I Am Sure That This Extreme Clearness Of The Air
Gives A Peculiar Character To The Landscape, All Objects
Appearing To Be Brought Nearly Into One Plane, As In A Drawing
Or Panorama.
The transparency is, I presume, owing to
the equable and high state of atmospheric dryness.
This
dryness was shown by the manner in which woodwork
shrank (as I soon found by the trouble my geological hammer
gave me); by articles of food, such as bread and sugar,
becoming extremely hard; and by the preservation of the
skin and parts of the flesh of the beasts, which had perished
on the road. To the same cause we must attribute the singular
facility with which electricity is excited. My flannel
waistcoat, when rubbed in the dark, appeared as if it had
been washed with phosphorus, - every hair on a dog's back
crackled; - even the linen sheets, and leathern straps of the
saddle, when handled, emitted sparks.
March 23rd. - The descent on the eastern side of the Cordillera
is much shorter or steeper than on the Pacific side;
in other words, the mountains rise more abruptly from the
plains than from the alpine country of Chile. A level and
brilliantly white sea of clouds was stretched out beneath our
feet, shutting out the view of the equally level Pampas. We
soon entered the band of clouds, and did not again emerge
from it that day. About noon, finding pasture for the animals
and bushes for firewood at Los Arenales, we stopped
for the night. This was near the uppermost limit of bushes,
and the elevation, I suppose, was between seven and eight
thousand feet.
I was much struck with the marked difference between
the vegetation of these eastern valleys and those on the
Chilian side: yet the climate, as well as the kind of soil, is
nearly the same, and the difference of longitude very trifling.
The same remark holds good with the quadrupeds, and in
a lesser degree with the birds and insects. I may instance the
mice, of which I obtained thirteen species on the shores of
the Atlantic, and five on the Pacific, and not one of them
is identical. We must except all those species, which habitually
or occasionally frequent elevated mountains; and certain
birds, which range as far south as the Strait of Magellan.
This fact is in perfect accordance with the geological
history of the Andes; for these mountains have existed as
a great barrier since the present races of animals have
appeared; and therefore, unless we suppose the same species
to have been created in two different places, we ought not to
expect any closer similarity between the organic beings on
the opposite sides of the Andes than on the opposite shores
of the ocean. In both cases, we must leave out of the question
those kinds which have been able to cross the barrier,
whether of solid rock or salt-water. [5]
A great number of the plants and animals were absolutely
the same as, or most closely allied to, those of Patagonia.
We here have the agouti, bizcacha, three species of armadillo,
the ostrich, certain kinds of partridges and other birds,
none of which are ever seen in Chile, but are the characteristic
animals of the desert plains of Patagonia.
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