ANDIRA—ANDIRON. 
  
  
The most valuable mines are in the northern and 
southern provinces ; in Coquimbo and Copiapo above, 
and in the neighbourhood of Araucania below. 
Climate—The climate of the A. is, at every point, 
affected by three different considerations—position 
with respect to the length of the chain, position with 
respect to its breadth, position with respect to its 
height. 
In connection with the length of the chain, the 
variations of climate, though less peculiar than its 
variations under either of the other aspects, are not 
merely a counterpart of similar changes in other 
parts of the globe. In the new world generally, 
temperature rises and falls more rapidly in propor- 
tion to latitude than in the old; and, again, as 
within the new world itself, more rapidly in the 
south than in the north. In connection, therefore, 
with the length of the A., the variations of climate 
may be regarded as the greatest possible—the 
tropical heat of the eguatorial regions passing 
gradually into something like polar cold, even within 
a latitude not greater than that of Edinburgh. This 
may be best illustrated with reference to the limits of 
perpetual snow. Within the Straib of Magellan, 
in about the latitude of Wales, the limit in question 
is only about 3500 feet, nearly the precise height of 
the summit of Snowdon. In lat. 33° S., about the 
centre of Chili, the snow-line, according to Humboldt, 
is estimated at 12,780 feet; while, on a nearly 
corresponding parallel, the Himalayas present on 
their northern slope a snow-line of 16,620 feet. In 
the tropical regions of the A., the snow-line seems 
to range from 16,000 feet to 18,000. This result, 
excepting that it does not greatly surpass the height 
of the snow-line as above on the Himalayas, can 
scarcely be compared with anything in the old 
world, whose tropical regions do not present any 
chain of the requisite altitude for the purpose. The 
same cause which regularly lowers the snow-line in 
proceeding from north to south, has led, in Pata- 
gonia and Tierra del Fuego, to the formation of 
glaciers—a feature of the Alps which is altogether 
unknown in the central and northern divisions of 
the A. Glaciers, as the growth of an icicle renders 
familiar to every one, require alternations of heat 
and cold, or rather of thaw and frost. Now, these 
essential conditions do not exist in the lower lati- 
tudes of the A., where, generally speaking, every 
stage or terrace, as already noticed under the head 
of AMERICA, possesses an almost monotonous tem- 
perature. But they do exist in Patagonia and Tierra 
del Fuego; and accordingly, glaciers there abound on 
the shores of the deep indentations of the coast. 
In connection, next, with the breadth of the chain, 
the variations of climate, if not peculiar to the 
A., have no perfect parallel elsewhere. At every 
point, excepting, perhaps, towards the extreme south, 
the chain is almost as much of a water-shed to 
the clouds as it is to the rivers. Rarefied as the air 
is at the elevation of the A., no vapour, generaily 
speaking, can cross them—even the existence of 
snow at the height of several miles being a phenome- 
non which, & priori, was hardly to be expected. This 
fact is rendered more important by the ordinary 
directions of the currents of air. The prevailing 
winds blow against the A., not alongside of them, 
being generally from the east between the equator 
and 30°, and from the west in latitudes towards 
the south. Thus, generally speaking, every section 
of the chain has permanently a windward and 
a leeward side—the former intercepting nearly all 
the moisture, and the latter being condemned to 
comparative drought. Peru, Chili, and Patagonia, 
one and all, confirm these observations in detail. 
On the west, Peru, unless in the immediate vicinity 
of the mountain-streams, is little better than a 
242 
  
desert; while, on the east, the Montana, as it 
is called, is remarkable for its fertility. To the 
west, on the contrary, Patagonia has its glaciers 
to shew as the result of its rains from that quarter ; 
while, to the east, its five terraces, extending 700 
miles to the Atlantic, are almost uniformly arid 
and sterile. Between Patagonia and Peru, Chili 
has something in common with both, resembling 
the former in its southern half, and the latter in its 
northern. To take the Pacific side alone: in the 
northern parts, showers are only occasional, some- 
times at an interval of three years—the deficiency 
being partly supplied by frequent dews; while, 
to the south of lat. 34°, the rains are sufficiently 
copious to form considerable rivers. 
In connection, lastly, with the Aeight of the chain, 
the variations of climate stand alone in the world, 
being approached, though at a great interval, only 
by the corresponding changes in Central America. 
The Alps, to take a familiar analogy, have, it is 
true, their gradations of climate. But, situated, 
in round numbers, on about the 45th parallel, they 
represent only half of the latitudes between the 
equator and the pole; while the A. of Quito, before 
reaching this level, must have seen melting into 
each other the temperatures of Borneo, India, Persia, 
Asia Minor, and Ttaly. Taking the snow-line of the 
A. of Quito at 18,000 feet, and that of the Alps at 
8000, the lower and hotter 10,000 feet of the former 
have no counterpart at all on the latter. Now, 
Herndon found Tarma to lie within this height, 
precisely at an elevation of 9738 feet; and he there 
saw apples, strawberries, almonds, grapes, and 
maize—a state of things not far behind that ab 
the foot of the Alps. No space remaining for details, 
one general observation must close this article. In 
an open locality, the naked eye may embrace half a 
zone, for, to quote a traveller’s words, it may look 
upwards to the barley-field and the potato-patch, 
and downwards to the sugar-cane and the pine-apple. 
Perhaps the most striking instance of this more 
than telescopic vision is connected with the magnifi- 
cent fall of Tequendama, the single outlet of the 
waters of the table-land of Bogota. This fall, 600 
feet high, leaps down from the temperate zone to the 
torrid, from rich crops of wheat to a few scattered 
palms, 
ANDI'RA, a genus of plants of the natural order 
Leguminosee, sub-order Papilionacee, having an 
almost orbicular, one-celled, one-seeded pod.—A. 
inermis (formerly known as Geoffroya inermas) grows 
in low savannahs in the West Indies, and is there 
called Cabbage Tree or Cabbage-bark Tree. It is 
a tree of considerable height, having pinnate leaves, 
with 13—15 ovato-lanceolate leaflets, and panicles of 
reddish lilac flowers. Its bark, called Cabbage Bark 
or Worm Bark, is a powerful anthelmintic; and 
although it has recently been discarded from the 
pharmacopceias of Britain, still finds a place in those 
of other countries, along with Surinam Bark, the 
bark of A. retusa (formerly Geoffroya Surinamensis), 
a native of Surinam. Similar properties reside in 
the bark of several species of the allied genus 
Geoffroya. Cabbage Bark contains an alkaloid called 
Jamaicin. 
A'NDIRON, or HANDIRON,is a term frequently 
to be met with in inventories of the furniture of old 
houses; and in some parts of the country is still 
used for what is more generally known as a fire-dog. 
Andirons were used for burning wood on an open 
hearth, and consisted of a horizontal bar raised on 
short supports, with an upright standard at one 
end. A pair were used, one standing at each side of 
the hearth, and the logs of wood rested across the 
  
horizontal bars. The upright portions of the A. 
  
  
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