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miles long and from 35 to 40 miles wide. The Parana is over 2,500 miles long and in many places 25 miles wide. It is navigable for vessels of 19 feet draught to Rosario, a port 380 miles from the sea, and some of its branches are navigable for vessels of 8 feet draught to points over 2,000 miles inland. By this river system not only all of northern Argentine, but parts of Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia are made accessible to Buenos Ayres. South of the Plata are a number of rivers of minor importance emptying into the Atlantic. There are 12,274 miles of railway in Argentine. Trunk lines connect Buenos Ayres, which is the center of the system, with all parts of the country.

Cities. The chief ports of Argentine are Buenos Ayres, the capital, population 1,057,000; Rosario in province of Santa Fe, population 135,000; Bahia Bianca in the province of Buenos Ayres, population 30,-000; La Plata 80,000 and Santa Fe 32,200. The chief interior cities are Cordoba, population, 135,000; Tucuman, population 55,-000; Mendoza, population 32,000. Other towns of considerable importance are Salta, population 17,500; Corrientes, population 18,000; Santiago, population 14,340; Guale-guacha, population 13,000; Rio Cuarto, population 12,000; San Juan, population 11,500; and Jujuy, population 10,000.

Resources. The resources of the Argentine Republic are largely agricultural and pastoral. Its vast area of fertile territory, its varied climate suitable to the growth of every product of the temperate zone and the tropics, its great rivers and a sea coast 1,500 miles in extent, giving ample transportation facilities, together present conditions which must make this one of the great producing nations of the world. The area at present under cultivation, about 18,000,000 acres, is but one twentieth of the area available for agriculture. By the latest census the wealth of the nation is invested as follows: transportation, $511,-588,527; stockraising, $336,546,748; trade, $300,696,958; manufactures, $145,407,647; agriculture, $139,352,746. Minerals of many kinds are found, including gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, iron and coal, but these resources are mostly undeveloped. There are considerable areas of valuable forests. Imports in 1909, $302,756,095; exports, $397,350,528.

Government. Argentine is a republic composed of a federal district, 14 provinces and 10 territories. Its constitution is modeled after that of the United States. The president is elected for a term of six years by an electoral college. There is a national congress, consisting of a senate and a chamber of deputies. Each province has a governor and a provincial legislature. There are federal and provincial courts similar in powers and functions to the

federal and state courts of the United States.

History. The first Europeans who visited the country were a party of Spanish explorers in search of a southwest passage to the East Indies. Their leader, with a small company, landed in 1516. They are said to have been treacherously killed and then cooked and eaten in sight of their comrades on board the ships. The first settlement was made by Sebastian Cabot in 1527, in the name of Spain. Other expeditions followed, the main rivers were ascended, forts were built, wars were fought with the Indians, and after a vast expenditure of blood and treasure the Spaniards were finally established in the land. In 1776, Buenos Ayres was made the capital of a vice-royalty. In 1806, when Spain was at war with England, a body of troops landed from a British fleet and captured Buenos Ayres, but it was soon retaken and the English troops were forced to surrender. Two years later an English army of 8,000 again attacked the city. The houses were built with their windows looking on the streets, guarded with strong iron railings, like prison bars, and with their flat roofs filled with defenders, so that each house was a fortress. After suffering terrible slaughter in their march through the streets, the British surrendered. It was these successes against the English that gave the people courage to throw off the yoke of Spain. On the 25th of May, 1810, what was called the provisional government was set up. This is usually held to be the beginning of the independence of the country. The whole of the vice-royalty did not acknowledge the authority of this government. Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay made themselves into separate republics. A struggle with Spain followed, lasting till 1824. Since then there have been many civil wars between the leaders of the two political parties, the Unitarians and the Federals.

Argon, a gaseous element discovered in 1895 by Lord Rayleigh and Professor Ramsay of England. It exists in the air to the amount of about one per cent. It is somewhat heavier than air. All efforts to make it combine chemically with other elements have failed. In this inertness it differs from every known element except four others recently discovered, called helium, neon, krypton and xenon, that are associated with it in the air in extremely minute quantities.

Argonauts (ar'go-nat), in Greek story, the band of heroes who sailed, before the Trojan war in the ship Argo, in search of the golden fleece ; Argonauts meaning sailors of the Argo. Pelias, king of Iolcus in Thessaly, was warned by an oracle to fear his nephew, Jason, and so, hoping he would be killed, he sent him to capture and bring