CHAPTER XV. 



A VISIT TO THE SOUTHWARD. 



NOR NICOLAS. EQUIPMENT FOR THE JOURNEY. COUNTRY CARTS. MULE TRAINS. SAN FERNANDO; POSADAS; BEGGARS ON 

 HORSEBACK. FROM SAN FERNANDO TO THE CHIMBARONGO. FROM THE CHIMBARONGO TO THE TENO. THE POSADA AT 

 QUECHEREGUAS. REGION OF TUFA. MOUNTAIN CHAINS. SNOW LINE. FROM THE TUFA DISTRICT TO TALCA. THE CITY 

 OF TALCA;'PUBLIC BUILDINGS; ITS PEOPLE; MORTALITY; CLIMATE; HOSPITALS; EDUCATION; HOSPITALITY. NOR NICOLAS 

 AGAIN. LEAVE TALCA. THE COUNTRY BETWEEN THE CITY AND LOS PERRALES, ON THE MAULE, LOS PERRALES. BOATS 

 ON .THE RIVER. NAVIGATION OF THE MAULE ; ITS SCENERY. ENVIRONS OF CONSTITUCION. MOUTH OF THE RIVER ; ITS 

 POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENT. CONSTITUCION; SHIP-BUILDING ; TRADE; BIRD'S-EYE VIEW FROM CERRO MUTUN ; NATURAL HIS- 

 TORY. LEAVE THE CITY. SCENES ON THE RIVER. PASSAGE UP STREAM. THE WESTERN CORDILLERAS AND PENINSULA 

 BETWEEN THE CLARO AND MAULE. GOLD MINES OF CERRO CHTVATO. THE MAULE AT THE FORD. FROM THE RIVER TO 



THE BATTLE-FIELD OF LONCOMILLA. HEAD-QUARTERS OF GENERAL CRUZ. ORDER OF BATTLE; INCIDENTS OF THE ACTION; 



ITS ANOMALOUS RESULT. RETURN TO TALCA. HOLY THURSDAY. GOOD FRIDAY. MONTE BAEZA. EASTER SUNDAY. 

 LEAVE TALCA FOR THE NORTH. TUFA. CONDORS. FROM THE MIDWAY POSADA TO QUECHEREGUAS. THE RIVER LONTUE, 

 CROSSING A HIDE BRIDGE. CURIC6. CERILLOSDE TENO. FROM THE CHIMBARONGO TO SAN FERNANDO. SAN FERNANDO. 

 THE PLAIN TO THE NORTHWARD. NATURAL HISTORY. VALLEY OF COLCHAGUA. RENGO. THE COUNTRY TO THE NORTH- 

 WARD. TO THE BATHS OF CAUQUENES. THE RIVER CLARO AND LAKE CAUQUENES. SCENERY. PANORAMIC VIEW FROM 

 THE BATHS. ACCOMMODATIONS FOR INVALIDS ; THE BATHS ; LIFE AT A WATERING-PLACE ; ELEVATION OF THE PLATEAU; 

 METEOROLOGY. LEAVE CAUQUENES. AN AVALANCHE IN J847. THE CACHAPUAL. 



I left Aguila at noon of the 26th of March (1852), in company with Nor Nicolas,* an old 

 dependent of the hacienda, selected by my good friend. Nicolas was to be my guide, and 

 was charged with the care of the horses and such personal service as might be needed. He 

 was decidedly a character in his way, and, as my only companion of the road for above two 

 hundred leagues, is worthy of a tributary notice. 



He might then have been some 50, or at most 55 years old, was of moderate height, and, except 

 in hair and eyes, quite Indian-like in color and features. The former, or what was left of it 

 for he was somewhat bald had a tendency to curl ; and the latter were of a positive brownish 

 hue, as though the sun had caught him with them open one day and extracted their original 

 "ivory black." Possibly the disposition of his hair to twist itself upward may only have been 

 apparent ; for there was some reason to believe him still in happy ignorance that pretenders to 

 civilization had invented an implement called a comb. Diagonally across the nose there was a 

 broad and whitish scar, which preserved a distinct color from the rest of the face in spite of absti- 

 nence from water, as though the skin of dirt that formed over it peeled off every day or two. 

 Whether originating in the solitary life he had led among the hills whilst a vaquero, or from 

 natural disposition, Nor Nicolas was never garrulous unless when scolding his mules. If by 

 chance seduced into a talk during the preparation of a "casuela" for our meal, in less than 

 two minutes after he had bolted nearly whole potatoes and swallowed a quart of soup, he would 

 be snoring on the already-arranged bed of pellons, and a monosyllabic reply was all that was 

 obtainable from him until the time of our departure on the following morning. 



For shoes, his feet were encased in triangular bits of raw hide, laced with thongs of the same 

 material over the top of the foot, and forming a point which curled upward like Turkish slip- 

 pers. Wide and flowing blue trousers, reaching to the calf of the leg, were held above the 

 hips by a broad band of leather, fancifully colored and fringed. This served at the same time 

 as a purse and to support a long sheath-knife. Cotton drawers of equal width with the trousers 



* Nor and Na are abbreviations of senor and senora, applied to dependents whose age and good qualities entitle them to this 

 evidence of respect by their employers. 



