84 Cruise of the "Alert" 



as if she had been struck by a wave coming vertically from the 

 bottom of the sea. The shock lasted about ten seconds, and 

 then all was again silent. Earthquakes of this magnitude are 

 of common occurrence in Chili. 



One day a large party of us went on a shooting excursion to 

 Las Cardas, an estate occupying a mountain valley thirty-six miles 

 from Coquimbo, and belonging to Mr. Lambert, an English 

 gentleman. For this trip we were indebted to Mr. Weir, the 

 courteous manager of Mr. Lambert's mines, smelting works, and 

 estate, who not only provided a special train to convey us to the 

 shooting ground, but entertained us there most sumptuously. The 

 estate of " Las Cardas" lies at the termination of the southern- 

 most part of the two valleys which open into the Bay of Coquimbo, 

 and beyond this station the railway pursues its further course 

 over the brow of a hill called the " Cuesta," which it ascends by 

 a series of zigzags. Although its route here appears, at first 

 sight, circuitous enough, the gradient of the incline is an average 

 of one in thirty feet, ranging as high as one in twenty-five. We 

 found it interesting to stop for a while at the station and watch 

 our departing train trailing along its zigzag course up the hillside, 

 as it steamed on towards the inland terminus of the line, viz., 

 " Rio Grande," which was some thirty miles further on. The 

 "Rio Grande" station is 2,000 feet above the level of the Coquimbo 

 terminus at the other end. 



In the bed of a broad valley, and in the gullies communicating 

 with it laterally from the hills, we expected to get a good many 

 partridges ; but owing to the thickness of the brushwood, and 

 the absence of dogs, we saw very few, and shot fewer still. 

 However, we were assured that the birds were there, and only 

 wanted proper stirring up to make them visible ; so that as we 

 were every minute expecting that the next moment a great covey 

 would start up from the bushes, and consequently kept our guns 

 ready for action, we managed to keep up the requisite amount 

 of excitement for several hours without materially violating the 



