hot, they go to sleep--and could they do better?" I quite agree with
Sir F. Head: the happy doom of the Mendozinos is to eat, sleep and be
idle.
March 29th.--We set out on our return to Chile, by the Uspallata pass
situated north of Mendoza. We had to cross a long and most sterile
traversia of fifteen leagues. The soil in parts was absolutely bare,
in others covered by numberless dwarf cacti, armed with formidable
spines, and called by the inhabitants "little lions." There were, also,
a few low bushes. Although the plain is nearly three thousand feet
above the sea, the sun was very powerful; and the heat as well as the
clouds of impalpable dust, rendered the travelling extremely irksome.
Our course during the day lay nearly parallel to the Cordillera, but
gradually approaching them. Before sunset we entered one of the wide
valleys, or rather bays, which open on the plain: this soon narrowed
into a ravine, where a little higher up the house of Villa Vicencio is
situated. As we had ridden all day without a drop of water, both our
mules and selves were very thirsty, and we looked out anxiously for the
stream which flows down this valley. It was curious to observe how
gradually the water made its appearance: on the plain the course was
quite dry; by degrees it became a little damper; then puddles of water
appeared; these soon became connected; and at Villa Vicencio there was
a nice little rivulet.
30th.--The solitary hovel which bears the imposing name of Villa
Vicencio, has been mentioned by every traveller who has crossed the
Andes. I stayed here and at some neighbouring mines during the two
succeeding days. The geology of the surrounding country is very
curious. The Uspallata range is separated from the main Cordillera by
a long narrow plain or basin, like those so often mentioned in Chile,
but higher, being six thousand feet above the sea. This range has
nearly the same geographical position with respect to the Cordillera,
which the gigantic Portillo line has, but it is of a totally different
origin: it consists of various kinds of submarine lava, alternating
with volcanic sandstones and other remarkable sedimentary deposits; the
whole having a very close resemblance to some of the tertiary beds on
the shores of the Pacific. From this resemblance I expected to find
silicified wood, which is generally characteristic of those formations.
I was gratified in a very extraordinary manner. In the central part of
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