Marques) to be 580 feet in height. Above this plain, towards the interior, Mr. Stokes informs me that there were several other step-formed plains, the highest of which was estimated at 1,200 feet, and was seen ranging at apparently the same height for 150 miles northward. All these plains have been worn into great valleys and much denuded. The section in Diagram 3 is illustrative of the general structure of the great Bay of St. George. At the south headland of the Bay of St. George (near C. Three Points) the 250 plain is very extensive.
(DIAGRAM 3. SECTION OF PLAINS AT PORT DESIRE.
From East (sea level) to West (high): Terrace 1. 100 Est. Terrace 2. 245-255 Ba. M. Shells on surface. Terrace 3. 330 Ba. M. Shells on surface. Terrace 4. Not measured.)
At Port Desire (forty miles southward) I made several measurements with the barometer of a plain, which extends along the north side of the port and along the open coast, and which varies from 245 to 255 feet in height: this plain abuts against the foot of a higher plain of 330 feet, which extends also far northward along the coast, and likewise into the interior. In the distance a higher inland platform was seen, of which I do not know the height. In three separate places, I observed the cliff of the 245-255 feet plain, fringed by a terrace or narrow plain estimated at about one hundred feet in height. These plains are represented in the section Diagram 3.
In many places, even at the distance of three and four miles from the coast, I found on the gravel-capped surface of the 245-255 feet, and of the 330 feet plain, shells of Mytilus Magellanicus, M. edulis, Patella deaurita, and another Patella, too much worn to be identified, but apparently similar to one found abundantly adhering to the leaves of the kelp. These species are the commonest now living on this coast. The shells all appeared very old; the blue of the mussels was much faded; and only traces of colour could be perceived in the Patellas, of which the outer surfaces were scaling off. They lay scattered on the smooth surface of the gravel, but abounded most in certain patches, especially at the heads of the smaller valleys: they generally contained sand in their insides; and I presume that they have been washed by alluvial action out of thin sandy layers, traces of which may sometimes be seen covering the gravel. The several plains have very level surfaces; but all are scooped out by numerous broad, winding, flat-bottomed valleys, in which, judging from the bushes, streams never flow. These remarks on the state of the shells, and on the nature of the plains, apply to the following cases, so need not be repeated.
(DIAGRAM 4. SECTION OF PLAINS AT PORT S. JULIAN.
From East (sea level) to West (high): Terrace 1. Shells on surface. 90 Est. Terrace 2. 430 An. M. Terrace 3. 560 An. M. Terrace 4. 950 An. M.)
Southward of Port Desire, the plains have been greatly denuded, with only small pieces of tableland marking their former extension. But opposite Bird Island, two considerable step-formed plains were measured, and found respectively to be 350 and 590 feet in height. This latter plain extends along the coast close to Port St. Julian (110 miles south of Port Desire); see Diagram 4.
The lowest plain was estimated at ninety feet: it is remarkable from the usual gravel-bed being deeply worn into hollows, which are filled up with, as well as the general surface covered by, sandy and reddish earthy matter: in one of the hollows thus filled up, the skeleton of the Macrauchenia Patachonica, as will hereafter be described, was embedded. On the surface and in the upper parts of this earthy mass, there were numerous shells of Mytilus Magellanicus and M. edulis, Patella deaurita, and fragments of other species. This plain is tolerably level, but not extensive; it forms a promontory seven or eight miles long, and three or four wide. The upper plains in Diagram 4 were measured by the Officers of the Survey; they were all capped by thick beds of gravel, and were all more or less denuded; the 950 plain consists merely of separate, truncated, gravel-capped hills, two of which, by measurement, were found to differ only three feet.