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the widow of Prince Victor de Broglie, and saved her and her children from proscription. He introduced new agricultural instruments and processes on his estates, and installed machinery imported from England in his ironworks in Alsace. He was an enthusiastic adherent of Napoleon, by whom he was appointed in May 1809 prefect of Deux-Nèthes. He helped to repel the English invasion of the islands of South Beveland and Walcheren (August 1809), and afterwards directed the defence works of Antwerp, but resigned this post (March 1813) in consequence of the complaints of the inhabitants and the exacting demands of the emperor. In May 1814 he refused the prefecture of Marseilles offered to him by the Bourbons, but was elected deputy from Belfort in 1815 during the Hundred Days. On the 5th of July 1815 he took part in the declaration protesting against any tampering with the immutable rights of the nation. He was a member of the Chambre introuvable, where he became one of the orators of the democratic party. He was one of the founders of the journal Le censeur européen and of the Club de la liberté de la presse, and was an uncompromising opponent of reaction. Not re-elected in 1824 on account of his liberal ideas, he returned to the chamber under the Martignac ministry (1828), and resolutely persisted in his championship of the liberty of the press and of public worship. On the death of his wife he voluntarily renounced his mandate (July 1829), and hailed the revolution of 1830 with great satisfaction. On the 3rd of November 1830 he was elected to the chamber as deputy from Châtellerault, and took the oath, adding, however, the reservation "subject to the progress of the public reason.' His independent attitude resulted in his defeat in the following year at the Châtellerault election, but he was returned for Strassburg. He wished the incidence of the taxes to be arranged according to social condition, and advocated a single tax proportionate to income like the English income tax. He harped incessantly on this idea in his speeches and articles (see his letters in La Tribune of June 20, 1832). Although he was a proprietor of ironworks he opposed the protectionist laws, which he considered injurious to the workmen. He became the mouthpiece of the advanced ideas; subsidized the opposition newspapers, especially the National; received into his house F..M. Buonarroti, who in 1796 had been implicated in the conspiracy of "Gracchus" Babeuf (q.v.); and became a member of the committee of the Society of the Rights of Man. He was even sued in the courts for a pamphlet called Boutade d'un homme riche à sentiments populaires, and delivered a speech to the jury in which he displayed very daring social theories. But he gradually grew discouraged and retired from public affairs, refusing even municipal office, and living in seclusion at La Grange in the forest of Guerche, where he devoted his inventive faculty to devising agricultural improvements. He subsequently returned to Paris, where he died on the 1st of August 1842. CHARLES MARC RENÉ DE VOYER, marquis d'Argenson (1796-1862), son of the preceding, was born at Boulogne-surSeine on the 20th of April 1796. He concerned himself little with politics. He was, however, a member of the councilgeneral of Vienne for six years, but was expelled from it in 1840 in consequence of his advanced ideas and his relations with the Opposition. In 1848 he was elected deputy from Vienne to the Constituent Assembly by 12,000 votes. He was an active | member of the Archaeological Society of Touraine and the Society of Antiquaries of the West, and wrote learned works for these bodies. He collaborated in preparing the archives of the scientific congress at Tours in 1847; brought out two editions of the MSS. of his great-grand-uncle, the minister of foreign affairs under Louis XV., under the title Mémoires du marquis d'Argenson, one in 1825, and the other, in 5 vols., in 18571858; and published Discours et opinions de mon père, M. Voyer d'Argenson (2 vols., 1845). He died on the 31st of Juy 1862.

ARGENTAN, a town of north-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Orne, 27 m. N.N.W. of Alençon on the railway from Le Mans to Caen. Pop. (1906) 5072. It is situated on the slope of a hill on the right bank of the Orne at its confluence with the Ure. The town has remains of

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old fortifications, among them the Tour Marguerite, and a château, now used as a law-court, dating from the 15th century. The church of St Germain (15th, 16th and 17th centuries) has several features of architectural beauty, notably the sculptured northern portal, and the central and western towers. The church of St Martin, dating from the 15th century, has good stained glass. The handsome modern town-hall contains among other institutions the tribunal of commerce, the museum and the library. Argentan is the seat of a sub-prefect, has a tribunal of first instance and a communal college. Leather-working and the manufacture of stained glass are leading industries. There are quarries of limestone in the vicinity. Argentan was a viscounty from the 11th century onwards; it was often taken and pillaged. During the Religious Wars it remained attached to the Catholic party. François Eudes de Mézeray, the historian, was born near the town, and a monument has been erected to his memory. ARGENTEUIL, a town of northern France in the department of Seine-et-Oise, on the Seine, 5 m. N.W. of the fortifications of Paris by the railway from Paris to Mantes. Pop. (1906) 17,330. Argenteuil grew up round a monastery, which, dating from A.D. 656, was by Charlemagne changed into a nunnery; it was afterwards famous for its connexion with Héloïse (see ABELARD), and on her expulsion in 1129 was again turned into a monastery. Asparagus, figs and wine of medium quality are grown in the district; and heavy iron goods, chemical products, clocks and plaster are among the manufactures.

