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
Thickness Of Stratified Alluvium.
The features in the scenery
of the Andes which struck me most, as contrasted with the
other mountain chains
With which I am acquainted, were, -
the flat fringes sometimes expanding into narrow plains on
each side of the valleys, - the bright colours, chiefly red and
purple, of the utterly bare and precipitous hills of porphyry,
the grand and continuous wall-like dykes, - the plainly-
divided strata which, where nearly vertical, formed the
picturesque and wild central pinnacles, but where less inclined,
composed the great massive mountains on the outskirts of the
range, - and lastly, the smooth conical piles of fine and
brightly coloured detritus, which sloped up at a high angle
from the base of the mountains, sometimes to a height of
more than 2000 feet.
I frequently observed, both in Tierra del Fuego and within
the Andes, that where the rock was covered during the greater
part of the year with snow, it was shivered in a very
extraordinary manner into small angular fragments. Scoresby [1]
has observed the same fact in Spitzbergen. The case
appears to me rather obscure: for that part of the mountain
which is protected by a mantle of snow, must be less subject
to repeated and great changes of temperature than any other
part. I have sometimes thought, that the earth and fragments
of stone on the surface, were perhaps less effectually
removed by slowly percolating snow-water [2] than by rain, and
therefore that the appearance of a quicker disintegration of
the solid rock under the snow, was deceptive. Whatever the
cause may be, the quantity of crumbling stone on the Cordillera
is very great. Occasionally in the spring, great masses
of this detritus slide down the mountains, and cover the
snow-drifts in the valleys, thus forming natural ice-houses.
We rode over one, the height of which was far below the
limit of perpetual snow.
As the evening drew to a close, we reached a singular
basin-like plain, called the Valle del Yeso. It was covered
by a little dry pasture, and we had the pleasant sight of a
herd of cattle amidst the surrounding rocky deserts. The
valley takes its name of Yeso from a great bed, I should think
at least 2000 feet thick, of white, and in some parts quite
pure, gypsum. We slept with a party of men, who were
employed in loading mules with this substance, which is used
in the manufacture of wine. We set out early in the morning
(21st), and continued to follow the course of the river, which
had become very small, till we arrived at the foot of the ridge,
that separates the waters flowing into the Pacific and Atlantic
Oceans. The road, which as yet had been good with a steady
but very gradual ascent, now changed into a steep zigzag
track up the great range, dividing the republics of Chile
and Mendoza.
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