NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



the ornament of hot-houses in Europe, struck one as a 

 strange apparition on this arid coast. 



The position of Arica, connected as it is by railway 

 with Tacna, the centre of a rich mineral district, 

 possessing the best anchorage on this part of the 

 Pacific coast, and a constant supply of good water, 

 must some day make it a place of importance. The 

 headland which commands it is crowned by a fort, on 

 which the Peruvians had planted a good many guns, 

 and its seizure by the Chilians was one of the first 

 energetic blows struck during the war. 



For some reason, not apparent, the great waves 

 which flow inland after each considerable earthquake 

 shock have been more destructive at Arica than at 

 any other spot upon the coast. Three times the place 

 has been utterly swept away, and one memorial sur- 

 vives in the shape of the hull of a large ship, lying 

 fully a mile inland, seen by us a few miles north of 

 the town as we approached in the morning. On each 

 occasion the little town has been rebuilt close to the 

 shore. Experience has not taught the people to build 

 on the rising land, only a few hundred yards distant. 

 Each man believes that the new house will last his 

 time — Apres moi le deluge, with a vengeance ! 



At Arica the coast-line, which from the promontop- 

 of Ajulla, about 6° north latitude, has kept a directior, 

 between south-east and south-south-east for a distance 

 of about twelve hundred English miles, bends nearly 

 due south, and maintains the same direction for 

 nearly double that distance. It is in the tract lying 

 between Arica and Copiapo that the conditions which 

 produce the so-called rainless zone of the Pacific 



