440 



NORTHERN CHILE. 



June^ 1835. 



bivouacked at the primera linea/' or the first hne of the par- 

 tition of the waters. The streams^ however^ on the east side do 

 not flow to the Atlantic^ but into an elevated district^ in 

 the middle of which there is a large salina, or salt lake ; — 

 thus forming a little Caspian sea at the elevation^ perhaps^ of 

 ten thousand feet. Where we slept^ there were some con- 

 siderable patches of snow^ but they do not remain throughout 

 the year. The winds in these lofty regions obey very regular 

 laws : everyday a fresh breeze blows up the valley^ and at night, 

 an hour or two after sunset, the air from the cold regions 

 above descends, as through a funnel. This night it blew a 

 gale of wind, and the temperature must have been consider- 

 ably below the freezing-point, for water in a short time be- 

 came a block of ice. No clothes seemed to oppose any 

 obstacle to the air ; I suffered very much from the cold, so 

 that I could not sleep, and in the morning rose with my 

 body quite dull and benumbed. 



In the Cordillera further southward, people lose their lives 

 from snow-storms ; here, this sometimes happens from 

 another cause. My guide, when a boy of fourteen years old, 

 was passing the Cordillera with some others, in the month of 

 May ; and while in the central parts, a furious gale of wind 

 arose so that the men could hardly stick on their mules, 

 and stones were flying along the ground. The day was 

 cloudless and not a speck of snow fell, but the temperature 

 was low. It is probable that the thermometer would not 

 have stood very many degrees below the freezing-point, but 

 the eff'ect on their bodies, ill protected by clothing, would be 

 in proportion to the rapidity of the current of cold air. The 

 gale lasted for more than a day ; the men began to lose all 

 their strength, and the mules would not move onwards. 

 My guldens brother tried to return, but he perished, and his 

 body was found two years afterwards, lying by the side of his 

 mule near the road, with the bridle still in his hand. Two 

 other men in the party lost their fingers and toes, and out of 

 two hundred mules and thirty cows, only fourteen of the 

 former escaped alive. Many years ago the whole of a large 



