412 SOUTK AMERICA— THE ANDES EEGIONS. 



to the sudden fierce squalls followed by intense cold in an exposed region offering 

 scarcely the shelter of a rocky ledge to the benighted wayfarer. But in summer 

 tbese deserts are crossed by hundreds of the Catamarca and E,ioja muleteers, the 

 best in Argentina, with droves of horses and mules for sale in the mining districts 

 of Chili. 



South of the Cerro del Cobre the cordillera presents the same general aspect. 

 Here one of the lateral ridges branching off from the Andes, at the Très Cruces, 

 (15,324 feet) forms the transverse Dona Ana range, which terminates near the 

 coast in the Pajonal group (6,720) between the Rios Huasco and Coquimbo valleys. 

 Other transverse ridges follow southwards between the river basins, but all fall 

 below the altitude of Pajonal. 



In this part of its course the main range itself decreases in height, and here the 

 Azufre Pass (11,960) falls some thousand feet below the other passes over the 

 Chilian Andes. But it is relatively little frequented, owing to its oblique direction 

 to the chain of the two fluvial valWs which here take their rise. Nowhere else 

 does the crest of the Andes approach so near to the shores of the Pacific. A little 

 south of the Azufre Pass the distance in a straight line is only 66 miles, and less 

 than 23 to the alluvial plain through which winds the Illapel river. 



Beyond the Illapel basin ihe cordillera, bending round to south by east, 

 suddenly rises to altitudes equal to those of the great masses farther north. The 

 Cerro del Mercedario even overtops Chimborazo, Huascan, Illimani and Sahama. 

 According to Pissis its enormous snowj'^ dome towers 22,315 feet above the 

 Argentino-Chilian frontier, but is surpassed by its southern neighbour, Aconcagua, 

 monarch of the Andes, to which Giissfeldt assigns a height of 22,884 feet. Some 

 of the summits which flank Mercedario on the south-east, and which Giissfeldt 

 groups under the general name of Ramada, rise above 19,700 feet. 



Aconcagua — The Cumbre — Juncal. 



Although distant over 90 miles from the coast, Aconcagua is visible from the 

 Pacific, and is often seen standing out against a clear sky, disencumbered of its 

 cloudy mantle. Being surrounded by numerous rugged spurs, and everywhere 

 furrowed by winding gorges, Aconcagua is of difficult access, although its upper 

 section for a total height of about 6,500 feet rises in a superb cone above the 

 elevated pediment of the surrounding uplands. A broad snowfield, intersected by 

 crevasses, is developed round the western and north-western slopes, but presents no 

 great obstacle to the climber, nor would the higher and almost snowless escarp- 

 ments be difficult to scale, but for the rarefied atmosphere and sudden snowstorms. 

 In 1885, Giissfeldt first attempted the ascent, but could get no farther than 21,540 

 feet, or 1,340 below the summit. 



Aconcagua is often wrongly described by the Chilians as a volcano ; it consists 

 of porphyritic rocks without any traces of crater, lavas or scoriœ. It is separated 

 from Ramada by a breach famous in the history of Chili, the Boquete de Valle 

 Hermoso (11,700), called also De los Patos, from the Argentine river of that 



