374 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



infested by prodigious clouds of midges. These lagoons of the Corrientes region 

 are reported to have encroached, in recent years, on the surrounding lands. 



South of the E.io Corrientes, which partly drains Ibera, follow a few other tribu- 

 taries, which, however, are insufficient to compensate for the loss by evaporation. 

 The Gualeguay, largest of these tributaries in the province of Entre-E,ios, winds 

 in a sluggish course of about 250 miles parallel with the lower Uruguay. It dis- 

 charges, not into the Parana direct, but into the Pavon, one of those lateral channels 

 which are alternately flushed and abandoned by the main stream. 



Between the Très Bocas and Plate deltas, the Parana is increased in width 

 tenfold by numerous other affluents winding through the vast fluvial depression. 

 Even those pampa streams, which at present lie quite beyond the labyrinth of 

 Parana waters, formerly belonged to the system. Such are in the province of 

 Santa Fe, the Saladillo Dulce and the Saladillo Amargo, " Sweet" and "Bitter" 

 Saladillo, both of which have a course of about 250 miles. 



The Parana Delta. 



The Parana delta, properly so-called, begins below the Diamante bluff, at the 

 point where the river trends round to the south-east in the direction of the Plate 

 estuary. This point marks the former head of the marine gulf at a time when 

 it penetrated 370 miles into the interior of the Continent. All the upper part of 

 this vast inlet has been silted up by the alluvial deposits for a distance of 230 

 miles, and the elongated islands occupying the wide zone of unstable ground 

 between the lateral cliffs have all been formed by these siltings. 



In this vast deltaic region the main channel of the Parana hugs the right 

 (pampa) bank nearly to the town of San Pedro, where nearly the whole fluvial 

 mass is collected in a single channel, which contracts at one point to less than 

 700 yards, with a depth of about 160 feet. The lateral channels skirtingthe shores 

 of Entre-Rios take various names, such as Victoria, Paranacito, Pavon, Ibicuy. 

 But during great inundations, such as thos.e of 1858 and 1868, all are merged in 

 a single sheet of water flooding the whole of the ancient marine inlet, and even 

 submerging the intervening islands. At such time steamers ply between Victoria 

 and Rosario, right across the temporarily restored estuary, which is here nearly 

 40 miles wide. 



Below San Pedro the Parana Guazu, " Great Parana," crosses from the western 

 to the eastern (Entre-Rios) side, throwing olï in the direction of Buenos Ayres 

 the Baradero, a small branch, which is usually followed by light craft to avoid the 

 winds and swell of the main channel. Another branch, the Rio de las Palmas 

 bifurcates from the Parana Guazu, and although less copious, maintains a uniform 

 width all the way to the estuary, whereas the Guazu ramifies into numerous 

 lateral creeks, some of which even trend north and north-east to the Uruguay. 



The chief mouth, about 880 yards w ide, opens north of the delta, not in a line 

 Avith the axis of the Plate estuary, but more to the north in that part of the 

 inlet where the Uruguay debouches just below the Iliguerites Strait. The front 



