VALPARAISO. 1 21 



greatest labour, however, is bestowed on irrigating the gardens which 

 is rendered indispensable by the eight months of dry weather in th e 

 summer. A multitude of little canals cross every field, and the 

 hours for letting the water into them are regulated with reference to 

 the convenience of the neighbours, through whose grounds the com- 

 mon stream passes. One part of every chacra is an arboleda, or 

 orchard, however small, and few are without their little flower plot, 

 where most of the common garden flowers of England are cultivated. 

 The lupine both perennial and annual is native here. The native 

 bulbous roots surpass most of ours in beauty, yet the strangers are 

 treated with unjust preference. Roses, sweetpeas, carnations, and 

 jasmine are deservedly prized ; mignonette and sweetbriar are scarce, 

 and honeysuckle is not to be procured. The scabious is called here 

 the widow's flower, and the children gathered their hands full of 

 it for me. 



From the flower-garden we went to the washing-ground, where I 

 found a charcoal fire lighted on the brink of a pretty rivulet. On 

 the fire was a huge copper vessel full of boiling water, and swimming 

 in it there was a leaf of the prickly pear [Cactus Jicus Indicus), here 

 called tunia ; this plant is said to possess the property of cleansing 

 and softening the water. Close by there stood a large earthen vessel, 

 which appeared to me to be full of soap-suds, but I found that no 

 common soap was among it. The tree called Quillai, which is com- 

 mon in this part of Chile, furnishes a thick rough bark, which is so 

 full of soapy matter, that a small piece of it wrapped in wool, moist- 

 ened, and then beaten between two stones, makes a lather like the 

 finest soap, and possesses a superior cleansing quality. All woollen 

 garments are washed with it, and coloured woollen or silk acquires 

 a freshness of tint equal to new by the use of it. I begged a piece 

 of the dry bark ; the inside is speckled with very minute crystals, and 

 the taste is harsh like that of soda. 



In my walk home from the washing-ground, I had occasion to see 

 specimens both of the waggons and carriages of Chile. The wheels, 



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