22 NORTHERN CHILE, [CHAP. xvi. 



" Let us see which rolls furthest." The owner, who was standing by, 

 bet a cigar with his friend on the race. The miner by this means 

 watched the very point amongst the rubbish where the stone lay. In 

 the evening he picked it up and carried it to his master, showing him 

 a rich mass of silver-ore, and saying, " This was the stone on which 

 you won a cigar by its rolling'so far." 



May 2yd. We descended into the fertile valley of Coquimbo, and 

 followed it till we reached an Hacienda belonging to a relation of 

 Don Jose, where we stayed the next day. I then rode one day's 

 journey further, to see what were declared to be some petrified shells 

 and beans, which latter turned out to be small quartz pebbles. We 

 passed through several small villages ; and the valley was beautifully 

 cultivated, and the whole scenery very grand. We were here near 

 the main Cordillera, and the surrounding hills were lofty. In all parts 

 of northern Chile, fruit-trees produce much more abundantly at a 

 considerable height near the Andes than in the lower country. The 

 figs and grapes of this district are famous for their excellence, and are 

 cultivated to a great extent. This valley is, perhaps, the most produc- 

 live one north of Quillota : I believe it contains, including Coquimbo, 

 25,000 inhabitants. The next day I returned to the Hacienda, and 

 thence, together with Don Jose, to Coquimbo. 



June 2nd. We set out for the valley of Guasco, following the coast- 

 road, which was considered rather less desert than the other. Our 

 first day's ride was to a solitary house called Yerba Buena, where there 

 was pasture for our horses. The shower mentioned as having fallen 

 a fortnight ago, only reached about halfway to Guasco ; we had, therefore, 

 in the first part of our journey a most faint tinge of green, which soon 

 faded quite away. Even where brightest, it was scarcely sufficient to 

 remind one of the fresh turf and budding flowers of the spring of other 

 countries. While travelling through these deserts one feels like a 

 prisoner shut up in a gloomy court, who longs to see something green 

 and to smell a moist atmosphere. 



June yd. Yerba Buena to Carizal. During the first part of the day 

 we crossed a mountainous rocky desert, and afterwards a long deep 

 sandy plain, strewed with broken sea-shells. There was very little 

 water, and that little saline : the whole country, from the coast to the 

 Cordillera, is an uninhabited desert. I saw traces only of one living 

 animal in abundance, namely, the shells of a Bulimus, which were 

 collected together in extraordinary numbers on the driest spots. In the 

 spring one humble little plant sends out a few leaves, and on these the 

 snails feed. As they are seen only very early in the morning, when the 

 ground is slightly damps with ;dew, the Guasos believe that they are bred 

 from it. I have observed in other places that extremely dry and sterile 

 districts, where the soil is calcareous, are extraordinarily favourable to 

 land-shells. At Carizal there were a few cottages, some brackish water, 

 and a trace of cultivation ; but it was with difficulty that we purchased 

 a little corn and straw for our horses. 



June 4lh. Carizal to Sauce. We continued to ride over desert 

 plains, tenanted by large herds of guanaco. We crossed also the valley 



