338 NORTHERN CHILE. [chap. xvi. 



duce of a garden and a little field, but were very poor. Capital 

 is here so deficient, that the people are obliged to sell their green 

 corn while standing in the field, in order to buy necessaries for 

 the ensuing year. Wheat in consequence was dearer in the very 

 district of its production than at Valparaiso, where the contrac- 

 tors live. The next day we joined the main road to Coquimbo. 

 At night there was a very light shower of rain : this was the first 

 drop that had fallen since the heavy rain of September 11th and 

 12th, which detained me a prisoner at the Baths of Cauquenes. 

 The interval was seven and a half months ; but the rain this year 

 in Chile was rather later than usual. The distant Andes were 

 now covered by a thick mass of snow ; and were a glorious 

 sight. 



Mav 2nd. The road continued to follow the coast, at no 

 "Teat distance from the sea. The few trees and bushes which 

 are common in central Chile decreased rapidly in numbers, and 

 were replaced by a tall plant, something like a yucca in appear- 

 ance. The surface of the country, on a small scale, was singu- 

 larly broken and irregular ; abrupt little peaks of rock rising out 

 of small plains or basins. The indented coast and the bottom 

 of the neighbouring sea, studded with breakers, would, if con- 

 verted into dry land, present similar forms ; and such a con- 

 version without doubt has taken place in the part over which we 

 rode. 



3rd. Quilimari to Conchalee. The country became more 

 and more barren. In the valleys there was scarcely sufficient 

 water for any irrigation ; and the intermediate land was quite 

 bare, not supporting even goats. In the spring, after the winter 

 showers, a thin pasture rapidly springs up, and cattle are then 

 driven down from the Cordillera to graze for a short time. It 

 is curious to observe how the seeds of the grass and other plants 

 seem to accommodate themselves, as if by an acquired habit, to 

 the quantity of rain which falls on different parts of this coast. 

 One shower far northward at Copiapo produces as great an effect 

 on the vegetation, as two at Guasco, and as three or four in this 

 district. At Valparaiso a winter so dry as greatly to injure the 

 pasture, would at Guasco produce the most unusual abundance. 

 Proceeding northward, the quantity of rain does not appear to 

 decrease in strict proportion to the latitude. At Conchalee, 



