THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 383 



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 inhabitants, 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 moun- 

 tain-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, about forty miles northward, and is sold at 

 the rate of nine reals (43. 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. For- 

 merly there were two exceedingly rich silver-mines in this 

 neighbourhood, but their produce 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 



