Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

N. C. Leeds

[graphic]

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by Dix, EDWARDS & Co., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The Post Master General has decided that the advertising sheet in "Putnam's Monthly," ," "Household Word or "The Schoolfellow" does not subject them to any additional postage.

CONTENTS OF No. XLV.

1. CHILE,

2. THE HASHEESH EATER,

3. ELSIE'S CHILD-A LEGEND OF SWITZERLAND,

4. GOING TO MOUNT KATAHDIN,

5. THE GIPSY'S TOAD,

6. WEIMAR IN 1825,

7. HOPE,

8. THE CHILDREN OF THE QUEEN,

9. SCAMPAVIAS-PART VI.-PALERMO AND PIEDIGROTTO,

10. THE POETRY OF WAR,

11. THE BATTLE OF WILO-WILO-A CONFLICT WITH CHINESE PIRATES,

12. A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE JESUITS,

13. EDITORIAL NOTES,

American Literature and Reprints.

PAGE

225

233

240

242

256

257

267

268

281

288

302

312

328

Lord Cockburn's Memoirs of his Times-George Tucker's History of the United States-Miss Peabody's Chronological History of the United States-Chambers' Hand Book of American Literature-Hertha of Miss Fredrika Bremer-Life of Perthes-The English Encyclopædia, by Charles Knight-Confessions of Rousseau.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

King September-Calling home the Tenants-The Flaccidity of Raiment-Hoops-Keeping up
Appearances The Reinstallation of Starch-At the Window again-Shoes and Four Teeth-
Lynched for Hydrophobia-All Bowery with Brickbats-The Tragedy of Boatswain-Murderers
and Members of Congress-A New York Artisan-Neumann's Copper Washington-The Lost
Velasquez-The Huguenot-Theatricals-Miss Emma Stanley-Miss Agnes Robertson-Miss
Laura Keene.

Aasian &
(~6, 6. 1865.)

PUTNAM'S MONTHLY.

A Magazine of Literature, Science, and Art.

VOL. VIII.-SEPTEMBER, 1856.-NO. XLV.

IT

CHILE.*

is a remark made by Hugh Miller, and, very probably, by others before him, that the great features of physical geography rarely form right lines, but, where such do occur, the geologist may look for something remarkable.

No better example illustrative of this observation can be found, than that line which every child has noticed on its school-geography maps of the western hemisphere-a chain of mountains, in some places but a single ridge, in others branching or forming several parallel lines, but extending in one conspicuous and unbroken system, nearly north and south, for eight thousand miles, from Cape Horn to Russian America.

It is apparently one long axis of fractures and disturbances in the earth's crust. If we admit the prevalent theory, that our planet once existed in a melted state, and has cooled on its exterior, it seems to follow that the process must have been accompanied by a certain degree of contraction. The spherical crust, left comparatively unsupported by its shrunk interior, must have exerted in all directions a lateral pressure or "thrust," like that sustained by the piers of an arch; under which the weaker portions must have yielded crowded into broken ridges, and uplifts. We have seen on a frozen lake a simi

lar result produced, by the expansion of the ice from changes of temperature, a long crack being formed across the icy sheet, the edges of which were raised up into ridges, resting against each other like the slopes of a roof. We may conceive the long upthrow of the Andean chain to have been somewhat analogous to this; but after the crack was formed, and its edges uplifted, a new element came into activity. The melted matter from our planet's interior rose through the crevice, and its hardened overflow added immensely to the height and bulk of the mountain range. To this agency appear to be due the enormous accumulations of lava, porphyry, trachyte, and other plutonic rocks, which accompany the chain, through openings in which the volcanic fires still blaze at intervals from Southern Chile to Russian America.

Perhaps it may be true, as some geologists have suggested, that this great uplift was contemporaneous with a depression of the area occupied by the Pacific. Be this as it may, the ranges of the mountains and the coast are parallel, and both inclose and give character to the territory which forms the subject of these handsome volumes.

"With an arid desert on its northern frontier, successive ranges of mountains,

Report of the U. S. Naval Astronomical Expedition to the southern hemisphere, during the years 1849, 50, 51, '52. Published by order of Congress. Washington, 1855.

VOL. VIII.-15

whose summits are covered by everlasting snows, on the east, Cape Horn, with its appalling storms of ice and sleet, on the south, and the vast Pacific ocean washing its western shores," the territory of Chile stretches through a length of about 2,000 miles, with an average width of nearly eighty.

Its more southern portion, for eight or ten hundred miles, seems to be little more than a mere selvage of rough country, crowded between the mountains and the rifted and iron-bound coast, which, indeed, in many places, come together without any interval of habitable land. The more northern part, which is generally spoken of as Chile, is from 1,000 to 1,200 miles long, by perhaps 100 in average width. Its peculiar and isolated position, and the grandeur of its natural features, must always secure for any work devoted to its description the interest of all intelligent minds.

The chief object of the Expedition, of which Lieut. J. M. Gilliss was the head, and Lieut. Archibald McRae, Acting Master S. L. Phelps, and Captain's Clerk E. R. Smith, were associates, was to effect a series of observations of the stars of the southern hemisphere, in connection with which duty special researches were to be made in magnetism and meteorology. The observations made in these departments of science, however, are not to any great extent embraced in the volumes now before us, which are chiefly occupied with details of more popular interest, collected under general instructions, to secure, in addition to the leading objects of the expedition, "any other information of a useful character which there might be opportunity to obtain."

