Volume cubic
per minute.[33] Breadth. Height.
Iguazú 28,000 ft. 13,133 ft. 196 to 220 ft.
Victoria (S. Africa) 18,000 ft. 5,580 ft. 350 to 360 ft.
Niagara 18,000 ft. 5,249 ft. 150 to 164 ft.
The only point of advantage of the Victoria Falls is their height.
The present chief source of wealth in Misiones is the various kinds of
timber and valuable cabinet-maker’s woods found in its virgin forests.
One day Misiones will doubtless export its rosewood and other beautiful
and valuable products of its forests, which also produce pine and other
building timber of superior quality to that which Argentina now imports
from Europe. Transport of timber is effected by means of tying it into
huge rafts which go down river as far as Corrientes. The timber supply
of Misiones will long continue rich, since the tendency of the forest is
ever to encroach on the surrounding land.
A growing industry on which great expectations are based is the
cultivation of the Ilex Paraguayensis, or mate shrub. The consumption of
mate or Paraguayan tea, as it is sometimes called in Europe, is enormous
throughout both of the River Plate Republics, which now import very large
quantities annually from Paraguay and Brazil, while no sort of good
reason seems to exist why the northern districts of Argentina should not
grow sufficient to meet the home consumption.
The Jesuits evidently appreciated and cultivated this shrub, but they had
the secret of growing it from seed, a secret the true re-discovery of
which by modern horticulturists is not yet quite proved.[34]
Up till quite recently all Misiones mate yerba has been gathered from
the abundant virgin growth of the shrub. Once Misiones produced larger
quantities of sugar than it does now; and there is no reason why this
industry should not revive from the almost total paralysis which it at
present suffers; nor why one day the wine output of Misiones should not
be improved in both quality and quantity.
Maize naturally grows well (it yields in six months) in Misiones; which
Territory with the general warmth of its climate, sufficient rainfall and
heavy dews, is most favourable to tropical and subtropical vegetation.
Oranges, of course, bananas, pineapples, and guavas grow practically,
if not quite, wild and ground nuts and the castor-oil plant are among
its many valuable products. The whole of Misiones is well watered by a
network of very numerous streams, and if its atmosphere by day is rather
reminiscent of a hothouse, the nights are usually cool and refreshing.
The unevenness of its surface, while precluding much idea of extensive
cultivation, is admirably suited for the shelter and care of the best
natural produce of this exotically picturesque region.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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