84 



in any other way but on the principle of a general 

 deluge ; though some authors have^ ridiculously 

 enough, accounted for it, by supposing that the 

 ancient Indians amused themselves in throwing 

 these stones upon this mass, while it was yet soft 

 and in a state of clay. But besides the irration- 

 ality of such a conjecture, the Abbe Morales of 

 Cujo, an intelligent naturalist, who carefully ex- 

 amined these mountains, affirms that the interior 

 f this mass is no less filled with these stones 

 than the exterior, which of itself atfords a suf- 

 ficient proof to the contrary. 



The mine of Uspallata extends along the base 

 of the eastern mountains of the plain of the same 

 name, from the thirty-third degree of latitude^ 

 in a direct northerly course ; but the termination- 

 of it is unknown, for I have been assured, by 

 persons who have followed it for thirty leagues, 

 that it continues to be equally abundant at that 

 distance, and there are those who assert that it is 

 a ramification of the celebr^.ied mine of Potosi. 

 The principal vein is nine feet in breadth, but 

 it branches out upon both sides into several that 

 arc smaller, wliich extend to the neighbouring 

 sQiountaiii?, and are said to exceed thirty miles in 

 length. The matrix of the c-reat vein is a 

 varior.s-coloured earlh, wiiich separates it into 

 five parallel divisions ur layers, of diiferent thick- 

 liesses. Tlie middle layt-r is but two inches tbick ; 

 the Oj>v '.nIu.-Ii is r;;llcJ by the miners the guidti,- 



