378 NORTHERN CHILE chap. 



The disease came on between twelve and ninety days after the 

 bite ; and in those cases where it did come on, death ensued 

 invariably within five days. After 1808 a long interval 

 ensued without any cases. On inquiry, I did not hear of 

 hydrophobia in Van Diemen's Land, or in Australia ; and 

 Burchell says that, during the five years he was at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, he never heard of an instance of it. Webster 

 asserts that at the Azores hydrophobia has never occurred ; 

 and the same assertion has been made with respect to 

 Mauritius and St. Helena.^ In so strange a disease some 

 information might possibly be gained by considering the 

 circumstances under which it originates in distant climates ; 

 for it is improbable that a dog already bitten should have 

 been brought to these distant countries. 



At night a stranger arrived at the house of Don Benito, 

 and asked permission to sleep there. He said he had been 

 wandering about the mountains for seventeen days, having lost 

 his way. He started from Guasco, and being accustomed to 

 travelling in the Cordillera, did not expect any difficulty in 

 following the track to Copiapo ; but he soon became involved 

 in a labyrinth of mountains, whence he could not escape. 

 Some of his mules had fallen over precipices, and he had been 

 in great distress. His chief difficulty arose from not knowing 

 where to find water in the lower country, so that he was 

 obliged to keep bordering the central ranges. 



We returned down the valley, and on the 22 nd reached 

 the town of Copiapo. The lower part of the valley is broad, 

 forming a fine plain like that of Quillota. The town covers a 

 considerable space of ground, each house possessing a garden : 

 but it is an uncomfortable place, and the dwellings are poorly 

 furnished. Every one seems bent on the one object of making 

 money, and then migrating as quickly as possible. All the 

 inhabitants are more or less directly concerned with mines ; 

 and mines and ores are the sole subjects of conversation. 

 Necessaries of all sorts are extremely dear ; as the distance 

 from the town to the port is eighteen leagues, and the land 



1 Observa. sobre el clinia de Lima, p. 67. — Azara's Travels^ vol. i. p. 381. — 

 Ulloa's Voyage, vol. ii. p. 28. — Burchell's Travels, vol. ii. p. 524. — Webster's 

 Description of the Azores, p. 124. — Voyage a VIsle de France par nn Officier du Roi, 

 tome i. p. 248. — Description of St. Helena, p. 123. 



