LOO FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. [1839. 



along the coast, between the spurs of the mountain chains; 

 but the shores are mostly high, rocky, and precipitous. 



The climate of Chili is equable and healthy. In the sum- 

 mer the weather is remarkable fine. Day after day, for 

 weeks and months together, the atmosphere is transparently 

 pure and clear ; save, perhaps, the light blue haze which 

 sometimes adds a new, and almost unnecessary charm, to what 

 is all brightness, gayety, and joy. The interior is much 

 warmer than the coast ; at Valparaiso, the thermometer 

 ranges, in midsummer, from 64° to 72° ; and, at Santiago, 

 the mean summer heat, from December to March, is about 

 84i° at midday, and 58° at night. During the summer, the 

 wind blows steadily from the southward, and a little off the 

 shore, but at sunset there is almost always a cool and pleas- 

 ant breeze. No rain falls in the summer ; it is abundant, 

 however, through the winter months, from June to September, 

 in the southern provinces. No snow falls along the coast, 

 and frost is very rare. North of Santiago there are only a 

 few occasional showers even in the winter ; and in the arid 

 province of Coquimbo, no rain whatever falls, but its place 

 is occasionally supplied by heavy night dews. 



Chili abounds in small rivers, which carry off the melted 

 snow from the Andes, but it has none capable of being navi- 

 gated to any extent, except the Maule and the Biobio. 



The high chain of the Andes is chiefly composed of argil- 

 laceous schist, and the lower chains and groups, of granite. 

 Sienitic, basaltic, and felspar porphyries, serpentines of vari- 

 ous colors, quartz, hornblende and other slates, pudding-stone 

 and gypsum, are found in the Cordillera, and there is fine 

 statuary marble in the department of Copiapo. The soil of 

 the northern provinces is sandy and saline, and probably not 

 one fiftieth part of the north half of the country can ever be 

 cultivated. In the central provinces, some of the valleys are 

 considerably inclined, and admit of irrigation where water can 

 be procured ; but the hills and ridges, for the greater part of 

 the year, are dry and parched. South of the Maule, the pro- 

 portion of arable land is greater, and the soil becomes mora 



