84 Charles Darwin. 



At Valparaiso Darwin found an old school-mate, 

 with whom he took up his residence, making daily 

 trips into the surrounding country, ever showing that 

 care and earnest research that forms so prominent a 

 feature in all his work. One of the rides which he 

 took along the base of the Andes was to the hacienda 

 of Quintero, for the purpose of examining an ancient 

 section of ocean bottom, portions of which were 

 burned for the lime its shells contained. The mass 

 was almost entirely composed of shells, while the 

 mould which covered them was found, under micro- 

 scopical examination, to be marine mud, made up of 

 minute portions of organic matter. In this deposit 

 the young naturalist saw further evidence of the vast 

 upheaval which had taken place here, and the pres- 

 ence of this ancient beaeh thirteen hundred feet 

 above the present ocean level was viewed by him 

 with no little interest and wonder. 



Many mines were visited in the neighbouring 

 country, there being at that time a mining craze for 

 gold and copper. The life of the miners was one to 

 be commiserated. They began work at daylight, 

 continuing until dark, with scarcely any intermission. 

 They received for their labour five dollars per month, 

 and food which consisted of the following: For 

 breakfast, sixteen figs and two small loaves of bread ; 

 dinner, boiled beans; for supper, roasted wheat 

 grain. They rarely tasted meat. 



A visit was made by Darwin to the hot springs of 

 Cauquenes, where mineral water of some little me- 

 dicinal value bursts forth from the rocks. In 1822 

 an earthquake stopped the flow, which did not re- 



