Jan. 1835. 



TRES MONTES. 



345 



Tres Montes. After breakfast the next morning, a party 

 ascended one of these mountains, which had an altitude of 

 2400 feet. The scenery was remarkable. The chief part of 

 the range was composed of grand, solid, abrupt masses of 

 granite, which appeared as if they had been coeval with the 

 beginning of the world. The granite is capped with slaty 

 gneiss, and this in the lapse of ages has been worn into 

 strange finger-shaped points. These two formations, thus 

 differing in their outlines, agree in being almost destitute of 

 vegetation. This barrenness had to our eyes a still stranger 

 appearance, from our having been so long accustomed to the 

 sight of an almost universal forest of dark green trees. I 

 took much delight in examining the structure of these moun- 

 tains. The complicated and lofty ranges bore a noble aspect 

 of durability, — equally profitless, however, to man and to all 

 other animals. Granite to the geologist is classic ground : 

 from its wide -spread limits, and its beautiful and compact 

 texture, few rocks have been more early recognised. Granite 

 has given rise, perhaps, to more discussion concerning its 

 origin than any other formation. We generally see it con- 

 stituting the fundamental rock, and, however formed, we 

 know it is the deepest layer in the crust of this globe, to 

 which man has been able to penetrate. The limit of man^s 

 knowledge in any subject possesses a high interest, which is 

 perhaps increased by its close neighbourhood to the realms 

 of imagination. 



January 1st, 1835. — The new year is ushered in, with 

 the ceremonies proper to it in these regions. She lays out 

 no false hopes ; a heavy N. W. gale, with steady rain, 

 bespeaks the rising year. Thank God, we are not destined 

 here to see the end of it, but hope then to be in the Pacific, 

 where a blue sky tells one there is a heaven — a something 

 beyond the clouds above our heads. 



The N. W. winds prevailing for the next four days, we 

 only managed to cross a great bay, and then anchored in 

 another secure harbour. I accompanied the captain in a 

 boat to the head of a deep creek. On the way the number 



