ARGENTINA 71 



situated about 50 miles west of the second Narrows. Of Tierra 

 del Fuego Argentina owns but a small area, the ground lying 

 east of a line dropped due south from Cape Virgens to the Beagle 

 Channel. Ushuaia, the Argentine capital here, as well as the 

 town of Gallegos, on the Patagonian southern coast, are entirely 

 dependent on Sandy Point for their trade. 



"The better camps in Tierra del Fuego will support about 

 5000 sheep to the square league (9 square miles), and have been 

 sold at pviblic auction as high as £1000 per league. There are 

 possibly some 1000 miles in the island fit for grazing, of which 

 much is yet fiscal land. This will doubtless be taken up as the 

 country opens out and a definite settlement is made with regard 

 to the Indian question. 



"Half-way up the Patagonian coast is a deep indent bearing 

 the name of the Gulf of San G-eorge. The 46th parallel of 

 latitude, piercing its centre, runs across a high barren table- 

 land, to where Lake Buenos Aires, one of the largest of the 

 newly-discovered Andean chain, shows its 70 miles of sparkling 

 blue among the foothills of the Cordillera. This line marks a 

 distinct zone, the land to the south being exposed to colder 

 winds and having a heavier rainfall than that to the north. 

 From Cape Virgens another line, drawn in somewhat irregular 

 fashion to where the Pacific has pierced the Andes at Last TTope 

 Lilet (site of the famous Mylodon Cave), gives the Chilian 

 boundary to the south. Between these two boundaries is the 

 territory known as Santa Cruz, the most extensive of all the 

 national territories, as it is also the least settled, with an area 

 of 10,159 square miles and a total population of about 2000 

 persons. 



"Between Rio Gallegos, the first river flowing into the Atlantic 

 north of the Straits, and Sandy Point, lie what are reputed 

 some of the best sheep camps at Patagonia. In a country so 

 little known and of such great extent as that comprised under 

 this title, it is as well to receive such a statement with caution, 

 though it may well be that owing to longer settlement their 

 possibilities have been more thoroughly exploited than those of 

 remoter districts. 



"The lands on the coast are generally accounted the most 

 valuable, as the climate is tempered by the sea breeze, Avhile 

 economy in freighting has also to be considered. 



"The alluvial soil on the surface reaches a scant 6 in., and 

 overlies a foot of stilf boulder clav. Below this come the 



