258 CENTRAL CHILE. [chap. xii. 



rnasses, and not have been utterly obliterated. We must not noM' 

 reverse the wonder, and doubt whether all-powerful time can 

 grind down mountains — even the gigantic Cordillera — into gravel 

 and mud. 



The appearance of the Andes was different from that which I 

 had expected. The lower line of the snow was of course hori- 

 zontal, and to this line the even summits of the rang-e seemed 

 quite parallel. Only at long intervals, a group of points or a 

 single cone, sliowed where a volcano had existed, or does now 

 exist. Hence the range resembled a great solid wall, surmounted 

 here and there by a tower, and making a most perfect barrier to 

 the country. 



Almost every part of the hill had been drilled by attempts to 

 open gold-mines : the rage for mining has left scarcely a spot in 

 Chile unexamined. I spent the evening as before, talking round 

 the fire with my two companions. The Guasos of Chile, who 

 correspond to the Gauchos of the Pampas, are, however, a very 

 different set of beings. Chile is the more civilized of the two 

 countries, and the inhabitants, in consequence, have lost much 

 individual character. Gradations in rank are much more 

 strongly marked : the Guaso does not by any means consider 

 every man his equal ; and I was quite surprised to find that my 

 companions did not like to eat at the same time with myself. 

 This feeling of inequality is a necessary consequence of the ex- 

 istence of an aristocracy of wealth. It is said that some few of 

 the greater landowners possess from five to ten thousand pounds 

 sterling per annum : an inequality of riches which I believe is 

 not met with, in any of the cattle-breeding countries eastward of 

 the Andes. A traveller does not here meet that unbounded 

 liospitality which refuses all payment, but yet is so kindly offered 

 that no scruples can be raised in accepting it. Almost every 

 house in Chile will receive you for the night, but a trifle is ex- 

 pected to be given in the morning ; even a rich man will accept 

 two or three shillings. The Gaucho, although he may be a 

 cut-throat, is a gentleman ; the Guaso is in few respects better, 

 but at the same time a vulgar, ordinary fellow. The two men, 

 although employed much in the same manner, are different in 

 their habits and attire ; and the peculiarities of each are universal 

 in their respective countries. The Gaucho seems part of hi^ 



