La Plata

la-pla'ta, a river of South America. The name is Spanish signifying the broad. It is really a tidal estuary into which the united waters of the Uruguay and the Parana flow. It is 143 miles wide at its mouth and is about 190 miles long. It discharges a volume of water comparable with that of the Amazon. Harbors are few. That of Montevideo is the only safe anchorage on the northern shore. Buenos Ayres and La Plata are on the Argentine shore. The La Plata is a magnificent ocean gateway, rivaling the St. Lawrence.