A VISIT TO TUB SOUTHWARD. '.', V.J 



here. ( H OMUttf ; i ''"* '- I (-lt at ' tvi l "" 1 1U "' ' '"'"' ! '"' faithful may leave .lunations, with which 



many hope to |>ay their \\a\ I" ln-;i\ -n. Inviting aw is the alameda, and charming ait wan the 



afternoon, none MM tempted to promenade its shady walks, an<l almoht tin- only perBODft to be 



seen abroad were those going to or returning from the Jesuit's cross. A procession, to be fol- 



I I'V a sermon in the pla/.a, was promised for the night, and multitudes flock- d t..San Fran- 



; I,* witness the display; but the 1'adrc had liad the misfortune to lose his sermon 



hv lire onlv a day or two before, ami as there was not time to write another for so important 



an occasion, the crowd was disappointed. Music, as last night, closed the festivals for the day. 



*\ 1 1 ril 10. As early as 10 o'clock, the ringing of hells announced to the public that the days 

 of tribulation were passed, the hour for rejoicing had come; and scarcely were the first peala 

 struck than guasos and peons, like condors towards their prey, were to be seen flocking from 

 all directions. To get beyond the bell-clattering and noises of exploding fire-works near every 

 church in town, I rambled to Monte Baeza (Baeza woods), a low semicircular basin of slight 

 depression just without the N.E. suburbs. Here water oozes from the earth on all sides of the 

 amphitheatre, and forms several small rivulets, which are finally collected into one and brought 

 into the city. The entire basin is covered with a growth of fine trees and vines, whose foliage 

 is so dense that the sun rarely penetrates many portions. A retreat so cool and charmingly 

 pleasant might be rendered an attractive public resort at very small cost. There are singing 

 birds in numbers, and multitudes of crayfish, but no other varieties of animal life in the small 

 portion it was prudent to penetrate without a guide. 



EASTER SUNDAY. At 7 o'clock in the morning there was a procession from the church of San 

 Francisco to the plaza, composed of the clergy, the friars, the specially devout laity, all with wax 

 candles, and a company of the civic battalion, with their military band. During the preceding 

 night a triumphal arch, flanked by trees and decorated with flags, had been erected near the 

 centre of the plaza ; and as an image of "Christ risen" approached from the westward, other 

 representations of the Virgin and Mary Magdalen were brought from the two opposite directions 

 to receive him tinder the trophies of rejoicing. The meeting was well-timed the effect pretty ; 

 and were it possible to divest one's self of the knowledge that the object of these displays is but 

 to bind more strongly the fetters of superstition, the pageant might be applauded. Justice to 

 the ladies or others at Talca, who have the decoration and attitudes of the saintly images to 

 arrange, requires the acknowledgment that they exhibit much better taste and more grace than 

 similar representations at Santiago. Christ was represented in a mass of clouds; the Virgin 

 amid angels ; and Mary Magdalen just leaving her house, placed in a garden of miniature trees 

 and flowers. True, the clouds were but folds of muslin, the angels were clad in robes whose 

 curtness would have shocked Taglioni or Ellsler, and the domicil of the Magdalen was more 

 like the temple of Vesta, at Tivoli, than the one we would suppose occupied by the sinning 

 Galilean ; but these are liberties the church allows, or its ministers take, as novel writers do 

 with chronology. After a march through two or three streets, the procession again came to the 

 plaza, where another image, dressed in scarlet, representing Judas, and loaded with pyrotechnics, 

 was set fire to, greatly to the edification of the children and rabble. This was the last of the 

 ceremonies it was permitted me to witness in Talca. A few friends, made in the brief visit, 

 were at the door of the Intendencia to wish me "God speed;" my horses had been in waiting 

 for an hour ; and before 9 o'clock I had crossed its plaza for the last time. 



Keached the Lircay ford at 9 o'clock, and the Pangui at 10. The country, as far as the 

 region of the tufa, has been more cultivated than was supposed when first passed over ; and there 

 are several small tracts of ground ploughed for wheat, to be matured by rains. It is rare that 

 the tufa is found more than two feet thick. Its stratum sometimes crops out, and at others lies 

 as much as three feet below the surface. Invariably there is vegetable soil below it. 



Not far from the midway "posada," a flock of condors, gorging themselves on the body of an 

 unfortunate mule that had died near the road side, were so intently occupied in the repast that 

 they scarcely moved at our approach. Others were sweeping in gradually diminishing circles 



