herds. Trees from forty to fifty feet high may be seen here, and there are expanses of marshy ground too salty to allow a good growth of alfalfa but with sufficient pasture to attract herds for a part of the year (Fig. 13).
From Quillagua our course lay up the valley side and to the desert again, to the nitrate establishments on the border of the valley. The river has been dammed, and electrical works have been installed to furnish power for the nitrate works at Santa Fé. The cost of the installation was Jarge, but the very high price of imported coal induced the use of water power; and the nitrate works were said to enjoy a great ad- vantage over neighboring establishments situated in the midst of the desert and far from any natural source of power. Our host took us to his gardens in the Loa valley where he had a lodge which he frequented on Sundays and holidays— a charming embowered spot doubly precious by reason of the waste of salt and sand of the surrounding desert.
