The Union Of A
Cloudless Sky, Low Temperature, And A Furious Gale Of Wind,
Must Be, I Should Think, In All Parts Of The World An Unusual
Occurrence.
June 29th - We gladly travelled down the valley to our
former night's lodging, and thence to near the Agua amarga.
On July 1st we reached the valley of Copiapo.
The smell of
the fresh clover was quite delightful, after the scentless air
of the dry, sterile Despoblado. Whilst staying in the town I
heard an account from several of the inhabitants, of a hill
in the neighbourhood which they called "El Bramador," - the
roarer or bellower. I did not at the time pay sufficient
attention to the account; but, as far as I understood, the hill
was covered by sand, and the noise was produced only when
people, by ascending it, put the sand in motion. The same
circumstances are described in detail on the authority of
Seetzen and Ehrenberg, [4] as the cause of the sounds which
have been heard by many travellers on Mount Sinai near the
Red Sea. One person with whom I conversed had himself
heard the noise: he described it as very surprising; and he
distinctly stated that, although he could not understand how
it was caused, yet it was necessary to set the sand rolling
down the acclivity. A horse walking over dry coarse sand,
causes a peculiar chirping noise from the friction of the
particles; a circumstance which I several times noticed on the
coast of Brazil.
Three days afterwards I heard of the Beagle's arrival at
the Port, distant eighteen leagues from the town. There is
very little land cultivated down the valley; its wide expanse
supports a wretched wiry grass, which even the donkeys can
hardly eat. This poorness of the vegetation is owing to the
quantity of saline matter with which the soil is impregnated.
The Port consists of an assemblage of miserable little hovels,
situated at the foot of a sterile plain. At present, as the
river contains water enough to reach the sea, the inhabitants
enjoy the advantage of having fresh water within a mile and
a half. On the beach there were large piles of merchandise,
and the little place had an air of activity. In the evening
I gave my adios, with a hearty good-will, to my companion
Mariano Gonzales, with whom I had ridden so many leagues
in Chile. The next morning the Beagle sailed for Iquique.
July 12th. - We anchored in the port of Iquique, in lat.
20 degs. 12', on the coast of Peru. The town contains about a
thousand inhabitants, and stands on a little plain of sand at
the foot of a great wall of rock, 2000 feet in height, here
forming the coast. The whole is utterly desert. A light
shower of rain falls only once in very many years; and the
ravines consequently are filled with detritus, and the
mountain-sides covered by piles of fine white sand, even to a
height of a thousand feet.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 289 of 402
Words from 149160 to 149665
of 208183
