another, was most distinctly audible even from a distance. This
rattling noise, night and day, may be heard along the whole course of
the torrent. The sound spoke eloquently to the geologist; the
thousands and thousands of stones, which, striking against each other,
made the one dull uniform sound, were all hurrying in one direction. It
was like thinking on time, where the minute that now glides past is
irrevocable. So was it with these stones; the ocean is their eternity,
and each note of that wild music told of one more step towards their
destiny.
It is not possible for the mind to comprehend, except by a slow
process, any effect which is produced by a cause repeated so often,
that the multiplier itself conveys an idea, not more definite than the
savage implies when he points to the hairs of his head. As often as I
have seen beds of mud, sand, and shingle, accumulated to the thickness
of many thousand feet, I have felt inclined to exclaim that causes,
such as the present rivers and the present beaches, could never have
ground down and produced such masses. But, on the other hand, when
listening to the rattling noise of these torrents, and calling to mind
that whole races of animals have passed away from the face of the
earth, and that during this whole period, night and day, these stones
have gone rattling onwards in their course, I have thought to myself,
can any mountains, any continent, withstand such waste?
In this part of the valley, the mountains on each side were from 3000
to 6000 or 8000 feet high, with rounded outlines and steep bare flanks.
The general colour of the rock was dullish purple, and the
stratification very distinct. If the scenery was not beautiful, it was
remarkable and grand. We met during the day several herds of cattle,
which men were driving down from the higher valleys in the Cordillera.
This sign of the approaching winter hurried our steps, more than was
convenient for geologizing. The house where we slept was situated at
the foot of a mountain, on the summit of which are the mines of S.
Pedro de Nolasko. Sir F. Head marvels how mines have been discovered
in such extraordinary situations, as the bleak summit of the mountain
of S. Pedro de Nolasko. In the first place, metallic veins in this
country are generally harder than the surrounding strata: hence, during
the gradual wear of the hills, they project above the surface of the
ground. Secondly, almost every labourer, especially in the northern
parts of Chile, understands something about the appearance of ores. In
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