TOPOGEAPHY OF CHILI. 



451 



present they are almost abandoned, and Iquique, which owed its existence to these 

 mines, has now turned its attention to the treatment and transport of the chemical 

 substances which, although, known to abound in the province, had hitherto been 

 neglected. The guano of the neighbouring islets was first attacked and exhausted 

 by the year 1827. When Frezier visited the place at the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century, the planters of Peru were receiving a yearly supply of from 

 ten to twelve small cargoes. 



A chain of workshops supplied with the best modern plant skirts the railway 

 west of the Pampa de Tamarugal, and communicates by branches with the oficinas 



Fig. 170. — jQinQTTE. 

 Scale 1 : 96,000. 



70° M. 



70° ID 



vest or bi-eenwich 



0to5 

 Fathoms. 



Depths. 



5 to 50 

 Fathoms. 



50 Fathoms 

 and upwards. 



. 2 Miles. 



where the caliche is reduced. The operations are carried on without interruption 

 day and night, the electric light alternating with the sun, and the quantity of 

 nitrates extracted from the soil is steadily increasing. In 1889 it had already 

 reached the enormous quantity of 921,400 tons, valued at £6,000,000. 



According to the engineers engaged on the works, the still untouched deposits 

 would hold out against this prodigious rate of production for half a century, during 

 which the English capitalists and the Chilian Government would share between 

 them immense profits. But, as in the case of the guano beds, these anticipations 

 may perhaps not be realised, and the deposits may be exhausted sooner than has 



