1834.] THE BELL OF QUILLOTA. 255 
Cordillera, a succession of level basins, generally opening into 
each other by narrow passages, extend far to the southward: in 
these, the principal towns are situated, as San Felipe, Santiago, 
San Fernando. These basins or plains, together with the trans- 
verse flat valleys (like that of Quillota) which connect them with 
the coast, I have no doubt are the bottoms of ancient inlets and 
deep bays, such as at the present day intersect every part of 
Tierra del Fuego and the western coast. Chile must formerly 
have resembled the latter country in the configuration of its land 
and water. ‘The resemblance was occasionally shown strikingly 
when a level fog-bank covered, as with a mantle, all the lower 
parts of the country: the white vapour curling into the ravines, 
beautifully represented little coves and bays; and here and there 
a solitary hillock peeping up, showed that it had formerly stood 
there as an islet. The contrast of these flat valleys and basins 
with the irregular mountains, gave the scenery a character which 
to me was new and very interesting. 
From the natural slope to seaward of these plains, they are very 
easily irrigated, and in consequence singularly fertile. Without 
this process the land would produce scarcely anything, for during 
the whole summer the sky is cloudless. The mountains and hills 
are dotted over with bushes and low trees, and excepting these 
the vegetation is very scanty. Each landowner in the valley 
possesses a certain portion of hill-country, where his half-wild 
cattle, in considerable numbers, manage to find sufficient pasture. 
Once every year there is a grand “rodeo,” when all the cattle 
are driven down, counted, and marked, and a certain number 
separated to be fattened in the irrigated fields. Wheat is exten- 
sively cultivated, and a good deal of Indian corn: a kind of bean 
is, however, the staple article of food for the common labourers. 
The orchards produce an overflowing abundance of peaches, figs, 
and grapes. With all these advantages, the inhabitants of the 
country ought to be much more prosperous than they are. 
16th.—The mayor-domo of the Hacienda was good enough to 
give me a guide and fresh horses ; and in the morning we set out 
to ascend the Campana, or Bell Mountain, which is 6400 feet 
high. The paths were very bad, but both the geology and scenery 
amply repaid the trouble. We reached, by the evening, a spring 
called the Agua del Guanaco, which is'situated at a great height. 
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