448 FROM LIMA TO VALPARAISO. 



dues collected in the same time were $120,000. We found no vessels in port; but the tone of 

 the hells to the time-keepers told very plainly that Yankeedom has had -its Sam Slick here, with 

 clocks and prohably other " notions" to exchange for tin and silver. 



Sailed from the port shortly after 12 o'clock, and soon ran from beneath the cirro-stratus into a 

 clear atmosphere. This we greatly enjoyed, until the departure of the sun again permitted 

 clouds to accumulate. Though there was a long and regular swell setting from the southward 

 and westward all day, the surface of the sea remained almost unruffled. 



October 22. Except a diminution of heat, no change took place in the weather until after 

 nine o'clock; every feature presenting an aspect unvaried from that detailed on several 

 successive mornings. We were farther oif-shore than usual, and encountered only a few 

 albatrosses and cape pigeons, with occasional patches of long and coarse sea-weed. Altogether, 

 it was the most uninteresting day we had spent. 



October 23. When day dawned we were steaming along .the comparatively low and sandy 

 strip of Atacama, which lies to the north of Caldera, and between the sea and the mountains. 

 At 8 o'clock we had anchored in the roadstead of Copiapo, latitude 2*7 20', (then) the port of its 

 wealthy mining district. A worse place for ships to enter or lie in can scarcely be found on the 

 whole west coast. More than one has been driven on shore from its anchors by rollers setting 

 suddenly in ; and the landing is more difficult than in any port to the southward, because of 

 the constant swell from the S.W. We found but one ship here. 



The formation at the sea-line is of igneous rock, with a superstratum of sandstone in nearly 

 horizontal layers, that attain an elevation of forty or fifty feet. A few rods inland the sandstone 

 has been penetrated by black and ragged volcanic masses, which seem to have burst through 

 the surface and cooled suddenly. According to Arrowsmith's map, a river should empty into 

 the northern portion of the bay; but, as has been stated in Chapter X, PART I, all the water 

 of the Copiapo is absorbed long before it reaches the ocean, and there is only a dry bed, show- 

 ing where a stream flowed within a moderate geological period. The face of the country, then, 

 is sand, mixed with shells and gravel; utterly destitute of vegetation, except when a slight 

 shower falls once in two or three years. Though more than a degree to the south of the limit 

 assigned by geographers to the desert of Atacama, for all that the soil yields to support life, it 

 is absolutely a part of it. Such are the charges for transportation, and the depreciation of money 

 where the heavens prohibit all other products than gold, silver, and copper to the earth, that 

 beef is sold at four reals the pound ; whilst at Santiago, only 400 miles distant, the market price 

 is from a half to three fourths of a real. However, all these matters have been mentioned more 

 in detail in the chapter referred to. 



Having received on board thirty-five passengers, 40,000 marks of silver, and 2,000 ounces 

 of gold in bars, we left the port at 11 o'clock. At sea, the reonainder of the day proved 

 overcast and cool ; but in some of the valleys on shore there was bright sunshine, strangely 

 contrasting, at times, with the unilluminated summits and opposite declivities of the same range 

 of hills. Views of the distant Andes, with their snow-peaks, were also obtained at times ; and as 

 more than half the hills were dark, as with verdure, the eye finds much to compare pleasantly 

 with the desolation of Peru and northern Chile. 



Shortly after dark we stopped for an hour in the mining part of Huasco, latitude 28 2V' S. 

 There are about 25 or 30 plank and adobe houses here, a custom-house, church, and 250 inhab- 

 itants ; but, if possible, the country around presents a more miserable aspect than any part even 

 of this desolate coast. Dr. Darwin states that there is no fresh water in the immediate vicinity ; 

 the little river of the same name that flows through the valley being at some miles to the north. 

 Commencing at the sea margin, there is a similar natural feature here to that existing at 

 Coquimbo. "The phenomenon of the parallel terraces is very strikingly seen; no less than 

 seven perfectly level but unequally broad plains, ascending by steps, occur on one or both sides 

 of the valley. So remarkable is the contrast of the successive horizontal lines, corresponding 

 on each side with the irregular outline of the surrounding mountains, that it attracts the atten^ 



