 Section 1 of the National Geographic Magazine, Viomate, November 1897. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Patagonia by J.B. Hatcher. Patagonia from the Spanish Patagon, a larger clumsy foot, is the name commonly applied to that portion of South America, lying between Rio Negro on the North and the Strait of Magellan on the South, and embraced by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It thus has an extent from North to South of about 1,000 miles, and a maximum breadth of nearly 500 miles. The name dates from 1521, Magellan on his voyage around the world, observing near his winter quarters at San Julian. Certain large human footsteps, Patagones, gave that name to the country. Although Spanish settlements were founded at San Felipe, and at other places in Patagonia as early as 1579, more than 40 years before the landing of the pilgrims at Plameth Rock. Yet it is still a very sparsely settled and little known country, especially throughout the interior of the central region, with the exception of the settlements along Rio Negro and the Welsh colonies on the river Chubud. There are no important settlements in the interior, and in the country lying to the south of the latter stream, the entire settlements are confined to a few sheep farms gathered along the eastern coast from Port Desire to Sandy Point, Punta Arenas in the Strait of Magellan. On the western coast there are a few unimportant settlements at Atoi Station and Sceering Water in the extreme south, while on the north most of the settlements are confined to Chilaue and the other larger islands. The western coast of the mainland and most of the interior is inhabited only by roving bands of Indians, which in the former region include closely related tribes of canoe or channel Indians who live almost entirely in small open boats of native design. Construct it with considerable skill from large pieces of bark, either from the Antarctic Deciduous Beach, Fegus Antartica, or from the Evergreen Beach, Fegus Petuloides. Sown together with sinew or a flexible whale bone, the latter is thrown up in considerable quantities along the shores of this coast. At present the Indians are usually clothed with bits of cheap calico fashion into rude garments, that of the women resembling loose skirts suspended from the shoulders and usually extending somewhat below the knees. While for the most part the men and women are at present clothed with some sort of cloth, usually obtained by barter from the whites, yet examples are not entirely wanting of individuals still clinging through choice or necessity to that more primitive state in which a narrow girth about the loins is deemed sufficient, with sometimes the addition of a piece of seal skin held above by a single thong passing around the neck and over the shoulders and below by another about the body so that it may be readily shifted to any desired position according to the direction of the wind. These Indians feed almost exclusively upon shellfish, which they are able to pick up along the shore, while the remains of an occasional seal or sea otter cast up by the waves or the same animals taken alive with their spears serve to vary their diet. Perhaps another people in the world are the actual necessities of life reduced to so few as among the Channel Islands of this region. With no constant habitation they move about from one sheltered cove to another so that their occupation of any particular place is entirely dependent upon, first the abundance of the mollusk upon which they live, and second when these are well nigh exhausted upon the condition of the weather. On a few earthen sods in the bottom of their canoes they keep constantly burning a small fire, which always seems just on the point of going out. And over this they all bend when not engaged in collecting the animals for food, which they usually eat uncooked and without other preliminary preparation. For their shelter on land notwithstanding the inclement weather that prevails almost continuously, they erect exceedingly inefficient and primitive structures consisting of only a few branches of trees, the lower ends of which are stuck in the ground in an almost complete circle while the upper ends are carelessly patched together, thus forming a sort of low conical wiki up with an opening on one side. These together with their canoes, two small paddles with which the latter are propelled, one or two spears of harpoons made of bone for the capture of seals, and one or more rather well formed vessels made of rushes and usually of the capacity of about a gallon used in gathering shellfish fulfill all their domestic requirements. Notwithstanding the exceedingly primitive manner in which they live, it is evident from the great accumulation of shell heaps in many places periodically occupied them that they have inhabited this region for a considerable period during which little of any alteration has taken place in their habits and customs. The Indian tribes east of the Cordieras are of Tealuche or Aracania, stock, and in general appearance habits and customs they are quite different from and far superior to those of the western coast. Perhaps as a race no people in the world are better developed physically than are the Tealquiches southern and eastern Patagonia, while their size has been considerably exaggerated by many of the earlier travelers, yet the fact remains that they are a large and physically well developed race. The men have an average height of about five feet ten inches and the women of about five feet six inches. In both sexes the body is well formed, while the features are without doubt far less striking than are those of certain of our tribes of Indians, yet their count tenences are usually such as to inspire confidence in their peaceful intentions and to allay feelings of uneasiness in the mind of the traveler who may be unwillingly thrown among them. In the construction of their toldos or tents they have advanced one step at least over that shown by many nomadic tribes living in North America or elsewhere, in that while having no permanent residences they are nevertheless not entirely dependent upon the resources of the immediate vicinity in which they happen to locate for materials with which to construct their shelters, for they always carry with them a covering usually made of skin stitched firmly together in such a manner as to fit more or less precisely a framework of poles also carried for the purpose. With some tribes of North American Indians these easily transportable habitations are known as tepees, the frame of which consists of a series of long poles arranged in a larger circle at the base and meeting above where they interlock in such a manner as to afford mutual support and on the outside of which the covering formerly made of skins but now usually made of canvas is stretched thus forming a perfect cone one closed and all such habitations among our North American Indians so far as I'm