PHYSICAL FEATUEES OF CHILI. 



417 



it as the most convenient for a road and a railway, its latitude being about the 

 same as that of Buenos Ay res. 



Descabezado — Antuco. 



The numerous volcanoes which are grouped round the Descabezado, or "Decapi- 

 tated " (12,760 feet), although at present quiescent, show evidences of former 

 eruptions. They lie entirely within the Chilian frontier in the Maule river basin, 

 which is fed by their snows, their little glaciers and lakelets dotted over the 



Fig. 158. — Volcanic Descabezado Geoup. 



Scale 1 : 370,000. 



'f: 



VVrst o; Lire-riAich 



70'4D' 



6 Miles 



upland valleys. The isolated Las Yeguas volcano (11,'iôO feet), which has also 

 been extinct from time immemorial, stands in the same basin west of the main 

 range. The crest is covered with snow like the Cerro de Campanario (11,050 

 feet), and the neighbouring Nevado de Longavi (10,520). 



Here the transition to a colder climate is already perceptible in the wintry 

 aspect of the mountains with their zones of snow and ice. Farther south, between 

 36° and 37° south latitude, the Nevado de Chilian rises to a height of probably 

 10,000 feet, and sends down its southern and eastern slopes a considerable glacier, 

 which has never melted even during the most violent eruptions. The winter 

 28 



