336 IMPROVIDENCE OF MINERS, [chap. xvi. 



to accommodate themselves, as If by an acquired habit, 

 to the quantity of rain which falls on different parts of this 

 coast. One shower far northward at Copiapo produces as 

 j^reat an effect on the vegetation, as two at Guasco, and 

 as three or four in this district. At Valparaiso a winter 

 so dry as greatly to injure the pasture, would at Guasco 

 produce the most unusual abundance. Proceeding north- 

 ward, the quantity of rain does not appear to decrease in 

 strict proportion to the latitude. At Conchalee, which is 

 only 67 miles north of Valparaiso, rain is not expected till 

 the end of May ; whereas, at Valparaiso some generally 

 falls early in April : the annual quantity is likewise small 

 in proportion to the lateness of the season at which it 

 commences. 



May Ofth. — Finding the coast-road devoid of interest of 

 any kind, we turned inward towards the mining district 

 and valley of Illapel. This valley, like every other in Chile, 

 is level, broad, and very fertile : it is bordered on each side, 

 either by cliffs of stratified shingle, or b}'^ bare rocky moun- 

 tains. Above the straight line of the uppermost irrigating 

 ditch, all is brown as on a high road ; while all below is 

 of as bright a green as verdigris, from the beds of alfarfa, 

 a kind of clover. We proceeded to Los Horncs, another 

 mining district, where the principal hill was drilled with 

 holes, like a great ants'-nest. The Chilian miners are a 

 peculiar race of men in their habits. Living for weeks 

 together in the most desolate spots, when they descend to 

 the villages on feast-days, there is no excess or extrava- 

 gance into which they do not run. They sometimes gain a 

 considerable sum, and then, like sailors with prize-money, 

 they try how soon they can contrive to squander it. They 

 drink excessively, buy quantities of clothes, and in a few 

 days return penniless to their miserable abodes, there to 

 work harder than beasts of burden. This thoughtlessness, 

 as with sailors, is evidently the result of a similar manner 

 of life. Their daily food is found them, and they acquire 

 no habits of carefulness ; moreover, temptation and the 

 means of yielding to it are placed in their power at the 

 same time. On the other hand, in Cornwall, and some 

 other parts of England, where the system of selling part 

 of the vein is followed, the miners, from being obliged- to 

 act and think for themselves, are a singularly intelligent 

 and well-conducted set of men. 



The dress of the Chilian miner is peculiar and rather 