ARGENTINA, or the ARGENTINE REPUBLIC (officially, Republica Argentina), a country occupying the greater part of the southern extremity of South America. It is of wedge shape, extending from 21° 55′ S. to the most southerly point of the island of Tierra del Fuego in 55° 2′ 30′′ S., while its extremes of longitude are 53° 40′ on the Brazilian frontier and 73° 17′ 30′′ W. on the Chilean frontier. Its length from north to south is 2285 statute miles, and its greatest width about 930 m. It is the second largest political division of the continent, having an area of 1,083,596 sq. m. (Gotha measurement). It is bounded N. by Bolivia and Paraguay, E. by Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay and the Atlantic, W. by Chile, and S. by the converging lines of the Atlantic and Chile.

Boundaries. At different times Argentina has been engaged in disputes over boundary lines with every one of her neighbours, that with Chile being only settled in 1902. Beginning at the estuary of the Rio de la Plata, the boundary line ascends the Uruguay river, on the eastern side of the strategically important island of Martin Garcia, to the mouth of the Pequiry, thence under the award of President Grover Cleveland in 1894 up that small river to its source and in a direct line to the source of the Santo Antonio, a small tributary of the Iguassú, thence down the Santo Antonio and Iguassú to the upper Paraná, which forms the southern boundary of Paraguay. From the confluence of the upper Paraná and Paraguay the line ascends the latter to the mouth of the Pilcomayo, which river, under the award of President R. B. Hayes in 1878, forms the boundary between Argentina and Paraguay from the Paraguay river north-west to the Bolivian frontier. In accordance with the Argentine-Bolivian treaty of 1889 the boundary line between these republics continues up the Pilcomayo to the 22nd parallel, thence west to the Tarija river, which it follows down to the Bermejo, thence up the latter to its source, and westerly through the Quiaca ravine and across to a point on the San Juan river opposite Esmoraca. From this point it ascends the San Juan south and west to the Cerro de Granadas, and thence south-west to Cerro Incahuasi and Cerro Zapalegui on the Chilean frontier. The boundary with Chile, extending across more than 32° lat., had been the cause of disputes for many years, which at times led to costly preparations for war. The debts of the two nations resulted largely from this one cause. In 1881 a treaty was signed which provided that the boundary line should follow the highest crests of the Andes forming the watershed as far south as the 52nd parallel, thence east to the 70th meridian and south-east to Cape Dungeness at the eastern entrance to the Straits of Magellan. Crossing the Straits the line should follow

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north, extending southward from the great Bolivian highlands, there are several parallel ranges, the most prominent of which are: the Sierra de Santa Catalina, from which the detached Cachi, Gulumpaji and Famatina ranges project southward; and the Sierra de Santa Victoria, south of which are the Zenta, Aconquija, Ambato and Ancaste ranges. These minor ranges, excepting the Zenta, are separated from the Andean masses by comparatively low depressions and are usually described as distinct ranges; topographically, however, they seem to form a continuation of the ranges running southward from the Santa Victoria and forming the eastern rampart of the great central plateau of which the Puna de Atacama covers a large part. The elevated plateaus between these ranges are semiarid and inhospitable, and are covered with extensive saline basins, which become lagoons in the wet season and morasses or dry saltpans in the dry season. These saline basins extend down to the lower terraces of Córdoba, Mendoza and La Pampa. Flanking this great widening of the Andes on the south-east are the three short parallel ranges of Córdoba, belonging to another and older formation. North of them is the great saline depression, known as the "salinas grandes," 643 ft. above sea-level, where it is crossed by a railway; north-east is another extensive saline basin enclosing the "Mar Chiquita " (of Córdoba) and the morasses into which the waters of plains, partly saline, of western Córdoba, which separate this isolated the Rio Saladillo disappear; and on the north are the more elevated group of mountains from the Andean spurs of Rioja and San Luis. The castern ranges parallel to the Andes are here broken into detached extensions and spurs, which soon disappear in the elevated western pampas, and the Andes contract south of Aconcagua to a single range, which descends gradually to the great plains of La Pampa and Neuquen. The lower terrace of this great mountainous region, with elevations ranging from 1000 to 1500 ft., is in reality the western margin of the great Argentine plain, and may be traced from Oran (1017 ft.) near the Bolivian frontier southward through Tucumán (1476 ft.), Frias (1129 ft.), Córdoba (1279 ft.), Rio Cuarto (1358 ft.), Paunero (1250 ft.), and thence westward and southward through still unsettled regions to the Rio Negro at the confluence of the Neuquen and Limay.

