THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 377 



CHAPTER XII. 



VALPARAISO — WALKS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD — EXCURSION TO 

 SANTA ROSA — BAD STATE OF THE ROADS — CACTUS-CLAD HILLS — 



ADOBE WALLS VIEW OF THE CORDILLERA BOTANY OF QUE- 



BRADAS NEAR VALPARAISO PROCEED TO COQUIMBO — STERILE 



ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY — PLANTS — SHELL-BEDS — ^DREDGING — 

 TERRESTRIAL AND MARINE ANIMALS — EARTHQUAKE SHOCK — NEW 



TUBUL ARI A EXCURSION INLAND S AMO — O V ALLE TORRE 



TAMAYA — PANULCILLO — INDIAN GRAVES — GIANT HUMMING-BIRD 



CAMARONS — RETURN TO VALPARAISO — DIEZ-Y-OCHO — PLANTS 



EXCURSION TO SANTIAGO — MUSEUM — VALDIVIA's HOUSE, ETC. 



The morning of the 12th was bright and sunny, though 

 rather chilly, and on coming on deck we naturally gazed 

 with a considerable amount of interest on the surrounding 

 scene, which was new to most of us, and destined to serve as 

 our winter quarters for the next three or four months. I 

 must confess that my first impressions of the city and sur- 

 rounding country were those of great disappointment. I 

 suppose I had formed extravagant ideas of the attractions 

 of Valparaiso, from the various accounts of it which I had 

 heard, and was surprised to behold a shabby-looking large 

 town, the main streets of which straggled along a narrow 

 strip of ground at the foot of a bare, rugged, steep, saddle- 

 backed, reddish-coloured range of hills upwards of 1400 feet 

 in height, furrowed with numerous narrow ravines or que- 

 bradas, with their sides piled up with dwellings of a very 

 mean description of architecture, tenanted chiefly by the 



