the Campana range with its lesser parallel ones, and of the broad
valley of Quillota directly intersecting them. Who can avoid wondering
at the force which has upheaved these mountains, and even more so at
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 its height by so many
thousand feet. 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 group 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 making a
most perfect barrier to the country.
Almost every part of the hill had been drilled by attempts to open
gold-mines: 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, who correspond to the Gauchos
of the Pampas, are, however, a very different set of beings. Chile is
the more civilized of the two countries, and the inhabitants, in
consequence, have lost much individual 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
cattle-breeding countries 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 house in Chile will receive you for the night, but a
trifle is expected to be given in the morning; even a rich man will
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