116 NORTHERN CHILE. 



trifling exception, perfect, yet without any signs of 

 action. Every one must have remarked how mud- 

 banks, left by the retiring tide, imitate in minia- 

 ture a country with liill and dale ; and here we 

 have tlie original model in rock, formed as the con- 

 tinent rose during the secular retirement of the 

 ocean, instead of during the ebbing and flowing of 

 the tides. If a shower of rain falls on the mud- 

 bank, when left dry, it deepens the already-form- 

 ed shallow lines of excavation ; and so is it with the 

 rain of successive centuries on the bank of rock 

 and soil which we call a continent. 



We rode on after it was dark till we reached a 

 side ravine with a small well, called " Agua amar- 

 ga." The water deserved its name, for, besides 

 being saline, it was most oftensively putrid and bit- 

 ter, so that we could not force ourselves to drink 

 either tea or mate. I suppose the distance from 

 the river of Copiapo to this spot was at least twen- 

 ty-five or thirty English miles ; in the whole space 

 there was not a single drop of water, the country 

 deserving the name of desert in the strictest sense. 

 Yet about half way we passed some old Indian ru- 

 ins near Punta Gorda: I noticed also in front of 

 some of the valleys, which branch off" from the Des- 

 poblado, two piles of stones placed a little way 

 apart, and directed so as to point up the mouths of 

 these small valleys. My companions knew nothing 

 about them, and only answered my queries by their 

 imperturbable " quien sabe ?" 



I observed Indian ruins in several parts of the 

 Cordillera : the most perfect which I saw were 

 the Ruinas de Tambillos, in the Uspallata Pass. 

 Small square rooms were there huddled together 

 in separate groujjs : some of the doorways were 

 yet standing ; they were formed by a cross slab of 

 stone onlv about three feet high. Ulloa has remark- 



