TOPOGEAPHY OF ARGENTINA. 



451 



ground on which the city stands has yielded skeletons, chipped stones, worked 

 bones, and other human remains. 



Ensexada — Tandil — Bahia Blanca. 



The port of La Plata, the ancient Emenada, 5 miles from the centre of the 

 capital, has realised the hopes of its founders. its principal basin, 3,670 feet 

 long and 160 feet wide, is 20 feet deep at low water, and is accessible at flow to 

 the largest vessels. But the merchandise here landed is destined almost entirely 

 for Buenos Ayres. The chief drawback to the port and neighbouring city is 



Fia-. 175. — La Plata Museum. 



caused by the Buenos Ayres drainage system, which has its outlet near Quilmes, 

 and which threatens eventually to choke the harbour with its pestiferous deposits. 

 Nevertheless as a seaport, Ensenada has a double advantage over Buenos Ayres. 

 It is reached by a buoyed channel rather under four miles instead of nine miles 

 in length ; wharfage dues are also much lower, owing to the fact that the 

 provincial government has expropriated all the foreshore for the harbour, quays, 

 docks, and wharfs. But in wet weather the place presents a dismal appearance, 

 all the thoroughfares being transformed to almost impassable quagmires. 



East of La Plata there are no towns properly so-called in the neighbourhood 

 of the estuary. Magdalena, the most important place in the district, lies 3 miles 

 inland, but possesses a few saladeros at the port of Atalaya on the coast. Pleasure- 

 seekers and invalids from Buenos Ayres resort in the season to the favourite 

 watering-place of Mar del Plata, which lies near Cape Corrientes, 250 miles by 

 rail from the capital. Other watering-places are springing up farther north 



