350 HYDROPHOBIA. [chap. xvi. 



which was fifteen feet in circumference : how surprising it is 

 that every atom of the woody matter in this great cylinder 

 should have been removed and replaced by silex so perfectly, 

 that each vessel and pore is preserved ! These trees 

 flourished at about the period of our lower chalk ; they all 

 belonged to the fir-tribe. It was amusing to hear the 

 inhabitants discussing the nature of the fossil shells which 

 I collected, almost in the same terms as were used a 

 century ago in Europe — namely, whether or not they had 

 been thus "born by nature." My geological examination 

 of the country generally created a good deal of surprise 

 amongst the Chilenos : it was long before they could be 

 convinced that I was not hunting for mines. This was 

 sometimes troublesome. I found the most ready way of 

 explaining my employment was to ask them how it was 

 that they themselves were not curious concerning earth- 

 quakes and volcanoes ? — why some springs were hot and 

 others cold ? — why there were mountains in Chile, and not 

 a hill in La Plata ? These bare questions at once satisfied 

 and silenced the greater number ; some, however (like a 

 few in England who are a century behindhand), thought 

 that all such inquiries were useless and impious ; and 

 that it was sufficient that God had thus made the 

 mountains. 



An order had recently been issued that all stray dogs 

 should be killed, and we saw many lying dead on the road. 

 A great number had lately gone mad, and several men had 

 been bitten and had died in consequence. On several 

 occasions hydrophobia has prevailed in this valley. It is 

 remarkable thus to find so strange and dreadful a disease 

 appearing time after time in the same isolated spot. It has 

 been remarked that certain villages in England are in like 

 manner much more subject to this visitation than others. 

 Dr. Unanue states that hydrophobia was first known in 

 South America in 1803 : this statement is corroborated by 

 Azara and Ulloa having never heard of It in their time. 

 Dr. Unanue says that It broke out in Central America, and 

 slowly travelled southward. It reached Arequipa in 1807 ; 

 and It Is said that some men there, who had not been bitten, 

 were affected, as were some negroes, who had eaten a 

 bullock which had died of hydrophobia. At lea forty-two 

 people thus miserably perished. The disease came on 

 betw^een twelve and ninety days after the bite ; and in those 

 cases where it did come on death ensued invariably within 



