Argentina Part 18

"1st. That the working of the mines in the provinces of Rio de la Plate, by an English a.s.sociation, is politically unsafe; and--

"2nd. That if there were no such risk, the expense would far exceed the returns." (Head, "Reports," pp. 51-2.)

CHAPTER XIX

BAHIA BLANCA AND PATAGONIA

Bahia Blanca is one of the youngest of sea-ports. It only obtained railway communication in 1885, and it was not considered of sufficient importance for a separate article in the tenth edition of the "Encyclopedia Britannica." It has now a population of about forty thousand.

Buenos Aires and Rosario have long been the great wheat ports, but they have now a formidable rival in the new southern city. Much of the best wheat land is in the south of the Province of Buenos Aires and Bahia Blanca is the natural outlet for it. There is hardly a limit to the amount of grain that will be sent to this port for shipment when the southern regions are systematically irrigated, and the railways, always alive to the importance of developing the country they serve, are preparing large schemes. Bahia Blanca is indeed one of the most important objectives of railway enterprise in South America. The Great Southern was the first in the field and for many years had a monopoly, but the most enterprising of all the lines, the Buenos Aires and Pacific, has lately been tempted by the splendid prospects of the south and has acquired the management of the Bahia Blanca and North-Western system. It has built moles and warehouses and in every way improved and enlarged the port.

The journey from the capital to Bahia Blanca is not interesting, for the greater part is over a dead level and the country is unrelieved by hedgerows or any of the picturesque landscapes which we in the Old World a.s.sociate with the countryside. The journey is also rendered disagreeable by the dust which is the invariable concomitant of Argentine railway travelling. In the latter half the monotony is relieved by a low range of green mountains, the Sierra Tandil, which are practically the only break in the plain between Brazil and the extreme south. The town itself is not attractive on first view, for it is white and bare. The sh.o.r.e is low and fringed with lagoons and the glaring white roads are not restful to the eye. This feature is due to _tosca_, a kind of limestone with which all the roads in the neighbourhood are made. But much has been done by art to improve the tameness of nature.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TANDIL ROCKING-STONE.]

There are two towns. Eastward is the Puerto Militar, the great naval harbour, and some miles to the west lies the Civil Port, Bahia Blanca proper, which will soon be as familiar a name as Liverpool or Rotterdam. The naval town is the work of the accomplished Italian engineer, Chevalier Luis Luiggi, who has constructed magnificent naval works. The graving dock is very fine and will receive battleships of the largest size, nor was the Italian neglectful of the artistic side of town planning, for he has transformed a desert into a garden, and Puerto Belgrano, as it is called, is likely to be in the future a fashionable watering-place, as well as a naval base. Gums, acacias, and tamarisks have been planted, and numerous gardens have been laid out. On the Civil Port immense sums have been spent, and it has been made thoroughly fit to deal with the portentous grain traffic, large already and which must very soon attain marvellous proportions. The compet.i.tion of two powerful railways a.s.sures Bahia Blanca of being well served both in the matter of docks and transport.

Patagonia, which a generation ago was hardly known except by the reports of sailors, who had occasionally explored its coasts, and which was fabled as a land of giants, is now beginning to raise its veil of mystery and to be known as an important seat of the wool trade. But it is still imperfectly explored, and not long ago an expedition was despatched to search for the grypotherium, a strange beast which was rumoured to live in the inaccessible forests. It may be doubted whether it has more reality than the sea serpent.

