TOPOGRAPHY OF ARGENTINA. 



439 



ing plains, the best watered in Argentina, contain admirable invernadm, artificially- 

 irrigated meadows yielding splendid crops of lucerne, exported with wools, hides, 

 and cattle, especially to Chili. The wine grown in the district is all sent to the 

 Buenos Ayres market. In some years as many as 50,000 horned cattle are 

 forwarded over the Cuinbre Pass to the Chilian markets. 



West of Mendoza the road and the railway, starting from an altitude of 

 2,640 feet, run south-west through the llio de Mendoza Valley to Challao, a 

 watering-place six miles from the capital, and thence to Uspallafa about 6,200 feet 

 above the sea. Beyond this point the railway has been carried 15 miles, stopping 



Fiff. 173. — Inca Beidge. 



at present (1894) at an elevation of 6,560 feet below Punta Vacas, where begin 

 the difiicult escarpments. Casuchas, or " shelters," have been erected at intervals 

 along the slope of the Cumbre, as refuges against snow-storms and avalanches. 

 One of these nestles at the foot of a precipice not far from the " Inca's Bridge," 

 a natural arch of conglomerate cemented by the calcareous deposits of thermal 

 springs (O?*^ Fahr.), which bubble up on the floor of a cavern and fail in cascades 

 down to the Las Cuevas rivulet. The arch, beneath which flows the creek, rises 

 70 feet above the gorge, and has a span of 100 feet ; long stalactites hang from 

 the overhanging vault. Although no bathing establishments have yet been 

 founded on the spot, a few invalids, especially ChiKans, already resort to the 