aware this entire enclosure is unobstructed by partitions and no attempt is made to divide the interior into separate compartments so as to afford a certain degree of privacy to individual members of the family. The toldos or tents of the doelchis are usually composed of the skins of about 50 adult guanacos sewed together in sections which when fitted together are sewed designed as to form the top one side and both ends of a huge box one side of which is much higher than the other and is left open the framework of this box consists of three parallel rows of poles four to above planted in the ground at a distance of about four feet from each other in the direction of the length of the box and six feet in the opposite direction the poles forming the first row or that on the open side of the todo are usually about seven feet in height in the next row now running through the middle of the interior they are about five feet high while three feet suffices for the series at the rear in the forks of these uprights poles are laid and over the hole the skin covering is stretched these todos are usually about 20 feet long by 12 feet in width that portion of the interior between the two higher series of uprights may be considered as the living room while in the rear small partitions extend from each of the posts in the third row to the opposite one in the middle row thus dividing the space into a series of sleeping compartments from four to six feet in width and sufficient to accommodate one or two persons i think the condition of affair should be regarded as a decided advance over that found in other tribes with transportable habitations and that it has a decidedly beneficial influence upon the social relations of the teoreches i do not doubt that we have here represented three stages in that development which has led up to the 19th century dwelling with all modern conveniences can hardly be doubted most primitive of the three is that of the channel indian who once in each week or two throughout his entire life spends perhaps half an hour in gathering the branches to construct the rude wiki up which forms his ideal of a domestic habitation the teoreches of southern patagonia are almost entirely unacquainted with the use of firearms but they have an abundance of horses and dogs by the aid of which together with their boledores bolas they are able to capture guanacos and ostriches more than sufficient to supply them with food from the skins of these together with those of other animals they construct the coverings for their polos make their clothing and bedding and have sufficient left with which to manufacture the beautiful fur capos or mantles so highly priced by the europeans for the latter they consequently find a ready sale from the proceeds of which they derive a revenue ample for the purchase of considerable quantities of what chakki which those better qualify than myself to judge consider as very bad whiskey perhaps to some there will be a satisfaction in the reflection that bad whiskey sooner or later makes good indians the surface of patagonia is naturally divided by physiographic features into two regions an eastern comparatively level plains region and an extremely mountainous western region the latter extends in a narrow strip throughout the entire length of patagonia and exhibits everywhere intensely rugged mountains clad at their bases with luxuriant forests while their summits are forever covered with great fields of snow and ice which form glaciers often descending far below timberline in constituting the sources of many of the numerous mountain torrents emptying into the pacific as well as most of the larger rivers of the eastern region which after emerging from the mountains follow deeply eroded valleys in the plains and discharge their waters into the atlantic politically patagonia is divided into essentially the same districts as physiographically the western or mountainous region belongs to Chile and mostly included in the territory of Magellan with the seat of government at punta arenas the eastern or plains region belongs to argentina and consists of the territories of santa cruz chubut rio negro and a part of neo king to the absence of exact knowledge regarding the real physical features of this region is due the vexatious boundary disputes at present existing between argentina and chile formally the lofty ranges of the cortieras were supposed to form the natural watershed of this entire region and in the earlier boundary treaties negotiated between the two countries it was stated that a line connecting the ice peaks which divide the waters of the pacific from those of the atlantic should constitute the national boundary line it has since been ascertained that in many instances at least streams flowing into the pacific cut entirely through the cortieras and in some cases have their sources well out on the plains so that were former boundary treaties interpreted literally much territory supposed to be of considerable value mineralogically and extensive tracks of rich grazing lands all now held by argentina would revert to chile not only has there never been any attempt at a topographic survey of the country but throughout vast areas over the plains region of central patagonia the water courses are located on all the government and current charts as merely conjectural while in the region between lakes on martin and the territory of neo queen no authentic map showing the locations the principal streams flowing toward either the atlantic or the pacific has ever been attempted that part of this region which was visited and traversed by the writer and his assistant mr. o.a. peterson during recent explorations in behalf of princeton university in the bureau of american ethnology and especially noticed in this paper lies between the headwaters of rio chico and rio santa cruz and the strait of magellan the principal overland route will be found located on the map from different points along this route shorter excursions were made in all directions the plains region of patagonia may be considered as consisting of a series of benches or steps which appear as successive elevations on the surface as one proceeds from the atlantic coast overland towards the cordieres the precipitous bluffs of the coast rising in places to a height of nearly 500 feet from the first step in the series and from this the seceding benches gradually increase in elevation until along the base of the mountains an altitude according to darwin of 3 000 feet is attained the escarpments constituting the limits of each of these seceding benches form irregular but somewhat parallel lines which conform not only to the general direction of the present coastline but also to the courses of the great transverse valleys at the bottom of which flow the large rivers of eastern patagonia this series of benches or steps may be seen not only as one proceeds from the coast toward the interior of patagonia but also on either