473 



ARGENTINE CONFEDERATION. 



ARGENTINE CONFEDERATION. 



474 



the author of a most elaborate survey of the geography, &c. of the 

 provinces, prepared and published at the expense of the Government 

 of Buenos Ayres : 



" Two high roads traverse the Argentine territory ; one serving for 

 the commercial communication of 'Buenos Ayres with the provinces 

 of San Luis, Mendoza, and the .republic of ChUi ; the other for those 

 which Buenoa Ayres keeps up with Cordova, Santiago, Tucuman, 

 Salta, and Jujuy ; and leading also to the provinces of Upper Peru or 

 Bolivia, The former is 319J leagues in length to Mendoza, and 

 extends 104 leagues thence to Santiago de Chile by the dangerous 

 pass of Upsallata in the Cordillera : the latter embraces an extent of 

 528 leagues to Laquiaca, which in this direction forms the point of 

 contact between the Argentine and the Bolivian republic." 



These are the only great lines of roads, and although the rivers are 

 navigable they have hitherto been very little navigated, and while the 

 country remains in its present unsettled state are not likely to be 

 navigated to a much greater extent. The only means of transit in 

 the Argentine provinces is by bullock carts. By these no more than 

 two expeditions can be made from Buenos Ayres to Salta (1350 miles) 

 and back in two years. " The expeditions are usually made in caravans 

 >ps of 14 carts, each of which, holding about 35 cwt., is drawn 

 by six oxen, and also requires to have three spare yoke of cattle ; the 

 troop therefore requires 336 oxen to complete the journey, the whole 

 being under the care of about 30 drivers. To reach Buenos Ayres 

 from Salta, a distance of 450 leagues, takes about three months ; the 

 return journey occupies somewhat less time. The difficulties to be 

 encountered are very great. Rains, hurricanes, and dust storms assail 

 the caravan ; and both men and beasts frequently suffer much from 

 want of water and shelter. They are compelled to wade through 

 innumerable swamps and inundations, some of which cannot be passed 

 in a day ; and thus the animals have to pass the whole night up to 

 their bellies in water. But the chief difficulties are the rivers, over 

 which there are no bridges : sometimes it is necessary to unload the 

 whole of their cargoes and swim the bullocks over, while the men 

 float their carts and ferry the goods across in pelotaa or rafts made of 

 skins ; or if the current is much swollen they wait for days and weeks 

 by the river side until the floods have abated. * The expenses 

 attending the transmission of goods by this mode of conveyance, 

 including the duties payable in the different provinces through which 

 the waggons pass, amount to 201. per ton, and as the carts are laden 

 chiefly with hides and hair, articles of great bulk hi proportion to 

 their value, the carriage alone must absorb 40 or 50 per cent, of the 

 first cost." (' Argentine Provinces,' i. 209.) 



Geoloyical Character. A general notice of the geology of the moun- 

 tainous country will be found under the article ANDES. The great 

 characteristic of the Argentine territory is the formation of the 

 Pampas. " As far as we are yet acquainted with it," says Sir W. 

 Parish, " the whole of that vast level called the Pampas, reaching from 

 the eastern termination of the Andes to the shore of the Plata, appears 

 to be one immense bed of alluvium." For hundreds of miles inland 

 south of the Plata not even the smallest pebble is to be met with. 

 This Pampean formation, which covers an area at least equal to that 

 of France, and perhaps twice as great, is described by Darwin 

 (' Geology of South America,' p. 76) as having " upon the whole a 

 very uniform character, consisting of a more or less dull reddish, 

 slightly indurated, argillaceous earth or rn^ud, often, but not always, 

 including in horizontal lines concretions of marl, and frequently 

 passing into a compact marly rock. These concretions, though 

 generally nodular, often unite into irregular strata ; and over very 

 large tracts of country the entire mass consists of hard but generally 

 cavernous marly rock ; some of the varieties might be called calcareous 

 luffs." This rock is called by the inhabitants 'tosca,' a name adopted 

 by recent geologists. Parish considers the Pampas formation to 

 have been " tranquilly deposited during the imperceptible lapse of 

 ages ; the delta perhaps, not of one, but of numerous rivers, originating 

 in a once more general diffusion of the waters of the Andes before 

 thi;ir courses were defined by their present channels." D'Orbigny 

 attributes it to a ' great debacle,' by which a prodigious quantity of mud 

 was borne over the. wide surface of the Pampas when under water. 

 Mr. Darwin however after a careful examination of the country has 

 rejected both these theories, and supposes that " the Pampean forma- 

 tion was slowly accumulated at the mouth of the former testuary of 

 the Plata and in the sea adjoining it, and that the entire district has 

 miilergone a slow and gradual process of elevation, with intervals of 

 rest, to the extent of 100 feet. The Plata appears according to the 

 statements of various observers to be still gradually silting up, and 

 evidences are distinctly traceable of the waters having, within a com- 

 paratively recent period, occupied a much wider channel. Perhaps 

 the most remarkable thing connected with the Pampas formation is 

 the wonderful quantity of fossil mammiferous remains which it con- 



lU-s. So numerous and so generally dispersed are these that Mr. 



Darwin is " firmly convinced that a deep trench could not be cut in 



any line across the Pampas without intersecting the remains of some 



i{im.lruped. In some spots the quantity found is extraordinarily 



Among these remains an: found some of the most striking 



> in European museums the gigantic megatherium, mastodon, 



lon, Bcleidotherium, mylodon, toxodon, iUnypoid, and various 



j . Frequently the remains consist of complete or nearly com- 



plete skeletons, but often merely of a few bones or even a single bone. 

