consideration, it is probable from the reasons assigned in the last
chapter, that the entire breadth of the continent in Central Patagonia has
been uplifted in mass; but from other reasons there given, it would be
hazardous to extend this conclusion to La Plata. From the continent being
narrow in the southern-most parts of Patagonia, and from the shells found
at the Inner Narrows of the Strait of Magellan, and likewise far up the
valley of the Santa Cruz, it is probable that the southern part of the
western coast, which was not visited by me, has been elevated within the
period of recent Mollusca: if so, the shores of the Pacific have been
continuously, recently, and in a geological sense synchronously upraised,
from Lima for a length of 2,480 nautical miles southward,--a distance equal
to that from the Red Sea to the North Cape of Scandinavia!


CHAPTER III. ON THE PLAINS AND VALLEYS OF CHILE:--SALIFEROUS SUPERFICIAL
DEPOSITS.

Basin-like plains of Chile; their drainage, their marine origin.
Marks of sea-action on the eastern flanks of the Cordillera.
Sloping terrace-like fringes of stratified shingle within the valleys of
the Cordillera; their marine origin.
Boulders in the valley of Cachapual.
Horizontal elevation of the Cordillera.
Formation of valleys.
Boulders moved by earthquake-waves.
Saline superficial deposits.
Bed of nitrate of soda at Iquique.
Saline incrustations.
Salt-lakes of La Plata and Patagonia; purity of the salt; its origin.