VALLEY OF GUASCO 373 



whole time, a rainy year generally follows ; and this does more 

 harm than even the drought. • The rivers swell, and cover with 

 gravel and sand the narrow strips of ground which alone are 

 fit for cultivation. The floods also injure the irrigating ditches. 

 Great devastation had thus been caused three years ago. 



June St/i. — We rode on to Ballenar, which takes its name 

 from Ballenagh in Ireland, the birthplace of the family of 

 O'Higgins, who, under the Spanish government, were presidents 

 and generals in Chile. As the rocky mountains on each hand 

 were concealed by clouds, the terrace-like plains gave to the 

 valley an appearance like that of Santa Cruz in Patagonia. 

 After spending one day at Ballenar I set out, on the loth, for 

 the upper part of the valley of Copiapo. We rode all day 

 over an uninteresting country. I am tired of repeating the 

 epithets barren and sterile. These words, however, as commonly 

 used, are comparative ; I have always applied them to the 

 plains of Patagonia, which can boast of spiny bushes and some 

 tufts of grass ; and this is absolute fertility, as compared with 

 Northern Chile. Here again, there are not many spaces of two 

 hundred yards square, where some little bush, cactus or lichen, 

 may not be discovered by careful examination ; and in the soil 

 seeds lie dormant ready to spring up during the first rainy 

 winter. In Peru real deserts occur over wide tracts of country. 

 In the evening wc arrived at a valley in which the bed of the 

 streamlet was damp : following it up, we came to tolerably 

 good water. During the night the stream, from not being 

 evaporated and absorbed so quickly, flows a league lower down 

 than during the day. Sticks were plentiful for firewood, so 

 that it was a good place of bivouac for us ; but for the poor 

 animals there was not a mouthful to eat. 



June I it/i. — We rode without stopping for twelve hours, 

 till we reached an old smelting-furnace, where there was water 

 and firewood ; but our horses again had nothing to eat, being 

 shut up in an old courtyard. The line of road was hilly, and 

 the distant views interesting from the varied colours of the 

 bare mountains. It was almost a pity to see the sun shining 

 constantly over so useless a country ; such splendid weather 

 ought to have brightened fields and pretty gardens. The next 

 day we reached the valley of Copiapo. I was heartily glad of 

 it ; for the whole journey was a continued source of anxiety ; 