As we saw in a previous chapter, Patagonia possesses extreme interest for the geologist. It is a recent formation, for at one period, not very far distant from a geological point of view, it formed the vast Pampean sea. The late Colonel Church[124] has treated the subject in an interesting paper of which the opening remarks are a summary: "I shall try to show that the Plata drainage area was, in a recent geological period, much more extensive than it is to-day; that its most northern limit was in 10 44' S. lat., and that nearly the entire waters which now unite to form the Madeira River, the main affluent of the Amazon, once flowed southward into a Pampean sea, which penetrated north over the plains of the present Argentine Republic, to about 19 S. lat." It was probably 1,400 miles in length with an average breadth of 400 miles, and perhaps two-thirds the size of the Mediterranean. The Pampean formation is estimated to have an age of seventy thousand years. Between the history of its geological formation and our own time the record of Patagonia, though picturesque, is not important. It was a no-man's land, abandoned as worthless to savages and only visited by the curious or by those who were making their way to more profitable regions. As is well known, the explorer Magellan was the first to set foot in this country, which he called Tierra de Pantagones from the large footprints which he found in the sand, and many of the places at which he touched still bear the names he gave them. Several Spanish navigators and also Drake visited it during the sixteenth century, but Sarmiento de Gamboa, who made useful surveys, was the only one to add much to our knowledge of Patagonia. He also attempted to settle the country, but without success, for Thomas Cavendish (who named Port Desire after his own ship) saw in 1586, twenty-three famished Spaniards, the only survivors of the city of King Philip, founded by Gamboa on the Straits. These poor creatures were trying to return to the Plate district. Cavendish, therefore, named the deserted settlement the Town of Famine, and it retains the name of Port Famine to this day.[125] In 1590 John Davys found a solitary straggler here, and the bold navigator thus describes his barren experiences[126]: "Here we made a boat of the boards of our chests, which, being finished, we sent seven armed men in the same on land on the north sh.o.r.e, being wafted on land by the savages with certain white skins; who, as soon as they came on sh.o.r.e, were presently killed by an hundred of the wild people in the sight of two of our men, which rowed them on sh.o.r.e, which two only escaped back again to us with the boat. After this traitorous slaughter of our men, we fell back again with our ship to the north-eastward of Port Famine to a certain road, where we refreshed ourselves with mussels, and took in water and wood." The country was long neglected, but in 1670 Sir John Narborough appeared off the coast with several men-of-war, when, after coasting round as far as Valdivia, he found that the Spaniards were too strong and returned to England.

Reference has already been made to the famous voyage of Anson. In his adventurous circ.u.mnavigation he spent but a comparatively short time on the Patagonian coast, and he gives little information about the natives, but his account of the country exactly tallies with that of other explorers. It was described as being entirely treeless. "But though this country be so dest.i.tute of wood, it abounds with pasture.

For the land appears in general to me, made up of downs of a light dry gravelly soil, and produces great quant.i.ties of long coa.r.s.e gra.s.s, which grows in tufts interspersed with large barren spots of gravel between them. This gra.s.s, in many places, feeds immense herds of cattle; for the Spaniards at Buenos Ayres, having brought over a few black cattle from Europe at their first settlement, they have thriven prodigiously by the plenty of herbage which they have found here, and now increased to that degree, and are extended so far into the country, that they are not considered as private property; but many thousands at a time are slaughtered every year by the hunters, only for their hides and tallow."[127]

In 1764 Byron visited the coast of Patagonia and made friends with the inhabitants, whose vast size greatly impressed him. His scribe calls the chief a "frightful Colossus," and thus describes the surprise which the giants created[128]: "Mr. c.u.mming came up with the tobacco, and I could not but smile at the astonishment which I saw expressed in his countenance upon perceiving himself, though six feet two inches high, become at once a pigmy among giants; for these people may indeed more properly be called giants than tall men; of the few among us who are six feet high, scarcely any are broad and muscular in proportion to their stature, but look rather like men of the common bulk, run up accidentally to an unusual height; and a man who should measure only six feet two inches, and equally exceed a stout well-set man of the common stature in breadth and muscle, would strike us rather as being of gigantic race, than as an individual accidentally anomalous; our sensations therefore, upon seeing five hundred people, the shortest of whom were at least four inches taller, and bulky in proportion, may be easily imagined." This is a point upon which testimony varies. Sir John Narborough's mate, Mr. Wood, declared that he saw no native who was taller than himself.

In the eighteenth century the Spaniards made several attempts to settle Patagonia, and the English Jesuit, Thomas Falkner, wrote a most valuable account of the country and people. He mentions a voyage of discovery made in 1746, in which, however, the captain neglected to explore the river Deseado. His reasons were "that his orders were only to discover if there was any port fit to make a settlement, near or not very far from the mouth of the Straits, that might afford supplies for ships in their pa.s.sage to the South Seas; that he had surveyed all from Port Gallegos, without finding one place fit for forming a settlement upon, on account of the barrenness of the soil, and the want of the common necessaries of wood and water; that he had done what was sufficient to quiet the King of Spain, with respect to any jealousies he might have of a certain northern nation's being so foolish as to attempt a settlement in such a country, where as many as were left must perish; that the Bay Sans Fond was at too great a distance from Cape Horn, to come within the circle of his instructions; that his stock of fresh water was scarce sufficient to reach the river of Plata, and he was not certain whether he should be able to get any more at the mouth of the River of Sauces."[129]

Falkner gave a very full account of the Tehuelches, and his work was read with great interest by the Spanish authorities, who began to fear that other nations might make settlements in Patagonia. They accordingly despatched two brothers, named Viedma, with expeditions, and Francisco Viedma founded Carmen at the mouth of the Rio Negro, while Antonio established another colony at Port St. Julian. He also explored the interior and made his way as far as the great inland lake from which flows the Rio Santa Cruz.