the meridian of 68° 44', south to Beagle Channel, and thence east to the Atlantic, giving Argentina the eastern part of the Tierra del Fuego and Staten Island. By this agreement Argentina was confirmed in the possession of the greater part of Patagonia, while Chile gained control of the Straits of Magellan, much adjacent territory on the north, the larger part of Tierra del Fuego and all the neighbouring islands south and west. When the attempt was made to mark this boundary the commissioners were unable to agree on a line across the Puna de Atacama in the north, where parallel ranges enclosing a high arid plateau without any clearly defined drainage to the Atlantic or Pacific, gave an opportunity for conflicting claims. In the south the broken character of the Cordillera, pierced in places by large rivers flowing into the Pacific and having their upper drainage basins on the eastern side of the line of highest crests, gave rise to unforeseen and very difficult questions. Finally, under a convention of the 17th of April 1896, these conflicting claims were submitted to arbitration. In 1899 a mixed commission with Hon. W. I. Buchanan, United States minister at Buenos Aires, serving as arbitrator, reached a decision on the Atacama line north of 26° 52′ 45′′ S. lat., which was a compromise though it gave the greater part of the territory to Argentina. The line starts at the intersection of the 23rd parallel with the 67th meridian and runs south-westerly and southerly to the mountain and volcano summits of Rincón, Socompa, Llullaillaco, Azufre, Aguas Blancas and Sierra Nevada, thence to the initial point of the British award. (See Geogr. Jour., 1899, xiv. 322-323.) The line south of 26° 52′ 45′′ S. lat. had been located by the commissioners of the two republics with the exception of four sections. These were referred to the arbitration of Queen Victoria, and, after a careful survey under the direction of Sir Thomas H. Holdich, the award was rendered by King Edward VII. in 1902. (See Geogr. Jour., 1903, xxi. 45-50.) In the first section the line starts from a pillar erected in the San Francisco pass, about 26° 50' S. lat., and follows the water-parting south-depression immediately north of the latter river, believed to be the ward to the highest peak of the Tres Cruces mountains in 27° 0'45" S. lat., 68° 49' 5" W. long. In the second, the line runs from 40° 2' S. lat., 71° 40' 36" W. long., along the water-parting to the southern termination of the Cerro Perihueico in the valley of the Huahum river, thence across that river, 71° 40′ 36" W. long., and along the water-parting around the upper basin of the Huahum to a junction with the line previously determined. In the third and longest section, the line starts from a pillar erected in the Perez Rosales pass, near Lake Nahuel-Huapi, and follows the water-parting southward to the highest point of Mt. Tronador, and thence in a very tortuous course along local water-partings and across the Chilean rivers Manso, Puelo, Fetaleufu, Palena, Pico and Aisen, and the lakes Buenos Aires, Pueyrredón and San Martin, to avoid the inclusion of Argentine settlements within Chilcan territory, to the Cerro Fitzroy and continental waterparting north-west of Lake Viedma, between 49° and 50° S. lat. The northern half of this line does not run far from the 72nd meridian, except in 44° 30′ S. where it turns eastward nearly a degree to include the upper valley of the Frias river in Chilean territory, but south of the 49th parallel it curves westward to give Argentina sole possession of lakes Viedma and Argentino. The fourth section, which was made particularly difficult of solution by the extension inland of the Pacific coast inlets and sounds and by the Chilean colonies located there, was adjusted by running the line eastward from the point of divergence in 50° 50' S. lat. along the Sierra Baguales, thence south and southeast to the 52nd parallel, crossing several streams and following the crests of the Cerro Cazador. The Chilean settlement of Ultima Esperanza (Last Hope), over which there had been much controversy, remains under Chilean jurisdiction.

