AT TACNA. 103 



the neighbouring valleys of Sania, Asapa, and Lluta ; some thirty 

 years ago, the value of this crop in the province of Arica was 

 reckoned at 600,000 dollars annually ! it can now be but a small 

 fraction of this large sum, the scarcity of water in Asapa, the ruin 

 brought on many estates by the devastations of the revolutionary 

 war, the almost total breaking up of slavery, and the general 

 poverty of the country, are the causes which have brought about 

 the diminution. 



The utter ignorance of the people here, of the very first princi- 

 ples of vegetable economy, is in nothing more conspicuous than 

 in the management of this, their most valuable crop. The seed 

 is sown as thick as it can lie on the surface, and the plants 

 of course, deprived of air, become drawn and weak ; nothing 

 would be easier than to prick them out on a succession bed, where 

 they would soon acquire strength in both root and stem, but this 

 simple plan is never thought of, and those to whom I have 

 recommended it are too idle, or too prejudiced, to adopt the practice. 

 When the seedlings are " drawn " to the height of a foot or fourteen 

 inches, they are considered sufficiently long (not strong) to plant 

 out ; and as it is evident that a great part of plants so raised 

 must die under the heat of a tropical sun, recourse is had to the 

 ingenious device of sticking two or three into the same hole ! the 

 consequences are self-evident : if one plant survives, it is still only 

 a comparatively weak single-stemmed thing, with a bush of 

 branches at the top, liable to be broken over by a puff of wind, or 

 the passing friction of any animal ; should two or more happen to 

 live, their energies are spent in a struggle with each other — they 

 are jointly and severally deprived of the necessary air, the 

 original process of drawing is followed by that of smothering, and 

 a corresponding diminution in the produce is the necessary 

 consequence. 



Onions. — This bulb is used in great quantities, it being a 

 principal ingredient in the " chupe," or stew of the country. I 

 have never seen it raised from seed ; in fact, the process would 

 be considered too tedious a one by our " chacareros : " the only 

 kind grown is what is called at home, I believe, the Tree Onion, 

 which produces its succession in a bunch of small bulbs on the 

 top of what, in other plants, would be called the flower-stalk. 

 These bulbs are sown in ridges, four or five always adhering 

 together, and, with guano and water, soon swell to a large size ; 

 but they are not considered in perfection until they have " shot." 

 Previous to this time they are called " hembras," or females, and 



