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Show 138 NOR'l'IIERN Cll ILE. June, 1835. but little furrowed by ravines. No considerable river could ever have poured its waters over the bed of shingl.e, w~thout having excavated a channel similar to those occurrmg m the southern valleys. I feel little doubt that it was left in the state we now see it, by the gradually retiring sea. The dry valleys mentioned by travellers in Peru, probably owe their origin to a similar agency, and not to the running streams of any former period. I observed in one place, where a ravine (which amongst any other mountains would have been called a grand valley), joined the Despoblado, that the bed of the latter, though composed merely of sand and gravel, was higher than that of its tributary. A mere rivulet of water, in the course of an hour, would have cut a channel for itself; but it was evident that centuries had passed away, and no such rivulet had drained these great valleys. It was curious to behold this machinery (if such a term may be used) for the drainage, all, with the last trifling exception, perfect, yet without any signs of activity. Every one must have remarked how mud-banks, left by the retiring tide, imitate in miniature a country with hill and dale : and here we find a model, only on a grander scale, formed by the waves of a retiring ocean. Let thousands of years replace minutes of the tidal change, and the difference between soft mud and hard rock will barely modify the result. If a shower of rain falls on the mud-bank, when left dry, it deepens the shallow lines of excavation: and so will it be with the rain of successive centuries on the bank of rock and soil, which we call a continent. We rode on after it was dark, till we reached a side ravine, with a small well called " Agua amarga." The water deserved its name, for besides being saline it was most offensively putrid and bitter ; so that we could not force ourselves to drink either tea or mate. I suppose the distance from the river of Copiap6 to this spot was at least twenty-five or thirty English miles ; in the whole space there was not a single drop of water, the country almost deserving the name of desert in the strictest sense. Yet about halfway we passed the old Indian ruins near Punta Gorda, which I June, 1835. VALLEY OF DESPOBLADO. 43!) have already mentioned. I noticed also in front of some of _the valleys, which branch off from the Despoblado, two piles of stones placed a little distance apart, and directed so as to point up the mouth of the small valley. My companions knew nothing about them, and only answered my queries by their imperturbable " quien sabe ?" JuNE 27TH.-We set out early in the morning, and by mid-day reached the ravine of Paypote, where there is a tiny rill of water, with a little vegetation, and even a few algarroba (a mimosa) trees. On this latter account a smelting furnace had formerly been built here. We found a solitary man in charge of it, whose sole employment was hunting guanacoes. At night it froze sharply; but having plenty of firewood, we kept ourselves warm. 28TH.-+ We continued gradually ascending as we followed the valley, which now had assumed the character of a ravine. During the day we saw several guanacoes, and the track of the closely-allied species, called the Vicuna. This latter animal is pre-eminently alpine in its habits ; it seldom descends much below the limit of perpetual snow, and therefore haunts even a more lofty and sterile situation than the guanaco. The only other animal which we saw in any number was a small fox. I suppose this animal preys on the mice and other small rodents, which, as long as there is the least vegetation subsist in considerable numbers in very desert places. In Patagonia, even on the borders of the salinas, where a drop of fresh water can never be found, these little animals swarm. Next to lizards, mice appear to be able to support existence on the smallest and driest portions of the earth,-even on islets in the midst of great oceans. I believe it will be found, that several islands, which possess no other warmblooded quadruped, have small rodents peculiar to themselves. The scenery on all sides showed desolation, brightened, and made palpable, by a clear, unclouded sky. Custom excludes the feeling of sublimity, and when this is wanting, such scenery is rather the reverse of interesting. We |