Horn. But the Indian tribes are warlike and merciless, and those who must travel either brave sea-sickness with the storms and snows of the Cape, or take the Uspallata route, rather than encounter the children of the pampas on their homesteads-spectres, armed only with lances and slung-balls, who "rush like the whirlwind, destroy, and are gone," and whose territory, to this day, remains absolutely "terra incognita,"

Table showing the Heights of some of the principal Mountains and Mountain Passes in Chile

The descent of the limit of perpetual snow through 10,000 feet, in a little more than 800 miles, is a fact which cannot fail to arrest the attention of the physical geographer, affording, as it does, conclusive proof of rapid decrease in the mean temperature, and increase in the quantity of water which falls in the form of snow.

If other evidence than the natural configuration which has been indicated were necessary to prove that the whole of Chile has been raised from the ocean within a period geologists regard very modern, the marine fossils found on the great cordilleras, the multitude of recent shells that now lie hundreds of feet above their native element, retaining their natural colors, and almost intact though exposed to the constant action of heat and dew, whilst the adjoining ocean contains living members of the same family, and the alluvial strata of the valleys and shelves bounding the rivers, would be ample proofs to convince the most skeptical. That the great central plain was once the bed of an ocean-gulf, similar to the Californian, in which the tides ebbed and flowed, and the islands of Chilóe and the Chonos Archipelago were shoals, or, at most, islets, there cannot be the least doubt. Time after time the great continent sank to

the darkened depths of ocean, burying animals and forests beneath layers of detritus; tidewaves subsequently rolled over its surface, which each time at its emergence exhibited a new stratum of entombed creatures, ineffaceably marking the lapse of another era. As it finally

rose from the mass of waters, and heats of summer dissolved the snows deposited on summits that subterranean fires had forced far upward into space, the inequalities partially caused by this volcanic action were filled from the trickling streams; and this, perhaps, was the origin of most of the fresh-water lakes.

The most extensive lakes are those at the immediate base of the Andes, in the province of Valdivia. They occupy a very considerable portion of the country from latitude 39° to latitude 41° 30′. As the region of country in which they lie is almost entirely uninhabited, and innumerable varieties of climbing plants so entangle the forests that the utmost difficulty attends their penetration, very little is known of any others of them than Llanquihue, Llauquihue or Rupanco, and Todos los Santos. These have been reconnoitred by Capt. Muñoz, of the Chilean navy, and subsequently by Dr. Philippi, a German naturalist of distinction.

Llanquihue, at the foot of Osorno and Calbuco, is the largest. It is nearly of a triangular form, thirty miles long from north to south, and twenty-two broad from northeast to southwest. The southwest extremity is distant only three leagues from the gulf of Reloncavi, into which its surplus waters are discharged through the river Maullin. Capt. Muñoz states, in a report to the government, that at the origin of the Maullin the lake is 183.7 feet above the level of the Pacific.

Todos los Santos or Esmeralda lies immediately east of Llanquihue, and on the opposite side of Osorno. It is surrounded by volcanic mountains, whose rapid streams feed it from nearly every side. The greatest length from E.N.E. to W.S.W. is eighteen miles; and its breadth, at the western extremity, is about one third that amount. It also has an outlet into the gulf of Reloncavi. There is a little island in the western half of the lake.

Twelve miles further north is Llauquihue or Rupanco, a long and narrow body of water, in which originates the Rahue, one of the tributaries of Rio Bueno. Its length from W.N.W. to E.S.E. is twenty-four miles, and breadth scarcely more than four miles.

According to a sketch by Dr. Philippi, a very narrow strip of land intervenes between the Rupanco and Puychue, the next lake to the north. He makes Puychue twenty-five miles long, six miles wide, and rather lozenge-shaped, lying nearly parallel with Rupanco, a small island diversifying its eastern extremity. On the map of M. Gay, published in 1846, the body of the lake lies in a direction from N.E. by N. to S.W. by S., in which line it is eleven miles long its eastern shore is crescent-shaped, and the northern like the base of a pear. In the same year, (1846,) Capt. Philippi, of the Chilean engineers, who had been a good deal in the province of Valdivia, and had been designated by government to encourage emigration from Germany, published another map of the province, at Cassel. On it Puychue is quite an oval, though the dimensions vary very slightly; but in extenuation of the discrepancy, there is a note inserted along the western and northern shores, informing you that there are swamps, virgin forests, with various kinds of trees, and many canes, impenetrable because of the vines." To the S.E. of the lake, on this map, is Volcano Puychue, which on that of M. Gay is converted into Copigue peak. The Pilmayquen, another tributary of the Bueno, has its source in this lake.

