cific; 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 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
vapor curling into the ravines beautifully represented little coves and
bays, and here and there a solitary hillock, peeping up, showed that it
had formerly stood there as an islet. The contrast of these flat valleys
and basins with the irregular mountains gave the scenery a character
which to me was new and very interesting.

From the natural slope to seaward of these plains they are very easily
irrigated, and in consequence singularly fertile. Without this process
the land would produce scarcely anything, for during the whole summer
the sky is cloudless. The mountains and hills are dotted over with
bushes and low trees, and excepting these the vegetation is very scanty.
Each land-owner in the valley possesses a certain portion of
hill-country, where his half-wild cattle, in considerable numbers,
manage to find sufficient pasture.

Once every year there is a grand _rodeo_, when all the cattle are driven
down, counted, and marked, and a certain number separated to be fattened
in the irrigated fields. Wheat is extensively cultivated, and a good
deal of Indian corn; a kind of bean is, however, the staple article of
food for the common laborers. The orchards produce an overflowing
abundance of peaches, figs, and grapes. With all these advantages, the
inhabitants of the country ought to be much more prosperous than they
are.

_16th._--The major-domo of the hacienda was good enough to give me a
guide and fresh horses, and in the morning we set out to ascend the
Campana, or Bell Mountain, which is six thousand four hundred feet high.
The paths were ve