i f
I.. . ■J; charqui. But these meu come down from their bleak liabi-
tations only once in every fortnight or three weeks.
During my stay here I thoroughly enjoyed scrambling
about these huge mountains. The geology, as might have
been expected, was very interesting. The shattered and
baked rocks, traversed by innumerable dykes of greenstone,
showed what commotions had formerly taken place there.
The scenery was much the same as that near tlie Bell of
Quillota,—dryharren mountains, dotted at intervals l)y bushes
with a scanty foliage. The cactuses, or rather opuntias, were
here very numerous. I measured one of as pherical figure,
which, including the spines, was six feet and four inches
in circumference. The height of the common cylindrical,
branching kind is from twelve to fifteen feet, and the girth
(with spines) of the branches between three and four.
A heavy fall of snow on the mountains prevented me, during
the last two days, from making some interesting excursions.
I attempted to reach a lake, which the inhabitants,
from some unaccountable reason, believe to he an arm of the
sea. During a very dry season, it was proposed to attempt
cutting a channel from it, for the sake of the water; but the
padre, after a consultation, declared it was too dangerous, as
all Chile would be inundated, if, as generally supposed, the
lake was connected with the Pacific. W e ascended to a great
height, but becoming involved in the snow-drifts, failed in
reaching this wonderful lake, and had some diificulty in returning.
I thought we should have lost our horses ; for there
was no means of guessing how deep the drifts were, and the
animals, when led, could only move by jumping. The black
sky showed that a fresh snow-storm was gathering, and we
therefore were not a little glad when we escaped. By the
time we reached the base, the storm commenced, and it was
lucky for us that this did not happen three hours earlier m
the day.
A u g u s t 2 6 t h .— AA’e left Jajuel and again crossed the
basin of S. Felipe. The day was truly Chilian: glaringly
bright, and the atmosphere quite clear. The thick and uniform
covering of newly-fallen snow rendered the view of the
volcano of Aconcagua and the main chain quite glorious.
We were now on the road to Santiago, the capital of Chile.
We cro.sscd the Cerro del Talguen, and slept at a little
rancho. The host, talking about the state of Chile as compared
to other countries, was very humble: “ Some see with
two eyes, and some with one, but for my part I do not think
that Chile sees with any.”
A u g u s t 2 7 t h .—After crossing many low hills, we descended
into the small land-locked plain of Guitron. In the
basin.s, such as this one, which are elevated from 1 0 0 0 to
2 0 0 0 feet above the sea, two species of acacia, which are
stunted in their forms, and stand wide apart from each other,
grow in large numbers. These trees are never found near
the sea-coast; and this gives another characteristic feature to
the scenery of these basins.
We crossed a low ridge which separates Guitron from the
great plain on which Santiago stands. The view was here
pre-eminently striking: the dead level surface, covered in
parts hy woods of acacia, and with the city in the distance,
abutting horizontally against the base of the Andes, whose
snowy peaks were bright with the evening sun. At the first
glance of this view it was quite evident that the plain represented
the extent of a former inland sea. As soon as we
gained the level road we pushed our horses into a gallop,
and reached the city before it was dark.
I staid a week in Santiago, and enjoyed myself very much.
In the morning I rode to various places on the plain, and
in the evening dined with several of the English merchants,
whose hospitality at this place is well known. A never-
failing source of pleasure, was to ascend the little pap of
rock (fort St. Lucia) which projects in the middle of the
city. The scenery certainly is most striking, and as I have
said, very peculiar. I am informed that this same character
is common to the cities on the great Mexican platform.
Of the town I have nothing to say in detail: it is not so
fine or so large as Buenos Ayres, but is built after the same