POLITICAL DIVISIONS, AND DISTRIBUTION OP INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES. 45 



others, which obtain licni-- :ii Snflieeo Or 4 '"(.iapo, are also permitted to visit at < 'haiVral, Pefia 

 I'.lanca, llerradura. ami I'aj.mah^, in t IK- former ili-trict, and at Chufieral de la Animas, Pa- 

 poso, Flamenco, and P.aram|iiillos, in the latter; all of them villages numbering from 50 to 

 500 souls cadi, Commerce with tin- A routine republic is permitted through the custom sta- 

 tion at Kio dd Transito 6 Natural es, which is between Yallcnar and the Andes. Such statis- 

 tics relating to the population of this and the other provinces as it has been possible to obtain, 

 vill lc t'M ml in a table at the end of the chapter. 



As its soil, except on very narrow bands along the Copiapo and Htiasco rivulets, is utterly 

 barren, the whole industrial resources of the inhabitants are in the mines, with which its hills 

 abound. But from want of fuel to reduce the ores, and because of the expense of transportation 

 across regions destitute of water or grass for their animals, they are prevented from deriving 

 full advantage from even this source of wealth. Notwithstanding these obstacles, however, 

 the prosperity of the province has latterly made rapid advancement, and the impetus given its 

 trade by the success of the railroad between Caldera and Copiapo has already roused its citizens 

 to other enterprises. Extensions of the same road are under contract to Chafiarcillo and Trea 

 Puntas, that will pass near copper mines whose ores, though rich in metal, it has never been 

 possible to transport lucratively. More than this, as there is a very eligible pass near the head- 

 vaters of the Copiapo river, towards which there will be transportation by rail for about 90 

 miles, it is expected that the commerce with Salta and Tucuman, which is now carried on 

 through Cobija in Bolivia, will be transferred to Caldera, and the communication with those 

 Argentine provinces be greatly increased. During 1850 there were shipped from Atacama to 

 foreign ports products to the value of $1,443,642, and to domestic ports to the value of $5,175,231 ; 

 almost all of which silver and copper forwarded to Valparaiso only in obedience to the laws 

 of trade, was immediately sent abroad. The silver uniformly goes to England. In the same 

 period the value of the imports was $2,45*7,501 ; of which the foreign goods naturalized for 

 there were no direct arrivals were estimated at $804,876, leaving a balance in favor of the 

 province amounting to $2,717,730. 



COQUIMBO. This province is limited, on the north, by Atacama ; its southern boundary is 

 the river Chuapa ; and the eastern and western are as those of the preceding great division. 

 La Serena, Illapel, Combarbala, Ovalle, and Elqui, are its departments, which are divided into 

 58 sub-delegations, and these again into 227 districts. La Serena, a prettily situated town on 

 the south bank of the Coquimbo river, and within a mile of the sea, is the capital of the 

 province. Each department has its capital of the same name; besides which, the principal 

 towns are Coquimbo, La Compania, San Isidro, Tambo, and Guanta, on or near the Coquimbo 

 river ; Barrasa, Guamalata, Sotaqui, Antileu, Rapel, and Carreu, on the Limari and its 

 branches ; Huantelauque, Pupido, Mincha, Canela, and Chuapa, on the river of the latter 

 name ; and there are intermediate villages about Punitaque, Tamaya, Andacollo, and other 

 mining stations. Its ports for coasting-trade are at Tongoi and Totorallillo ; and for the 

 collection of duties on cattle and goods brought from the Argentine provinces there is a custom- 

 house at Calderon, near the base of the Andes. 



Mountain streams are more frequent than in Atacama, and, as their supplies last longer, a 

 much greater quantity of land is under cultivation ; yet there is not sufficient to supply food 

 for the numbers whom its mineral wealth attracts! After the valley of the Coquimbo, the 

 vicinity of the Chuapa is the most productive agricultural district ; not that the latter region is 

 destitute of mineral wealth, but that the roads over which mining products must be transported 

 to market are so long and defective that ores will scarcely repay cost, and there is no super- 

 abundance of wood for smelting purposes. Like every other in Chile, this valley is nearly 

 level, broad, and, wherever water can be applied to it, very fertile; but above the straight line 

 of the uppermost irrigating trench, all is as bare and brown as is the highway. Dr. Darwin 

 was surprised to observe how the seeds of grass and other plants seemed to accommodate 

 themselves, as if by acquired habit, to the quantities of rain which fell in different parts of 



