346 A LONG RIDE. [chap. xvi. 



were realised. I was at Copiap6 at the time ; and there 

 the people, with equal envy, talked of the abundant rain 

 at Guasco. After two or three very dry years, perhaps 

 with not more than one shower during the whole time, a 

 rainy year generally follows ; and this does more harm 

 than even the drought. The rivers swell, and cover with 

 gravel and sand the narrow strips of ground, which alone 

 are fit for cultivation. The floods also injure the irrigating 

 ditches. Great devastation had thus been caused three 

 years ago. 



June %th. — We rode on to Ballenar, which takes its 

 name from Ballenagh in Ireland, the birthplace of the 

 family of O'Higgins, who, under the Spanish govern- 

 ment, were presidents and generals in Chile. As the 

 rocky mountains on each hand were concealed by clouds, 

 the terrace-like plains gave to the valley an appearance like 

 that of Santa Cruz in Patagonia. After spending one 

 day at Ballenar, I set out, on the loth, for the upper 

 part of the valley of Copiap6. We rode all day over an 

 uninteresting country, I am tired of repeating the epithets 

 barren and sterile. These words, however, as commonly 

 used, are comparative ; I have always applied them to 

 the plains of Patagonia, which can boast of spiny bushes 

 and some tufts of grass ; and this is absolute fertility, as 

 compared with northern Chile. Here again, there are 

 not many spaces of two hundred yards square, where 

 some little bush, cactus, or lichen, may not be discovered 

 by careful examination ; and in the soil seeds lie dormant 

 ready to spring up during the first rainy winter. In Peru 

 real deserts occur over wide tracts of country. In the 

 evening we arrived at a valley, in which the bed of the 

 streamlet was damp : following it up, we came to tolerably 

 good water. During the night, the stream, from not 

 being evaporated and absorbed so quickly, flows a league 

 lower down than during the day. Sticks were plentiful 

 for firewood, so that it was a good place of bivouac for 

 us ; but for the poor animals there was not a mouthful 

 to eat. 



June nth. — We rode without stopping for twelve hours, 

 till we reached an old smelting-furnace, 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 



