THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 271 



dred feet old-looking shells are numerous, and I found some 

 at 1300 feet. These shells either lie loose on the surface, or 

 are embedded in a reddish-black vegetable mould. I was 

 much surprised to find under the microscope that this vege- 

 table mould is really marine mud, full of minute particles of 

 organic bodies. 



i$th. We returned towards the valley of Quillota. The 

 country was exceedingly pleasant; just such as poets would 

 call pastoral : green open lawns, separated by small valleys 

 with rivulets, and the cottages, we may suppose of the shep- 

 herds, scattered on the hill-sides. We were obliged to cross 

 the ridge of the Chilicauquen. At its base there were many 

 fine evergreen forest-trees, but these flourished only in the 

 ravines, where there was running water. Any person who 

 had seen only the country near Valparaiso, would never have 

 imagined that there had been such picturesque spots in Chile. 

 As soon as we reached the brow of the Sierra, the valley of 

 Quillota was immediately under our feet. The prospect was 

 one of remarkable artificial luxuriance. The valley is very 

 broad and quite flat, and is thus easily irrigated in all parts. 

 The little square gardens are crowded with orange and olive 

 trees, and every sort of vegetable. On each side huge bare 

 mountains rise, and this from the contrast renders the patch- 

 work valley the more pleasing. Whoever called " Val- 

 paraiso " the " Valley of Paradise," must have been thinking 

 of Quillota. We crossed over to the Hacienda de San Isidro, 

 situated at the very foot of the Bell Mountain. 



Chile, as may be seen in the maps, is a narrow strip of 

 land between the Cordillera and the Pacific; and this strip 

 is itself traversed by several mountain-lines, which in this 

 part run parallel to the great range. Between these outer 

 lines and the main Cordillera, a succession of level basins, 

 generally opening into each other by narrow passages, extend 

 far to the southward : in these, the principal towns are situ- 

 ated, as San Felipe, Santiago, San Fernando. These basins 

 or plains, together with the transverse flat valleys (like that ' 

 of Quillota) which connect them with the coast, I have no 

 doubt are the bottoms of ancient inlets and deep bays, such 

 as at the present day intersect every part of Tierra del Fuego 

 and the western coast. Chile must formerly have resembled 



