Into this inlet there flowed at the time of the conquest a voluminous
river, which subsequently disappeared, but returned again to its
ancient bed, owing to the river Fenix, one of its affluents, which had
deviated to the west, regaining its original direction. Lake Buenos
Aires, the largest lake in Patagonia, measuring 75 m. in length,
poured its waters into the Atlantic even in post-Glacial times by
means of the river Deseado; and it is so depicted on the maps of the
17th and i8th centuries; and so too did Lake Pueyrredon, which,
through the action of erosion, now empties itself westward, through
the river Las Heras, into the Calen inlet of the Pacific, in 48° S. San
Julian on Puerto San Julian, where Ferdinand Magellan wintered,
is the centre of a cattle farming colony, and colonists have pushed
into the interior up the valley of a now extinct river which in comparatively
recent times carried down to Puerto San Julian the waters
of Lakes Volcan, Bclgrano, Azara, Nansen, and some other lakes
which now drain into the river Mayer and so into Lake San
Martin. The valleys of the Rio Chico throughout their whole extent,
as well as those of Lake Shehuen, afford excellent grazing, and around
Lakes Belgrano, Burmeister and Rio Mayer and San Martin there
are spots suitable for cultivation. In the Cretaceous hills which
flank the Cordillera important lignite beds and deposits of mineral
oils have been discovered. The Rio Santa Cruz, originally explored
by Captain Fitzroy and Charles Darwin, is an important artery of
communication between the regions bordering upon the Cordillera
and the Atlantic. In Santa Cruz bay an important trade centre
has been established. But the present cattle region par excellence
of Patagonia is the department of Rio Gallegos, the farms extending
from the Atlantic to the Cordillera. Puerto Gallegos itself is an
important business centre, which bids fair to rival the Chilean
colony of Punta Arenas, on the Straits of Magellan. Owing to the
produce of the cattle farms established there, the working of coal
in the neighbourhood, and the export of timber from the surrounding
forests, the town of Punta Arenas is in a flourishing condition.
Its population numbers about 4000. But the colonization of the
western (Chilean) coast has generally failed, principally owing to the
adverse climatic conditions of the Cordillera in those latitudes.
Climate.—The climate is less severe than was supposed by early travellers. The east slope is warmer than the west, especially in summer, as a branch of the southern equatorial current reaches its shores, whereas the west coast is washed by a cold current. At Puerto Montt, on the inlet behind Chiloe Island, the mean annual temperature is 52° F. and the average extremes 78° and 29·5°, whereas at Bahia Blanca near the Atlantic coast and just outside the northern confines of Patagonia the annual temperature is 59° and the range much greater. At Punta Arenas, in the extreme south, the mean temperature is 43° and the average extremes 76° and 28°. The prevailing winds are westerly, and the westward slope has a much heavier precipitation than the eastern; thus at Puerto Montt the mean annual precipitation is 97 in., but at Bahia Blanca it is 19 in. At Punta Arenas it is 22 in.
Fauna.—The guanaco, the puma, the zorro or Brazilian fox (Canis azarae), the zorrino or Mephitis patagonica (a kind of skunk), and the tuco-tuco or Ctenomys magellanicus (a rodent) are the most characteristic mammals of the Patagonian plains. The guanaco roam in herds over the country and form with the ostrich (Rhea americana, and more rarely Rhea darwinii) the chief means of subsistence for the natives, who hunt them on horseback with dogs and bolas. Bird-life is often wonderfully abundant. The carrancha or carrion-hawk (Polyborus tharus) is one of the characteristic objects of a Patagonian landscape; the presence of long-tailed green parakeets (Conurus cyanolysius) as far south as the shores of the strait attracted the attention of the earlier navigators; and hummingbirds may be seen flying amidst the falling snow. Of the many kinds of water-fowl it is enough to mention the flamingo, the upland goose, and in the strait the remarkable steamer duck.
Population.—The natives of Patagonia are nearly extinct. Here and there one may find a Tehuelchian or Gennaken encampment, but natives of pure race are now very scarce, and the two races all told probably do not number more than 100 male individuals. The Tehuelches were the dominant race in Patagonia. These people, from whom the name of Tierra de Patagones was given by Magellan on observing their large footprints, are remarkable for their great stature, having an average height of 6 ft. to 6 ft. 4 in. They are not known to have applied any collective name to their various tribes; Tehuelche is the Araucanian name for them. They have been described as kindly in disposition, though sometimes quarrelsome; skilled in the chase, addicted to gambling and to drinking, though also capable of long endurance of privation. Their religion recognized a Great Spirit, and designated the new moon as an object of worship. The Gennakens differ in type and language from the Tehuelches. The remaining population is composed of Araucanians, a mixture of the Tehuelches and Gennaken. But these are not the only type of people who have dwelt in Patagonia. The ancient burial-places have yielded the bones of other races quite distinct from the present inhabitants, some of them having greatly resembled the primitive types which are met with more to the north, in the Argentine Chaco and in Brazil; while others, again, strongly resembled certain of the Pacific races, in that they possessed ethnic characteristics which have not been observed elsewhere in South America. Among these remains every type of artificial deformity of the skuU hitherto known has been found, while at the present time the natives only practise the occipital deformation which is so common among the western tribes of America.