 Numerous marine shells are also found, lists of which are given by 

 Mr. Darwin and M. D'Orbigny. 



In various parts of the Pampas occur thin saline incrustations, and 

 during droughts most of the streams are saline. Near Bahia Blanca 

 Mr. Darwin noticed " square miles of the mud-flats, which are raised 

 only a few feet above the level of the sea, just enough to protect 

 them from being overflowed, appear, after dry weather, whiter 

 than the ground after the thickest frost" This incrustation, which 

 where thickest does not exceed a quarter of an inch, contains 93 per 

 cent, of sulphate of soda. Salinas or salt-lakes also occur in several 

 parts of the Pampas. They are often several leagues in diameter, but 

 generally very shallow. In a large salina northward of the Negro the 

 salt at the bottom is between 2 and 3 feet in thickness during the 

 whole year, and is composed entirely of sodium with the exception of 

 0-26 of sulphate of lime and 0'22 of earthy matter. 



The vast sand-dunes of which the northern shore of Bahia Blanca, 

 as well as a considerable portion of the remainder of the sea-coast is 

 composed, have been noticed in our sketch of the coast. Along this 

 part Mr. Darwin found numerous rounded fragments of pumice, 

 brought down no doubt by the streams from the Andes. From the 

 Colorado to the Negro and thence into Patagonia occur gravel-beds 

 composed chiefly of porphyritic pebbles, with occasional nodules of 

 gypsum. At Santa F6 Bajados in Entre Rios the cliffs consist of 

 tertiary strata, blackish indurated mud, yellowish sandy clay with 

 much crystalline gypsum, a dark-green soapy clay, and a white 

 arenaceous highly crystalline limestone, with beds of sand, covered by 

 the Pampas formation. In Corrientes the Pampean formation is said 

 not to occur. 



Climate. The great differences of level within the territories of the 

 Argentine Confederation produce a very different climate in the 

 various regions of which it is composed. It is very probable that the 

 difference of heat and cold felt on the table-land of the Despoblado 

 and the countries surrounding the Great Salina is the greatest that 

 occurs on the American continent, though these regions are less than 

 300 miles from each other. We are not further acquainted with the 

 Despoblado than that it does not admit of any kind of cultivation, 

 which renders it probable that it is only about 1500 feet below the 

 snow-line, and continually exposed to frost. Respecting the climate 

 of Santiago del Estero, Temple says that in December 1825, during 

 three or four days and with a hot northerly wind, the teat was so 

 great that it blistered the skin on the face and hands even of those 

 who remained in-doors ; that leaves fell scorched from the trees, and 

 the bark of several became cracked and shrivelled just as if fire had 

 been applied ; and that the bolts, locks, and keys of the doors were so 

 hot that they could not be retained in the hand. The inhabitants 

 were afraid they should die by suffocation. The climate of the other 

 parts of the country is between these two extremes ; but as by far the 

 greatest part extends in wide plains and most of the valleys are low, 

 then- climate is rather hot than cold, and in most places the summer 

 heat is oppressive, being from 90 to 100. As to rain, it is remark- 

 able that, in the countries extending along the base of the Andes 

 where rain falls, it generally does not come down in autumn and 

 winter as in the southern countries of Europe, but in spring from 

 October to January. No particular observations on the climate of 

 these countries have been published, except some with respect to the 

 Eastern and Western Pampas. The heat experienced in both is about 

 the same, there being some slight frost in July and August, but there 

 is a great difference in regard to rain and the moisture of the air. In 

 the Western Pampas the air is extremely dry, and there is no dew at 

 night ; rain also is very scarce. In the Eastern Pampas the case is 

 quite different ; rain occurs all the year round, and a heavy dew falls 

 every night. In these parts sudden changes of the atmosphere are 

 not rare ; sometimes they raise or depress the thermometer 20 or 

 even 30 in a few hours. The abundance of moisture in the air and 

 the sudden changes from heat to cold are due to the winds. During 

 the greater part of the year the prevailing winds are northerly, and 

 they bring with them the heated air of the lower latitudes, and in 

 passing over low and inundated tracts take up a great deal of moisture ; 

 so that on arriving at the Eastern Pampas the united effect of heat 

 and moisture produces unpleasant impressions, like those of the 

 sirocco of the Levant, causing lassitude and relaxation, though rarely 

 disease. Then suddenly bursts out a pampero, or south-west wind, 

 which blowing over the immense extent of the dry Pampas, and pro- 

 ceeding from the Andes, rages with incredible fury, and is more like 

 a West India hurricane than the gales experienced in countries with- 

 out the tropis. The pamperos are sometimes accompanied by awful 

 thunder-storms, and frequently by clouds of dust so dense as to pro- 

 duce darkness. They generally last only a quarter of an hour. But 

 in 1793 one blew without intermission for three days, and the bed of 

 the La Plata was laid dry for a distance of 10 miles from the shore, 

 and many vessels which had been sunk years before in the river were 

 visited by the inhabitants, who walked about in the bed of the stream 

 without wetting their feet. The pampero however precipitates the 

 moisture of the air, and restores to it its usual degree of elasticity. 

 At Buenos Ayres the thermometer rose in January 1822 to 94, and 

 in August it sunk to 36. The mean- temperature of the year was 

 about 62 : that of the summer (January, February, aud March), 72 



