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S30 APPE>iDlX.
the other nearly over Isla Grande. (Head to the westward during
the night with Hght variable airs.)
July 4. A perfect calm all day, and no observation : we were
drifted abreast of the bluff under the Morro by the afternoon; it has
some very curious white patches, which are seen at some distance ;
indeed the whole of the land is very remarkable. Plyed to the southward
during the night, vnnd light.
July 5. Wind light from the N.N.E., and gloomy weather; at 10
A.M., passed one mile to the N.E. of the reef; north of the Caxa
Grande rock we had eighteen fathoms, between it and the Isla
Grande, with fifty-seven outside, and sixteen in. As we stood in we
could not, from the mast-head, see any thing of the breakers said to
be off" the Caxa Grande rock: as the breakers ran high on the other
reefs; had there been any thing of the sort there, we should most
likely have seen i t : all the information we have been able to get on the
subject denies their existence. Detached, but close to the N.E. pait
of the anchorage point, are two black rocks, ten feet high; they
show well from the northward. About t\s'enty-five miles to the N.E.
of the Morro, are two singular pealcs ; they are higher than any of
the other land; the summit of tlie northern one is very pointed, and
the southern is rather saddle-topped; these, it would seem, must be
very remarkable from seaward. "We anchored in seven fathoms, Caxa
Grande rock bearing S. 67° W. , distant three cables from the two
rocks before-mentioned.
As Iquique is situated on a part of the coast where calms are frequent,
and exposed to a constant swell from the westward, tliere may
perhaps exist some difficulty in finding i t ; indeed, from tliis very circumstance,
persons do not go sufficiently near the shore, although
the position of the spot is nearly correct in the common charts.
l l i e centre of the island Hes in lat. 20° 12' 30" S. and long.
7 0° 15' W . The slight indentation the bay makes in this high precipitous
coast is not perceptible from an offing of nine or ten miles, neither
is the collection of sand behind and south of the bay likely to catch
the eye of a stranger : should there happen to be a vessel there, her
dark masts against the white sand make an excellent mark; without
which, there is nothing to guide a stranger until he gets within sight
of the church steeple, or some white patches in the cliffs under Ta-
A P P E N D I X . 231
rapaca Mountain ; the latter mi l probably be seen first; they are nine
miles to the southward of the anchorage.
The houses in theviUage, when first seen, have just the appearance
of so many black rocks on a sandy beach. The anchorage is very
tolerable, as it is sheltered from the S.W. sweU by the island; which
is surrounded by numerous small detached rocks, particularly on the
N.E. andW. sides; therefore it should not be approached nearer
than half a mile.
This island was once much higher; the many cargoes of birdsdung*
it has afforded have reduced it to its present low state. The
landing is bad at the best time, as you have to thread your way
among patches of sunken rocks ; on which the sea breaks with great
violence at the full and change of the moon : several boats have been
knocked to pieces, and lives lost. In the summer it is a calm nearly
all night, sometimes there is a Hght air from the laud. The sea breeze
sets in from the southward or south-west about ten or eleven in
the forenoon; it seldom blows fresh, but lasts until eight or ten at
night. In the winter, cahus, hazy weather, aud Hght northerly winds
are common.
The only trade now to Iquique is for saltpetre; the rich silver
mines formerly worked are exhausted.
Tlie water the inhabitants use is brought from Pisagua, a small bay
thirty miles to the northward, for wHch they pay dearly, brackish
as it is. Forty houses and an old church, situated on a bare sandy
flat, without a vestige of verdure of any kind near, are the features
Iquique iwesents ; in vain does the eye wander for something gi-een
to rest upon—extreme desolation reigns every where, from shore
to summit.
No. 41.
REMARKS ON THE COAST OF PERU.
AH the bearings are magnetic.
From Point San Pedro (the south point of the bay of Nuestra
Señora), at the distance of twenty miles, is Point Grande, the
north point of the before-named bay. This point, when seen from
the S.W., appears high and rounded, terminating in a low rugged
• Called ' guano it is a valuable manure.
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