History.—Patagonia was discovered in 1520 by Ferdinand Magellan, who on his passage along the coast named many of the more striking features—Gulf of San Matias, Cape of 11,000 Virgins (now simply Cape Virgenes), &c. By 1611 the Patagonian god Setebos (Settaboth in Pigafetta) was familiar to the hearers of the Tempest. Rodrigo de Isla, dispatched inland in 1535 from San Matias by Alcazava Sotomayor (on whom western Patagonia had been conferred by the king of Spain), was the first to traverse the great Patagonian plain, and, but for the mutiny of his men, he would have struck across the Andes to the Chilean side. Pedro de Mendoza, on whom the country was next bestowed, lived to found Buenos Aires, but not to carry his explorations to the south. Alonzo de Camargo (1539), Juan Ladrilleros (1557) and Hurtado de Mendoza (1558) helped to make known the western coasts, and Sir Francis Drake’s voyage in 1577 down the eastern coast through the strait and northward by Chile and Peru was memorable for several reasons; but the geography of Patagonia owes more to Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa (1579–1580), who, devoting himself especially to the south-west region, made careful and accurate surveys. The settlement which he founded at Nombre de Dios and San Felipe were neglected by the Spanish government, and the latter was in such a miserable state when Thomas Cavendish visited it in 1587 that he called it Port Famine. The district in the neighbourhood of Puerto Deseado, explored by John Davis about the same period, was taken possession of by Sir John Narborough in the name of King Charles II. in 1669. In the second half of the i8th century knowledge of Patagonia was augmented by Byron (1764–1765), S. Wallis (1766) and L. A. de Bougainville (1766); Thomas Falkner, a Jesuit who “resided near forty years in those parts,” published his Description of Patagonia (Hereford, 1774); Francesco Viedma founded El Carmen, and Antonio advanced inland to the Andes (1782); and Basilio Villarino ascended the Rio Negro (1782). The “Adventure” and “Beagle” expeditions under Philip King (1826–1830) and Robert Fitzroy (1832–1836) were of first-rate importance, the latter especially from the participation of Charles Darwin; but of the interior of the country nothing was observed except 200 miles of the course of the Santa Cruz. Captain G. C. Musters in 1869 wandered in company with a band of Tehuelches through the whole length of the country from the strait to the Manzaneros in the north-west, and collected a great deal of information about the people and their mode of life. Since that date explorations have been carried on by F. P. Moreno, Ramon Lista, Carlos M. Moyano, A. Bcrtrand, H. Steffen, P. Kriiger, R. Hauthal, C. Burckhardt, O. Nordenskiold, J. B. Hatcher, the surveyors of the Argentine and Chilean Boundary Commissions and others.
Bibliographical lists for Patagonia are given in J. Wappäus, Handbuch der Geogr. u. Stat. des ehemal. span. Mittel- und Süd-Amerika (Leipzig, 1863–1870); in V. G. Quesada, La Patagonia y las tierras australes del continente americano (Buenos Aires, 1875); and in T. Coan, Adventures in Patagonia (New York, 1880). See also C. Darwin, Journal of Researches (London, 1845). and Geological Observations on South America (London, 1846); W. Parker Snow, A Two Years’ Cruise off . . . Patagonia (London, 1857); G. C. Musters, At Home with the Patagonians (London, 1871); R. O. Cunningham, Nat. Hist, of the Strait of Magellan (Edinburgh, 1871); F. P. Moreno, Viaje á la Patagonia austral (Buenos Aires, 1879); Rapport préliminarie Neuquén, Chubut, et Rio Negro (La Plata, 1897); Apuntes preliminares (Buenos Aires, 1897); “Explorations in Patagonia” in Geographical Journal, xiv. (London, 1899); “Patagonia” in the National Geographical Magazine (Washington, 1897); Lady Florence Dixie, Across Patagonia (London, 1880); R. Lista, Mis esploraciones . . . en la Patagonia (Buenos Aires, 1880); Informe
