360 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



former eruptions and of ancient glaciers are found suporitnposed. Below the 

 igneous scoriao stretcli beds of glacial mud. 



South of Ti'onador, with its " thundering " avalanches, towering between the 

 Nahuel-IIuapi basin and the Chilian slope, the Cordilleras full so low that, according 

 to Rohde, the traveller may pass ftora the banks of the Rio Limay to the deep 

 Reloncavi fiord without crossing any range proper!}" so called, but only some low 

 plateaux intersected by gorges and valleys. At this point, which is perhaps the 

 old Bariloche route followed by the Jesuit missionaries, the only obstacle to pro- 

 gress is the exuberant vegetation. The track descends to the Pacific Ocean along 

 the course of the Rio Puelo, which is flanked on the north by Mount Ballena 

 (4,886 feet), on the south by Mount Castillo (4,930 feet). 



Farther on, along the deej) channels separating the mainland from Chiloe and 

 the Magellanic archipelagoes, the frontier range has been scarcely studied except 

 from a distance. Here rise some extinct and active volcanoes, such as Yate or 

 Yebcan, Minchin mahuida, Corcovado, and Mellimoya, ranging in height from 

 5,200 to 7,900 feet. From the few excursions that have been made to the interior, 

 it may be inferred that the Cordillera is decomposed in distinct masses by the 

 deep gorges of the rivers rising on the Patagonian plateaux east of the mountains. 

 The Rio Palena, which flows south of Mount Corcovado, and Avhich, according to 

 the legend, should give access to the marvellous city of the " Csesars," the South 

 American Eldoi-ado, Avinds through one of these gorges, while others are traversed 

 farther south by the Rios Corcovado, Ay sen, and Huemules. 



In this region the Andes are, so to say, broken into a land archipelago, ana- 

 logous to that developed in the neighbouring waters. The Cordillera reappears 

 across the Taytao peninsula, where rises the superb crest of San Valentino, which 

 towers to a height of 12,720 feet. Under the same latitude in the lateral Argen- 

 tine Cordillera, Moyano measured the Zeballos peak (5,500 feet), and determined 

 the existence of another chain, which towards the source of the Deseado branches 

 off from the Andes in the direction of the south-east, terminating in the headland 

 of Cape Blanco south of San Jorge Bay. 



The actual height of this transverse range has not yet been ascertained, but 

 according to native report it is extremely difficult to cross, owing to its rugged 

 character, rocks, precipices, and general absence of water. Hence, in order to 

 pass from one point to the orher of the seaboard, the Indians pass round to the 

 west, traversing the more practicable region of grass lands. 



The Magellamc Mountains. 



In the Magellanic region the contracted extremity of the Continent presents 

 nothing but a narrow strip of plains between the Andes and the Atlantic, from 

 which are visible the summits rising above the Pacific. But in this terminal 

 peninsula the parallel zones of mountain ranges are disposed side by side with 

 surprising regularity. The Cordillera proper, above which rises the superb 

 tower- shaped Chalten or Fitzroy (6,890 feet), follows almost exactly the direction 



