another expected up-train, and for a moment it was supposed to be only a shadow of the embankment which the moon threw across the track. When its true character was discerned, we were within less than two hundred yards of it. Unfortunately, the brake to our car had been so worn by the sand-drift, that, even when the whole weight of one of the peons was thrown upon it, its friction was merely nominal; and as one of them got a thrust in the eye and the other a thump over the head in the hurry of snatching at the whirling cranks, both were rendered hors du combat during the brief interval when their services might have been useful. When too late, I found it a heavy car loaded with iron rails, drawn by oxen. These-sensible brutes as they were—wheeled to the right and left of the track, so as to give us the full benefit of the projecting ends of the rails. Finding we must have a collision, nothing could be done but to try and break its effects as much as possible, and endeavor to save the chronometer. Yet, in spite of bracing my feet against the front, stiffening my knees, and holding on to the back with one arm, of a sudden I found my left eye in contact with the wood-work protecting the machinery, and more stars apparently dashing across the heavens than I witnessed in the memorable meteoric shower of 1833. Luckily, except this and the tearing away, by the projecting ends of the rails, of the framework mentioned, there was no damage done, and we reached Caldera in another half hour without farther difficulty. So much for my first experience as a conductor; and when I recollect how closely my scalp was to a removal even more expeditious than a Blackfoot would have effected, I am quite willing to yield all claims for such a post to other competitors.

During the five days intervening before the arrival of the steamer from the north, magnetical observations similar to those at the other stations were made, and a record kept of the meteorological changes. The mean height of the barometer was 29.983 inches, corresponding to a height of fifteen feet above the sea, which is probably from twelve to fifteen feet too little for the site of the instrument; but it must be stated that on the 16th of July it was subject to rapid changes, and was very considerably above its mean height. Its extreme range was from 29.846 to 30.176 inches; temperature of the air at noon 62°.5, and at midnight 56°.3; the wet thermometer at the same hours 58°.1 and 52°.8. Cloudy weather greatly predominated, with a moderate wind from N.N.W. Shortly after 9 A. M. of the 16th, and whilst the wind blew freshly from that direction, an almost equally strong breeze came suddenly from the S.W., and rain followed instantly. The northerly wind returned by noon, when the atmospheric pressure reached its maximum, and the air continued loaded with mist, though no farther deposition took place. There was a beautiful display of the zodiacal light on the evening of the same day, the apex of its pyramid extending between Jupiter and the constellation of Hydra et Crateres.

During the following summer-January to March, 1852-a submarine phenomenon attracted no little attention among the residents and visitors at Caldera, of which more than one account reached Santiago. One correspondent wrote me: "The night I stopped at Caldera I went at half-past eleven o'clock to hear the submarine music, and I confess it has astonished me. Though the position is neither graceful nor comfortable, on lying down in the boat and placing your ear upon the bottom, you hear it to perfection. I stuck to it for a long time, and was charmed indeed. It has now been pretty well ascertained that it comes from fish, which gather in great numbers on a quiet and retired spot of the bay; and as each one produces a single note, the most soft and charming harmony results, resembling the Æolian harp nearer than anything to which I can compare it. If we suppose the sounds to be produced by fish, that will also account for the different localities where they are heard. At my return to Caldera I will endeavor to obtain the name by which the fish is known there, if I should not succeed in obtaining a specimen for you." Another friend to whom I wrote on receiving the above tells me: "The idea of the music heard here being produced by fish never entered my brain until you wrote me about Mr. H. I am not fully prepared to oppose the Señoritas who pronounce it a syren, and among whom it has caused no little sensation. It is always near one place, and is

never heard during the day. You must come down for a personal examination; because, though I shall send you a box containing some of the small fish caught in the bay, I have no intention to assert that a or the musical fish shall be among them." My friend sent fish according to promise, of which an account is given in the report from Mr. Charles Girard. One of them he has named "Alosa musica," from this circumstance. When I wrote again, only four months later, these charming aquatic serenaders had shut up their orchestra, or gone elsewhere. Nothing had been heard from them since May. The only analogous case of which I have information is that of Mr. Taylor when at Bathcaloa, in Ceylon. On going to a lake near the fort at night, he was struck by a loud musical noise proceeding from the bottom of the water. The natives told him it was caused by "singing shells," or at least by some animal inhabiting shells. The sounds were like those of an accordeon or Æolian harp, with vibrating notes pitched at different keys. And it is said that there is a snail on the island of Corfu which occasionally emits a distinctly audible and not unmusical sound. It would be interesting to establish the fact that the syren of Caldera and the singing-shells of Ceylon, half way round the globe, are members of the same family.

