THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



359 



district. At Valparaiso a winter so dry as greatly to injure 

 the pasture, would at Guasco produce the most unusual 

 abundance. Proceeding northward, the quantity of rain does 

 not appear to decrease in strict proportion to the latitude. 

 At Conchalee, which is only 67 miles north of Valparaiso, 

 fain is not expected till the end of May; whereas at Val- 

 paraiso some generally falls ear ly in April : the annual quan- 

 tity is likewise small in proportion to the lateness of the 

 season at which it Commences. 



4th. — Finding the coast-road devoid of interest of any 

 kind, we turned inland towards the mining district and 

 valley of Illapel. This valley, like every other in Chile, is 

 level, broad, and very fertile: it is bordered on each side, 

 either by cliffs of stratified shingle, or by bare rocky moun- 

 tains. Above the straight line of the uppermost irrigating 

 ditch, all is brown as on a high road; while all below is of as 

 bright a green as verdigris, from the beds of alfalfa, a kind 

 of clover. We proceeded to Lbs Hornos, another mining 

 district, where the principal hill was drilled with holes, like 

 a great ants'-nest. The Chilian miners are a peculiar race 

 bf men in their habits. Living for weeks together in the 

 most desolate spots, when they descend to the villages on 

 feast-days, there is no excess of extravagance into which 

 they do not run. They sometimes gain a considerable sum, 

 and then, like sailors with prize-money, they try how soon 

 they can contrive to squander it. They drink excessively, 

 buy quantities of clothes, and in a few days return penniless 

 to their miserable abodes, there to work harder than beasts 

 of burden. This thoughtlessness, as with sailors, is evidently 

 the result of a similar manner of life. Their daily food is 

 found them, and they acquire no habits of carefulness : more- 

 over, temptation and the means of yielding to it are placed 

 in their power at the same time. On the other hand, in 

 Cornwall, and some other parts of England, where the sys- 

 tem of selling part of the vein is followed, the miners, from 

 being obliged to act and think for themselves, are a singu- 

 larly intelligent and well-conducted set of men. 



The dress of the Chilian miner is peculiar and rather 

 picturesque. He wears a very long shirt of some dark-col- 

 oured baize, with a leathern apron ; the whole being fastened 



