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 tracted with the carrier to transport ore to the coast, though only because of an understanding that the contractor had the privilege of transporting as much ore to the port of Obispito (north of Caldera) as the season would admit of. There was a stipulation that the lightest of the cargo could go to Obispito, but the rest could be taken to Copiapó. In carrying out this contract, it is interesting to note that the contractor gathered together a force of 250 mules and carried 3000 quintals in seven trips lasting from the 13th of October to the 16th of November. It appears that a good deal of strategy was re- quired even with a fair season, such as the contractor enjoyed in this instance, to prepare the troops of mules for the arduous journey to the coast. They were given three weeks’ rest with good pasture before starting, and the cargoes were carried by alternating troops, one troop resting in some accessible ravine where water occurred while the other troop was carrying the load forward to the next stopping place. Even under these circumstances the contractor lost twenty mules, and the rest were unfitted for some time for further work. Yet the distance to the coast from the particular mines involved in the contract was but fourteen leagues.

It seems little that the desert dweller asks in the way of rain. In the valley of Copiapó a few hours’ rain in May or June fol- lowed by a few hours in August insures a good spring; and in former times it enabled the ores to be carried with facility from every quarter, because sufficient water and wild herbage would be encountered for months afterward on almost every trail. When a favorable season occurred all the transport power was shifted to mines that were unfavorably situated. This was because ores could be shipped at all seasons from the port serving Copiapó, but where shipment was made from such ports as Chafiaral and Paposo the surf and the prevalence of westerly winds prevented the loading of ores from June to September. Even the month of May was considered rather late.

Here again was a complication due to the circumstance that these so-called ports were ports in name only—merely groups of huts inhabited by an insignificant population, without any commerce worthy of the name, and with no strategic position