Some snow generally falls before
this period of the season, and it has even happened that
the Cordillera have been finally closed by this time. But
we were most fortunate. The sky, by night and by day, was
cloudless, excepting a few round little masses of vapour, that
floated over the highest pinnacles. I have often seen these
islets in the sky, marking the position of the Cordillera,
when the far-distant mountains have been hidden beneath
the horizon.
April 6th. - In the morning we found some thief had
stolen one of our mules, and the bell of the madrina. We
therefore rode only two or three miles down the valley, and
stayed there the ensuing day in hopes of recovering the mule,
which the arriero thought had been hidden in some ravine.
The scenery in this part had assumed a Chilian character:
the lower sides of the mountains, dotted over with the pale
evergreen Quillay tree, and with the great chandelier-like
cactus, are certainly more to be admired than the bare eastern
valleys; but I cannot quite agree with the admiration
expressed by some travellers. The extreme pleasure, I suspect,
is chiefly owing to the prospect of a good fire and of a
good supper, after escaping from the cold regions above: and
I am sure I most heartily participated in these feelings.
8th. - We left the valley of the Aconcagua, by which we
had descended, and reached in the evening a cottage near the
Villa del St. Rosa. The fertility of the plain was delightful:
the autumn being advanced, the leaves of many of the
fruit-trees were falling; and of the labourers, - some were
busy in drying figs and peaches on the roofs of their cottages,
while others were gathering the grapes from the vineyards.
It was a pretty scene; but I missed that pensive stillness
which makes the autumn in England indeed the evening
of the year. On the 10th we reached Santiago, where I received
a very kind and hospitable reception from Mr. Caldcleugh.
My excursion only cost me twenty-four days, and
never did I more deeply enjoy an equal space of time. A
few days afterwards I returned to Mr. Corfield's house at
Valparaiso.
[1] Scoresby's Arctic Regions, vol. i. p. 122.
[2] I have heard it remarked in Shropshire that the water, when
the Severn is flooded from long-continued rain, is much more
turbid than when it proceeds from the snow melting in the Welsh
mountains. D'Orbigny (tom. i. p. 184), in explaining the cause
of the various colours of the rivers in South America, remarks
that those with blue or clear water have there source in the
Cordillera, where the snow melts.
[3] Dr. Gillies in Journ. of Nat. and Geograph. Science, Aug.,
1830. This author gives the heights of the Passes.
[4] This structure in frozen snow was long since observed by
Scoresby in the icebergs near Spitzbergen, and, lately, with
more care, by Colonel Jackson (Journ. of Geograph. Soc., vol. v.
p. 12) on the Neva. Mr. Lyell (Principles, vol. iv. p. 360) has
compared the fissures by which the columnar structure seems to
be determined, to the joints that traverse nearly all rocks, but
which are best seen in the non-stratified masses. I may observe,
that in the case of the frozen snow, the columnar structure must
be owing to a "metamorphic" action, and not to a process during
deposition.
[5] This is merely an illustration of the admirable laws, first
laid down by Mr. Lyell, on the geographical distribution of
animals, as influenced by geological changes. The whole
reasoning, of course, is founded on the assumption of the
immutability of species; otherwise the difference in the species
in the two regions might be considered as superinduced during a
length of time.
CHAPTER XVI
NORTHERN CHILE AND PERU
Coast-road to Coquimbo - Great Loads carried by the Miners -
Coquimbo - Earthquake - Step-formed Terrace - Absence of
recent Deposits - Contemporaneousness of the Tertiary
Formations - Excursion up the Valley - Road to Guasco -
Deserts - Valley of Copiapo - Rain and Earthquakes -
Hydrophobia - The Despoblado - Indian Ruins - Probable
Change of Climate - River-bed arched by an Earthquake -
Cold Gales of Wind - Noises from a Hill - Iquique - Salt
Alluvium - Nitrate of Soda - Lima - Unhealthy Country -
Ruins of Callao, overthrown by an Earthquake - Recent
Subsidence - Elevated Shells on San Lorenzo, their
decomposition - Plain with embedded Shells and fragments
of Pottery - Antiquity of the Indian Race.
APRIL 27th. - I set out on a journey to Coquimbo, and
thence through Guasco to Copiapo, where Captain
Fitz Roy kindly offered to pick me up in the Beagle.
The distance in a straight line along the shore northward is
only 420 miles; but my mode of travelling made it a very
long journey. I bought four horses and two mules, the
latter carrying the luggage on alternate days. The six
animals together only cost the value of twenty-five pounds
sterling, and at Copiapo I sold them again for twenty-three.
We travelled in the same independent manner as before,
cooking our own meals, and sleeping in the open air. As
we rode towards the Vino del Mar, I took a farewell view
of Valparaiso, and admired its picturesque appearance. For
geological purposes I made a detour from the high road
to the foot of the Bell of Quillota. We passed through an
alluvial district rich in gold, to the neighbourhood of Limache,
where we slept. Washing for gold supports the inhabitants
of numerous hovels, scattered along the sides of
each little rivulet; but, like all those whose gains are
uncertain, they are unthrifty in all their habits, and
consequently poor.
28th. - In the afternoon we arrived at a cottage at the
foot of the Bell mountain. The inhabitants were freeholders,
which is not very usual in Chile. They supported themselves
on the produce of a garden and a little field, but were
very poor.
