62 OVALLE*S HISTORICAL RELATION OF CHILE. 



nings, which fright all the inhabitants : on the other fide, in the welt, there is not a 

 cloud to be feen, but clear and bright, as if the heavens themfelves were fuch a parti- 

 tion as the Cordillera to divide the climates, as that upon earth does produce a differ- 

 ence in the trees, plants, and animals on each fide. 



A curious oblerver contemplating once, from this heighth, this fo remarkable dif- 

 ference, faid, that nature, in the fabrick of this part of the world, feemed to have 

 turned her back upon the eaftern provinces, and looked with her face only upon Chile, 

 giving blellings with both hands to this laft, and leaving the other, as it were, difin- 

 herited, and grieving at the pre-eminences of its elder brother. In going down to the 

 eailward there are fewer fountains and rivers, and thofe muddy, the face of the land 

 melancholy, without fo much as one green tree to recreate the fight, nor any pleafant 

 verdure ; and when at laft there is fome, as in the valley of Ufpallata, the heats begin 

 to be fo intolerable, that all thingS feem afflifting and unkind. On the other lide, 

 when we go to the weft, it is quite contrary ; for as foon as we begin to defcend, we 

 meet with lovely fprings ; the trees are green, the groves frequent and pleafant, and 

 the little valleys, which are like fo many refting-places in that great ftair-cafe, where 

 paflengers take breath, and are refrelhed with the verdure and flowers of them, the 

 air ftill grows purer and purer ; and the more they come down, the more they leave 

 behind them all the inclemences of the climate of the other fide, enjoying the advan- 

 tages of the temperate Chile ; for from the very foot of the mountains one feels the 

 mildnefs of the fea-air, and one is rejoiced with the harmony of the birds, and other 

 delightful objefts, fo as to forget the trouble and danger of the way one has paffed. 



There is the fame difference in the very land at the foot of the mountains ; for on 

 the eaft fide there are a few fountains ; the land is barren, and little cultivated ; nei- 

 ther are there flocks of any kind either fed or bred, fo that the fields look like a ufelefs 

 barren ground, except it be that the thinnefs of the people has not as yet given way to 

 try the fertility of the earth ; for the plains below thefe are extremely fertile, where 

 they are cultivated ; but at prefent there is nothing but thorns and barren drynefs in 

 thofe parts. 



It is not fo to the weft, where fountains break out continually, which in the winter 

 are temperate, and in the fummer as cold as ice, and that fo much the more as the 

 weather grows hotter and hotter. Thefe fprings do fo fertilize the fields at the foot of 

 the mountains, that they keep the earth frefh and green all the year, though it be but 

 a patch ; for moft of the ground is woody, and there is fuch a variety of wild trees, 

 that one would think they were arbors and groves planted by the hand of man : many 

 of thefe are loaded with fruits of the country, of which the Indians make excellent 

 drinks, and fome of them are very good to eat. The valleys are full of odoriferous 

 beautiful flowers, brought forth by nature, without any human induftry : there are alfo 

 among them moft extraordinary phyfical plants of a beautiful afpe£t. The little hills 

 and plains afford excellent pafture for all forts of cattle and flocks : there are alfo ad- 

 mirable valleys for planting of olives and almond-trees, and all forts of fruit-trees. At 

 the lower part, about a league in the plain, there are vineyards, of which are made ex- 

 cellent wines, particularly mofcatells, which are in great efteem. 



There are likewife in this defcent of the mountain, admirable paftures, where great 

 flocks are bred, and do increafe wonderfully ; their flefh is extremely favory, and the 

 milk of the goats is fo fat, that by only boiling and ftirring it gently over the fire, I 

 have feen it grow as thick as if flower had been put into it ; and yet in other parts 

 this milk is of its nature very thin. This may be faid particularly of the young fhe- 

 goats J and the milk thus boiled has a fweetnefs and delicacy which paflfes ordinary milk 



eve 



