June, 1835. 



GUASCO TO COPIAPO. 



429 



till we reached an old smelting furnace, where there was 

 w^ater and firewood ; but our horses again had nothing to eat, 

 being shut up in an old courtyard. The line of road was 

 hilly, and the distant views interesting from the splendid 

 weather, and the varied colours of the bare mountains. It 

 is a pity to see the sun shining constantly over so useless 

 a country; such days should brighten a prospect of fields 

 and gardens. The next day we reached the valley of 

 Copiapo. I was heartily glad of it; for the whole journey 

 was a continued source of anxiety ; it was most disagreeable 

 to hear, whilst eating our own supper, our horses gnawing 

 the posts to which they were tied, and to have no means of 

 relieving their hunger. To all appearance, however, the 

 animals were quite fresh ; and no one could have told that 

 they had eaten nothing for the last fifty-five hours. 



I had a letter of introduction to Mr. Bingley, who received 

 me very kindly at the Hacienda of Potrero Seco. This 

 estate is between twenty and thirty miles long; but it is 

 very narrow, having generally a width of only two fields, 

 one on each side the river. In some parts, the estate is of 

 no width, that is to say, the land cannot be irrigated, and 

 therefore is valueless, like the surrounding rocky desert. 

 The small quantity of cultivated land in the whole line of 

 valley, does not however so much depend on its inequality, 

 or its unfitness for irrigation, as on the small supply of 

 water. The river this year was remarkably full; in this part 

 it reached as high as the horse's belly, and was about fifteen 

 yards wide, and rapid. It gradually decreases in volume till 

 reaching the sea. This latter circumstance, however, rarely 

 happens ; and once for a period of thirty years not a drop 

 entered the Pacific. The inhabitants watch a storm over 

 the Cordillera with great interest ; as one good fall of snow 

 provides them with water for the ensuing year. This is of 

 infinitely more consequence than rain in the lower country. 

 The latter, as often as it occurs, which is about once in 

 every two or three years, is a great advantage, because the 



