CHAPTER XIV. 



AVISIT TO THE COUNTRY. 



THE PLAIN OF SANTIAGO: SCENERY; LAKE ACULEO; GEOLOGY AND BOTANY. BREAKFAST ON THE LAKE SHORE. ANGOSTURA 

 DE PAYNE. COUNTRY LIFE: THE LABORERS; MEDICAS; PABLO CUEVAS, THE MEDICO OF CHUAPA ; PROBABILITIES OF HEALTH 

 AND LIFE IN THE COUNTRY. CULTIVATION; IRRIGATION; AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. WHEAT CROP; HARVEST; THE TRILLA 

 (THRESHING); HORSES AND RIDERS; WHEAT PRODUCED. DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING ACCURATE RESULTS. BEANS; MAIZE; 

 BARLEY. ATTEMPT TO INTRODUCE RYE. THE VINEYARDS ; THE VINTAGE ; PRODUCT OF THE VINEYARDS IN THE SOUTHERN 

 PROVINCES; MOSTO WINE. CATTLE, AND THEIR DISEASES; THEIR ENEMIES, THE CONDORS AND LEON (FELIS CONCOLOR); 

 THE RODEO; EQUESTRIAN FEATS; THE MATANZA; PREPARATION OF CHARQUI; PROBABLE NUMBER OF CATTLE KILLED 

 ANNUALLY. RETURN TO SANTIAGO OVER A LASSO BRIDGE. 



The plain or basin in which lies Santiago varies little in aspect as one leaves the immediate 

 vicinity of the city. As the cultivation is more directly confined to its sides, the vicinity of the 

 main thoroughfare leading southward is somewhat desolate. This continues beyond the river 

 Maypu, six leagues from the capital. The stream is traversed by a handsomely constructed 

 lattice bridge, some 80 yards long, in two spans, the materials for which were brought from the 

 United States, notwithstanding the immense forests of fine timber in the southern provinces. 

 Its engineer was also a North American. At the time of this visit a large force was engaged 

 along the road, digging water-drains at the sides, and heaping up the centre proofs that a 

 new order of things is progressing, .and the day is perhaps not distant when the suspension 

 bridges of lassos and canes made by the Araucanians, as well as the quagmires and bridle- 

 paths over which their desperate forays were perpetrated, will remain only on the pages of the 

 historian. 



Great as had been the fall of snow the preceding winter (June to August, 1850), and power- 

 ful as was the heat at the time (December), the stream was scarcely more imposing than the 

 Mapocho ; but its vertical banks were sufficient evidences that winter rain-storms sometimes 

 swell it to a roaring volume, half a mile wide by fifteen to twenty feet in depth. Now, its 

 breadth did not exceed thirty yards, with an average depth of three feet. Both above and 

 below the bridge the main stream is divided into several smaller ones, separated from each other 

 by piles or islands of shingle. These change with every flood; first to one side, next to the 

 other ; often in one rapid body, not unfrequently in many ; each covering as great a superficial 

 extent. To one accustomed to the broad and placid rivers of America, at a little distance these 

 Chilean streams appear insignificant rivulets ; but the volume of water which is daily discharged 

 by the Mapocho exceeds that of the Potomac at Washington. In the aggregate the surfaces of 

 the Mapocho' s streams will not measure thirty yards across ; the Potomac exceeds a mile ; yet 

 such is the effect of rapid inclination in carrying off the melted snows of the cordilleras. 



Prof. Domeyko's narrative of a journey to Araucania* distinctly conveys the impression that 

 the Espino is the only indigenous tree found on the plain within fifty or sixty leagues of San- 

 tiago ; yet the Patagua (Tricuspidaria dependent) and several others may be seen a little to the 

 southward of the bridge, and in places wholly destitute of artificial irrigation. Fields of 

 wheat, herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep, scattered about the bases of the distant hills, were 

 picturesque accessories to the scene ; those close by, as evidences of the fatness of the land, possess 

 interest of a different character. Three or four leagues farther on, the haciendas are generally 



* Araucania y BUS Habitantes, por Ignacio Domeyko. Santiago: 184G. 



