348 EARTHQUAKES AND WEATHER, [chap. xvi. 



famous silver mines of Chanuncillo, Copiap6 was in a rapid 

 state of decay; but now it is in a very thriving condition; 

 and the town, which was completely overthrown by an 

 earthquake, has been rebuilt. 



The valley of Copiap6, forming a mere ribbon of green in 

 a desert, runs in a very southerly direction ; so that it is of 

 considerable length to its source in the Cordillera. The 

 valleys of Guasco and Copiap6 may both be considered as 

 long narrow islands, separated from the rest of Chile by 

 deserts of rock instead of by salt water. Northward of these, 

 there is one other very miserable valley, called Paposo, 

 which contains about two hundred souls ; and then there 

 extends the real desert of Atacama — a barrier far worse than 

 the most turbulent ocean. After staying a few days at 

 Potrero Seco, I proceeded up the valley to the house of Don 

 Benito Cruz, to whom I had a letter of Introduction. I 

 found him most hospitable ; Indeed it is Impossible to bear 

 too strong a testimony to the kindness with which travellers 

 are received in almost every part of South America. The 

 next day I hired some mules to take me by the ravine of 

 Jolquera into the central Cordillera. On the second night 

 the weather seemed to foretell a storm of snow or rain, and 

 whilst lying in our beds we felt a trifling shock of an 

 earthquake. 



The connection between earthquakes and the weather has 

 been often disputed : it appears to me to be a point of great 

 interest, which is little understood. Humboldt has remarked 

 in one part of the " Personal Narrative,"* that it would be 

 dififtcultforanypersonwho had long resided in New Andalusia, 

 or in Lower Peru, to deny that there exists some connection 

 between these phenomena ; in another part, however, he 

 seems to think the connection fanciful. At Guayaquil, it is 

 said that a heavy shower in the dry season is invariably 

 followed by an earthquake. In Northern Chile, from the 

 extreme infrequency of rain, or even of weather foreboding 

 rain, the probability of accidental coincidences becomes very 

 small ; yet the inhabitants are here most firmly convinced 

 of some connection between the state of the atmosphere and 

 of the trembling of the ground : I was much struck by this, 



* Vol. iv. p. II ; and vol. ii. p. 217. For the remarks on Guayaquil, see 

 Si'lliman's "Journal," vol. xxiv. p. 384. For those on Tacna by Mr. Hamilton, 

 see " Transactions of British Association," 1840. For those on Coseguina, see 

 INIr. Caldcleugh in " Philosophical Transactions," 1835. In the former edition, 

 I collected several references on the coincidences between sudden falls in the 

 barometer and earthquakes ; and between earthquakes and meteors. 



