IQUIQUE. 347 



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 I had ridden so many leagues in Chile. The 

 next morning the Beagle sailed for Iquique. 



July 12th. We anchored in the port of Iquique, in lat. 20 12', 

 on the coast of Peru. The town contains about a thousand in- 

 habitants, and stands on a little plain of sand at the foot of a great 

 wall of rock, 2000 feet in height, here forming the coast. The 

 whole is utterly desert. A light shower of rain falls only once in 

 very many years; and the ravines consequently are filled with 

 detritus, and the mountain-sides covered by piles of fine white sand, 

 even to a height of a thousand feet. During this season of the year 

 a heavy bank of clouds, stretched over the ocean, seldom rises above 

 the wall of rocks on the coast. The aspect of the place was most 

 gloomy ; the little port, with its few vessels, and small group of 

 wretched houses, seemed overwhelmed and out of all proportion 

 with the rest of the scene. 



The inhabitants live like persons on board a ship : every necessary 

 comes from a distance : water is brought in boats from Pisagua, 

 aboiit forty miles northward, and is sold at the rate of nine reals 

 (is. 6d.) an eighteen-gallon cask : I bought a wine-bottle full for 

 threepence. In like manner firewood, and of course every article 

 of food, is imported. Very few animals can be maintained in such 

 a place : on the ensuing morning I hired with difficulty, at the 

 price of four pounds sterling, two mules and a guide to take me to 

 the nitrate of soda works. These are at present the support of 

 Iquique. This salt was first exported in 1830: in one year an 

 amount in value of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, was 

 sent to France and England. It is principally used as a manure 

 and in the manufacture of nitric acid : owing to its deliquescent 

 property it will not serve for gunpowder. Formerly there were two 

 exceedingly rich silver-mines in this neighbourhood, but their pro- 

 duce is now very small. 



Our arrival in the offing caused some little apprehension. Peru 

 was in a state of anarchy; and each party having demanded a 

 contribution, the poor town of Iquique was in tribulation, thinking 

 the evil hour was come. The people had also their domestic 

 troubles ; a short time before, three French carpenters had broken 



