188 CENTRAL CHILE. [CHAP. xii. 



have lost much individual character. Gradations in rank are much more 

 strongly marked : the Guaso does not by any means consider every 

 man his equal ; and I was quite surprised to find that my companions 

 did not like to eat at the same time with myself. This feeling of 

 inequality is a necessary consequence of the existence of an aristocracy 

 of wealth. It is said that some few of the greater landowners possess 

 from five to ten thousand pounds sterling per annum ; an inequality of 

 riches which I believe is not met with in any of the cattle-breeding 

 countries eastward of the Andes. A traveller does not here meet that 

 unbounded hospitality which refuses all payment, but yet is so kindly 

 offered that no scruples can be raised in accepting it. Almost every 

 house in Chile will receive you for the night, but a trifle is expected to 

 be given in the morning ; even a rich man will accept two or three 

 shillings. The Gaucho, although he may be a cut-throat, is a gentle- 

 man ; the Guaso is in few respects better, but at the same time a vulgar, 

 ordinary fellow. The two men, although employed much in the same 

 manner, are different in their habits and attire ; and the peculiarities of 

 each are universal in their respective countries. The Gaucho seems part 

 of his horse, and scorns to exert himself excepting when on its back ; 

 the Guaso may be hired to work as a labourer in the fields. The former 

 lives entirely on animal food ; the latter almost wholly on vegetable. 

 We do not here see the white boots, the broad drawers, and scarlet 

 chilipa; the picturesque costume of the Pampas. Here, common 

 trowsers are protected by black and green worsted leggings. The 

 poncho, however, is common to both. The chief pride of the Guaso 

 lies in his spurs; which are absurdly large. I measured one which 

 was six inches in the diameter of the rowel, and the rowel itself 

 contained upwards of thirty points. The stirrups are on the same 

 scale, each consisting of a square, carved block of wood, hollowed 

 out, yet weighing three or four pounds. The Guaso is perhaps more 

 expert with the lazo than the Gaucho; but, from the nature of the 

 country, he does not know the use of the bolas. 



August i8M. We descended the mountain, and passed some 

 beautiful little spots, with rivulets and fine trees. Having slept at the 

 same hacienda as before, we rode during the two succeeding days 

 up the valley, and passed through Quillota, which is more like a 

 collection of nursery-gardens than a town. The orchards were beautiful, 

 presenting one mass of peach-blossoms. I saw also, in one or two 

 places the date-palm ; it is a most stately tree ; and I should think 

 a group of them in their native Asiatic or African deserts must be 

 superb. We passed likewise San Felipe, a pretty straggling town 

 like Quillota. Tke valley in this part expands into one of those great 

 bays or plains reaching to the foot of the Cordillera, which have been 

 mentioned as forming so curious a part of the scenery of Chile. In the 

 evening we reached the mines of Jajuel, situated in a ravine at the 

 flank of the great chain. I stayed here five days. My host, the 

 superintendent of the mine, was a shrewd but rather ignorant Cornish 

 miner. He had married a Spanish woman, and did not mean to return 

 :; but his admiration for the mines of Cornwall remained un- 



