"© 
CHILI. 559 
it is said to be over six hundred miles long. The elevations between 
it and the coast are sometimes called the coast or lower Cordillera, 
(Cordillera de la costa, Cordillera baja,*) while on the east, stand 
the higher Cordillera, or the Andes proper, (los Andes, Cordillera 
alta.) 
Leaving Valparaiso for Quillota, the road for the first twenty-five 
miles extends northward, not far from the seashore, and through this 
distance it is very uneven, on account of the numerous valleys which 
intersect the route. The largest of these valleys, three leagues from 
Valparaiso, has a breadth of two miles, and is the site of the small 
village of Vinia del Mar. It is a sandy plain for nearly three miles 
from the sea, and through it a wide shallow stream flows along to the 
ocean. ‘Twenty-five miles from Valparaiso, we reached the broad 
valley of the Concon, a fine stream which rises in the Andes. At this 
place the road turned east, and followed the south side of this valley 
to Quillota, about seven leagues from the sea. Quillota occupies the 
centre of the valley to the south of the river, and is situated at the 
foot of a low, smoothly rounded, granitic hill (Mellaca Hill), about 
three hundred feet high, and a mile and a half in circumference. 
The elevations which bound the valley on the south are low until 
near Quillota, where, to the southward, stands a lofty abrupt ridge, 
which may be seen at sea. The Campana, or Bell of Quillota, lies 
farther to the south, and is shut out of view by this ridge. 
The valley or plains of the Concon, below Quillota, have a varying 
width of three to six miles. Above Quillota, the width is generally 
less than two miles, and it is occasionally narrowed to a few hundred 
feet by the approximation of the ridges either side. ‘Towards San 
Felipe de Aconcagua, twenty miles from the foot of the mountains, 
the valley again widens and expands into a broad plain lying at the 
foot of the Andes, continuous with that of Santiago, though forty miles 
farther north. 
The road from Quillota to San Felipe takes a more direct route, and 
passes over three ridges. The first, about four miles northeast of 
Quillota, is the ridge just noticed ; when at its summit, we look down, 
on either side, into the valley of the Concon. On descending, we 
again followed the south side of the valley. Low, rounded elevations 
characterize this side, while, on the north, the heights are lofty and 
precipitous, and at the season of the year visited by us, (in May, the 
last of autumn,) they had a bleak appearance from the snow which 
* Domeyko, Ann. des Mines, iv. Ser. ix. 18. 