the one or the other side sometimes on both and of all the greater water courses of this region distant from the coast and near the mountains they doubtless represent seceding bluffs formed along the coast and mark successive stages in their final elevation of this region which took place for the close of the pleocene period the occurrence of this series of benches along the sides of the river valleys of this region is additional evidence in favor of my view that the great transverse valleys of patagonia were in existence prior to the last submergence of this region in the pleocene enduring which submergence the marine cape fair weather beds were deposited during the elevation that caused the close of this submergence there was distributed over this region the great older or shingle formation teoriche formation of amagiño of patagonia these benches along the water courses are not merely river terraces formed of alluvial materials but are composed of the original strata constituting the santa cruz super patagonian and patagonian beds as shown in numerous exposures there are often many miles in width and i think show conclusively that throughout certain periods during the elevation of this region these valleys formed deep embayments into which extended the waters of the atlantic some of the more important of these valleys may even have formed straits connecting the pacific and atlantic oceans as has been claimed by darwin another prominent feature over the patagonian plains is the occurrence of numerous volcanic cones appearing usually in groups and at places remote from the cordieras these craters although now extinct have been active during comparatively recent times as is evidenced by the numerous small lava streams to be found in many places and which are seen to have flowed directly from some one of these craters down over the sides and into the valleys the present small water courses where they have adapted themselves to the curves of the valleys and the inequalities in the surface of the bottoms of the latter and do not extend into strata forming the sides of the valleys such lava streams of comparatively recent origin always present in a regular humickey surface with numerous caverns and are composed almost always a very vesicular material a splendid example of such a lava stream may be seen in a small canyon on the southern side of the Rio Chico of the Gallegos river about two miles below Paliaki near the point where the present national boundary line crosses the Chico probably these small volcanoes were active throughout a considerable period in tertiary times and largely furnished the materials of the Santa Cruz beds that they were active during the depositions of the Santa Cruz beds is evidenced by the occurrence of lavas included between successive strata of those beds which owing to the absence of disturbance in the latter can hardly be considered as intrusive these extinct volcanoes are scattered over the plains in a not entirely irregular manner as before stated they occur in groups they're being usually from three or four to as many as a dozen in each group within a radius of perhaps five miles these crater areas occur at irregular intervals on the plains of Patagonia from near Cape Virgin at the eastern entrance to the Strait of Magellan to as far north as the country visited by us at least and most likely for a considerably greater distance for the most part they are found over an area extending parallel with the Cordieres and distant from 80 to 120 miles from them in places they rise but a few feet above the surface of the surrounding country and some of these may not be craters but simply elevations in the surface of the lava due to a heaping up of the materials resulting from the intersection of two or more streams while flowing in many cases they rise several hundred feet above the surrounding country having immense craters or bowls on their summits and present unmistakable evidences of having been active volcanoes within comparatively recent times whether these craters should be considered as lateral cones dependent upon the greater volcanoes of the Cordieres and as having derived their molten materials from the same reservoir or as an independent system the materials of which were derived from a distinct reservoir it is difficult to say from the similarity of the basalts known to occur in the two regions however I should be inclined to the former view between the series of volcanoes and the Cordieres especially in the region lying south of Santa Cruz river there are wide open plains entirely unobstructed by either extinct volcanoes or lava fields another interesting feature prominent in the topography of Patagonia especially in that part of the country lying east of the Crater region is the occurrence of numerous shallow salt lagoons at the bottoms of great depressions or rather excavations from 100 to 300 feet or more in depth scattered over the surface of the plains I have described these lakes and discussed their origin in a previous paper already cited on the geology of the region at a distance of 10 or 20 miles from the Cordieres the shingle or boulder formation increases greatly in thickness and is composed of much coarser materials near the base of the mountains the materials constituting this formation are not distributed in a uniform manner over the surface so that the latter loses its level plain like appearance and presents numerous small rounded hillocks composed of heterogeneous masses of angular stones rounded boulders and finer clays and sands these materials were evidently deposited as terminal moraines in late Pliocene or early quaternary times such deposits are especially noticeable and all the larger valleys near the Cordieres where they are frequently of great thickness and left as barriers by the receding glaciers they now aid in confining considerable bodies of fresh water which is lakes extend in a more or less continuous chain all along the base of the mountains among the more important of these lakes are Argentina the Edma San Martín and Buenos Aires all these lakes extend far back into the otherwise almost inaccessible recesses of the Cordieres where they are fed by numerous glaciers none of the lakes have been thoroughly explored and mapped and their exact size and shape are as yet undetermined there are no more rugged mountains anywhere in the world than are the Cordieres of Patagonia they rise directly from the plains on the east and the sea on the west to a height in some places of more than 10 000 feet and present myriads of inaccessible peaks without so much as a single practicable pass so far as has yet been discovered for more than a thousand miles on the west they are invaded by a labyrinth of bays channels sounds and inland water courses which for beauty and intricacy are unsurpassed and probably unequaled on any other coast the intensely rugged nature of these mountains and of the pacific coast is doubtless largely due