98 MAR-CHiaUlTO RANGES OF HILLS. AugUSt 



heads, nothing like an opening could be detected, though the 

 beach was scrutinized with good glasses, as well from the deck 

 as by those who looked down upon it from aloft as we sailed 

 by. I suspect that there has been some confusion of ideas 

 respecting the little river San Pablo, and a supposed entrance 

 to the lagoon : but, be this as it may, very great difficulty 

 would be found in attempting to form a large and permanent 

 communication at a spot so exposed to heavy south-east gales. 



At Port Valdez (in latitude 42° S.) the entrance is some- 

 times completely blocked up by shingle and sand, during and 

 after a strong south-east gale ; and I think it probable that 

 such an effect would be caused here, at times, whether there 

 were a natural or an artificial opening ; and as there is no 

 great rise and fall of tide, I much doubt whether the opening 

 would be again cleared, as at Port Valdez, by the mere ebb 

 and flow of water. 



In the vicinity of Mar-chiquito, the country (campo) is very 

 fertile, and well watered. Sheltered to the south by a range 

 of down-like hills, whence numerous small brooks originate, it 

 gives abundant pasturage to many thousands of cattle, and 

 is considered by the Buenos Ayreans to be the finest district 

 of their territory. This range of hiUs extends in a west north- 

 west direction for more than fifty leagues, and varies in name 

 at different places. That part next to Cape Corrientes is called 

 Sierra Vuulcan ;* twenty leagues inland is the ridge named 

 Tandil, and at the western extreme is a height called Cayru. 

 Between Tandil and Cayru there ai-e many hills known by 

 particular names, but they are all part of the range above- 

 mentioned ; and it is a remarkable fact, that not only this 

 range, that nearer to Buenos Ayres called Cerrillada, and 

 that of which the Sierra Ventana forms a part, extend nearly 

 in an east-south-east and west-north-west direction ; but that 

 most of the ranges of high land, most of the rivers, and the 

 greater number of inlets, between the Plata and Cape Horn, 

 have a similar direction, not varying from it above one point, 

 or at most two points of the compass. After we became aware 

 * All Indian word, which means ' opening,' or ' having openings.' 



