108 NORTHERN CHILE. 



good place of bivouac for us, but for the poor ani- 

 mals there was not a mouthful to eat. 



Jicne llth. — We rode without stopping for 

 twelve hours, till we reached an old smelting-fur- 

 nace, where there was water and firewood ; but 

 our horses again had nothing to eat, being shut up 

 in an old courtyard. The line of road was hilly, 

 and the distant views interesting from the varied 

 colours of the bare mountains. It was almost a 

 pity to see the sun shining constantly over so use- 

 less a country ; such splendid weather ought to 

 have brightened fields and pretty gardens. The 

 next day we reached the valley of Copiapo. I was 

 heartily glad of it, for the whole journey was a 

 continued source of anxiety ; it was most disagree- 

 able to hear, whilst eating our own suppers, our 

 horses gnawing the posts to which they were tied, 

 and to have no means of relieving their hunger. 

 To all appearance, however, the animals were 

 quite ii'esh, and no one could have told that they 

 had eaten nothing for the last fifty-five hours. 



I had a letter of introduction to Mr. Bingley, 

 who received me very kindly at the Hacienda of 

 Potrero Seco. This estate is between twenty and 

 thirty miles long, but very nari'ow, being generally 

 only two fields wide, one on each side the river. 

 In some parts the estate is of no width, that is to 

 say, the land cannot be irrigated, and therefore is 

 valueless, like the surrounding rocky desert. The 

 small quantity of cultivated land in the whole line 

 of valley does not so much depend on inequalities 

 of level, and consequent unfitness for irrigation, as 

 on the small supply of water. The river this year 

 was remarkably full : here, high up the valley, it 

 reached to the horse's belly, and was about fifteen 

 yards wide, and rapid ; lower down it becomes 

 smaller and smaller, and is s^enerally quite lost, 



