CONTENTS. 13 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Chiloe— Gener.1l aspect — Boat excursion — Native Indians — Castro — Tame 

 Fox— Ascend San Pedro— Chonos Archipelago — Peninsula of Tres Montes 

 — Granitic range — Boat-wrecked sailors — Low's Harbour — Wild potato 

 —Formation of peat — Myopotanius, otter and mice — Cheucau and bark- 

 ing-bird — Opetiorhynchus — Singular charact.er of ornithology — Petrels . 272 



CHAPTER XIV. 



San Carlos, Chiloe — Osorno in eruption, contemporaneously with Acon- 

 cagua and Coseguina — Ride to Cucao — Impenetrable forests — Valdivia — 

 Indians — Earthquake — Concepcion — Great earthquake — Rocks fissured- 

 Appearance of the former towns — The sea black and boiling — Direction of 

 the vibrations — Stones twisted round — Great wave— Permanent elevation 

 of the land — Area of volcanic phenomena — The connection between the 

 elevatory and eruptive forces — Cause of earthquakes — Slow elevation of 

 mountain-chains 290 



CHAPTER XV. 



Valparaiso — Porlillo pass — Sagacity of mules — Mountain-torrents — Mines, 

 how discovered — Proofs of the gradual elevation of the Cordillera — Effect 

 of snow on rocks — Geological structure of the two main ranges, their 

 distinct origin and upheaval — Great subsidence — Red snow — Winds — 

 Pinnacles of snow — Dry and clear atmosphere — Electricity — Pampas — 

 Zoology of the opposite sides of the Andes — Locusts— Great bugs — 

 Mcndoza — Uspallata pass — Silicified trees buried as they grew — Incas' 

 Bridge — Badness of the passes exaggerated — Cumbre — Casuchas — 

 — Valparaiso 3TI 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Coast-road to Coquimbo — Great loads carried by the miners — Coqtiimbo— 

 Earthquake — Step-formed terraces — Absence of recent deposits — Contem- 

 poraneousness of the tertiary formations — Excursion up the valley — Road 

 to Guasco— Deserts — Valley of Copiap6— Rain and earthquakes — Hydro- 

 phobia — Tiic Despoblado — Indian ruins — Probable change of climate — 

 I'ivcr-hed arched by an eartliquake — Cold gales of wind — Noises from a 

 hill — Iquique— Salt alluvium — Nitrate of soda — Lima — Unhealthy country 

 — Ruins of Callao, overthrown by an earthquake — Recent subsidence — 

 Elevated shells on San Lorenzo, their decomposition — Plain with em- 

 bedded shells and fragments of pottery — Antiquity of the Indian race . " . 



CHAPTER XVII. 



The Galapagos group volcanic— Number of craters — Leafless bushes- 

 Colony at Ch.-irleg island— James Island— Salt lake in crater — Natural 

 history of the group— Ornilhoiogfy, curious finches — Reptiles— Great 

 tortoises, habits of — Marine lizard, feeds on sea-weed — Terrestrial 

 lizard, burrowing habits, herbivorous— -Importance of reptiles in the 

 archipelaKo— Fish, shells, insects -Botany— American type of organwa* 

 tion— Differences in the species or races on dilFerent islands — Tnmeness 

 of the birds— Fear of man, an acquired instinct 36S 



