his country.

This man was gloomy and peculiar and assumed supreme power without
marrying, was against the educated classes and ordered wholesale
executions. So fearful was he of assassination that he lived in several
houses and no one but himself knew where he would sleep at night. When
he walked the streets guards walked both in front and behind him. The
very news that he was out was sufficient to clear the streets. And yet,
powerful and cruel that he was, the humblest Indian could receive a
hearing and justice from him. He was modest in a way, abstemious and
never used his power for selfish indulgence. He was one of the wonders
of history.

CHAPTER XXII

THE WONDERFUL ARGENTINE REPUBLIC

The wonderful Argentine Republic is a little world in itself. Take all
the United States east of the Mississippi river, add the state of Texas,
place them in the Argentine Republic and there will be room for more.
Here you can find some of the highest and most rugged mountains and then
you can travel two thousand miles and hardly find a hill worthy of the
name.

From the torrid heat of the north you can go to the cold, bleak glacial
regions of the south, all in Argentine. The seasons are just the
opposite from ours. July is their coldest month and the hottest time in
the year is in January. The north side of the house is the sunny side.
In the Argentine there are some of the finest forest regions imaginable
and then you can travel a thousand miles across level plains and never
see a tree.

The southern part of Argentina used to be called Patagonia. This is the
Alaska of South America. The extreme southern point is the island of
Tierra del Fuego, which is divided between Argentina and Chile.
Argentina's part of the island is as large as the state of
Massachusetts.

Argentina has nearly five hundred million acres of ground that can be
cultivated and this great area is extended over well watered plains, all
of which are so accessible to the sea that the simplest railway
construction is all that is necessary. Of this vast area only about
one-fifth has as yet been cultivated or brought within the present
railway area.

At present the country has less than one-tenth as many miles of railway
as the United States and what they have is practically under English
control. Engines and cars are all of English pattern. American
locomotive works make engines for some of these lines, but everyone of
them must be made strictly acc