TOPOGEAPHY OF AEGENTINA. 



459 



Nevertheless the Welsh colony must have eventually failed had it not occurred 

 to some of the inexperienced squatters to dam up the current of the Chubut 

 v/hen swollen by the melting snows, and distribute the water thrtugh irrigation 

 rills over the land. " New Wales " was saved. The plain, forming a long 

 triangle 48 miles east and west with a mean breadth of 5 miles, comprises a 



Fig. 181. — Old and Modeen Colonies in Patagonia. 

 Scale 1 : 16,000,000. 



BahiaBlanca 



310 Miles. 



superficial area of about 100,000 acres, of which one- third is under wheat, the 

 concessions varying from 250 to 375 acres. 



The soil, consisting in great measure of volcanic ashes watered by a network 

 of irrigating canals with a total length of 230 miles, yields excellent returns 

 despite the ravages of wild swans and duck. The crops are sevenfold more 

 abundant than those of the old settlements in this region, and after supplying 



