BELL MOUNTArN. 329 



scenery a character which to me was new and 

 very interestmg. 



From the natural slope to seaward of these 

 plains, they are very easily irrio-ated, and, in conse- 

 quence, singularly fertile. Without this process 

 the land would produce scarcely anything, for du- 

 ring the whole summer the sky is cloudless. The 

 mountains and hills are dotted over with bushes 

 and low trees, and, excepting these, the vegetation 

 is very scanty. Each landowner in the valley 

 possesses a certain portion of hill country, where 

 his half-wild cattle, in considerable numbers, man- 

 age to find sufficient pasture. Once every year 

 there is a grand " rodeo," when all the cattle are 

 driven down, counted, and inarked, and a certain 

 number separated to be fattened in the imgated 

 fields. Wheat is extensively cultivated, and a 

 good deal of Indian corn : a kind of bean is, how- 

 ever, the staple article of food for the common 

 labourers. The orchards produce an overflowing 

 abundance of peaclres, figs, and grapes. With all 

 these advantages, the inhabitants of the country 

 ought to be much more prosperous than they are. 



IQth. — The mayor-domo of the Hacienda was 

 good enough to give me a guide and fresh horses ; 

 and in the morning we set out to ascend the Cam- 

 pana, or Bell Mountain, which is 6400 feet high. 

 The paths were very bad, but both the geology 

 and scenery amply repaid the trouble. AVe reach- 

 ed, by the evening, a spring called the Agua del 

 Guanao, which is situated at a gi-eat height. This 

 must be an old name, for it is very many years 

 since a guanaco drank its waters. IDuring the as- 

 cent I noticed that nothing but bushes gi'ew on the 

 northern slope, whilst on the southern slope there 

 was a bamboo about fifteen feet high. In a few 

 places there were palms, and I was surprised to 

 E e2 



