DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY. 19 



above the rushing s"imd of tho stream over its rocky bed. How fearful, then, the (spectacle 

 during such storm.- a> constantly occur in winter,* when this vast sloping water-shed, saturated 

 iitiniioiis rains, pours all that descends ii|iun it into the narrow ravines! Every one along 

 \\hich 1 have travelled the ( 1 i>|ia|n', Mapocho, Maypu, Cachapual, and Maule hag its high- 

 bounding terraces, at irregular distances, in whose vertical cliffs the running streams have 

 left unniistakalilc marks, sometimes more elevated than beds of fossil vegetation forming a part 

 of ihein. That some of these changes have taken place recently, there seems little reason to 

 douht; for Molina tells us the Maule was navigable for half its length at his day (1787) bjr 

 N!I i I is-ot'-t he-line, and there still lived, in 1850, a native of Coquimbo, whose memory extended 

 to the time when the sea beat against the terrace on which Serena now stands. Now, the base 

 of the terrace is 25 feet above the ocean, and quite a mile from it, and the Maule has not six 

 feet of water at five miles from its mouth. 



In the narrative of Dr. Von Tschudi, (American translation,) Chapter XI, he says : "I have 

 in my last chapter observed, that the Cordillera is the point of partition between the waters 

 of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. All the waters of the eastern declivity of the Cordillera 

 all those which have their sources on the level heights and on the western declivity of the 

 Andes flow from them in the direction of the east, and work their way through the eastern 

 mountain chain. Throughout the whole of South America there is not a single instance of the 

 Cordillera being intersected by a river ; a fact the more remarkable, because in southern Peru 

 and Bolivia the coast-chain is lower than the Andes. This interesting phenomenon, though it 

 has deeply engaged the attention of geologists, has not yet been satisfactorily explained. I 

 concur in the view taken by Mr. Darwin, who observes that it would be too rash to assign to 

 the eastern chain of Bolivia and central Chile a later origin than the western chain, (near the 

 Pacific,) but that the circumstance of the rivers of a lower mountain chain having forced their 

 way through a higher chain, seems, without this supposition, to be enigmatical. Mr. Darwin 

 is of opinion that the phenomenon is assignable to a periodical and gradual elevation of the 

 second mountain line (the Andes) ; for a chain of islets would at first appear, and as these 

 were lifted up, the tides would be always wearing deeper and broader channels between them." 



On a preceding page he has very clearly defined what he means by the Andes and the Cor- 

 dilleras, so that we cannot possibly mistake the ranges of mountains mentioned at any time ; and 

 it is to be regretted that all writers have not taken like pains to avoid confusion. But in the 

 Spanish language, u cordillera" means "a chain of mountains;" and one may say l 'cordU- 

 lera de la costa" with the same propriety as "cordillera de los Andes." However, when Creoles 

 speak of "la cordillera," they mean invariably the Andes. 



Circumstances prevented Dr. Voii Tschudi, when en route for Peru, from seeing much 

 beyond the range of hills bounding the bay of Valparaiso; and the opinion of Dr. Darwin 

 respecting the rivers of central Chile, quoted by him, may have been formed when the latter 

 gentleman passed the Portillo line. It is evident he regarded this line as the main chain of 

 the Andes, and was not aware that Aconcagua, Tupungato, and San Jose, all above 18,000 feet 

 high, belonging to the same ridge, were to the westward of that which more recent examin- 

 ation proves to be only a spur from the actual dividing line of waters. True, he was within 

 twenty miles of Tupungato, in an air-line ; but till that time it had been considered about 

 15,000 feet high, and only a mountain traveller can tell how many disappointments attend 

 views of distant objects. 



It has already been stated that Chile, north of 33, is a series of mountains, extending from 

 the ocean to the Andes, without any continuous chain which could properly come within the 

 definition of cordillera, as meant by Dr. Von Tschudi; but the Coquimbo, whose waters do 

 continue to the Pacific, has its origin near the highest range of the Andes, eastward of the 

 70 of longitude, and thence works its way. From Chacabuco, south, we have seen that the 



* Five inches of rain fell at Santiago during twenty-four boars ending July 24, 1851, and more than three inches on the day 

 following. 



