288 VALDIVIA. [CHAP. xiv. 



was exceedingly kind and hospitable ; and coming from Santiago, 

 had contrived to surround himself with some few comforts. Being 

 a man of some little education, he bitterly complained of the total 

 want of society. With no particular zeal for religion, no business 

 or pursuit, how completely must this man's life be wasted ! The 

 next day, on our return, we met seven very wild-looking Indians, 

 of whom some were caciques that had just received from the Chilian 

 government their yearly small stipend for having long remained 

 faithful. They were fine-looking men, and they rode one after the 

 other, Avith most gloomy faces. An old cacique, who headed them, 

 had been, I suppose, more excessively drunk than the rest, for he 

 seemed both extremely grave and very crabbed. Shortly before 

 this, two Indians joined us, who were travelling from a distant 

 mission to Valdivia concerning some lawsuit. One was a good- 

 humoured old man, but from his wrinkled beardless face looked 

 more like an old woman than a man. I frequently presented both 

 of them with cigars ; and though ready to receive them, and I dare 

 say grateful, they would hardly condescend to thank me. A Chilotan 

 Indian would have taken off his hat, and given his" Dios le page!" 

 The travelling was very tedious, both from the badness of the roads, 

 and from the number of great fallen trees, which it was necessary 

 either to leap over or to avoid by making long circuits. We slept 

 on the road, and next morning reached Valdivia, whence I proceeded 

 on board. 



A few days afterwards I crossed the bay with a party of officers, 

 and lauded near the fort called Niebla. The buildings were in a 

 most ruinous state, and the gun-carriages quite rotten. Mr. Wickham 

 remarked to the commanding officer, that with one discharge they 

 would certainly all fall to pieces. The poor man, trying to put a 

 good face upon it, gravely replied, " No, I am sure, sir, they would 

 stand two ! " The Spaniards must have intended to have made this 

 place impregnable. There is now lying in the middle of the court- 

 yard a little mountain of mortar, which rivals in hardness the rock 

 on which it is placed. It was brought from Chile, and costs 7000 

 dollars. The revolution having broken out, prevented its being 

 applied to any purpose, and now it remains a monument of the 

 fallen greatness of Spain. 



I wanted to go to a house about a mile and a half distant, but my 

 guide said it was quite impossible to penetrate the wood in a straight 

 line, lie offered, however, to lead me, by following obscure cattle- 



