VARGAS y PONCE, Juan Jose, Spanish geographer, born in Cadiz in 1755; died in Madrid in 1821. He entered the navy, was ordered in 1783 to assist Vicente Tofino in the publication of the great atlas of the coast of Spain, and wrote a remarkable introduction to that work. Vargas was attached afterward to the colonial department, prepared the instructions for the scientific expeditions that were sent to America between 1789 and 1820, and was elected in the latter year a member of the constituent cortes. His works include "Descripcion de las islas Pytiusas y Baleares" (Madrid, 1787), and " An Account of the Last Expedition to the Strait of Magellan made by the Frigate ' La Santa Maria de la Cabeza" (Spanish edition, 1788; English translation, London, 1788). Among his manuscripts, in the National library at Madrid, are "Descripcion estatistica de la provincia de Guipuzcoa," " Descripcion estatistica de la isla de Cuba," and "Historia de la isla de Santo Domingo."