346 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



Guaycurus of Gran Chaco, on the other the Pampas tribes of Patagonia, valiantlj' 

 maintained their independence against the white invaders. 



The Jesuit, Falkner, after residing several years amongst the Patagonians at 

 the foot of the Sierra del Vulcan, first described the interior of the country in the 

 southern part of the Pampas region. His work, followed in 1772 by the writings 

 of Cook's companion, Forster, again aroused the attention of the Spanish Govern- 

 ment, and caused a revival ofthe explorations which had been suspended for nearly 

 two centuries. 



In 1778, four years after the appearance of Falkner's work, Juan de la 

 Piedra visited the stormy gulf of San Matias, called also Bahia sin Fondo, 

 " Fathomless Bay," and here discovered the spacious haven of San José. Between 

 1779 and 1784, the brothers Yiedma, followed a few years afterwards by Malaspina, 

 coasted all the inlets along the southern seaboard ; but their reports were consigned 

 to the royal archives and forgotten. These coast surveys were supplemented by 

 excursions into the interior, and in 1782 Villarino even ascended the course of 

 the Pio Negro as far as the foot of the Andes. In the same year Antonio de 

 Viedraa discovered the lake which bears his name. 



GEOGKAriiiCAi, Research. 



The scientific study of the Platean regions was ushered in by Felix de Azara, 

 who had been ofiicially commissioned to determine the Hispano-Portuguese frontiers 

 on the Uruguay, Parana, and Paraguay rivers ; but far from confining himself 

 to geodetic surveys, Azara also studied the physical features and natural history 

 of these regions. De Souillac and de la Cruz, other officers in the Spanish 

 service, crossed the passes of the Cordilleras, and fixed their position. 



But the war of independence was now imminent, and henceforth neither the 

 Spaniards nor their emancipated descendants in the New World continued to take 

 a serious part in geographical exploration. Thanks, however, to the abolition of the 

 exclusive Colonial régime, foreigners were now able to co-operate with the natives 

 in this work. Thus D'Orbigny, after taking up his residence at Carmen de Pata- 

 gones in 1826, passed into Corrientes to prosecute his researches on the American 

 aborigines embodied in his classical work, "L'Homme Américain." Then followed 

 in 1833 the memorable expedition of the Beayle and Adventure, described by 

 Darwin in the " Yoyage of the Beagle," an epoch-making work in the history of 

 the natural sciences. Dalton Hooker, another English zoologist, who accompanied 

 the Erebus and Terror expedition, studied the natural history of Fuegia, and 

 described the " Antai'ctic Flora." 



The geography of Argentina proper is now known in all its main features, 

 and nothing now remains except to fill in the details. This complementary work 

 is in daily progress, thanks to the miners exploring the treasures of the moun- 

 tains, the engineers engaged in laying down railway routes and regulating water- 

 courses, the land surveyors commissioned to measure and apportion the public 

 domain. 



