Textures Structures and Processes of

Volcanic Successions Examples from

Southern Central Andes Northwestern
Argentina 22º 28ºS Beatriz L.L. Coira
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/textures-structures-and-processes-of-volcanic-succes
sions-examples-from-southern-central-andes-northwestern-argentina-22o-28os-beatri
z-l-l-coira/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Destination C1 & C2 : grammar & vocabulary with answer

key 18 [printing]. Edition Malcolm Mann

https://textbookfull.com/product/destination-c1-c2-grammar-
vocabulary-with-answer-key-18-printing-edition-malcolm-mann/

English Grammar Exercises with answers Part 5 Your

quest towards C2 1st Edition Daniel B. Smith

https://textbookfull.com/product/english-grammar-exercises-with-
answers-part-5-your-quest-towards-c2-1st-edition-daniel-b-smith/

Volcanic Unrest From Science to Society Joachim

Gottsmann

https://textbookfull.com/product/volcanic-unrest-from-science-to-
society-joachim-gottsmann/

Geology of National Parks of Central Southern Kenya and

Northern Tanzania Roger N. Scoon

https://textbookfull.com/product/geology-of-national-parks-of-
central-southern-kenya-and-northern-tanzania-roger-n-scoon/
Design and Analysis of Connections in Steel Structures
Fundamentals and Examples Alfredo Boracchini

https://textbookfull.com/product/design-and-analysis-of-
connections-in-steel-structures-fundamentals-and-examples-
alfredo-boracchini/

Pharmacological Properties of Native Plants from

Argentina María Alejandra Alvarez

https://textbookfull.com/product/pharmacological-properties-of-
native-plants-from-argentina-maria-alejandra-alvarez/

Engineering Design Applications II: Structures,

Materials and Processes Andreas Öchsner

https://textbookfull.com/product/engineering-design-applications-
ii-structures-materials-and-processes-andreas-ochsner/

The Oxford Handbook of English Grammar Bas Aarts

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-english-
grammar-bas-aarts/

The Diachrony of Tone Sandhi Evidence from Southern Min

Chinese Qing Lin

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-diachrony-of-tone-sandhi-
evidence-from-southern-min-chinese-qing-lin/
Springer Earth System Sciences

Beatriz L. L. Coira
Clara Eugenia Cisterna

Textures,
Structures
and Processes
of Volcanic
Successions
Examples from Southern Central Andes
(Northwestern Argentina, 22º–28ºS)
Springer Earth System Sciences

Series Editors
Philippe Blondel, School of Physics, Claverton Down, University of Bath, Bath,
UK
Jorge Rabassa, Laboratorio de Geomorfología y Cuaternario, CADIC-CONICET,
Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
Clive Horwood, White House, Praxis Publishing, Chichester, West Sussex, UK
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10178
Beatriz L. L. Coira Clara Eugenia Cisterna
•

Textures, Structures
and Processes of Volcanic
Successions
Examples from Southern Central Andes
(Northwestern Argentina, 22º–28ºS)

123
Beatriz L. L. Coira Clara Eugenia Cisterna
Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto
(INECOA), CONICET-Universidad Miguel Lillo
Nacional de Jujuy Universidad Nacional de Tucumán –
San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina CONICET
Tucumán, Argentina

ISSN 2197-9596 ISSN 2197-960X (electronic)

Springer Earth System Sciences
ISBN 978-3-030-52009-0 ISBN 978-3-030-52010-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52010-6
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained
herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard
to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To Alejandro José Perez inseparable
companion of Andes adventures alongside
To Magdalena Koukharsky with whom we
imagine this book
Preface

The Central Andes provides an excellent natural laboratory for studying the pro-
cesses associated with the subduction of oceanic crust beneath a continental margin.
The onset of Andean magmatic cycle is considered to have taken place in Late
Triassic‒Early Jurassic Period (Dalziel 1986) although subduction had already
commenced in the Late Carboniferous Period after the passive margin configura-
tion. The volcanic activity has been essentially continuous from that time to the
present days (Coira et al. 1982; Jordan et al. 1983, 1997; Ramos 1988; Mpodozis
and Ramos 1989; Kay et al. 1991, 1999; Kay and Abbruzzi 1996) offering
examples whose analysis open new perspectives in the understanding of volcanic
processes linked to active continental margins as the Central Andes. In the same
regional context are not less important the ancient volcanic records forming the
Ordovician sequences that outcrop along the Puna and Famatina System. Their
study gives the opportunity to understand the evolution of the southwestern active
margin of Gondwana during the Paleozoic.
As a result of our research carried out over the last 40 years on volcanism
(Cenozoic to Paleozoic) of the Southern Central Andes, especially of the north-
western Argentina, we have collected illustrative material, on both modern and
ancient volcanic successions, which show a great diversity of types of rocks and
processes, reflecting the particular conditions resulting from the conjunction of
lithospheric structures, tectonic history, and magmatism, during the evolution of the
Andean continental margin. We believe that taking into account together in a book
the Textures, structures and processes of volcanic successions: examples from
Southern Central Andes (Northwestern Argentina)—will allow to get through the
Central Andean volcanism from the Lower Paleozoic to the Cenozoic times in the
framework of their processes, eruptive mechanisms, and geodynamic conditions,
awakening the interest of volcanologists and specialists in Earth Sciences.
For the purposes of the treatment of the different types of volcanic successions to
be considered in the book, the more representative volcanism records of the
Southern Central Andes have been selected that took place during the Cenozoic as
caldera complexes, composite volcanoes (stratovolcanoes), silicic dome complexes,
and in monogenetic mafic centers as well as in the Paleozoic times as submarine‒

vii
viii Preface

subaerial volcanism. The analysis of the Paleozoic ancient volcanic successions, in

which recognition of the original rock type can be difficult by the effects of
deformation, metamorphism, and alteration, is a subject of particular attention.
In the present book, the description of distinctive cases of Southern Central
Andes volcanism provides to the readers useful tools to be applied in the analysis
and interpretation of volcanic successions linked to the evolution of active conti-
nental margin.

San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina Beatriz L. L. Coira

Tucumán, Argentina Clara Eugenia Cisterna

References

Coira BL, Davidson JD, Mpodozis C, Ramos VA (1982) Magmatic evolution of the Andes of
northern Argentina and Chile. Earth Sci Rev 18:303–332
Dalziel IWD (1986) Collision and cordilleran orogenesis: an Andean perspective, Geological
Society, London, Special Publications 19:389–404
Jordan TE, Isacks BL, Ramos VA, Allmendinger RW (1983) Mountain building in the Central
Andes. Episodes 20–26
Jordan TE, Reynolds JH, Erikson JP (1997) Variability in age of initial shortening and up-lift in
the central Andes, 16-33º30 S. In: Ruddiman W (ed) Tectonic Uplift and Climate Change,
Plenum, New York, pp 41–61
Kay SM, Abbruzzi JM (1996) Magmatic evidence for Neogene lithospheric evolution of the
central Andean “flat-slab” between 30° and 32°S. Tectonophysics 259:15–28
Kay SM, Mpodozis C, Coira B (1999) Neogene Magmatism, tectonism and mineral deposits of the
Central Andes (22º–33ºS latitude). In Skinner BJ (eds) Geology and ore deposits of the Central
Andes. Society of Economic Geology Special Publication, vol 7, pp 27–59
Kay SM, Mpodozis C, Ramos VA, Munizaga F (1991) Magma source regions for mid to late
Tertiary volcanic rocks and erupted over a shallowing subduction zone and through a thick-
ening crust in the main Andean Cordillera (28-33”s). In: Harmon RS, Rapela CW (eds) Andean
Magmatism and its Tectonic Setting. Geol Soc Am Spec Pap 265:113–137
Mpodozis C, Ramos VA (1989) The Andes of Chile and Argentina. In: Ericksen GE, Cañas
Pinochet MT, Reinemud JA (eds). Geology of the Andes and its relation to hydrocarbon and
mineral resources. Circum Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral resources Earth Science
Series 11:59–90
Ramos VA (1988) Tectonics of the Late Proterozoic—Early Paleozoic: a collisional history of
Southern South America. Episodes 11(3):168–174
Acknowledgments

This book results from many years of working in the Southern Central Andes and
the contributions of many colleagues. Beatriz L. L. Coira particularly thank
Suzanne Kay, Magdalena Koukharsky, José Viramonte, Pablo Caffe, Michael Ort,
Miguel Soler, Ivan Petrinovic, Ruben Somoza, Diego Frachia, Gustavo Rodríguez,
and Belén Pérez for fruitful contributions and discussions on the uplift, magmatic,
and tectonic processes in the Southern Central Andes and also like to make a
special mention to the always present collaboration and accompaniment of
Alejandro José Pérez during the different stages of research carried out over the
years.
Likewise, the assistance of Edgardo González in preparing the book should, in
particular, be appreciated, especially for the careful and excellent processing of the
illustrations, photographs, and maps, and revising drafts.
The institutions Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
(CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Jujuy, and Universidad Nacional de
Tucumán contributed to make this book possible giving support to the researches
carried out by the authors.

