MISIONES  , a territory of

northern Argentina, bounded N. by Paraguay and Brazil, E. and S. by Brazil and W. by Paraguay and the Argentine province of Corrientes . Its boundary lines are formed by the upper Parana and Iguassfl rivers on the N., the San Antonio and Pequiry-guassu streams on :the E. and the Uruguay River on the S . Area, 11,282 sq. m.; pop . (1904, estimate), 38,755, chiefly Indians and mestizos . The territory is a region of roughly-broken surfaces, divided longitudinally by low mountains, called the Sierra Iman and Sierra Grande de Misiones, which form the water-parting for many small streams flowing northward to the Parana and southward to the Uruguay . The greater part of the country is covered with forest and tropical jungle . The climate is sub-tropical, the temperature ranging from 40° to q5 F . The soil. is described as highly fertile, but its products are chiefly confined to yerba mate or Paraguay tea (Ilex paraguayensis), tobacco and oranges and other fruits . Communication with the capital is maintained by two lines of steamboats running to Corrientes and Buenos Aires, but a rail-way across Paraguay from Asunci6n is planned to Encarnaci6n, opposite Posadas . Some of the Jesuit missions of the 17th and 18th centuries were established in this territory, and are to-day represented by the lifeless villages of Candelaria, Santa Ana, San Ignacio and Corpus along the Parana River, and Ap6stoles, Concepci6n, and San Javier along the Uruguay . Posadas (estimated pop. in 1905, 8000), the capital, on the Parana, officially dates from 1865 . It was also a Jesuit settlement called Itapua, though the large mission of that name was on the Paraguayan side of the river .

It is at the extreme

west of the territory, and is the terminal port for the steamers from Corrientes .