The setting of the sun was glorious; the valleys being black,
whilst the snowy peaks of the Andes yet retained a ruby tint. When
it was dark, we made a fire beneath a little arbour of bamboos,
fried our charqui (or dried slips of beef), took our mat?, and were
quite comfortable. There is an inexpressible charm in thus living
in the open air. The evening was calm and still;--the shrill noise
of the mountain bizcacha, and the faint cry of a goatsucker, were
occasionally to be heard. Besides these, few birds, or even
insects, frequent these dry, parched mountains.
AUGUST 17, 1834.
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 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.
Pages:
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515