Physical Geography-For purposes of surface description, Argentina may be divided primarily into three great divisions-the mountainous zone and tablelands of the west, extending the full length of the republic; the great plains of the east, extending from the Pilcomayo to the Rio Negro; and the desolate, arid steppes of Patagonia. The first covers from one-third to one-fourth of the width of the country between the Bolivian frontier and the Rio Negro, and comprises the elevated Cordilleras and their plateaus, with flanking ranges and spurs toward the east. In the extreme

Pilcomayo south to the Rio Negro, and from the lower terraces of The Argentine part of the great La Plata plain extends from the the Andes eastward to the Uruguay and Atlantic. In the north the plain is known as the Gran Chaco, and includes the country between the Pilcomayo and Salado del Norte and an extensive undisturbed bottom of the ancient Pampean sea. The northern part of the Gran Chaco is partly wooded and swampy, and as the slope eastward is very gentle and the rivers much obstructed by sand bars, floating trees and vegetation, large areas are regularly flooded during rainy seasons. South of the Bermejo the land is marshy lagoons are to be found, similar to those farther north. more elevated and drier, though large depressions covered with The forests here are heavier. Still farther south and south-west there are open grassy plains and large areas covered with salt-pans. The general elevation of the Chaco varies from 600 to 800 ft. above sea-level. The Argentine "mesopotamia," between the Paraná and Uruguay rivers, belongs in great measure to this same region, being partly wooded, flat and swampy in the north (Corrientes), but higher and undulating in the south (Entre Rios). The Misiones territory of the extreme north-east belongs to the older highlands of Brazil, is densely wooded, and has ranges of hills sometimes rising to a height of 1000 to 1300 ft.

The remainder of the great Argentine plain is the treeless, grassy pampa (Quichua for "level spaces "), apparently a dead level, but in reality rising gradually from the Atlantic westward toward the Andes. Evidence of this is to be found in the altitudes of the stations on the Buenos Aires and Pacific railway running a little north of west across the pampas to Mendoza. The average elevation of Buenos Aires is about 65 ft.; of Mercedes, 70 m. westward, 132 ft.; of Junín (160 m.), 267 ft.; and of Paunero (400 m.) it is 1250 ft., showing an average rise of about 3 ft. in a mile. The apparently uniform level of the pampas is much broken along its southern margin by the Tandil and Ventana sierras, and by ranges of hills and low mountains in the southern and western parts of the territory of La Pampa. Extensive depressions also are found, some Buenos Aires and along the lower courses of the Colorado and Negro. of which are subject to inundations, as along the lower Salado in In the extreme west, which is as yet but slightly explored and settled, there is an extensive depressed area, largely saline in character, which drains into lakes and morasses, having no outlet to the ocean. eastern slopes of the Andes is large enough to meet the loss from The rainfall is under 6 in. annually, but the drainage from the evaporation and keep these inland lakes from drying up. early period this depressed area drained southward to the Colorado, and the bed of the old outlet can still be traced. The rivers belonging to this inland drainage system are the Vermejo, San Juan and Desaguadero, with their affluents, and their southward flow can be traced from about 28° S. lat. to the great lagoons and morasses between 36° and 37° S. lat. in the western part of La Pampa territory. Some of the principal affluents are the Vinchina and Jachal, or Zanjon, which flow into the Vermejo, the Patos, which flows into the San Juan, and the Mendoza, Tunuyan and Diamante which

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flow into the Desaguadero, all of these being Andean snow-fed rivers. The Desaguadero also receives the outflow of the Laguna Bebedero, an intensely saline lake of western San Luis. The lower course of the Desaguadero is known as the Salado because of the brackish character of its water. Another considerable river flowing into the same great morass is the Atuel, which rises in the Andes not far south of the Diamante. (A description of the Patagonian part of Argentina will be found under PATAGONIA.)

