242 TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. xiii. 



night sleet or rain fell, rendering it well-nigh impossible to keep 

 up a fire out of the sodden materials. For me the men con- 

 structed a sort of floating bed, cutting down reeds, and crossing 

 and recrossing them, piling them up until they no longer sank 

 in the slime. For themselves they made smaller platforms of a 

 similar description, and sat on their heels during the whole night, 

 trying to keep up a fire. 



April 11. At Corredor Macliai. We advanced and rejoined 

 the others, having to pass through country more difficult than 

 any we had hitherto traversed. The land was entirely marshy, 

 even where the slopes were considerable ; and upon it there was 

 growing a reedy grass to the height of eight to ten feet,^ in 

 such dense masses as to be nearly impenetrable. The machetas 

 were found inadequate. It would have taken several weeks' 

 labour of our whole party to have cleared a track over a single 

 mile. The only way of getting through was by continually 

 parting the reeds with the hands (as if swimming), and as they 

 were exceedingly stiff they sprang back directly we let go, and 

 shut us out from each other's sight. The edges of the leaves 

 cut like razors, and in a short time our hands were streaming 

 with blood, for we were compelled to grasp the stems to pre- 

 vent ourselves from sinking into the boggy soil. On this day 

 we crossed the divide, and the streams now flowed towards the 

 Atlantic. The wliole country was like a saturated spo7ige. 



We joined the others in due course, under an overhanging 

 cliff of silvery mica-slate,^ which we afterwards found was known 

 by the name of Corredor Machai, or the hunter's refuge. It 



1 This has been identified by Prof. D. Oliver with the Cliusquea aristata of 

 Munro, — a reedy grass which is only known to grow in this region, 



2 "A rather fine-grained micaceous gneiss. The slaty formation is evidently 

 due to a rough cleavage traversing the rock, on the planes of which a silvery mica 

 has been rather largely developed. . . The structure of the rock is perplexing ; 

 it must undoubtedly be classed with the crystalline schists, but I suspect that 

 the very marked schistosity is a secondary development due to crushing." — Prof. T. 

 G. Bonney, Proc. Boyal Soc, Nov. 27, 1884. 



