179 
saddle, which, with his poncho, answer the purpose exceed- 
ingly well after sitting all day on a mule. We were, there- 
fore, of course, provided with furniture for an immense 
empty apartment, into which we were conducted, and which 
was to serve us for a dormitory. In Chili, most people on a 
journey prefer sleeping in the open air. Those who have 
never tasted the luxury of passing the night beneath the 
bright starry sky of a climate like that of Chili, cannot form 
an idea of the sound and refreshing sleep the traveller enjoys 
there, nor of the elasticity of spirits, and perfect freedom from 
fatigue, with which he springs from his grassy couch, when 
the muleteer warns him that the day is beginning to dawn, 
and the mules await him to pursue his journey. But in 
Peru, especially in the vallies near the coast, where the 
climate is “ fair and false," it is usual to sleep under cover: 
the traveller, who, unaccustomed to the climate, should 
venture to pass the night in the open air, would most likely 
awake with an ague, and very frequently, his only alternative 
is to immure himself for the night amidst the smoke and 
filth of an Indian hut. 
June 22d.— We could not start till eight o'clock, having to 
wait for a fat sheep our host had ordered to be killed for 
us. The carcase being duly packed in its own skin, and 
placed between two trunks on a mule, we set out, accom- 
panied by our hospitable friend, who rode with us to the 
boundary of his estate, where he left us to pursue our journey. 
The road continued to wind round the foot of the hills on 
the south side of the valley, to the estate of Cavallero, where 
there is a post-house, generally made the first stage from 
Lima, from which it is distant six leagues. Near this place 
there is a bend in the valley, and in order to avoid the de- 
tour, it is usual to proceed up a ravine among the hills, from 
whence the road falls again into the valley, several leagues 
farther up. ‘The ravine is called Rio Seco, (dry river,) and 
dry enough it certainly is, for not a drop ef moisture is seen 
for a distance of five leagues, although there are enor 
able marks of its having been, at some former period, the 
bed of a considerable stream. This Rio Seco presents a 
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