400 A VISIT TO THE SOUTHWARD. 



decreasing width of the gorge as it ascends converts it into a sort of funnel, and the breeze of 

 the plain often drives hy the haths so furiously that it is quite as unpleasant as heat. 



April 19. Nor Nicolas was despatched with the cargo mule some hours in advance, and I 

 made the descent to a ford near the little island of Gorocoipo in two hours and a half. As the 

 island is approached from the eastward the profile resembles that of a mammoth tortoise with 

 its head to the S.S.W. a depression of its rocky extremity representing the neck, and a short 

 line of boulders forming a tail ; feet only are wanting, or one might almost fancy it moving 

 its shrubby trees and broken rocks mistaken for huge barnacles, the growth of ages. Half a 

 mile above, the river is divided into three streams two of them comparatively insignificant, the 

 third spread over a width of forty yards or more. Although the water for about two thirds of 

 this breadth scarcely touched the horse's belly, and the other third was shallower, yet, as the 

 current is from four and a half to five miles per hour, its passage is of necessity slow. It is 

 not safe to urge a horse over loose rounded stones scarcely larger than his feet, and . among 

 which the water is rushing with a momentum nearly if not quite equal to their own gravity ; 

 for a cold bath and subsequent colder ride are the lighter penalties of a stumble. 



Five years ago, when the snow broke up in the Andes, after an unusually severe and pro- 

 longed winter, immense glaciers were brought down by the torrent. These blocked up the 

 ravine about the baths as high as the level of the plateaus, and the water overflowed the houses 

 in the vicinity, spreading consternation among the people at a copper-smelting establishment a 

 league or two above. So sudden was it that the peons rushed to the house of the proprietor 

 with intelligence that the day of final retribution had come. The Andes, they said, were 

 moving ; and the rnayordorno had scarcely gotten clear of the premises, before the floors were 

 submerged by the rapid flood. The rise of the water ceased almost as quickly as it had com- 

 menced ; but some days elapsed before the mass of ice and snow accumulated at the narrow 

 gorge was undermined and carried down stream. Until that time the main volume of the river 

 had flowed from Grorocoipo island through the dry bed, now called Rio Seco ; but the debris of 

 rocks and trees partially dammed the channel, destroyed the irrigating canals originating here, 

 swept thousands of tons of shingle over the low cultivated fields on their banks, and the mass of 

 water wore a new channel for itself in its present position. It is a rare year, however, that 

 some part of the channel does not suffer a change. This, as well as the other mountain streams, 

 are highest in December and January, when the power of the sun is most effective in melting 

 snow on the lower portions of the Andes ; and there is never a year that the haciendados 

 along its banks have not to lament the loss of servants or animals in their attempts to pass the 

 fords. During heavy and continued rains in winter there are times when the floods are deeper; 

 but they are not lasting, for the streams subside to near their autumn level as soon as the 

 rains cease a few hours being quite sufficient for the water to run off. It was supposed that 

 the Cachapual had its origin in a lake of the Andes ; and as the belief obtained a greater sem- 

 blance of probability after the avalanche mentioned, government sent a competent engineer to 

 explore its source. He travelled within the mountains beyond Cauquenes for four days, and 

 was obliged to return for want of sustenance without having reached it; but I am assured by 

 one who has crossed to Mendoza by this route, that the waters of the lake here flow to the east- 

 ward, and not to the Pacific. Above the baths, accounts conflict somewhat, though it is certain 

 that there are at least three principal sources from which the river is supplied. Below, there 

 are only the two small ones, already mentioned as probably originating in Lake Cauquenes. 



Within an hour after crossing the ford, Kancagua was reached; and before 8 p. M. I was once 

 more with my hospitable friends at Aguila, well gratified with the 600 miles journey. 



