APPENDIX. 



239 



liug the land close to ensure fetching the anchorage off the village at 

 the beginning of the ridge ; baffling winds are frequent, which may- 

 throw you near the shore, but do not signify, as the water is smooth 

 and the shore steep- to. The best anchorage is with the extreme of 

 Pisagua Point, N. 7° 30' W. ; and Pichalo Point, W. 1S° S., two 

 cables' length off the village, in eight fathoms, by which you will 

 avoid a rock with four feet water on it, lying off the sandy cove at 

 the distance of two cables. 



North of this, at the distance of two miles and a half, is the gully 

 and river of Pisagua, the water of which supplies the neighbouring 

 inhabitants ; it is not, v/hen at its greatest strength, more than ten 

 feet across, and then does not overflow, but merely filters through the 

 beach into the sea. Generally speaking, it is dry nine months in the 

 year ; wells are dug near it where water, such as it is, may always be 

 found : but no vessel should trust to watering at this place, as, be- 

 sides its unwholesomeness, the difficulty and expense attending it 

 would be very great. 



From this to Point Gordo the coast is in low broken cliffs, with a 

 few scattered rocks off it, and ranges of high hills near. Point Gordo 

 is a low jutting point, where a long line of cliff, several hundred feet 

 high, commences ; which continues, with only two breaks, to Arica. 



These breaks or gullies, as they are called, are very remarkable, 

 and are useful in making Arica from the southward. The first is the 

 gully of Camarones, which lies seven miles north of Point Gordo, 

 and is about a mile in width, running at right angles to the coast 

 towards the mountains, with a stream of water running down it, and 

 a quantity of brush-wood on its banks ; it forms a slight sandy bay, 

 scarcely sufficient to shelter a vessel from the heavy swell. 



The Gully of Victor is the other; it lies N. 17° W., twenty-nine 

 miles from that of Camarones, and fifteen miles from Arica ; it is about 

 three quarters of a mile in width, and from a high bold point, called 

 Point Lobo, jutting out to the southward, forms a tolerably good 

 anchorage for small vessels ; it also runs toward the mountains in a 

 similar manner to that of Camarones, and like it has a small stream 

 running through, with verdure on its banks. Vessels bound to Arica 

 should endeavour to make this gully or ravine, and when within 

 three or four leagues of it they will see Arica Head, which appears 

 as a steep bluff, with a round hill in shore, called Monte Gordo. 

 Upon nearer approach the island Huano will be observed, joined to 



