Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/70

 of Chili. It was a sublime sight at sunrise to view the lofty peaks of the Andes Mountains, not more than sixty  miles distant. The highest peak is Tupongati, 23 200 feet high, which is at times an active volcano. They are unlike any mountains I ever saw. They do not rise gradually from the base, but shoot right up out of the  earth. The fact is, you can stand with one foot on the

MIRAGE.—THE VINCENNES.

level plain, the other on the side of the mountain. On the 14th we sighted the Point of Angels, and before sundown we dropped anchor in the harbor of Valparaiso, or  "Valley of Paradise," as the name implies. The letter-bag was soon brought on board, and its contents emptied on the quarter-deck All the officers received letters,  but only a dog-watch of the crew, while all the rest of  us were left out in the cold. Willie got his usual number, and read them to me. One of them said that Long