OP ATACAMA AND COQUIMRO. 249 



stantly blowing up the old valley of tin- riv. i . They are quite polished on the windward side*. 

 These, ami a lew lull-.iis plants, wen- nearly all that attracted attention during 17 or 18 miles. 

 Occasionally wo pasm-d small flookf of trirdf, in form similar to diminutive snipes; but they 

 were timid little tilings, ami ran to their burrows in the sand almost as soon as they saw us. 

 Haifa ilo/rii medium-si/.rd condors, too, stood near the drivers who were flaying it, awaiting 

 their share of an unfortunate mule that had been run over, in the morning, by a loaded train. 

 They wen- evidently without apprehension, and with the snipes were the only animate objects 

 si-en until we descended to the valley of the river. 



I'., ing covered with shrubbery between high bounding hills, here more than a mile and a half 

 apart, the valley a little distance presented quite an attractive appearance. But as we drew 

 near, the bushes were found low, dwarfish, of few varieties, and covered with dust. One na- 

 turally looked for the stream or rivulet whose moisture had been diffused to aid in their suste- 

 nance; but there is nothing of the kind now here, every drop of water coming from the melted 

 snow of the Andes being consumed long before it reaches this part of its ancient channel. As a 

 contrast, however, the eye early recognises seeming beds of snow or salt, extending for miles 

 along the valley ; though closer inspection proves them to be only incrustations of sulphate of 

 soda with which the earth of the vicinity is permeated, and which have been left by evaporation. 

 In some places, where a recent rain had evidently collected in little pools, the remaining crystals 

 were very beautiful ; but in this dry atmosphere the reflection of the sun from so white a surface 

 is almost as painful as it would be from snow. 



The engineers at the end of the line soon set out lunch for us ; and our journey towards the 

 city was resumed shortly after, in a carriage that had been sent ahead on the previous evening. 



With the progress up the valley, the height of the hills on both sides rapidly increases ; 

 willow-like or osier bushes are more numerous, and the varieties of plants augment. Occa- 

 sionally there are marks, quite twenty feet above the road, where water has washed the steep 

 banks ; and rocks, not less than the sand and gravel, exhibit evidences of a former running 

 stream. On the eastern slopes of the spurs that jut from the bounding chains of the valley, 

 sand lies in drifts, deposited by the same currents which polished the stones on the hills nearer 

 the sea. Soon one begins to perceive houses but such houses ! Thatched or mud walls, with 

 almost flat and mud-plastered roofs ! Poor shelter these in rain-storms, one would think ; and 

 no doubt they would so prove : but, it must be recollected, it never rains in northern Chile 

 except in winter, and winter at least such winter as is occasionally experienced even in Florida 

 is never known here. If moderate showers fall on three days of the year, the land is considered 

 to have been extraordinarily blessed, and a prosperous season ensues. They tell me that at 

 such times even the sand-hills become like flower-gardens with an infinite variety of bulbous 

 plants, which otherwise lie dormant until nature so wills. Strange as it may seem under 

 this almost cloudless sky, at a few inches beneath the surface the sand is quite damp, though 

 the only drops of water known for half a thousand years are from the miserly distributions of 

 the heavens. Yet, an examination of the fleshy bulbs and tubers that one may dig from the 

 ground at hundreds of feet above the river valley, may well inspire belief respecting the flowers 

 in fruitful years. Without such seasons oftener than once in eight or ten years, denied the run- 

 ning streams which melting snows elsewhere afford for irrigation except one slender brook, to 

 be presently mentioned, and another near Huasco of scarcely greater capacity the whole province 

 is so sterile, it would of necessity be abandoned, but that nature has lavished other wealth upou 

 it wherewith to pay liberally for all articles of consumption. 



Within twelve miles of the city the road at last approaches the river ; but what sort of stream 

 does the reader picture to himself? one like the Delaware, or Thames, or Seine? The 

 geographical student would be warranted in such belief on inspection of the old maps ; and 

 such a stream as either would be a source of wealth more valuable than all the riches of Tres 

 Puntas. No, no; the river Copiapo is but a trench half filled with water, not a foot deep, and 

 across which you may easily stride! A small estate called Ramadillas, near here, consunes 

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