From this place we rode to the town of San Fernando.

Before arriving there, the last land-locked basin had expanded into a great plain, which extended so far to the south that the snowy summits of the more distant Andes were seen as if above the horizon of the sea.

San Fernando is forty leagues from Santiago; and it was my farthest point southward; for we here turned at right angles towards the coast.

We slept at the gold-mines of Yaquil, which are worked by Mr.Nixon, an American gentleman, to whose kindness I was much indebted during the four days I stayed at his house.

The next morning we rode to the mines, which are situated at the distance of some leagues, near the summit of a lofty hill.