TOPOGEAPHY OF AEGENTINA. 437 



2,130 feet on a fertile plain watered by the innumerable ramif^-ing rills of 

 the Rio San Juan. Founded in 1561 about four miles farther north, and after- 

 wards removed to its present site, San Juan presents an agreeable aspect with 

 its belt of cultivated ground and magnificent circular boulevard planted with 

 poplars. To the west lies the pleasant watering-place of Zonda, and to the 

 east the town of Caucete, officially Independencia, in a district reclaimed by 

 irrigation works from the wilderness. San Juan possesses a botanic garden 

 and a school of mines in connection with the neighbouring mineral deposits. 

 Jachely 124 miles farther north, lies in a district abounding in mines and 

 thermal v.^aters. Standing on a copious river, which is swollen by torrents from 

 all the lateral glens, Jachel has become the chief centre of traffic for all the 

 northern districts of the province. From this point numerous convoys of 

 mules are directed over the Cordilleras, and across the plateaux to the two 

 Chilian seaports of Huasco and Coquimbo. But the porterage of goods con- 

 veyed by these difficult and even dangerous routes is so heavy that the traffic 

 must entirely cease as soon as the Argentine and Chilian railway systems are 

 connected by the inter-oceanic trunk-lines now in progress. 



Towns of the Province of Mendoza.. 



Next to that of Tucuman, the province of Mendoza is the most populous of all 

 the Andean regions within Argentine territory. It owes its exceptional impor- 

 tance to its position on the main Continental highway between Buenos Ayres and 

 Valparaiso. The Cumbre Pass, over which will be carried the future trans- 

 Andean railway, lies between Aconcagua and Tupungato, loftiest peaks of the 

 Cordilleras. Farther south the range is interrupted by lower passes ; but they are 

 little frequented, owing to their remoteness from the route connecting the two 

 vital points of Chili and Argentina. 



Like the neighbouring provinces, Mendoza possesses some rich mineral deposits ; 

 but they have been little worked during the present century, and its chief resources 

 are its vineyards, cereals, and lucerne meadows watered by the torrents descend- 

 ing from the Cordilleras. Sericulture, of which great hopes were entertained 

 when introduced about the year 1850, has since been abandoned. Jointly with 

 the provinces of San Juan and San Luis, Mendoza belongs to the region known 

 by the name of Cuyo. Under the Spanish colonial rule this region depended 

 administratively on the government of Chili. 



Mendoza, the capital, and formerly metropolis of the Spanish vice-royalty of 

 La Plata, was founded in 1560 on a plain traversed by rivulets utilised as irriga- 

 tion rills. But it does not occupy its original site. The first Mendoza, built with 

 taller houses and heavier materials, was overthrown in a few minutes by the 

 fearful earthquake of 1861. The catastrophe occurred on Ash Wednesday evening, 

 when all the inhabitants were assembled in the churches, all of w^hich gave way, 

 burying beneath their ruins 10,000, or according to some 13,000, in a total popula- 

 63 



