17th June 1835

I hired mules & a guide to penetrate a little way in the Cordilleras. A few leagues beyond the Hacienda, the valley of Copiapò is divided into three branches; the Southern one, Mamflas, has a long course skirting the Cordilleras & is inhabited during much of its length; — the other two arms each only have one or two houses. — I entered the one called Jolquera, it was very barren & uninhabited, slept where there was a little pasture.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
At the Post-office I obtained a large packet, directed to our vice-consul, the moment the post-master opened the mail bag; and hastening to the consul's office, I was surprised to find it shut, and to hear that no one would be there for an hour or two. Such apathy — upon such an occasion! Not choosing to break the seals, though I saw by the direction what were the contents (Despatches by Challenger), I went in search of the proper person to open the packet: took the Commodore's letters, and hastened with them to the Blonde. Every doubt was then ended. The Challenger was lost on the night of the 19th of May, at the spot described by the Swede: but all her crew were saved except two; and on the 26th of that month, Captain Seymour, the officers and men were encamped near the wreck, at a place called Molguilla. The Blonde prepared for sea: an offer of such assistance as I could render was accepted by the commodore; and, having arranged the Beagle's affairs, as far as then necessary, I went on board the Blonde, taking with me Mr. Usborne, J. Bennett, and a whaleboat. Lieut. Wickham was to forward the Beagle's duty during my absence, and take her to Copiapo, Iquique, and Callao, before I should rejoin her.

16th June 1835

I staid there the ensuing day & found him most hospitable & kind; indeed I defy a traveller to do justice to the goodnature with which strangers are received in this country.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
By the post which arrived from Santiago this morning, an English merchant received a laconic account of the total loss of his Majesty's ship Challenger. This report spread as quickly as bad tidings are wont to do: but no official information arrived during that day, or the ensuing night. Recollecting that a Swedish ship had come lately into Valparaiso, whose officers had seen what they described as "an American brig" cast away near Mocha; I found out the ship and questioned the master and mates. They had arrived at Valparaiso on the 25th of May, and all agreed in stating that on the 20th of that month, they saw a large vessel ashore on the coast of the mainland, to the northward and eastward of Mocha. They saw her at daylight, but as they had light airs of wind and a very heavy swell until three in the afternoon, to save themselves from danger they were obliged to make all sail away from the land, and lost sight of the wreck.

The vessel looked large, with fore and main masts standing, and top-gallant masts an end until eight o'clock, when the fore-topmast went over the side, or was struck: her fore-topsail yard remained across; no main-top-gallant yard was seen; the main-top-gallant mast was standing all day, and there was a large ensign at the mast-head: white and red were seen, therefore it was thought to be American. Her bow was to seaward, as if she had anchored; her sails were loose all day; people were seen on the after part of what appeared to be a roundhouse painted green. Bulwarks very high — ports very large — no boats on deck or at the quarters — no guns on upper deck. Looking at her end on, with the masts nearly in a line — all her upper deck could be seen, though very indistinctly, owing to hazy weather, the additional haze caused by spray thrown up from a furious surf, and their own distance from the wreck; which was never less than four miles.

The log of the Swedish ship was produced, which exactly corroborated their statement. The master said he could not lower a boat, so great was the swell; and during five hours of almost calm, he was drifting helplessly towards the wreck, and expecting to share her fate. The two masts and red and white ensign, caused them to consider her an American brig, and as such she was reported to the consul for the United States.

A few of the preceding data convinced me they had seen the poor Challenger, but I was more strongly assured of the fact by pointing to the Conway, then at anchor near us, and asking whether she was like that ship — and near her size? Yes, sir, they replied. The green roundhouse abaft, seemed to have been a deception caused by looking at the curved green taffrail of the Challenger. I concluded that the mizen-mast had been cut or carried away; perhaps used as a raft: that the boats had been lowered, and that the ensign was St. George's, (Sir G. E. Hamond's flag being white at the mizen) but did not fly out, as there was no wind. The quarter-deck guns were close to the side, or perhaps below. Such were my thoughts, but other persons were of a totally different opinion. I was astonished that the Commodore did not hear officially from Santiago — particularly as the merchant's private notice was received through our Consul-general.

15th June 1835

Proceeded up the valley towards the Cordilleras; its course was however very oblique, running about SSE instead of East. I dined at a hospitable old Spaniard, Don Eugenio Matta, at whose house General Aldonati was staying. He was governor of Chiloe during the time of Capt. Kings Voyage & well known to the officers. I found him the pleasantest gentleman I have met in Chili. The valley continued much as I have described it; & always pleasant to behold. — At night fall we reached the Hacienda of las Amolanas to the owner of which Don Benito Cruz I had a letter of introduction.

