In The Spring, After
The Winter Showers, A Thin Pasture Rapidly Springs Up, And
Cattle Are Then Driven Down From The Cordillera To Graze
For A Short Time.
It is curious to observe how the seeds of
the grass and other plants seem to accommodate themselves,
as if by an acquired habit, to the quantity of rain which
falls upon different parts of this coast.
One shower far
northward at Copiapo produces as great an effect on the
vegetation, as two at Guasco, and three or four in this
district. At Valparaiso a winter so dry as greatly to injure
the pasture, would at Guasco produce the most unusual
abundance. Proceeding northward, the quantity of rain does
not appear to decrease in strict proportion to the latitude.
At Conchalee, which is only 67 miles north of Valparaiso,
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 which it commences.
4th. - Finding the coast-road devoid of interest of any
kind, we turned inland towards the mining district and
valley of Illapel. This valley, like every other in Chile, is
level, broad, and very fertile: it is bordered on each side,
either by cliffs 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 all below is of as
bright a green as verdigris, from the beds of alfalfa, a kind
of clover. We proceeded to Los Hornos, another mining
district, where the principal hill was drilled with holes, like
a great ants'-nest. The Chilian miners are a peculiar race
of men in their habits. Living for weeks together in the
most desolate spots, when they descend to the villages on
feast-days, there is no excess of 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 habits of carefulness: moreover,
temptation and the means of yielding to it are placed
in their power at the same time. 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 and think for themselves, 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 bright-coloured sash.
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