to the comparatively recent age of the former for from the highly inclined position of the myosin strata supra Patagonian beds all along the eastern base of the mountains it is evident that while the actual birth of the latter may have taken place during Mesozoic times yet the greatest development was not accomplished until the myosin and hence they now present numerous sharp peaks bold lines and rigid angles which the eroding elements in nature have not yet had sufficient time to soften yet it cannot be said that they do not harmonize well with their surroundings for only that which is rugged in the extreme could comport with perpetual storms which forever rage about the summits and the terrific onslaughts of waves that constantly attack the basis nature always produces most perfect harmony and as these lofty peaks are lowered and their sharp angles rounded by erosion just so will the causes of the truly terrible storms that now prevail here be removed and equally harmonious conditions preserved perhaps even more pleasing if not so startling increasing in beauty like the splendid canvas or mural painting as the brighter and more vivid colors are gradually softened with age according to its flora Patagonia may be divided into three regions characterized not so much by differences in species represented for one of these regions may be fairly considered as furnishing all the species of plants found in the other two as by the quantity and quality of the vegetation the first of these may be designated as the eastern coast region and consists of a narrow belt of fairly good grazing lands extending along the coast from the Strait of Magellan to Port Desire all the available land is here taken up by sheet farmers mostly from the Falkland Islands in Scotland with a few English Germans French Spaniards and native Argentinians in Chilenos the second region consists of almost barren high Papas and usually equally barren river valleys it extends from the western border of the first region to the base of the Cordilleras and is entirely uninhabited so that while the vegetation is indeed exceedingly scanty it nevertheless suffices for the support of considerable bands of the Guanaco and the Reja the so-called ostrich of South America the third region is that of the Cordilleras and is far richer than the other two both as to species and in the total amount of vegetation throughout the first two regions trees are unknown the vegetation consisting entirely of grasses herbs in a few small shrubs never attaining a height of more than a few feet among the more common of these shrubs are two small resinous evergreens with a decided odor of pitch they belong to different families and are distinguished by the inhabitants according to the color of the foliage as Marte Verte and Montenegro they form the South American tea which is largely used in Patagonia and elsewhere a species of Berberus calafate with bright yellow flowers and dark purple rather tart edible fruit is common everywhere while along the watercourse as far on the interior the incense bush and a species of luguminous shrub often attaining a height of five or six feet are not uncommon the dead trunks and branches of these shrubs provide sufficient fuel for the traveler in Patagonia in the Cordilleras forests abound consisting for the most part of two speech seas of beach fagus antartica and fagus betuluides the winter's bark dream is wintery and toward the north a few species of conifers on the eastern slopes of the mountains the vegetation is not nearly so varied as on the western and in many places over vast areas only one species of tree is to be found these fagus antartica the deciduous beach this condition prevails especially about the headwaters of Rio Chico and Rio Santa Cruz and on all the upper tributaries of Maya river a stream of no mean size which we discovered in this region blowing to the pacific enamed in honor of general Edelmiro Maya the late governor of the territory of Santa Cruz throughout all the forests of the Cordilleras mosses ipaticas ferns and lichens occur in the greatest profusion the stones trunks of fallen trees the basis of those still standing and even the ground itself are often covered to a depth of several inches with these plants forming a soft carpet of rich colors exceedingly pleasing to the eye and surpassing in beauty any exhibition of foliage plants if i may so call them that i have ever seen the faunas of the plains and mountain regions differ more widely than do the flora's for in each are found species wanting in the other the most striking and most abundant mammals met with over the plains are the guanaco au chainia eulunacus and two species of dogs sometimes erroneously called foxes canis azare and canis majelinicus the former species is much the smaller is of a light gray color with a black spot at the base of the tail and it's quite tame and exceedingly calm and everywhere on the plains the second and much larger species is rather shy and is found only in the mountains the puma or mountain lion felis con color is abundant while a smaller cat perhaps some species of lynx is not uncommon a small skunk mephites patagonica was formerly abundant but a few years since they were almost exterminated in one winter over a large area along the southern coast by some disease apparently contagious among them their skulls and skeletons are now to be picked up in great numbers and occasionally a live specimen is still met with only one species of armadillo is at all common in the region visited by us and it does not extend south of santa cruz river deer are absent on the plains but one species is fairly abundant in the mountains it is about the size of our virginia deer of a rich dark gold color the male's arm with a pair of two-pronged horns i killed about 15 of these animals and saw several others but never observed one with more than two points on each horn we know we're observed the largest species of deer said to be abundant in the cordilleras farther northward rodents are extremely abundant especially in the valleys and along the bluffs of the rivers and smaller streams in the vicinity of the mountains where the entire earth for a depth of nearly two feet is literally undermined over areas of many square miles in extent with subterranean passages which greatly impede the traveler whose horse drops in at every step halfway to the knee in some regions so abundant are these burrowing rodents especially in the sides of the bluffs that they become real and not inconsiderable agents of erosion that they have aided considerably in producing many of the present topographic features i do not in the least doubt not so much by the actual removal of material as by the production of a condition throughout the surface of the soil and rock such as to render it more easy of being removed by recurring rains among those rodents contributing most to the facility with which the bluffs are here being eroded are various species