142 



C. SKOTTSBERG 



Fig. 55. North halt ot Masatuera looking W. Quebr. de las Casas at the extreme left. — Photo 



K. Backstrom Feb. 19 17. 



The question may be raised if not the eroding forces have been more active 

 in bygone times than they appear to be at present when so many of the streams 

 are dry or carry very little water during the summer half year. If it is true, and 

 this is believed by many, that the Ice Age was characterized by high precipita- 

 tion values, the climate of Juan Fernandez, otherwise not much influenced by the 

 glaciation in the southern Andes, must have been more rainy than now and, as 

 a consequence, the eroding forces stronger. The end of the Pleistocene left the 

 islands much as we see them now. 



The coast lacks bays, there is no harbour, not even a sheltered cove to 

 accomodate small craft. The landing places from where the interior can be reached 

 are the entrances to O. Sanchez and O. Casas, but only under favorable con- 

 ditions with regard to wind and sea. It happens that an expedition has to return 

 with its errand unaccomplished. Abrasion has created a terrace along the west 

 side, continued by a reef studded with rocks (fig. 59). At the foot of the coast 

 cliffs a talus has accumulated, sloping down to a beach where the surf washes 

 out the finer material leaving the boulders. It is possible to scramble along the 

 shore from O. Sanchez south round the island and from there north along the 

 west side to the north extremity of the Loberia Vieja plain, separated from the 

 Loberia Ventana beach by an impassable obstacle. Figs. 60 and 61 show that 

 it is no easy going, and with a heavy swell it may not be possible to pass the 

 southeast corner of the island. The opportunity to make this circuit round ^1^ 

 of the shore and to proceed .from one canyon entrance to the next greatly 



