198 



SOUTH COAST OF PEllU. 



desert, may be said to extend for more than six- 

 teen hundred miles along the shores washed by 

 the Pacific ; that is, from Coquimbo in Chili, 

 nearly to the entrance of the Guayaquil River, 

 or from 4^ to 30"^ south latitude. This vast and 

 desolate region, which lies between the great chain 

 of the Andes and the sea, varies in breadth from 

 thirty to a hundred miles, and is traversed by 

 very few rivers, none of them of any magnitude : 

 wherever a stream does occur, the adjacent soil 

 of the valley becomes capable of the highest cul- 

 tivation ; but except at these rare spots, no trees 

 are found, and the scenery is every where unin- 

 teresting. The barren high country along the 

 inner margin of this uninterrupted desert is rich 

 in mineral treasures ; and there prevails, in con- 

 sequence, an idle notion in the country, that na- 

 ture, in such cases, capriciously withholds her 

 treasures from the surface ; and conversely, when 

 the country is capable of high cultivation, denies 

 to it the riches of the mine. Such is the stub- 

 born nature of prejudice and error once admitted, 

 that although this absurd notion is contradicted 

 by a thousand well-known facts, the multitude 



