The footsteps of the puma were to be seen almost
everywhere on the banks of the river; and the remains of several
guanacos, with their necks dislocated and bones broken, showed how
they had met their death.
APRIL 24, 1834.
Like the navigators of old when approaching an unknown land, we
examined and watched for the most trivial sign of a change. The
drifted trunk of a tree, or a boulder of primitive rock, was hailed
with joy, as if we had seen a forest growing on the flanks of the
Cordillera. The top, however, of a heavy bank of clouds, which
remained almost constantly in one position, was the most promising
sign, and eventually turned out a true harbinger. At first the
clouds were mistaken for the mountains themselves, instead of the
masses of vapour condensed by their icy summits.
APRIL 26, 1834.
We this day met with a marked change in the geological structure of
the plains. From the first starting I had carefully examined the
gravel in the river, and for the two last days had noticed the
presence of a few small pebbles of a very cellular basalt. These
gradually increased in number and in size, but none were as large
as a man's head. This morning, however, pebbles of the same rock,
but more compact, suddenly became abundant, and in the course of
half an hour we saw, at the distance of five or six miles, the
angular edge of a great basaltic platform.
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