ix
About This Book

Textures, structures, and processes go together in the understanding of volcanism

and its geodynamic environment. In this book, the attention to achieve this proposal
is focused on the analysis of voluminous Cenozoic volcanism which alongside the
extreme crustal shortening and thickening have been crucial in the evolution of the
Central Andes. In the same sense, the volcanic successions of the wide and
extended Lower Paleozoic magmatic belt (Famatinian arc is exposed for *2000
km along the Southern Central Andes) also provide excellent examples for studying
ancient volcanic–volcaniclastic and volcanogenic records, critical in reconstructing
eruptive and depositional processes in the evolution of the Famatinia Belt, with
profoundly influence in the lithospheric architecture of the modern Central Andes.
For the purposes of the treatment of the different types of volcanic successions to
be considered in the book, the more representative, well-exposed, and preserved
volcanic records of the Southern Central Andes have been selected. In the case
of the Cenozoic volcanism included in Part I are analyzed characteristic volcanic
edifices of the region that show a complete register of the activity and represent
volcano-tectonic events decisive in the geodynamic evolution of these belts.
Among them are selected caldera complexes, composite volcanoes (stratovolca-
noes), silicic dome complexes, and monogenetic mafic centers, which are treated in
independent chapters. The main topics considered in these chapters are types of
volcanic buildings and their structure and morphometry, characterization of vol-
canic deposits in their different types, pyroclastic, lavic or syn-volcanic intrusive,
and their mineralogical and geochemical characteristics. Are also taking into
account facies analysis as well as differentiation of primary volcanic structures and
textures regarding the secondary ones, resulting from the fragmentation, remobi-
lization, particularly reworking or sorting, related to the type of transport from the
source or affected by superimposition of tectonic deformation and/or hydrothermal
alteration.
The Paleozoic volcanic–volcaniclastic and volcanogenic records (Ordovician
and Carboniferous) in submarine‒subaerial environments are analyzed in Part II
considering well-represented and exposed successions from Famatina System and
Puna. Observation and detailed analysis of their facies, provide the tools to

xi
xii About This Book

recognize original textures and structures as well as syn-volcanic and post-volcanic

modifications, giving clues for the difficult task to reconstruct eruptive and depo-
sitional processes in the case of ancient successions.
Each of volcanic successions treated include illustrative examples accompanied
by maps, stratigraphic sections, petrographic and geochemical data, and pho-
tographs and microphotographs of structures and textures. These examples will
allow the reader to know the different typologies that characterize the volcanism,
environment of emplacement, and tectonic setting linked to active continental
margins as the Southern Central Andes.
Contents

Part I Cenozoic Volcanism

1 Calderas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Northern Puna Calderas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.1 Panizos Caldera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.2 Vilama Caldera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2.3 Coranzuli Caldera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.3 Southern Puna Calderas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.3.1 Cerro Galan Caldera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.3.2 Cerro Blanco Volcanic Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2 Central Composite Volcanoes—Stratovolcanoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.2 Quevar Volcanic Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.3 Antofalla Volcanic Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.4 Rachaite Stratovolcano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.5 Tuzgle Volcano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3 Silicic Dome Volcanic Complexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.2 Pan de Azúcar Dome Volcanic Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
3.3 Chinchillas Dome Volcanic Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.4 Cerro Redondo Dome Volcanic Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.5 Aguiliri Volcanic Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

xiii
xiv Contents

4 Monogenetic to Polygenetic Mafic Volcanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.2 Northern Puna Mafic Volcanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.3 Southern Puna Mafic Volcanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Part II Paleozoic Magmatism

5 Ordovician Volcanism in the Northern Famatina System . . . . . . . . . 113
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.2 Basic Lavas and Hyaloclastic Equivalents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.3 Volcaniclastic Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6 Ordovician Volcanism in the Puna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.2 Textural-Structural Characteristics and Emplacement
Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
6.2.1 Eastern Magmatic Belt Facies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.2.2 Western Magmatic Belt Facies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
7 Carboniferous Extensional Volcanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
7.2 Textural and Structural Characteristics and Emplacement
Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
7.2.1 Effusive Lithofacies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
7.2.2 Volcanoclastic Lithofacies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
7.3 Lava Deformation Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
 Part I
Cenozoic Volcanism

In the Southern Central Andes, the Cenozoic volcanism reach great profusion mainly
during the Miocene–Pliocene, covering a large area of the region determining a strong
control in the geological features of the region. The most prominent feature in the
Central Andes is the extensive Puna–Altiplano plateau which after the Tibetan plateau
is the world’s highest (average elevation 3700 meters) and largest (700 by 200 km)
continental plateau.
Voluminous mafic dacitic to rhyodacitic ignimbrite fields linked to giant calderas
are distinctive features of the late Miocene to Quaternary magmatic records of the
central Andean Altiplano–Puna plateau. The magmas erupted through a compres-
sional thickened crust over a generally shallow, but variably dipping subducting
Nazca plate.
In the analysis of the Central Andean Altiplano–Puna plateau Cenozoic volcanism,
the attention in this contribution will be on the Puna plateau (22°S–28°S). The
Northern Puna (~ 22°S–24°S) voluminous ignimbrites (> 8000 km3 ) and a narrower
Subandean fold-thrust belt, that gives way southward to a thick-skinned thrust belt,
are distinctive. Their evolution can be modeled by an early Miocene amagmatic
flat slab whose steepening after 16 Ma leads to mantle melting that culminated in
widespread ignimbrite eruptions beginning at 10 Ma, peaking in the back-arc at ~
8.5–6 Ma, restricted to the near arc by 4.5 Ma and ending by 3 Ma (de Silva et al.
2006; Kay and Coira, 2009; Kay et al. 2010).
The giant calderas associated with voluminous ignimbrites alongside the
compound volcanoes or stratovolcanoes constitute the most conspicuous represen-
tatives of the Northern Puna volcanism. Meanwhile silicic dome complexes and
monogenetic to polygenetic mafic centers have a more restricted representation.
In the Southern Puna (~ 24°S to ~28°S) is notable an eastward frontal arc migra-
tion at 8–3 Ma, an intra-plateau basin bounded by high ranges, long-lived Miocene
stratovolcanic–dome complexes, voluminous 6–2 Ma ignimbrites, 7–0 Ma back-arc
mafic flows, and the latest Miocene uplift of the reverse faulted Sierras Pampeanas
ranges to the east. The evolution can be modeled by a moderately shallow slab
producing widespread volcanism with subsequent steepening by 6 Ma leading to
delamination of dense lithosphere culminating in the eruption of the voluminous
2 Part I: Cenozoic Volcanism

Cerro Galán Ignimbrite at 2 Ma (Kay and Coira, 2009; Kay et al. 2010; Risse et al.
2013).
In this Part I will be analyzed, through selected examples, morpho-structural and
compositional characteristics, distributions and dimensions of Central Andean Puna
plateau Cenozoic volcanic centers, studying magmatic processes and the geodynamic
conditions during their evolution.

References

de Silva SL, Zandt G, Trumbull RB, Viramonte JG, Salas G, Jimenez M (2006) Large-scale silicic
volcanism in the Central Andes — a tectonomagmatic perspective. In: Troise C, de Natale G,
Kilburn CRJ (eds) Mechanisms of activity and unrest at large calderas. Geological Society of
London SpecialPublication, 269, pp 47–63
Kay SM, Coira B (2009) Shallowing and steepening subduction zones, continental lithospheric
loss, magmatism and crustal flow under the Central Andean Altiplano-Puna plateau. In Kay
SM, Ramos VA, Dickinson WR (eds), Backbone of the Americas: Shallow Subduction, Plateau
Uplift and Ridge Collision, The Geological Society of America Memoir 204:229–258
Kay S, Coira B, Caffe P, Chen C (2010) Regional chemical diversity, crustal and mantle sources and
evolution of Central Andean Puna plateau ignimbrites. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 198: 81–110
Risse A, Trumbull RB, Kay SM, Coira B, Romer RL (2013) Multi-stage evolution of late Neogene
mantle-derived magmas from the central Andes back-arc in the Southern Puna Plateau of
Argentina. J Petrol 54(10):1963–1995
Chapter 1
Calderas

Abstract The large Miocene to Quaternary silicic ignimbrite fields in the Central
Andes form one of the largest ignimbrite provinces on Earth, related to giant calderas
that occur in the back-arc of the modern Central Volcanic Zone and extend from 14°S
to 28°S. The Puna–Altiplano (22°S to 28ª S) dacitic–rhyolitic ignimbrites, greater
than 600–1000 km3 , are related to giant calderas, with diameters up to 60 × 35 km.
Their collapse styles are “piecemeal”, “trapdoor”, and “down-sag” and their postu-
lated origin ranges from failure of magma chamber roofs to the overpressure type.
These ignimbrites are massive, lack fall deposits, and are crystal rich, with quartz,
plagioclase, biotite, Fe Ti oxides, and apatite and titanite accessories. Amphibole
occurs in ignimbrites near the arc, sanidine in those with >69% SiO2 , and pyroxenes
when SiO2 <67%. They belong to high-K calc-alkaline ignimbrites with 64–72%
SiO2 and LILE and LREE enrichment relative to the HREE, negative spikes in Nb,
Ta, and Ti, typical of arcs and positive spikes in Th and U of continental crust.
Its generation is associated with episodes of slab steepening during which mantle
magma generation is triggered by mantle wedge melting under a hydrated lithosphere.
Episodes of delamination of the crust and mantle lithosphere are also associated.

