1835.] DESERT COUNTRY. 347 
near the Andes than in the lower country. ‘The figs and grapes 
of this district are famous for their excellence, and are cultivated 
to a great extent. This valley is, perhaps, the most productive 
one north of Quillota: I believe it contains, including Co- 
quimbo, 25,000 inhabitants. ‘The next day I returned to the 
Hacienda, and thence, together with Don Jose, to Coquimbo. 
June Ind.—We set out for the valley of Guasco, following the 
coast-road, which was considered rather less desert than the other. 
Our first day’s ride was to a solitary house, called Yerba Buena, 
where there was pasture for our horses. The shower mentioned 
as having fallen a fortnight ago, only reached about halfway to 
Guasco; we had, therefore, in the first part of our journey a 
most faint tinge of green, which soon faded quite away. Even 
where brightest, it was scarcely sufficient. to remind one of the 
fresh turf and budding flowers of the spring of other countries. 
While travelling through these deserts one feels like a prisoner 
shut up in a gloomy court, who longs to see something green 
and to smell a moist atmosphere. 
June 8rd.— Yerba Buena to Carizal. During the first part of 
the day we crossed a mountainous rocky desert, and afterwards 
a long deep sandy plain, strewed with broken sea-shells. There 
was very little water, and that little saline: the whole country, 
from the coast to the Cordillera, is an uninhabited desert. I 
saw traces only of one living animal in abundance, namely, the 
shells of a Bulimus, which were collected together in extraordi- 
nary numbers on the driest spots. Inthe spring one humble little 
plant sends out a few leaves, and on these the snails feed. As 
they are seen only very early in the morning, when the ground is 
slightly damp with dew, the Guasos believe that they are bred 
from it. I have observed in other places that extremely dry and 
sterile districts, where the soil is calcareous, are extraordinarily 
favourable to land-shells. At Carizal there were a few cottages, 
some brackish water, and a trace of cultivation: but it was with 
difficulty that we purchased a little corn and straw for our 
horses. 
4th—Carizal to Sauce. We continued to ride over desert 
plains, tenanted by large herds of guanaco. We crossed also 
the valley of Chafieral; which, although the most fertile one 
between Guasco and Coquimbo, is very narrow, and produces so 
