374 
NORTHERN CHILE 
CHAP. 
it was most disagreeable to hear, whilst eating our own suppers, 
our horses gnawing the posts to which they were tied, and to 
have no means of relieving their hunger. To all appearance, 
however, the animals were quite fresh ; and no one could have 
told that they had eaten nothing for the last fifty-five hours. 
I had a letter of introduction to Mr. Bingley, who received 
me very kindly at the Hacienda of Potrero Seco. This estate 
is between twenty and thirty miles long, but very narrow, being 
generally only two fields wide, one on each side the river. In 
some parts the estate is of no width, that is to say, the land 
cannot be irrigated, and therefore is valueless, like the surrounding 
rocky desert. The small quantity of cultivated land in the 
whole line of valley does not so much depend on inequalities 
of level, and consequent unfitness for irrigation, as on the small 
supply of water. The river this year was remarkably full : 
here, high up the valley, it reached to the horse’s belly, and 
was about fifteen yards wide, and rapid ; lower down it 
becomes smaller and smaller, and is generally quite lost, as 
happened during one period of thirty years, so that not a drop 
entered the sea. The inhabitants watch a storm over the 
Cordillera with great interest ; as one good fall of snow 
provides them with water for the ensuing year. This is of 
infinitely more consequence than rain in the lower country. 
Rain, as often as it falls, which is about once in every two or 
three years, is a great advantage, because the cattle and mules 
can for some time afterwards find a little pasture on the 
mountains. But without snow on the Andes, desolation 
extends throughout the valley. It is on record that three 
times nearly all the inhabitants have been obliged to emigrate 
to the south. This year there was plenty of water, and every 
man irrigated his ground as much as he chose ; but it has 
frequently been necessary to post soldiers at the sluices, to see 
that each estate took only its proper allowance during so many 
hours in the week. The valley is said to contain i 2,000 souls, 
but its produce is sufficient only for three months in the year ; 
the rest of the supply being drawn from Valparaiso and the 
south. Before the discovery of the famous silver-mines of 
Chanuncillo, Copiapo was in a rapid state of decay ; but now 
it is in a very thriving condition ; and the town, which was 
completely overthrown by an earthquake, has been rebuilt. 
