This
was the first true desert which I had seen: the effect on me was
not impressive; but I believe this was owing to my having become
gradually accustomed to such scenes, as I rode northward from
Valparaiso, through Coquimbo, to Copiap?. The appearance of the
country was remarkable, from being covered by a thick crust of
common salt, and of a stratified saliferous alluvium, which seems
to have been deposited as the land slowly rose above the level of
the sea. The salt is white, very hard, and compact: it occurs in
water-worn nodules projecting from the agglutinated sand, and is
associated with much gypsum. The appearance of this superficial
mass very closely resembled that of a country after snow, before
the last dirty patches are thawed. The existence of this crust of a
soluble substance over the whole face of the country shows how
extraordinarily dry the climate must have been for a long period.
At night I slept at the house of the owner of one of the saltpetre
mines. The country is here as unproductive as near the coast; but
water, having rather a bitter and brackish taste, can be procured
by digging wells. The well at this house was thirty-six yards deep:
as scarcely any rain falls, it is evident the water is not thus
derived; indeed if it were, it could not fail to be as salt as
brine, for the whole surrounding country is incrusted with various
saline substances.
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