410 



PASSAGE OF CORDILLERA. April, 1835. 



at a great elevation, where it is both cold and extremely- 

 sterile. At first I imagined, that these houses were places 

 of refuge built by the Indians on the first arrival of the 

 Spaniards ; but subsequently I have been almost inclined 

 to speculate on the possibility of a small change of climate. 



In the northern parts of Chile, within the Cordillera of 

 Copiapo, old Indian houses are found in very many parts : 

 by digging amongst the ruins, bits of woollen articles, in- 

 struments of precious metals, and heads of Indian corn, are 

 not unfrequently discovered. I had likewise in my posses- 

 sion the head of an arrow, made of agate, of precisely the 

 same figure as those now used in Tierra del Fuego. I am 

 aware that the Peruvian Indians* frequently inhabit most 

 lofty and bleak situations ; but in these cases, I was assured 

 by men, who had spent their lives in travelling the Andes, 

 that very many (muchisimas) houses were found at elevations 

 so great as almost to border on the perpetual snow, and in 

 parts where there exist no passes, and where the land pro- 

 duces absolutely nothing, and what is still more extraor- 

 dinary, where there is no water. Nevertheless it is the 

 opinion of the people of the country (although they are much 

 puzzled by the circumstance), that, from the appearance of 

 the houses, the Indians must have used them as places of 

 residence. In the Despoblado (uninhabited valley), near 

 Copiapo, at a spot called Punta Gorda, I saw the remains 

 of seven or eight square little rooms, which were of a 

 similar form with those at the Tambillos, but built chiefly 

 of mud (which the present inhabitants cannot by any means 

 imitate in durabilityt) instead of with stone. They were 

 situated in the most conspicuous and defenceless position, 



* Mr. Pentland even considers, that the love of an elevated situation is 

 characteristic of the constitution of this race. — Geograph. Journ. 



f Ulloa (Noticias Americanas, p. 302) remarks on the same circum- 

 stance in Peru. He adds, when speaking of the mud bricks, "which gives 

 room to think that they had some particular method of working them, 

 that they should become hard, without cracking, the secret of which the 

 present inhabitants are ignorant of." 



