IW-LI THE BELL OF QUILLOTA. 257 



whilst the snowy peaks of the Andes yet retained a ruby tint. 

 When it was dark, we made a fire beneath a little arbour of 

 bamboos, fried our charqui (or dried slips of beef), took om 

 mate, and were quite comfortable. There is an inexpressible 

 charm in thus living in the open air. The evening was calm 

 and still ; — the shrill noise of the mountain bizcacha, and the 

 faint cry of a goatsucker, were occasionally to be heard. Besides 

 these, few birds, or even insects, frequent these dry, parched 

 mountains. 



August YWi. — In the morning we climbed up the rough mass 

 of greenstone which crowns the summit. This rock, as fre- 

 quently happens, was much shattered and broken into huge 

 angular fragments. I observed, however, one remarkable cir- 

 cumstance, namely, that many of the surfaces presented every 

 degree of freuhness — some appearing as if broken the day before, 

 whilst on others lichens had either just become, or had long 

 grown, attached. I so fully believed that this was owing to the 

 frequent earthquakes, that I felt inclined to hurry from below 

 each loose pile. As one might very easily be deceived in u 

 fact of this kind, I doubted its accuracy, until ascending Mount 

 Wellington, in Van Diemen's Land, where earthquakes do not 

 occur ; and there I saw the summit of the mountain similarly 

 composed and similarly shattered, but all the blocks appeared 

 as if they had been hurled into their present position thousands 

 of years ago. 



We spent the day on the summit, and I never enjoyed one 

 more thoroughly. Chile, bounded by the Andes and the Pa- 

 cific, was seen as in a map. The pleasure from the scenery, in 

 itself beautiful, was heightened by the many reflections which 

 arose from the mere view of the Campana range with its lessor 

 parallel ones, and of the broad valley of Quillota directly inter- 

 secting them. Who can avoid wondering at the force which has 

 upheaved these mountains, and even more so at the countless 

 ages which it must have required, to have broken through, re- 

 moved, and levelled whole masses of them ? It is well in this 

 case, to call to mind the vast shingle and sedimentary beds of 

 Patagonia, which, if heaped on the Cordillera, would increase! 

 its height by so many thousand feet. When in that country, I 

 wondered how any mountain-chain could have supplied such 



