854 NORTHERN CHILE. [CHAP. xvi. 



had died of hydrophobia. At lea forty-two people thus mi- 

 serably perished. The disease came on between twelve and ninety 

 days after the bite ; and in those cases where it did come on, 

 death ensued invariably within five days. After 1808, a long 

 interval ensued without any cases. On inquiry, I did not hear 

 of hydrophobia in Van Diemeri's Land, or in Australia ; and Bur- 

 chell says, that during the five years he was at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, he never heard of an instance of it. Webster 

 asserts that at tiie Azores hydrophobia has never occurred ; and 

 the .same assertion has been made with respect to Mauritius and 

 St. Helena.* In so strange a disease, some information might 

 possiblv be gained by considering the circumstances under which 

 it originates in distant climates ; for it is improbable that a 

 dog already bitten, should have been brought to these distant 

 countries. 



At night, a stranger arrived at the house of Don Benito, and 

 asked permission to sleep there. He said he had been wander- 

 ing 1 about the mountains for seventeen days, having lost his way, 

 He started from Guasco, and being accustomed to travelling in 

 the Cordillera, did not expect any difficulty in following the 

 track to Copiapo ; but he soon became involved in a labyrinth 

 of mountains, whence he could not escape. Some of his mules 

 had fallen over precipices, and he had been in groat distress. 

 His chief difficulty arose from not knowing where to find water 

 in the lower country, so that he was obliged to keep bordering 

 the central ranges. 



We returned down the valley, and on the 22nd reached the 

 town of Copiapo. The lower part of the valley is broad, form- 

 ing a fine plain like that of Quillota. The town covers a consi- 

 derable space of ground, each house possessing a garden : but it 

 is an uncomfortable place, and the dwellings are poorly fur- 

 nished. Every one seems bent on the one object of making mo- 

 ney, and then migrating as quickly as possible. All the inhabit- 

 ants are more or less directly concerned with mines ; and mines 

 and ores are the sole subjects of conversation. Necessaries of 



* Observa. sobre el climade Lima, p. 67. Azara's Travels, vol. i. p. 381 

 Ulloa's Voyage, vol. ii. p. 28. Burchell's Travels, vol. ii. p. 524. Web- 

 Bter's Description of the Azores, p. 124. Voyage h 1'Isle de France par UE 

 Oificier du Eoi, tome i. p. 248. Description of St. Helena, p. 123. 



