A VISIT TO THE CACHAPUAL. 473 



way. continues direct towards the smith, over a surface soon again declining in the same line. 

 There are neither towns n<>i villages along it until Rancagua is reached, and not a great many 

 dwellings, CM (].( thus.- (.1 the poorer classes; hut surrounded by such scenery, the large num- 

 ber of travellers, of carts loaded with agricultural products, and of mule-trains going to and 

 rHimiiriLr I'mm Sauting" (apart from their dust), rendered the route pleasant and attractive. 

 Attractive it was, even with the inconvenience of dust ; for the land is surprisingly productive, 

 and its lid. Is nl' maize and melons of different kinds, not less than tlie equipages and costumes 

 of the motley travellers passing over it, could not fail to claim attention. Midway between the 

 Angostura and Rancagua there is a hemispherical hill to the left of the road, of a strikingly 

 regular form. It rises from the plain to a height of between 300 and 400 feet suddenly and 

 almost without slope, its surface covered at intervals of a few feet with a net-work of lines 

 intersecting each other diagonally. It is not on one side of the hill only that these lines are 

 visible, but the whole surface is traced with them ; and from the road they are not unlike 

 paths made by goats or other small animals by constant use. The regularity of their intersec- 

 tion, however, would forbid such a supposition, even were there such a multitude of these 

 animals hereabout. 



Halting only to obtain breakfast at a wayside posada, Rancagua was reached about half-past 

 ten in the morning. This town is very prettily situated nearly midway between the Andes and 

 Western cordilleras, on an elevated portion of the plain, a mile or perhaps half a league to the 

 north of the river Cachapual. At a little distance it appears to be quite a charming village, with 

 steeples and an alameda on the outskirts ; but when one comes to drive through its streets, soli- 

 tude, poverty, and dirt dispel the pictures imagination had drawn. There are four or five streets, 

 half a mile long, from north to south, intersected by others at right angles, and dividing the 

 town into squares of about 150 yards each way. Only the central north and south streets are 

 closely built up. Here are the public square and two churches. In one of the latter the 

 patriot army under O'Higgins took shelter from an assault by the royalists; and the holes made 

 by the balls of the attacking party are preserved as patriotic souvenirs. A force numbering, at 

 the outset, more than four to one, had finally driven the patriots to the buildings about the 

 plaza, cut off their supply of water, and reduced their number to 250 men capable of bearing 

 arms. After a resistance of thirty-six hours, their leader finding himself wounded, and that 

 it would be impossible to contend longer, the little band cut through their enemies and 

 escaped to the capital unpursued. 



There are also a prison and a military guard-house on the plaza, a vijilante or two about 

 the streets during the day, and at night some pretensions to lighting and serenos. Some 

 of the houses are of good size, and apparently are as well built as those at Santiago ; but in 

 the whole town there was not one that had glazed windows, or, if so, it eluded a special search 

 for it made by Mr. C. and myself. There were quite a number of stores in the principal street, 

 with a due quota of shops occupied by artisans ; but silence and inactivity seem to mark the 

 population more than at the capital. Even at sunset its pretty alameda the two extremities 

 appropriately terminated with the Araucanian pine and native palm attracted only ourselves 

 and two dirty-faced boys, whom we found dabbling in the acequia by which its trees are 

 watered. We had been warned that but little could be expected at the inn, and hoped to 

 obtain more comfortable quarters. To this end letters had been supplied us for the governor, 

 from whom a kind invitation had been extended to me some months previously ; and it was un- 

 fortunate for us that he had gone north several days before. This proved the more vexatious 

 because we had been advised to depend on him for the horses and guide we should need in 

 visiting the river, and there were no animals to be hired. Here was a predicament! It seemed 

 incredible to be in a town of Chile having nearly 3,000 inhabitants, almost every man of whom 

 owned a horse, and yet there be none to hire. Yet such was the result of our inquiry ; and there 

 was no alternative but to use the tired beasts of the birlocho. After no little perseverance and 

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