174 NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



in physics and natural history. Two or three gentle- 

 men spoke a little, but only a little, English, and, my 

 command of Spanish being equally imperfect, conver- 

 sation did not flow very freely, and I retired for the 

 night with a feeling that at a more favourable season 

 I should be very loth to quit such pleasant head- 

 quarters. 



After a rather cold night, I rose early on the 15th 

 of May, with a sense of the impending necessity for an 

 immediate decision as to my future plans. Scanning 

 anxiously the portion of the great range seen towards 

 the head of the valley, I saw that fresh snow extended 

 much lower than I had observed it at Santiago, while 

 heavy broken masses of dark clouds lay along the 

 flanks of the higher mountains. I received no en- 

 couragement from Mr. Hess. The ordinary season 

 for rain in the low country had arrived, and this 

 would take the form of snow in the inner valleys of 

 the Cordillera ; all appearances boded a change of 

 weather which is always anxiously desired by the 

 native population. I reluctantly decided to despatch 

 a messenger to Don Olegario Soto renouncing the 

 projected excursion, contenting myself with the pros- 

 pect of approaching as near to the great range as 

 could be accomplished in a single day from the baths. 



To the naturalist, however, a new country is never 

 devoid of interest ; and this was my first day on the 

 outer slopes of the Chilian Andes. The season was, 

 indeed, the most unfavourable to the botanist of the 

 entire year. After six months' drought, broken only 

 by one or two slight showers, the ground was baked 

 hard, nearly to the consistence of brick, and most of 



