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Iquique is a town on the main land, about thirty miles from the sea. The islands called los Patillos, or the Claws, are near the coast, in lat. 20° 45' S. and probably one of these may have got the name of Iquique, as being under the jurisdiction of that town. The mountain Carapacha of the text, is probably the hills of Tarapaca of our maps.
From hence we went to a certain port called Tarapaca; where, being landed, we found by the sea side a Spaniard lying asleep, who had lying by him thirteen bars of silver, which weighed 4,000 ducats Spanish. We took the silver and left the man.
Then he told them of the expedition up the west coast, and of the towns they sacked; and the opulent names rolled oddly off his tongue, and seemed to bring a whiff of southern scent into this panelled English room, Valparaiso, Tarapaca, and Arica ; and of the capture of the Cacafuego off Quibdo; and of the enormous treasure they took, the great golden crucifix with emeralds of the size of pigeon's eggs, and the chests of pearls, and the twenty-six tons of silver, and the wedges of pure gold from the Peruvian galleon, and of the golden falcon from the Chinese trader that they captured south of Guatulco.
A few years later in 1837 Peru fell into a dispute with Chile on account of the Guano provinces of Atacama and Tarapaca. Peru was again invaded, but eventually the Chileans abandoned the country and returned to their own. After this, no little confusion prevailed in the internal affairs of Peru.
It was but stroke for stroke, and the English arm proved the stronger. Still hoping to find Winter in advance of him, Drake went on next to Tarapaca, where silver from the Andes mines was shipped for Panama. At Tarapaca there was the same unconsciousness of danger. The silver bars lay piled on the quay, the muleteers who had brought them were sleeping peacefully in the sunshine at their side.
Chile did not wish to give the region up, lest by so doing it might expose Tarapaca to a possible attack from Peru. The investment of large amounts of foreign capital in the exploitation of the deposits of nitrate of soda had made that province economically very valuable, and the export tax levied on the product was the chief source of the national revenue.
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