DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY. 15 



the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific is scarcely more than a chain of hills. There are several 

 prettv i-lamls within Ilanc". ami r.mr -<-tt kim-uts <>!' f'rirjnlly Indians on its different borders, 

 tin- whole territory within which li<- these IJU-JM- lakes being entirely in control of independ- 

 ent t rilics. Along the north shoro is one of the paths from Valdivia into the Argentine 



tenil.>r\ . 



Imnie.liately east of Valdivia, M. Gay has placed on his map Huitahue, Guanegue, Rinihuo, 

 Pirihueco, and Lajara, five lakes forming a right angle, of which the angular, point is to the 

 west, with Rinihiic in the centre. They extend from latitude 39 24' to latitude 39 52'; and 

 arc united by channels, forming a continuous chain, from which the surplus water discharged 

 hy Guanegue is one of the principal supplies of the river Valdivia. Each leg of the right 

 angle is about twenty-five miles long. There are seven settlements of Indians on the bor- 

 ders of the three western, and a path across the Andes, along the southern shore. South of 

 Lajara, in latitude 39 55', longitude 71 12' W., is a volcano of the same name. 



Capt. Philippi has but three lakes on his map. These lie in a N.N.E. and S.8.W. line 

 between latitude 39 10' and 39 47', and are called Calafquen, Huanchue or Panguipulli, 

 and Rinihue. He agrees with M. Gay in connecting them by small streams, with an outlet 

 supplying the Valdivia, or, as he here names it, the Ciruelas, the Indian appellation being 

 Calle-calle. In latitude 39 42', longitude 71 43', just north of the east extremity of the 

 Rinihue, which he makes a long narrow body of water, is a volcano of the same name ; and 

 east of Huanchue the volcano of Panguipulli, latitude 39 38', longitude 71 35' W. These 

 are grave geographical discrepancies between officers of the same government, and we are not 

 likely to learn the truth until the survey of M. Pissis is extended over this province. In this 

 instance, I have preferred following the authority of M. Gay in compiling our map, and offer 

 in extenuation of these differences the experience of Dr. Darwin, when endeavoring to pene- 

 trate the country a little farther south. "The forest was so impenetrable, that no one who 

 has not beheld it can imagine so entangled a mass of dying and dead trunks. I am sure that 

 often, for ten minutes together _, our feet never touched the ground, and we were frequently ten 

 or fifteen feet above it, so that the seamen, as a joke, called out the soundings. In the lower 

 part of the mountain, noble trees of the Winter's bark and laurel, like the sassafras, with 

 fragrant leaves, and others, the names of which I do not know, were matted together by a 

 trailing bamboo, or cane. Here we were more like fishes struggling in a net than any other 

 animals." 



Villarica or, as it was formerly called, Llauquen whose main body is to the south of lati- 

 tude 39 (M. Gay) covers more than one hundred square miles. Valdivia gave it the new 

 name, from the quantity of gold discovered in the vicinity, and founded a city on its S.W. 

 shore; though, as the Indians twice destroyed it within a short time after the Spaniards made 

 their settlements, it is probable the so-called city never embraced above a dozen houses. It 

 has an outlet to the sea through the river Tolten, a small island near the centre, and the 

 volcano of the same name on its S.E. shore. In the very heart of the Indian territory, as is 

 Villarica, with the ruins of its city to remind the children of the soil how gallantly their 

 forefathers struggled to retain independence, it has remained even more unknown than the 

 others. 



Quite close to the seacoast there are several smaller collections of salt water, sometimes con- 

 sisting of natural depressions in the surface, communicating with the sea through short canals ; 

 and at others, of basins, into which sea-water is only driven during the storms of winter. In 

 the latter cases they are native salt-works, from which the Indians of the vicinity collect all 

 their supplies. Beyond this, they are of little interest. 



The two largest lakes in the province of Concepcion, and the only ones requiring mention, 

 are Gualletue, in latitude 38 14', at the base of the Cordilleras, and Laja, in latitude 37 05', 

 near the foot of the volcano of Antuco. Gualletue covers about fifty square miles within the 

 Andes, deriving its supply from melting snows. La Laja is the most picturesque of all. It 



