164 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



a vessel anchors here, in order to avoid running past Cobija in 

 the night, when they gain this latitude (23° S.) too late to 

 reach the port on the same day. This was our own case. 



On the morning of the tenth it was calm, and though we 

 fanned out of Mexillones, we lay off Cobija all night, and did 

 not anchor till near three o'clock on the afternoon of the ele- 

 venth. The Port of Cobija is difficult to be found by strangers. 

 About five miles to the southward, are two low white rocks, 

 which are the only land marks at this season of the year, when 

 the profile of the mountains of the coast is almost constantly 

 shrouded in fogs or clouds. So soon as a vessel is descried 

 from the fort, a white flag is hoisted on the point as a mark, 

 which may be seen ten or twelve miles at sea. 



The roadstead of Cobija is formed by a short low point of 

 rough jagged rocks, on which stand the flag-staff, and a fortress 

 mounting six long guns. The anchorage, though secure, and 

 at a short distance from the shore, is not good. Vessels, in 

 " heaving up," frequently part their cables, or break their an- 

 chors. About six miles to the northward is another rocky 

 point, behind which, vessels that load with copper ore from 

 the neighboring mine, lie, though not very comfortably. This 

 spot is called Catica. 



Near the first point is the town, built upon the falda or lap 

 of the hills, or, we would say, mountains, which rise abruptly 

 to a height of between three and four thousand feet, barren, 

 cheerless, and naked, except in the region of the clouds, where 

 a few blades of grass have struggled through the soil, nourish- 

 ed by the dews of winter. The trees of cactus grow larger 

 than any I have before seen. Even these patches of green fade 

 and are burnt up in the summer under a tropical sun. The co- 

 lor of the mountains is variegated in spots of reddish, greenish, 

 and whitish earth, with striae running down the sides, looking 

 like the beds of little cascades, or streams formed by heavy 

 rains : the captain of the port informs me, however, that 

 showers are unknown, and the only rain is a heavy mist like 

 the "llovisna,'' or drizzle of Lima — and even this is absent 

 during the greater part of the year. The lap of the hills, which 

 extends from their base to the sea, not exceeding half a mile 



