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 associate 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 shore 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.
[Illustration: 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
competition of two powerful railways assures 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 shore, being wafted on land by the savages with
certain white skins; who, as soon as they came on shore, were
presently killed by an hundred of the wild people in the sight of two
of our men, which rowed them on shore, 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 circumnavigation 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 destitute 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 quantities of long coarse grass,
which grows in tufts interspersed with large barren spots of gravel
between them. This grass, 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. Cumming 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 passage 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 passion, which make them uncertain, and there is a
Spanish proverb to the effect that one should never trust an Indian.
[Illustration: PATAGONIANS.]
The name of Darwin is inseparably associated 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 depôt, 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 circumstance, he thinks, has
caused sailors to describe Patagonia as an entirely arid country. In
fact, after the coast barrier has been passed, 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 associating 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."
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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
noble work in supplying buildings and chaplains, and the courage and
enterprise of the hardy colonists is a striking episode in the history
of colonisation.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: A VIEW OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO.]
Patagonia is almost virgin land, a spacious adjunct to a country whose
wealth and scanty population has hitherto 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 hitherto 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:--
1520. Pigafetta. The least, taller than the tallest man in
Castile.
1578. Drake. Not taller than some Englishmen.
1591. Knyvet. Fifteen or sixteen spans high.
1598. Van Noort. Natives of tall stature.
1615. Schouten. Human skeletons ten or eleven feet long.
1669. Narborough. Mr. Wood was taller than any of them.
1750. Falkner. A cacique seven feet and some inches high.
1765. Byron. A chief about seven feet high, and few of the others
shorter.
1766. Wallis. Measured some of the tallest: one was six feet seven
inches, several six feet five inches; the average height was
between five feet ten inches and six feet.
1783. Viedma. Generally six feet high.
1829. D'Orbigny. Never found any exceeding five feet eleven
inches; average height, five feet four inches.
1833. Fitzroy and Darwin. Tallest of any people: average height,
six feet, some taller and a few shorter.
1867-8. Cunningham. Rarely less than five feet eleven inches in
height, and often exceeding six feet by a few inches. One measured
six feet ten inches.
[133] "At Home with the Patagonians," pp. 165-6.
[134] "Through Patagonia," p. 6.
[135] Otto Nordenskjöld, _Geog. Journ._, October, 1897.
[136] "Never river seemed fairer to look upon, extending away on
either hand until it melted and was lost in the blue horizon, its low
shores clothed in all the glory of groves and fruit orchards, and
vineyards and fields of ripening maize" (Hudson, "Idle Days in
Patagonia," p. 17).
[137] This little railway escaped notice in the chapter on railways.
It is an English company, the Central Railway of Chubut, which was
registered in 1886. Besides the original 42 miles an extension of 10
miles to Gaiman will soon be open. In 1907-8 the net profits on
working were £6,629.
[138] O. Nordenskjöld, _Geog. Journ._, October, 1897.
[139] "Voyage of the _Beagle_," chap. viii.