66

In the same general N.N.E. line as the others, and from ten to twelve miles north of the last, is Ranco, considerably the largest and most irrregular body of water in Chile. There is a difference between the authors quoted, respecting its dimensions, and scarcely less as to its configuration and the number of islands diversifying its surface. M. Gay's information is perhaps the most reliable, and he makes its length, in a N.W. by N. direction, thirty-two miles-breadth, eighteen miles. It is supplied by many streams from the cordilleras, and in its turn furnishes Rio Bueno. If the information is to be depended on, some of the tributaries of the Rio Negro approach within a mile or two of this lake, and the mountain-ridge dividing

the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific is scarcely more than a chain of hills. There are several pretty islands within Ranco, and four settlements of friendly Indians on its different borders, the whole territory within which lie these large lakes being entirely in control of independent tribes. Along the north shore is one of the paths from Valdivia into the Argentine territory.

Immediately east of Valdivia, M. Gay has placed on his map Huitahue, Guanegue, Rinihue, Pirihueco, and Lajara, five lakes forming a right angle, of which the angular point is to the west, with Rinihue in the centre. They extend from latitude 39° 24′ to latitude 39° 52′; and are united by channels, forming a continuous chain, from which the surplus water discharged by Guanegue is one of the principal supplies of the river Valdivia. Each leg of the right angle is about twenty-five miles long. There are seven settlements of Indians on the borders of the three western, and a path across the Andes, along the southern shore. South of Lajara, in latitude 39° 55', longitude 71° 12′ W., is a volcano of the same name.

Capt. Philippi has but three lakes on his map. These lie in a N.N.E. and S.S.W. line between latitude 39° 10′ and 39° 47', and are called Calafquen, Huanchue or Panguipulli, and Rinihue. He agrees with M. Gay in connecting them by small streams, with an outlet supplying the Valdivia, or, as he here names it, the Ciruelas, the Indian appellation being Calle-calle. In latitude 39° 42', longitude 71° 43', just north of the east extremity of the Rinihue, which he makes a long narrow body of water, is a volcano of the same name; and east of Huanchue the volcano of Panguipulli, latitude 39° 38', longitude 71° 35′ W. These are grave geographical discrepancies between officers of the same government, and we are not likely to learn the truth until the survey of M. Pissis is extended over this province. In this instance, I have preferred following the authority of M. Gay in compiling our map, and offer in extenuation of these differences the experience of Dr. Darwin, when endeavoring to penetrate the country a little farther south. "The forest was so impenetrable, that no one who has not beheld it can imagine so entangled a mass of dying and dead trunks. I am sure that often, for ten minutes together, our feet never touched the ground, and we were frequently ten or fifteen feet above it, so that the seamen, as a joke, called out the soundings. In the lower part of the mountain, noble trees of the Winter's bark and laurel, like the sassafras, with fragrant leaves, and others, the names of which I do not know, were matted together by a trailing bamboo, or cane. Here we were more like fishes struggling in a net than any other animals."

Villarica—or, as it was formerly called, Llauquen-whose main body is to the south of latitude 39° (M. Gay)-covers more than one hundred square miles. Valdivia gave it the new name, from the quantity of gold discovered in the vicinity, and founded a city on its S. W. shore; though, as the Indians twice destroyed it within a short time after the Spaniards made their settlements, it is probable the so-called city never embraced above a dozen houses. It has an outlet to the sea through the river Tolten, a small island near the centre, and the volcano of the same name on its S.E. shore. In the very heart of the Indian territory, as is Villarica, with the ruins of its city to remind the children of the soil how gallantly their forefathers struggled to retain independence, it has remained even more unknown than the others.