13th & 14th June 1835

Staid here two days, employed in geologizing the huge surrounding mountains.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
Arrived at Valparaiso on the 14th of June, and immediately began the arrangements necessary for our preparations to quit Chile. The liberal assistance rendered by Don Francisco Vascuñan, in lending me his own vessel, without any kind of agreement or remuneration whatever, had enabled me to look forward to adding much of the coast of Chile to our gleanings in hydrography; for I well knew that Lieutenant Sulivan would not only make despatch, but extremely correct work.

Here I may remark, that if little is said henceforth about places so well known as the coasts of Chile, Peru, and other countries often described, it is because I feel bound to avoid mere repetition as far as possible, and because the limits of my narrative are fixed. For the present, leaving the Beagle to get her stores and provisions on board, I must turn to another scene.

12th June 1835

By noon we arrived at the Hacienda of Potrero Seco in the Valley of Copiapò. I was heartily glad of it; it is most disagreeable to hear whilst you are eating a good supper, your horse gnawing the post to which he is tied & to know that you cannot relieve his hunger. — the whole journey is a source of anxiety to see how fast you can cross the Traversia. To all appearance however the horses were quite fresh & no one could have told they had not eaten for the last 55 hours.

This Hacienda belonged to one of the British associations; their affairs when bankrupt were purchased by some English merchants; one of these, Mr Bingley, came out as managing agent. — I had a letter of introduction to him & by good luck he came from the town this day to the Estate. — To his credit, there is no land in the whole valley which looks in such good order. — At one time the whole was rented at 500 dollars now one mere part is let 1,800, & another 400.— He reserving the best part for himself. This is a specimen of the management of those mad associations. — This estate is called 14 leagues (perhaps 25 English miles) long: it is of course very narrow, seldom a mile & often of no breadth, that is the valley in some parts cannot be irrigated. — Generally it has a width of two fields. The whole is cultivated with the Clover of the country for the Pasturage of Mules. Mr Bingleys business is the shipment of Copper ores, but everything depends on the carriage of the ores to the Port. — There is so little land in the whole valley, that mules sufficient for the mines cannot be pastured. It would sound odd in England, the whole value of a mining business depending on the quantity of pasturage to be obtained by any individual. — The scarcity of cultivated land does not depend so much on the inequality or unfitness for irrigation, as on the little water. The river this year is remarkably full; at this Hacienda it reaches up to a horses belly, is about 15 yards wide & rapid; of course it grows gradually decreasing till it reaches the sea. This however happens rarely; for a period of 30 years not a drop ever entered the Pacifick. The inhabitants watch a storm in the Cordilleras with great interest; one good fall of snow secures water for the ensuing year. — This is of infinitely more consequence than rain in the lower country. With the latter, which often does not fall for two & even three years together, they are enabled to pasture the mules & cattle for some time in the mountains; but without Snow in the Andes desolation extends over the whole valley. — It is on record that three times nearly all the inhabitants have been obliged to emigrate to the South. The valley is said to contain 12,000 souls, but its produce is sufficient only for three months in the year; the rest being drawn from Valparaiso & the South. — Before the discovery of the famous Silver Mineral of Chanuncillo, Copiapò was in a rapid state of decay; now it is in a very thriving condition. The town which was completely over-thrown by an Earthquake has been rebuilt.

The valley of Copiapò runs in a very Southerly direction, so that it is of considerable length to its source in the Cordillera; it forms a mere green ribbon in a desert. Both the valleys of Guasco & Copiapò may be considered as islands to the Northward of Chili, separated by deserts in the place of Salt water. Beyond these, there is one other very miserable valley called Paposo, which contains about 200 people. Then we come to the real desert of Atacama, a far worse barrier than the most turbulent sea. At the present time there is plenty of water & every man irrigates his land as much as he likes; when it is scarce guards are sent to the sluices of all the Azequis to see they do not take more than their allotted number of hours in the week. — In consequence of this abundance & the rich nature of soil, which is much less gravelly than in the other valleys, the stripe of Vegetation is very luxuriant. But when the latitude 27° is considered, & that it is nearly in the same parallel with St Catherines on the coast of Brazil, it is surprising that there is no trace of a Tropical character in the Vegetation.

11th June 1835

Rode for 12 hours without stopping, till we reached a spot where there was water & firewood. Formerly there had been a smelting furnace here. Our horses again had not anything to eat, being shut up in an old Corrall. The whole line of road was hilly; any view of the distant landscape was interesting from the various colors of the bare mountains & splendid weather. It is a pity to see the sun so constantly bright over so useless a country; such shining days ought only to brighten a prospect of fields, cottages & gardens.

