OCR Text |
Show 314 CHILE. Aug. 1834. masses. As this is an observation in which one would be very apt to be deceived, I doubted its accuracy, until ascending Mount Wellington, near Hobart Town. The summit of that mountain is similarly composed, and similarly shattered ; but all the blocks appeared as if they had been hurled into their present position thousands of years ago. We spent the day on the summit, and I never enjoyed . one more thoroughly. Chile, bounded by the Andes and the Pacific, was seen as in a map. The pleasure from the scenery, in itself beautiful, was heightened by the many reflections which arose from the mere view of the grand range, with its lesser parallel ones, and of the broad valley of Quillota directly intersecting the latter. Who can avoid admiring the wonderful force which has upheaved these mountains, and even more so the countless ages which it must have required, to have broken through, removed, and levelled whole masses of them? It is well in this case to call to mind the vast shingle and sedimentary beds of Patagonia, which, if heaped on the Cordillera, would increase by so many thousand feet its height. When in that country, I wondered how any mountain-chain could have supplied such masses, and not have been utterly obliterated. We must not now reverse the wonder, and doubt whether all-powerful time can grind down mountains-even the gigantic Cordillera-into gravel and mud. The appearance of the Andes was different from that which I had expected. The lower line of the snow was of course horizontal, and to this line the even summits of the range seemed quite parallel. Only at long intervals a mass of points, or a single cone, showed where a volcano had existed, or does now exist. Hence the range resembled a great solid wall, surmounted here and there by a tower, and thus made a most complete barrier to the country. Almost every part of the hill .has been drilled by attempts to open gold-mines. I was surprised to see, on the actual summit: which could only be reached by ~limbing, a small pit, where some yellowish crystals of hypersthene had Aug. 1834. Gl1ASOS AND GAUCHOS. 315 induced somebody to throw away his labour. The rage for mining has left scarcely a spot in Chile unexamined. I spent the evening as before, talking round the fire with my two companions. The Guasos of Chile, which correspond to the Gauchos of the Pampas, are, however, a very different set of beings. Chile is the more civilized of the two cou~tri~s: and the inhabitants, in consequence, have lost much mdividual character. Gradations in rank are much more strongly marked : the Guaso does not by any means consider every man his equal ; and I was quite surprised to find that my companions did not like to eat at the same time with myself. ·This feeling of inequality is a necessary consequence of the existence of an aristocracy of wealth. It is said- that some few of the greater landowners possess from five to ten thousand pounds sterling per annum: an inequality of riches which I believe is not met with in any of the cattlebreeding countries to the eastward of the Andes. A traveller does not here meet that unbounded hospitality which refuses all payment, but yet is so kindly offered that no scruples can be raised in accepting it. . Almost every .hou~e in Chile will receive you for the mght, but a tnfle IS expected to be given in the r.1orning; even a rich man will accept two or three shillings. The Gaucho, alt~o~gh he may be a cut-throat, is a gentleman; the Guaso IS m few respects better, but at the same time a vulga:, ordinary fellow. The two men, although employed much m the same manner' are different in their habits and atti.r e ; and .th e peculiarities of each are universal in their respective countnes. The Gaucho seems part of his horse, and scorns to exert. himself excepting when on its back ; the Guaso rna~ be hired to work as a labourer in the :fields. The former hves entirely on animal food; the latter almost wholly on vegetable. We do not here see the white boots, the broad drawers, and scarlet chilipa ; the picturesque costume of the Pampas. Here, common trousers are pro~ected b! black and green worsted leggings. The poncho, how~ve~, IS. common to both. The chief pride in the Guaso hes m his spurs |