MINERAL SPRINGS. 303 



ture by nature's great subterranean furnace. The valley through which the stream* flow from 

 the ImtliM takes its name " Agun* Calient**" (warm waters) from one of their qualities, 

 and is one of the most beautiful in all Chile. Most sincere were the regrets that civil war 

 should be raging at the only leisure period when the South could have been visited, and that 

 the ' Vallr df las A^ims ( 'uli'Mites " did not hcmm.- iM-iM.iiiilly liimiliar. 



Tin- locality \\a^ siil.-.|uently visited by a^nont valueil friend, from whose graphic description 

 the following account is added: "We remained three days at Chilian, and then started for 

 the KatliH, situated twenty-five leagues from the city, on the elevations of a cordillera called 

 the 'Nevada de Chilian.' Our journey occupied two days, amid forests towering to the clouds, 

 \siih occasional vistas, inspiring adoration of the Creator who had blessed our earth with so 

 much loveliness. Part we accomplished in a birlocho, but the greater portion on horseback, 

 there being some dangerous places lor wheel-vehicles. Some persons, however, ascend to the 

 very baths in their carriages. 



" The baths are found at the foot of the snow-range, and at the very tenements we have enor- 

 mous masses of the frozen substance. In every direction through the quebrada the vapors form 

 little clouds ; and sulphur, iron, and lime float liquidly around one. At the vapor baths there 

 are springs where the waters boil as in a caldron. Quite close to them there is a cold ferruginous 

 stream ; and within less than a yard there is another orifice of warm water, besides many of 

 various degrees of temperature. All these are led to the bathing-rooms through tubes of wood, 

 and every one can temper the water to bis liking. The houses are of boards and quite good, 

 and at this time (January, 1855) are filled by visitors. 



"Twelve leagues to the south, and at the same elevation as we now are, is the volcano of 

 Antuco, which they inform me is in activity. The proprietor of the baths, who has visited 

 the volcano, tells me that the mouth of the old crater closed in 1834, and that it is now burning 

 through two others. Sometimes it burns with such violence that the cinders are thrown to a 

 horizontal distance of four leagues." 



DONA ANA. 







The only mineral springs yet ascertained and resorted to in the northern portion of the 

 republic are those of Dona Ana and Soco, both in the province of Coquimbo. Owing, however, 

 to the difficulty of access and the sparseness of the population, neither of them has been much 

 frequented. The former are in the midst of granite and stratified rocks, forming a part of the 

 Cordilleras, forty leagues east of Serena, and ten thousand feet above the sea. There are four 

 or five principal and many lesser springs, with temperatures ranging from 78. 8 to 140. 

 They are all within a space of twelve or fifteen yards, and some of them, that differ quite 50 

 from each other, issue from apertures not more than three or four feet apart. They throw out 

 carbonic acid, but no sulphuretted hydrogen; have a salt and bitter taste; are purgative ; are 

 considered to possess great medicinal virtues ; and deposit a considerable quantity of deliques- 

 cent salts, that perhaps contribute to produce unusual dryness in the surrounding atmosphere. 

 The principal mineral ingredients are chloride of sodium, chloride of calcium, and sulphate of 

 8oda. A torrent of turbid white water descends the ravine beside them, and unites with the river 

 Turbio, ten or twelve miles farther down. When last visited, there was only one wretched 

 rancho for the accommodation of invalids. 



soco. 



These baths are only four or five leagues from the ocean, and are the only mineral waters yet 

 discovered in the granite formation of all Chile. However, very little more is known of them 

 than that they are near Barrasa, on the river Limari, and are sometimes stopped at for a moment 

 by travellers between Coquimbo and Valparaiso. 



