Chili is as singular in its landscape as any, and perhaps more so than most other parts of America, as on the east it is shut out from La Plata by the Andes, which, rising to an enormous height, has its surface covered with pinnacles, which are in general volcanic. This Cordillera scarcely ever depresses itself in its course through the country, till it approaches Peru; and it seems probable that it attains a greater elevation in this kingdom than in Quito; no actual measurement has however been made of its highest summits, though they are well known by name. The Chilian Andes are about 120 miles in breadth, taking a direction from the Archipelago of Chonos to the frontiers of Tucuman, and consisting of an uninterrupted chain of ridges, constantly losing themselves in the snowy regions of the air; their sides are interspersed with fruitful valleys and dreadful precipices, and give birth to rivers, exhibiting the most beautiful and the most terrific features of nature. The roads leading from Chili to Tucuman and Cuyo are not more than eight or nine in number, of which that leading from Aconcagua to Cuyo is the best. It is bordered on one side by the deep beds of the Chilé and the Mendoza rivers; on the other by lofty and impracticable precipices; and is so narrow that in many places the rider is obliged to descend from his mule and proceed on foot; nor does a year ever pass without some of those animals being precipitated into the thundering streams below. The precipices which accompany this route occasionally open and display beautiful and fertile plains. In these places are seen the tambos of the Incas, only one of which has been destroyed. This road requires eight days to pass in good weather, but in winter it is totally impracticable. That portion of the Andes between the 24° and 33° south latitude is wholly desert, and the remainder, as far as the 45°, is inhabited by the Chiquillanes, Pehuenches, Puelches, and Huilliches, tribes who are in amity with the Araucanians. The Chilian Andes form three parallel ridges, the centre being the most elevated, and flanked by the others at 20 or 30 miles distance, and they are connected by transversal branches. The highest mountains of this chain are the _Manflos_, in 28° 45' south latitude, the _Tupungato_, in 33° 24', the _Descabezado_, in 35°, the _Blanquillo_, in 35° 4', the _Longavi_, in 35° 30', the _Chillan_, in 36°, and the immense _Corcobado_, in 43°; and it is said that all of these are more than 20,000 feet above the level of the sea, the lowest part of the chain being in the province of Copiapo.