CHAPTER IV. 



ON THE COAST OF CHILI. 



ON anchoring at Valparaiso on the 1 6th May, the first news 

 we heard was that the country was in a great state of 

 excitement, anent the war in which Chili was then engaged with 

 Peru and Bolivia. All the available troops and men-of-war 

 had been despatched to the seat of war in the north, leaving the 

 capital in almost a defenceless condition, so that great fears were 

 entertained lest one of the Peruvian cruisers should take advan- 

 tage of this to bombard the town. The last detachment sent off 

 consisted of the town police, and at the time of our visit the 

 maintenance of order in the streets, and the manning of the guns 

 of the forts, had been entrusted to the corps of "Bomberos" (fire 

 brigade). 



The principal part of the town is built on a plateau about ten 

 feet above high-water mark, which forms a margin to the curving 

 shore of the bay, and reaches inland for a few hundred yards. 

 Beyond this the outskirts of the town are disposed irregularly 

 over a number of steep ridges, which converge radially on the 

 town from the mountain range behind. There was one principal 

 street running more or less parallel with the shore, and containing 

 fine-looking shops well supplied with everything needful, but the 

 second-rate ones were very dingy in comparison. Owing to the 

 great stagnation of trade brought about by the war, and the 



6 



