THE 



National Geographic Magazine 



Vol. VIII NOVEMBER, 1897 No. H 



PATAGONIA 



By J. B. Hatcher, 



0/ Princeton Uturersitu 



Patagonia (from the Spanish patagon, a hirge or chnnsy foot) 

 is the name commonly applied to that portion of South Amer- 

 ica lying hetween Ptio Negro on the north and the Strait of Ma- 

 gellan on the south, and emhraced hy the Atlantic and Pacific 

 oceans. It thus has an extent from north to south of ahout 1 ,(J00 

 miles and a maximum breadth of nearly 500 miles. Th.e name 

 dates from 1520, when Magellan, on his voyage around the world, 

 observing near his winter quarters at San Julian certain large 

 human footsteps (patagones) gave that name to the country. 



Although Spanish settlements were founded at San Felipe and 

 at other ])laces in Patagonia as early as 1579, more than forty 

 years before the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, yet 

 it is still a very sparsely settled and little known country, espe- 

 cially throughout the interior of the central region. With the 

 exception of the settlements along Rio Negro and the Welsh 

 colonies on the river Chubut, there are no important settlements 

 in the interior, and in the country lying to the south of the lat- 

 ter stream the entire settlements are confined to a few sheep 

 farms scattered along the eastern coast from Port Desire to Sandy 

 Point (Punta Arenas) in the Strait of Magellan. On the western 

 coast there are a few uniini)ortant settlements at Otway Station 

 and Skiring Water in the extreme south ; while on the north 

 most of the settlements are confined to Chiloe and the other 

 larger islands. The western coast of the mainland and most of 

 the interior is inhabited only l)y roving bands of Indians, which 



21 



