WATER SUPPLY ON THE COAST. 121 



to show where the stream ought to run. Nevertheless, 

 Arica, unlike the places farther south, does actually 

 possess fresh water in some abundance. The water 

 from the Cordillera filters through the sandy belt of 

 low country near the coast, and there are springs or 

 wells sufficing not only for the local demand, but also 

 for the wants of Iquique, a much more considerable 

 place more than eighty miles distant. The little 

 steamer whose office it is to carry the weekly supply 

 of water to the Iquique people was taking her cargo 

 on board at the moment, and one was at a loss to 

 imagine what would happen if any mischance should 

 befall the steamer or the engine. It is certain that 

 under the intelligent rule of the Incas, many places 

 now parched were made habitable by aqueducts 

 carrying water from the mountains, and there are 

 probably many other places where water might be 

 procured by boring ; but the porous character of the 

 superficial soil makes this an uncertain resource, and 

 the general uniformity of all the deposits gives little 

 prospect of Artesian wells. 



Near to the town are a few meagre attempts at 

 cultivation in the shape of vegetable gardens, sur- 

 rounded by ditches, into which it seems that a little 

 water comes by infiltration. A few grasses and other 

 herbaceous plants, mostly common tropical weeds, were 

 to be found here. Elsewhere, the ground was, as 

 usual on the coast, merely sand, with here and there 

 clumps of bushes about six or seven feet in height, 

 chiefly Composites of the characteristic South American 

 genera, Bacckaris and Tessaria. A bush of Ccesalpinia 

 Gilliesii^ with only a few of its beautiful flowers left, 