In 1827 and for several years after Captain Fitzroy, in command of the _Adventure_ and _Beagle_ explored Patagonia, and wrote a long account of his experiences, but, for information about the interior, he relies chiefly upon Falkner. This valuable expedition added immensely to our geographical and zoological knowledge, and Captain Fitzroy carefully observed such natives as he met and endeavoured to civilise several of them. He remarks[130]: "The moral restraints of these people seem to be very slight. Each man is at liberty to do as much as he feels inclined; and if he does not injure or offend his neighbour, is not interfered with by others. Their social habits are those handed down by their ancestors, and adapted to the life they are compelled to lead. Ideas of improvement do not trouble them. Contented with their fine climate--plenty of wholesome food, and an extensive range of country--they rather pity white people, who seem to them always in want of provisions, and tossed about at sea. These natives have a great dislike to the motion of a ship; yet, for novelty, they will go afloat when opportunity offers." The Patagonians have an inveterate belief in witchcraft; it seems to be their strongest quasi-religious sentiment. They are generally well-behaved and good-tempered, but are liable to gusts of pa.s.sion, which make them uncertain, and there is a Spanish proverb to the effect that one should never trust an Indian.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PATAGONIANS.]

The name of Darwin is inseparably a.s.sociated with that of Fitzroy and his ships. In 1834 the latter in company with the great naturalist made a long voyage up the Rio Santa Cruz. A party of twenty-five started on April 18th, in three whale-boats with provisions for three weeks. The river was several hundred yards broad, and in the middle about 17 feet deep, the water of a fine blue colour, and the current had a velocity of from four to six miles an hour. The boats were towed by relays of the crews. The country was not uninhabited, for the explorers discovered traces of Indians, but Darwin describes it as singularly uninteresting; it was shingle desert dotted with stunted plants. Mice, foxes, guanacos, condors, and pumas were abundant. On May 4th, they were in full view of the Andes. Darwin[131] says: "Everywhere we met with the same productions, and the same dreary landscape. We were now one hundred and forty miles distant from the Atlantic, and about sixty from the nearest arm of the Pacific. The valley in this upper part expanded into a wide basin, bounded on the north and south by the basaltic platforms, and fronted by the long range of the snow-clad Cordillera. But we viewed these grand mountains with regret, for we were obliged to imagine their nature and productions, instead of standing, as we had hoped, on their summits." Fitzroy was becoming anxious about the supplies, and the party rapidly descended the river, reaching the _Beagle_ by May 8th. In spite of his disappointment, Darwin was well pleased with his excursion, which had given him useful knowledge of the geological formation of Patagonia. In fact, the Darwin-Fitzroy expedition yielded, on the whole, more valuable results than any that has ever been made to that country.

As Chile and Argentina advanced in wealth and became more settled, the unexplored plains of Patagonia were coveted by both, and, as has been seen, a long dispute was at last terminated in a satisfactory manner.

As was natural, the lion's share was obtained by Argentina, but the most important parts of Tierra del Fuego are in possession of Chile, and the flourishing harbour of Punta Arenas, which is becoming a great wool depot, is also Chilian. With prospects of industrial development and greater security of attacks from the Indians, explorers began to show activity. Some forty years ago an adventurous Englishman joined himself to a company of wandering Indians and went all over the interior. He describes the country about the Rio Chico as a barren desert of rocks and all intersected with deep ravines which seemed to have been torn out of the surface by some tremendous explosive force.

Near the coast is an inhospitable tract called the Devil's Country, which even the Indians never enter, and they declare that the country near the sea is so rough that an Indian would take two years to march from Santa Cruz to the Rio Negro. This circ.u.mstance, he thinks, has caused sailors to describe Patagonia as an entirely arid country. In fact, after the coast barrier has been pa.s.sed, the country abounds in lagoons, springs, and frequent streams.

It is probable that within a generation Patagonia, which has long been synonymous for an unknown desert, and is still less than half explored, may be a land of much industrial importance. A word may be said on the interesting subject of the alleged gigantic stature of the Patagonians, or Tehuelches, for these are the only race to whom the term Patagonian properly applies. Authorities are practically unanimous as to the fact that they are tall, but as to how tall there is considerable discrepancy.[132] Musters[133] says: "The average height of the Tehuelche male members of the party with which I travelled was rather over than under five feet ten inches. Of course, no other means of measurement besides comparing my own height were available; but this result, noted at the time, coincides with that independently arrived at by Mr. Cunningham. Two others, who were measured carefully by Mr. Clarke, stood six feet four inches each.

