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 Conveys An Idea,
Not More Definite Than The Savage Implies 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 and produced 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 face of the earth, and that during this
whole period, 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 were
from 3000 to 6000 or 8000 feet high, with rounded outlines
and steep bare flanks. The general colour of the rock was
dullish purple, and the stratification very distinct. If the
scenery was not beautiful, it was 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 geologizing. 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 Nolasko. Sir F. Head
marvels how mines have been discovered in such extraordinary
situations, as the bleak summit of the mountain of S.
Pedro de Nolasko. In the first place, metallic veins in this
country are generally harder than the surrounding strata:
hence, during the gradual wear of the hills, they project
above the surface of the ground. Secondly, almost every
labourer, especially in the northern parts of Chile, understands
something about the appearance of ores. In the great
mining provinces of Coquimbo and Copiapo, firewood is very
scarce, and men search 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 discovered by a man who threw a stone
at his loaded donkey, and thinking that it was very heavy, he
picked it up, and found it full of pure silver: the vein
occurred at no great distance, standing up like a wedge of
metal. The miners, also, taking a crowbar with them, often
wander on Sundays over the mountains. In this 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 discoverers.
20th. - As we ascended the valley, the vegetation, with
the exception of a few pretty alpine flowers, became exceedingly
scanty, and of quadrupeds, birds, or insects, scarcely
one could be seen.
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