Identifier: earthitsinhabita941recl (find matches)
Title: The earth and its inhabitants ..
Year: 1894 (1890s)
Authors: Reclus, Elisée, 1830-1905 Ravenstein, Ernest George, 1834-1913 Keane, A. H. (Augustus Henry), 1833-1912
Subjects: Geography
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: MBLWHOI Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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, or else have their source in the glaciers. One,however, the Rio Palena, takes its rise on the eastern slope of the Andes, andforces its way seawards in deep gorges piercing the intervening ridges. Flowingsouth of the Corcovado volcano, the Palena debouches in the fiords over againstthe southern point of Chiloe. Inside the bar it may be navigated by boatsfor a long distance above its mouth. It traverses the fertile district longassociated in legendary lore with the mythical city de los Cesares, or theGiudad Encantada, that is, the Eldorado of the south continental regions. Therumblings which are occasionally heard in the mountain, and which are prob- HYDEOGEAPHY OF CHILI. 481 ably caused by the rush of avalanches, are attributed by the Indians to dia-bolical agency. Two other still more copious rivers, the Aysen and Huemules, descend fromthe Cordillera, but are supposed, like the Palena, to have their farthest sources in Fig. 165.—Laxes of South Chili and Puerto Montt.1: 1,000,000.
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0to50Fathoms. Depths. 50 Fathomsand upwards. 18 Miles. the pampa beyond the mountains, that is, in Argentine territory. The Huemuleshas been ascended as far as a lateral glacier between pumice walls which are rapidlydecomposed by the grinding action of the ice. The debris gets lodged in thecrevasses, while a stream of blackish mud escapes from the crystalline mass. 432 SOUTH AMERICA—THE ANDES REGIONS. The Chilian Lakes. The lakes of North Chili, dried by the process of evaporation, have all beenreduced to the condition of mere saltpans or morasses. Nevertheless, ihe oldcontour-lines may still be traced, while the Ittkes themselves are often conjuredback by the mirage. Ascotan, Atacama and the other neighbouring lacustrinedepressions have all been filled in by vast quantities of alluvial matter washeddown from the cordillera. Shafts have been sunk in Salar del Carmen, east ofAntofagasta, to a depth of 290 feet without reaching its rocky bed. True lakes of pure water and abysmal depth

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