188 CHILL 



flavour. The small quantity that is not consumed, is distilled into 

 aguardiente, and disposed of at Valparaiso. Besides grapes, consider- 

 able quantities of wheat and Indian corn are cultivated. Apples, 

 pears, and quinces, are also raised. The former are inferior to our 

 own, the latter much superior, and in great plenty. 



Oranges were also abundant, but of indifferent flavour. 



Quillota is well supplied with water from the river Concon or 

 Aconcagua. The water is led through all the streets and gardens of 

 the place. It is used for all household purposes, as taken directly from 

 the gutters, which are the recipients of dirt of every description from 

 the town. For drinking, it is allowed to settle in large jars kept for 

 the purpose. 



The intercourse with strangers at Quillota, has been much less than 

 at Valparaiso or Santiago, and consequently they are less liberal, and 

 more bigoted. This was particularly shown, about four years previous 

 to our visit, by their burning in the public square, a large number of 

 Bibles in the Spanish language, along with a heap of immoral and 

 indecent pamphlets, in the presence of the civil, military, and ecclesi- 

 astical authorities. These Bibles had been distributed by our country- 

 man, Mr. Wheelwright, who has done so much by his enterprise in 

 introducing the communication by steam along the western coast of 

 South America. 



In the morning early, the thermometer stood at 36°. The greatest 

 cold is experienced just before sunrise and after sunset. 



On leaving Quillota, they went through the " Calle Largo," and took 

 the southern side of the valley, passing along the foot of the Mellacca 

 Hill, a smooth and rounded elevation, about three hundred feet in 

 height, and a mile and a half in circumference. This hill is covered 

 with a thin soil, formed from the decomposition of its own rocks. The 

 valley now narrows, and in some places is not more than a few hun- 

 dred feet in width. At about a league from Quillota, they ascended a 

 cuesta of the Quillota ridge, one thousand feet above the plain. On its 

 top, they were much gratified with the beautiful prospect. The fruitful 

 plain or vega of Aconcagua, varying in width from one to six miles, 

 extends to the west some twenty miles to the ocean, and is lost in the 

 other direction in the mountains ; it is watered by pure streams, and 

 covered with farm-houses and hamlets, surrounded by trees and vine- 

 yards. To the northeast are the Andes, heaped as it were on each 

 other, until the towering and distant peak of Tupongati, with its giant 

 form, crowns the whole. One feature of the plain was peculiar : the 

 mountains seemed to sink into it as if it were the ocean itself. In 

 some cases the line was so well defined, that one foot could be placed 



