AIR OVER MOUNTAINS. 



while the sun is shining, than air at the same 

 elevation over plains. That is the reason why 

 travellers who have ascended the Andes and other 

 mountains of great elevation have described them- 

 selves as being above the clouds; and they, no 

 doubt, have been above the clouds of the plain and 

 the valley, just as a man on Highgate Hill or 

 Hampstead Heath is often above the London fog ; 

 but if they had dwelt for months at even the 

 highest point that the human foot has trodden, 

 they would have found, though they might not 

 have survived to tell, that they were not above the 

 clouds and storms of the mountains. The inha- 

 bitants of South America, of Chili in particular, 

 have roads, and also work mines in the Andes, 

 far above the limit of perpetual frost. But ele- 

 vated and cold as they are, and rare as is the 

 atmosphere upon those dreary heights, they by 

 no means enjoy a peaceful sky. The " tempo- 

 rales" which rage there are perhaps more violent, 

 both in the fury of the wind and the thickness of 

 the snow, than in any other part of the world, as 

 the number of crosses set up at death- spots, and 

 the number of bones (of those who have been 

 blown over the precipices) that lie bleaching in 

 the desert, but too truly and emphatically proclaim. 

 But though the clouds which form there, produce 

 effects so disastrous and fatal, it is probable that 

 they could not find their way down through the 

 mass of atmosphere that lies between that eleva- 

 tion and a low plain ; but they show that the 

 atmosphere can act as powerfully at those heights 

 as in any other situation, more so indeed than 

 upon the surface of a level country, and more 

 especially of a country covered with trees or other 