of mice and especially two species of saint tomes whose ability in propensity for burrowing can scarcely be overestimated formerly rodents were very abundant all along the coast but since the introduction of sheep some 10 years ago they have disappeared almost entirely from the coast region and the larger species are now rarely seen there there is a considerable variety of birds in patagonia waterfowl are especially abundant as are also birds of prey i presume that the number of hawks and vultures is scarcely exceeded in any district of equal area elsewhere in the world several species of plover grouse and snipe are to be found on the pompos while thruscious wrens and sparrows are well represented condors are plentiful not only in the court the eras but also along the more precipitous river bluffs and in the lofty barakas of the coast of the atlantic as far northward as port desire the ray or so-called ostrich is abundant on the plains and is occasionally met within the mountains beautifully colored red and black flamingos and swans are among the more striking inland wading and swimming birds in the court the eras a small green perroket is very abundant several species of fly catchers are plentiful while two woodpeckers and two or three thrushes are common a jack snipe occurs about the open streams and parks and five species of owl were taken of freshwater fishes there does not appear to be a great variety but we succeeded in finding some of the streams fairly well stocked with two or three species of splendid edible varieties sand lizards are seen in great numbers and present many different colors and very considerably in shape especially in the length of the tail frogs are present the rare but we never saw a snake of any description of insects the cleopatera seem best represented butterflies were represented by but few species those usually of the less conspicuous varieties dragonflies are rare they are considerable varieties of ants but bees wasps and other highmen opera are not abundant end of section one section two of the national geographic magazine volume 8 november 1897 this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by larry wilson hatchers work in patagonia on february 29th 1896 mr. jb hatcher princeton embarked for buenis aris primarily to collect vertebrate fossils and recent organisms in patagonia for princeton university incidentally to obtain photographs and other data pertaining to the aborigines for the bureau of american ethnology he bore letters from both institutions those from the latter securing him official recognition in argentina and during his day he received every courtesy as well as most material assistance from the government of this rapidly growing republic the success of his work is largely due to these official facilities and to the good offices of the ex-minister estonis lao ze bios one of the few honorary members of the national geographic society when buenis aris mr. hatcher proceeded to gallegos the seat of government of the province of santa cruz a future empire of half the area of all germany with a population of only about 1600 including 300 indians outfitting here with a light tent five horses and a small cart mr. hatcher accompanied by a single assistant mr. oa peterson of princeton to verse the coast to punta arenas making extensive collections in paleontology and natural history punta arenas long and unimportant station became the center of immigration a few years ago in consequence of discoveries of gold it is now the capital of the chilean territory of magellan with a population of about 3400 the entire territory supports a population of some 6000 including about 800 indians returning to gallegos mr. hatcher and his companion set out toward the cordillera or southern andes on december 1st 1896 and from that date until april 6 1897 they saw no human beings save themselves they journeyed first westward and then northward the real santa cruz one of the principal rivers of patagonia finding this too large for 14 they followed its banks to the great body of fresh water lake argentina in which it heads there they were so fortunate as to find a boat abandoned by english explorers several years before which they appropriated and repaired and in which they ferried their cart and baggage over the stream swimming their horses behind during northward near the base of the cordillera they discovered among other new geographic features a river fully equal to the santa cruz in volume occupying a most unexpected position it heads in the pompous east of the cordillera that flows westward through a profound gorge and undoubtedly falls into the pacific at some undetermined portion of the rugged chilean coast it is fed by glaciers often of noble magnitude it is swift and too multorous so that it was found impracticable to cross it or indeed to trace its course with the facilities it command more than part of the way through the canyon in which it traverses the cordillera several weeks were spent in work about this portion of the cordillera in front they were not without incidents common to exploration of uninhabited countries sometimes these were of serious character in one case mr. hatcher while separated from his companion was accidentally struck on the head by the metallic bit of his horse's bridle and so seriously wounded that the horse escaped leaving him alone and helpless on the pompous for two days and two nights he recovered sufficiently to rejoin his companion but the wound and exposure produced erosipolus by which he was incapacitated for weeks the difficulty of travel was greatly enhanced by the nearly uniform foulness of the weather cold drizzling rains and dense fogs are characteristic of patagonia with temperatures but little above the freezing point for months at a time fortunately game was easily taken and supplied the chief part of the camp fair returning from the trip into the interior mr. hatcher with his companion made a voyage through the Strait of Magellan and about Tierra del Fuego in the course of which many new observations were made on the natural history geology paleontology and ethnology of the region the various routes traversed are indicated on mr. hatchers map through which an idea of the extent of the journeys may be gained he returned to Princeton in july 1897 as indicated by his article mr. hatchers energies were by no means limited to the collection of specimens indeed he utilized his opportunities for geographic geologic and ethnologic study in a notably successful manner the geographic results are stated summarily though with excess of modesty in the paragraphs prepared for this magazine while the preliminary results of the geologic and the paleontologic researches appear in several articles in the american journal of science and the american geologist certain features of southern south america brought out through mr. hatchers observations are especially significant to students of geographic development one