1834. j HOT SPRINGS OF CAUQUENES. l# 



place is well known. A never-failing source of pleasure was to ascend 

 the little hillock of rock (St. Lucia) which projects in the middle of the 

 city. The scenery certainly is most striking, and, as I have said, very 

 peculiar. I am informed that this same character is common to the 

 cities on the great Mexican platform. Of the town I have nothing 

 to say in detail ; it is not so fine or so large as Buenos Ayres, but is 

 built after the same model. I arrived here by a circuit to the north ; 

 so I resolved to return to Valparaiso by a rather longer excursion to 

 the south of the direct road. 



September t>th. By the middle of the day we arrived at one of the 

 suspension bridges made of hide, which crosses the Maypu, a large 

 turbulent river a few leagues southward of Santiago. These bridges 

 are very poor affairs. The road, following the curvature of the 

 suspending ropes, is made of bundles of sticks placed close together. 

 It was full of holes, and oscillated rather fearfully, even with the 

 weight of a man leading his horse. In the evening we reached a 

 comfortable farmhouse, where there were several very pretty senoritas. 

 They were much horrified at my having entered one of their churches 

 out of mere curiosity. They asked me, " Why do you not become a 

 Christian for our religion is certain ? " I assured them I was a sort 

 of Christian ; but they would not hear of it appealing to my own 

 words, "Do not your padres, your very bishops, marry?" The absur- 

 dity of a bishop having a wife particularly struck them ; they scarcely 

 knexv whether to be most amused or horror-struck at such an enormity. 



September 6th. We proceeded due south, and slept at Rancagua. 

 The road passed over the level but narrow plain, bounded on one side 

 by lofty hills, and on the other by the Cordillera. The next day we 

 turned up the valley of the Rio Cachapual, in which the hot-baths of 

 Cauquenes, long celebrated for their medicinal properties, are situated. 

 The suspension bridges, in the less frequented parts, are generally 

 taken down during the winter when the rivers are low. Such was the 

 case in this valley, and we were therefore obliged to cross the stream 

 on horseback. This is rather disagreeable, for the foaming water, 

 though not deep, rushes so quickly over the bed of large rounded 

 stones, that one's head becomes quite confused, and it is difficult even 

 to perceive whether the horse is moving onward or standing still. In 

 summer, \vhen the snow melts, the torrents are quite impassable ; 

 their strength and fury is then extremely great, as might be plainly 

 seen by the marks which they had left. We reached the baths in the 

 evening, and stayed there five days, being confined the two last by 

 heavy rain. The buildings consist of a square of miserable little hovels, 

 each with a single table and bench. They are situated in a narrow 

 deep valley just without the central Cordillera, It is a quiet, solitary 

 spot, with a good deal of wild beauty. 



The mineral springs of Cauquenes burst forth on a line of dislo- 

 cation, crossing a mass of stratified rock, the whole of which betrays 

 the action of heat. A considerable quantity of gas is continually 

 escaping from the same orifices with the water. Though the springs 

 are only a few yards apart, they have very different temperatures ; and 



