HOT SPIUXCS OF CAUaUENES. 339 



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 farm-house, 

 Avhere there were several very pretty seiioritas. 

 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 V I assured them I 

 was a sort of Christian ; but they would not hear of 

 it, appealing to my own words, " Do not your pad- 

 res, your very bishops, marry]" The absurdity 

 of a bishop having a wife particularly struck them : 

 they scarcely kncvv' whether to be most amused or 

 horror-struck at such an enormity. 



6tJi. — 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 

 .susj)ension bridges, in the less frequented parts, 

 are generally taken down during the winter when 

 the rivers are low. Sucli was the case in this val- 

 ley, 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 diffi- 

 cult even to perceive whether the horse is moving 

 onward or standing still. In summer, when 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 



— vC-^ 



