According  to  Azara,  it  is  fed  by  filtration  from  the  Parana ;  and
yet  is  itself  the  source  of  four  considerable  rivers — the  Mirinay,
which  flows  into  the  Uruguay,  the  Santa  Lucia,  the  Bateles,  and
Corrientes,  which  disembogue  into  the  Parana.  There  are  parts  of
it,  inaccessible  either  to  boats  or  horsemen,  that  are  covered  with
aquatic  plants,  and  even  considerable  trees.  It  was  Azara's  opin-
ion that  the  Parana  itself  once  coursed  through  this  lake,  and  that
it  will,  in  the  course  of  ages,  resume  its  ancient  channel.
It  is  difficult  to  explain  the  origin  of  the  name  ybera  (brilliant
water),*  handed  down  among  the  Guarani  race  from  the  remotest
ages,  before  the  Conquest.  Some  convulsion  of  nature  may  have
brought  to  its  present  marshy  state  what  was  once  a  beautiful  ex-
panse of  water ;  or,  probably,  y-bera  may  yet  be  applied  in  no  in-
appropriate sense  to  its  unexplored  interior.  D'Orbigny,  under
extraordinary  difficulties,  though  at  a  dry  period,  forced  a  pas-
sage some  distance  into  this  lagoon.  So  far  as  his  experience
went,  he  discovered  it  to  be  not  so  much  one  'monotonous  and  ex-
tended marsh  as  a  succession  of  lagoons,  two  or  three  miles  in
width,  which  seemed  to  have  a  uniformity  of  direction,  and  so
confirmed,  in  some  degree,  the  suppositions  of  Azara.  The  depth
of  water,  though  varying,  was  at  no  time  very  great,  until  reach-
ing what  was  supposed  to  be  the  heart  of  the  lake.  What  lies
beyond  has  always  been  with  the  Indians  a  fruitful  subject  of  su-
perstition and  marvel.
*   y__ "water;"  bera—  "brilliant."


DINNER  AT  CORRIENTES.  3Q1


CHAPTEK  XVII.
