A VISIT TO THE SOUTHWARD. 381 



would hurry to engage passage, tin I'iloto would wait until the luggage could be got down. 

 . leave was taken of the several gentlemen who had omitted nothing to render my sojourn 

 pleasant ; and liy 2 P. M. we were gliding up stream lH'ore a light westerly wind the lane hero* 

 invoking San Antonio to freshen it, and whistling with all their might. But as it soon died 

 a\\a\ ulto-H hrr, tln-ii patron saint eitln-r regarded them as reprobates unworthy heed, or liad 

 " other tMi to fry " just then. It was dead low water, and tho crew had only got fairly under- 

 way with the oars to stem the current, met at two miles above the town, when our attention was 

 rall.d to a horseman riding after us as if for life, and waving a handkerchief like one demented. 

 The boat was at once put on shore. A moment afterward, the owner rode up, furious with 

 passion that the Piloto should have departed without directions giving vent to his anger with 

 a volubility and selection of language which might grace the annals of Billingsgate, but not 

 my pages. Having received what himself and crew considered proper " sailing orders," under 

 unmerited abuse, the Piloto was equally roused ; and, as obedience to the order to return 

 forthwith would cost them the passage-money of six guasos, besides Nicolas and myself, after 

 tempests of words, the owner was told they would obey, but he might whistle for another crew 

 from the moment they touched the landing, as they would influence every marinero in Consti- 

 tucion against him. How the squabble ended was not learned. Halfway back we met 

 another launch bound up ; and making a rapid bargain with the Piloto, my chattels were shifted, 

 and in a few moments more we were again with our faces to the eastward, our craft aided 

 some little by a young flood tide. There is a ferry rather more than two miles above the town, 

 across which a drove of mules were swimming as we passed, the arrieros, with the packs, follow- 

 ing in the boat to urge them over, whilst a man on the opposite side constantly tinkled the 

 madrina's bell. 



As the afternoon advanced the clouds broke away, and the sun shone through their midst, 

 sending a flood of golden light down the deep quebradas. As the wind freshened we glided 

 before it, the ripple of the water about the bow the only sound disturbing the solitude of nature. 

 A "boatman's song," which such a scene and such freedom from exertion would have inspired 

 among any other people, is perhaps a proof of cultivation unknown to the mariners of the 

 Maule -, indeed the only chant heard from the lower classes is the doggerel, Zama-Cueca, so 

 often mentioned. Near sunset, when the shadows fell across the multitudes of ravines, the river 

 views became even finer. The best picture is on the north shore, and some ten miles up stream, 

 where there is an eminence between two quebradas, which terminates abruptly in a semi-elliptical 

 cliff, with a narrow and level plateau at its base, some twelve or fifteen feet above the river. 

 Several plateaus or shelves even more extensive, though without the back landscape, form por- 

 tions of the margin. Some of them are planted with vines and vegetables ; and though tho 

 surfaces are mostly covered with loose sand, they produce thriving trees and shrubby plants. 

 Rains here are said to be sufficiently frequent to mature good wheat crops the initiatory step 

 for which is to fire portions of the forest, as was remarked in descending the river. Even about 

 Constitucion it would be impossible to irrigate artificially to any extent ; and at this distance 

 from the sea, the hills rise in altitude at every few hundred yards. 



Although it was a bright moonlight night, and the wind was not only fair but also quite 

 strong, we stopped, soon after sunset, at the foot of the Piedra Santa (Holy Rock), some twelve 

 miles above Constitucion ; nor could promises of increased passage-money induce the lancheros 

 to go on. They say, and say truly, Our work is hard all day; when night comes we must 

 have rest. They therefore moored the boat for the night, and made me a very excellent cabin 

 with willow-branches and canvass. The night having become raw and cold as soon as the 

 sun disappeared, in a little while they had a huge fire burning on the sand bank, its light and 

 flames penetrating to the opposite side of the stream, imparting a more aboriginal character to 

 the scenery and features of the group assembled around it. Finding they had only coarse bread 

 and toasted flour, I gave them two or three pounds of beef, in the hope that the luxury might 

 enliven them, after they had eaten the broth made of it; but the animal appetite satisfied, a 



