CORDOBA, a large central province of the Argentine Repub lic. Pop. estimate) 970,971; area, 66,912 square miles. The greater part of the province belongs to the pampas, though less fertile and grassy than the plains farther east and south. It likewise includes large saline and swampy areas. The north-west part of the province is traversed by an isolated mountain system from 3,00o to 5,000 ft. high made up of the Cordoba, Pocho and Ischilin sierras, which extend for a distance of some zoo m. in a north and south direction. These ranges intercept the moist winds from the Atlantic, and receive on their eastern slopes a moderate rainfall, which gives them a strikingly verdant appearance in comparison with the surround ing plains. West and north-west of the sierras are extensive saline basins called Las Salinas Grandes, which extend into the neigh bouring provinces and are absolutely barren. In the north-east the land is low and swampy; here are the large saline lagoons of Mar Chiquita and Los Porongos. The principal rivers, which have their sources in the sierras and flow eastward, are the Primero and Segundo, which flow north-easterly into the lacustrine basin of Mar Chiquita; the Tercero and Quarto, which unite near the Santa Fe frontier to form the Carcarana, a tributary of the Parana; and the Quinto, which flows south-easterly into the swamps of the Laguna Amarga in the southern part of the prov ince. Countless small streams also descend the eastern slopes of the sierras and are lost in the great plains. The eastern districts are moderately fertile, and are chiefly devoted to cattle-breeding, and cereal production. In the valleys and well-watered foot-hills of the sierras, cereals, alfalfa and fruit are the principal products. The rainfall is limited throughout the province, and irrigation is employed in a few localities. The mineral resources include gold, silver, copper, lead and iron, but mining is carried on only to a very limited extent. Salt and marble are produced. Cordoba is traversed by several railway lines—those running eastward to Buenos Aires and Rosario from Mendoza and the Chilean frontier, those connecting the city of Cordoba with the same cities, and with Tucuman on the north and Catamarca and Rioja on the north-west. The chief towns are Cordoba, the capital, Rio Quarto, Villa Maria, an important railway centre 82 m. S.E. of Cordoba, and Cruz del Eje on the west slopes of the sierras i ro m. N.W. of Cordoba.