THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 391 



effects that I have ever witnessed. Tlie day, though clear, 

 had not been sunny, so that, although the snowy heights of 

 the Andes had been distinctly visible throughout the greater 

 part of our journey, they had not been illuminated by the 

 rays of the sun. But now, as we turned the corner of a street, 

 the chain of the Cordillera suddenly burst on our gaze in such 

 a blaze of splendour that it almost seemed as if the windows 

 of heaven had been opened for a moment, permitting a flood 

 of crimson light to stream forth upon the snow. The sight 

 was so unexpected and so transcendently magnificent that a 

 breathless silence fell upon us for a few moments, while even 

 the driver stopped his horses. This deep red glow lasted 

 for three or four minutes, and then rapidly faded into that 

 lovely rosy hue so characteristic of snow at sunset among 

 the Alps. 



As usual, however, there was but a step from the sub- 

 lime to the ridiculous, for the light failed rapidly, and we 

 bumped and rattled along a road strewn with large rounded 

 stones, apparently deposited by the Aconcagua in a state of 

 flood. Fortunately, it was a moonlight night, or there might 

 have been some chance of our journey terminating nowhere in 

 particular. We had bought some bread at San Felipe, as we 

 had fasted since the morning, and this we now essayed to 

 consume with the adjunct of a little cognac, a vast amount 

 of difficulty being encountered in making your flask reach your 

 mouth without chucking yourself on the chin with it, hitting 

 your nose, or capsizing the precious liquid. Our Chilian com- 

 panion was in a state of great hilarity over our rough method 

 of progression, and asked us many questions as to who we 

 were, and why we were going to Santa Eosa. On our telling 

 him that we had spent two seasons in the Strait of Magellan, 

 and that before long we were going back again, he ejacu- 



