CHAPTER VIII. 



THE FOOT OF THE ANDES. 



At Valparaiso — Andean Life — An Old School-mate — An Ocean Bot- 

 tom — In the Mines — Hot Springs — Darwin Excites Suspicion — 

 Volcanoes — Tame Birds — The Myopotamus — Predaceous Galls 

 —Birds Killed by Them. 



ROM the barren, desolate 

 shores of Tierra del Fu- 

 ego and Patagonia the 

 Beagle sailed for Valpa- 

 raiso, where Darwin was 

 to study the features of 

 life along the base of the 

 Andes. He was enthu- 

 siastic over the change, 

 finding in the dry, bra- 

 cing air and clear blue 

 skies entirely new condi- 

 tions. The general aspects of the country reminded 

 him of Santa Cruz in Teneriffe, and from the bay he 

 had his first glimpse of the Andes proper, and gazed 

 upon the great volcano of Aconcagua, with an alti- 

 tude estimated by his fellow-officers at 23,000 feet. 



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