Keywords Cenozoic · Silicic ignimbrites · Puna · Giant calderas

1.1 Introduction

The large Miocene to Quaternary silicic ignimbrite fields in the Central Andes form
one of the largest ignimbrite provinces on Earth. Those voluminous dacitic to rhyo-
dacitic ignimbrites, related to giant calderas, occur in the back-arc of the modern
Central Volcanic Zone and extend from 14°S to 28°S. Among them are, on the
Altiplano, north of 21°S, the largest ignimbrite centers like the Macusani in Peru
(10–6.7 Ma, see Cheilletz et al. 1992) and the Morococala (~8–6 Ma, see Morgan
et al. 1998) and Kari-Kari–Los Frailes (see Fig. 1.1) ignimbrite complexes (17–
2 Ma, see Schneider 1987) in Bolivia. To the south are distributed a profuse number of
ignimbrite centers (5.6–3.2 Ma) like La Pacana, Guacha (Lindsay et al. 2001), Pastos
Grandes (Pacheco and Ramirez 1997), included in the Altiplano–Puna Volcanic

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 3

B. L. L. Coira and C. E. Cisterna, Textures, Structures and Processes
of Volcanic Successions, Springer Earth System Sciences,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52010-6_1
4 1 Calderas

Fig. 1.1 Distribution of main late Neogene Altiplano–Puna calderas and ignimbrite fields (modified
from Kay et al. 2010). The examples of ignimbrite and volcanic centers analyzed in this chapter are
located in the boxes
1.1 Introduction 5

Complex (APVC, de Silva 1989), near the Bolivian–Chilean and Argentine border
Further east, in the back-arc giant calderas like Vilama (Coira et al. 2004; Soler et al.
2007), Panizos (Ort 1993), and Coranzuli (Seggiaro 1994; Seggiaro et al. 1987, 2019)
erupted voluminous ~10–6 Ma ignimbrites (Fig. 1.2). The largest centers south of
24°S include Aguas Calientes (Petrinovic 1999; Petrinovic et al. 2010), Cerro Galán
(Folkes et al. 2011a, b; Kay et al. 2011), Laguna Amarga (Seggiaro et al. 1999), and
Cerro Blanco (Arnosio et al. 2005; Báez et al. 2015) caldera complexes.
The Puna–Altiplano large ignimbrites spread out in a region characterized by a
~50 to 75 km thick crust (e.g., Beck and Zandt 2002; Yuan et al. 2000; McGlashan
et al. 2008) with elevation over 3700 m and an active compressional deformational
belt to the east. Its generation is temporally associated with episodes of slab steep-
ening during which mantle magma generation is triggered by decompression melting
in an expanding mantle wedge under a hydrated lithosphere (see Kay et al. 1999;
Kay and Coira 2009). Episodes of delamination of the crust and mantle lithosphere
are associated with ignimbrite formation. Temporal and spatial patterns of those
ignimbrites are used to argue that the largest volume of ignimbrites occur in the
regions over which the most slab steepening and delamination of continental crust
and lithosphere have occurred (e.g., Kay et al. 1994; de Silva et al. 2006; Kay and
Coira 2009).
The main characteristics of the Altiplano–Puna ignimbrites were described and
analyzed through the studies carried out in the distinctive calderas of the region by
Sparks et al. (1985); Seggiaro et al. (1987, 2019); de Silva (1989); Francis et al.
(1989); Coira et al. (1993); Ort (1993); Coira et al. (1996); Petrinovic et al. (1999);
Lindsay et al. (2001); Schmitt et al. (2001); Arnosio et al. (2005); Soler et al. (2007);
Guzman 2009; Folkes et al. (2011a, b); Kay et al. (2010, 2011); among others.
In general, the large ignimbrites are massive, show few segregation structures,
lack fall deposits, are crystal rich, have relatively uniform crystal sizes, and show
little evidence for fluidization. These features have been interpreted to reflect low
explosive eruptions that develop collapsing columns of reduced height (boiling over-
type columns) and produce viscous pyroclastic flows.
The post-collapse magmatic resurgence is common in those systems. The high
viscosity, crystal-rich, low volatile content of those large dacitic magmas have been
argued to require external triggers and chamber deflation to initiate the collapse of
the roofs that drive and sustain the eruptions (e.g., de Silva et al. 2006; de Silva
and Gosnold 2007; Soler et al. 2007; Martí et al. 2009). Those voluminous (100 s
to 1000 s km3 ) ignimbrites generally shared similar petrographic characteristics.
The phenocryst assemblage comprises quartz, plagioclase, biotite, and Fe Ti oxides
with accessory apatite and titanite. Amphibole is common in some Northern Puna
ignimbrites near the arc, sanidine is found in more silicic ignimbrites (>69% SiO2 ),
and clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene can occur in ignimbrites with <67% SiO2 .
They belong to high-K calc-alkaline dacitic to rhyodacitic ignimbrites (64–72%
SiO2 ), those that are framed in the “monotonous intermadiate” type defined by
Hildreth (1981) and show a broad range of aluminosity with the Northern Puna
Miocene back-arc ignimbrites being the most peraluminous, whereas the Northern
Puna near-arc ignimbrites are metaluminous and the Southern Puna ones (Cerro
6 1 Calderas

Fig. 1.2 The major calderas and volcanic units of the Northern and Central Puna–Southern
Altiplano centers (modified from Kay et al. 2010)
1.1 Introduction 7

Galán ignimbrites) straddle the metaluminous boundary. Their trace element patterns
show LILE and LREE enrichment relative to the HREE; negative spikes in Nb, Ta,
and Ti indicating variable degrees of the HFSE depletion typical of arc magmas, and
positive spikes in Th and U, typical of continental crustal components (Kay et al.
2010).
In general Northern Puna back-arc ignimbrites are Na2 O poor and have higher
La/Ta, La/Yb, and 87 Sr/86 Sr ratios and δ18 O values than near-arc ignimbrites.
Southern Puna ignimbrites are generally intermediate in character. These features
are compatible with crustal melt contributions being more shale-like in the Northern
Puna back-arc, more amphibolite-like near the arc, and more biotite gneiss-like in
the Southern Puna. Melting in the deep crust by injection of mantle-derived melts
followed by magma rise, accumulation, and evolution at depths of nearly 25–20 km is
supported by heavy REE evidence for deep crustal garnet-bearing residues, negative
Eu anomalies superimposed on steep REE patterns, calculated bulk Sr distribution
coefficients, and Puna seismic images (Kay et al. 2008, 2010, 2011).
The eruption of those voluminous dacitic–rhyolitic ignimbrites (ignimbrite flare-
up), greater than 600–1000 km3 , was related to giant calderas with circular to elliptical
geometries with variable diameters, the largest being La Pacana (60 × 35 km) and
Vilama (40–35 × 18–15 km) and the smallest one Cerro Blanco (6–5 × 5–4 km).
The collapse styles most likely are “piecemeal”, “trapdoor and “down-sag” (Sparks
et al. 1985; Gardeweg and Ramirez 1987; Ort 1993, Folkes et al. 2011a; Lindsay
et al. 2001; Soler et al. 2007; Di Fillipo et al. 2008; Guzman and Petrinovic 2010).
Most calderas did not have a Plinian eruption prior to its formation, except in cases
as some units of Cerro Blanco, Grupo Toconquis, Panizos and Vilama ignimbrites.
De Silva et al. (2006) suggest that the most like trigger for Andean calderas is not
produced by magmatic overpressure, but by mechanical failure of magma chamber
roofs. Meanwhile Martí et al. 2009; Petrinovic et al. 2010; Guzman and Petrinovic
2010 postulate that those calderas would correspond to the overpressure type with
early caldera subsidence, from the beginning of the eruption itself, which would
generate eruptions of type “boiling over”.
A challenge assumed in this chapter is to analyze the evolutionary characteristics,
structures and processes that controlled the generation of those giant calderas, as
well as the distinctive features of the voluminous dacitic to rhyodacitic ignimbrite
fields of one of the largest ignimbrite provinces on Earth linked to them. Examples
of calderas and ignimbrite fields of Northern and Southern Puna will be subject to
this analysis.

1.2 Northern Puna Calderas

During the upper Miocene the volcanism reached its climax in the area of the
Northern Puna. Large ignimbrite volumes, associated with boilers of gigantic dimen-
sions, were emitted in the last 10 Ma as part of the Neogene Ignimbrite Province
of the Central Andes. Its evolution took place in the thickened continental crust
8 1 Calderas

segment, under an active subduction regime of increasing angle in a compression

margin (Coira et al. 1993; Kay et al. 1999) and reflects particular thermo-mechanical
conditions of the crust in this sector of the Andes.
In the Northern Puna the ignimbrite episodes had an early stage at 10 Ma, which
marked the beginning of the large-volume ignimbrite volcanism. In its course there
were eruptions of reduced volumes with respect to the subsequent stage. Its emis-
sion centers remain hidden below younger volcanic buildings. In lapse 8–4 Ma, a
large-scale ignimbrite volcanism was established (ignimbrite climax), to which the
development of gigantic calderas was linked. Among these calderas are highlighted
in the period 8–6 Ma, Vilama, Panizos, Coranzulí and in Bolivian territory, Guacha
(Fig. 1.3). During the Pliocene the ignimbrite volcanism migrated to the west in

Fig. 1.3 Major calderas of the Northern Puna analyzed in this chapter
1.2 Northern Puna Calderas 9

response to the increase in the subduction angle, being represented by the La Pacana
caldera and its voluminous ignimbrite units (5–3.4 Ma), as well as by new pyroclastic
flows that marked the reactivation for those activity times in the Guacha caldera. The
ignimbrite volcanism continued with less volume in that region during the Pleis-
tocene, represented by the Purico Ignimbrite Complex (1.3 Ma) and minor eruptions
associated with nested centers within the La Pacana caldera.

