The transparency is, I presume, owing to the equable and high state of atmospheric dryness.

This dryness was shown by the manner in which woodwork shrank (as I soon found by the trouble my geological hammer gave me); by articles of food, such as bread and sugar, becoming extremely hard; and by the preservation of the skin and parts of the flesh of the beasts which had perished on the road.

To the same cause we must attribute the singular facility with which electricity is excited.

My flannel-waistcoat, when rubbed in the dark, appeared as if it had been washed with phosphorus,--every hair on a dog's back crackled;--even the linen sheets, and leathern straps of the saddle, when handled, emitted sparks.
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.