COAST-ROAD TO COaUIMBO. 91 



On the 10th we reached Santiago, where I received 

 a very kind and hospitable reception from Mr. 

 Caldcleugh. My excursion only cost me twenty- 

 four days, and never did I more deeply enjoy an 

 equal space of time. A few days afterwards I re- 

 turned to Mr. Corfield's house at Valparaiso. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Coast-road to Coquimbo—Great Loads carried by the Miners— 

 Coquiinbo— Earthquake— Step-formed Terraces— Absence of 

 recent Deposits— Contemporaneousness of the Tertiary Forma- 

 tions—Excursion up the Valley— Road to Guasco— Deserts- 

 Valley of Copiapo— Rain and Earthquakes — Hydrophobia— 

 The Despoblado— Indian Ruins— Probable Change of Climate 

 —River-bed arched by an Earthquake— Cold Gales of Vi^ind- 

 Noises from a Hill— Iquique— Salt Alluvium— Nitrate of Soda 

 —Lima— Unhealthy Country— Ruins of Callao, overthrown by 

 an Earthquake— Recent Subsidence— Elevated Shells on San 

 Lorenzo, their Decomposition— Plain with embedded Shells 

 and Fragments of Pottery— Antiquity of the Indian Race. 



NORTHERN CHILE AND PERU. 



April 21 tk. — I SET out on a journey to Coquim- 

 bo, and thence through Guasco to Copiapo, where 

 Captain Fitz Roy kindly offered to pick me up in 

 the Beagle. The distance in a straight line along 

 the shore northward is only 420 miles ; but my 

 mode of travelling made it a very long journey. I 

 bought four horses and two mules, the latter car- 

 rying the luggage on alternate days. The six ani- 

 mals tog-ether only cost the value of twenty-five 

 pounds sterUng, and at Copiapo I sold them again 

 for twenty-three. We travelled in the same inde- 

 pendent manner as before, cooking our own meals, 

 and sleeping in the open air. As we rode towards 

 the Viiio del Mar, I took a farewell view of Val- 

 paraiso, and admired its picturesque appearance. 

 For geological purposes I made a detour from the 



