VALLEY OiVCOPIAPO. 



; The country, except where the stream stote- 

 along, was quite a desert ; but to our surprise, we 

 felt none of that fatigue and depression of spirits, 

 which, in a peculiar degree, affect every one, 

 when travelling across an utterly barren and level 

 waste. The present agreeable distinction between 

 this and other journeys across sandy countries 

 was remarked by several of the party ; and ac- 

 counted for by the circumstance of having the 

 constant view, though at a great distance, of the 

 towering ridges of the Andes. The horizon, in 

 the east and north, and partially in the south, 

 was bounded by lofty chains of mountains, rising 

 one above another with an endless variety of out-- 

 line, such as the eye was never tired of contem- 

 plating ; and, although they too were barren, the 

 different shades of the air tints, caused by the dif- 

 ferent heights and distances of the mountaiiis, 

 gave a mixture of softness and sublimity to the 

 landscape which no language can do justice to in 

 the expression. 



. At the distance of forty miles from the port, 

 we came to the farm-house of Ramadilla, where 

 the obliging proprietor entreated us to alight, 



