9S A VOYAGE TO Book VIT. 



Thf. rocks in the mnst inhnd part of this bay 'dvo 

 perfoiated and smootlied like those washed by the 

 ■Nvaves ; a suilicient proof that the sea formed ihese 

 larire cavities, and iniderniined snch prodip^ious masses 

 as lie on the ground, by its continual elisions ; and it 

 seems natural to think that the like must have hap- 

 pened in the country contiguous to Lima, and that 

 parts, consisting' of pebbles like those a:t the bottom 

 of the adjacent sea, were formerly covered by the 

 water. 



Another sini>;ularity in this arid country is, the 

 abundance of sprinc^s, water being found every 

 where with little labour, by digging only four or 

 five feet below the surface. This may arise from 

 two causes ; the one, that the earth, being, from its 

 composition^, very spungy, the water of the sea 

 easily insinuates itself to a great distance, and is fil- 

 trated in passing through its pores. The other, that 

 the many torrents after descending from the moun- 

 tains, soon lose themselves in these plains, but con- 

 tinue their course along the su})terranean veins of tUe- 

 earth ; for this stony (juality of the soil from the na- 

 ture of the springs cannot extend to any great depth, 

 and underneath it the stratum is hard and compact ; 

 consequently the water must be conveyed to tlie 

 most porous parts, which being the stony, it there 

 precipitates into a subterranean course, leaving tlie 

 surface dry. We have already observed * that from 

 many of the rivers in Yallbs,. though ap'parentiy dry, 

 the inhabitants procure a suííicient (juaiitity of water 

 by digging wells in tlw beds over which their wateiss 

 run in the winter: others might be passed without 

 being known, but the bottom consisting entirely of 

 pebbles, wherever the beasts set thfcir ieet, the water 

 immediately oozes out. The reason of this is, thai 

 the water at that time runs a little below the surface, 

 and 1 do not doubt but the same will be found 



. iu 

 ^' Cli;ip, I, of tills volume. 



