278 
CENTRAL CHILE 
CHAP. 
a little charqui. But these men come down from their bleak 
habitations only once in every fortnight or three weeks. 
During my stay here I thoroughly enjoyed scrambling 
about these huge mountains. The geology, as might have 
been expected, was very interesting. The shattered and baked 
rocks, traversed by innumerable dykes of greenstone, showed 
what commotions had formerly taken place. The scenery 
was much the same as that near the Bell of Ouillota—dry 
CACTUS; CEREUS PERUVIANA; 
barren mountains, dotted at intervals by bushes with a scanty 
foliage. The cactuses, or rather opuntias, were here very 
numerous. I measured one of a spherical figure, which, includ¬ 
ing the spines, was six feet and four inches in circumference. 
The height of the common cylindrical, branching kind, is from 
twelve to fifteen feet, and the girth (with spines) of the branches 
between three and four feet. 
A heavy fall of snow on the mountains prevented me, during 
the last two days, from making some interesting excursions. 
I attempted to reach a lake which the inhabitants, from some 
