358 CHARLES DARWIN 



28th. In the afternoon we arrived at a cottage at the 

 foot of the Bell mountain. The inhabitants were freehold- 

 ers, which is not very usual in Chile. They supported them- 

 selves on the produce of a garden and a little field, but were 

 very poor. Capital is here so deficient, that the people are 

 obliged to sell their green corn while standing in the field, 

 in order to buy necessaries for the ensuing year. Wheat in 

 consequence was dearer in the very district of its production 

 than at Valparaiso, where the contractors live. The next 

 day we joined the main road to Coquimbo. At night there 

 was a very light shower of rain : this was the first drop that 

 had fallen since the heavy rain of September nth and I2th, 

 which detained me a prisoner at the Baths of Cauquenes. 

 The interval was seven and a half months ; but the rain this 

 year in Chile was rather later than usual. The distant Andes 

 were now covered by a thick mass of snow, and were a glo- 

 rious sight. 



May 2nd. The road continued to follow the coast, at no 

 great distance from the sea. The few trees and bushes which 

 are common in central Chile decreased rapidly in numbers, 

 and were replaced by a tall plant, something like a yucca in 

 appearance. The surface of the country, on a small scale, 

 was singularly broken and irregular; abrupt little peaks of 

 rock rising out of small plains or basins. The indented coast 

 and the bottom of the neighbouring sea, studded with break- 

 ers, would, if converted into dry land, present similar forms ; 

 and such a conversion without doubt has taken place in the 

 part over which we rode. 



3rd. Quilimari to Conchalee. The country became more 

 and more barren. In the valleys there was scarcely sufficient 

 water for any irrigation; and the intermediate land was 

 quite bare, not supporting 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 an acquired habit, to the quantity of rain which 

 falls upon different parts of this coast. One shower far 

 northward at Copiapo produces as great an effect on the 

 vegetation, as two at Guasco, and three or four in this 