of the characteristics of the region is the dearth of soil another is the paucity of the flora both in individuals and species and the fact that the flora of the pompous is evidently derived from that of the cordillata still another is the presence of saline lakes a residuary character scattered over the pompous these features indicate conclusively that the patagonian pompous have but recently been raised from the ocean bottom to form dry land certain other features give hardly less decisive indication of the manner of lifting the pacific coast passes from alofti archipelago into a fjord marked seara the configuration on the whole suggesting recent subsidence the great cordillata is trenched by the gorges of rivers notably the newly discovered rio mayer which have evidently retrogressed through the rain so completely that water parting and mountain crest no longer coincide while there was a line of fresh water lakes skirting the eastern mountain front which albeit perhaps partly held in place by moranic dams undoubtedly owe their preservation to the sluggishness of the rivers flowing toward the Atlantic and all these features as well as some others indicate that the lifting was greater along the eastern margin of the continent so as to produce a general warping or westward tilting the history of the evolution of this continental terminus has been complex as shown by the geologic succession brought out through Mr. Hatcher's observations there have been several oscillations of greater or less extent doubtless at times the Patagonian cordillata formed a great archipelago like the present tiara del fuego and the course of my river may have been a straight like the present Magellan yet the minor episodes but combined to make up the general history of uplifting and westward tilting Mr. Hatcher has just sailed for Punta Arenas to continue his explorations and surveys W. J. M. in the section two section three of the national geographic magazine volume eight november 1897 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Betty B the Sushitna River Alaska by W. A. Dickie the Sushitna though an almost unknown river is one of the largest in Alaska carrying more water than Copper River though the latter is somewhat longer it has a delta at its mouth beyond which extensive mud flats reach far out into Cook Inlet the river is divided into many channels and spread out over the mud flats rendering steamboat navigation difficult the tides at this point in Cook Inlet rise over 30 feet yet notwithstanding this great rise they have but little effect in checking the swift current of the river so little as to be unnoticeable a few miles up the stream the tide flat surrounding the mouth are bare at low water for a distance of nearly 10 miles and are very dangerous to pass in the treacherous glacial mud a rowboat is liable to sink and to be held so firmly that the incoming tide which rises with incredible rapidity will fail to float it the mouth of the river is nearly opposite turnigan arm a branch of Cook Inlet which is a great breeder of storms is therefore exposed to sudden squalls which may catch the unfortunate boatman where there is neither landing place nor shelter we had an especially unpleasant experience this spring spending a cold night in April on these flats unable to enter the river or to approach near to the mouth being prevented by great fields of anchor ice which extended more than a mile from any camping place on shore about 15 miles up the river the first land above overflow is reached a tangle of willows and cottonwood giving place to the customary upland growth of the country which consists of scattered growths of spruce and birch an idea of the volume of water the river carries can be had from its size near the trading station which is some miles above the influence of tide just above the station the river for the first time hammed into a single channel cuts sewer rock dike which crosses its valley diagonally here the stream is 1200 yards in width and is very deep and swift soundings indicating a depth of over 100 feet immediately above this rock dike the river forks and it is impossible to tell from the appearance of the two streams which carries the more water although the northern branch is generally called the main river and is the one which we ascended the kuska quim indians come down the western branch to trade they say there's an easy passage from the kuska quim into this branch of the susitna which would indicate a low range of mountains as forming the watershed between these two valleys instead of the high unbroken range indicated on the government charts of previous years if this so-called alaskan range exists it must be much farther west than is indicated on the charts for i have been where i could see at least 100 miles west of susitna river and could see no indications of such a range in that direction a vast almost level country covered with forests of spruce and birch with here and there great swamps extended to the west as far as i could see with the rather poor pair of field glasses it is true that early in june 1897 i could see patches of snow to the west which would indicate the presence of mountains but they are not at all high as in the previous year the snow was all gone in july the indians report a large lake on this western branch and say that the stream forked six days journey from its mouth the other branch has a generally northern direction though very crooked only once in 100 miles above the junction is the river confined to a single channel and there only were hemmed in by high bluffs on both sides many islands and channels great masses of driftwood and countless snags characterized this portion of the river while caving banks falling trees and the swift current make the journey both difficult and dangerous nowhere could we make any headway except by polling or towing crossing and recrossing the labyrinth of channels to escape dangerous places one third of the boats that have ascended the susitna any distance have been lost either by being swept under the drift and sunk or smashed by caving banks or falling trees luckily however only one life was lost during the last season that of a mr parson's of seattle the low mountains that lie between the mid nusky conic and the susitna rivers were apparently about 12 to 20 miles back from the river and three small branches enter the susitna from that side while ascending this portion of the river we had many glorious views of mount mckinley and an unnamed companion southwest of the higher peak mount mckinley is in this valley as ubiquitous as the washington monument in the city of washington everywhere you go in clear weather you can see its glorious summit dominating the northern landscape there is no question in my mind that it is a very high peak as we could see three distinct ranges of mountains between our point of observation and its camel hump summit which towered thousands of feet above all the other