CHAPTER VII.* 



EXPERIENCES CONTINUED. 



ADVANCE OF AUTUMN. SUNDAY AT SANTIAGO. ANNOYANCES. SEARCH FOR A DESAGUADOR OF THE MAPOCHO. 

 SUNDAY OCCUPATIONS. A RAIN-STORM. THE SALTO DE AGUA. ICE. AN EARTHQUAKE. A FLOOD IN THE RIVER. 

 LEAVE FOR VALPARAISO. RAIN-STORM ON THE ROAD. APPARENT DESOLATION IN THE COUNTRY. CURACAVI. NAR- 

 ROW ESCAPE. CASA-BLANCA APPEARANCE OF VALPARAISO AND ITS ENVIRONS FROM THE HILLS. RETURN TO THE 

 CAPITAL. ANOTHER FLOOD IN THE MAPOCHO. CLERK OF THE WEATHER. AGRICULTURAL. BIRDS THE COUNTRY 

 NEAR THE SALTO DE AGUA. CARNE CON CUERO. CHRISTMAS; CHRISTMAS-EVE AT THE MARKET-HOUSE; SERVICE IN 

 THE CATHEDRAL. NACIMIENTOS. 



May 1. We had had a whole week of cloudy and uncomfortable weather, terminating in 

 rain about the close of April, and clearing away partially after sunset, so that our observations 

 could be resumed. The morning of this day was bright and clear, with a freshness in the 

 atmosphere most invigorating. Our rain had been snow on the mountains, and they presented 

 a most picturesque sight, clothed as they were in winter mantles, perhaps one third of the 

 distance from the summit of the nearer range towards the valley. Returning from my usual 

 walk along the bank of the river, I was struck with the change which a week had wrought in 

 the long rows of poplars intersecting the plain in every direction. A few days ago their dark 

 green foliage was a grateful relief to the eye in the sun's bright glare; now, in the morning's 

 breeze, leaves were falling in golden millions, and the higher branches of many were already 

 stripped evidence of the repose which nature demands for some classes of vegetable life. 



It was Sunday; but there were no outward tokens of "the day of rest" for man. True, the 

 church doors were open; and women, gracefully wrapped in mantos, with rugs hanging over 

 the arm, or borne by a following servant, were encountered at every step, going to or returning 

 from their devotions : but these are constant occurrences, and therefore served not to designate 

 the day. On the other hand, multitudes of guasos thronged the streets with droves of turkeys, 

 baskets of fowls, and autumnal fruits, rendering the thoroughfares a nuisance with their cries 

 respecting the various articles for sale. I was no great hand at keeping the Sabbath at home as 

 the strict fathers of the Protestant church would have had me ; but it was always a day grateful 

 for the quiet it brought, and in this sad Bedlam memory turned with a feeling of veneration to the 

 customs of our Puritan land. "Sad Bedlam ! " one may regard as contradictory words in juxta- 

 position; but the designation is approximatively true of Santiago. The absence of activity and 

 evidences of commercial life and thrift during ordinary business hours, of crowded streets, and 

 of the hum that ever pervades large cities in all other parts of the world, most emphatically 

 impress one that it is sad, whilst almost eternal cries and the clatter of bells fully entitle it to be 

 classed as a second Bedlam. Even the observatory was no place of refuge ; for the noises came 

 up on all sides of Santa Lucia, and the Cordilleras sent back the echoes. 



On arriving at Santiago, if not more than half inclined to side with the Catholic faith, I 

 was by no means willing to remain silent when their mode of worship was contemned. But 

 there is quite "too much of a good thing" in an exclusively Catholic country; and when, at 

 night, the churches began firing their squibs and ringing bells, sometimes I almost wished bells 

 and friars at the bottom of the ocean. In any but a Catholic country one can form no idea of the 

 senseless and intolerable clatter they frequently keep up during an hour or more. This starts 

 into concert scores of worthless curs, about the base of Santa Lucia, utterly masking the beat 



In this and the following chapters chronological order has been disregarded for the purpose of grouping analogous subjects. 



