262 CENTRAL CHILE. [chap. xii. 



humble: " Some see with two eyes and some with one, but for 

 my part I do not think that Chile sees with any." 



August 21th. After crossing many low hills we descended 

 into the small land-locked plain of Guitron. In the basins, such 

 as this one, which are elevated from one thousand to two thou- 

 sand 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 by 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 stayed 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 hos- 

 pitality at this place is well known. A never-failing source of 

 pleasure was to ascend the little hillock of rock (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 in- 

 formed 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 model. I arrived here by a circuit to the north ; 

 so I resolved to return to Valparaiso by a rather longer excur- 

 sion to the south of the direct road. 



September 5th. By the middle of the day we arrived at one 

 of the suspension bridges made of hide, which crosses theMaypu, 

 a large turbulent river a few leagues southward of Santiago. 

 These bridges are very poor affairs. The road, following the 

 curvature of the suspending ropes, is made of bundles of sticks 

 placed close together. It was full of holes, and oscillated rather 

 fearfully, even with the weight of a man leading his horse. In 



