Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2- Appendix): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

S38 APPENDIX. siderable trade, from the quantity of saltpetre, and the silver mines of Huantacayhua, in its neighbourhood : the latter are Uttle worked, as the saltpetre is a surer profit, large cargoes of which are annually taken in English vessels. There are no imports ; all the property belongs to merchants in Lima, where vessels are chartered, and have only to call here and take in their cargoes. Vessels bound for this place should run in on the parallel of Point Grande, until the white patches on that point are discerned, when a course should be shaped for the northern of three large sand hiUs : stand boldly in on this course tUl the church steeple appears, when shortly after, the tovra and low island will be seen, under which is the anchorage ; care must be taken in rounding this island to give it a good berth, a reef extending off it to the westward, to the distance of two cables' lengths. The anchorage is good in eleven fathoms, with Point Piedras bearing N. 9° W. ; W. extreme of the island, W. 32° S. ; church steeple S. 15° E. Vessels have attempted the passage between the island and the main by a mistake, and thereby got into danger, from which they have been extricated with difficulty : it is only lit for boats or very small vessels. Lcinding is bad and the way hazardous, owing to the number of blind breakers with which it abounds ; boats have been lost at the full and change of the moon, when the heavy swell sets in. Balsas are employed to bring cargoes to a laimch at anchor outside the danger, as is the case in most of the ports on this coast. N. 12° W., eighteen miles from Point Piedras (the north point of Iquique Bay, which has a cluster of rocks round it), is the small bay of MexiUones, appearing as a low black island vdth a white rock lying off it, and may be known by the GuUy of Aurora a httle to the southward, and a road apparently well trodden on the side of the hUls, leading to the mines. And N. 20° W., thirty-three miles from Point Piedras, is Point Pichalo, a projecting ridge at right angles to the general trend of the coast, with a number of hummocks on it. Round to the northward of this point is the village and road- stead of Guano Pisagua ; this, as well as MexiUones, is connected with Iquique in the saltpetre trade, and is resorted to by vessels for that article. In rounding the point, a sunken rock lies about half a cable's length off, and should be looked out for, as it is necessary to