TOPOGEAPHY OF ARGENTINA. 445 



dangerous fissures made their appearance in the barrier. The level of the lake had 

 consequently to be limited to 70 feet, which corresponds to a capacity of 2,000 

 million cubic feet, a quantity still sufficient for the irrigation of at least 100,000 

 acres. In 1890 a single downpour of six hours' duration caused three-fourths of 

 the contents of the reservoir to escape, bursting a canal, by which the city was 

 laid under water, and several hundred houses destroyed ; fortunately most of the 

 inhabitants were able to effect a timely retreat. 



In the neighbourhood is the settlement of PuehlUo, inhabited by Indian half- 

 breeds, who since its foundation have always remained under the direct control of 

 Cordoba. Farther up in the heart of the mountains is the health resort of Cosqnin, 

 frequented during the fine season by consumptive and other patients. A railway, 

 running from Cordoba by San Roque and Cosquin up to the sources of the Rio 

 Primero, and descending westwards to the salinas of Rioja, traverses a formerly 

 productive mineral region, which now yields but little of the precious metal. 

 Hence the Cordoba mint, which coined the gold from these mountains, has long 

 been closed. San Pedro and Dolores, the chief places in the mining district, now 

 depend on the agricultural resources of the surrounding plains. 



Towxs OF THE Province of Buenos Ayres. 



The province of Buenos Ayres, in which is situated the capital of Argentina 

 comprises less than a tenth part of the domain of the Republic. But its advan- 

 tageous position has enabled it to take a much higher rank in respect of wealth 

 and population. In the fertility of its soil, and even in its climatic conditions it 

 cannot compare with many other provinces ; but it enjoys the primary advantage 

 of easy access to foreign trade and immigration. 



But not satisfied with its economic preponderance, Buenos Ayres has long 

 aspired to political supremacy. In shaking off the yoke of Spain, its inhabitants 

 expected to take the place of the metropolis as the centre of authority, and forth- 

 with began to issue orders to the other sections of the colonial empire. Such 

 was the cause of the civil wars between " unionists " and " federalists," which 

 have cost torrents of blood, and which for a time even divided Argentina into 

 two separate States. 



City of Buenos Ayres. 



The city to which its founder, Mendoza, gave the name of Puerto Santa Maria 

 de Buenos Ayres, is not a natural " puerto " (haven), despite its name and despite 

 the tQYm. Pue lie nos, "Harbour Folk," applied to its inhabitants. On the long, 

 low-lying strand of the estuary there are no deep inlets of any kind, and the spot 

 chosen for the settlement offered to the first arrivals nothing but a rocky hard, or 

 landing-place for the boats of the vessels which had to ride at anchor in the 

 ofiiug. 



