252 ( 'EN'J'lt A 1. cJfl !.!:. ['HAi'. XTI. 



valley just without the central Cordillera, It is a quiet, solitary 

 spot, with a good deal of wild beauty. 



The mineral springs of Cauquenes burst forth ou a lino of dis 

 location, crossing a mass of stratified rock, the whole of whicn 

 betrays the action of heat. A considerable quantity of gas is con 

 tinually escaping from the same orifices with the water. Though 

 the springs are only a few yards apart, they have very different 

 temperatures ; and this appears to be the result of an unequal 

 mixture of cold water : for those with the lowest temperature have 

 scarcely any mineral taste. After the great earthquake of 1822 

 the springs ceased, and the water did not return for nearly a 

 year. They were also much affected by the earthquake of 1885 ; 

 the temperature being suddenly changed from 118 to 92.* It 

 seems probable that mineral waters rising deep from the bowels of 

 the earth, would always be more deranged by subterranean dis- 

 turbances than those nearer the surface. The man who had charge 

 of the baths assured me that in summer the water is hotter and 

 more plentiful than in winter. The former circumstance I should 

 have expected, from the less mixture, during the dry season, of 

 cold water; but the latter statement appears very strange and 

 contradictory. The periodical increase during the summer, when 

 rain never falls, can, I think, only be accounted for by the melting 

 of the snow : yet the mountains which are covered by snow during 

 that season, are three or four leagues distant from the springs. I 

 have no reason to doubt the accuracy of my informer, who, 

 having lived on the spot for several years, ought to be well ac- 

 quainted with the circumstance, which, if true, certainly is very 

 curious: for we must suppose that the snow-water, being con- 

 ducted through poroiis strata to the regions of heat, is again thrown 

 up to the surface by the line of dislocated and injected rocks at 

 Cauquenes ; and the regularity of the phenomenon would seem to 

 indicate that in this district heated rock occurred at a depth not 

 very great. 



One day I rode up the valley to the farthest inhabited spot, 

 Shortly above that point, the Cachapual divides into two deep 

 tremendous ravines, which penetrate directly into the great range. 

 I scrambled up a peaked mountain, probably more than six thou- 

 sand feet high. Here, as indeed everywhere else, scenes of the 

 highest interest presented themselves. It was by one of these 

 ; Caldclcugh, iu PUilosopli. Transact, for 183G. 



