NORTHERN CHILE. [CHAP. xvi. 



much below the limit of perpetual snow, and therefore haunts 

 even a more lofty and sterile situation than the guanaco. The 

 only other animal which we saw in any number was a small fox : 

 I suppose this animal preys on the mice and other small rodents, 

 which, as long as there is the least vegelation, subsist in consi- 

 derable numbers in very desert places. In Patagonia, even on 

 the borders of the salinas, where a drop of fresh water can never 

 be found, excepting dew, these little animals swarm. Next to 

 lizards, mice appear to be able to support existence on the 

 smallest and driest portions of the earth, even on islets in 

 the. midst of great oceans. 



The scene on all sides showed desolation, brightened and made 

 palpable by a clear, unclouded sky. For a time such scenery 

 is sublime, but this feeling cannot last, and then it becomes un- 

 interesting. We bivouacked at the foot of the " primera linea," 

 or the first line of the partition of the waters. The streams, 

 however, on the east side do not flow to the Atlantic, but into an 

 elevated district, in the middle of which there is a large salina, 

 or salt lake ; thus forming a little Caspian Sea at the height, 

 perhaps, of ten thousand feet. Where we slept, there were some 

 considerable patches of snow, but they do not remain throughout 

 the year. The winds in these lofty regions obey very regular 

 laws : every day a fresh breeze blows up the valley, and at night, 

 an hour or two after sunset, the air from the cold regions above 

 descends as through a funnel. This night it blew a gale of wind, 

 and the temperature must have been considerably below the 

 freezing-point, for water in a vessel soon became a block of ice. 

 No clothes seemed to oppose any obstacle to the air ; I suffered 

 very much from the cold, so that I could not sleep, and in the 

 morning rose with my body quite dull and benumbed. 



In the Cordillera further southward, people lose their lives 

 from snow-storms ; here, it sometimes happens from another 

 cause. My guide, when a boy of fourteen years old, was passing 

 the Cordillera with a party in the month of May ; and while in 

 the central parts, a furious gale of wind arose, so that the men 

 could hardly cling on their mules, and stones were flying along 

 the ground. The day was cloudless, and not a speck of snow fell, 

 but the temperature was low. It is probable that the thermo- 

 meter would not have stood very many degrees below the freeze 



