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which stand the ruins of a Spanish fort, near the fishermen's huts of San Vicente, which lies between Concepcion Bay and the Bay of Aranco.
Whether the polished surface is the work of a glacier descending from the Andes to the sea-shore or not, I have not yet been able to determine.
I find no volcanic pebbles or boulders in this vicinity, which, after my experience in San Carlos, I should expect all along the shore, if the glaciers of the Andes had descended to the level of the ocean, in this part of the country.
The erratics here have the character of those observed farther south.
It is true the furrows and scratches of this polished surface run mainly from east to west; but there are some crossing the main trend, at angles ranging from 20° to 30°, and running S. E. N. W. Moreover, the magnetic variation is 18° 3′ at Talcahuano April 23d, the true meridian bearing to the right of the magnetic.
I shall soon know what to make of this, as I start to-morrow for the interior, to go to Santiago and join the ship again at Valparaiso.
I have hired a private carriage, to be able to stop whenever I wish so to do. I also take a small seine to fish for fresh water fishes in the many streams intervening between this place and Valparaiso.
The trend
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