CHILI. 187 



the singular vertical dikes of granite by which it is intersected. As 

 this curious formation will be ably treated of in the Geological Report, 

 I shall refer the reader to that for a description. 



Ten miles from Valparaiso, the valley of Villa del Mar, having a 

 breadth of nearly three miles, is crossed. This is a sandy plain, 

 through which a broad shallow stream, coming from the eastern hills, 

 runs. At twenty-five miles they reached the broad valley of Concon. 

 Here the road turns to the eastward. This valley varies in width 

 from three to six miles. The character of the rocks is granitic, and 

 they appear to decompose rapidly when exposed to the air. Sienite 

 was frequent, and on approaching the mountains, numerous varieties 

 of trap formation, greenstone, porphyry, &c, were met with. 



Ten miles before reaching Quillota, the road passes over a level 

 plain, which extends beyond that place. The hills which bound the 

 valley to the south, are of low elevation until approaching Quillota. 

 Near Quillota, in the south and southeastern direction, a lofty ridge 

 rises, adjoining the campagna of Quillota, which is one of the high 

 cones used as sea-marks for the harbour of Valparaiso. This is lost 

 sight of at the town, in consequence of it being shut out by an inter- 

 vening ridge. The town, or city of Quillota, occupies the centre of the 

 valley, and is twenty miles from the sea. They reached it about one 

 hour before sunset, when they stopped at Mr. Blanchard's, who keeps 

 a house for the accommodation of foreigners. 



On the 18th they arose at daybreak, at which time the thermometer 

 stood at 36° in the open air, seventy feet above the sea. 



The town of Quillota, (according to Mr. Blanchard,) is embraced 

 within a circumference of three leagues. It contains several churches, 

 of simple construction. The " Calle Largo," the longest street, is 

 upwards of a league in length. The same authority gives its popula- 

 tion at ten thousand inhabitants. The houses are all of one story, and 

 are built of adobes, with thatched roofs. There is an abundance of 

 fine building-stone, but in this land of earthquakes, it is considered 

 safest to use the lightest materials. Almost every house has a vineyard 

 attached to it, the grapes of which were of good quality, and very 

 abundant. At some places, although the vintage was half gathered, 

 yet the crop still on the vines w T as such as would have been considered 

 elsewhere an abundant yield. A portion of the grapes rot upon the 

 vines, as the inhabitants have not the industry or inclination to manu- 

 facture them, although by proper attention they would yield a gcod 

 wine. As it is, they only manufacture some into a hard and acid wine, 

 called Masta, or boil the juice down to the favourite drink of the lower 

 classes, called Chicha, which somewhat resembles perry or cider in 