Quite close to the seacoast there are several smaller collections of salt water, sometimes consisting of natural depressions in the surface, communicating with the sea through short canals; and at others, of basins, into which sea-water is only driven during the storms of winter. In the latter cases they are native salt-works, from which the Indians of the vicinity collect all their supplies. Beyond this, they are of little interest.

The two largest lakes in the province of Concepcion, and the only ones requiring mention, are Gualletue, in latitude 38° 14', at the base of the cordilleras, and Laja, in latitude 37° 05′, near the foot of the volcano of Antuco. Gualletue covers about fifty square miles within the Andes, deriving its supply from melting snows. La Laja is the most picturesque of all. It

lies at the base of Antuco, by whose immense black cone, and the snowy peaks of Cerro Belluda, it is overshadowed. The form is nearly that of a crescent, with cusps, nearly five miles apart, clasping the foot of Antuco. It is 4,600 feet above the level of the ocean, is about 300 yards across in the broadest part, and is supplied by snow-water not only from the overhanging mountains, but also from all the basin to the eastward, as far as the dividing line of waters. The foam of its surplus water tumbling over a cliff at a short distance, is in fine contrast with the surrounding masses of blackened lava and scoriæ.*

As we proceed northerly, the number and volumes of the lakes diminish, until we find that no such bodies of water exist except those on lofty elevations of the Andes. There are but two which merit attention in the province of Maule. Amargo-or, as it is sometimes called, Hermoso-being in the very midst of the great mountain chains near latitude 35° 40', is one of those just referred to. It is about three leagues in circumference, of great depth, and, to this time, has no known outlet. One of its names would indicate that its water is bitter; but such is not the case, and it is a constant resort of herdsmen frequenting the cordilleras for pasturage. Totoral, formed by the waters that descend from the Cerros de Namé during winter, is some fifteen miles from the coast, and near the northern part of the province. It is only about a mile long, with an outlet by the Arenales creek, one of the tributaries of the river Cauquenes. M. Gay has inserted on his map of the province lakes at the source of the Maule and Achihueno. From this authority, the former covers more than 50 square miles, and the latter is many times. the size of Totoral. But mention of them is neither made in the carefully prepared report to the Statistical Office, which was published in 1845, nor by Prof. Domeyko, who made a geological tour in the cordilleras of the vicinity of the Descabezado, near which the Maule originates. For this reason they have been omitted from the accompanying map.

Mondaca lies in a valley of the same name to the N. W. of Descabezado, and 3,700 feet above the ocean. There seems but little doubt that its origin is due to the earthquakes attending the eruption of Peteroa, in December, 1760, when the mountain formed for itself a new crater, and filled the neighboring valleys with lava and ashes so as to obstruct, and in some cases dam up, the mountain streams. No writer alludes to its dimensions. Its reddish-yellow waters are almost surrounded by barren and broken hills, piles of shingle, pumice, and other volcanic rocks. At the eastern extremity only, where the noisy torrent that supplies it tumbles through a ravine, are there symptoms of vegetation. Mineral springs, elsewhere mentioned, are found on its southern shore. This lake is not on the map of M. Gay, and it may be his Laguna del Maule.

Of Las Garzas, lying in a basin of the hills near the N.W. corner of the province of Talca, the only information is that afforded by the map of M. Gay; its latitude is 34° 54′ S., and longitude 72° 05′ W.

Taguatagua, a former lake in the province of Colchagua, and four leagues N.W. of San Fernando, was the most extensive and best known south of the river Cachapual. Its site still is more than ordinarily interesting to the geologist, and therefore a brief notice is given of what it was. The lake occupied a basin just at the western base of the Central cordilleras, whose distance from the sea is about 60 miles, and elevation above it not less than 1,400 feet. On the western side, the rim of the basin is lower than the opposite hills, one natural gorge or depression being not more than 40 feet above the surface of the lake. Advantage was taken of this a few years ago to cut a drain and lead off the water, by which means 8,000 acres of the most productive land was obtained. At that time the lake was of an oval form, nine miles in circuit, the water increasing in depth regularly to the centre, where bottom was found at twenty-five feet. Then, it had an outlet into the Cachapual from its southeastern extremity, through which there was a constant stream; and as there were neither rains in summer, nor melting snows on the adjacent hills, to counterbalance this loss and that by evaporation, it was *A letter from Chile, since the above was written, informs me that the lava of a recent eruption had dammed up the outlet. Who can say how much destruction will be caused when the accumulating volume bursts its barriers?

