DESERT COUNTRY. 105 



very little water, and that little saline : the whole 

 country, from the coast to the Cordillera, is an un- 

 inhabited desert. I saw traces only of one living 

 animal in abundance, namely, the shells of a Buli- 

 mus, which were collected together in extraordi- 

 nary numbers on the driest spots. In the spring 

 one humble little plant sends out a few leaves, and 

 on these the snails feed. As they are seen only 

 very early in the morning, when the ground is 

 slightly damp with dew, the Guasos believe that 

 they are bred from it. I have observed in other 

 places that extremely dry and sterile districts, 

 whei'e the soil is calcareous, are extraordinarily 

 favourable to land-shells. At Carizal there were 

 a few cottages, some brackish water, and a trace 

 of cultivation ; but it was with difficulty that we 

 purchased a little com and straw for our horses. 



^th. — Carizal to Sauce. We continued to ride 

 over desert plains tenanted -by large herds of gua- 

 naco. We crossed also the valley of Charieral ; 

 which, although the most fertile one between Guas- 

 co and Coquimbo, is very narrow, and produces 

 so little pasture, that we could not purchase any 

 for our horses. At Sauce we found a very civil 

 old gentleman, superintending a copper smelting- 

 furnace. As an especial favour, he allowed me to 

 purchase at a high price an armful of dirty straw, 

 which was all the poor horses had for supper after 

 their long day's journey. Few smelting-fumaces 

 are now at work in any part of Chile ; it is found 

 more profitable, on account of the extreme scarcity 

 of firewood, and from the Chilian method of re- 

 duction being so unskilful, to ship the ore for 

 Swansea. The next day we crossed some mount- 

 ains to Freyrina, in the valley of Guasco. During 

 each day's ride further northward the vegetation 

 became more and more scantv ; even the great 



