The
Valleys Of Guasco And Copiapo May Both Be Considered As
Long Narrow Islands, Separated From The Rest Of Chile By
Deserts Of Rock Instead Of By Salt Water.
Northward of
these, there is one other very miserable valley, called Paposo,
which contains about two hundred souls; and then there
extends the real desert of Atacama - a barrier far worse
than the most turbulent ocean.
After staying a few days at
Potrero Seco, I proceeded up the valley to the house of Don
Benito Cruz, to whom I had a letter of introduction. I found
him most hospitable; indeed it is impossible to bear too
strong testimony to the kindness with which travellers are
received in almost every part of South America. The next
day I hired some mules to take me by the ravine of Jolquera
into the central Cordillera. On the second night the
weather seemed to foretell a storm of snow or rain, and whilst
lying in our beds we felt a trifling shock of an earthquake.
The connection between earthquakes and the weather has
been often disputed: it appears to me to be a point of great
interest, which is little understood. Humboldt has remarked
in one part of the Personal Narrative, [1] that it would be
difficult for any person who had long resided in New Andalusia,
or in Lower Peru, to deny that there exists some connection
between these phenomena: in another part, however
he seems to think the connection fanciful. At Guayaquil
it is said that a heavy shower in the dry season is invariably
followed by an earthquake.
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