14 DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY. 



the darkened depths of ocean, burying animals and forests beneath layers of detritus ; tide- 

 waves subsequently rolled over its surface,, which each time at its emergence exhibited a new 

 stratum of entombed creatures, ineffaceably marking the lapse of another era. As it finally 

 rose from the mass of waters, and heats of summer dissolved the snows deposited on summits 

 that subterranean fires had forced far upward into space, the inequalities partially caused by 

 this volcanic action were filled from the trickling streams ; and this, perhaps, was the origin 

 of most of the fresh-water lakes. 



The most extensive lakes are those at the immediate base of the Andes, in the province of 

 Valdivia. They occupy a very considerable portion of the country from latitude 39 to latitude 

 41 30'. As the region of country in which they lie is almost entirely uninhabited, and innu- 

 merable varieties of climbing plants so entangle the forests that the utmost difficulty attends 

 their penetration, very little is known of any others of them than Llanquihue, Llauquihue or 

 Rupanco, and Todos los Santos. These have been reconnoitred by Capt. Munoz, of the 

 Chilean navy, and subsequently by Dr. Philippi, a German naturalist of distinction. 



Llanquihue, at the foot of Osorno and Calbuco, is the largest. It is nearly of a triangular 

 form, thirty miles long from north to south, and twenty-two broad from northeast to south- 

 west. The southwest extremity is distant only three leagues from the gulf of Reloncavi, 

 into which its surplus waters are discharged through the river Maullin. Capt. Munoz 

 states, in a report to the government, that at the origin of the Maullin the lake is 183.7 

 feet above the level of the Pacific. 



Todos los Santos or Esmeralda lies immediately east of Llanquihue, and on the opposite side 

 of Osorno. It is surrounded by volcanic mountains, whose rapid streams feed it from nearly 

 every side. The greatest length from E.N.E. to W.S.W. is eighteen miles ; and its breadth, 

 at the western extremity, is about one third that amount. It also has an outlet into the gulf 

 of Eeloncavi. There is a little island in the western half of the lake. 



Twelve miles further north is Llauquihue or Rupanco, a long and narrow body of water, 

 in which originates the Rahue, one of the tributaries of Rio Bueno. Its length from W.N.W. 

 to E.S.E. is twenty-four miles, and breadth scarcely more than four miles. 



According to a sketch by Dr. Philippi, a very narrow strip of land intervenes between the 

 Rupanco and Puychue, the next lake to the north. He makes Puychue twenty-five miles 

 long, six miles wide, and rather lozenge-shaped, lying nearly parallel with Rupanco, a small 

 island diversifying its eastern extremity. On the map of M. Gray, published in 1846, the body 

 of the lake lies in a direction from N.E. by N. to S.W. by S., in which line it is eleven 

 miles long : its eastern shore is crescent-shaped, and the northern like the base of a pear. 

 In the same year, (1846,) Capt. Philippi, of the Chilean engineers, who had been a good 

 deal in the province of Valdivia, and had been designated by government to encourage emigra- 

 tion from Germany, published another map of the province, at Cassel. On it Puychue is quite 

 an oval, though the dimensions vary very slightly; but in extenuation of the discrepancy, there 

 is a note inserted along the western and northern shores, informing you that there are 

 " swamps, virgin forests, with various kinds of trees, and many canes, impenetrable because of 

 the vines." To the S.E. of the lake, on this map, is Volcano Puychue, which on that of M. 

 Gay is converted into Copigue peak. The Pilmayquen, another tributary of the Bueno, has 

 its source in this lake. ' 



In the same general N.N.E. line as the others, and from ten to twelve miles north of the 

 last, is Ranco, considerably the largest and most irrregular body of water in Chile. There is 

 a difference between the authors quoted, respecting its dimensions, and scarcely less as to its 

 configuration and the number of islands diversifying its surface. M. Gay's information is 

 perhaps the most reliable, and he makes its length, in a N.W. by N. direction, thirty-two 

 miles breadth, eighteen miles. It is supplied by many streams from the Cordilleras, and in 

 its turn furnishes Rio Bueno. If the information is to be depended on, some of the tributaries 

 of the Rio Negro approach within a mile or two of this lake, and the mountain-ridge dividing 



