1835.] VALLEY OF GUASCO. 349 



the abundant rain at Guasco. After two or three very dry years, 

 perhaps with not more than one shower during the whole time, 

 a rainy year generally follows ; and this does more harm than 

 even the drought. The rivers swell, and cover with gravel and 

 sand the narrow strips of ground, which alone are fit for culti- 

 vation. The floods also injure the irrigating ditches. Great 

 devastation had thus been caused three years ago. 



June 8th. We rode on to Ballenar, which takes its name 

 from Ballenagh in Ireland, the birthplace of the family of 

 O'Higgins, who, under the Spanish government, were presidents 

 and generals in Chile. As the rocky mountains on each hand 

 were concealed by clouds, the terrace-like plains gave to the 

 valley an appearance like that of Santa Cruz in Patagonia. After 

 spending one day at Ballenar I set out, on the 10th, for the 

 upper part of the valley of Copiapo. We rode all day over an 

 uninteresting country. I am tired of repeating the epithets 

 barren and sterile. These words, however, as commonly used, 

 are comparative ; I have always applied them to the plains of 

 Patagonia, which can boast of spiny bushes and some tufts of 

 grass ; and this is absolute fertility, as compared with northern 

 Chile. Here again, there are not many spaces of two hundred 

 yards square, where some little bush, cactus or lichen, may not 

 be discovered by careful examination ; and in the soil seeds lie 

 dormant ready to spring up during the first rainy winter. In 

 Peru real deserts occur over wide tracts of country. In the 

 evening we arrived at a valley, in which the bed of the streamlet 

 was damp : following it up, we came to tolerably good water. 

 During the night, the stream, from not being evaporated and 

 absorbed so quickly, flows a league lower down than during the 

 day. Sticks were plentiful for firewood, so that it was a good 

 place of bivouac for us ; but for the poor animals there was not 

 a mouthful to eat. 



June llth. We rode without stopping for twelve hours, till 

 we reached an old smelting-furnace, where there was water and 

 firewood ; but our horses again had nothing to eat, being shut up 

 in an old courtyard. The line of road was hilly, and the dis- 

 tant views interesting from the varied colours of the bare moun- 

 tains. It was almost a pity to see the sun shining constantly 

 over so useless a country ; such splendid weather ought to 