10th June 1835

Instead of going from this place direct to the town of Copiapò, I determined to take a guide & fall into the valley higher up. We rode all day over an uninteresting country. I am tired of repeating the epithets barren & sterile. These words, however, as commonly used, are comparative. I have always applied them to the plains of Patagonia, yet the vegetation possesses spiny bushes & some dry prickly grasses, which is luxuriant to anything to be seen here. There are not many spots where in 200 yds square, some little bush, plant, Cactus or Lichen can not be discovered, & in the ground seeds lie buried ready to spring up during the first rainy winter. In Peru absolute deserts are to be met with over a large extent of country.

In the evening we came to a little valley in which the bed of a little streamlet was damp — following this up for a mile we came to water & that not very bad. During the night the stream flows a league lower down than in day, before it is evaporated & absorbed. There was plenty sticks for firewood, so that for us it was a good place of bivouac; but the poor animals had not a mouthful to eat. Even here there were two cottages of Indians with a troop of donkeys, employed in carrying firewood &c &c to the mines; these donkeys are without any inaccuracy supported on the stumps of the dry twigs of the Bushes. There is not a plant of any sort for them to eat. I believe every now & then they are taken to feed for a short time in the valleys of the Cordilleras, but generally, what I have stated is their sole support. The fact of the gnawed stumps proved the truth & quite astonished me.

9th June 1835

I staid the day here. Ballenar is a considerable town, nearly as large as Coquimbo & well built; it is only sprung up in late years & owes its prosperity entirely to the Silver mines. The produce of the valley is not sufficient to support the inhabitants. Ballenar takes its name from Ballenagh in Ireland, the birthplace of the family of O’Higgins, who were presidents & generals in Chili. Freyrina likewise takes its name from a General Freyre. — Ballenar is rather a nice & pretty town: the valley & indeed all the valleys in Chili are well worth visiting.

8th June 1835

Rode up to Ballenar; as the rocky mountains on each side were concealed by clouds, the terrace-like plains caused the valley to have a very similar appearance to that of S. Cruz in Patagonia. The quantity of cultivated ground is small.

6th & 7th June 1835

I staid here on account of my animals two days, & lived with Mr Hardy, an owner of Copper mines. — One of the days I rode down to the Port. — On a dear day the view up the valley is very fine; the opening being nearly straight is terminated at a great distance by the distinct outline of the snowy Cordillera; on each side an infinity of crossing lines blend together in a beautiful haze. The foreground is singular from the number of parallel & extensive terraces; & the included strip of green valley abounding with its willow bushes is contrasted on each hand by the naked hills. — From Capt. B. Halls description I had expected a valley luxuriant as those at C. de Verde, but it appears to me that all Capt. Halls beautiful descriptions require a little washing with a Neutral tint — it may partly destroy their charm but I am afraid will add to their reality. — But it may be well imagined how bare the hills must have been, since a shower had not fallen for 13 months. The inhabitants heard with the greatest envy of the rain in Coquimbo: From the looks of the weather they had strong expectations of equally good fortune and a fortnight afterwards this was verified. I was at Copiapo at the time, & there the people with equal envy talked of the abundant rain at Guasco. After two or three very dry years, that is perhaps with not more than one shower during the whole time, a rainy year generally follows, & this does more harm than even the drought. — The river swells & covers with gravel & sand the narrow strip of ground which alone is fit for cultivation; the flood also injures the irrigating ditches: great devastation had thus been caused three years ago. I called in the evening at the house of the "Governador"; the Signora was a Limerian & affected blue-stockingism & superiority over her neighbours. Yet this learned lady never could have seen a Map. Mr Hardy told me that one day a coloured Atlas was lying on a Pianoforte & this lady seeing it exclaimed, "Esta es contradanca". This is a country dance! "que bonita" how pretty! — On the other hand, the good people at Valdivia hearing so much about our making Charts thought everything a map. As they mistook a Sextant & artificial horizon, doubtless a piece of Music would have gone under the same name.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
The Beagle left Herradura, and sailed towards Valparaiso. Anxious, however, to communicate with Don Diego Portales, who was staying at his country-house, near Papudo, I touched there in my way.

