Grand and wonderful as is the ride through and across the Andes by railroad, the traveller has missed one of the most striking features of these solitudes. Almost immediately over the tunnel, and nearly three thousand feet higher, stands the famous statue, known as the Christ of the Andes. This statue was erected in 1904 as a symbol of perpetual peace between the two neighbouring nations. It was cast in bronze from the cannon of the two nations, which had been purchased through fear of impending war. Its location is on the new international boundary line that had just been established by arbitration. Near it is a sign with the words “CHILE” on one side, and “ARGENTINA” on the other side. The figure of Christ is twenty-six feet in height. In one hand it holds the emblem of the cross, while the other is extended in a blessing, and as if uttering the one magic word “Peace.” On one side is a tablet with the inscription: “Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust than the people of Argentina and Chile break the peace to which they have pledged themselves at the feet of Christ the Redeemer.” On another side is the inscription: “He is our Peace Who hath made both One.” The Cumbre, as this ridge is called, is the highest point on the old trail. Travellers and baggage were transported over it by mule-back or in carriages, if the almost springless vehicles could be called by such a name, during the summer. It is a very zigzag trail up which the carriages wound, where as many as twenty twists and turns can be counted. On the downward trip the horses ran and jumped, until the timorous traveller began to have visions of disaster. Accidents were rare, however, and seldom was a vehicle overturned. Corners were turned on two wheels, with only a few inches between the outside wheels and the edge of the precipice. “The clouds have voices, and the rivers pour Their floods in thunder down to ocean’s floor;— The hills alone mysterious silence keep.” One of the most striking aspects which impress the traveller crossing the Andes is the terribly bleak and desolate outlook that they present. Blades of grass here and there, or perhaps a few stunted shrubs, are the only signs of vegetation, for of trees there are none. There seems to be no tree line, as in most mountains. A huge expanse of yellow sand and stone spreads out everywhere with peaks rising up on every side in clearly defined and rugged stratification, whose many-coloured hues are almost bewildering to the eye. Great torrents flow down the middle of the valleys, the water being of a dull brackish hue. The fording of these streams is a very dangerous task for the explorer, as the torrents are exceedingly rapid and full of deep, treacherous holes. [Illustration: THE SOLITUDE OF THE ANDES.]