338 " CENTRAL CHILE. 



stunted in their forms, and stand wide apart from 

 each other, grow in large numbers. These trees 

 are never found near the sea-coast ; and this gives 

 another characteristic feature to the scenery of these 

 basins. We crossed a low ridge which separates 

 Guitron froin the great plain on which Santiago 

 stands. The view was here pre-eminently striking : 

 the dead level surface, covered in parts by woods 

 of acacia, and with the city in the distance, abut- 

 ting horizontally against the base of the Andes, 

 whose snowy peaks were bright with the evening 

 sun. At the first glance of this view, it was quite 

 evident that the plain represented the extent of a 

 former inland sea. As soon as we gained the lev- 

 el road we pushed our horses into a gallop, and 

 reached the city before it was dark. 



I stayed a week in Santiago, and enjoyed myself 

 very much. In the morning I rode to various pla- 

 ces on the plain, and in the evening dined with 

 several of the English merchants, whose hospitality 

 at this place is well known. A never-failing source 

 of pleasure was to ascend the little hillock of rock 

 (St. Lucia) which projects in the middle of the city. 

 The scenery certainly is most striking, and, as I 

 have said, very peculiar. I am informed that this 

 same character is common to the cities on the great 

 Mexican platform. Of the town I have nothing to 

 say in detail : it is not so fine or so large as Buenos 

 Ayres, but is built after the same model. I arrived 

 here by a circuit to the north ; so I resolved to re- 

 turn to Valparaiso by a rather longer excursion to 

 the south of the direct road. 



8eptemher bth. — By the middle of the day we 

 arrived at one of the suspension bridges, made of 

 hide, which crosses the Maypu, a large, turbulent 

 river a few leagues southward of Santiago. These, 

 bridges are very poor affairs. The road, following 



