390 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



two Jakes communicate in some way, either through a channel or a series of 

 rapids ; but he was unable to verify the fact by actual observation. 



Farther south a long stretch of fresh water, half river, half fiord, is developed at 

 the foot of the mountains, in the direction of the glacial fiords, which form the 

 ramifying inlets of Skyring Water. 



South of the Santa Cruz estuary the coast presents other fiord-like indenta- 

 tions, half filled with silt, which receive some small streams descending from the 

 Cordilleras. But all have their sources on the eastern slope of the volcanic range, 

 and are consequently for the most part dry. Coy Inlet, which Darwin regarded 

 as the remains of a marine strait, like that of Magellan, is joined only by a rivulet 

 known as the Coyle, a corruption of Coy, the English name of the estuary. It 

 was dry when visited by Moreno ; but farther south the Rio Gallegos, rising in 

 the fertile Lhnniras de Diana, " Diana Plains," is a perennial stream, and even 

 navigable for a few weeks in the year. All the running waters at the extremity 

 of Patagonia wash down auriferous sands. 



The Patagoxian Seaboard. 



Viewed as a whole, the shores of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego present no 

 character of unity in their contour lines. Between Buenos Ayres and Bahia 

 Blanca the semicircular bend of the seaboard is developed in a rhythmical curve, 

 in which is revealed the result of slow and continuous geological action. So, also, 

 at the extremity of the continent a similar movement in the formation of the 

 coast-line is attested by the cimeter- shaped curved line which is described between 

 Staten Island and Coy Inlet, and which is interrupted by the two Straits of 

 Lemaire and Magellan. 



But all the intermediate space extending from Bahia Blanca to the Santa 

 Cruz estuary is indented in an extremely irregular fashion. South of Bahia 

 Blanca, itself a tunnel-shaped estuary penetrating far into the interior of the 

 continent, several parallel inlets which follow along the seaboard seem to indicate 

 the existence of an old delta ; only the river, which one might expect to see 

 discharging into the head of the gulf, has long ceased to exist. By a remarkable 

 contrast, both the Rio Colorado and the Rio Negro, instead of flowing in valleys 

 forming a landward continuation of marine gulfs or inlets, follow the line of a 

 ridge traversing the surrounding plains, and discharge into the Atlantic Ocean at 

 the extreme convexity of lands projecting seawards. 



Immediately south of the Rio Negro the Gulf of San Matias penetrates so far 

 into the interior of Patagonia that it has received the alternative name of Bahia 

 Sin Fondo, that is, " Endless Bay." On the other hand the Valdes or San José 

 Peninsula, which encloses this bay on the south side, is connected with the 

 mainland by a narrow isthmus with a hammer-shaped headland, which bends 

 round to the right and left (north and south) in such a way as to develop two 

 lateral inlets. 



