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Show 386 PASSAGE OF CORDILLERA. March, 1835. now glides past is irrecoverable. So is it with thes_e stone~; the ocean is their eternity, and each note of that w1ld mus1c tells of one other step towards their destiny. It is not possible for the mind to comprehend, except by a slow process, any effect which is produced by a cause repeated so often, that the multiplier itself ce~ses to convey any more definite idea, than the savage receives when he points to the hairs of his head. As often as I have .seen beds of mud, sand, and shingle, accumulated to the thickness of many thousand feet, I have felt inclined to exclaim that causes, such as the present rivers and the present beaches, could never have ground down such masses. But, on the other hand, when listening to the rattling noise of these torrents, and calling to mind that whole races of animals have passed away from the surface of the globe, during the period throughout which, night and day, these stones have gone rattling onwards in their course, I have thought to myself, can any mountains, any continent, withstand such waste? In this part of the valley, the mountains on each side are from about three to six or eight thousand feet high : their outline is rounded, but with steep and bare flanks. The general colour of the rock is a dullish purple, and the stratification very distinct. If the scenery is not beautiful, it is remarkable and grand. We met during the day several herds of cattle, which men were driving down from the higher valleys in the Cordillera. This sign of the approaching winter hurried our steps, more than was convenient for ·geological purposes. The house where we slept was situated at the foot of a mountain, on the summit of which are the mines of S. Pedro de N olasko. Sir F. Head wonders how mines have been discovered in situations so extraordinary, as the bleak summit of the mountain of S. Pedro de N olasko. In the first place, metallic veins in this country are generally harder than the surrounding strata: hence, during the gradual degradation of the hills, they project above the " March, 1835. DISCOVERY OF MINES. 387 surfa~e of. the ground. Secondly, almost every labourer, especmlly m the northern parts of Chile, understands something about the appearance of ores. In the great mining provinces of Coquimbo and Copiap6, firewood is very scarce, and men are employed in searching for it over every hill and dale; and by this means nearly all the richest mines have there been discovered. Chanuncillo, from which silver, to the value of many hundred thousand pounds has been raised in the course of a few years, was thus discovered: a man having thrown a stone at his loaded donkey, afterwa~ ds thought ~hat it was very heavy, and picking it up agam, he found It was full of pure silver. The vein occurred at no ?reat distance, standing up like a wedge of silver. The mmers also, on Sundays, taking a crowbar with them, oft~n set out on such discoveries. In the south part of Chile, the men who drive cattle into the Cordillera, and who frequent every ravine where there is a little pasture, are the usual agents. MARCH 20Ta.-As we ascended the valley the vegetation W.i t h th. e exception of a few pretty alpine f' lowers, became' exceedmgly scanty; and of birds, animals, or insects, scarcely one could be seen. The lofty mountains, their summits marked with a few patches of snow, stood well separated from each other ; the valleys being filled up with an immense thi~kness of s~~atified alluvium. I may here briefly ~emark, w1thout detailmg the reasons on which the opinion IS grounded, that in all probability this matter was accumula. t ed at the bottoms of deep arms of the sea' which runnmg from the inland basins, penetrated to the axis of ~he Cordillera,-in a similar manner to what now happens ~n ~he southern part of this same great range. This fact, m ~tself most cu:ious, as preserving a record of a very ancient state of thmgs, possesses a high theoretical interest, wh~n considered in relation to the kind of elevation by whiCh the present great altitude of these mountains has been attained. 2 c 2 |