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.
We spent the day on the summit, and I never enjoyed one more thoroughly.

Chile, bounded by the Andes and the Pacific, was seen as in a map.

The pleasure from the scenery, in itself beautiful, was heightened by the many reflections which arose from the mere view of the Campana range with its lesser parallel ones, and of the broad valley of Quillota directly intersecting them.