PORTS ON THE RAINLESS COAST. 123 



coast have had the maximum effect. In that space 

 of about six hundred miles (farther than from Liver- 

 pool to Oporto) there is no inhabited place — with the 

 possible exception of Pisagua — ^where drinkable water 

 is to be had. Nowhere in the world is there such an 

 extensive tract of coast so unfitted for the habitation 

 of man. But this same region is rich in products 

 that minister to human wants, and man has overcome 

 the obstacles that seemed to render them inaccessible. 

 Besides mines of copper, silver, and lead, the deposits 

 of alkaline nitrates, whose extent has not yet been 

 fathomed, richly reward the expenditure of labour and 

 capital. One after another industrial establishments 

 have arisen along the coast at places suitable for the 

 embarkation of produce, and some of these have 

 already attained the dimensions of small towns. The 

 Ayacucho called at no less than nine of these places, 

 and there are two or three others that are occasion- 

 ally visited. At a few of them, as at Iquique, the 

 water-supply is partially or altogether conveyed by 

 sea, but most of them subsist by distillation from sea- 

 water. 



As may well be supposed, there is little in these 

 places to interest a stranger, and a description of one 

 may serve for all. Some more or less extensive 

 works, with one or several tall chimneys, are the most 

 prominent feature. Near to each establishment are 

 three or four clean-looking houses for managers and 

 head agents, of whom the majority appear to be 

 English. Grouped in narrow sandy lanes near at 

 hand are the dwellings — mere sheds built of reeds — of 

 the working people. In some of the more consider- 



