t passage through
the Andes, and the divide between its southern extremity (Laguna Tar)
and Lake Viedma, which discharges through the Santa Cruz river into
the Atlantic, is so slight as to warrant the hypothesis that this was
once a strait between the two oceans. After a short north-westerly
course the Toro discharges into Baker Inlet in lat. 48 deg. 15' S., long.
73 deg. 24' W. South of the Toro there are no large rivers on this coast,
but the narrow fjords penetrate deeply into the mountains and bring
away the drainage of their snow-capped, storm-swept elevations. A
peculiar network of fjords and connecting channels terminating inland
in a peculiarly shaped body of water with long, widely branching arms,
called Worsley Sound, Obstruction Sound and Last Hope Inlet, covers an
extensive area between the 51st and 53rd parallels, and extends nearly
to the Argentine frontier. It has the characteristics of a tidewater
river and drains an extensive region. The sources of the Argentine
river Coile are to be found among the lakes and streams of this same
region, within Chilean territory. A noteworthy peculiarity of southern
Chile, from the Taytao peninsula (about 46 deg. 50' S. lat.) to Tierra
del Fuego, is the large number of glaciers formed on the western and
southern slopes of the Cordilleras and other high elevations, which
discharge direct into these deeply cut estuaries. Some of the larger
lakes of the Andes have glaciers discharging into them. The formation
of these icy streams at comparatively low levels, with their discharge
direct into tidewater estuaries, is a phenomenon not to be found
elsewhere in the same latitudes.

Lakes.

The lakes of Chile are numerous and important, but they are found
chiefly in the southern half of the republic. In the north the only
lakes are large lagoons, or morasses, on the upper saline plateaus
between the 23rd and 28th parallels. They are fed from the melting
snows and periodical storms of the higher Andes, and most of them are
completely dry part of the year. Their waters are saturated with
saline compounds, which in some cases have considerable commercial
value. In central Chile above the Bio-Bio river the lakes are small
and have no special geographical interest, with the exception perhaps
of the Laguna del Maule, in 36 deg. 7' S., and Laguna de la Laja, in 37
deg. 20', which lie in the Andes near the Argen