140 



SEVERITY OF THE COLD. 



niards were frozen to death sitting on their 

 mules, in crossing the mountains that divide 

 Chili and Peru. Acosta says^ his friend the 

 general Jerome Costilla^ of Cusco^ lost several 

 of his toes in passing over the desert of Chili, 

 in going from Peru. They were so perished by 

 the severity of the air^ that when he came to 

 look on them^ they were dead ; and fell off with- 

 out any pain^ ' even as a rotten apple falleth 

 from a tree.^ 



He says^ this general formerly conducted a 

 large army over these mountains ; and that he 

 left a considerable number of the soldiers dead 

 therC;, who were killed by the baneful cold winds 

 that constantly blow in those regions. On the 

 generaPs return from his expedition^ he found 

 the dead bodies lying scattered about^ but quite 

 entire, and without scent or putrefaction. Near 

 to the place where the dead bodies were, he 

 found a boy, who had survived his miserable 

 companions that remained behind, unable to 

 proceed on the expedition. This boy had ex- 



