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Show 444 PERU. July, 1835. two small villages are placed at the very mouths of the mines. If the town of Iquique appeared desolate, these, percl~ed up on hills , had a still more unnatural aspect. . We . d1d not reach the saltpetre works till after sunset, havmg ndden all day across an undulating count:y, a complete ~nd ut:er desert. The road was strewed with the bones and dned skms of the many beasts of burden, which had perished on it from fatigue. Excepting the Vultur aura, which preys on the carcasses, I saw neither bird, quadruped, reptile, or insect. On the coast mountains, at the elevation of about 2000 feet, where ~uring this season the clouds generally hang, a very few cacti were a-rowing in the clefts of rock ; and the loose sand was strewed ~ver with a simple lichen, which lies on the surface quite unattached. This plant belongs to the genus Cladonia, and somewhat resembles the reindeer lichen. In some parts it was in sufficient quantity to tinge the sand, as seen from a distance, of a pale yellowish colour. Further inland, during the whole ride of fourteen leagues, I saw only one other vegetable production, and that was a most minute yellow lichen, growing on the bones of the dead ~ules. This was the first true desert which I had seen: the effect on me was not impressive; but I believe this was owing to my having become gradually accustomed to such scenes, as I rode northward from Valparaiso, through Coquimbo to Copiap6. The appearance of the country was remarkable, from being covered by a thick crust of common salt, and of a saliferous sandstone, which properly deserves the name of alluvium. The salt is white, very hard, and compact. It occurs in water-worn nodules, which project from the agglutinated sand or soft sandstone. The appearance of this superficial mass, very closely resembled that of a country after snow, before the last dirty patches have thawed. The rocks of which the mountains are composed are saliferous; and I imagine, the very small quantity of rain that falls, is sufficient only to wash the salt from the higher strata, and that afterwards it concretes in nodules and patches, in the sandy soil of the valleys. Whatever its origin July, 1835. IQ{ IQUR. 445 may be, the existence of a crust of a soluble substance over the whole face of the country, shows how extraordinarily dry the climate must have been for a period long antecedent. At night I slept at the house of the owner of one of the saltpetre mines. The country is here equally unproductive with that near the coast ; but water, though having rather a bitter and brackish taste, can be procured by digging. The well at this house was thirty· six yards deep. As scarcely any rain falls, it is evident the water is not derived from that source; indeed if it were, it could not fail to be as salt as brine, for the whole surrounding country is incrusted with various saline substances. We must therefore condude that it percolates from some distant and more humid region, probably the mountains of the higher Cordillera. In that direction there are a few small villages, such as Tarapaca, where the inhabitants, having more water, are enabled to irrigate some little land, and produce hay, on which the mules and asses employed in carrying the saltpetre are fed. The nitrate of soda is sold at the ship's side at fourteen shillings per hundred pounds. The chief expense is the transport to the sea-coast. The mine itself consists of a stratum between two and three feet thick, of the hard and nearly pure salt, lying close beneath the surface. The stratum follows the margin of a grand basin or plain, which manifestly must once have been either a lake or inland sea: the elevation at present is 3300 feet above the level of the Pacific. On our return we made a detour by the mines of Guantajaya. The village consists solely of the houses of the miners, and the place is utterly destitute of every necessary ;-even water being brought thirty miles on the backs of animals. At present the mines yield little; though formerly they were very productive. One has a depth of four hundred yards, and out of it masses of silver were taken so pure, that it was only required to melt them in order to run them into bars. We reached Iquique after sunset: I went on board, and then the Beagle weighed· for Lima. I was very glad to have seen |