PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE ANDES. 183 



The day was cloudless, and the position most 

 favourable. In this part of the range the Cordillera 

 bends in a curve convex to the east, so as to describe 

 a nearly circular arc of about 60°, with Cauquenes as 

 a centre. The summits of the main range, which 

 apparently vary from about sixteen to nineteen thou- 

 sand feet in height, and are nearly forty miles distant, 

 send out huge buttresses dividing the narrow valleys 

 whose waters unite to form the Cachapoal, and are in 

 many places so high as to conceal the main range. 

 The slopes are everywhere very steep, so that, in 

 spite of the recent fall of snow, dark masses of volcanic 

 rock stood out against the brilliant white that mantled 

 the great chain. The tints in Petermann's map would 

 indicate that the highest peaks are those lying about 

 due east, but it appeared to me that two or three of 

 those which I descried to the south-east, though 

 slightly more distant, were decidedly higher. It will 

 probably be long before the Chilian Government can 

 undertake a complete survey of the gigantic chain 

 which walls in their country on the eastern side. No 

 pass, as I was informed, is used to connect the upper 

 valley of the Cachapoal with the Argentine territory. 



From the summit I descended about due north 

 into a little hollow, whence a trickling streamlet fell 

 rather rapidly towards the main valley. As commonly 

 happens in Chili, this has cut a deep trench, or 

 quebrada ; and when I had occasion to cross to the 

 opposite bank, I had no slight difficulty in scrambling 

 down the nearly vertical wall, though partly helped 

 and partly impeded by the shrubs that always haunt 

 these favourable stations. The Winter's bark, not 