1.2.1 Panizos Caldera

The Panizos caldera, located in the southern CVZ at 22°15 S, 66°45 W, (Fig. 1.4)
studied in detail by Ort (1993) and Ort et al. (1996), is the source of a large volume
dacitic ignimbrite (Cerro Panizos Ignimbrite—CPI) of 650 km3 of total erupted
volume (DRE, minimum).
This Ignimbrite was emplaced at 6.7 Ma and forms a 40 km diameter shield-like
plateau with a 1–3° dip radially outward from a 10–15 km diameter cluster of dacitic
lava domes. Ort (1993) recognized, as part of the Cerro Panizos Ignimbrite (CPI), a
simple cooling unit according to Smith (1960) and, Christiansen (1979), represented
by the “Lower Cooling Unit” (LCU) overlain by a compound cooling unit “Upper
Cooling Unit” (UCU), separated by bedded pyroclastic deposits (surge deposits). The
“Lower Cooling Unit” (LCU) (Fig. 1.5a) is a simple cooling unit with a maximum
thickness of 160 m. It is characterized by its richness in crystals, absence of significant
variation in pumice and lithic concentrations, variable welding (unwelded to densely
welded) (Fig. 1.5b), absence of fall deposits and vapor-phase crystallization at the
top, typical of simple cooling unit. Lithics reach significant concentration (>5%) in
the upper two meters of LCU (Fig. 1.5c); they could document vent wall collapse
or the opening of a new vent. Gas pipes recognized in some sections (Fig. 1.5d) are
indicative of fluidization processes during the emplacement. The continuous cooling
zonation and the lack of evidence of eruption column fluctuations, such as fallout
layers, imply steady eruption of hundreds of cubic kilometers of Lower Cooling Unit
material from a single vent or a small cluster of vents (Ort 1993).
The Upper Cooling Unit (a compound ignimbrite cooling unit) is composed of
several flow units with variations in total thickness (30–165 m), welding, and lithic
content (Fig. 1.5e). Thin-bedded pyroclastic surge are recorded at the base (Fig. 1.5f).
Thin, moderately well-sorted pumice-fall layers (Fig. 1.5g) occur at various levels
throughout that unit. These characteristics were interpreted by Ort (1993), as a result
of an unstable eruption column with the opening of several mouths associated to
cauldron collapse. Large lateral and vertical variations in welding, and sectorial
distribution of flow units, indicate vent migration during the eruption.
Vapor-phase crystallization is continuous from the upper part of the LCU through
surge deposits into the UCU indicating the absence of a significant temporary break
among them and pointing to consider that the Cerro Panizos Ignimbrite is a composite
sheet (Smith 1960) associated to a single eruptive period, rather than the product of
two distinct eruptions (Ort 1993). A 15 km diameter topographic depression, marked
10 1 Calderas

Fig. 1.4 Panizos caldera

1.2 Northern Puna Calderas 11

a b

c d

e f

Fig. 1.5 Panizos Lower Cooling Unit (LCU): a Columnar-jointed section of moderately to incip-
iently welded ignimbrite. b Unwelded ignimbrite rich in pumice and crystals and poor in lithics.
c Lithics reach significant concentration (20–30%) in the upper two meters of LCU. d Gas pipes
in LCU, indicative of fluidization processes during the emplacement. Panizos Upper Cooling Unit:
e composite by several flow units. f Thin-bedded pyroclastic surge at the base of the ash flow.
g Pumice-fall layer moderately sorted
12 1 Calderas

by inward dips of 4º–8º at the cooling units’ contact, is centered in the vent area
of the LCU. Ort (1993) interpreted that depression as a down-sag caldera formed
during the emplacement of the LCU and indicated that the caldera collapse began
late in the eruption of the LCU and continued through the emplacement of the UCU
close to the radial ring of central domes, and that its formation was associated with
the collapse of the caldera and to eruptions from multiple conduits. Post-caldera
effusive volcanism (6.1 Ma) largely covered these structures. The lava flows escaped
the caldera radially, partly filling the depression of the previous “down-sag” caldera
(Ort 1993). The central domes ascended along fractures defined by the collapsed
caldera and filled any topographic depression.

1.2.2 Vilama Caldera

The Vilama caldera (22° 24 S, 66° 57 W) was originally studied by Coira et al. (1996),
and later Soler (2005) and Soler et al. (2007) continued their research, reinterpreting
some of their characteristics in a detailed analysis. Fracchia (2009) studied the post-
collapse volcanism of this caldera.
The Vilama Ignimbrite (8.4–8.5 Ma) with a recognized areal extension 4000 km2 ,
and estimated volume ~1800 km3 (1400–1000 km3 in dense rock equivalents DRE)
is related to the Vilama caldera. It is roughly rectangular (35–40 km × 15–18 km)
in shape and has central coordinates of 22°24 S, 66°57 W and is considered to have
formed in a single-stage collapse event (Soler et al. 2007).
Intra- and extra-caldera facies of the Vilama Ignimbrite are recognized (Fig. 1.6).
The extra-caldera facies has a mean thickness of ∼40 m and is separated into a
restricted valley-ponded Lower Cooling Unit (LCU) and a laterally extensive low
aspect ratio (LARI) Upper Cooling Unit (UCU).
The Lower Cooling Unit (LCU) is formed by massive ignimbrites, generally
unwelded (Fig. 1.7a), although surge (Fig. 1.7b) and fall deposits are sparsely inter-
calated in some localities. Those ash flows have high to low (20–3%) amounts of
pumice and scarce (<1%) lithics. (Fig. 1.7c). The LCU is less regionally extensive
than the UCU, missing in places where the UCU directly mantles older units. The
total thickness of the LCU is extremely variable ranging from 7 m to more than
110 m. The unwelded LCU rocks show vitroclastic textures, in which highly vesic-
ulated pumice with a crystal content of ∼20–25% are immersed in a vitric shard
matrix (Fig. 1.7d).
The Upper Cooling Unit (UCU), the most extensive of the Vilama Ignimbrite
(VI) outflow, consists of a single ignimbrite sheet, moderate to intense welded
(Fig. 1.7e) with lack of segregation structures and fall deposits and with a thick-
ness of 60–20 m. The basis of this unit is massive, without lithics, highly welded
with development of “fiamme” with about 50% crystals (Fig. 1.7f) in all its thick-
ness and a subhorizontal jointing, well developed, which is usually coincident with
foliation planes (Fig. 1.7g) and characteristic in some vitrophyric sections. Toward
upper sectors, welding decreases and the ash flow is moderately rich in fiamme (up
1.2 Northern Puna Calderas 13

Fig. 1.6 Distribution of Vilama Ignimbrites and collapse structure

14 1 Calderas

a b

c d

e f

g h

Fig. 1.7 Vilama Ignimbrite—Lower Cooling Unit (LCU): a Massive and unwelded ignimbrites.
b Surge deposit. c Unwelded facies, high in pumice moderate in crystals, and scarce in lithics.
d Vitroclastic textures of unwelded facies highly vesiculated pumice and moderate crystals (∼20–
25%) are immersed in vitric shard matrix. Plane polarized light. Upper Cooling Unit (LCU): e single
ignimbrite sheet moderately to intensely welded. f Base of UCU, massive, without lithics, highly
welded with development of “Fiamme” (Courtesy of M. Soler). g Vitrophyric section with subhor-
izontal jointing, well developed, usually coincident with foliation planes (Courtesy of M. Soler).
h Upper sectors of UCU moderately rich in “fiamme” (to 10%) and lithic-poor (<1%)
1.2 Northern Puna Calderas 15

a b

c d

Fig. 1.8 Resurgence of Vilama caldera: a Doming of intra-caldera ash flows. b intra-caldera ash
flows moderately to densely welded. c Intra-caldera ash flows indurated and altered by vapor phase,
with conspicuous jointing, in part subvertically (Courtesy of M.Soler). d Detail of jointing of densely
welded facies, rich in crystals (Courtesy of M.Soler)

to 10%) (Fig. 1.7h) and is lithic poor (<1%) and develops an irregular and spaced
jointing (Soler et al. 2007).
The intra-caldera facies outcrops are doming as a result of the resurgence of
the Vilama caldera and constitute an elongated NW–SE-trending (∼290°) antiform
(Fig. 1.8a), which is fairly symmetrical in the NW–SE direction. The deposits consist
of a thick succession of ash flows (400–700 m thick) which show important welding
although variable, as well as vapor-phase alteration and individual thicknesses of 10-
50 m (Fig. 1.8b). Vitrophyric portions usually occur at the base where use to show a
conspicuous jointing that is sometimes subvertical (Fig. 1.8c, d) or folded, interpreted
resulting from rheomorphic flow (Soler 2005).
The LCU of the Vilama Ignimbrite, given its relatively low welding and the
presence of fall deposits and surges in distal facies, would be associated with the
formation of eruptive columns that are well developed and are interpreted to have
formed immediately before or at the beginning of the main collapse, when subsidence
faults were incipient, and volcanic discharge rates and the dimension of initial vents
were small. In contrast, the UCU would have been formed from dense and hot
pyroclastic flows, immediately before or at the beginning of the continuous collapse
of low and unstable eruptive columns, located in the boundary faults of the caldera.
An important part of those eruptive columns collapsed toward the inner side of
the caldera walls. After a short time, perhaps linked to the recharge of the magma
16 1 Calderas

chamber, folding of the intra-caldera sequence resulted in the formation of a resurgent

dome (Soler et al. 2007). Predominantly effusive post-collapse volcanism, essentially
dacitic, was emplaced in the collapsed area along structures interpreted as being
associated with caldera subsidence and resurgence (Fracchia 2009).

