NEUTRALIZATION OF THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN.

The settlement of this protracted and difficult question is justly regarded as a great event, as it not only guarantees peace between the two countries, but enables the Argentine Republic to devote its energies to the development of its vast ulterior resources. One important article of the treaty provides that the Argentine Republic renounces all her rights to the Straits of Magellan, but on the following conditions: First, that its navigation shall be free to all flags ad perpetuam; second, it shall be neutralized ad perpetuam; and, third, that Chili shall not erect fortifications or defensive works on either side of the straits. So that these waters are to remain henceforth an international highway, in the interests of trade, for the benefit of the whole world—a fact which must be appreciated by the Government of the United States.

INTERNAL CONDITION OF AFFAIRS.

Except an unimportant political outbreak in the province of Corrientes, which was speedily arranged, there have been no acts of open violence, even when party feeling was most excited, proving that as the years pass the Argentine people are making progress in the science of self-government, and learning to submit quietly to the will of the majority as expressed at the ballot-box; and that popular confidence in the stability of the Government, so essential to the successful movements of commerce, which in former years has at times been unsettled by internal disorders and election broils in the different provinces, seems, under the beneficent administration of President Roca, to be at last fully assured. It is a gratifying fact that even the Argentines, who in the past, owing to their frequent domestic troubles, have been the most hopeless of better things, now begin to feel that there are more patriotic ways of serving the Republic than by fomenting political discords, and they now, more generally than ever before, seem to be occupying themselves in the establishment of those industries which go to increase the wealth of the nation.

The national Government, fully alive to all these great interests, has especially sought, during the past year, to give direction and encouragement to these movements of the people in the arts of peace, and to assist to the extent of its power and influence all such projects as have for their aim the industrial progress and commercial advancement of the country. Among other signs of this new order of things was the Argentine continental exposition, which was inaugurated in the city of Buenos Ayres last March, under the auspices of the Argentine Industrial Club, and towards which the Government granted a substantial subsidy. Besides attractive exhibits from nearly all the countries of South America and several of those of Europe, it was a very significant fact that all the fourteen provinces of the Argentine Republic, forgetting for the time their political animosities, were fully and handsomely represented with their various and distinctive products. The exhibition surpassed the expectations of all, in illustrating the industrial development which is to-day taking place throughout the length and breadth of the nation. I have already submitted a special report in regard to it.

ORGANIZATION OF THE TERRITORY OF MISIONES.

The project of organizing the territory of Misiones, heretofore referred to by me, has become an accomplished fact, and that vast region is now in the enjoyment of a regular territorial government, a fact

which gives great security to property and offers increased encouragement to immigration and settlement. As I have before said, nature has greatly favored the region of the Misiones, and its rapid development is confidently anticipated. This territory, it will be borne in mind, forms part of that once wonderful but now extinct empire of the Jesuits in South America, which in the early history of the country attained such a high degree of civilization and prosperity, but which, after the sudden expulsion of the Society of Jesus from all these regions by the Spanish Government, has again become such a howling wilderness that even the remains can now be scarcely discovered. I say remains, for it is stated that of the 30,000 inhabitants which composed the population of the Misiones at the end of the eighteenth century, hardly 3,000 halfbreed Indians now are to be found there.

COMPLICATIONS WITH BRAZIL IN REGARD TO MISIONES.

The organization of this new territory has given considerable offense to the Empire of Brazil, which claims that a portion of the territory included in the limits designated by the Argentine Congress is a component part of that Empire. The question has recently become the subject of a diplomatic correspondence between the two Governments, and the newspapers of the two countries are already busy predicting a breach of the friendly relations which the two countries have so long maintained with each other. According to the last Argentine census, the territory of Misiones has an area of 62,100 square kilometers, while Dr. Burmeister, the celebrated German naturalist, in his work on the Argentine Republic, places it at 700 German geographical square leagues. It has the Parana River on one side and the Uruguay on the other, and abounds in water courses, with an undulating surface of alternate hills and dales. All the subtropical products may be grown there in the greatest perfection, and it is equally suited to sugar, cotton, tobacco, mandioca, rice, maize, wheat, beans, &c. Besides its timber trees, it has extensive forests of the yerba maté, or Paraguayan tea plant, an article of general use among all the South American people, and the demand for which seems to increase instead of diminish. That the Misiones is a delightful land is proved by the fact that the Jesuits, to whom nobody can deny perspicacity and precision, selected it for their favorite seat and the center of their dominions in the New World. Since its territorial organization considerable impetus has been given in that direction to immigration and settlement, and if the existing dispute with Brazil can be accommodated, it is destined to make one of the richest of the Argentine provinces.