mountains two of the three ranges are covered with eternal snow and must be of considerable altitude though appearing low in comparison with lofty mckinley the last range in front of this great peak is very broken and irregular we could see cliffs that showed fronts of several thousand feet of perpendicular walls and on all sides were glaciers and snow fields i have talked with about 30 persons who have seen this great peak from the susitna valley in the past two seasons and they all agree that it is the highest mountain they have ever seen one party who had been in the vicinity of the saint alias range thought it looked higher than any of the mountains of that group the indians of cook inlet have always called this the bolshaya great mountain it so manifestly dominates all the other mountains in that portion of alaska it appears to me higher than any of the peaks of the fair weather group near which we were becalmed on a clear day on our return voyage i had also a chance to compare its height and distance with that of mount iliamna one clear day when we were camped on an island at the mouth of the river field glasses brought out the detail on mount iliamna but made no change in the cloud like appearance of mount mckinley iliamna is 12,096 feet high and was according to the government chart 100 miles distant from our point of observation notwithstanding its greater distance mount mckinley showed a greater angle of elevation above the horizon and is certainly a much higher mountain there are four high peaks in the cluster about mount mckinley all unnamed at present about 90 miles above the lower forks the river again branches into three large streams the western fork seems to occupy the main valley though i am of the opinion that the middle fork is the longer and its certain seasons of the year carries the most water in the hot days of june july and august the western branch fed by the great snow fields and glaciers of the ranges about mount mckinley is a roaring torrent a flowing sea of mud so much earthy matter does it carry in solution parties who have ascended this branch say that about 60 miles up it forks into two nearly equal streams the southwestern branch they followed a long distance and found it ran all the way in the low flat country skirting the foothills of the great range they ascended a hill and far to the west could see what they took to be the headwaters of the kuska quim or some other stream flowing in the opposite direction with no marked divide between the two rivers the branch we followed was the middle fork which soon entered a narrow valley between low hills which gradually became higher and higher until we came to a canyon about 60 miles above the forks through which it was impossible to take our boats we had supposed from what we could gather from the indians that there was a waterfall in the canyon but such does not seem to be the case though for a distance of about a mile there are very rough rapids in which no boat could live the walls of the canyon are nearly 1000 feet high and in some places are perpendicular the water confined in a very narrow channel looks like a white ribbon at the base of the great walls we ascended the mountains on both sides and obtained splendid views of the great cluster of peaks about mount mckinley which bore a little north of west the copper river or midnu ski indians who inhabit the upper waters of the river all agree that the main source of copper river is near the headwaters of this branch of the sushitna and not far from the tenana as the government charts place the main source of copper river north of the wrangle group of mountains i have carefully looked up lieutenant allen's report and find that his narrative would agree with the statement of the indians when lieutenant allen reached the mouth of the chitslatch nea river he was in doubt as to which was the main river as the forks were apparently nearly equal in size he followed the branch now known as the main river not because it was the larger but because he was informed that nearby there were indians living on it from whom he could obtain food of which his party were in sore need he goes on to say that the stream diminished in size rapidly as he ascended it and soon became less than 100 yards in width the main source is probably as indicated by the indians south of the tenana and near the sushitna lieutenant allen in his report falls into the error of confusing the sushitna with the midnu ski or knick river down which the midnu ski indians from the copper river come each year to trade at the knick station they ascend the tazlina branch of copper river cross a low divide and come down the midnu ski instead of the sushitna as lieutenant allen erroneously conjectured the tenana indians last winner came down the sushitna to trade they are a very warlike tribe and are accused by the midnu skis of being cannibals the interior of the country has but little game for many days we saw not a living animal except birds and but few fish though salmon run in august and candle fish in june we saw more bear than any other large game but did not kill any there are colors of fine gold everywhere but we found no coarse gold and the signs of gold diminished upstream end of section three section four of the national geographic magazine vol 8 november 1897 this is a libre vox recording all libre vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libre vox.org a winter weather record from the klondike region by e w nelson during the years 1880 and 1881 the alaska commercial company had a fur trading station on the upper yukon in british territory at no great distance below the mouth of the klondike where dawson city is now located this station was called fort reliance and was in charge of mr l n mcqueston it was afterward abandoned and is now in ruins mr mcqueston was one of the original prospectors in this region and his discoveries led to the founding of circle city and indirectly to the marvelous development that is now taking place in that region when mr mcqueston came to st michael in the spring of 1880 with his winter's gathering of furs i gave him a signal service standard minimum thermometer and he undertook to make a series of daily observations for me at fort reliance during his stay there in the fall and winter of 1880 through 1881 when he returned to st michael in the spring of 1881 he brought me the sub joined record it covers the period from the early fall to the opening of navigation on the upper yukon in spring and is of peculiar interest at present as showing some of the meteorological conditions in the area which is now attracting worldwide attention on account of the unprecedented richness of its recently discovered placermans it is in this district that some thousands of men are wintering with a reported scarcity of provisions that may result in appalling suffering before navigation opens in spring it will be noted in the record that the yukon froze over during the