TOPOGEAPHY OF CHILI. 453 



Here also tlie salines and nitrate deposits of tlie plateau are very rich, and may 

 take the place of those farther north when exhausted. Formerly the headland of 

 Pahellon de Pica, at the north foot of Mount Carrasco, south of Patillos, possessed 

 enormous guano beds, which had been worked even before those of the Chincha 

 Archipelago. But the seaquake of 1877, which overwhelmed Iquique and Arica, 

 nearly made a clean sweep of the village of Pabellon. Of 400 houses only two 

 remained standing, and all the guano was washed away. 



Other ports follow southwards, such as HuaniUos, Tocopilla with its copper- 

 foundries, and Cobija or La Mar, this last well known as having formerly been 

 the only port possessed by Bolivia on the Pacific coast. But the lack of com- 

 munication with the interior, the complete absence of all harbour works, and the 

 vast distance from the large cities of Bolivia, prevented Cobija from benefiting by 

 the commercial monopoly derived from its political situation. 



Tocopilla seems to be still more unfavourably placed. But although pre- 

 senting nothing but a narrow beach between a stormy sea and frowning cliffs, it 

 has still the advantage of proximity to certain watering places in the interior 

 along the mule tracks leading to the Caracoles mines. Mejillones del Sur, or 

 simply Mejillones, occupies a much more convenient position, like the other 

 Mejillones between Pisagua and Iquique, on the south side of a deep bay amply 

 sheltered by the lofty headland of the Morro Mejillones (2,850 feet), which was 

 formerly covered with guano. But after the discovery of the rich argentiferous 

 lodes at Caracoles, Mejillones was soon eclipsed by Antofagasta on the opposite 

 side of the headland, which, although destitute of a natural harbour, possessed 

 more capital and enterprise. Mejillones was destroyed by the earthquake of 

 1877, and in 1885 had only 53 inhabitants. 



Its rival, Antofagasta, another Iquique in its general aspect, history and 

 rapid development, forms a huge aggregate of wooden and galvanised-iron houses, 

 stores, workshops and depots. It is the great centre of the silver industry, though 

 by no means monopolising the export trade in that metal. The railway running 

 from Antofagasta towards the Bolivian plateaux has still the advantage of 

 penetrating into the interior much farther than that of Iquique, and in 1892 had 

 a total length of 560 miles, being at that date the longest of any of the lines on 

 the east slope of the Andes. 



The first stage on this railway, which usually makes the ascent in three days, 

 leads to the mines of Caracoles, so named from the fossil " shells " deposited in 

 seas of the Jurassic period on their porphyry bed. La Placilla, the largest place 

 in this mining district, stands at an altitude of 9,780 feet, in a depression of the 

 Atacama Desert, dominated eastwards by a volcanic range. La Placilla is not 

 connected by a branch with the main line, as the output, which in favourable 

 years amounts to £2,500,000, has greatly fallen off. 



Leaving this arid region, where provisions, fuel, water and all other supplies 

 have to be brought from long distances, the miners have penetrated along the 

 line of the new railway into Bolivia, whither thej^ have been attracted by the 

 Huanchaca mines, richer even than those of Caracoles. The railway is carried by 