Rivers and Lakes. The hydrography of Argentina is of the simplest character. The three great rivers that form the La Plata system-the Paraguay, Paraná and- Uruguay-have their sources in the highlands of Brazil and flow southward through a great continental depression, two of them forming eastern boundary lines, and one of them, the Paraná, flowing across the eastern part of the republic. The northern part of Argentina, therefore, drains eastward from the mountains to these rivers, except where some great inland depression gives rise to a drainage having no outlet to the sea, and except, also, in the " mesopotamia region, where small streams flow westward into the Paraná and eastward into the Uruguay. The largest of the rivers through which Argentina drains into the Plata system are the Pilcomayo, which rises in Bolivia and flows south-east along the Argentine frontier for about 400 m.; the Bermejo, which rises on the northern frontier and flows south-east into the Paraguay; and the Salado del Norte (called Rio del Juramento in its upper course), which rises on the high mountain slopes of western Salta and flows south-east into the Paraná. Another river of this class is the Carcarañal, about 300 m. long, formed by the confluence of the Tercero and Cuarto, whose sources are in the Sierra de Córdoba; it flows eastward across the pampas, and discharges into the Paraná at Gaboto, about 40 m. above Rosario. Other small rivers rising in the Córdoba sierras are the Primero and Segundo, which flow into the lagoons of north-east Córdoba, and the Quinto, which flows south-easterly into the lagoons and morasses of southern Córdoba. The Luján rises near Mercedes, province of Buenos Aires, is about 150 m. long, and flows north-easterly into the Paraná delta. Many smaller streams discharge into the Paraguay and Paraná from the west, some of them wholly dependent upon the rains, and drying up during long droughts. The Argentine" mesopotamia" is well watered by a large number of small streams flowing north and west into the Paraná, and east into the Uruguay. The largest of these are the Corrientes, Feliciano and Gualeguay of the western slope, and the Aguapey and Miriñay of the eastern. None of the tributaries of the La Plata system thus far mentioned is navigable except the lower Pilcomayo and Bermejo for a few miles. These Chaco rivers are obstructed by sand bars and snags, which could be removed only by an expenditure of money unwarranted by the present population and traffic. In the southern pampa region there are many small streams, flowing into the La Plata estuary and the Atlantic; most of these are unknown by name outside the republic. The largest and only important river is the Salado del Sud, which rises in the north-west corner of the province of Buenos Aires and flows south-east for a distance of 360 m. into the bay of Samborombon. On the southern margin of the pampas are the Colorado and Negro, both large, navigable rivers flowing entirely across the republic from the Andes to the Atlantic. Many of the rivers of Argentina, as implied by their names (Salado and Saladillo), are saline or brackish in character, and are of slight use in the pastoral and agricultural industries of the country. The lakes of Argentina are exceptionally numerous, although comparatively few are large enough to merit a name on the ordinary general map. They vary from shallow, saline lagoons in the north-western plateaus, to great, picturesque, snow-fed lakes in the Andean foothills of Patagonia. The province of Buenos Aires has more than 600 lakes, the great majority small, and some brackish. The La Pampa territory also is dotted with small lakes. The Bebedero, in San Luis, and Porongos, in Córdoba, and others, are shallow, saline lakes which receive the drainage of a considerable area and have no outlet. The large saline Mar Chiquita, of Córdoba, is fed from the Sierra de Córdoba and has no outlet. In the northern part of Corrientes there is a large area of swamps and shallow lagoons which are believed to be slowly drying up.

Harbours. Although having a great extent of coast-line, Argentina has but few really good harbours. The two most frequented by ocean-going vessels are Buenos Aires and Ensenada (La Plata), both of which have been constructed at great expense to overcome natural disadvantages. Perhaps the best natural harbour of the republic is that of Bahia Blanca, a large bay of good depth, sheltered by islands, and 534 m. by sea south of Buenos Aires; here the government is building a naval station and port called Puerto Militar or Puerto Belgrano, and little dredging is needed to render the harbour accessible to the largest ocean-going vessels. About 100 m. south of Bahia Blanca is the sheltered bay of San Blas, which may become of commercial importance, and between the 42nd and 43rd parallels are the land-locked bays of San José and Nueva (Golfo Nuevo)-the first as yet unused; on the latter is Puerto Madryn, 838 m. from Buenos Aires, the outlet for the Welsh colony of Chubut. Other small harbours on the lower Patagonian coast are not prominent, owing to lack of population. An occasional Argentine steamer visits these ports in the interests of colonists. The best-known among them are Puerto Deseado

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(Port Desire) at the mouth of the Deseado river (1253 m.), Santa Cruz, at the mouth of the Santa Cruz river (1481 m.), and Ushuaia, on Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego. North of Buenos Aires, on the Paraná river, is the port of Rosario, the outlet for a rich agricultural district, ranking next to the federal capital in importance. Other river ports, of less importance, are Concordia on the Uruguay river, San Nicolás and Campana on the Paraná river, Santa Fé on the Salado, a few miles from the Paraná, the city of Paraná on the Paraná river, and Gualeguay on the Gualeguay river.

