70 



NATURE OF COUNTRY 



Chap. V. 



in 1859 being 33G,842Z./ and the value of the imports, con- 

 sisting chiefly of European goods, is about equal to that of 

 the exports. 



The country round Islay is as dreary and arid a waste as 

 the eye could rest on ; yet from July to October, when there 

 is the greatest amount of moisture on the coast, the otherwise 

 barren mountains, which rise up abruptly from the desert, 

 at a distance of about three miles from the sea, are green 

 and carpeted with flowers, while the plain nearer Islay is 

 also dotted over with vegetation. This maritime range is 

 called the " Lomas." In consequence of the unusual quantity 

 of rain which fell in the early part of 1860, the Lomas had 

 broken out in renewed freshness in March. The country, 

 close to Islay, was covered with a scattered growth of Compo- 

 sitse, wild tobacco, Nympha, Oxalis, Salvia, an Umbellifer with 

 a large white flower. Verbena, Heliotrope, a purple Solanum, 

 an Amaranth, and other flowers. It is broken up into abrupt 

 ravines ; and, near the foot of the mountains, some of them 

 contain deposits of soil washed down by little streams wliich 

 flow during the wet season, sufiicient to sustain small groves 

 of fig and olive trees, the abodes of numerous flocks of doves. 

 Such is the case in the ravines called Catarindo, Yutu, and 

 Matarani, from the latter of which the water is led in pipes to 

 supply the town of Islay. The guardian of this water-supply is 

 an Irishman, generally known as Juan de la Pila (John of the 

 fountain), an active obliging man, Avho also follows the trades 



In the following proportions : 



To England 



To France 



To the United States . 



Alpaca wool 



Sheep's wool 



Vicuua wool 



Copper 



Bark 



Sijecie 



Wool 



Bark 



Wool 



22,500 cwts. 

 18,669 „ 

 72 „ 



1,365 „ 



877 



95 



8,054 



worth £192,729 



67,306 



1,537 



333 



12,383 



. . . . 34,706 



1,886 



1.077 



24,884 



£336,842 



