386. ' PASSAGE OF CORDILLERA. March, 1835. 



glides past is irrecoverable. So is it with these stones; 

 the ocean is their eternity, and each note of that wild music 

 tells of one other step towards their destiny. 



It is not possible for the mind to comprehend, except 

 by a slow process, any effect which is produced by a cause 

 repeated so often, that the multiplier itself ceases to convey 

 any more definite idesi, than the savage receives when he 

 points to the hairs of his head. As often as I have seen beds 

 of mud, sand, and shingle, accumulated to the thickness of 

 many thousand feet, I have felt inclined to exclaim that 

 causes, such as the present rivers and the present beaches, 

 could never have ground down such masses. But, on the 

 other hand, when listening to the rattling noise of these 

 torrents, and calling to mind that whole races of animals 

 have passed away from the surface of the globe, during 

 the period throughout which, night and day, these stones 

 have gone rattling onwards in their course, I have thought 

 to myself, can any mountains, any continent, withstand such 

 waste ? 



In this part of the valley, the mountains on each side are 

 from about three to six or eight thousand feet high : their 

 outline is rounded, but with steep and bare flanks. The 

 general colour of the rock is a dullish purple, and the 

 stratification very distinct. If the scenery is not beautiful, 

 it is remarkable and grand. We met during the day several 

 herds of cattle, which men were driving down from the 

 higher valleys in the Cordillera. This sign of the approach- 

 ing winter hurried our steps, more than was convenient for 

 geological purposes. The house where we slept was situated 

 at the foot of a mountain, on the summit of which are 

 the mines of S. Pedro de Nolasko. 



Sir F. Head wonders how mines have been dis- 

 covered in situations so extraordinary, as the bleak sum- 

 mit of the mountain of S. Pedro de Nolasko. In the 

 first place, metallic veins in this country are generally 

 harder than the surrounding strata: hence, during the 

 gradual degradation of the hills, they project above the 



