PATAGONIA 



II 



should be made of those who first settle in a district, and who 

 realise in greater degree than even the pioneer explorers the diffi- 

 culties and drawbacks of a new country, and undoubtedly their 

 hardihood is of immense and Enduring value. I would, therefore, 

 include the name of the Waldron family, who have taken a large 

 part in settling the 

 southern districts 

 of Patagonia and 

 also in the colonis- 

 ing of Tierra del 

 Fuego. 



With this brief 

 reference to the 

 more important 

 journeys hitherto 

 made in Southern 

 Patagonia, it may 

 be well to give here 

 some description of 

 the country as it appears to-day. There are upon the eastern 

 coasts some settlements, as I have mentioned, and also the Welsh 

 colonies of Trelew, Dawson, Gaimon, besides these a very small 

 and recent one exists at Colohaupi, near Lake Musters, and 

 another. The i6th October, far away in the Cordillera. This 

 last is the single settlement of any size south of parallel 40° in the 

 central interior. 



A fringe of farms runs along the coast, and at the mouths of 

 the rivers are situated little frontier towns, such as San Julian, 

 Santa Cruz and Gallegos. Towards the south and along the 

 shores of the Strait the fringe of farms has grown broader and 

 the country is more generally settled, the Chilian town of Punta 

 Arenas being an important port. The few vast straggling farms 

 are given up chiefly to sheep-breeding, the main export being 

 wool. But cattle and horses are also raised in large numbers, for 

 the land has proved very suitable for pasturage. The farm 

 buildings vary, of course, in many ways : some are large and 

 comfortable homesteads, others mere squalid huts, but one and 



A PATAGONIAN ESTANCIA 



