Now
It Is Impossible On A Moderately Shallow Bottom, Which
Alone Is Favourable To Most Living Creatures, That A Thick
And Widely Extended Covering Of Sediment Could Be Spread
Out, Without The Bottom Sank Down To Receive The Successive
Layers.
This seems to have actually taken place at about
the same period in southern Patagonia and Chile, though
these places are a thousand miles apart.
Hence, if prolonged
movements of approximately contemporaneous subsidence
are generally widely extensive, as I am strongly
inclined to believe from my examination of the Coral Reefs
of the great oceans - or if, confining our view to South
America, the subsiding movements have been co-extensive
with those of elevation, by which, within the same period
of existing shells, the shores of Peru, Chile, Tierra del
Fuego, Patagonia, and La Plata have been upraised - then
we can see that at the same time, at far distant points,
circumstances would have been favourable to the formation of
fossiliferous deposits of wide extent and of considerable
thickness; and such deposits, consequently, would have a
good chance of resisting the wear and tear of successive
beach-lines, and of lasting to a future epoch.
May 21st. - I set out in company with Don Jose Edwards
to the silver-mine of Arqueros, and thence up the valley of
Coquimbo. Passing through a mountainous country, we
reached by nightfall the mines belonging to Mr. Edwards.
I enjoyed my night's rest here from a reason which will not
be fully appreciated in England, namely, the absence of
fleas! The rooms in Coquimbo swarm with them; but they
will not live here at the height of only three or four
thousand feet: it can scarcely be the trifling diminution
of temperature, but some other cause which destroys these
troublesome insects at this place. The mines are now in a
bad state, though they formerly yielded about 2000 pounds
in weight of silver a year. It has been said that "a person
with a copper-mine will gain; with silver he may gain; but
with gold he is sure to lose." This is not true: all the large
Chilian fortunes have been made by mines of the more
precious metals. A short time since an English physician
returned to England from Copiapo, taking with him the
profits of one share of a silver-mine, which amounted to
about 24,000 pounds sterling. No doubt a copper-mine with
care is a sure game, whereas the other is gambling, or rather
taking a ticket in a lottery. The owners lose great quantities
of rich ores; for no precautions can prevent robberies.
I heard of a gentleman laying a bet with another, that one
of his men should rob him before his face. The ore when
brought out of the mine is broken into pieces, and the useless
stone thrown on one side. A couple of the miners who
were thus employed, pitched, as if by accident, two fragments
away at the same moment, and then cried out for a joke
"Let us see which rolls furthest." The owner, who was
standing by, bet a cigar with his friend on the race. The
miner by this means watched the very point amongst the
rubbish where the stone lay. In the evening he picked it
up and carried it to his master, showing him a rich mass of
silver-ore, and saying, "This was the stone on which you
won a cigar by its rolling so far."
May 23rd. - We descended into the fertile valley of Coquimbo,
and followed it till we reached an Hacienda belonging
to a relation of Don Jose, where we stayed the next day.
I then rode one day's journey further, to see what were
declared to be some petrified shells and beans, which latter
turned out to be small quartz pebbles. We passed through
several small villages; and the valley was beautifully
cultivated, and the whole scenery very grand. We were here
near the main Cordillera, and the surrounding hills were
lofty. In all parts of northern Chile, fruit trees produce
much more abundantly at a considerable height near the
Andes than in the lower country. The figs and grapes of
this district are famous for their excellence, and are
cultivated to a great extent. This valley is, perhaps, the most
productive one north of Quillota. I believe it contains,
including Coquimbo, 25,000 inhabitants. The next day I
returned to the Hacienda, and thence, together with Don
Jose, to Coquimbo.
June 2nd. - We set out for the valley of Guasco, following
the coast-road, which was considered rather less desert than
the other. Our first day's ride was to a solitary house, called
Yerba Buena, where there was pasture for our horses. The
shower mentioned as having fallen, a fortnight ago, only
reached about half-way to Guasco; we had, therefore, in the
first part of our journey a most faint tinge of green, which
soon faded quite away. Even where brightest, it was scarcely
sufficient to remind one of the fresh turf and budding
flowers of the spring of other countries. While travelling
through these deserts one feels like a prisoner shut up in
a gloomy court, who longs to see something green and to
smell a moist atmosphere.
June 3rd. - Yerba Buena to Carizal. During the first part
of the day we crossed a mountainous rocky desert, and afterwards
a long deep sandy plain, strewed with broken sea-shells.
There was very little water, and that little saline:
the whole country, from the coast to the Cordillera, is an
uninhabited desert. I saw traces only of one living animal in
abundance, namely, the shells of a Bulimus, which were
collected together in extraordinary numbers on the driest
spots. In the spring one humble little plant sends out a few
leaves, and on these the snails feed. As they are seen only
very early in the morning, when the ground is slightly damp
with dew, the Guascos believe that they are bred from it.
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