Geology. The Pampas of Argentina are generally covered by loess. The Cordillera, which bounds them on the west, is formed of folded beds, while the Sierras which rise in their midst, consist mainly of gneiss, granite and schist. In the western Sierras, which are more or less closely attached to the main chain of the Cordillera, Cambrian and Silurian fossils have been found at several places. These older beds are overlaid, especially in the western part of the country, by a sandstone series which contains thin seams of coal and many remains of plants. At Bajo de Velis, in San Luis, the plants belong to the "Glossopteris flora," which is so widely spread in South Africa, India and Australia, and the beds are correlated with the Karharbári series of India (Permian or Permo-Carboniferous). Elsewhere the plants generally indicate a higher horizon and are considered to correspond with the Rhaetic of Europe. Jurassic beds are known only in the Cordillera itself, and the Cretaceous beds, which occur in the west of the country, are of freshwater origin. As far west, therefore, as the Cordillera, there is no evidence that any part of the region was ever beneath the sea in Mesozoic times, and the plant-remains indicate a land connexion with Africa. This view is supported by Neumayr's comparison of Jurassic faunas throughout the world. The Lower Tertiary consists largely of reddish sandstones resting upon the old rocks of the Cordillera and of the Sierras. Towards the east they lie at a lower level; but in the Andes they reach a height of nearly 10,000 ft., and are strongly folded, showing that the elevation of the chain was not completed until after their deposition. The marine facies of the later Tertiaries is confined to the neighbourhood of the coast, and was probably formed after the elevation of the Andes; but inland, freshwater deposits of this period are met with, especially in Patagonia. Contemporaneous volcanic rocks are associated with the Ordovician beds and with the Rhaetic sandstones in several places. During the Tertiary period the great volcanoes of the Andes were formed, and there were smaller eruptions in the Sierras. The principal rocks are andesites, but trachytes and basalts are also common. Great masses of granite, syenite and diorite were intruded at this period, and send tongues even into the andesitic tuffs.

Silver, gold, lead and copper ores occur in many localities. They are found chiefly in the neighbourhood of the eruptive masses of the hilly regions. (See also ANDES.)!

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Climate. The great extent of Argentina in latitude-about 33°and its range in altitude from sea-level westward to the permanently snow-covered peaks of the Andes, give it a highly diversified climate, which is further modified by prevailing winds and mountain barriers. The temperature and rainfall are governed by conditions different from those in corresponding latitudes of the northern hemisphere. Southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, for instance, although they correspond in latitude to Labrador, are made habitable and an excellent sheep-grazing country by the southerly equatorial current along the continental coast. The climate, however, is colder than the corresponding latitudes of western Europe, because of the prevailing westerly winds, chilled in crossing the Andes. In the extreme north-west an elevated region, whose aridity is caused by the blanketing" influence of the eastern Andean ranges, extends southward to Mendoza. The northern part of the republic, east of the mountains, is subject to the oscillatory movements of the south-east trade winds, which cause a division of the year into wet and dry seasons. Farther south, in Patagonia, the prevailing wind is westerly, in which case the Andes again "blanket an extensive region and deprive it of rain, turning it into an arid desolate steppe. Below this region, where the Andean barrier is low and broken, the moist westerly winds sweep over the land freely and give it a large rainfall, good pastures and a vigorous forest growth. If the republic be divided into sections by east and west lines, diversities of climate in the same latitude appear. In the extreme north a little over a degree and a half of territory lies within the torrid zone, extending from the Pilcomayo about 500 m. westward to the Chilean frontier: its eastern end is in the low, wooded plain of the Gran Chaco, where the mean annual temperature is 73° F., and the annual rainfall is 63 in.; but on the arid, elevated plateau at its western extremity the temperature falls below 57° F., and the rainfall has diminished to 2 in. The character of the soil changes from the alluvial lowlands of the Gran Chaco, covered with forests of palms and other tropical vegetation, to the sandy, saline wastes of the Puna de Atacama, almost barren of vegetation and overshadowed by permanently

1 For the geology of Argentina, see Stelzner, Beiträge zur geologie der argentinischen Republik (Cassel and Berlin, 1885); Brackebusch, Mapa geológico del Interiore de la República Argentina (Gotha, 1892); Valentin, Bosquejo geológico de la Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1897); Hauthal," Beiträge zur Geologie der argentinischen Provinz Buenos Aires," Peterm. Mitt. vol. 1., 1904, pp. 83-92, 112-117, pl. vi.

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