442 



PERU. 



July, 1833. 



the port, which is distant eighteen leagues. There is very- 

 little land cultivated below the town. The wide expanse of 

 the valley supports a wretched wiry grass, which even the 

 donkeys can hardly eat. This poorness of the vegetation is 

 owing to the quantity of saline matter with which the soil is 

 impregnated. Layers of sulphate and carbonate of soda, 

 even several inches thick, occur in some parts. The port 

 consists of an assemblage of miserable little hovels, situated 

 at the foot of some sterile plains and hills. At present, from 

 the river reaching the sea, the inhabitants enjoy the advan- 

 tage of having fresh water within a mile and a half. On the 

 beach there were large piles of merchandise, and the little 

 place had an air of activity. In the evening I gave my adios 

 with a hearty good will, to my companion Mariano Gonzales, 

 with whom I had ridden so many leagues in Chile. The next 

 morning the Beagle sailed for Iquique, lat. 20° 12' on the 

 coast of Peru. 



July 12th. — We anchored in the port of Iquique. The 

 town contains about a thousand inhabitants, and stands on a 

 little plain of sand at the foot of a great wall of rock, 2000 

 feet in height, which here forms the coast. The whole is 

 utterly desert. A light shower of rain falls only once in 

 very many years ; and hence the ravines are filled with de- 

 tritus, and the mountain sides covered by piles of fine white 

 sand, even a thousand feet high. During this season of the 

 year, a heavy bank of clouds extending parallel to the ocean, 

 seldom rises above the wall of rocks on the coast. The 

 aspect of the place was most gloomy ; the little port, with its 

 few vessels, and small group of wretched houses, seemed 

 overwhelmed and out of all proportion with the rest of the 

 scene. 



The inhabitants live like persons on board a ship ; every 

 necessary coming from a distance. Water is brought in 

 boats from Pisagua, about forty miles to the northward and 

 is sold at the rate of nine reals (45. 6d.) an eighteen-gallon 

 cask: I bought a wine-bottle full for threepence. In like 