After joining the Northern Tehuelches, although the Southerners proved generally to be the tallest, I found no reason to alter this average, as any smaller men that were met with in their company were not pure Tehuelches, but half-bred Pampas. The extraordinary muscular development of the arms and chest is in all particularly striking, and as a rule they are well proportioned throughout. This fact calls for especial mention, as others have stated that the development and strength of the legs is inferior to that of the arms. Even Mr.

Cunningham alleges this to be the case, but I cannot at all agree with him." Mr. Campbell suggests[134] that as the men have very long bodies they appear much taller than they really are when seated upon horseback, but there is ample evidence to prove that they are the largest race of people in the world.

Most modern travellers give these natives a good character; they are tolerably honest, good-natured, and treat their women well. They have no idols, but worship a good and great spirit; however, as said before, witchcraft seems to be the strongest element in their religion. One writer tells of a Patagonian setting his daughter on a horse naked and galloping after the animal lashing and shouting at it.

The explanation was that the girl had a severe attack of measles, and as the devil was known greatly to dislike noise and cold, it was thought that these vigorous measures would induce him to forsake the girl's body. Within recent times they have not been ill-treated, but unfortunately, like most savages, they cannot resist the mysterious, wasting effect of civilisation. A recent traveller[135] says: "Those surviving are all civilised, and there is not the slightest danger for the traveller in a.s.sociating with them. They often possess fine troops of horses; some of them also own cattle. Many speak Spanish, and once or twice a year they go down to Punta Arenas or to Gallegos to exchange their guanaco mantles and ostrich feathers for different kinds of provisions and implements. But the number of guanacos is diminishing day by day, the land is becoming absorbed, and the Indians impoverished by the white traders; they are getting mixed with the whites, and so the day cannot be far off when the last Patagonian in the old sense shall have ceased to exist."

[Ill.u.s.tration: GUANACOS IN THE PARK OF MR. HECTOR COBO.]

The most northerly part of Patagonia is the Gobernacion of Rio Negro.

The only town of any importance is Patagones, which was founded by Viedema in 1780 under the name of Carmen. That part which is on the north bank of the Rio Negro is still called Carmen de Patagones, and the southern town preserves the name of Viedma. It has a good harbour, some miles from the sea, and has steamboat connection with Buenos Aires, while a coach runs to Bahia Blanca three times a week. There is a large trade in salt and also in fruit. The latter grows in abundance on the small islands of the river,[136] and the peaches and cherries are excellent, while irrigation is creating orchards on the mainland.

Far inland, also on the Rio Negro, is Roca, a small military post.

This Gobernacion is the most populous part of Patagonia, and when railways and irrigation are seriously applied to it, there will be no limit to its development. On the west it is bounded by the Andean territory of Nequen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHUBUT VALLEY.]

Next comes the Gobernacion of Chubut to the south. Its interest and importance is due to the settlement of plucky Welsh settlers, who now form a most valuable body of colonists. Nearly fifty years ago a philanthropic Welsh gentleman visited the United States and was distressed to find that his countrymen there had begun to lose their nationality. He determined to found a Welsh settlement in Argentina; a grant of land was obtained from the Government, and in 1865 the Welshmen arrived at Port Madryn, and, after undergoing unexampled hardships in the inhospitable valley of Chubut, developed into a flourishing community of pastoralists and agriculturists. There are now four hundred Welsh farms in the district. There is also a colony in the Andes of about five hundred souls. It is nearly 400 miles from Port Madryn. Rawson is the official capital of the colony and lies about 5 miles up the Chubut River. Trelew, the largest town, is 10 miles higher up. Gaiman is 9 miles further inland, and 13 miles from Gaiman is the Anglican Church of St. David. Port Madryn is 42 miles by rail from Trelew.[137] In many of the churches and chapels services are conducted in Welsh. The South American Missionary Society has done n.o.ble work in supplying buildings and chaplains, and the courage and enterprise of the hardy colonists is a striking episode in the history of colonisation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. DAVID'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, CHUBUT.]

More than 100 miles to the south is Camerones Bay, near which are some fine _estancias_. There is great promise for sheep-farming in this district, but the coast has a waterless strip about 25 miles broad.

