334< Aspects of Nature in Southern Peru. 



This vessel was a small and rudely constructed sloop employed 

 in the guano trade then carried on for the use of the coast only. 

 Her trips were from the guano deposit of Pavellon de Pica,, 

 south of Iquique, to Arica and other ports to the north. 



Since that period I have learnt not to be over-squeamish ; 

 but what I suffered from the sickening guano stench of the 

 " San Miguel/' I have a very vivid recollection of, even at this 

 distant date. We had a twelve days' voyage, having to beat 

 all the way; occasionally at night we got a favourable slant 

 with the wind off the land, without which (having the current 

 against us) our voyage might have been an interminable one, 

 although only seventy-two geographical miles. 



The coast was very bold and mountainous ; not a tree or the 

 merest sign of vegetation met the eye, and in this distance of 

 seventy-two miles there were only two inconstant little streams, 

 that came dribbling down from the Cordillera through the deep 

 queoradas or gullies of Camarones and Pizagua, and they were 

 always brackish, sometimes undrinkable. The next break con- 

 taining a watercourse is one hundred and eighty- seven miles 

 from Pizagua, where the river Loa flows, but its waters are 

 sometimes as salt as brine. 



On this voyage I was fully initiated into the living of the 

 country on board ship. A tea of the Yerba de Paragua, sucked 

 through a tube, very much like hot liquorice water ; toasted 

 maize in lieu of bread ; the eternal greasy stew of not over- 

 fresh jerked beef, pumpkin, potatoes, and garlic, condimented 

 with the never-failing aji, or red capsicum, and this under 

 calms and blistering suns ! but how often have I wished for 

 such fare whilst in those and other wild lands. 



During the day the swarm of guano-making- birds flying 

 about was something prodigious, and their diving for fish (so 

 very abundant in these waters) most amusing. Sometimes, when 

 near in shore, the screaming of seals with the noise of the 

 beating of the billows was anything but harmonious. 



The monotony of my voyage was somewhat broken by 

 meeting with an American whaler, who was busy cutting up and 

 boiling a whale down. I went on board to dinner, but the 

 effluvia there was rather more nasty, I think, than that of my 

 own vessel. 



One day being near the shore we let go anchor (a large stone 

 in a wooden frame) in a cove. We had not long been there 

 before I heard the captain and crew scream out " Miserecordia ! " 

 and looking about saw them on their knees on the deck, 

 devoutly crossing themselves and looking at me as I stood 

 wondering, as if I really were a heretic. I asked the reason 

 of this sudden act of theirs. " Temblor V said they. I had 

 indeedheard a slight rumbling noise, and then a sort of shake, 



