MAY 3, 1835.
Quilimari to Conchalee. The country became more and more barren. In
the valleys there was scarcely sufficient water for any irrigation;
and the intermediate land was quite bare, not supporting even
goats. 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 Copiap? 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.
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