274 
CENTRAL CHILE 
CHAP. 
frequently happens, was much shattered and broken into huge 
angular fragments. I observed, however, one remarkable 
circumstance, namely, that many of the surfaces presented 
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 Diemen’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 
Pacific, 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 
force 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 
Cordillera, would increase its height by so many thousand feet. 
When in that country, I wondered how any 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 
course horizontal, and to this line the even summits of the 
range seemed quite parallel. Only at long intervals a group 
of points or a single cone showed where a volcano had 
existed, or does now exist. Hence the range resembled a 
great solid wall, surmounted here and there by a tower, and 
making a most perfect barrier to the country. 
