430 



NORTHERN CHILE. JunC, 1835. 



cattle and mules can for some time afterwards find pasture 

 in the mountains. • But without snow in the Andes, deso- 

 lation extends throughout the valley. It is on record, that 

 three times nearly all the inhabitants have been obliged to 

 emigrate to the south. This year there was plenty of water, 

 and every man irrigated his ground as much as he chose ; 

 but it has frequently been necessary to post soldiers at the 

 sluices, to see that each estate took only its proper allow- 

 ance during so many hours in the week. The valley is said 

 to contain 12,000 souls, but its produce is sufficient only 

 for three months in the year ; the rest of the supply 

 being drawn from Valparaiso and the south. Before the 

 discovery of the famous silver-mines of Chai>uncillo, Co- 

 piapo was in a rapid state of decay; but n6w it is in a 

 very thriving condition; and the town, which was com- 

 pletely overthrown by an earthquake, has been rebuilt. 



The valley of Copiapo, forming a mere ribbon of green in 

 a desert, runs in a very southerly direction ; so that it is 

 of considerable length to its origin in the Cordillera. The 

 valleys of Guasco and Copiapo may both be considered as 

 islands to the northward of Chile, separated by deserts in- 

 stead of salt water. Beyond these, there is one other very 

 miserable valley, called Paposo, which contains about 200 

 people ; and then there extends the real desert of Atacama 

 — a barrier far worse than the most turbulent ocean. 



After staying a few days at Potrero Seco, I proceeded up 

 the valley to the house of Don Benito Cruz, to whom I had 

 a letter of introduction. I found him most hospitable ; in- 

 deed it is impossible to bear too strong testimony to the kind- 

 ness which travellers receive in almost every part of South 

 America. The next day I hired some mules to take me 

 by the ravine of Jolquera into the central Cordillera, On 

 the second night the weather seemed to foretel a storm of 

 snow or rain, and whilst lying in our beds we felt a trifling 

 shock of an earthquake. The connexion between the latter 

 phenomena and the weather has often been a disputed 



