104 NORTHERN CHILE. 



where we stayed the next day. I then rode one 

 day's journey further, to see what wex-e declared 

 to be some petrified shells and beans, which latter 

 turned out to be small quartz pebbles. We pass- 

 ed through several small villages ; and the valley 

 was beautifully cultivated, and the whole scenery 

 very grand. We were here near the main Cordil- 

 lera, and the surrounding hills were lofty. In all 

 jjarts of northern Chile, fruit-trees produce much 

 more abundantly at a considerable height near the 

 Andes than in the lower country. The figs and 

 grapes of this district are famous for their excel- 

 lence, and are cultivated to a great extent. This 

 valley is, perhaps, the most productive one north of 

 Quillota: I believe it contains, including Coquim- 

 bo, 25,000 inhabitants. The next day I returned 

 to the Hacienda, and thence, together with Don 

 Jose, to Coquimbo. 



June 2d. — We set out for the valley of Guasco, 

 following the coast-road, which was considered 

 rather less desert than the other. Our first day's 

 ride was to a solitary house, called Yerba Buena, 

 where there was pasture for our horses. The 

 shower mentioned as having fallen a fortnight ago 

 only reached about halfway to Guasco; we had, 

 therefoi-e, in the first part of our journey a most 

 faint tinge of green, which soon faded quite away. 

 Even where brightest, it was scarcely sufficient to 

 remind one of the fresh turf and budding flowers 

 of the spring of other countries. While travelling 

 through these deserts one feels like a prisoner shut 

 up in a gloomy court, who longs to see something 

 green and to smell a moist atmosphere. 



June 3d. — Yerba Buena to Carizal. During the 

 first part of the day we crossed a mountainous, 

 rocky desert, and afterwards a long, deep, sandy 

 plain, strewed with broken sea-shells. There was 



