MARCH 23, 1835.
The descent on the eastern side of the Cordillera is much shorter
or steeper than on the Pacific side; in other words, the mountains
rise more abruptly from the plains than from the alpine country of
Chile. A level and brilliantly white sea of clouds was stretched
out beneath our feet, shutting out the view of the equally level
Pampas. We soon entered the band of clouds, and did not again
emerge from it that day. About noon, finding pasture for the
animals and bushes for firewood at Los Arenales, we stopped for the
night. This was near the uppermost limit of bushes, and the
elevation, I suppose, was between seven and eight thousand feet.
I was much struck with the marked difference between the vegetation
of these eastern valleys and those on the Chilian side: yet the
climate, as well as the kind of soil, is nearly the same, and the
difference of longitude very trifling. The same remark holds good
with the quadrupeds, and in a lesser degree with the birds and
insects. I may instance the mice, of which I obtained thirteen
species on the shores of the Atlantic, and five on the Pacific, and
not one of them is identical. We must except all those species
which habitually or occasionally frequent elevated mountains; and
certain birds, which range as far south as the Strait of Magellan.
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