reasonably inferred that the deficiency was supplied by springs at the bottom. The water was quite clear, abounded with fine fish, and aquatic birds of many varieties, whose nests were to be found on islands which floated on its surface. These last appear to have been formed by the matting together of multitudes of dead plants, which subsequently floated, and on whose surface others took root as soil was formed by natural decay, until even trees of medium size found foothold. The thickness of the sustaining mass was from four to six feet, of which the greater portion was submerged.* When a strong wind arose, it was no little curious to witness what one supposed to be terra firma, with its trees and browsing cattle, perhaps, go floating to the other side of the lake. Fossil shells are found in numbers on the Cerro de Borbollon, which bounds the eastern shore; and in cutting the drain mentioned, the bones of two Mastodons were disinterred at a distance of two hundred yards within the original margin of the water, and twenty feet below its surface. Part of a femur, a broken lower jaw, and other teeth, were presented to me by Richard Price, Esq., an intelligent English gentleman long resident in Chile. They have been minutely figured and described in an accompanying report from Dr. Wyman, and it is not a little remarkable that these relics, accidentally obtained from within a few feet of each other, should completely sustain the assertion of Cuvier, that two species of this huge animal formerly existed in South America. On the neighboring Cerro de las Incas exist the remains of a rude temple or fortress, erected by the Promaucaes, the tribe whose continued hostility drove Almagro from the country.

Cauquenes, a smaller though similar deposite of water, in the same province, is within the hacienda of the Requinua, three or four leagues to the eastward of the high road to the south, and about an equal distance south of the river Cachapual. It is not more than a mile in length, and is the probable source of the river Claro, a tributary of the Cachapual, if not also of the Cauquenes. The authority for this, and other information respecting it, is given in Chapter XV. Like Taguatagua, great numbers of fish and birds may be obtained from it. Cahuil, Boyecura, and Bichuquen, in the western part of the province, are called lakes by M. Gay; but they are, more properly, estuaries.

Almost every traveller who has felt sufficient interest to make the journey from its port to the capital of Chile, has been tempted to extend his ride as far as Aculeo, a picturesque lake, 13 leagues to the S.S. W. of Santiago, and within the Central cordilleras. It is in the form of an hour-glass, extending six miles from east to west, and four across the broadest portions, from north to south, though scarcely more than half a mile between the promontories which give it its peculiar shape. From the disintegrated materials constantly washing down the sides of the mountains that surround it, the level of its water is gradually rising. During the winter, and until summer evaporations reduce it below the outlet, the surplus flows by a short stream to the Angostura, a tributary of the Maypu. Further account of it will be found in Chapter XIV.

The other deposites of water, in the province of Santiago, are the salt lakes of Bucalemu, to the westward of Aculeo, and separated from the sea only by sand-hills; Batuco, of considerable superficial extent in winter, though often a mere marsh in summer, between the Colina and Chacabuco creeks; and in the Andes, the small lakes in which the Mapocho and Yeso originate. The last, called Piuquenes, from the number of these birds (Bernicla melanoptera) that frequent it, is at an elevation of 8,500 feet above the sea-level.

Aconcagua has but one lake, and that is situated in a lofty spot of the Andes, so distant from the usually travelled road to Mendoza, that few persons are willing to add to the hardships of their journey by a visit to it. The Laguna del Inca is in latitude 32° 50′, longitude 69° 42', within a dike of oval form, nearly surrounded by lofty and precipitous declivities, about 8,000 feet above the ocean. It is nearly two miles in its greatest diameter, and apparently of such great depth that the arrieros declare it has no bottom. Mr. Peter Schmidtmeyer,

* Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Tom. xxviii.