XII 
DESCRIPTION OF CHILE 
271 
Paradise,” must have been thinking of Ouillota. We crossed 
over to the Hacienda de San Isidro, situated at the very foot 
of the Bell Mountain. 
Chile, as may be seen in the maps, is a narrow strip of 
land between the Cordillera and the Pacific ; and this strip is 
itself traversed by several mountain-lines, which in this part 
run parallel to the great range. Between these outer lines and 
the main Cordillera, a succession of level basins, generally 
opening into each other by narrow passages, extend far to the 
HACIENDA, CONDOR, CACTUS, ETC. 
southward ; in these the principal towns are situated, as San 
Felipe, Santiago, San Fernando. These basins or plains, 
together with the transverse flat valleys (like that of Quillota) 
which connect them with the coast, I have no doubt are the 
bottoms of ancient inlets and deep bays, such as at the present 
day intersect every part of Tierra del Fuego and the western 
coast. Chile must formerly have resembled the latter country 
in the configuration of its land and water. The resemblance 
was occasionally shown strikingly when a level fog-bank 
covered, as with a mantle, all the lower parts of the country : 
the white vapour curling into the ravines, beautifully represented 
