26o DESCENT OF GLACIERS chap. 



only 5600 to 7500 feet) and in central Chile ^ (a distance of only 

 9° of latitude) is truly wonderful. The land from the south- 

 ward of Chiloe to near Concepcion (lat. 37°) is hidden by one 

 dense forest dripping with moisture. The sky is cloudy, and 

 we have seen how badly the fruits of southern Europe succeed. 

 In central Chile, on the other hand, a little northward of 

 Concepcion, the sky is generally clear, rain does not fall for the 

 seven summer months, and southern European fruits succeed 

 admirably ; and even the sugar-cane has been cultivated.^ 

 No doubt the plane of perpetual snow undergoes the above 

 remarkable flexure of 9000 feet, unparalleled in other parts of 

 the world, not far from the latitude of Concepcion, where the 

 land ceases to be covered with forest-trees ; for trees in South 

 America indicate a rainy climate, and rain a clouded sky and 

 little heat in summer. 



The descent of glaciers to the sea must, I conceive, mainly 

 depend (subject, of course, to a proper supply of snow in the 

 upper region) on the lowness of the line of perpetual snow on 

 steep mountains near the coast. As the snow-line is so low in 

 Tierra del Fuego, we might have expected that many of the 

 glaciers would have reached the sea. Nevertheless I was 

 astonished when I first saw a range, only from 3000 to 4000 

 feet in height, in the latitude of Cumberland, with every valley 

 filled with streams of ice descending to the sea-coast. Almost 

 every arm of the sea, which penetrates to the interior higher 

 chain, not only in Tierra del Fuego, but on the coast for 650 

 miles northwards, is terminated by " tremendous and astonishing 

 glaciers," as described by one of the officers on the survey. 

 Great masses of ice frequently fall from these icy cliffs, and 

 the crash reverberates like the broadside of a man-of-war, 

 through the lonely channels. These falls, as noticed in the 

 last chapter, produce great waves which break on the adjoining 

 coasts. It is known that earthquakes frequently cause masses 

 of earth to fall from sea-cliffs : how terrific, then, would be the 



1 On the Cordillera of central Chile, I believe the snow-line varies exceedingly in 

 height in different summers. I was assured that during one very dry and long 

 summer, all the snow disappeared from Aconcagua, although it attains the prodigious 

 height of 23,000 feet. It is probable that much of the snow at these great heights 

 is evaporated, rather than thawed. 



^ Miers's Chile, vol. i. p. 415. It is said that the sugar-cane grew at Ingenio, 

 lat. 32° to 33°, but not in sufficient quantity to make the manufacture profitable. In 

 the valley of Quillota, south of Ingenio, I saw some large date-palm trees. 



