— 16 — 



ters, but afterwards it becomes wider and disappears in the 

 bay into which the river Gualeguaychii flows. Its depths 

 varies from 20 to 44 feet. The Caracoles channel being- of 

 easy navigation for being near to shore is utilised by coast- 

 wise vessels of small draught. The depth may be about 

 6 feet in its northern mouth but its location has not been 

 indicated on the plans as it could not be explored, the 

 steamer of which the Commission disposed, drawing too 

 much water. It may be observed that when going up river 

 that meanwhile the Argentine coast is low and formed by 

 mud, which is sometimes liquid the Oriental coast is exclu- 

 sively sand or tosca. 

 < Barriai » bar. In front of Gualeguaychii exists on the Oriental side a 

 deep channel which is separated from the English channel 

 by a shallow part which has been caraeteristically called 

 the « Barriai », with a depth of only 12 feet at the adopted 

 zero of this point. 



The shallow place is indicated on the English Chart with 

 17 feet depth which may be found in this pass inconse- 

 quence of the tides and the facility with which it may be 

 ploughed by . the keels of the vessels to a depth of 2 

 feet, 



This pass has not been surveyed; before the bar of « Ban- 

 co Grande » had been dredged it was not considered to 

 be an obstacle to navigation, which appears from the fact 

 that the ocean vessels were chartered witli a full cargo to 

 below the last named bar. Neither is it mentioned in the 

 nautical instructions of the River Plate of the hidrografic 

 service of the French Navy. Till some 7 years ago the expor- 

 tation consisted mainly in products of the slaughterhouses 

 and the importation of salt for the same establishments 

 which was done with sailing vessels from 14 to 18 feet 

 draught, but since, notwithstanding the bad harvests of 

 those very years, the direct exportation of wheat and corn 

 started in the Port of Concepcion del Uruguay and as the 

 tendency is to use vessels of the largest tonnage possible 

 in this trade, the Barriai* pass becomes a serious obsta- 

 cle though its Importance lessened by the nature of the 

 bottom and the frecuency of the tides. Vessels with a 

 draugh.1 of 18 feet may pass this bar in the proportion 



