- We rode without stopping for twelve hours
till we reached an old smelting-furnace, where there was
water and firewood; but our horses again had nothing to eat,
being shut up in an old courtyard.
The line of road was
hilly, and the distant views interesting, from the varied
colours of the bare mountains. It was almost a pity to see
the sun shining constantly over so useless a country; such
splendid weather ought to have brightened fields and pretty
gardens. The next day we reached the valley of Copiapo.
I was heartily glad of it; for the whole journey was a continued
source of anxiety; 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 in 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 12,000 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.
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