RAINFALL. 193 



CHILE. 



RAINFALL. 



As we travelled north, along the coast from Valparaiso, 

 (May, 1835), the country became more and more barren. In 

 the valleys there was scarcely water enough for any irriga- 

 tion, and the intermediate land was quite bare, not support- 

 ing even goats. In the spring, after the winter showers, a 

 thin pasture rapidly springs up, and cattle are then driven 

 down from the Cordillera to graze for a short time. It is 

 curious to observe how the seeds of the grass and other 

 plants seem to accommodate themselves, as if by habit, to 

 the quantity of rain which falls on different parts of this 

 coast. One shower far northward at Copiapo produces as 

 great an effect on the vegetation as two at Guasco, and as 

 three or four in the Conchalee district. At Valparaiso a 

 winter so dry as greatly to injure the pasture would, at Gu- 

 asco, produce the most unusual abundance. At Conchalee, 

 which is only sixty-seven miles north of Valparaiso, rain is 

 not expected until the end of May ; whereas, at Valparaiso, 

 some generally falls early in April. 



On the morning of the 17th of May, at Coquimbo, it 

 rained lightly, the first time this year, for about five hours. 

 The farmers, who plant corn near the sea -coast, where the 

 atmosphere is moister, taking advantage of this shower, would 

 break up the ground; after a second, they would put the 

 seed in ; and if a third shower should fall, they would reap 

 a good harvest in the spring. It was interesting to watch 

 the effect of this trifling amount of moisture. Twelve hours 

 afterward the ground appeared as dry as ever; yet after an 



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