5th June 1835

This Sauce is a little way out of the direct road — from it to Freyrina we had to cross some mountains, — every days march to the Northward the vegetation becomes more scanty; here a few tiny bushes were coated by a filamentous green Lichen & the large Candlestick-like Cactus was succeeded by a much smaller species. During the winter months both in Chili & Peru a thin but uniform stratum of clouds hangs at no great height over the Pacifick. — From the above hill we had a striking view of this great white & brilliant field; from it arms entered all the valleys, leaving Islands & promontories precisely in the same manner as the sea intersects the land in the Chonos Archipelago. — We reached Freyrina early in the day to the great joy of ourselves & poor horses. — In the valley of Guasco, beginning at the mouth we have the little village at the port — a spot entirely desert & without water immediately at hand. — 5 leagues up is the village of Freyrina, consisting of one long straggling street; the houses white washed & generally decent. — 10 leagues further up is the principal town — Ballenar. — And again near the Cordilleras there is Guasco alto, an agricultural or rather Horticultural village, famous for its dried fruit. — Ballenar & Freyrina depend chiefly on the mines. —

4th June 1835

Carizal to Sauce
Continued to ride over a desert plain tenanted by some large herds of Guanaco. — This plain is crossed by the valley of Chañeral, the most fertile one between Guasco & Coquimbo. — it is however very narrow & although green produces very little. — Pasture for animals at this time of year could not be procured. — At Sauce we found a civil old gentleman superintending a Copper-smelting furnace. — as an especial favor he allowed me to purchase ata high price an armfull of dirty straw, which was all the poor horses had for supper after their long days work. — There are very few smelting furnaces still employed in Chili; it is found more profitable to ship the ore to England, owing to the extreme scarcity of fire-wood & the loss of metal from the clumsy Chilian method of reduction.— The poor Chilenos think that England is quite dependant for her Copper to Chili; they will scarcely believe that all the quantity which is imported there must again be exported to other countries.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
On the 4th, having hastily reconnoitred the coast nearly as far as Coquimbo, we ran into Herradura Cove, and moored ship securely. It was my intention to refit there thoroughly, and prepare the Beagle for receiving a large supply of stores and provisions at Valparaiso, which would enable her to run down the coast to the Galapagos, and thence cross the Pacific to Sydney in Australia. In Herradura she lay quietly close to the land until the 6th of June: and all her crew were encamped on shore near the ship, while she was thoroughly cleared out, re-stowed, and painted.

At Coquimbo (or Serena) we always met with a hearty welcome whenever duty required that we should go there, or when we went for our own amusement. The Yntendente, Yrrisarte, the kind-hearted Mr. Edwards and his family, and others, will not easily be forgotten by the Beagle's officers.

As another real benefactor to the public service, I may be allowed to mention Don Francisco Vascuñan, who lent me a vessel of thirty-five tons, called the Constitucion, to be employed in forwarding the survey. This craft was built in the River Maule, and bore a very high character as a sea boat. Lieutenant Sulivan, Mr. King, Mr. Stewart, and Mr. Forsyth volunteered to go in her; so giving them a boat's crew, a small boat, a native pilot with his balsa, and as good an outfit as my means would allow, I despatched this new tender to examine a portion of coast near Coquimbo, which the Beagle had not seen sufficiently, and directed Lieut. Sulivan, if he found the vessel efficient, to continue afterwards surveying along the coast of Chile, as far as Paposo, whence he was to repair to Callao.

3rd June 1835

Yerba-buena to Carizal
During first part of day crossed a mountainous rocky desert, like near Conchalee, then a long deep sandy plain covered with broken marine shells. — There is very little water & that little saline; the few streamlets are bordered on each side by white encrustations, amongst which the succulent, salt-loving plants grow. The whole country from the coast to the Cordillera is a desert & uninhabited. — I saw only traces of one living animal in abundance; this was a Bulimus, the shells of which were collected together in extraordinary numbers in the driest parts. In the Spring, & at the dawn of day when the ground is damp with the dew these animals are crawling about in all parts. As they are never seen excepting in the early morning, the Guassos think they are born from the dew. — I have noticed in other places that the driest & very sterile districts are most favourable to an extraordinary increase of land-shells. — At Carizal there are a few cottages, some brackish water & a trace of cultivation; with difficulty we purchased a little corn & straw for the Horses.

2nd June 1835

Set out for the valley of Guasco, taking with me a guide for the road. — The Beagle was to sail for Valparaiso a few days afterwards, from thence to Copiapò to pick me up & then to Peru. Capt FitzRoy hired a small vessel & left a party under the command of Mr Sulivan to survey the Northern coast of Chili & to rendezvous at Lima. — We rode this day to a solitary house, called Yerba-buena, where pasture for the animals can be bought. — On the whole road we passed only one other house or inhabited spot. — There are two roads from Coquimbo to Guasco, one near the sea coast, the other in the interior; in this latter there is nothing for the animals to eat during the whole time. I therefore followed the former line. — The shower alluded to a fortnight ago had reached about half way to Guasco, we had therefore in this first part a slight tinge of green, just sufficient to remind me of the freshness of the turf & budding flowers in the Spring of England. — Travelling in these countries, like to a prisoner shut up in gloomy courts, produces a constant longing for such scenes.