almost all deserts. In northern Chile where is the driest cli- mate in the world there are villages, because even there the desert is not absolutely rainless, and where there is rain there are streams and settlements beside them. It is the rarest oc- currence to find a watered spot in the desert that has not been settled by man.
The Nitrate Pampa
For the pack-train journey across Atacama, the desert of northern Chile, | obtained mules and guides at the nitrate plant of Central Lagunas east of Iquique. Through the kind- ness of the British Consul there and of Mr. Watson, the mana- ger of his nitrate works on the pampa, we were prepared for a journey of several weeks and set out early in May for the pass at the southern end of the Cordillera Sillilica, which, between latitude 19°S. and 21°S., constitutes the boundary between Chile and Bolivia. Our guides were workmen from the nitrate establishment and were supposed to know the mountain trails, but in reality they were as ignorant of them as we were. From the Consul, who had been over a portion of our route, we obtained a description that was of far more value than the knowledge and advice of the guides. The first day’s journey, including a short stop in the late afternoon at the pumping sta- tion on the pipe line to the coast, took us to Matilla. Soon after we rode out from the pleasant shade of the station we entered the edge of the piedmont slope formed of mountain detritus washed into place at times of heavy rain or of melting snow in the mountains when the streams come down in tor- rents. Our course for an hour or more was along this slope rather than across it, and in this stretch we saw men digging fuel from the ground and loading it upon wagons from the station—an astonishing way in which to get firewood! All the more curious is it to hear the phrase ‘mining for wood.”’ Even at the present day the /efiador, or woodcutter, is a typical figure in the desert region, and his searches for the commodity of his trade, as those of the mine prospector, have contributed to the exploration of this inhospitable country.
