34+ Voijage of the Novara. 



animals ; the price, for example, for a mule to drink ad libitum 

 is one real, about '^\d. 



Tincal, or Biborate of Soda, is also largely found all along 

 the coast, but the export was long prohibited, the suspicious 

 jealousy of the Peruvian Government seeking to obtain first 

 of all conclusive evidence of the value of this natural product, 

 and the best means of making it contribute to the State 

 treasury. At present about 200 tons, worth from £16 to £20 

 per ton, are exported annually. As we lay at anchor off 

 Iquique, numbers of natives shot about with arrow-like ra- 

 pidity in their exceedingly primitive boats, made of seal-skins 

 fastened together in canoe-fashion. To avoid overturns, 

 these curious specimens of naval architecture have bladders 

 attached on either side ! 



The heat now began to be very perceptible. The bare, tree- 

 less, almost j^erpendicular sand-bluffs along the coast, impart to 

 it a dreary aspect, which even the rocky chain immediately 

 behind, rising some 2000 to 4000 feet, scarcely succeeds in 

 softening. A great number of the j)assengers, mostly Pe- 

 ruvians, indemnified themselves for the cheerless monotony 

 of the prospect on deck, by intense devotion to the mysteries 

 of the green table in the saloon. All through the day, till 

 far on in the night, the painted pasteboard flew from hand to 

 hand. The favourite game was Rocambor, something like 

 Ombre, diversified with Monte and dice, and for very high 

 sums. I saw ten condors (£21) laid upon a single card. A 

 few elderly gentlemen sat regularly in a distant corner of the 



