The next day we reached the valley of Copiap?. 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.
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