1834.] THE BELL OF QUILLOTA. 257 
whilst the snowy peaks of the Andes yet retained a ruby tint. 
When it was dark, we made a fire beneath a little arbour of 
bamboos, fried our charqui (or dried slips of beef), took our 
maté, and were quite comfortable. There is an inexpressible 
charm in thus living in the open air. The evening was calm 
and still;—the shrill noise of the mountain bizcacha, and the 
faint cry of a goatsucker, were occasionally to be heard. Besides 
these, few birds, or even insects, frequent these dry, parehed 
mountains. 
August 17th.—In the morning we climbed up the rough mass 
of greenstone which crowns the summit. This rock, as fre- 
quently happens, was much shattered and broken into huge 
angular fragments. I observed, however, one remarkable cir- 
cumstance, namely, that many of the surfaces presented every 
degree of freshness—some appearing as if broken the day before, 
whilst on others lichens had either just become, or had long 
grown, attached. I so fully believed that this was owing to the 
frequent earthquakes, that I felt inclined to hurry from below 
each loose pile. As one might very easily be deceived in a 
fact of this kind, I doubted its accuracy, until ascending Mount 
Wellington, in Van Diemen’s Land, where earthquakes do not 
occur; and there I saw the summit of the mountain similarly 
composed and similarly shattered, but all the blocks appeared 
as if they had been hurled into their present position thousands 
of years ago. 
We spent the day on the summit, and I never enjoyed one 
more thoroughly. Chile, bounded by the Andes and the Pa- 
cific, was seen as ina map. The pleasure from the scenery, in 
itself beautiful, was heightened by the many reflections which 
arose from the mere view of the Campana range with its lesser 
parallel ones, and of the broad valley of Quillota directly inter- 
secting them. Who can avoid wondering at the force which has 
upheaved these mountains, and even more so at the countless 
ages which it must have required, to have broken through, re- 
moved, and levelled whole masses of them? It is well in this 
case, to call to mind the vast shingle and sedimentary beds of 
Patagonia, which, if heaped on the Cordillera, would increase 
its height by so many thousand fect. When in that country, I 
wendered how any mountain-chain could have supplied such 
