38o NORTHERN CHILE chap. 



bank, when left dry, it deepens the already-formed shallow 

 lines of excavation ; and so is it with the rain of successive 

 centuries on the bank of rock and soil which we call a continent. 



We rode on after it was dark, till we reached a side ravine 

 with a small well, called, " Agua amarga." The water deserved 

 its name, for besides being saline it was most offensively 

 putrid and bitter ; so that we could not force ourselves to 

 drink either tea or mate. I suppose the distance from the 

 river of Copiapo to this spot was at least twenty-five or thirty 

 English miles ; in the whole space there was not a single drop 

 of water, the country deserving the name of desert in the 

 strictest sense. Yet about half-way we passed some old Indian 

 ruins near Punta Gorda : I noticed also in front of some of 

 the valleys, which branch off from the Despoblado, two piles 

 of stones placed a little way apart, and directed so as to point 

 up the mouths of these small valleys. My companions knew 

 nothing about them, and only answered my queries by their 

 imperturbable " quien sabe?" 



I observed Indian ruins in several parts of the Cordillera : 

 the most perfect which I saw were the Ruinas de Tambillos, 

 in the Uspallata Pass. Small square rooms were there huddled 

 together in separate groups : some of the doorways were yet 

 standing ; they were formed by a cross slab of stone only 

 about three feet high. Ulloa has remarked on the lowness of 

 the doors in the ancient Peruvian dwellings. These houses, 

 when perfect, must have been capable of containing a consider- 

 able number of persons. Tradition says that they were used 

 as halting-places for the Incas when they crossed the mountains. 

 Traces of Indian habitations have been discovered in many 

 other parts, where it does not appear probable that they were 

 used as mere resting-places, but yet where the land is as 

 utterly unfit for any kind of cultivation as it is near the 

 Tambillos or at the Incas Bridge, or in the Portillo Pass, at 

 all which places I saw ruins. In the ravine of Jajuel, near 

 Aconcagua, where there is no pass, I heard of remains of 

 houses situated at a great height, where it is extremely cold 

 and sterile. At first I imagined that these buildings had been 

 places of refuge, built by the Indians on the first arrival of the 

 Spaniards ; but I have since been inclined to speculate on the 

 probability of a small change of climate. 



