DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY. 11 



less than five elevations to overcome between the northern provinces of Buenos Ayres and Chile, 

 ami a greater distance tlian that thn.m/h Mendo/a, of course prevent ordinary traili< . 



Mxcepl vaqitcro* (cow-herd ) ami predatory Indians, few croHH th<- Andes south of the river 

 Manic. Those residing in the .southern provinces, whom business compels to undertake the 

 journey, make Sant ia-'o oi San 1'Ylipe their .starting point. There are no resources within or 

 beyond the mountain^ south of Luxan, and the voyager must start provided with every neces- 

 sity, unless a i'ew dry sticks at occasional places, with which to boil a kettle for himself, or a 

 handful or two of pasturage as often, though scarcely more nutritious, for his mule, may be 

 excepted from his list of indispensables. Should the Indians of the pampas ever become civil- 

 ized, or the white man can so inspire them with fear of retribution as to prevent murder 

 solely for the bright buttons or coat he may wear, there are two places even now well knowu, 

 which must become the great thoroughfares to the Atlantic and its tributaries. These are the 

 passes by the PLANCHON and ANTUCO. There is- no sort of doubt that the pampas will afford 

 ample supplies of water, pasturage, and game, to all who journey towards Buenos Ayres, 

 Montevideo, or the mouth of Rio Negro, for many centuries to come ; and when commerce 

 justifies it, the distances, elevations to overcome, and character of the country, all designate 

 these as the highways on which money should be expended. 



Curico, in the province of Colchagua, is usually the origin or terminus of journeys by the 

 Planchon, the road crossing the great longitudinal valley in the vicinity of Rio Colorado, and 

 through most abundant vegetation. Cultivation is left at the base of the first range of mount- 

 ains 2,500 feet above the sea, though the traveller immediately enters amid native forest- 

 trees of luxuriant growth and deep colors. Indeed, the citizens of Northern Chile, shortly 

 after crossing the Rio Claro, stop amazed before a wall of vegetation nearly vertical for more 

 than a thousand feet in height. This side of the hill is formed of different rocks, dispersed 

 in alternate layers some solid and durable, others soft, and decomposing by the action of air 

 and moisture. The latter furnish material for the roots and sustenance of the trees, whilst the 

 former support their weight. The upper branches of the most vigorous Robles (Fagua obliqua) 

 rise to the level of the first strata, from whose border spring the trunks of others intermixed with 

 Canelos (Drymis chilensis), twined with an infinity of creeping plants and parasites. In the 

 same manner follow others to the very summit of the hill, so that the departure of the leafy 

 wall from a vertical plane is almost insensible to an eye at its base. So dense is the foliage, 

 that at a short distance one is not able to distinguish trees separately, nor can the vision 

 penetrate to the interior of the wood ; here and there a ray of light, pushing its way from 

 above, illumines a pile of rocky basaltic-looking crags, now dark as slate, now white as 

 Kaolin all the rest is obscure. 



The road continues up the Claro nearly to its head-waters in the valley of Los Leones ; but 

 before entering this, the robust forest vegetation ceases, at an elevation of 4,200 feet. Here 

 there is a division. One branch of the road continues a southeasterly direction, along the west- 

 ern base of Descabezado, and by which was the travel prior to the formation of the new crater 

 near Cerro Azul, in 1847, and the other turns to the north and passes by the baths of Mondaca. 

 In less than two hours after leaving the last trees, by the latter road, Professor Doineyko found 

 himself on the Cuesta de las Animas, in the midst of perpetual snow. Although his elevation 

 was less than 7,500 feet, its color and compactness assured him of the fact, and his guides cor- 

 roborated it ; but he attributes its preservation here not to the height of the hill, more than to 

 the circumstance that immense rocks keep it constantly in shade during the hottest hours of the 

 day. On the high table-land beyond the Cuesta, he found a small and nearly circular lake of 

 clear water, which, from the scorias and other volcanic rocks bounding it, evidently occupies 

 the crater of an extinct volcano. From the summit of Las Animas the Planchon becomes 

 visible, its snow-covered ridge bursting through blackened rocks. In vain does the pen attempt 

 to describe the beauty of the contrast between the broad translucent masses of ice, almost like 

 glass, and the asphaltic color of the mountain range, of which it forms part. Apparently it is 



