374 NORTHERN CHILE chap. 



it was most disagreeable to hear, whilst eating our own suppers, 

 our horses gnawing the posts to which they were tied, and to 

 have no means of relieving their hunger. To all appearance, 

 however, the animals were quite fresh ; and no one could have 

 told that they had eaten nothing for the last- fifty-five hours. 



I had a letter of introduction to Mr. Bingley, who received 

 me very kindly at the Hacienda of Potrero Seco. This estate 

 is between twenty and thirty miles long, but very narrow, being 

 generally only two fields wide, one on each side the river. In 

 some parts the estate is of no width, that is to say, the land 

 cannot be irrigated, and therefore is valueless, like the surrounding 

 rocky desert. The small quantity of cultivated land in the 

 whole line of valley does not so much depend on inequalities 

 of level, and consequent unfitness for irrigation, as on the small 

 supply of water. The river this year was remarkably full : 

 here, high up the valley, it reached to the horse's belly, and 

 was about fifteen yards wide, and rapid ; lower down it 

 becomes smaller and smaller, and is generally quite lost, as 

 happened during one period of thirty years, so that not a drop 

 entered the sea. The inhabitants watch a storm over the 

 Cordillera with great interest ; as one good fall of snow 

 provides them with water for the ensuing year. This is of 

 infinitely more consequence than rain in the lower country. 

 Rain, as often as it falls, which is about once in every two or 

 three years, is a great advantage, because the cattle and mules 

 can for some time afterwards find a little pasture on the 

 mountains. But without snow on the Andes, desolation 

 extends throughout the valley. It is on record that three 

 times nearly all the inhabitants have been obliged to emigrate 

 to the south. This year there was plenty of water, and every 

 man irrigated his ground as much as he chose ; but it has 

 frequently been necessary to post soldiers at the sluices, to see 

 that each estate took only its proper allowance during so many 

 hours in the week. The valley is said to contain 1 2,000 souls, 

 but its produce is sufficient only for three months in the year ; 

 the rest of the supply being drawn from Valparaiso and the 

 south. Before the discovery of the famous silver -mines of 

 Chanuncillo, Copiapo was in a rapid state of decay ; but now 

 it is in a very thriving condition ; and the town, which was 

 completely overthrown by an earthquake, has been rebuilt. 



