246 JOURNAL. 



Don Justo has the best memory for verses of any person I know, 

 and repeated more songs than I can remember, or than Don Lucas 

 could sing. It is one of the necessary accomplishments of a young 

 Chileno cavalier ; so he who cannot sing his song in their country 

 parties may at least tell his story. 



Not very long ago Don Justo was dangerously ill at his father-in- 

 law's house at Santiago ; and of course there were vows made for him 

 by all the family, and especially his sisters-in-law, with whom he is a 

 great favourite. On the day he was pronounced out of danger, Jose 

 Antonio and the girls all assembled under his window, and the guitar 

 being tuned to an air of Mariquita's composition, she first sang her 

 congratulations, and then followed each of her sisters with a verse, 

 and a chorus of the four in the name of the rest of the household, all 

 of Mariquita's composition. Their tenderness overcame the sick 

 man, and he burst into tears ; when Jose Antonio with readiness 

 quickened the measure, and parodied the lines in his own person so 

 gracefully that the tears dried, and from that time Salinas began to 

 recover rapidly. The fashion and talent of occasional versifica- 

 tion of course the Spaniards brought with them from Old Spain. 

 Who does not remember the beautiful stanza sung in praise of Pre- 

 ciosa by Clement and Andrew, in Cervante's beautiful tale of La 

 Gitanilla ? We were all astonished at the lateness of the hour when 

 we separated ; but verse and song, and Ana Maria's beautiful coun- 

 tenance and sweet voice, were excuse enough, if excuse we needed. 



llth of September. — Descriptions are very often totally untrue ; 

 whence is this ? One should think nothing could be so simple as to 

 describe that which we have seen with attention. However not one 

 person in a hundred succeeds in giving to another a true idea of what 

 he has seen. I had a proof of this to-day. We went to see the lake 

 of Aculeo : I had heard it described as round, and deep in hills, 

 and still as Nemi ; and, to increase the wonder, that it was salt 

 as the sea. None of all this is true : it is irregular and winding, 

 with sunny islands in it ; some steep mountains overhang it, but the 

 margin oftener slopes gently, and affords pasturage to numerous 



