Wild animals are certainly not wanting 

 on the island, as in .a clear and still night their 



roaring can be heard distinctly, and the boa 

 constrictor has found a home there, though not 

 known to exist on the mainland in the vicinity. 

 Spain is conducting a war with the South 

 American States on the Pacific slope, Chili, 

 Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador ; and this war may 

 to some extent delay or impede the develop- 

 ment of those States. Chili, which, for a few 

 years past, has been making rapid progress in 

 education, wealth, and social improvement, now 

 finds herself compelled to maintain a large 

 maritime force to repel the invasion of the 

 Spanish troops. She has thus far done this suc- 

 cessfully, and with the alliance of the other 

 western States of South America will probably 

 continue to do so, but at the expense of consid- 

 erable material progress. The communica- 

 tions between Chili and the Argentine Confed- 

 eration by means of passes and lakes in the 

 southern part of the Andean chain have re- 

 ceived further exploration, and nine distinct 

 routes, all of them practicable without serious 

 difficulty, are now described, by which the com- 

 merce of the two countries can be maintained. 

 Of these, one or other of those by Lake Rinihue 

 or its vicinity, described in the AXSTJAL CYCLO- 

 PAEDIA for 1864, are the most desirable. 



Herr Hugo Reck, a German civil engineer, 

 of very profound scientific attainmeuts, who 

 spent four years, 1858-1862, in the exercise of 

 his profession in connection with some of the 

 largest mines of the Republic of Bolivia, and 

 subsequently for two years was engaged in the 

 survey and exploration of the Bolivian Andes, 

 has published in Petermann's Mittheilungen in 

 an extended and valuable treatise on the history, 

 physical geography, orography, hydrography, 

 and meteorology of Bolivia, one of the most 

 important contributions to geographical science 

 of the year. We can notice only a few of the 

 many additions he has made to our knowledge 

 of the geography of that republic. He gives 

 from his own measurement the height of more 

 than thirty of the highest summits of the An- 

 des proper, and ten or twelve others from the 

 admeasurements of Pentland and Signor Pissis ; 

 the snow-line of five of the highest from hig 

 own observations; the height of five passes 

 and seventeen summits of the isolated and mid- 

 dle range, and of ten summits of the eastern 

 or inner Cordilleras. Some of his measure- 

 ments differ considerably from both Pentland's 

 and Pissis' results, but from his very great care 

 and the superior instruments he had at com- 

 mand we believe they are more nearly accurate 

 than the figures of those eminent observers. 

 We can only give the height of the three peaks 

 of Illimani, according to his measurement 

 The North Peak he makes 20,608 feet, or nearly 

 250 feet lower than Pentland ; the Middle Peak 

 21,092 feet, or about 200 feet higher than I'ont- 

 land ; and the South Peak, the highest of the 

 three, 21,137, about 180 feet higher than 1'ent- 

 land, and 18 feet lower than Pusis. Huayna 

 Potosi he found to be 20,101 feet, or about 30 

 feet higher than Pentlaud's, and more than 