DEVELOPMENT OF PATAGONIA.

The fostering care of the Government continues to be directed also to the territories of the Gran Chaco, the Pampa, and Patagonia, in regard to all of which I have spoken in former reports. The development which continues to take place in the latter territory is especially encouraging, and it gives promise of becoming noted for its agricultural productions. A hardy immigration is setting in from Europe, and new farms and estancias are constantly being opened along the arroyos and water-courses. There is now a regular line of steamers trading between Buenos Ayres and the ports of Patagonia, including Carmen, Chuput, and Santa Cruz, and is developing considerable trade, while the extension of the Buenos Ayres and Southern Railway will in another year

be completed to Bahia Blanca, thus affording through that wide and excellent harbor a new European outlet to the products of all that vast region of country.

THE VALLEY OF THE RIO NEGRO.

Indeed, the valley of the Rio Negro, which extends to the sources of that stream in the Andes, seems admirably adapted for agricultural purposes, and especially for wheat and wine, shipments of which already reach the market of Buenos Ayres. It is the silver link or channel, with a desert on each side, which is one day destined to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the still more remote regions, so rich in pasturages and so delicious in climate, which lie under the shelter of the Andes, and which, with its fresh-water lakes like seas, its verdure-clad valleys, and its magnificent forests, President Roca in his recent message to the Argentine Congress calls not inaptly "the Switzerland of America." I may add that the Government is still busy making an inventory of all these vast regions, some of them as large as kingdoms, and Colonel Olascoaga, chief of the military topographical department, is now exploring the regions comprehended between the Limay and Nanquen Rivers, while several surveying parties are at work at different places in his wake.

EXPLORATIONS AT TERRA DEL FUEGO.

An expedition under the command of Lieutenant Bové, a French scientist, which left here after the settlement of the Chilian boundary question for a scientific exploration of Terra del Fuego, has just returned to this port. Owing to a great deal of unfavorable weather, their vessel not being very seaworthy, he did not accomplish all that he hoped to, but the expedition has obtained some interesting information in regard to the resources, capabilities, and people of that almost, unknown region, which, together with full descriptions of the flora and the fauna, will shortly be published by the Argentine Republic. It is stated that while a large part of the country belonging to that region is rocky and mountainous, there are other portions well watered and well wooded and abounding in grass; suitable, indeed, in spite of its rugged climate, for settlement and colonization. Lieutenant Bové corrects the prevalent impression in regard to the inhabitants that they are cruel, revengeful, and aggressive. He says that while their condition is sufficiently miserable, he found them kind, docile, and willing to be of assistance to him, and most anxious for the settlement of the country. A missionary station there, under the auspices of Bishop Sterling, of the Falkland Islands, is in a flourishing condition, and he says is doing a good work in domesticating the rude inhabitants and teaching them the ways of civilized life.

COLONIZING THE FAR SOUTH.

It is not improbable that Chili, which now has the half ownership of that region, and already possesses a flourishing settlement at Saudy Point, which can be used as a base of operations, will speedily make an advance movement in the colonization of both shores of the Straits of Magellan, and establish what it has so long been anxious to obtain, a

More may therefore

foothold on the Atlantic side of South America. be expected from Chili than from the Argentine Republic in the opening up to commerce of the southern limits of this continent, since the Argentine Republic already has more and better territory in a more salubrious climate than it will be able to people, at the present rate of increase, in the next hundred years.

EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION.