1.2.3 Coranzuli Caldera

The Coranzuli caldera, located in the back-arc of the modern Central Volcanic Zone at
23°00 S–66°15 W, is one of the most eastern Cenozoic calderas of the Northern Puna
(see Fig. 1.9). It was studied in detail by Seggiaro et al. (1987, 2014b,2014b,2019)
and Seggiaro (1994). This caldera is the source of four main crystal-rich dacitic
ignimbrites that erupted about 6.6 Ma ago that cover an area of 1900 km2 , have a
volume of 400 km3 (dense-rock equivalent, DRE), and spread mainly north-, east-,
south- and northwestwards from the caldera (see Fig. 1.9), reaching distances up to
45 km from the vent with a thickness of 40–120 m (Seggiaro et al. 2014a, b). It lies
at the intersection of N-S, NW–SE, and NE-SW fault systems which controlled its
emplacement (Seggiaro 1994). The Coranzulí ignimbritic succession unconformably
covers Ordovician, Cretaceous, and/or Cenozoic deposits that form the basement of
this region.
The syn-caldera succession is composed entirely of ignimbrites and no Plinian
fallout deposits preceded the emplacement of these ignimbrites. The contacts
between ignimbrite units are marked by sharp planar surfaces (Fig. 1.10), by the
presence of a thin, crystal-rich, finely depleted surge layer, between two depositional
units (Figs. 1.11 and 1.12), or by co-ignimbrite lag breccias. In other cases, the
ignimbrites appearing as single units use to change laterally into a deposit of several
flow units.
Coranzuli ignimbrites usually display columnar jointing that affects them totally
or partially or more massively (Figs. 1.13 and 1.14). The co-ignimbrite lag breccias
usually recognized in the proximal area are composed of abundant pumice (60 vol%),
subangular fragments of dacitic lava, and minor Ordovician metapelites with a fine
ash matrix (Fig. 1.15a) or are formed by dacitic lavas and Ordovician metasediment
fragments (Fig. 1.15b). The lack of erosional surfaces, sedimentary deposits, or
paleosoils between the ignimbrite units suggests that each flow unit was emplaced
by successive pulses during a single eruptive event (Seggiaro et al. 2014a, b).
The ignimbrites of the different units are dacitic in composition, with moderate
to high content in crystals (35–60 vol%) represented by plagioclase, quartz, biotite,
minor sanidine, Fe Ti oxides, apatite and zircon, and poorly to densely welded,
with variable pumice content (5–30%, exceptionally 50 vol%) and lithic fragment
content (usually < 10 vol%; exceptionally 25%) (Fig. 1.16a, b). Pumices in all these
ignimbrites have dacitic composition with variable vesicularity, subrounded to highly
welded (Figs. 1.17a, b, 1.18a, b, 1.19a, b) depending on the unit or the position in the
flow (see Seggiaro et al. 1987). Among the lithics are found dacitic lavas throughout
the ignimbritic succession but mostly in the basal units. Ordovician metapelites and
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
way, but not quite like the town doctors; and the ministers are very
nice—” This she said in a hesitating undertone, not expressive of
hearty concurrence, and ended in a firmer voice, “but not like my
own.”
“’Deed, mem,” said Hillend, “gi’e us farmers a gude miller an’ a gude
smith, an’ we can do weel enough wi’ ony ministers or doctors that
likes to come.”
“That wasna bad for Hillend,” said Bell.
“Well, Bell,” said Mr. Walker, “I thought it rather hard on the ministers
when I first heard the story, but—” And here he gave his views of the
Non-Intrusionists with, for him, unusual fervour, and added, “Now I
quite agree with Hillend, that congregations should accept, and
welcome, and honour the ministers who are appointed over them.”
“That’s without a doubt,” said Bell; “and esteem them very highly for
their work’s sake.”
The news of Mr. Walker’s appointment to Blinkbonny
was received with first a stare, then a shrug of the “AS YOU
shoulders, then a pretty general feeling that “they LIKE IT.”
might have had worse.” He was certainly not a shining
light, but he was a nice man, had a large family, and it would be a
good change for them. And although the local poetaster circulated a
sorry effusion on the subject, in which he, without acknowledgment,
stole from Cowper’s Needless Alarm,—

“A mutton statelier than the rest,”—

and—

“His loving mate and true,

But more discreet than he, a Moorland ewe,”—

changing the original “Cambrian” to “Moorland,” it did not take, and

Blinkbonny on its personal and social and “soft” side was ready to
“entertain” Mr. Walker.
He carried the news of his own appointment to the manse, and
although it surprised Mr. Barrie at the moment, he heartily wished
him every success and comfort, and added that he would find the
manse at his service by the time he was inducted. Mr. Walker
assured Mr. Barrie that there was no hurry, as “he did not see that
they could possibly come in until after the harvest was past at
Middlemoor.”
When Bell heard that Mr. Walker was coming to
Blinkbonny, she forgot her usual good manners. “Mr. JEWS AND
Walker!—Walker o’ Middlemoor!—fat Walker’s gotten BRITHERS.
the kirk, has he? He’s a slow coach—pity the folk that
gangs to hear him; but ’deed they’ll no’ mony gang. He minds me o’
Cauldwell’s speech at the cattle show. After Sir John palavered away
about the grand stock, and praised Cauldwell for gettin’ sae money
prizes, the decent man just said, ‘Sir John and gentlemen, thank ye
a’ kindly. I’m nae hand o’ makin’ a speech. I may be a man among
sheep, but I’m a sheep among men.’” And Bell showed how
changeable human affections are; for although Mr. Walker and she
had been hand-and-glove friends, she summed up with, “Mr. Walker
will never fill Mr. Barrie’s shoon [shoes]. I never could thole[11] him an’
his filthy tobacco smoke. Ugh! ma puir kitchen will sune be in a
bonny mess; an’ I dinna ken what to think about the things in the
garden an’ outhouses that are ours, for, as Mrs. Walker ance said to
me, her motto was, ‘Count like Jews and ’gree like brithers.’”

[11] Endure.

But when the settling up came, Bell found Mrs. Walker “easy dealt
wi’,”—not only satisfied with her valuation, but very complimentary as
to the state in which everything was left, and very agreeable—very.
 CHAPTER VII.
OUT OF THE OLD HOME AND INTO THE NEW.

“Confide ye aye in Providence, for Providence is kind,

An’ bear ye a’ life’s changes wi’ a calm an’ tranquil mind;
Though press’d an’ hemm’d on every side, ha’e faith an’ ye’ll win through,
For ilka blade o’ grass keps its ain drap o’ dew.”

James Ballantine.

M R. BARRIE had written to Sir John McLelland, thanking him for

his uniform kindness, and saying that he had disjoined himself
from the Established Church. He also wrote to the clerk of his
presbytery to the same effect, adding that he would leave the manse
as soon as he could.
A short time sufficed to put Knowe Park into habitable order.
Whenever this was known, Mr. Barrie was cumbered by proffers of
help from the farmers in the parish. He could have had fifty carts to
remove his furniture for one that he required; and acts or offers of
considerate attention were so showered on him that he was
embarrassed by them.
At length the day came for “flitting.” It was a fine morning in the
middle of summer,—everything was looking its best. The manse in
itself was a charming place. To Mr. and Mrs. Barrie and their children
it had been a happy home, and in their inmost hearts it was hallowed
by many tender associations; and the church was endeared to Mr.
Barrie as he recalled the pleasant meetings therein with his beloved
flock. The parting was a bitter ordeal, trying to flesh and blood, and
as such they felt it very keenly.
At the hour for family worship, the men who were
taking down the furniture and making it ready for being THE
carted were asked to come to the “books;” and they MELODY
told afterwards that in singing the 23d Psalm their OF JOY
voices quivered, and that there was a lump in their AND
throat as the 138th Psalm was read as the “ordinary” PEACE.
for the morning, for the circumstances seemed to give additional
meaning to such parts of it as—“strengthenedst me with strength in
my soul,” “though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me,”
“the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me,” “forsake not the
works of Thine own hands.”
As soon as the first cart was laden and off, Bell went to Knowe Park
to get things put rightly in and up. The three elder children had
resolved to flit their own belongings. James took his small barrow,
filled with a confused load of skates, books, etc. Mary carried her
little chair, Black Tam the negro doll, and some books and toys;
Lewie his little chair, a toy horse, and a whip. They had reached the
post office (which stood a little back from the main street), and were
resting on the broad open pavement in front of it, James sitting on
his barrow, the others in their chairs.
Dr. Guthrie, who had been spending a day or two in
DR. the neighbourhood, was calling at the post office.
GUTHRIE Soon, as his quick eye rested on the singular group,
AND THE his face became radiant with such a smile as he
BAIRNS.
could give, and which the children returned very
frankly. He went close to them, stooped down and patted Mary’s
cheek, got his hand under her chin and stroked it playfully, all the
while looking kindly in her face; then glancing at her lap, he said:
“What’s the name of that fine doll, my wee pet? is it Sambo, or
Pompey, or what?”
“That’s black Tam,” said Mary. “It was Nellie’s doll, and I’m taking it to
our new house.”
“Nellie’s, was it? And is Nellie too old for dolls now, and has she
given it to you? He looks as if he had seen better days.”
“Oh! please; sir, Nellie’s dead,” said Mary, looking towards the
churchyard; “she’s buried over there.”
“But Bell and mamma say that Nellie’s in heaven,” said Lewie very
decidedly.
The suddenness and beauty of Lewie’s answer strongly affected Dr.
Guthrie. He took out his snuff-box and took a moderate pinch, then
clapped Lewie’s head, and said:
“Yes, my wee man, you’re right; Nellie’s in heaven. But what’s your
name?”
James now took speech in hand: “My name’s James Barrie, and this
is Mary, and this is Lewie. We’re flitting from the manse over yonder;”
and he pointed in the same direction as Mary had looked. But Dr.
Guthrie, thus suddenly brought into contact with this stern reality of
the Disruption, had again to apply to his snuff-box, and was in the
act of taking it out of his pocket when Sir John McLelland drove up to
the post office and alighted. Dr. Guthrie and he knew one another as
members of Assembly, and they shook hands cordially, Sir John
expressing surprise at seeing the doctor there.
“Sir John,” said the doctor, “excuse me,”—and he dried the tear that
was coursing down his cheek,—“do you know these children?”
Sir John had not observed the group, but he looked at them long
enough to admit of Dr. Guthrie pulling out his box, taking one good
snuff, and getting another ready for despatch in his fingers.
“Oh, yes,” said Sir John, “they are Mr. Barrie’s children;” then looking
at James: “How are mamma and papa keeping?”
The children had risen, and the boys had taken off their caps when
Sir John appeared. In answer to the question James said: “They’re
quite well, thank you, sir; we’re all going to our new house to-day;
we’re helping to flit.”
Dr. Guthrie took his reserve snuff, looked first at Sir John, then at the
children, and swinging his hand so that it pointed to the children,
then to the manse, and resting it now towards them and again
towards it, he recited with much feeling, for he seemed deeply
moved:
 “From scenes like these old Scotia’s grandeur springs,
This makes her loved at home, revered abroad;
Princes and lords are but the breath of kings,
An honest man’s the noblest work of God.”

