146 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
white as the purest marble to the summit, and the 
crater clearly defined against the sky. We anchored 
in the Port San Pedro, no port in the sense of settle- 
ment, only a harbor surrounded by forest-covered 
hills, the silence unbroken except for the cry of the 
birds which whiten the rocks and now and then the 
rush of a steamer duck through the water. We went 
on shore at a lovely little beach and collected animals 
and plants. The flowers on the bank of this beach 
were beautiful, among others a superb specimen of 
the wild pineapple kind with very large crimson 
leaves and lilac centre. We enjoyed our ramble on 
this beach very much, and we saw from there a sunset 
I shall never forget. The opening of the harbor gave 
us a full view of the snow mountains, and Agassiz 
said he had not often in his life seen the Alps in such 
beauty at that hour. 
We put to sea again and made the upper end of the 
island [of Chiloe] and anchored at the little town of 
Ancud, or San Carlos, on Monday, the eighth. I see 
that the book speaks of this generally as a squalid lit- 
tle place and of the climate as dreary, rainy and foggy 
to the last degree. Everything depends upon the 
circumstances under which things are presented to 
you. All I can say is that the little town of Ancud 
on one of the most brilliantly beautiful days we have 
had seemed to mea cosy, cheerful, picturesque little 
place. Her great volcano, Osorno, was quite uncov- 
ered, without a cloud, and so was the whole snowy 
Cordillera, the southern spurs, I suppose, of the Andes. 
We only intended to stay a few hours, and while 
