The Lake Systems of Southern Patagonia. — Hatcher. 173 
ance. These facts, together with the observations made ilhis- 
trating the method of formation of these lakes about the heads 
of many of the inlets of Patagonia, lead me unhesitatingly to 
pronounce them residual in origin, and as having derived the 
beds of salt found in and about them almost entirely from the 
sea direct. 
Of the three systems of lakes described above, the first, or 
those of tectonic origin, are in point of size of vastly more im- 
portance than either of the other two. A\^hen Patagonia is 
finally opened up to civilization and its many natural resources 
are fully recognized and taken advantage of, this superb series 
of magnificent mountain lakes will come to be more generally, 
realized and appreciated. They will then, no doubt, achieve an 
importance and consideration commensurate with their excep- 
tional size and beauty. Hitherto, owing to their inaccessibil- 
ity, few indeed are those who have been enabled to see tlieni ; 
but, buried deep in the recesses of one of the most lofty and 
rugged mountain systems to be found anywhere on the sur- 
face of our earth, by those favored few they will ever be re- 
membered as masterpieces of creative ingenuity. Extending 
from the barren lava beds and bleak, cheerless plains of the 
east through the forest-clad slopes of the foot-hills on into the 
remote and silent recesses of the central range of the Andes, 
whose summits, rising ever higher, are finally lost in immense 
fields of snow and ice, they present along their shores a greater 
variety of physiographic and geologic features than may be 
observed elsewhere in an equally limited area. 
Of the three systems of lakes described abtne those of 
glacial origin are, perhaps, economically of the least import- 
ance of all. Yet, lying among the drumlins and terminal 
moraines of the ancient glaciers, where are now to be found 
the best pasture lands of the Patagonian plains region, they 
will become of ever increasing importance as these lands are 
more and more occupied for pastoral purposes. 
The salt from the residual lakes will always supi)l\ the Uj- 
cal demand for that useful article and permit also of the annual 
exportation of considerable quantities. 