This direction seems to have been obeyed in the most industrious spirit, if we may judge by the result before us. The contents of the work may be roughly classified as follows. Descriptive geography, political divisions, and industrial resources, seventy-six pages; climate, and earthquakes, about as much more; descriptions of Santiago and Valparaiso, sixty-seven pages; of the gov. ernment, society, and the church, fortysix pages; journeys in the provinces, 113 pages; the Presidential election of 1851, and its unhappy contests, thirtyfive pages. Then we have fifty pages devoted to the journey from New York to Valparaiso, via Panama and the

coast; twenty to "first experiences in Chile; while a variety of minor details make up the 550 pages of Vol. I. Three hundred more are given in Vol. II. to the report of Lieut. McRae's tour across the continent, and sundry illustrated papers on archæology and natural history. Eight hundred and fifty quarto pages-no less-a magnum opus laborious in achievement, and not a little so in perusal. We confess that we would have preferred a couple of tight little duodecimos, or small octavos; and valuable as is the great mass of information collected in this report, it seems to us that by the omission of part of its contents, and the condensation of more, it might have been made less expensive to publish, less burdensome to the mails, and more useful to the public. The best part of our people are active, practical men, whose time is too much occupied to allow them leisure to search through such bulky volumes; and the author who might. by a book condensed into the concisest form and clearest arrangement. have interested tens of thousands of readers, is apt to find, when he has completed a ponderous quarto, designed to be his monument, that he has literally buried under it his reputation.

The gentlemen of the expedition left New York in August, 1849, going by way of Panama, stopping at different points along the coast, and reaching Valparaiso on the 25th of October, whence they proceeded to the capital city of Santiago, a town of 80,000 or 90,000 inhabitants, covering with its low houses an area of six or seven square miles, in a plain or basin of about sixty miles by twenty in extent; sixty miles inland, and 2,000 feet above the level of the ocean. It is overlooked, on the east, by the great Andean chain, some of the highest peaks of which are visible from the valley. From the eastern part of the city rises the hill of Santa Lucia, a mass of porphyritic rock 175 feet high, on the upper part of which the observatory was established, and the instruments mounted. The native population looked on the advancing work with great curiosity, and on its completion, all who wished, rich or poor, learned or ignorant, were allowed to scan the heavens through the wonderful optic tube. Yet there remained many who attributed to the strangers more than scientific lore, and as the season proved

an unusual one in the occurrence of severe thunder storms, as well as earthquakes. the masses" were much inclined to associate these disturbances with the advent of the wizards on Santa Lucia.

The locality proved exceedingly favorable for astronomical observations, as the serenity of the skies permitted a much larger amount of work to be done within a limited period than can be accomplished in most countries. It is stated in the report, that out of 132 consecutive nights after January 31, 1850, there were but seven cloudy ones, and during the next summer, from November 10th to April 10th, observations were made on 120 out of 152 nights. The only drawback on the advantages of the position, was the small number of the observers, which made the work most laborious and exhausting, and limited the usefulness of the expedition.

Beginning at the south pole, a complete examination was inade of the heavens through more than 24° of declination, by "sweeping" them with the telescope in narrow successive belts or rings. Within this space were obtained 33,600 observations of some 23,000 stars, of which more than 20,000 are stated not to have been previously tabulated. In addition to this, a large amount of time was devoted to the examination of more northerly zones of the sky, which, with observations of the moon, planets, etc., number about 9,000 measures. Lieut. Gilliss had hoped to have tabulated all the stars not clearly visible above the horizon of Washington, so that, by combining the labors of his expedition with those of our national observatory, it might be said that the American Navy had mapped the whole heavens; but the numerical force of his corps was insufficient for the task. The valuable results of the great amount of astronomical work which they were enabled to accomplish, will appear separately. We have now only to glean from the present volumes such particulars of popular interest, relative to other topics, as our limits will allow.

The dimensions, and a sketch of the general position of Chile, have already been given. Between the Andes and the sea, the country is generally rough and hilly. The best and most fertile portion of the country extends along the base of the Andes, in a series of valleys, or a long depression between them

and the seaboard hills, lying in the provinces of Santiago, Colchagua, and Maule. This may be considered as a continuation of the submarine valley separating the island of Chiloe from the main-land.

The main Andean chain is, as a mass, highest in latitude 35°, and its base has a width, from the lower lands of Chile to the Pampas at the foot of the eastern slope, of one hundred and twenty miles. The most lofty peaks in Chile are Aconcagua, in latitude 3240, within sight of Santiago, rising to the altitude of 22,300 feet, and Tupungato, in latitude, 3310, the height of which is given at 22,450 feet. The elevation of these summits is much greater than was formerly supposed, and they are entitled to rank among the very loftiest few of the giants of the Andes.

The reader, however, if he compares the elevation of these peaks with the width of the base of the chain, will find that their extreme height is but about one-thirtieth of such width; a result which tends very much to flatten down prevalent popular ideas of the steep, wall-like character of mountain chains. In truth, though minor inequalities of the earth's surface may be more abrupt, its greater ridges and undulations, viewed on a large scale, are gentle and almost insignificant. Differences of elevation, as compared with those of distance, are so slight, as not only to require exaggeration to make them appreciable on the profiles and sections of the engineer and the geologist, but we believe that we all insensibly habituate the eye to give greater importance to elevations than to distances, and acquire a distort ed idea of their proportions which misleads our perceptions.

Through this huge mountain barrier, a number of passes lead to the broad pampas and great rivers of the Atlantic slope of the continent. Those most frequently traversed are the Uspullata pass to the N. E. of Santiago, and the Portillo pass, S. W. of that city, both of which were examined by Lieut. McRae, from whose surveys maps of these lofty valleys have been made and published in the report. The Uspullata pass, in latitude 32° 49', is the more sheltered, and the more frequently used, and attains a height of 12,500 feet; the Portillo, in latitude 33° 35', is a shorter route, but more dangerous and difficult. Its first sum

« AnteriorContinuar »