47 



livened the scene. Several species of Oxalis occurred in sandy- 

 nooks, the most curious of which was O. gigantea, a thick watery- 

 stemmed shrub, as high as my head, the upper part of the stalk 

 bearing a long spike of yellow flowers arranged irregularly around 

 the rachis. Here, too, is found the only Tillandsia known in the 

 region (7! Geisseana, Ph.), which is, strangely enough, a cactus 

 epiphyte. Many other interesting species besides these were 

 added to my collection in this attractive spot, not the least valu- 

 able being six or seven rare lichens. No doubt the remarkable 

 fertility of this rugged headland is owing to the clouds which 

 bathe its brows with moisture every night and morning in the 

 months of August, September and October. 



I have space only to give a brief sketch of an excursion that 

 I subsequently made by rail from Caldera to Monte Amargo, 

 twenty-five miles inland. The engineer, a pleasant and well-in- 

 formed Englishman, invited me to take a seat with him in the 

 engine where, he said, I could survey at my leisure the road and 

 the arid pastures on which the mules were feeding. I saw num- 

 bers of mules, it is true, and in fact, as they have a special fond- 

 ness for collecting in droves upon the railroad track, we came 

 near running over some of them, a calamity which I learned was 

 by no means infrequent, but what the creatures could find to 

 feed upon passed my comprehension, unless it were a very disa- 

 greeable plant that seems smeared with varnish over all its parts, 

 and known from that fact as Alona vernicosa. An animal which 

 could browse on such herbage must be quite able to relish tar, 

 varnish and such-like substances. This plant occurs all along 

 the railway to Monte Amargo, and bears a very pretty bright 

 blue flower. Possibly it was the flowers that attracted the mules, 

 as it could not have been the taste. 



Monte Amargo itself is only a railway station situated in a 

 soda swamp. In the alkaline pools around it I gathered several 

 species of Characeae and Naiadaceae, and in the bogs were grow- 

 ing a number of saline plants such as Salicornia {S. Peruviana, 

 HBK.), Triglochin and several Cyperacese. Through this swamp 

 runs the Copiapo River, or rather the modicum which is left of 

 it after being used for irrigation in the valley above. It goes no 

 further, being here absorbed by the desert sands. Upon its 



