180 1.] TRACES OF INDIANS. 187 



1100 feet above the river, and its character vas much iiltered. 

 The well-rounded pebbles of porphj-ry were mingled with many 

 immense angular fragments of basalt and of primary rocks. The 

 first of these erratic boulders which I noticed, was sixty-seven miles 

 distant from the nearest mountain ; another which I measured 

 was five yards square, and projected five feet above the gravel. 

 Its edges were so angular, and its size so great, that I at first 

 mistook it for a rock m situ, and took out my compass to ob.-:erve 

 the direction of its cleavage. The plain here was not quite so 

 level as that nearer the coast, but yet it betrayed no signs of 

 an}' great violence. Under these circumstances it is, I believe, 

 quite impossible to explain the transportal of these gigantic 

 masses of rock so many miles from their parent-source, on any 

 tJieory except by that of floating icebergs. 



DuriuLT the two last days we met with signs of horses, and with 

 several small articles which had belonged to the Indians — such as 

 parts of a mantle and a bunch of ostrich feathers — but they ap- 

 peared to have been lying long on the ground. Between the place 

 where the Indians had so lately crossed the river and this neigh- 

 bourhood, though so many miles apart, the country appears to be 

 quite unfrequented. At first, considering the abundance of the 

 guanacos, I was surprised at this ; but it is explained by the 

 stony nature of the plains, which would soon disable an unshod 

 horse from taking part in the chace. IN^evertheless, in two places 

 in this very central region, I found small heaps of stones, which 

 I do not think could have been accidentally thrown together. 

 They w^ere placed on points, projecting over the edge of the 

 highest lava cliff, and they resembled, but on a small scale, those 

 near Port Desire. 



3Iay 4^A. — Captain Fitz Roy determined to take the boats no 

 higher. The river had a winding course, and was very rapid ; 

 and the appearance of the country offered no temptation to pro- 

 ceed any further. Everywhere we met with the same produc- 

 tions, and tlie same dreary landscape. We were now one hun- 

 dred and forty miles distant from the Atlantic, and about sixty 

 from the nearest arm of the Pacific. The valley in this upper 

 part expanded into a wide basin, bounded on the north and south 

 ])y the basaltic platforms, and fronted by the long range of the 

 snow-clad Cordillera. But we ^■iewed these j^rand mountains 



