Miners--Coquimbo--Earthquake--Step-formed Terrace--Absence of recent
Deposits--Contemporaneousness of the Tertiary Formations--Excursion up
the Valley--Road to Guasco--Deserts--Valley of Copiapo--Rain and
Earthquakes--Hydrophobia--The Despoblado--Indian Ruins--Probable Change
of Climate--River-bed arched by an Earthquake--Cold Gales of
Wind--Noises from a Hill--Iquique--Salt Alluvium--Nitrate of
Soda--Lima--Unhealthy Country--Ruins of Callao, overthrown by an
Earthquake--Recent Subsidence--Elevated Shells on San Lorenzo, their
decomposition--Plain with embedded Shells and fragments of
Pottery--Antiquity of the Indian Race.
APRIL 27th.--I set out on a journey to Coquimbo, and thence through
Guasco to Copiapo, where Captain Fitz Roy kindly offered to pick me up
in the Beagle. The distance in a straight line along the shore
northward is only 420 miles; but my mode of travelling made it a very
long journey. I bought four horses and two mules, the latter carrying
the luggage on alternate days. The six animals together only cost the
value of twenty-five pounds sterling, and at Copiapo I sold them again
for twenty-three. We travelled in the same independent manner as
before, cooking our own meals, and sleeping in the open air. As we
rode towards the Vino del Mar, I took a farewell view of Valparaiso,
and admired its picturesque appearance. For geological purposes I made
a detour from the high road to the foot of the Bell of Quillota. We
passed through an alluvial district rich in gold, to the neighbourhood
of Limache, where we slept. Washing for gold supports the inhabitants
of numerous hovels, scattered along the sides of each little rivulet;
but, like all those whose gains are uncertain, they are unthrifty in
all their habits, and consequently poor.
28th.--In the afternoon we arrived at a cottage at the foot of the Bell
mountain. The inhabitants were freeholders, which is not very usual in
Chile. They supported themselves on the produce of a garden and a
little field, but were very poor. Capital is here so deficient, that
the people are obliged to sell their green corn while standing in the
field, in order to buy necessaries for the ensuing year. Wheat in
consequence was dearer in the very district of its production than at
Valparaiso, where the contractors live. The next day we joined the
main road to Coquimbo. At night there was a very light shower of rain:
this was the first drop that had fallen since the heavy rain of
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