Page:Isaiah Bowman - Desert Trails of Atacama (1924).pdf/69

 rode on in a doubtful state of mind. I had heard about the rains, but I could not believe that they fell in real showers! About noon the cloud bank darkened and overhung the border of the desert. Still the sky above us was clear. Then happened what I can yet scarcely believe. We rode into the head of a tiny valley that had cut right across the coast chain. A wisp of cloud, an outlier of the main bank, lay directly ahead of us. There were grass and bushes not a half-mile below the bare dry spot on which we stood. We were riding down toward them when of a sudden the wind freshened and the cloud wisp enveloped us, shutting out the view, and ten minutes later the moisture had gathered in little beads on the manes of our beasts and the trail became slippery. In a half-hour it was raining, and in an hour we were in the midst of a heavy down- pour. We stopped and pastured our famished beasts in ]uxuri- ant clover. While they gorged themselves a herd of cattle drifted along, and a startled band of burros that suddenly con- fronted our beasts scampered out of sight in the heavy mist. Later we passed a herdsman’s hut, and long before we reached him he shouted to us to alter our course, for just ahead the old trail was wet and treacherous at this time of year. The warn- ing came too late. Several of our beasts lost their footing and half rolled, half slid, down hill. One turned completely over, pack and all, and lay in the soft mud calmly taking advantage of the delay to pluck a few additional mouthfuls of grass. We were glad to reach firmer ground on the other side of the valley. ‘The heavy showers and luxuriant pastures of the wet years and the light local rains of the dry years endow the Coast Range with many peculiar geographic qualities. The heavy rains provide the desert people at the foot of the mountains such a wealth of pasture for their burdensome stock as many oasis dwellers possess only in their dreams. From near and far cattle are driven to the wet hill meadows. Some are even brought in from distant valleys by sea, yet only a very small part of the rich pastures can be used. It is safe to say that they could comfortably support ten times the number of cattle, mules, and burros that actually graze upon them. The grass would be cut for export if the weather were not so continually