By this time several of the villagers were attracted by

GIFF-
GAFF.
the scene, and they scarcely could repress the cheer
that was struggling for vent in their throats. Respect
for Sir John, however, kept it down until he drove away, when a right
hearty greeting was given to Dr. Guthrie, in whose eyes the tear still
trembled, and many pressed forward to grasp his hand,—none more
warmly than Kennedy the tailor, who, producing his snuff-box, said:
“Ye’ll excuse me, sir; I dinna ken ye, but—ye’ll excuse me, sir—but
would ye do me the honour of takin’ a snuff out of my box?”
“Certainly, my good friend,” said the doctor; “and we’ll giff-gaff,”
handing his box to the tailor, and helping himself out of Kennedy’s
dimpled, black-looking, oval-shaped tin box.
The tailor took a pinch, said it was “prime snuff,” and added: “Burns
is a great poet, and that was a grand verse you gied us the noo, and
the occasion’s worthy o’t. Mr. Barrie ’s an honest man, but he’s far
mair, he’s a patriot-martyr.”
The last cartload had left the manse; there was nothing for Mr. and
Mrs. Barrie to do but lock the door and follow. They paid a farewell
visit to each room. Their footsteps sounded harshly through the
house, now empty and dreary, still they were loath to leave. When
they were fairly outside of the front door they lingered on its step;
then Mr. Barrie, with a quick “This will never do,” locked the door and
withdrew the key.
They were bracing themselves for their trying walk past the church,
past the churchyard, and through the village, when a noise, a familiar
noise, yet with an eerie wail in it, made them both start. It came from
old Tibby the cat—Nellie’s Tibby. Bell had carried her to Knowe Park
in a basket as carefully as if she had been Nellie herself, and had
shut her up in a room. When the children came, James and Mary
had got strict orders to watch her; but Tibby had beaten them all and
got off, and home and into some quiet corner of the manse, whence,
when the door was locked, she crept out, uttering her wailing protest.
“Poor Tibby,” said Mrs. Barrie, “we must take you with us.”
When the door was re-opened, Tibby was easily caught. She had
evidently felt convinced, after a bewildered ramble through the empty
house, that there was some reason for her late transportation and
imprisonment.
This little incident re-opened the floodgates of tender memories, and
forced tears from Mrs. Barrie’s eyes, although by that time the
fountain had been largely drawn upon. She felt thankful to have
something else than herself to think of; and Tibby’s presence in her
arm, tucked cosily into the corner of her shawl, served to divide her
attention, and supplied sufficient amount of occupation to make the
walk less trying to her. She leaned heavily on Mr. Barrie’s arm, partly
from weariness, partly from excitement.
When they reached Knowe Park, Bell had tea set for
them in the parlour; and the children, having already THE NEW
made a complete round of the whole premises, gave HOME.
at the tea-table cheering proofs that they had not lost
their appetites, as well as curious details of what they had
discovered in their ramblings over their new home.
Bell had got the bedrooms into wonderful order for their
accommodation at night, and this deprived kind neighbours of the
pleasure they would have had in “putting up” for a few nights all or
any of the family. Within a few days they all felt quite at home, and
the additional work entailed by making the manse things go as far as
they could, kept them so busy that they were surprised at their
having got over the flitting, and especially the “leaving” of the manse,
so soon and so quietly.
I did not think it possible that Bell could have wrought harder than I
had always known her to do; but she did, and soon Knowe Park was
as much to her, in as far as the garden and live stock were
concerned, as the old homestead had been. And although Guy the
beadle offered to bring out of the manse garden whatever she
wished, Bell had enough and to spare, and told Guy to use for
himself what he liked, and after that only to sell what was ripe or
“near spoiling.”
True to his trust, Guy brought her a fair sum of money obtained in
this way, which she handed to Mr. Barrie, not Mrs. Barrie as usual,
telling him how it had come. Mr. Barrie was greatly pleased with Guy
and Bell, and thanked them warmly; but to Bell’s astonishment he
handed her back the money, and said: “Give it to the poor, Bell, and
oh! let us be thankful we have something to give away.”
This was several steps in advance of Bell’s notions of what was
called for, and she spoke to Mrs. Barrie about it. Mrs. Barrie was well
aware that she would need to be very economical, but Mr. Barrie’s
“thankful to have something to give away” was so like himself, and
the money had come so unexpectedly, that she said:
“Certainly, Bell, we’ll carry out Mr. Barrie’s wishes; and when
something has thus come that we can give, let us be thankful to get
the more blessedness, for it is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Bell could not quite go in with this doctrine. She thought for a little,
and then said hesitatingly:
“Just so, mem; but you’ll surely no’ object to me selling whatever’s to
spare at Knowe Park, mem, will ye? I think less o’ what comes frae
the auld manse; an’ I’m aye gaun to ca’t that, an’ this house is to be
the manse. No’ the new manse, but the manse—the manse.”
“Do as you have always done, Bell; no directions I
could give would serve you so well as your own good BOTH
sense. And I have been so unsettled by the events of RIGHT.
the past two months that I hardly know my own mind;
but one thing I do know, and feel—” here Mrs. Barrie’s eyes filled,
and she finished the sentence with a trembling voice, “and that is,
that you have been a sister and a mother to us all,—a Deborah and
a Ruth, a Martha and a Dorcas put together. May God reward you.”
This was nearly too much for Bell, but the necessity of getting on and
getting through was pressing her strongly. She accordingly braced
herself up, and said in a cheerful tone:
“Mrs. Barrie, I’ve gotten ower a’ my fears an’ cares o’ a worldly kind
about this kirk business, an’ I’m humbled to think that I spoke to you
an’ the minister an’ ithers as I did, an’ that I didna join the noble army
till after the battle was won; but noo,” said she with great solemnity, “I
pray that I may mak’ up for my faintin’ in the day o’ adversity by
settin’ my face like a flint to my wark,” and here she lowered her
tone. “But I’m forgettin’ mysel’, an’ we maun a’ set the stout heart to
the stey [steep] brae, an’ gather up the loins o’ our minds and heads
and hands, and no’ turn back like Lot’s wife. We’re gaun to dae fine
here: the range is very licht on the coals; an’ the hens are takin’ to
the place, an’ layin’ weel; an’ Daisy’s up to her knees in clover,” and
here Bell put on her blithest look, “an’ I never saw either Mr. Barrie or
you lookin’ better. And we maunna let it be said that we’re
‘unsettled,’ when in every sense o’ the word we’re settled, and weel
settled,—we couldna be better,—we’re just real weel set.”
Bell’s hearty speech put Mrs. Barrie into good spirits. She left the
kitchen with a smile on her lip and a warm thought in her heart,
which found expression as she walked through the lobby in “Thank
God for Bell!”
Bell was contentedly happy because she was
constantly busy, and her schemes prospered. From SCIENCE
the day Mr. Barrie had hinted at the possibility of their AND
leaving the manse, she set herself to contrive if by any POULTRY.
means she could be more than ever one of the bread-
winners, and her first attempt was on the hens. Some one had told
her about the increased yield of eggs which Sir John’s henwife had
got by some changes she had made in the food and treatment of her
poultry. Bell adopted the new system, and improved on it. She
succeeded far beyond her expectations, and with a happy face told
me of her luck one afternoon when she was ordering some
peppercorns and other spices, with which to experiment still further
on a notion of her own.
“I’ve been trying different plans wi’ my hens. I first gied them dry
grain, and they did but middlin’; then I gied them rough meal, an’
they did better; syne I boiled their meat, an’ put a ‘curn’[12] o’ spice
in’t, an’ they did splendid—far mair than paid for the extra meat; then
I got a cracknel frae the candlemaker (ane o’ yon dark, cheese-
lookin’ things that they make out o’ the rinds o’ fat, an’ skins, an’ sic
like that comes out o’ their tallow), and boiled a bit o’ it among their
meat, and the result was extraordinary; they just laid on an’ on till
they actually reduced themselves to fair skeletons. I was fair
affronted to see them about the place, an’ I had to gi’e them a rest
an’ change their victuals. Now I try to mix their meat so as to get
them baith to lay weel an’ to be size for the table. But ye’ll hae seen
what grand eggs I’ve been sending to yoursel’, an’ how mony mair
than before?”