Expectation of our monthly supply of letters contributed no little to the impatience with which we North Americans awaited the arrival of the steamer; though the Chilenos probably exhibited more restlessness than we did, when hour after hour passed by beyond the usual period of its coming. Nearly the whole party had tired with watching, and were about retiring for the night, when the lights of the New Grenada were descried by one more keen sighted than the rest; and when her anchor was dropped in the port, half an hour later, in their joy at starting towards the capital and home, even natives could not resist the "stirrup-cup" of our liberal and attentive hosts. At leaving Santiago my plan had been to complete all the observations in Atacama, and proceed to Coquimbo in one of the small steamers, in time to make the magnetical determinations prior to the arrival of this vessel. This was frustrated by the loss of the Ecuador; and as continued cloudy weather had prevented the completion of the experiments at Valparaiso, it was concluded that time would be saved by returning thither in this steamer, finishing the work during her stay, and coming back to Coquimbo on the 27th. Embarking after midnight, the steamer left the port about daylight, and without material incident reached her destination on the morning of the 21st. The loss of the steamer Peru, belonging to this line, during a gale at Valparaiso only a few weeks before, and the destruction of a great many launches at the same time, rendered it prudent to take in coals at Coquimbo, where we remained some hours, during which most of the passengers made a visit to La Serena. With favorable weather, it would have been easy to accomplish all desired work at Valparaiso; but a norther set in next morning, and nothing could be effected out of doors. This was the third storm during the winter, and though not so violent as that in which the Peru and many other vessels had been driven on shore, it was sufficiently powerful to cause the most lively apprehensions for the safety of the shipping in the bay. A continuane of cloudy weather prevented the completion of the observations before the 26th; on which day there were an unusually great number of cabin passengers, sixty soldiers on their way to reinforce the garrison in the suspicious province of Coquimbo, and many peons at the cost of the Junta de Mineria. I re-embarked for Coquimbo. Our cabin number was doubled; those who would have gone two weeks before having been disappointed, owing to the loss of the Peru.

The roads were in very bad condition, and the streams so swollen by the copious rains of the two or three days preceding, that the mail was behind time, and we were detained to await it until some hours past noon. When at last we did get out, the deck was crowded and uncomfortable enough, until a heavy swell drove three fourths of our passengers to such resting-places as they could obtain; but the detention had affected our arrival at Coquimbo correspondingly, and when we reached the anchorage towards 9 P. M. of the following evening, the vehicles belonging to Serena, usually awaiting passengers, had all gone.

Neither were there custom-house officers to dispute landing, public accommodations which a

person accustomed to the decencies of life could creep into until morning, nor a carriage of any kind to be had for money. No one expressing a desire to know what my half dozen cases contained, they were at once taken from the mole to a store for safe-keeping; and a travelling friend on board, who had long resided here, went with me to try and obtain lodgings at the house of a native, who occasionally provides hungry travellers by sea with a dish of shoreprepared edibles. We found her obliging and quite willing to make up a bed in the only vacant room at her command; but alas! there had been heavy rains only the preceding day, and the mud-plastered roof of her old house had been washed through to its floor. It was thoroughly saturated; the sky overhead as seen through the vacant crevices was ominous of another sprinkle, and rheumatism would have been a sure reward to him who lodged a night within it. We next went to one of his tenants, who kept a dram-shop and billiard table. He was not less civil-offering a bed on a sofa in a little ante-room, and only asking the privilege of passage through it for himself, wife, and child, as there was no other access to their chamber. If preferred, he would make a pallet on the billiard table as soon as his customers had left for the night. Fortunately, relief from this dilemma was at hand; and the courteous hospitality of Mr. A., during four or five days of my visit in this vicinity, will always be pleasantly remembered. Coquimbo bay, in latitude 29° 57′ south, is by far the best anchorage on the coast between Callao and Talcahuano; unless Puerto Yngles, near Caledra, be an exception. It is broad and capacious, easy of access at all times, and protected from the violence of the sea whenever the effect of distant winds might otherwise be thus felt. A line of the coast which would effectually prevent heavy swells from thence extends across its mouth to the north, if by chance the wind should ever blow violently from that quarter; and there are two or three rocky islets just to the westward of the entrance, aiding to diminish its effects from that direction. The western side is bounded by a high promontory of rocks, having a nearly vertical face on the seaward side, and a steep slope on that next to the bay. Over the latter, arborescent cacti and a few equally fleshy shrubs are scattered. These have found sufficient soil among disintegrated portions of the rocks. The southern and eastern shores are low beaches, rising by steps or terraces towards the interior, at this season of the year covered with verdure; the southern part of the promontory and a peninsula connecting it with the main land form the northern shore of Herradura bay, distant from Coquimbo bay about one mile. On the highest part of the table-formed peninsula is the residence of Mr. A., from which there is a fine view of both sheets of water. Good water for shipping may be had in abundance. A supply of fine fish is always at command; and when Heaven propitiously bestows three or four showers, a moderate supply of vegetables, fruit, and excellent meat may be obtained.

