May, 1835. 



NORTHERN CHILE. 



417 



holders, which is not very usual in Chile. They supported 

 themselves on the produce of a garden and a little field, but 

 were very poor. Capital is so deficient in this part, that the 

 people are obliged to sell their green corn while it is stand- 

 ing in the field, in order to buy necessaries for the ensuing 

 year. Wheat in consequence was dearer in the very district 

 of its production, than at Valparaiso, where the contractors 

 live. The next day we joined the main road to Coquimbo. 

 At night there was a very light shower of rain : this was the 

 first drop that had fallen since the heavy rain of September 

 11th and 12th, which detained me a prisoner at the baths 

 of Cauquenes. The interval was seven and a half months ; 

 but the rain this year in Chile was rather later than usual. 

 The Andes were now covered by a thick mass of snow ; and 

 they presented, in the distance, a very glorious sight. 



May 2d. — The road continued to follow the coast, at no 

 great distance from the sea. The few trees and bushes which 

 are common in central Chile, decreased rapidly in numbers, 

 and were replaced by a tall plant, something like a yucca in 

 appearance. The surface of the country, on a small scale, 

 was singularly broken and irregular ; abrupt little peaks of 

 rock rising out of small plains or basins. The indented 

 coast, and the bottom of the neighbouring sea, studded with 

 breakers, would if converted into dry land, present similar 

 forms ; and such a conversion without doubt has taken place 

 in the part over which we rode. 



3d. — Quilimari to Conchalee. The country became more 

 and more barren. In the valleys there was scarcely sufficient 

 water for any irrigation ; and the intermediate land was quite 

 bare, not supporting even goats. In the spring, after the 

 winter showers, a thin pasture rapidly springs up, and cattle 

 are then driven down from the Cordillera to graze for a short 

 time. It is curious to observe how the seeds of the grass 

 seem to know, as if by an acquired instinct, what quantity of 

 rain to expect. One shower far northward at Copiapo pro- 

 duces as great an effect on the vegetation, as two at Guasco, 

 and as three or four in this district. At Valparaiso a winter 



VOL. IlL 2 E 