Further inland there is excellent water and pasture.

The most desolate Gobernacion of all this desolate country is undoubtedly Santa Cruz itself. It takes its name from that river, the second largest in Patagonia, which Darwin found such difficulty in ascending. It is said that it will be navigable by steamers when its channel is ascertained, and Dr. Moreno has advanced as far as the Lago Argentino. The town of Santa Cruz has only a few hundred inhabitants, but it possesses a fine natural harbour, and may some day be a place of importance. Far to the North the Rio Deseado abounds in wild fowl, and at its mouth is the once famous Port Desire. Almost as far to the south and at no great distance from the Straits of Magellan is the considerable town of Port Gallegos, possessing a bank and a good trade. More than ten years ago a traveller[138] said: "The coasts of the Straits of Magellan and of the Atlantic have long been occupied, but just lately many settlers have taken up their quarters in the Gallegos valley and in the region between Last Hope inlet, and the lakes right away towards the dry Patagonian pampa. Until recently land could be got very cheaply, and there is still a lot of good 'camp' unoccupied, but that state of things will not last long. Most of the settlers are English-speaking people, hailing from England, Scotland, the Falkland Islands, or Australia."

Something should now be said of the lake system of Patagonia. The northernmost sheet of water of any size is Buenos Aires. Its length is 75 miles, and though it is close to the Andes, it is only 985 feet above the level of the sea. It is the largest of the lakes. Next in position and next in size is Lake Viedma. Its elevation is 828 feet, and it lies in a savage region. Somewhat less in area but consisting of three arms is Lake Argentino at the head of the Rio Santa Cruz. It is connected with Viedma by the Leona. This lake was only discovered in 1868 by Gardiner. In some cases the scenery is very fine; Buenos Aires is a lake of special beauty, and possibly in the future the district will be one of the world's pleasure-grounds. The development of Argentina has been so rapid that there has been no leisure to spare for inaccessible spots, but it may be that at some distant date the wealthy Argentines will be glad to take advantage of their splendid mountains and no longer be content with commonplace seaside resorts.

The fauna of Patagonia are not specially varied. Those who desire the results of keen observation on the subject should turn to Darwin's "Voyage of the _Beagle_." The guanaco and the ostrich are the most notable, and the latter creature is in great favour in Northern Argentina as a destroyer of locusts. Darwin[139] says: "The guanaco, or wild llama, is the characteristic quadruped of the plains of Patagonia; it is the South American representative of the camel of the East. It is an elegant animal in a state of nature, with a long slender neck and fine legs. It is very common over the whole of the temperate parts of the continent, as far south as the islands near Cape Horn. It generally lives in small herds of from half a dozen to thirty in each; but on the banks of the St. Cruz we saw one herd which must have contained at least five hundred." It is a gentle animal and easily domesticated, but, of course, in the plains it is not nearly as useful as the invaluable llama of the Chilian and Peruvian Andes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A VIEW OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO.]

Patagonia is almost virgin land, a s.p.a.cious adjunct to a country whose wealth and scanty population has. .h.i.therto prevented the inhabitants from seeking pastures new when the new are less luxuriant than the old. For long years it was considered almost worthless and was abandoned to wandering tribes of Indians. Now it is recognised as having a great future before it, and, promising as have been the settlements already, it can hardly be said that a beginning has yet been made, for Patagonia has hardly any railways, and the abundant rivers have scarcely been tapped for the purposes of irrigation. When iron rails have opened up the fine pasture-lands and when the waters of the great streams shall have been utilised for agriculture, it is safe to predict that the expansion of Argentina will exceed beyond comparison the progress. .h.i.therto made--a progress which even now fills the world with astonishment.

FOOTNOTES:

[124] _Geog. Journ._, October, 1898.

[125] Darwin remarks of the remains of the Spanish settlement, that "the style in which they were commenced shows the strong and liberal hand of Spain in the old time.... Port Famine expresses by its name the lingering and extreme sufferings of several hundred wretched people, of whom one alone survived to relate their misfortunes"

("Voyage of the _Beagle_," chap. viii.).

[126] Hakluyt, Extra Series, xi. 383.

[127] Walter, "A Voyage Round the World," p. 55.

[128] Hawkesworth, "An Account of the Voyages," i. 26.

[129] "A Description of Patagonia," pp. 84-5.

[130] "Narrative of the Surveying Voyages," ii. 167-8.

[131] "Voyage of the _Beagle_," chap. iv.

[132] The following is the testimony of travellers:--