Coquimbo, a village of two or three scores of houses, is on the western side of the bay. It has only one street, portions of which have a sort of sidewalk; though uniformity of direction, level, or paving, has not been attempted. As there are rarely more than two or three moderate rains in any year, and its inhabitants are generally operatives, most of the houses are of slight materials, and have roofs of reeds, plastered with mud; but the quantity of copper obtained from the mines of the province having very greatly increased of late, a number of furnaces for smelting have been erected; more vessels have frequented the port in search of it; several very creditable-looking buildings are in course of construction; and Coquimbo may one day really claim to be a town. At present it is uninviting enough to a stranger; and its population of 800 souls, mainly dependent, as they are, on the visits of ships for constancy of employment, make their extortionate demands with airs which one soon tires of.

There are smelting establishments for copper ores at the two extremes of the town, the larger one having eight furnaces. Both seem carelessly conducted; want of order and tidiness, as well in the work as the workmen, being rendered more apparent perhaps by the contrast which is presented in the establishment at Herradura. In addition to these, a church, a custom-house, and a post-office are the only other buildings of a public nature. The last two occupy part of a private house near the little mole. When I landed, there was no officer to receive the letter with

which the Minister of Finance had provided me respecting the instruments, and, as has been said, they were conveyed to a store unquestioned; indeed a cargo of contraband goods might have been disposed of with no greater cognizance of the revenue guardians. Eight days afterwards, when the letter had been left with the Intendente at Serena as of no further use, and I was about to re-embark them in broad daylight, some of the underlings were quite unwilling to permit it without inspection. Their demand was too absurd, even had I not evidence that a written order lay at the office to facilitate instead of detaining me; and as a compliance would have subjected me to an hour's work among a mob of dirty boatmen and peons, their right to have the cases opened was refused. There was some little detention by maintenance of the principle; but as soon as the facts were communicated to the chief, he reprimanded his subordinates for malicious interference. Formerly there was great venality at all the ports along the coast. An anecdote of this nature occurring at Coquimbo came freshly to mind at the time of my detention on the mole; though it was scarcely probable that any of the custom-house officers who had borne parts in it still held places under government. The story was told me by one of the parties most interested, now a man of great wealth, and was substantially as follows: After loading a ship with copper ores, it was intimated to him that a douceur to the officer who had superintended its weighing would expedite the clearance papers-a consummation devoutly wished; and it occurred to him that this needy guardian of the customs might make a mistake of a few hundred quintals in his return, if the consideration was sufficiently tempting. On this return, or rather on the document given to the collector at Serena, depended the amount of export duty to be paid. Eighteen doubloons ($310) changed hands; and an error was detected in the quantities of ores delivered on board, which abated the dues to the government $600. But the process did not end here. From the next in rank to whom the papers passed there came a like intimation with precisely similar results, and they were finally sent up to Serena for the signature of the chief prior to payment of the duties. Days elapsed, and still there was no clearance; nor would there probably have been any for weeks, had not his purse been lightened of other eighteen ounces on the same conditions as the other two. The chief had got wind of the good luck of his subs, and was unwilling to be slighted; and thus the treasury was robbed by three men of export dues amounting to near two thousand dollars! Such pilfering was then of every-day occurrence. At present there is more system, and the risk of detection is greater. Moreover, the standard of probity in public officers has been very considerably elevated, and such crimes are rendered less frequent.

On the morning after landing, the instruments were conveyed to Herradura bay, and the magnetical elements determined near the spot occupied by Capt. Fitzroy sixteen years before. At that time the declination of the magnet was 14° 30' east, and on the 28th of July I found it to be 15° 41', showing an annual variation of nearly 4. The inclination observed by him was* 34° 20′, and on the 29th July it was 32° 10′, being a yearly decrease of 8'. Of the climate I shall have occasion to say something when speaking of Serena presently, to which it is so near that the same remarks will apply.

