318 CHILE. Au^. 1834 



o" 



charqui. But these men come down from their bleak habi- 

 tations only once in every fortnight or three weeks. 



During my stay here I thoroughly enjoyed scrambling 

 about these huge mountains. The geology, as might have 

 been expected, was very interesting. The shattered and 

 baked rocks, traversed by innumerable dykes of greenstone, 

 showed what commotions had formerly taken place there. 

 The scenery was much the same as that near the Bell of 

 Quillota, — dry barren mountains, dotted at intervals by bushes 

 with a scanty foliage. The cactuses, or rather opuntias, were 

 here very numerous. I measured one of as pherical figure, 

 which, including the spines, was six feet and four inches 

 in circumference. The height of the common cylindrical, 

 branching kind is from twelve to fifteen feet, and the girth 

 (with spines) of the branches between three and four. 



A heavy fall of snow on the mountains prevented me, dur- 

 ing the last two days, from making some interesting excur- 

 sions. I attempted to reach a lake, which the inhabitants, 

 from some unaccountable reason, believe to be an arm of the 

 sea. During a very dry season, it was proposed to attempt 

 cutting a channel from it, for the sake of the water ; but the 

 padre, after a consultation, declared it was too dangerous, as 

 all Chile would be inundated, if, as generally supposed, the 

 lake was connected with the Pacific. We ascended to a great 

 height, but becoming involved in the snoAV-drifts, failed in 

 reaching this wonderful lake, and had some difliculty in re- 

 turning. I thought we should have lost our horses ; for there 

 was no means of guessing how deep the drifts were, and the 

 animals, when led, could only move by jumping. The black 

 sky showed that a fresh snow-storm was gathering, and we 

 therefore were not a little glad when we escaped. By the 

 time we reached the base, the storm commenced, and it was 

 lucky for us that this did not happen three hours earlier in 

 the day. 



August 26th. — We left Jajuel and again crossed the 

 basin of S. Fehpe. The day was truly Chilian: glaringly 

 bright, and the atmosphere quite clear. The thick and uni- 



