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so dry as to injure most seriously the pasture, would at
Guasco produce the most unusual abundance. Travelling
northward the quantity of rain does not appear to decrease
in strict proportion to the distance. At Conchalee, which is
only halfway between Valparaiso and Coquimbo (being 67
miles north of the former) rain is not expected till the end of
May ; whereas, at Valparaiso some generally falls early^ in
April. The annual quantity is likewise small in proportion
to the lateness of the season at wliich it commences.
M a y 4 t h .—Finding the coast-road devoid of interest of
every kind, we turned inland towards the mining district of
Illapel. The town of that name is very regular and pretty.
Its flourishing condition depends on numerous mines,
chiefly of copper, which occur in its immediate vicinity.
This Valley, like every other in Chile, is level, broad, and
very fertile : it is bordered on each side, either hy chffs of
stratified shingle, or by bare rocky mountains. Above the
straight line of the uppermost irrigating ditch, all is brown
as on a high road; while aU below, is of as bright a green as
verdigris, from the beds of alfarfa, a kind of clover.
We proceeded to Los Hornos, another mining district,
where the principal hiU was drilled with holes, like a p ea t
ants’ nest. The Chilian miners are in their habits a
peculiar race of men. Living for weeks together in the
most desolate spots, when they descend to the villages on
feast-days, there is no excess or 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 habitual care as to the means
of subsistence : moreover, at the same moment that temptation
is offered, the means of enjoying it is placed m their
power. On the other hand, in Cornwall, and some other
parts of England, where the system of selling part of the
vein is followed, the miners, from being obliged to act for
themselves, and to judge with clearness, are a singularly 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-coloured
baize, with a leathern apron; the whole being fastened round
his waist by a brightly-coloured sash. His trousers are very
broad, and his small cap of scarlet cloth is made to fit the
head closely. We met a party of these miners in full costume,
carrying the body of one of their companions to be
buried. They marched at a very quick trot, four men supporting
the corpse. One set having run as hard as they
could for about two hundred yards, were relieved by four
others, who had previously dashed on ahead on horseback.
Thus they proceeded, encouraging each other hy wild cries :
altogether the scene formed a most strange funeral.
We continued travelling northward, in a zigzag lin e ; sometimes
stopping a day to geologise. The country was so
thinly inhabited, and the track so obscure, that we often had
difficulty in finding our way. On the 1 2 th I stayed at some
mines. The ore in this case was not considered particularly
good, but from being abundant it was supposed the mine
would sell for about thirty or forty thousand dollars (that is
6000 or 8000 pounds sterling); yet it was bought by one of
the English Associations for an ounce of gold (3/. 8 s.).
The ore is yellow pyrites, which as I have already remarked,
before the arrival of the English, was not supposed to
contain a particle of copper. On a scale of profits, nearly
as great as in the above instance, piles of seorice abounding
with minute globules of metallic copper were purchased
; yet with these advantages, the mining associations,
as is well known, contrived to lose immense sums of money.
The folly of the greater number of commissioners and shareholders,
amounted to infatuation:—a thousand pounds per
annum given in some cases to entertain the authorities;
libraries of well-bound geological books ; bringing out miners