As its name imports, the bay is in the form of a horse-shoe,.rather more than a mile and three quarters in diameter, with an entrance of only one eighth of a mile open to the northwest winds. On both sides the shore is high and rocky, with many cacti and woody plants, presenting a picturesque appearance. At the southeast extremity a sand-beach, with a shelf above, like that of Coquimbo, slopes off into a continuation of the first terrace. On the south and west sides there is deep water and good anchoring ground. Here vessels are exposed to the wind and sea; and where the north shore might protect them against these, the ground is rocky and the water shallow. A profusion of shells washed up during every blow find their way to the beach. Some of them are very beautiful, though generally they are defaced by abrasion. Perfect specimens may be had from the rocks at every reflux of the tide. Among them few are more attractive than the Chiton magnificus and C. chilensis, both found in great numbers, though * June 4, 1835.

adhering to the rocks with a force not easily overcome by one's hands. Scarcely less numerous is a Cardium, called by the natives "Choro," and the Ostrea violacea, which is also found in multitudes on the sand-hills of Caldera. This choro-for the same name is applied to two or three very distinct shells-is edible, and its shells are collected to be used in making lime.

Being within the region which counts with considerable certainty on three or four rains during the winter months, the land surrounding both bays was now covered with verdure; and many varieties of plants were already in flower, none of them making greater contrasts with the dark-green herbage and dusky rocks than the Cassia flaccida, with racemes of brilliant orange-colored flowers; a tree Heliotrope, with large and fragrant bunches white and purpleshaded; and the rose-colored berries of a parasite (Quintral?) which crowns many arms of the arborescent cacti. From the earth, too, there were Аñeñucas, bending under loads of scarlet bells, springing in all directions; and the Orejas del Diablo (Eupatorium foliosum) crept along the surface, hiding, as it were, in angles of the rocks, with curiously formed purple cups, adorned with apparently frosted filaments: shape, color, age enough, signified in the silvery fibres, and ugliness to merit well its name of Devil's ears. But Coquimbanos say one should visit their valley towards the close of September and during October, when the natural pasturage has grown head high, and the earth is dotted more exquisitely with flowers of every form than the gardens display. Then, too, spring offers its first fruit-the strawberry; and the sun pours only a flood of genial light and heat on gems he has aided to perfect, bidding you forth to admire and wonder at them.

There is a fine prospect from the terrace on which stands the house of Mr. A. The formation, counted from the sea, may be properly regarded as the second table or terrace. It extends a mile back, and nearly parallel with the eastern shore of Coquimbo bay, and terminates seven miles to the north by a valley, through which flows the Coquimbo river. Back of this again, with a like difference of elevation and facial line, is a third. The height of the first table may be 70 feet, the second 125, and the third probably 180. Their composition is a conglomerate of shells. Hills of every form rise to heights of several thousand feet along the skirts of the last; and at a distance of more than a hundred miles, the Andes, at this time covered with snow very far down, fill up the back-ground. Distant as they are, the lines of every spur and ravine of the great cordilleras are as sharp as in an engraving. On the northern extremity of the second terrace, and embowered amid luxuriant trees, is La Serena, its white walls sparkling pleasantly in the distance. Two roads conduct to it from Coquimbo: one along the hard, sea-washed beach, over which the birlocheros will drive you at the rate of three leagues per hour; and the other, just far enough inland to avoid the waves in bad weather, and to cross one or two little streams sometimes swollen during the rains. The former is shorter, and greatly preferable, except on the rare occasions referred to. Seven miles from Coquimbo the road turns from the bay at right angles, and for a mile continues in a straight line over a level plain, to the foot of the eminence on which La Serena is built. On either side there are well watered gardens, bounded by rows of poplars and willows, which form an agreeable walk or drive. The ascent of the terrace to the city is quite abrupt; and is the first departure from a uniformly inclined plain between it and the sea. A very few years since a gentleman died here who recollected the time when the ocean washed the base of the hill, now at least twenty-five feet above its level. Unless from the appearance of one or two of its seven churches, one would scarcely infer that La Serena had been founded within less than half a century after Columbus first sailed from the shores of the Old World. Its streets are straight, after the fashion of all others built within modern times in Chile, its houses are of good size, and in all its thoroughfares there is scrupulous cleanliness, worthy of imitation.

According to the record, it was founded by Valdivia in 1544, three years after Santiago; but if we reflect that Don Pedro had only one hundred and fifty of his own countrymen, and some Peruvian Indians, when he arrived from Cuzco, we may well doubt whether he could have done much more than leave names for localities afterwards to be built upon. It is stated in the history

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