[12] A small quantity.

I knew that to be the case, and said so. Bell continued:

“But besides that, early in the spring I got some settings o’ eggs that
they say are a grand kind, and the birds are a gude size a’ready. I
got them from Dan Corbet, an’ so I wadna like to say very muckle
about them, for Dan’s no’ aye to lippen[13] to. ’Deed, since we’ve
come to live nearer him, I’m no sae high about them, for he has a
vermin o’ game-cocks about him, and they whiles cross the north
park and fecht wi’ mine—they’re a fair torment.”

[13] Trust.

Dan Corbet was a “queer mixture.” He was a native of Blinkbonny,

but had been out of the parish for several years; report said he had
been a smuggler on the west coast of Scotland. He returned to his
native parish about the year 1820, with scars on his face, and
without one of his eyes, which gave him a sinister look. For some
years he had been night-watchman in the churchyard, as the
outrageous custom of violating the sanctity of the grave in order to
procure subjects for surgical demonstration and actual use in
teaching anatomy had sent a thrill of horror over Scotland, and had
led to the systematic watching of churchyards by at least two
individuals every night. Dan was the paid regular watchman, and at
least one or more respectable householders by turns watched with
him. Dan’s reckless character fitted him for the dreary post; and
although none of those who watched with him respected him, they
found that he was always wakeful, and, in the matter in hand,
trustworthy.
When the night watching was given up, Dan
maintained himself by doing on a larger scale the odd THE
sorts of jobs which he had sometimes taken in hand in DUMMIE
order to add to his salary as watchman, or “dummie DOCTOR.
doctor,” as he was called. My older readers will
remember with what feelings of indignation the resurrectionists or
dummie doctors (for these were the names given to the violators of
the graves) were spoken of, and that after their disappearance the
odious name, “dummie doctor,” sometimes stuck to the watchman.
Dan acted amongst the surrounding farmers as butcher, mole-
catcher, rat-catcher, and, in a rough way, as a veterinary surgeon;
was employed as extra hand at sheep-shearings, corn-threshings,
etc. He was a regular attender of local cattle markets, fairs, races,
and games; a good and keen fisher, and strongly suspected of being
a poacher, but never convicted. He was a wiry, spare, athletic man of
about 5 feet 11 inches high, with a weatherbeaten countenance, thin
grizzled hair, and a long stride. He lived in a cottage, divided by a
single park-breadth from Knowe Park, and kept a perfect menagerie
of dogs, ferrets, goats, and fowls—the latter being principally game
sorts. His favourite pastime was cock-fighting; but it was, to Dan’s
great regret, being discountenanced and put down. He had a variety
of surnames; “the Corbie,” as a contraction of his own name, was the
most common, but he was known as the “Mowdie” (mole), the “Rat,”
the “Doctor,” the “Vet.,” and “Ggemmie,” as well as the “Dummie
Doctor” or “Dummie.”
The eggs he had given to Bell were not from his stock, but had been
got in exchange for some of these; and as he had sometimes been
employed by Bell as a butcher, there was a trade connection
between them, but the intimacy had been purely “professional,” as
Dan, in the matter of social position or religion, was looked on as
quite an outcast; and the description of him, in this respect, ranged
from “a poor creature” to “an awfu’ man.”
Dan had got a setting of eggs from a very rare strain of game fowls,
and had been loud in laying off their properties to his cronies, some
of whom, on the night that Dan “set” them, took them carefully from
under the hen and put ducks’ eggs in their place; they then crossed
the field, got over Knowe Park wall, and put Dan’s eggs under one of
Bell’s “clockers,”[14] using every precaution not to injure the eggs, as
well as to avoid detection.

[14] Clucking hens.

Dan waited long and wearily for his expected brood; he looked for
them on the reckoned day, but it passed, and the next, and the next,
until a full week had elapsed, and still no birds. Early on the eighth
morning he determined to “pitch” the eggs away, and was angrily
stooping down to lift off the hen, which, although it was a great
favourite and a “splendid sitter,” would have had a rough toss and a
long one, when he heard a cheep.
The welcome sound was marrow to his bones. “Eh!”
was his first exclamation; “what’s that? is’t possible HIDDEN
after a’?” He heard more cheeping. “Isn’t it a gude TREASUR
thing I’ve been sae patient?” Then looking at the hen, ES.
which, but a minute before, he was preparing to use
very roughly, he said, “Eh, grannie, grannie, ye’re the best clocker in
the county; eh, my auld darlin’, my queen o’ beauty, ye’ll no’ want
your handfu’ o’ groats for this—I’ll gi’e ye a peck; jist anither day,
grannie, an’ ye’ll get oot wi’ yer darlin’s, ye ace o’ diements!”
The cheeping had now become very decided, and Dan, again
addressing grannie, said: “Sit on, my flower o’ the flock, my fail-me-
never, hap[15] the giant-killers wi’ yer bonnie, golden, cosy feathers
just till the nicht, till their wee jackets an’ glancin’ spurs are dry; an’
I’ll bring a’ the neebors about seven o’clock when they come hame,
and I’ll open the door, an’ ye’ll march out like Wallington at the head
o’ the Scotch Greys at Waterloo; and will they no’ stare when they
see your sturdy family following ye like the Royal Artillery?”

[15] Cover carefully.

He then locked the door, and “warned” his cronies and neighbours to
come “sharp seven,” and they would see something really worth their
while.
Dan was in the fidgets all afternoon. Shortly before seven o’clock a
small crowd had gathered in his garden, to which Dan told the
pedigree of the birds, and spoke of their qualities in the most glowing
terms.
“Let’s see them, Dan,” said several voices; “let’s see them.”
“I’m waiting for Watty,” said Dan; and turning to a boy, said, “Gang to
the house-end, ma man, an’ see if he’s no’ comin’;” then addressing
his visitors, he said, “Watty’s the only man that I’m feared for in this
district; his birds hae beaten mine owre often; I’ll tether him noo, or
I’m cheated.”
As Dan finished this speech, Watty, a queer-looking customer
wearing a hairy skull-cap, smoking a short black pipe, and with both
hands in his pockets, joined the gathering. He gave a side nod to
Dan, and said “Hoo’s a’?” to the company.
“Noo for the show!” said Dan, as he unlocked the
’TWIXT hen-house (it was coal-house, goat-house, and
THE CUP served various other purposes), and flung the door
AND THE wide open, saying, “Come awa’, grannie, wi’ your
LIP.
‘royal family.’ There’s a pictur’, men, for ye.”
Grannie’s family had been restless, because hungry and particularly
thirsty, and she and they obeyed Dan’s summons with great
readiness and even haste.
Watty, who had till then smoked on in silence, quickly took the pipe
out of his mouth, stooped a little, shaded his eyes with one hand,
and seemed sadly puzzled. His first remark was:
“Man, Dan, they’ve awfu’ braid nebs” (broad bills).
“Braid nebs, or no’ braid nebs,” said Dan, “the game’s there onyway.”
“May be,” said Watty, “but they have maist awfu’ braid nebs,” for by
this time he and all the onlookers had “smelt a rat;” “and in ma
opinion they’re jucks.”
“Ye’re a juck!” said Dan, looking at him fiercely.
“Dinna look at me, Dan, look at them; look at their nebs, look at their
wab-feet—is thae no jucks?”
A second glance revealed to Dan that this was too true.
Roars of laughter, which only such an audience can give, ensued, in
which “Braid nebs,” “Gemm jucks,” “Grannie’s royal family,” “Tether
Watty,” were heard amidst the noisy peals of the uncontrolled and
apparently uncontrollable merriment.
Dan looked unutterable things; his face was one of dismal agony. He
took side glances at the crowd; each followed by a long look—a
perplexed, vindictive look—at the ducklings; whilst all the while the
crowd waxed merrier, and laughed louder as they saw his miserable,
heartbroken countenance.
Watty stooped down to lift a duckling, saying at the same time, “Man,
Dan, have ye lost your sicht? Div ye no’ see that thae’s jucks? Look
at their nebs, their feet, their size; hear their weet-weet;” but
“Grannie” barred the pass, flew at his hand, and pecked it sharply.
This revived the sorely afflicted Dan, and rousing himself, he said,
“Weel dune, grannie!” which the crowd received with a cheer and a
very loud laugh.
One of the onlookers, wishing to soothe Dan, said: “Jucks are as
gude as hens ony day, Dan; an’ they’re healthy-like birds.”
“You ignorant gomeral![16] you senseless blockhead! you born idiot!”
said Dan, his excitement increasing as he proceeded; “jucks like
game-cocks! jucks like the kind o’ game-cocks that should ha’ been
there, that were set by my ain hands! haud yer bletherin’[17] tongue.
Somebody’s been puggyin’[18] me. If I kent wha dared to tak’ their
nap[19] aff me, I wad gi’e them what they wad mind a’ their days; I
would fell them!”

[16] Stupid fellow.

[17] Foolish talking.

[18] Playing monkey tricks.

[19] Fun.

