272 CHARLES DARWIN 



the latter country in the configuration of its land and water. 

 The resemblance was occasionally shown strikingly when a 

 level fog-bank covered, as with a mantle, all the lower parts 

 of the country: the white vapour curling into the ravines, 

 beautifully represented little coves and bays; and here and 

 there a solitary hillock peeping up, showed that it had for- 

 merly stood there as an islet. The contrast of these flat 

 valleys and basins with the irregular mountains, gave the 

 scenery a character which to me was new and very inter- 

 esting. 



From the natural slope to seaward of these plains, they 

 are very easily irrigated, and in consequence singularly fer- 

 tile. Without this process the land would produce scarcely 

 anything, for during the whole summer the sky is cloudless. 

 The mountains and hills are dotted over with bushes and 

 low trees, and excepting these the vegetation is very scanty. 

 Each landowner in the valley possesses a certain portion of 

 hill-country, where his half-wild cattle, in considerable num- 

 bers, manage to find sufficient pasture. Once every year there 

 is a grand " rodeo," when all the cattle are driven down, 

 counted, and marked, and a certain number separated to be 

 fattened in the irrigated fields. Wheat is extensively culti- 

 vated, and a good deal of Indian corn: a kind of bean is, 

 however, the staple article of food for the common labourers. 

 The orchards produce an overflowing abundance of peaches, 

 figs, and grapes. With all these advantages, the inhabitants 

 of the country ought to be much more prosperous than they 

 are. 



i6th. The mayor-domo of the Hacienda was good enough 

 to give me a guide and fresh horses ; and in the morning we 

 set out to ascend the Campana, or Bell Mountain, which is 

 6400 feet high. The paths were very bad, "but both the 

 geology and scenery amply repaid the trouble. We reached, 

 by the evening, a spring called the Agua del Guanaco, which 

 is situated at a great height. This must be an old name, 

 for it is very many years since a guanaco drank its waters. 

 During the ascent I noticed that nothing but bushes grew 

 on the northern slope, whilst on the southern slope there was 

 a bamboo about fifteen feet high. In a few places there were 

 palms, and I was surprised to see one at an elevation of at 



