358 EL BRAMADOR. [chap. xti. 



from a similar cause, but their bodies to this day have 

 never been discovered. The union of a cloudless sky, low 

 temperature, and a furious gale of wind, must be, I should 

 think, in all parts of the world, an unusual occurrence. 



June 2<^th. — We gladly travelled down the valley to our 

 former night's lodging, and thence to near the Agua 

 amarga. On July ist we reached the valley of Copiapo. 

 The smell of the fresh clover was quite delightful, after the 

 scentless air of the dry sterile Despoblado. Whilst staj'- 

 ing in the town I heard an account from several of the 

 inhabitants, of a hill in the neighbourhood which they 

 called " El Bramador," — the roarer or bellower. I did not 

 at the time pay sufficient attention to the account ; but, as 

 far as I understood, the hill was covered by sand, and the 

 noise was produced only when people, by ascending it, put 

 the sand in motion. The same circumstances are described 

 in detail on the authority of Seetzen and Ehrenberg,* as the 

 cause of the sounds which have been heard by many travellers 

 on Mount Sinai near the Red Sea. One person with whom 

 I conversed had himself heard the noise ; he described it as 

 very surprising ; and he distinctly stated that, although he 

 could not understand how it was caused, yet it was 

 necessary to set the sand rolling down the acclivity. A 

 horse walking over dry and coarse sand, causes a peculiar 

 chirping noise from the friction of the particles ; a circum- 

 stance which I several times noticed on the coast of 

 Brazil. 



Three days afterwards I heard of the Beagle's arrival at 

 the Port, distant eighteen leagues from the town. There is 

 very little land cultivated down the valley ; its wide expanse 

 supports a wretched wiry grass, which even the donkeys 

 can hardly eat. This poorness of the vegetation is owing 

 to the quantity of saline matter with which the soil Is 

 impregnated. The Port consists of an assemblage of 

 miserable little hovels, situated at the foot of a sterile plain. 

 At present, as the river contains water enough to reach the 

 sea, the inhabitants enjoy the advantage of having fresh 

 water within a mile and a half. On the beach there were 

 large piles of merchandise, and the little place had an air 

 of activity. In the evening I gave my adios, with a hearty 

 good-will, to my companion Mariano Gonzales, with whom 



* Edinhurgh Philosophical Journal, Jan. 1830, p. 74 ; and April 1830, p. 25S. 

 Also "Daubeny on Volcanoes," p. 438; and Be?igal Journal, vol. vii. p. 324. 



