QUINTERO. 187 



green thing finds root, and which are high enough to exclude the view 

 of every other object ; on the other hand, a tremendous surf, which 

 permits not the approach of boat or canoe, beats unceasingly. Half- 

 way between Concon and Quintero, the great lake of Quintero com- 

 municates with the sea. In mild weather it only drains through the 

 sand ; at other times it breaks through its bar, and the ford is not 

 always safe. When we passed, it was covered with various kinds of 

 water-birds : the flamingo, with his rose-coloured bill and wings ; the 

 swan of Chile, whose feet are white, and his neck and head jet black ; 

 a brown bird, with wings like burnished bronze, and a head, bill, and 

 feet exactly resembling the Egyptian ibis ; and geese, water hens, 

 and all the duck tribe, innumerable. 



On leaving the beach, we ascended a low hill, and immediately 

 entered a broad green forest walk, so level that it seemed to be the 

 work of art ; on either side brushwood between us and the taller trees 

 whose leaves breathed odours, gave shelter to flocks of wood pigeons, 

 ground doves, and partridges, among whom my old pointer, Don, 

 seemed bewildered with joy ; but every now and then, after a point, 

 looked back as if reproachfully, because there was no gun of the party. 

 The south-west wind here bends the trees into the same figure as in 

 Devon shire, excepting where the gently undulating hills afford 

 shelter. 



The house Lord Cochrane is building at Quintero is far from 

 being in the best or pleasantest part of the estate ; and it has the 

 great inconvenience of having no water near it. But had Quintero 

 become, as was once intended, the port for the ships of war, the new 

 house would have possessed every advantage of being not only near 

 the squadron, but of commanding a view of the whole. The bay of 

 Quintero, or rather the Heradura, is very beautiful ; better sheltered 

 from the fierce north winds than that of Valparaiso, better furnished 

 with wood and water in itself, and nearer to the supplies from Quil- 

 lota and the valley of Santa Rosa for provisioning ships. Some rocks, 

 very well known, lie off the mouth of the bay ; but within, excepting 

 in a very few places, the anchoring ground is good. The Dutch 

 circumnavigator, the famous George Spilberg, with his fleet, consist- 



b b 2 



