LAKES AND ElVEES OE PATAGONIA. 



389 



garded as an affluent of the Santa Cruz. The Chico, which was explored in its 

 lower course by Musters, and in its upper reaches by Moyano, flows, like the 

 Santa Cruz, in a deep channel excavated in the basaltic plateau. But it is at no 

 time navigable, and during the dry season it shrinks to a mere rivulet 120 feet 

 wide, and easily fordable. It adds little to the volume of the Santa Cruz, and 



Fig. 159. — FEOii Lake Argentino to the Sol'theen Fiords. 

 Scale 1 : 2,500,000. 



-^-^ '" '^^-^ 'jT-" '•",\ ■ ■:■- '^^^sa 



50 



^yw 





^é \ 





r, ' f ., 



7)^ V 







•J 



*# 



^aàiiiA.v'^='/.Q"- 



fp- ^:s 



73° West or breenwich 



60 Miles. 



the average discharge of both in the common estuary is estimated at about 31,000 

 cubic feet per second. In this estuary, the tides, which are very swift, rise from 

 about 10 feet on the bar at ebb to 50 or 60 at flow. 



Lake Argentine is continued southwards by another basin, which according 

 to some authorities stands at the same level of about 300 feet, while according to 

 others it lies not more than a few feet above the sea. Moyano believes that the 

 59 



