1835.] LOST ON THE MOUNTAINS. 351 



five days. After 1808, a long interval ensued without any 

 cases. On inquiry, I did not hear of hydrophobia in Van 

 Diemen's Land, or in Australia ; and Burchell says, that 

 during the five years he was at the Cape of Good Hope, he 

 never heard of an instance of it. Webster asserts that at 

 the Azores hydrophobia has never occurred ; and the same 

 assertion has been made with respect to Mauritius and St. 

 Helena.* In so strange a disease, some information might 

 possibly be gained by considering the circumstances under 

 which it originates in distant climates ; for it is improbable 

 that a dog already bitten should have been brought to 

 these distant countries. 



At night, a stranger arrived at the house of Don Benito, 

 and asked permission to sleep there. He said he had 

 been wandering about the mountains for seventeen days, 

 having lost his way. He started from Guasco, and being 

 accustomed to travelling in the Cordillera, did not expect 

 any difficulty in following the track to Copiap6 ; but he 

 soon became involved in a labyrinth of mountains, whence 

 he could not escape. Some of his mules had fallen over 

 precipices, and he had been in great distress. His chief 

 difficulty arose from not knowing where to find water 

 in the lower country, so that he was obliged to keep 

 bordering the central ranges. 



We returned down the valley, and on the 22nd reached 

 the town of Copiap6. The lower part of the valley is 

 broad, forming a fine plain like that of Quillota. The 

 town covers a considerable space of ground, each house 

 possessing a garden ; but it is an uncomfortable place, and 

 the dwelhngs are poorly furnished. Every one seems bent 

 on the one object of making money, and then migrating as 

 quickly as possible. All the inhabitants are more or less 

 directly concerned witli mines ; and mines and ores are 

 the sole subjects of conversation. Necessaries of all sorts 

 are extremely dear ; as the distance from the town to the 

 port is eighteen leagues, and the land carriage very 

 expensive. A fowl costs five or six shillings ; meat is 

 nearly as dear as in England ; firewood, or rather sticks, 

 are brought on donkeys from a distance of two and three 

 'nys' journey within the Cordillera; and pasturage for 



 " Observa. (lohri; el climu dc Lima," p. 67 ; Azara's " Travels." vol. ?., 

 I>. 381 ; Ulloa's " Voyage," vol. ii., p. Ai; Hurchcll's " Travrju," vol. ii., p. 524 : 

 vVebjitcr'jt *' DcHcriplion of the Azores," p. i2<j; Voyage A lisle de France par 

 uii Ofhcicr flu Kui, tumc i., p. a48; "Description of St. Helena," p. 113. 



