418 



NORTHERN CHILE. 



May, 1835. 



so dry as to injure most seriously the pasture, would at 

 Guasco produce the most unusual abundance. Travelling 

 northward the quantity of rain does not appear to decrease 

 in strict proportion to the distance. At Conchalee, which is 

 only halfway between Valparaiso and Coquimbo (being 6 J 

 miles north of the former) rain is not expected till the end of 

 May; whereas, at Valparaiso some generally falls early in 

 April. The annual quantity is likewise small in proportion 

 to the lateness of the season at which it commences. 



May 4th. — Finding the coast-road devoid of interest of 

 every kind, we turned inland towards the mining district of 

 Iliapel. The town of that name is very regular and pretty. 

 Its flourishing condition depends on numerous mines, 

 chiefly of copper, which occur in its immediate vicinity. 

 This valley, like every other in Chile, is level, broad, and 

 very fertile : it is bordered on each side, either by cliffs of 

 stratified shingle, or by bare rocky mountains. Above the 

 straight line of the uppermost irrigating ditch, all is brown 

 as on a high road ; while all below, is of as bright a green as 

 verdigris, from the beds of alfarfa, a kind of clover. 



We proceeded to Los Hornos, another mining district, 

 where the principal hill was drilled with holes, like a great 

 ants^ nest. The Chilian miners are in their habits a 

 peculiar race of men. Living for weeks together in the 

 most desolate spots, when they descend to the villages on 

 feast-days, there is no excess or extravagance into which they 

 do not run. They sometimes gain a considerable sum, and 

 then, like sailors with prize-money, they try how soon they 

 can contrive to squander it. They drink excessively, buy 

 quantities of clothes, and in a few days return penniless to 

 their miserable abodes, there to work harder than beasts of 

 burden. This thoughtlessness, as with sailors, is evidently 

 the result of a similar manner of life. Their daily food is 

 found them, and they acquire no habitual care as to the means 

 of subsistence : moreover, at the same moment that tempta- 

 tion is offered, the means of enjoying it is placed in their 

 power. On the other hand, in Cornwall, and some other 



