A GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OK THE JUAN FERNANDEZ ISLANDS 



Fig. 28. Portezuelo de Villagra, seen from above the settlement in Valle Colonial. 



C. Skottsberg ^o/^^ 1916. 



Photo 



altitude of the pass is generally stated to be 550 m; an average of 20 aneroid read- 

 ings gave 593 m, which I believe is too much; about 575 ought to be approximately 

 correct. The north "door-post" rises with an angle of 80° (Quensel 2 fig. 9 on 

 p. 51), the south is formed by the slope of Mt. Piramide; see fig. 29, a transverse 

 profile with a gradient on either side of about 70°. The trail across has, in some 

 places, been worn down in the red forest soil and has been deeply eroded by 

 running water. From the saddle one has a grand view of the south side of Masa- 

 tierra from Mt. Yunque to Pta O'Higgins and Santa Clara (figs. 49, 50). 



A volcanic island, especially if considered to be of late Tertiary origin, often 

 has craters or shows other signs of recent activity, and it is not surprising that 

 visitors to Masatierra have tried to locate old centres of eruption. Walpole writes 

 p. 93: "We skirted up the western side, which shows three semicircular craters, 

 whose sides toward the sea are broken down, thus forming bays within their basins. 

 Of these, Cumberland Bay is the central ..." The other two were, I presume, Pto 

 Frances and Pto Ingles (if not Bahia del Padre). And Quensel (i p. 256), referring 

 to Cumberland Bay, speaks of "die lockeren Tuff"massen, die noch einen alten 

 Kraterboden bedecken . . ." and p. 257: "Machtige, oft rot gefarbte Tufifablagerun- 

 gen fiillen den Talboden, was darauf hindeutet, dass es sich nicht um ein Erosionstal, 