night of november 2nd on the 14th of the following may the ice first started on the river and ran for an hour and then stopped from this it will be noted that the river was covered with the practically unbroken sheet of ice for a little over six months on may 17th at 4 a.m the ice began running again it was still plentiful on the 19th but was nearly gone on the 20th the final entry of this interesting record made on may 23rd is as follows start for st michael tomorrow during my residence at st michael from june 1877 to june 1881 i learned from the yukon traders that the ice breaks first in the upper river and the general breaking up proceeds thence down to the delta several days intervening between the opening of navigation above and the clearing of the great river below the fur traders of the upper yukon usually started as soon as the river became pretty well freed from floating ice and were joined on their way by the traders station lower down the little flotilla of barges usually reached the river mouth at about the same time by this time the river delta would be free and if the sea ice had opened up from shore the boats would proceed northward along the coast to st michael 60 miles away the date for the ice to break away from the coast between the yukon mouth and st michael varies greatly and may occur at any time between may 31st and july 1st it usually takes place before june 10th the river boats frequently arrived at st michael before it was possible for vessels to pass the barrier of pack ice offshore in mr. mcquistons record the first wild geese were noted on march 31st this is a month before they used to appear along the coast and is a good indication of the more rapid advance of spring on the upper river the following summary of these observations brings out some interesting points but it is probably not ordinarily the case that january should be warmer than by the december or february as it was that season commencing with the long nights that come on in october the temperatures sank steadily and in december was noted the greatest cold of the winter minus 67 degrees on the 20th in january occurred a strange and prolonged upward oscillation of the temperature that probably does not generally occur following this during february there was another period of intense cold which lasted until march 1st in this latter month the effect of the returning sun became strikingly evident the widest range of temperature in any month 88 degrees was during march the thermometer used was a fahrenheit monthly summary of observations of temperature fort reliance northwest territory winter of 1880 1881 i will give the month first and then the highest temperature the lowest temperature and the monthly means at 7 a.m 12 noon 6 p.m and 10 p.m september 1880 beginning on september 4 53 20 34 46.7 43.7 36.9 october 1880 42 minus 10 10.5 25.3 21 17.1 november 1880 40 minus 27 4.9 12.2 10 8.6 december 1880 8 minus 67 minus 34.6 minus 29.3 minus 29.4 minus 30.2 january 1881 22 minus 41 minus 9.1 minus 5.5 minus 5.4 minus 6.6 february 1881 minus 2 minus 58 minus 37.8 minus 22.2 minus 26.3 minus 30.2 march 1881 45 minus 43 minus 5.5 12.3 10 4.3 april 1881 50 8 24.9 42.2 39.9 32.4 may 1881 ending on may 23 58 10 32.5 45.3 42.4 35.9 and a section number four section five of the national geographic magazine volume eight november 1897 this is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Sonia the russian census of 1897 by awg until the present year the population of the whole russian empire has never been definitely known instead of a census the russian government has depended in the past on partial enumerations known under the name of revisions of which there have been 10 five in the 18th century and five in the 19th century the revision of 1851 gave a population of 67 380 645 and that of 1885 which was not considered entirely trustworthy aggregated 108 819 332 according to the census of 1897 the population of the russian empire is 129 211 1113 the distribution in various parts of the empire is as follows european russia 94 million 188 750 poland 9 million 442 590 the caucuses 9 million 723 5553 ciberia 5 million 731 732 turkistan and the trans-caspian region 4 million 175 101 the steps 3 million 415 174 finland 2 million 527 801 russian subjects in bochara and riva 6412 the most densely populated regions are poland 192.6 inhabitants per square mile the caucuses 53.7 and european russia 50.6 ciberia contains only one person to each square mile and the steps eight persons mr john carroll consul general of the united states at st petersburg points out the peculiar distribution of the population of european russia he says the distribution of the 94 million inhabitants in european russia depends principally upon the natural and economic conditions of the plane of russia which is cut diagonally from podolia and besarabia to the government of by the cernos yom black earth region this region comprises less than 658 740 square miles but if the non cernos yom governments in which is included the moscow industrial district we added there too it contains more than 746 572 square miles it has two fifths of the whole plane of european russia which according to the census is inhabited by 63 million people or by two thirds of the whole population of european russia the most compact population is centered on the narrow strip formed by the governments of podolia the cernos yom part of volyn the larger part of Kiev and poltava the cernos yom part of cernigov the non-steep cernos yom parts of harkov and varunish and the cernos yom parts of aryol tambov riassan and tula the present tendency of population to drift to the cities less marked in russia than in europe generally is shown by the fact that there are no fewer than 123 cities in which the population exceeds 25 000 the 20 most popular cities are as follows st petersburg 1 million 267 203 moscow 988 610 varsau 614 752 adiesa 404 651 lotch 314 780 riga 282 943 kiev 248 750 harkov 170 682 tifris 159 862 vilna 159 568 tashkent 156 506 saratov 133 116 kazan 131 508 je katarina slav 121 21 216 rostov-ondon 119 889 astrakhan 113 075 baku 112 253 tula 111 048 kishinyov 108 506 nizhny Novgorod 98 503 a wg the surprisingly early availability of the russian census returns is due to the employment of the holarest tabulating machine first used for census purposes by the united states government in 1890 out of 2 403 750 germans who left their native land between 1871 and 1896 about 96 percent emigrated to the united states failing to divert the tide of emigration toward the german colonies in africa the government is now seeking to direct it towards certain parts of south america in preference to the united states where the peculiarities language and customs of the germans are lost by assimilation and emigrants become competitors with the artisans and agriculturists of the mother country end of section five end of the national geographic magazine volume eight november 1897