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The National Geographic Magazine 



Scotch sheep herders already have taken 

 very kindly to Patagonia, while Welsh 

 and Russian colonies also are established 

 in that region. It may even be that from 

 the United States there will be some 

 overflow of our own cosmopolitan popu- 

 lation, though the direct ocean routes 

 cannot be changed and Argentina and 

 Brazil must continue closer to Europe 

 than to the United States. 



In conclusion, viewing South America 



fifty years hence, both in relation to the 

 productive regions which will attract im- 

 migration and to the conditions of life 

 which insure a permanent population, it 

 may be said that the star of empire takes 

 its way south from the Caribbean to 

 Patagonia. That is the course for the 

 grain-raiser, for the wool-grower, and 

 for the grazer. It is also the course for 

 the miner who follows the trend of the 

 Andes. 



A NEW PERUVIAN ROUTE TO THE PLAIN 

 OF THE AMAZON 



By Solon I. Bailey 

 Associate Professor of Astronomy, Harvard College Observatory 



The author of this article was sent to the west coast of South America in 1889 

 to determine the best site for the Southern station of the Harvard College Observa- 

 tory. He examined the west coast from the Equator to the southern coast of South 

 America, and upon his report Are quip a, Peru, was selected. Professor Bailey had 

 charge of the work there for eight years, and also established a meteorological 

 station on the summit of El Misti,at an elevation of 19,000 feet, where observations 

 have since been carried on. It is by far the highest scientific station in the world. 



A COMMERCIAL conquest of 

 the heart of the South Ameri- 

 can continent is going rapidly 

 forward. While the coast regions have 

 been settled and civilized for centuries, 

 colonization has hardly touched the 

 great plains of the upper Amazon and 

 the lower valleys of the eastern Andes. 

 Only yesterday, indeed, this vast re- 

 gion was almost unknown ; today little 

 remains which has not been at least 

 partially explored. Nor is it now any 

 thought of the millions who in the fu- 

 ture may here make their homes which 

 is working for the development of the 

 country, but simply the desire to be 

 first in the exploitation of its natural 

 wealth, especially rubber. 



Commerce naturally follows the lines 

 of great rivers, and nowhere else are 

 there such vast water systems as in 

 South America ; nor does it seem im- 



probable that the same law will hold 

 true here, especially after the possibili- 

 ties of the tributaries of the Amazon 

 have been properly developed, and that 

 the commerce of southeastern Peru 

 and Bolivia will find its way to the 

 Atlantic, thousands of miles distant, 

 rather than to the Pacific, only a few 

 hundred miles away. This has been 

 true in the past, and is strikingly illus- 

 trated by Iquitos, in northeastern Peru, 

 which is practically an Atlantic seaport, 

 although in Peruvian territory and 

 2,000 miles from the mouth of the 

 Amazon. From southeastern Peru and 

 Bolivia, however, in the regions of the 

 Madre de Dios and the Beni, communi- 

 cation with the Atlantic is more diffi- 

 cult. This is due especially to the falls 

 of the Madeira, near the junction of the 

 two rivers named above. These rapids 

 block navigation at a distance of 2,000 



