PART VIII. 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



For botanical purposes we divide the Patagonian region into several 

 districts. The great eastern plain has the Province of Rio Negro in the 

 north, so named from its chief river. Its northern boundry is Rio Colo- 

 rado. At the mouth of Rio Negro is the town Carmen de Patagones ; 

 half way up its main course is Choele-choel ; and as far again is Roca 

 fortress, where the main river is formed by a northern and a southern 

 branch, the Neuquen and the Limay. Mid-Patagonia is called Chubut, 

 from its long and very circuitous river. Rawson is a settlement near the 

 mouth of this river, and Trelew is farther up. Puerto Madryn is a small 

 seaport further north of Rawson, and Puerto Deseado (Port Desire), at 

 mouth of Rio Deseado, is southward of the great Gulf of San Jorge, near 

 the 48th parallel. South Patagonia is called the Province of Santa Cruz, 

 from its chief river. Farther south it contains the Rio Gallegos, with 

 Puerto Gallegos. Along the Magellan Strait, and extending up to near 

 the Rio Gallegos is the region of Magellan's-land, or Magellanica. And 

 south of the Magellan Strait is what we have termed Fuegia, the great 

 Archipelago of the South. On the Strait of Magellan are the two towns, 

 Punta Arenas, in its eastern part, and Puerto Angosto, where it is nar- 

 rowest, towards its western exit. West of the Great Cordilleras, and 

 along the entire Strait of Magellan the political status is Chilian ; and on 

 the long Concepcion Channel which separates Wellington Island from the 

 mainland, Port Eden is situated about 49 S. Lat. Most of the Cordil- 

 lera, with its great lakes, and the eastern plains and plateau at the foot 

 of the mountains, also part of Fuegia, including Ushuaia and Lapataia on 

 the Beagle Channel, belong to Argentina. 



The following list gives the situation of most of the locations men- 

 tioned in the preceding pages. 



937 