A large crowd had now collected in Dan’s garden, and when the
new-comers heard the cause of the merriment, they joined in it and
kept it up.
“What are ye a’ doin’ laughin’ there at, like
LET heeawnies [hyenas]? Out o’ this, every one o’ ye, or
SLEEPING I’ll gar some o’ ye laugh on the ither side o’ yer lug
DOGS LIE. [ear]!” said Dan, looking daggers.
“Lock them up, Dan, for fear the witches change them into turkeys,”
said one of the crowd.
This made Dan furious: he seized an old spade which lay on the top
of his hen-house, and vowed that he “would fell ony man that said
another word.”
“If ye can catch him,” said a waif, with a knowing wink; and he made
off as fast as he could.
“If I can what?” said Dan. “I believe you’re the vagabond that’s
puggied me, and I’ll catch ye, supple an’ a’ as ye think ye are!”
Dan started, holding the spade over his head, fury in his eye,
vengeance in his heart. The crowd saw that his blood was up, and
cried, “Run, run, run for your very life!”
The man got into the field that lay between Dan’s cottage and Knowe
Park; Dan followed, as did also many of the crowd. The pursued
man, repenting of his rashness, and fearing the worst, as well he
might, made straight for Knowe Park wall.
Bell had heard the laughter when milking Daisy; Mr. and Mrs. Barrie
had heard it when taking an evening stroll in the garden, and all
three were standing at the wall wondering what could cause it, as the
laughter was unusually boisterous. They saw the chase begin. The
flying man observed Mr. Barrie, and made toward him as to a city of
refuge. When Mr. Barrie saw Dan rushing on, so dangerously armed
and so furious, he cried loudly, “Stop, Corbett! stop! I command you.”
This made Dan slacken his pace and lower his spade, but he walked
sulkily on with the crowd, saying, “I’m no’ dune wi’ him yet. I’ll gi’e
him’t for this yet.—Wait a wee, just wait a wee,” until they came to
the wall of the garden.
“Whatever is all this about?” said Mr. Barrie. “What’s wrong, Corbett,
that you are so furious?”
“A’s wrang, sir, a’s wrang. I’ve been rubbit [i.e. robbed], an’ insulted,
an’ chagareened by that—” It took Dan a little time to select an
epithet strong enough for the occasion, and at the same time fit for
the minister’s ears. This was a difficult matter; many rushed to his
tongue-end, strong, withering, seasoned; undoubtedly, had it not
been for Mr. Barrie, he would have fired them off in a volley, and
greatly relieved himself thereby. At length he hurled out, “that
unhanged vagabond, he’s puggied me, but—”
Mr. Barrie looked at Dan, and said, “Stop, Corbett, say no more till
your passion cools;” then turning to the crowd he said, “What is the
cause of this unseemly uproar?”
Watty and several others began to explain the affair,
but every one that attempted it had to stop after saying PROBING
a word or two; even the offending man, although now THE
quite safe, was unable to get beyond “Dan set hens’ WOUND.
eggs” for laughing, and every man in the field was
writhing in fits and contortions, through excessive laughter, with the
exception of Dan, on whom the laughter was telling like oil on a
flame.
Mr. Barrie looked at Dan, and seeing that he was becoming even
more ferocious, said calmly: “Corbett, from the behaviour of the
crowd I suspect they have been playing some trick on you, and they
evidently have succeeded to their entire satisfaction, but to your
great annoyance. Please tell me really what has excited you.”
Dan told his story. The laughter was quite as general, but became
more distant as he proceeded, for whilst telling his tale he scowled
on the “grinning baboons,” as he called them, and clutched his
spade angrily, which still further widened the circle. Although Mr.
Barrie remained grave, Mrs. Barrie could not but laugh quietly, and
Bell, sheltered by an evergreen shrub, did so heartily, repeating,
“Well, I never!” All at once she stopped, thought a little, then saying
to herself, “That explains it,” she came close to the wall at the point
where Dan stood, and said: “There’s a brood o’ chickens, lang-leggit,
sharp-nebbit things, come to me that I never set; they’re maybe
yours, they’re no ours—they’re come-o’-wills.”
“What!” said Dan; “whan did they come out?”
“This day week exactly.”
“Let’s see them. Come in, Watty, an’ gie’s your skill o’ them,” said
Dan, with a happier but still nervous face; then addressing himself to
Bell, he said: “Hoo mony came oot?”
“Eleven out o’ thirteen; there were twa eggs did naething.”
“That’s very gude; that’s grand!” said Dan, who was already climbing
the wall to get in.
“Had ye no’ better wait till the morn’s mornin’?” said the considerate
Bell. “They’re a’ shut up for the nicht, an’ cosy under their mother’s
wing; ye’ll disturb them, puir things.”
“I maun see them the nicht; I’ll no’ live if I dinna see them the noo,
but I’ll be real canny wi’ them. Come on.”
Dan, Watty, and Bell went to the “cavie” or hencoop,
folded back the old bag which had been dropt over the BETTER
front of it to keep the inmates warm, and Dan saw to LO’ED YE
his intense delight two little heads peeping from under CANNA
their feathery covering. His educated although single BE.
eye at once settled the kind: “Game, game, every inch o’ them, and
baith cocks!” Then turning to his crony he said: “Watty, you’ll lift the
hen canny, canny, an’ I’ll tak’ stock.”
The result was “six cocks an’ five hens, the real true-blue breed,”
declared by Dan, and confirmed by Watty, with the addition of, “Dan,
ye’re rich noo.”
Bell would not hear of them being shifted that night, and ultimately
persuaded Dan to “leave them wi’ her hen till they were pickin’ for
themselves; she would take care o’ them, an’ nae cats could get
near them, for she had just gotten new nets.”
Dan got Bell to take the ducks,—“he couldn’t bear them; there was
nae water for them; his fowls wad dab them till there was no’ ane
left; it wad be a great obleegement to him.”
When Dan got home he could not rest; he smartly took down his
fishing-rod and strode to the waterside. The evening air cooled him,
and he was further consoled by a good take. Under the “bass” (straw
door-mat) at Knowe Park kitchen door next morning, Bell found a
ten-pound salmon and three good large trouts—possibly they had
not passed the water-bailiffs. Bell looked at all sides of the question
of “what to do with them?” Many difficulties presented themselves to
her honest, correct mind, and as the greatest of these was, “What
else could she do with them?” she took in the foundlings and used
them well.
There was a little coming and going between Bell and Dan, until the
chickens were able to shift for themselves. When that was the case,
he carried them carefully over to his own house, and shared it with
them for a few months. The ducklings throve with Bell, and she
repaid Dan for them and the fish (for she found out that her guess as
to its having come from Dan was correct) in several ways, but
principally by occasional dozens of her “buttered” eggs. When eggs
were abundant, and therefore cheap, she preserved a large quantity
by rubbing them when newly laid with a very little butter all over, and
keeping them in salt. It was generally thought that she had some
special receipt or “secret,” for her buttered eggs had a fresh, curdy,
rich flavour that few preservers could attain to.
A penurious old maid had complained to Bell that “she did not
understand her hens; she was quite provoked at them, because in
the summer-time, when eggs were only sixpence the dozen, they
laid lots, but in the winter-time, when they were more than double
that price, they would not lay at all.”
Bell’s reply was: “I daresay no’; but ’deed, mem, ye’ll
CATCHING need to baith feed them better, an’ keep them
A TARTAR. cleaner and cosier, or they’ll do but little for you.”
The nicknames by which Dan had formerly been distinguished were,
after the affair of the ducklings, dropt entirely out of use, and he was
thereafter spoken of as “Braidnebs,” although none could use it in his
hearing with impunity.
Thomas Scott, the farmer of Babbie’s Mill, a forward ill-bred man,
was speaking in the market to Mr. Taylor, the elder already referred
to in these “Bits.” Dan chanced to pass near them, and the miller
said, loud enough for him and the most of the folks about the cross
to hear him, “Braidnebs or no’ braidnebs, the game’s there onyway.”
Dan scowled at the miller, and tried to suppress his rage. In his own
words, “I tried to steek[20] my mouth, but there was a rattlin’ in my
throat like to choke me. I lookit at Mr. Taylor. He kent,[21] ’deed a’body
kent, that the miller’s wife was a yammerin’[22] petted cat, an’ I said,
‘Maister Taylor, there’s a big bubblyjock[23] gangs about Babbie’s Mill
yonder, but he’s dabbit[24] to death wi’ a hen.’”

[20] Shut.
 [21] Knew.

[22] Grumbling.

[23] Turkey-cock.

[24] Pecked.

Poor “Babbie’s Mill” was well known to be “hen-pecked” at home,

and the laugh was so cleverly, so deservedly, so daringly turned
against him, that he was nonplussed for a little; but he screwed up
his courage, and tried to look disdainfully at Dan. Dan’s single eye
was glaring at him, and the blank socket of his other eye was
twitching nervously. The miller looked bold, and said: “Go about your
business, ye ill-tongued scoundrel!”
“Ye what?” shrieked Dan, going close up to the miller, who stept back
and tried to move off; but Dan followed him closely, and poured out,
in a voice compounded of bawling, howling, and hissing, whilst all
the while his arm moved quickly up and down: “What did ye say?—
ill-tongued? Wha has as ill a tongue as yoursel’, if it be na your wife?
Ye’ll daur to insult a man in the middle o’ the street that wasna
meddlin’ wi’ you, an’ then speak o’ him being ill-tongued! Gae hame
to Babbie’s Mill an ‘clapper’ there like yer auld mill, an’ tak’ double
‘mouters’[25] out o’ ither folk’s sacks to fill yer ain. Ye’re no’ mealy-
mooed [mouthed] though ye’re a miller; dicht the stour aff your ain
tongue before ye try to mend ither folks. You should be the last man
to ca’ onybody a scoundrel; them that meets ye in the market wad
think butter wadna melt in yer mouth, but let them gang to Babbie’s
Mill an’ they’ll find ye can chew gey hard beans. What d’ye think o’