A VISIT TO THE CACHAPUAL. 475 



dining-room or chambers than the doors of entrance, it boasted quite a respectable billiard- 

 table; and as the game is a favorite amusement in all Spanish countries, we fully calculated on 

 seeing something of the younger part of society at least, if not to divert ourselves during the 

 early part of tin- evening. In this, too, we were destined to be deceived; and as there were few 

 answers to be obtained to questions, except quien eabet there was the less hesitation to court 

 " nature's sweet restorer" at the earliest reputable hour. Alas! for man's good intentions. 

 Our beds were in the same little room, and had only occupied attention when a servant asked if 

 they should be prepared for us ; a question not so superfluous as one who does not know Chile 

 might suppose. Nine of every ten persons convey beds and bedding, put up in an almofrez, 

 whenever they travel off the road between Valparaiso and the capital ; and probably the larger 

 number of travellers, to avoid heat and dust, start on their journeys about nightfall. 



It was only when the light had been extinguished that we became aware the bedsteads had 

 not been made for six-footers ; but as we had seen that they were apparently clean, and meant 

 to be up and off in six or seven hours, it was not a matter worth complaining of or trying to 

 change. Mine was of iron, with narrow bars across it only at every twelve or fifteen inches 

 somewhat like a mammoth gridiron; and as the mattress was evidently no thicker than a stout 

 board, every bar left its impression across the body. If I attempted to lie doubled, the hip-bone 

 was in a most uncomfortable position over a bar, or my feet thrust the end of the mattress between 

 the last bar and the bottom of the bedstead, leaving an aperture a foot wide ; and so I finally ac- 

 commodated myself diagonally pushing my head through a space in the ornamental work of 

 the top, and my feet through another at the bottom. Not the most eligible position from which 

 to make a sudden escape in an earthquake, though it was by no means despicable to a man who 

 had not slept a moment during the preceding night, and whose companion on the opposite side 

 of the room already in the land of forgetfulness inspired the most lively envy to imitate so 

 good an example. But I was soon made sensible that there were other occupants of the bed ; 

 and as my nimble companions sprang from point to point for a fresh vein to tap, it soon became 

 a serious matter how to move quick enough in efforts to secure them, and yet not scrape the 

 skin off forehead and feet. What a predicament ! . 



An hour or two of this exercise in the darkness was sufficient, and a light was struck to facili- 

 tate the hunt, when the game appeared so numerous and agile that my only apparent chance of 

 running them down was to take each article to the door and shake it in the patio. Although 

 others soon found me, I was completely wearied out; but towards 2 A. M., just as memory was 

 reeling, there came trembling on the air the first vibrations of the unmistakable rumble which 

 precedes an earthquake, and I was startled to full sensibility again. As the earliest and alarm- 

 ing spasmodic shiver was beneath us, Mr. C. and myself simultaneously sprang for the lucifer 

 matches, not knowing whether the walls were to be heaped over us or not. The shock was short, 

 and as the murmur of its agitating voice died in the distance we again composed ourselves for a 

 nap, my bedfellows being enabled to return to their feast with appetite sharpened by the respite 

 they had had. It was probably three o'clock. Nature would no longer be cheated of her due. 

 Alternate instants of sleep and wakefulness satisfied me that slumber was fast obtaining the 

 mastery, when, in one of the latter intervals, there was a sudden and heavy crash, inducing 

 belief that the house had been destroyed by an earthquake. We again sprang from bed, and 

 by the time a light was obtained there was a vivid and blinding flash, quickly followed by 

 a repetition of the peal, telling that a thunder-storm was raging near us. Rain followed in a 

 little while, and fell with great violence. 



Sleep and disposition to slumber were gone. The beating of the heavy drops on the tiled roofs, 

 instead of soothing, tended only to excite nervousness, and we talked through the other hours 

 of darkness. When daylight came determined though we were to risk many discomforts on the 

 road for the sake of getting away there was no prospect of relief from the scene of trials. Rain 

 fell in torrents, and the clouds were drifting low down in the valleys; nor was there such a ces- 

 sation in the storm as justified our starting until near noon. Even then, for several hours, we 



