MCGEE] 



RIO BACUACHE 



27 



to I'ueblo Viejo, where another sierra is cleft by the cliaiiiiel, and 

 where the water agaiu exudes and flows througli a siiud lined roclibed 

 (tigure 2). In the local terminology this yiortinn alone is Rio Bacuache, 

 the upper stretches of the waterway bearing different names; it sup- 

 plies the settlement and fields of F.acuacbito, flowing above the sands 

 5 to 15 miles, according to season; tlien it returns to tlie saiid-wash 

 habit for 50 miles, throughout much of wiiich distance wells may find 

 supply at increasing depths; finally it passes into the delta phase, and 

 enters northeastern Seriland in a zone marked by excei)tioiially vigor- 

 ous niesquite forests. Normally the 200 miles of streainway is actual 

 stream only in two stretches of say 5 miles each, some -'5 miles apart. 



FiQ 2— Gateway ti) Seriland— gorge of Kio Baonache. 



and the farther of these stops midway between the head of the chan- 

 nel and the open sea toward which it trends and slopes; but during 

 and after great storms it is transformed into a river approaching tiie 

 Ohio or the Rhine in volume, flowing tumultuonsly for 150 miles, and 

 finally sinking in the sands of Desierto Encinas, 30 to 50 miles from the 

 coast. Viewed with respect to genesis, Kio Bacuache has responded 

 to the stimulus of the southwestern tilting, and has retrogressed 

 up the slope through two sierras, besides minor ranges and 100 miles 

 of sheetfloodcarved plains; while the debris thus gathered has filled 

 the original gorge to a depth of hundreds of feet, and has overflowed 

 the adjacent sheetflood-flattened expanses to form the great alluvial fan 

 of eastern Serdand. The genetic conditions explain the distribution 



