NEUQUEN, an inland territory of Argentina on the Chilean frontier, between the Colorado and Limay rivers, with the province of Mendoza on the north and the territory of Rio Negro on the east and south. Area, 37,245 sq.m. Pop. (1936) 43,496. The greater part of the territory is mountainous, with fertile, well watered valleys and valuable forests. The eastern part, however, contains large plains, showing only stunted vegetation, and having numerous saline deposits. Long droughts prevail in this region and there is no inducement for settlement, the nomadic Indians visiting it only on their hunting expeditions. Guanacos and Argen tine hares are found in abundance in Neuquen, and to a lesser degree the South American ostrich. The Neuquen, which unites with the Limay near the 68th meridian to form the Rio Negro, is the principal river of the territory. The largest of a group of beautiful lakes in the higher Andean valleys is the celebrated Nahuel-Huapi (Lion Grass), which is nearly so m. long from east
to west and about 20 m. from north to south at its widest part, and which lies partly in the south-west angle of the territory, partly in Rio Negro, and partly in the Republic of Chile. It is the source of the Rio Limay and receives the overflow from two smaller neighbouring lakes. The temperature of the Andean region is cold even in summer, but on the lower plains it is hot in summer. The territory is reached by a light-draught river steamer which ascends the Rio Negro to Ft. Roca at the con fluence of the Limay and Neuquen, and by a branch of the Great Southern railway from Bahia Blanca to the same point. The population is concentrated in a few small towns on the rivers and in some colonies, in the fertile districts of the Andes. The capital is Neuquen, a small town on the river of the same name, in the mountainous district in the northern part of the territory.