228 



HORTICULTURE IN THE 



COPIAPO VALLEY, CHILI. 



ficiently indicate this. Indeed, there is abundant surface 

 evidence that all this territory was once covered by the 

 Pacific, for beach rotted stones and pebbles occur, all 

 over the lower beds and channels, and the strata of de- 

 posits are clearly defined along the hillsides, tilted at 

 various angles. One can hardly doubt that the hills 

 have been raised by volcanic forces, the ocean has re- 

 ceded, the great rivers have dwindled in size century by 

 century, rail s have become infrequent, until the only- 

 traces left ol the ancient aqueous agencies are the scanty 

 streams now existing, too insignificant in volume to trav- 

 erse the coast desert. This process is apparently a con- 

 tinuous one, and it seems as though the whole of the 

 Pacific slope, from the rain-belt near the northern 

 boundary of Peru, not far from the river Guayaquil, to 

 the straits of Alagellan, were doomed at no remote 

 period to bec( me the barren waste which is now found 

 \vl and around Mie Copiapo valley. A friend in Caldera, 

 who met the t elebrated Louis Agassiz when he visited 

 Chili some yt..i's ago, tells me that this was the conclu- 

 sion to which ihis great naturalist had come. "The 

 entire west coast, clear to Cape Horn," he remarked in 

 conversation, "must inevitably become, in time, just 

 what it is at present around this town." 



The valley begins at a point nearly in 27° south lati- 

 tude, just north of Caldera, from which a broad, flat 

 stretch of sand e.xlends to a distance of 35 miles or more 

 to the south, where lies the real mouth of the river, 

 whenever it has water enough in it to reach the ocean, 

 the place being known as the ancient port of Copiapo. 

 This wide space is seamed with old water channels, and 

 the land gradually rises in elevation, and gradually con- 

 tracts into a well-marked valley enclosed by sharp, bare, 

 brown peaks of sand-stone, until at Monte Amargo, 41 

 kilometers by rail from Caldera, there can be made out 

 a veritable river bed, which has glistening pools of water 

 in it here and there, and a scanty vegetation consisting 

 of stunted chanar trees, a few grasses and patches of 

 bright green, composed of a species of suseda. The 

 pools, when investigated, prove to be strongly alkaline, 

 and the surface of the soil is white with an incrustation 

 of soda which bleaches and cracks the leather of one's 

 shoes, dusts the clothes and offends the nostrils. I was 

 informed that this deposit consists of sulphate of soda, 

 and that many attempts had been made to use it as a 

 fertilizer, like the nitrates farther north, but without 

 success. It does affect the vegetation, however, very 

 decidedly, for as the scanty water oozes through the 

 sand, it becomes so strongly impregnated with soda that 

 nothing can live in or near it but saline plants. 



Monte Amargo is about 400 feet above the level of the 

 sea, and from this station the valley continues to ascend^ 

 until at Copiapo, 50 miles by rail from Caldera, it is 

 about 1,100 feet in elevation, and the bed has narrowed 

 to a breadth of about one-half mile. The channel of 

 the river becomes more and more distinct, and finally a 

 considerable stream of flowing water appears, tumbling 

 down its declivities, the water muddy, to be sure, with 

 the dark clayey soil which it carries, but no longer un- 



drinkable. Then the eye is greeted by cultivated field 

 on either side of the river, succeeded by the most charm- 

 ing gardens ; and the traveller stands enthralled with 

 this vision of loveliness, which has so suddenly sprung 

 out of the midst of the desert. 



The only thing which serves to mar the beauty of the 

 scene is the high, unsightly mud walls, which most of 

 the garden proprietors within the city limits have erected 

 around their premises. These walls are built of large 

 rectangular blocks of earth, pressed when wet between 

 boards and dried in the sun. They are so lofty that a 

 man on foot cannot see over them, and he feels, when 

 walking between them in the confined streets of Copiapo, 

 as if suffocating with heat and dust. I was obliged to 

 mount upon the roof of the city trams, or to clamber up 

 the neighboring hill, in order to get any clear view of 

 the urban gardens. It is a pity that the owners cannot 

 make use of wire fences or some other enclosure that 

 would enable the public at least to see these vegetable 

 treasures. Where all the environment is so hideous and 

 depressing in its barrenness, it seems cruel to shut the 

 community out from the cheering influences which the 

 bright green, splendid bloom and rich perfumes of these 

 gardens could exert. 



Every drop of the little stream which produces these 

 magical effects is precious, and the whole of it is used 

 for irrigation. The river is farmed out by a body of 

 commissioners appointed by the Governor of the dis- 

 trict, who determine when and how many hours each 

 cultivator shall have the use of the water. The water 

 is conducted over the land in ditches or small canals, 

 and as each man's turn comes, his workmen spread the 

 life-giving moisture among the plants. 



Beyond Copiapo the valley, or rather, the main open- 

 ings in the valley, which are occupied by a railroad 

 track, continues to rise toward the Andes, and at a dis- 

 tance of 56 miles from Caldera divides into two branches, 

 one curving northwardly toward a place named Puquios, 

 about 90 miles from Caldera and 3,700 feet above the 

 level of the sea, and the other — the principal division — 

 continuing on to Pabellow, where it sends off another 

 branch southwardly to Chanarcillo, and finally termin- 

 nates, so far as the railway is concerned, at San Antonio, 

 100 miles from Caldera and 3,000 feet above the sea 

 level. The valley itself continues on to the Argentine 

 Republic through the Copiapo pass, from 6,000 to 12,000 

 feet in elevation at its loftiest point. Many good judges 

 regard this as the best of all the Andine passes into the 

 Argentine, and it is hoped that at some day the railroad 

 will be aided by the Chileno government and completed 

 through the mountains. It would undoubtedly prove to 

 be one of the most profitable investments ever made by 

 the government, as a heavy traffic would pour over it, 

 and it would do more to develop both the northern part 

 of the Argentine and northern Chili than any other line 

 that could be built, 



It is along this track that the river flows and the line 

 of verdure runs, descending for more than 200 miles 

 from the towering peaks of the Andes, which are from 



