366 A VISIT TO THE SOUTHWARD. 



North American papers of December preceding (the last and latest possible dates), filled, as 

 many of them were, with rhapsodies about Kossuth, were less attractive than bed. 



As in passing over a country one is likely to judge erroneously of some things, and omit 

 others of a more important character altogether, only brief notes were taken during the journey 

 to the southward. Therefore, although the reader may be subjected to occasional repetitions, I 

 will endeavor to pass over the ground to Talca rapidly, telling him more of events than locali- 

 ties, rather of transient than of permanent objects, and rely on the narrative of the return ride 

 for accurate descriptions. A long dry summer had passed ; autumn had consumed nearly one 

 third of its alloted span ; the fields of wheat and maize, which form such important and beau- 

 tiful portions of agricultural scenery, had already been garnered; and there remained only 

 stubble-fields to disfigure the earth. The deciduous trees, too few in number to fascinate the 

 eye by the variant colors of their dying leaves, were already robbed of their charms ; and there 

 was little, except the everlasting mountains and a limited number of the feathered tribes, to 

 demand one's particular attention. 



March 2*7. We made an early start, in order to accomplish a part of the fifteen leagues 

 before breakfast. Crossing the Cachapual about 8 o'clock, so much time was occupied in fording 

 its multitude of little streams and in traversing its wide stony bed, that we did not reach the 



hacienda of Senor until after 10 A. M. At leaving Aguila, where this gentleman 



was then making a visit, he had insisted on my stopping at his house for breakfast, instead of 

 going to a posada ; and had given me a note for the mayordomo, instructing him to save 

 us all possible detention, and to supply me with another horse, should one be required. As our 

 cavalcade had so far proved perfectly satisfactory, to my mind there was no necessity for this 

 extra tax on his generosity, and the subject was not even alluded to when the mayordomo 

 solicited orders. Judge then of my surprise, at starting, to find another fine animal in the 

 train! Nor Nicolas, it seems, entertained different views from myself, and, knowing the 

 authority, had notified the mayordomo that I (he) required another horse. Vanity was at 

 the bottom of it. The old man had too much pride to ride a mule, if he could obtain a horse ; 

 and though he continued on the long-eared brute that day to keep up pretences, he never 

 mounted her again until the afternoon we returned to the hacienda. 



Apart from the quantities of agricultural products coming from the fields, there was very 

 little of interest to note during the day. These, instead of being conveyed in large covered 

 wagons constructed like those to the north of the Maypu, were generally packed in small 

 rudely wattled bodies mounted on solid wheels of wood. I was about terminating the sen- 

 tence with, "of from two to two and a half feet in diameter ; " but this would have implied that 

 they were circular ; and as they are of every possible form except round, it is necessary to 

 substitute instead the word " across." As the axles are composed wholly of wood, and a guaso 

 would invariably prefer lubricating the inside of his throat to the outside of an axle, no grease 

 is ever used on them, and the creaking of these queer vehicles may usually be heard at the 

 distance of half a mile. Nor do proprietors or drivers seem to regard it as of the least conse- 

 quence that the holes in the hubs should approximate to the diameter of the axles, but will 

 sometimes make the former two or three times the dimensions of the latter ; so that when one 

 wheel chances to be nearly a square, and the other an elongated oval or ellipse as I once saw 

 the locomotion would make some of our wheelwrights stare. And yet the driver sat 

 contentedly in his hoppity-go-jump vehicle, puffing a cigarrito and punching the oxen with his 

 long goad, evidently well pleased to be saved the trouble of walking. There were many of 

 these carts loaded with pumpkins, maize, and onions ; some going to hamlets not far off the 

 road, others from distant parts of the haciendas to the residences ; and at every mile or two 

 groups of them were collected about rude arbors by the roadside where piles of melons were 

 exposed for sale. A water-melon and half a pint of flour made from roasted wheat is a common 

 meal for a peon, and one highly relished by him. Bits of melon are dipped in the flour 

 until sufficient has been eaten from the centre to pour the remainder of the flour into the cavity, 



