We were now on the road to Santiago, the capital of
Chile. We crossed the Cerro del Talguen, and slept at a little
rancho. The host, talking about the state of Chile as compared to
other countries, was very humble: "Some see with two eyes, and some
with one, but for my part I do not think that Chile sees with any."
AUGUST 27, 1834.
After crossing many low hills we descended into the small
land-locked plain of Guitron. In the basins, such as this one,
which are elevated from one thousand to two thousand feet above the
sea, two species of acacia, which are stunted in their forms, and
stand wide apart from each other, grow in large numbers. These
trees are never found near the sea-coast; and this gives another
characteristic feature to the scenery of these basins. We crossed a
low ridge which separates Guitron from the great plain on which
Santiago stands. The view was here pre-eminently striking: the dead
level surface, covered in parts by woods of acacia, and with the
city in the distance, abutting horizontally against the base of the
Andes, whose snowy peaks were bright with the evening sun. At the
first glance of this view, it was quite evident that the plain
represented the extent of a former inland sea.
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