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After a journey over the Puna de Atacama in 1913 I crossed the Desert of Atacama by way of the oasis of San Pedro de Atacama and a few weeks later started for the southern end of the desert to study the physical setting of the towns and settlements there and also their social and economic structure. The day before I sailed for Caldera, the port of Copiapé, the sea became rough, and we were told it would be necessary to take the train to Coloso, a port two miles south of Antofagasta. There is at Coloso practically nothing more than a beach front- ing a very narrow terrace formed in a hollow of the coastal hills where a point of land projects northwestward and cuts off the waves that sweep in from the open sea. This port faces the north while Antofagasta faces south, and when the latter is out of commission because of a heavy sea, the former is used instead. All the port facilities are for the nitrate service, and there are no small boats for passengers. The distance being but two miles, rowboats are sometimes allowed by the port captain at Antofagasta to go by sea to Coloso so that passengers may embark there, though the charges are thereby trebled.

One of the most prominent things to be seen on landing at Caldera is the water-evaporating plant. This and the smeltery just outside the town, the railway station, and the custom- house form the chief constructions of this interesting port. The town was once much larger, when the copper mines of Copiapé were among the most important in the world, but now it is a very unimportant place despite its fine natural har- bor—one of the best on the coast. It would again become of considerable importance if the projected railway to Argentina could be built, since a good deal of the produce for the nitrate