Indeed, after all the efforts which this country has for a number of years been making in that behalf, European immigration, in search of new homes, does not seem to take kindly to the Argentine Republic. Notwithstanding its ambition to divide with the United States the honor of being an asylum for the toiling millions of the Old World who are striving to better their conditions, and in spite of the inducements in the way of flattering promises which have been held out by its agents to the overcrowded centers of population of Europe, the great bulk of the exodus still finds its way to the shores of North America, only a few thousands, mostly from Italy, annually reaching the Argentine Republic; and there has been, in many cases, so much dissatisfaction manifested by even these arrivals that immigration to this country is becoming more and more timid. During last year the total amount of immigrants arriving in this country was only 32,817. These figures are not flattering, though most of these immigrants were farmers or mechanics, provided with money enough to make a start in their new homes. It is very evident that with the counter-attractions which the great western plains of the United States hold out to the people of the Old World, the Argentine Republic must offer special inducements in the reduction of passage rates, and especially by the enactment of liberal homestead and pre-emption laws by which all shall be enabled to obtain lands on easy terms and reasonable conditions, or this element of increasing wealth and power will continue to prefer the hospitality which assured peace and prosperity offers without solicitation to all who choose to come and make their homes with us. If the Argentine Republic would offer its public lands for sale in small subdivisions, and leave the selection of locality to the immigrant himself, instead of settling him on a particular spot without any option on his part, there would be far more hope of filling up the unoccupied pampas with a thrifty population than there is at present. As yet, however, the Government has made no adequate surveys of its public lands and has no satisfactory laws for their subdivision and sale or pre-emption. The President throws the blame of this upon the national Congress, which, in spite of his anxiety to place the lands in the territories of the Pampa, Patagonia, Gran Chaco, and Misiones upon the market, has thus far persistently failed to take any action in the matter. The policy of the Argentines, however, seems to be to have the landed property of the nation held in large bodies. They seem to be possessed of the idea that the pampas are only fit for grazing purposes; and thus all the most desirable lands fall into the hands of wealthy estancieros, who hold them for their families, or they are bought up in immense tracts by speculators, who will not sell except on terms beyond the reach of small farmers, who would cultivate them and extract from them a return a hundred-fold greater than they can ever produce as mere pasture lands. The only places where agricultural pursuits are at all flourishing are among the foreigners located in the provinces of Santa Fé and Entre

Rios; and it is only so because the lands there have been purchased from the provincial authorities, by whom, before sale, they were divided up into small farms or chacras, thus giving each new-comer a chance to obtain a home for himself and family.

THE AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTRY.

In the two provinces named above agricultural pursuits are gradually obtaining an important development, quite rivaling that of stock-raising, especially along the navigable rivers and lines of railway and in the vicinity of large towns. As there are no statistics of production, it is impossible to reach the amount of cereals and breadstuffs now produced in this Republic. Indeed, owing to the uncertainty of the crops, from drought and locusts, the amount harvested one year furnishes no criterion to judge or estimate that of the next. For instance, the crops for the year 1879 were splendid and the yield was something marvelous, while those for 1880 were almost failure, and those for 1881 were hardly an average. It is something to say, however, that in all the leading articles of agricultural production the Argentine Republic now more than produces enough to supply the home consumption, with more or less of surplus for export.

The following table, which I have compiled from official sources, will show the amount of the exports of farm produce for the last seven years:

I may add that the crops of 1882 were better than a fair average, and that thus far during the year there has been quite an active movement in their export. Owing to the continued high price of breadstuffs in the United States, which for months has made their shipment to Europe impossible, there has been and still exists a steady demand on this country for all it can furnish. Indian corn has especially been sought for, and the quantity which has thus far gone forward during the present season amounts to about 1,250,000 bushels. Some of this was even reported to have been shipped to fill orders in the United States, but of course that could not have been the case. The above figures show that the shipments of wheat during 1881 were very limited, and during the present season they appear to have been only a very small surplus. There is a steady demand in Rio Janeiro for all the baled hay that can be shipped. The cultivation of flax has heretofore been very limited, and was raised only for the seed. Owing to the demand and good prices abroad, quite an interest has lately been manifested in its production, and for the present year an unusually large breadth has been sown. That our commercial men in the United