European grains and fruits, including the vine, have been successfully introduced, and large areas are now under wheat, maize, flax, and other crops, another source of wealth consisting in the countless herds of cattle and horses and flocks of sheep, which are pastured on the pampas, and which multiply there very rapidly. Gold, silver, nickel, copper, tin, lead, and iron, besides marble, jasper, precious stones, and bitumen, are found in the mountainous districts of the N.W., while petroleum wells have been discovered on the Rio Vermejo; but the development of this mineral wealth has hitherto been greatly retarded by the want of proper means of transport. As a whole there are not extensive forests in the State except in the region of the Gran Chaco (which extends also into Bolivia), where there is known to be 60,000 sq. miles of timber. Thousands of square miles are covered with thistles, which grow to a great height in their season. Cacti also forms great thickets. Peach and apple trees are abundant in some districts. The native fauna includes the puma, the jaguar, the tapir, the llama, the alpaca, the vicuña, armadillos, the rhea or nandu, a species of ostrich, &c. The climate is agreeable and healthy, 97° being about the highest temperature experienced. The rainfall is very scanty in some districts, and is nowhere very large.
As a whole this vast country is very thinly inhabited, some parts of it as yet being very little known. The native Indians were never very numerous, and have given little trouble to the European settlers. Tribes of them yet in the savage state still inhabit the less-known districts, and live by hunting and fishing. Some of the Gran Chaco tribes are said to be very fierce, and European travellers have been killed by them. The European element is strong in the republic, more than half the population being Europeans or of pure European descent. Large numbers of immigrants arrive from Southern Europe, the Italians having the preponderance among those of foreign birth. The typical inhabitants of the pampas are the Gauchos, a race of half-breed cattle-rearers and horse-breakers; they are almost continually on horseback, galloping over the plains, collecting their herds and droves, taming wild horses, or catching and slaughtering cattle. In such occupations they require a marvellous dexterity in the use of the lasso and bolas.
The River La Plata was discovered in 1512 by the Spanish navigator Juan Diaz de Solis, and the La Plata territory had been brought into the possession of Spain by the end of the sixteenth century. In 1810 the territory cast off the Spanish rule, and in 1816 the independence of the United States of the Rio de la Plata was formerly declared, but it was long before a settled government was established. The present constitution dates from 1853, being modified in 1866 and 1898. The executive power is vested in a president—elected by the representatives of the fourteen provinces for a term of six years. A national congress of two chambers—a Senate and a House of Deputies—wields the legislative authority, and the republic is making rapid advances in social and political life. The national revenue for 1918 amounted to about £32,860,306, while the expenditure amounted to £34,407,074; the public debt was, at the end of 1916, about £120,000,000. There are about 22,000 miles of railway opened. The external commerce is important, the chief exports being beef and mutton, wheat, maize, and linseed, wool, skins and hides, tallow. The imports are chiefly manufactured goods. The trade is largely with Britain and France, and is increasing rapidly, the exports having advanced from £9,000,000 in 1876 and £73,200,000 in 1908 to £201,360,000 in 1920. The imports in 1920 were £170,820,000. The chief denomination of money is the dollar or peso, value (in gold) 4s. Buenos Ayres (or Aires) is the capital. Other towns are Rosario, Cordova, La Plata, Tucuman, Mendoza, and
Santa-Fé. The population of the republic, which is rapidly increasing by immigration, was, in 1905, 5,678,197, and 8,284,266 in 1918; of the capital, 1,637,155 (1918).—Bibliography: C. E. Akers, History of South America, 1854 to 1904; W. H. Hudson, The Naturalist in La Plata; Keane and Markham, Central and South America (in Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel); Martinez and Lewandowski, Argentine in the Twentieth Century; Sir John Foster Fraser, The Amazing Argentine; H. Stephens, Illustrated Descriptive Argentina; The Argentine Year Book.
Ar´gentite, sulphide of silver, a blackish or lead-grey mineral, a valuable ore of silver found in the crystalline rocks of many countries.
Argentometer. See Hydrometer.
Argillaceous Rocks are rocks in which clay prevails (including shales and slates).
Argives (a˙r´jīvz), or Argivi, the inhabitants of Argos; used by Homer and other ancient authors as a generic appellation for all the Greeks.
Ar´go. See Argonauts.
Argol. See Argal.