384 
NORTHERN CHILE 
CHAP. 
The only other animal which we saw in any number was a small 
fox : I suppose this animal preys on the mice and other small 
rodents which, as long as there is the least vegetation, subsist 
in considerable numbers in very desert places. In Patagonia, 
even on the borders of the salinas, where a drop of fresh water can 
never be found, excepting dew, these little animals swarm. Next 
to lizards, mice appear to be able to support existence on the 
smallest and driest portions of the earth,— even on islets in 
the midst of great oceans. 
The scene on all sides showed desolation, brightened and 
made palpable by a clear, unclouded sky. For a time such 
scenery is sublime, but this feeling cannot last, and then it becomes 
uninteresting. We bivouacked at the foot of the “ primera 
linea,” or the first line of the partition 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 height, 
perhaps, of ten thousand feet. Where we slept, there were some 
considerable patches of snow, but they do not remain throughout 
the year. The winds in these lofty regions obey very regular 
laws ; every day 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 considerably below the 
freezing-point, for water in a vessel soon became 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 farther southward people lose their lives 
from snow-storms ; here, it sometimes happens from another 
cause. My guide, when a boy of fourteen years old, was passing 
the Cordillera with a party in the month of May ; and while in 
the central parts, a furious gale of wind arose, so that the men 
could hardly cling 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 effect on their bodies, ill protected by 
clothing, must have been in proportion to the rapidity of the 
current of cold air. The gale lasted for more than a day ; the 
