82 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



coast is perceived above the horizon. At sunrise, the chain of 

 the gigantic Cordilleras is seen, many miles at sea, in their 

 natural and desolate grandeur. Soon after the sun rises, the 

 land is shrouded by a curtain of mist, and it often happens, that 

 fifty or sixty miles are passed over, before the high land of the 

 coast is descried. As it is approached, we find it rocky, stand- 

 ing up, broken and wild, from the very margin of the ocean. 

 Still closer, its barrenness proclaims itself ; and few are not 

 disappointed, when they discover, in midsummer, that vege- 

 tation is parched and dry. In midwinter, which is the rainy 

 season, all nature is gay ; the hills are green ; the air is soft 

 and pleasant, and the atmosphere remarkably clear. Those wha 

 arrive at this period are always delighted. Thus it was, in the 

 month of June, that a late traveller saw the trees and bushes 

 which do not exist ; but which his happy fancy created from 

 the tall cactus, that stands as an indication of the soil's sterility. 

 In October, when the rains have ceased, and their influence on 

 the wild vegetation is no longer felt, as is the case now, the 

 high hills of Valparaiso are barren, red, and bare ; scarce a bush 

 is seen, and nothing but the <^cardon" [cactus) outlives the 

 drying winds of summer. These facts go far to reconcile the 

 discrepancies of various descriptions. Arrive in whatever 

 month they may, those who have sojourned here a few days, 

 seldom rejoice to leave ; and after a few manths on the northern 

 coast, return with renewed pleasure. 



This bay, which opens to the north, is bounded by a land 

 line resembling the curve of a sickle, the longer part of which 

 is to the north, and is ultimately lost in the coast ; the shorter 

 curve terminates in what is called Valparaiso point. From it, 

 across the mouth of the bay, to the northern point, called Con- 

 con, is nine miles. The anchorage is in the south-western part 

 of the bay. In the shorter curve, or opposite to the anchorage, 

 is sheltered under the high land, La ciudad y el puerto de 

 Valparaiso." Scarcely allowing room for a single street along 

 the beach, the hills rise perpendicularly a hundred and fifty 

 feet, then fall back and continue to rise at an angle of about 

 twenty-five degrees. On their very summit is erected a signal 

 stafi", or telegraph, which stands two thousand feet above the 



