ANGOSTURA DE PAINE. 249 



about whom I could receive no satisfaction. At twelve o'clock the 

 mist cleared away ; and in the afternoon Don Justo, Dona Ana Maria, 

 Rosario, Mr. de Roos, and I, rode to a hill in the neighbourhood 10 see 

 a lovely view over the plain of Maypu, and to take our matee and 

 chat till sunset. I may repeat, a thousand times over, 'tis the loveliest 

 day I have seen ; for, in the fresh untouched scenes of nature, each 

 succeeding one is lovelier than the last. The star-like flower beneath 

 my feet, the magnificent purple shrub that bent over the cliff hun- 

 dreds of feet above the nearest resting-place, and where Salinas clung 

 like a wild roe as he grasped the splendid plant; the pinnacle on 

 which the skins were spread, where Ana Maria and Rosario, — two 

 creatures more lovely than the flowers about them, — reclined while 

 the matee was brought in silver cups ; — all, all were beautiful ; and we 

 talked till many a story of living people was told, that romancers 

 would be glad to possess. Dona Ana Maria's first husband was, as I 

 knew long before, Juan Jose Carrera. * After his death, her brother 

 Jose Antonio crossed the Andes to Mendoza, and brought her home 

 to her family, where she lived for a time in utter seclusion. 

 At nineteen years she had seen her husband at the head of the 

 government of his country, or, at least, only second to his brother ; 

 she had twice followed him across the Andes as a fugitive ; she had 

 shared his prison ; she had begged for him ; she had seen him expire, 

 locked in his youngest brother's arms, on the scaffold ; — what wonder 

 that she was dear to the surviving Carrera ! What wonder that he 

 wrote to her in that confidential cipher which had nearly cost her her 

 life ! Some of his letters were intercepted ; and she was imprisoned 

 in the convent of the Augustine nuns in Santiago. But I will write 

 down this part of her history, as nearly as I can, in the words of her 

 mother, addressed to me some days ago : — " On Ana Maria's return 

 " from Mendoza we found her health so impaired by her sufferings, 

 " that we hurried her into the country, whither poor Miguel and I 

 " accompanied her. I was speedily recalled to town on Mariquita's 



* See Introduction, p. 24. ; and Mr. Yates's paper in the Appendix. 



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