274 CENTRAL CHILE chap. 



frequently happens, was much shattered and broken into huge 

 angular fragments. I observed, however, one remarkable 

 circumstance, namely, that many of the surfaces presented 

 every degree of freshness — some appearing as if broken the 

 day before, whilst on others lichens had either just become, or 

 had long grown, attached. I so fully believed that this was 

 owing to the frequent earthquakes, that I felt inclined to hurry 

 from below each loose pile. As one might very easily be 

 deceived in a fact of this kind, I doubted its accuracy, until 

 ascending Mount Wellington, in Van Diemen's Land, where 

 earthquakes do not occur; and there I saw the summit of the 

 mountain similarly composed and similarly shattered, but all 

 the blocks appeared as if they had been hurled into their 

 present position thousands of years ago. 



We spent the day on the summit, and I never enjoyed 

 one more thoroughly. Chile, bounded by the Andes and the 

 Pacific, was seen as in a map. The pleasure from the scenery, 

 in itself beautiful, was heightened by the many reflections 

 which arose from the mere view of the Campana range with 

 its lesser parallel ones, and of the broad valley of Quillota 

 directly intersecting them. Who can avoid wondering at the 

 force which has upheaved these mountains, and even more so 

 at the countless ages which it must have required to have 

 broken through, removed, and levelled whole masses of them ? 

 It is well in this case to call to mind the vast shingle and 

 sedimentary beds of Patagonia, which, if heaped on the 

 Cordillera, would increase its height by so many thousand feet. 

 When in that country, I wondered how any mountain -chain 

 could have supplied such masses, and not have been utterly 

 obliterated. We must not now reverse the wonder, and doubt 

 whether all-powerful time can grind down mountains — even 

 the gigantic Cordillera — into gravel and mud. 



The appearance of the Andes was different from that 

 which I had expected. The lower line of the snow was of 

 course horizontal, and to this line the even summits of the 

 range seemed quite parallel. Only at long intervals a group 

 of points or a single cone showed where a volcano had 

 existed, or does now exist. Hence the range resembled a 

 great solid wall, surmounted here and there by a tower, and 

 making a most perfect barrier to the country. 



