188 
SHINS OF THE CASTLE. 
wells been dug in the muriatiferous clay, with the view of 
finding strata richer in muriate of soda. Tho salineros, or 
salt-workers generally complain of want of rain ; and in the 
new salt-works, it appears to me difficult to determine what 
quantity of salt is derived solely from the waters of the sea. 
The natives estimate it at a sixth of the total produce. The 
evaporation is extremely strong, and favoured by the constant 
motion of the air ; so that the salt is collected in eighteen or 
twenty days after the pits are filled. 
Though the muriate of soda is manufactured with less 
care in the peninsula of Araya than at the salt-works of 
Europe, it is nevertheless purer, and contains less of earthy 
muriates and sulphates. We know not whether this purity 
may bo attributed to that portion of the salt which is fur- 
nished by the sea ; for though it is extremely probable, that 
the quantity of salt dissolved in the waters of the ocean 
is nearly the same under every zone, it is not less un- 
certain whether the proportion between the muriate of soda, 
the muriate and sulphate of magnesia, and the sulphate and 
carbonate of lime, be equally invariable. 
Having examined the salt-works, and terminated our 
geodesical operations, we departed at the decline of day 
to sleep at an Indian hut, some miles distant, near 
the ruins of the castle of Araya. Directing our course 
southward, we traversed first the plain covered with 
muriatiferous clay, and stripped of vegetation; then two 
chains of hills of sandstone, between which the lagoon 
is situated. Night overtook us while we were in a nar- 
row path, bordered on one side by the sea, and on the 
other by a range of perpendicular rocks. The tide was 
rising rapidly, and narrowed the road at every step. We 
at length arrived at the foot of the old castle of Araya, 
where we enjoyed a prospect that had in it something 
lugubrious and romantic. The ruins stand on a bare and 
arid mountain, crowned with agave, columnar cactus, and 
thorny mimosas : they bear less resemblance to the works 
of man, than to those masses of rock which were ruptured 
at the early revolutions of the globe. 
We were desirous of stopping to admire this majestic 
spectacle, and to observe the setting of Ye mis, whose disk 
appeared at intervals between the yawning crannies of the 
