GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS. (AMERICA.) 



31S 



tonio, which is on the Gulf of San Matias, in the 

 northeastern part of Patagonia, and running 

 westward to the Pacific. In June it will be 

 opened as far as the junction of the Limay and 

 Neuguen rivers with the Negro on its way to 

 Nahuel-Huapi, the most lovely lake in South 

 America. Surveys and plans are making for irri- 

 gation works, that will easily change the desert 

 aspect of a large portion of the country. Dr. 

 Moreno has charge of the museum at La Plata, 

 the establishment of which is due to him. (See 

 engraving in Annual Cyclopaedia for 1898, page 

 19.) 



The first report of the second Princeton expedi- 

 tion to Patagonia was published in November, 



Other travelers in this region were Oscar von 

 Fischer and Franz Steeger, engineers sent by the 

 Chilian Government to open a road from the 

 valley of the Cochamo by the upper course of 

 the Manso to the Valle Nuevo. Three passes were 

 explored, two in the region of perpetual snow, the 

 other, the one most suitable for the road, cov- 

 ered with snow in winter. 



News has been received of the discovery by 

 Dr. Steff'en of three large rivers flowing into 

 Baker channel on the western coast of Pata- 

 gonia, the largest of which, called Rio Baker, 

 he ascended about 45 miles, when a waterfall 

 stopped navigation. An affluent was ascended 

 and found to be the outlet of Lake Cochrane. The 



PATAGONIANS. 



1898. The expedition explored the country in- 

 land and northward 800 miles from the Straits 

 of Magellan, adding much to our knowledge of 

 the geography of the country, and discovering 

 at the base of the Andes a beautiful lake 30 miles 

 in length, not previously reported, which might 

 be called Lake Princeton. In addition to consid- 

 erable collections of the arts and manufactures 

 of the tribes inhabiting these regions, a splendid 

 series of photographs was secured and a fairly 

 complete dictionary of the Yahgan language com- 

 piled. The chief work of the expedition was 

 geological. 



Dr. Paul Kriiger, in a recent expedition to 

 Chilian Patagonia, discovered that the Futaleufu 

 river, which he found in 1898 not to be connected 

 with the Corcovado, as had been supposed, is 

 identical with the Yelcho, a great river having a 

 large delta with many channels and a very rapid 

 upper course. 



other rivers were called Rio Bravo and Rio de la 

 Pascua. The former seems to be fed from gla- 

 ciers on Mount Cochrane. 



The expedition to survey the Pilcomayo was, 

 it is reported, massacred by Indians of the Chaco, 

 on the borders of the Argentine Republic and 

 Paraguay. This region has been peculiarly dis- 

 astrous to explorers seeking the sources of the 

 river. A Buenos Ayres paper of Dec. 6, 1897, 

 said: "Misfortune and disaster have overtaken 

 all those who have had the temerity to approach 

 the Pilcomayo and lay hands upon the mysteri- 

 ous veil that hides its sources from view; in wit- 

 ness thereof are the bleached bones of the ill- 

 fated Crevaux expedition, the fatal ending of 

 Capt. Page, and the nonsuccess of Fontana, 

 Storm, and others. Under the shadows of these 

 somber precedents the intrepid explorer Ramon 

 Lista organized an expedition, and started for 

 the mysterious region round which cling so many 



