DESCRIPTION OF CHILE 



271 



Paradise," must have been thinking of Quillota. We crossed 

 over to the Hacienda de San Isidro, situated at the very foot 

 of the Bell Mountain. 



Chile, as may be seen in the maps, is a narrow strip of 

 land between the Cordillera and the Pacific ; and this strip is 

 itself traversed by several mountain-lines, which in this part 

 run parallel to the great range. Between these outer lines and 

 the main Cordillera, a succession of level basins, generally 

 opening into each other by narrow passages, extend far to the 



HACIENDA, CONDOR, CACTUS, ETC. 



southward ; in these the principal towns are situated, as San 

 Felipe, Santiago, San Fernando. These basins or plains, 

 together with the transverse flat valleys (like that of Quillota) 

 which connect them with the coast, I have no doubt are the 

 bottoms of ancient inlets and deep bays, such as at the present 

 day intersect every part of Tierra del Fuego and the western 

 coast. Chile mu^t formerly have resembled the latter country 

 in the configuration of its land and water. The resemblance 

 was occasionally shown strikingly when a level fog- bank 

 covered, as with a mantle, all the lower parts of the country : 

 the white vapour curling into the ravines, beautifully represented 



