274 



CHARLES DARWIN 



ing was calm and still; — the shrill noise of the mountain 

 bizcacha, and the faint cry of a goatsucker, were occa- 

 sionally to be heard. Besides these, few birds, or even 

 insects, frequent these dry, parched mountains. 



August iyth. — In the morning we climbed up the rough 

 mass of greenstone which crowns the summit. This rock, as 

 frequently happens, was much shattered and broken into 

 huge angular fragments. I observed, however, one remark- 

 able circumstance, namely, that many of the surfaces pre- 

 sented every degree of freshness — some appearing as if 

 broken the day before, whilst on others lichens had either 

 just become, or had long grown, attached. I so fully believed 

 that this was owing to the frequent earthquakes, that I felt 

 inclined to hurry from below each loose pile. As one might 

 very easily be deceived in a fact of this kind, I doubted its 

 accuracy, until ascending Mount Wellington, in Van Die- 

 men's Land, where earthquakes do not occur ; and there I saw 

 the summit of the mountain similarly composed and similarly 

 shattered, but all the blocks appeared as if they had been 

 hurled into their present position thousands of years ago. 



We spent the day on the summit, and I never enjoyed one 

 more thoroughly. Chile, bounded by the Andes and the 

 iPacific, was seen as in a map. The pleasure from the scenery, 

 in itself beautiful, was heightened by the many reflections 

 which arose from the mere view of the Campana range with 

 its lesser parallel ones, and of the broad valley of Quillota 

 directly intersecting them. Who can avoid wondering at the 

 fo rce which has upheaved these mountains, and even more 

 so at the countless ages which it must have required to have 

 broken through, removed, and levelled whole masses of them ? 

 It is well in this case to call to mind the vast shingle and 

 sedimentary beds of Patagonia, which, if heaped on the Cor- 

 dillera, would increase its height by so many thousand feet 

 When in that country, I wondered how arty mountain-chain 

 could have supplied such masses, and not have been Utterly 

 obliterated. We must not now reverse the wonder, and doubt 

 whether all-powerful time can grind down mountains — even 

 the gigantic Cordillera — into gravel and mud. 



The appearance of the Andes was different from that 

 which I had expected. The lower line of the snow was of 



