i834-] 253 



CHAPTER XII. 



CENTRAL CHILE. 



Valparaiso— Excursion to the foot of the Andes — Structure of 

 the land — Ascend the Bell of Quillota — Shattered masses of 

 greenstone — Immense valleys — Mines — State of miners — 

 Santiago — Hot-baths of Cauquenes^-Gold-mines — Grinding-- 

 mills — Perforated Stones — Habits of the Puma — El Turco 

 and Tapacolo — Humming-birds. 



July 2.2,rd. — The Beagle anchored late at night in the Bay 

 of Valparaiso, the chief seaport of Chile. When morning 

 came, everything appeared delightful. After Tierra del 

 Fuego, the climate felt quite delicious — the atmosphere so 

 dry, and the heavens so clear and blue with the sun shining 

 brightly, that all nature seemed sparkling with life. The 

 view from the anchorage is very pretty. The town is built 

 at the very foot of a range of hills, about 1600 feet high, 

 and father steep. From its position, it consists of one long, 

 straggling street, which runs parallel to the beach, and 

 wherever a ravine comes down, the houses are piled up on 

 each side of it. The rounded hills, being only partially 

 protected by a very scanty vegetation, are worn into 

 numberless little gullies, which expose a singularly bright 

 red soil. From this cause, and from the low whitewashed 

 houses with tile roofs, the view reminded me of St. Cruz 

 in Teneriffe. In a north-easterly direction there are some 

 fine glimpses of the Andes : but these mountains appear 

 much grander when viewed from the neighbouring hills ; 

 the great distance at which they are situated, can then 

 more readily be perceived. The volcano of Aconcagua is 

 particularly magnificent. This huge and irregularly conical 

 mass has an elevation greater than that of Chimborazo ; 

 for, from measurements made by the officers in the Beagle^ 

 its height is no less than 23,000 feet. The Cordillera, 

 however, viewed from this pomt, owe the greater part of 

 their beauty to the atmosphere through which they are 



.cebergs off North Amcrici push before them pebbles and vand, and leave the 

 submarine rocky flats quite bare; it is harclly possible to doubt that such 

 ledfires must be polished and scored in the direction of the set of the prevailin; 

 currents. Since writing^ that appendix, I have seen in North Wales (Londim 

 I'hil. Mag.t vol. xxi., p. i8o) the adjoining: action of glaciers and ol lloating 

 iccberfca. 



