THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 331 



Cordillera, where the strata, capping the injected axis of 

 plutonic rock, have been thrown on their edges along several 

 parallel and neighbouring lines of elevation, except on this 

 view of the rock of the axis having been repeatedly injected, 

 after intervals sufficiently long to allow the upper parts or 

 wedges to cool and become solid ; — for if the strata had been 

 thrown into their present highly inclined, vertical, and even 

 inverted positions, by a single blow, the very bowels of the 

 earth would have gushed out; and instead of beholding abrupt 

 mountain-axes of rock solidified under great pressure, deluges 

 of lava would have flowed out at innumerable points on every 

 line of elevation. 2 



8 For a full account of the volcanic phenomena which accompanied the 

 earthquake of the 20th, and for the conclusions deducible from them, I must 

 refer to Volume V. of the Geological Transactions. 



