The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

TOPOGEAPHY OF AEGENTINA. 459
Nevertheless the "Welsh colony must have eventually failed had it not occurred
to some of the inexperienced squatters to dam up the current of the Chubut
when swollen by the melting snows, and distribute the water through irrigation
rills over the land. " New "Wales " was saved. The plain, forming a long
triangle 48 miles east and west with a mean breadth of 5 miles, comprises a
Fig. 181.
—
Old and Modeen Colonies in Patagonia.
Scale 1 ; 16,000.000.
, 310
Miles.
superficial area of about 100,000 acres, of which one-third is under wheat, the
concessions varying from 250 to 375 acres.
The soil, consisting in great measure of volcanic ashes watered b}' a network
of irrigating canals with a total length of 230 miles, yields excellent returns
despite the ravages of wild swans and duck. The crops are sevenfold more
abundant than those of the old setlkments iu this region, and after supplying