1831.] TRACES OF INDIANS. 187 



1100 feet above the river, and its character was much altered. 

 The well-rounded pebbles of porphyry 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 in situ, and took out my compass to observe 

 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 

 any 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 

 theory except by that of floating icebergs. 



During 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. Nevertheless, in two places 

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

 I do not think could have been accidentally thrown together. 

 They were placed on points, projecting over the edge of the 

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

 near Port Desire. 



May 4th. 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 the 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 

 by the basaltic platforms, and fronted by the long range of the 

 snow-clad Cordillera. But we viewed these grand mountaiaf 



