418 SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES REGIONS. 



snows alternate in many places with layers of ashes, and trenches made in the 

 snowfields have revealed a regular succession of such alternating layers spread 

 over a wide space. 



Chilian terminates in four peaks — the Old, the Red, the White and the Black, 

 from which the lava floods have poured down a distance of 25 miles. During 

 the four years between 1861 and 1865 it was in a continuous state of eruption, 

 ejecting scoriae in all directions. An avalanche of slush dammed up the Chilian 

 torrent, and the fish of the running waters were killed by the vaporous acids. 

 Thermal springs of diverse composition, fumerolles and solfataras, have made their 

 appearance on the flanks of the mountain. 



The Antuco volcano, nearly of the same height as the Nevado de Chilian 

 (9,000 feet), rises some 60 miles farther south, also within Chilian territory, but 

 separated from the Argentine frontier only by a narrow longitudinal valley flooded 

 bv Lake Laja. From the wooded shores of this basin descends the river of like 

 name, which is one of the main branches of the Biobio. During the historic 

 period Antuco has almost incessantly given some signs of life, were it only a few 

 wreaths of vapour disappearing in the blue sky ; but tradition speaks of no catas- 

 trophe caused by its eruptions. 



The volcanoes following farther south, Trilope, Callaqui, Lonquimai, Llaima 

 or Imperial, all falling below 10,000 feet, appear to be extinct, or at least quies- 

 cent. This section of the cordillera is crossed by easy passes, such as that of 

 Antuco, just south of the volcano of like name, which, according to Domeyko, is 

 only 6,890 feet high, and which has at all times been frequented by the Indians. 

 Its slopes are not very steep, nor are they snowclad throughout the year, so that 

 this would seem to be the natural route to be followed by a railway between South 

 Chili and the flourishing district of Bahia Blanca in Argentina. Another route 

 has been proposed over the depression in the crest south of Llaima, which has 

 been called the Paso de los Andes, the " Andean Pass" in a pre-eminent sense. 



The Southern Chilian Andes. 



East of the southern provinces of Chili proper the main range maintains 

 about the same average altitude of from 8,000 to 10,000 feet. Here the Villarica 

 volcano, which has been in flames several times since 1640, and which still emits 

 some luminous vapours at night, rises to a height of 9,320 feet. Rifiihue and 

 Puyehue (Puntiagudo) also exceed the snow-line, which in these latitudes falls 

 as low as 5,000 feet. Osorno, a perfectly regular cone which was the scene of 

 slight disturbances in 1839 and 1869, falls below 7,550 feet, while the so-called 

 Calbuco '* volcano," south of Lake Llanquihue, appears never to have had a 

 crater. 



In this land of transition between continental Chili and the coast region of 

 Magellanic fiords, the culminating point is Tronador, the " Thunderer " (9,790 

 feet), so named not from its volcanic explosions, but from the avalanches of snow and 

 ice crashing down to the valleys. North of this mountain some Germans, settled 



