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I found its temperature 16.4 degrees; which, for an elevation of seven hundred and twenty-six toises, is considerably cool, and it would appear much cooler to those who drink its limpid water, if, instead of gushing out between La Cumbre and the temperate valley of Caracas, it were found on the descent towards La Guayra.
The Chilians are an active, intelligent, wide-awake people; are great fighters and free from the religious trammels of Peru. From here I took train to Los Andes; then by narrow gauge line, the grade being 7 per cent. on the cog track, through barren rough gorges to the Cumbre, or summit, 13,000 feet high.
Seated on some little eminence, they are not, however, ill suited to the surrounding scene of desolation. The zigzag ascent of the Cumbre, or the partition of the waters, was very steep and tedious; its height, according to Mr. Pentland, is 12,454 feet. The road did not pass over any perpetual snow, although there were patches of it on both hands.
At length we emerge from this valley of the shadow of death, and after crossing an arid yet not quite treeless plain, begin to climb by many zigzags an almost precipitous height. The mules suffer terribly, stopping every few minutes to take breath, and it is with a feeling of intense relief that, after an ascent of two hours, we find ourselves on the cumbre, or ridge of the mountain.
My friend in the fish-market has a volandra, and perhaps I can rob him of a halyard." Laying aside his task, Jacket arose and made off in the direction of the water-front. He was back within an hour, and under his shirt he carried a coil of worn, but serviceable, rope. Without waiting to explain his need for this unusual article, O'Reilly linked arms with the boy and set out to climb La Cumbre.
Gillies, can be traced with little interruption for 140 miles southward to the R. Diamante, where it unites with the western ranges: northward, according to this same author, it terminates where the R. Mendoza debouches from the mountains; but a little further north in the eastern part of the Cumbre section, there are, as we shall hereafter see, some mountain-masses of a brick-red porphyry, the last injected amidst many other porphyries, and having so close an analogy with the coarse red granite of the Portillo line, that I am tempted to believe that they belong to the same axis of injection; if so, the Portillo line is at least 200 miles in length.
This rocky peninsula, projecting sharply from the north-eastern chord of the circle, is outlined by a dangerous reef, and drops suddenly into 130 fathoms. Supported on the north by great columns of basalt, it is the terminus of a secondary chain, trending north-east south-west, and meeting the Cumbre, or highest ground, whose strike is north-west south-east.
Still, you remember the doctrine that the volante cannot upset, and this blind faith to which you cling carries you through triumphantly. The Cumbre is lofty, the view extensive, and the valley lovely, of a soft, light green, like the early leaves and grass of spring, dotted everywhere with the palms and their dark clusters.
Inasmuch as her father was O'Reilly's "Company" it may be seen that Rosa Varona's home-coming seriously complicated matters, not only from a sentimental, but from a business standpoint. It was in a thoughtful mood that he rode up La Cumbre, toward the Quinta de Esteban, late on the afternoon of Don Mario's visit.
Valparaiso Portillo Pass Sagacity of Mules Mountain- torrents Mines, how discovered Proofs of the gradual Elevation of the Cordillera Effect of Snow on Rocks Geological Structure of the two main Ranges, their distinct Origin and Upheaval Great Subsidence Red Snow Winds Pinnacles of Snow Dry and clear Atmosphere Electricity Pampas Zoology of the opposite Side of the Andes Locusts Great Bugs Mendoza Uspallata Pass Silicified Trees buried as they grew Incas Bridge Badness of the Passes exaggerated Cumbre Casuchas Valparaiso.
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