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Show 310 CHILE. Aug. 1834. blue haze of a fine day ! The one for a time may be very sublime ; the other is all gaiety and happy life. AuGUST 14TH.-I set out on a riding excursion, for the purpose of geologizing the basal parts of the Andes, which alone at this time of the year were not shut up by the winter snow. Our first day's ride was northward along the sea-coast. After dark we reached the Hacienda of Quintero, the estate which formerly belonged to Lord Cochrane. My object in coming here was to see the great beds of shells, which are elevated some yards above the level of the sea. :They nearly all consist of one species of Erycina; and these shells at the present day live together in great numbers, on the sandy flats. So wonderfully numerous are those forming the beds, that for years they have been quarried, and burnt for the lime, with which the large town of ' Valparaiso is supplied. As any change of level, even in this neighbourhood, has often been disputed, I may add, that I saw dead barnacles adhering to points of solid rock which were now so much elevated, that even during gales of wind they would scarcely be wetted by the spray. 15TH.-We returned towards the valley of Quillota. The country was exceedingly pleasant; just such as poets would c~ll p~storal : green open lawns; separated by small valleys with nvulets, and the cottages, we will suppose of the shepherd~, scattered on. the hill-sides. We were obliged to cross the ndge of the Chllecauquen. At its base there were many fine evergreen forest-trees, but these only flourished in the ravines, where there was running water. Any person who had seen only the country near Valparaiso, would never ha~e imagined that there had been such picturesque spots in Chile .. As soon a~ we reached the brow of the Sierra, the valley of Qmllota was Immediately under our feet. The prospect was one of re~arkable arti?cialluxuriance. The valley is very broad. and qmte flat, and Is thus easily irrigated in all parts. The little square gardens are crowded with orange and olive trees, and every sort of vegetable. On each side huge bare mountains rise, and this from the contrast renders the patch- Aug. 1834. CillLE. 311 work valley the more pleasing. Whoever called "Valpa· raiso" the " Valley of Paradise," must have been thinking of Quillota. We crossed over to the Hacienda de San Isidoro, 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 southward. In these the principal towns are situated, as San Felipe, Santiago, S. Fernando. 'fhese basins or plains, together with the transverse flat valleys (like that of Quillota) which connect them with the coast, I have little 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 west coast of Patagonia. Chile must formerly have resembled the latter country, in the configuration of its land and water. This resemblance was occasionally seen with great force, 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 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 novel and very inte-resting. 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 any thing; 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 landowner in the valley possesses a certain portion of hill-country, where his halfwild cattle, in considerable numbers, manage to find sufficient pasture. Once ·every year there is a grand " rodeo," |