1834.] TRACES OF INDIANS. 187 
1100 feet above the river, and its character was much altered. 
The well-rounded pebbles of porphyry were mingled with many 
immense angular fragments of basalt and of primary rocks. The 
first of these erratic boulders which I noticed, was sixty-seven miles 
distant from the nearest ‘mountain; another which I measured 
was five yards square, and projected five feet above the gravel. 
Its edges were so angular, and its size so great, that I at first 
mistook it for a rock in sit, and took out my compass to observe 
the direction of its cleavage. The plain here was not quite so 
level as that nearer the coast, but yet it betrayed no signs of 
any great violence. Under these circumstances it is, I believe, 
quite impossible to explain the transportal of these gigantic 
masses of rock so many miles from their parent-source, on any 
theory except by that of floating icebergs. 
During the two last days we met with signs of horses, and with 
several small articles which had belonged to the Indians—such as 
parts of a mantle and a bunch of ostrich feathers—but they ap- 
peared to have been lying long on the ground. Between the place 
where the Indians had so lately crossed the river and this neigh- 
bourhood, though so many miles apart, the country appears to be 
quite unfrequented. At first, considering the abundance of the 
guanacos, I was surprised at this; but it is explained by the 
stony nature of the plains, which would soon disable an unshod 
horse from taking part in the chace. Nevertheless, in two places 
in this very central region, I found small heaps of stones, which 
I do not think could have been accidentally thrown together. 
They were placed on points, projecting over the edge of the 
highest lava cliff, and they resembled, but on a small scale, those 
near Port Desire. 
May 4th.—Captain Fitz Roy determined to take the boats no 
higher. The river had a winding course, and was very rapid ; 
and the appearance of the country offered no temptation to pro- 
ceed any further. Everywhere we met with the same produc- 
tions, and the same dreary landscape. "We were now one hun- 
dred and forty miles distant from the Atlantic, and about sixty 
from the nearest arm of the Pacific. The valley in this upper 
part expanded into a wide basin, bounded on the north and south 
by the basaltic platforms, and fronted by the Jong range of the 
snow-clad Cordillera. But we viewed these grand mountains 
