MELIPILLA. 261 



principal houses in the town. Besides the manufactures of soap and 

 earthenware, a great many of the finer kinds of ponchos and alfom- 

 bras are wove ; as the wool in the neighbourhood is very fine, and 

 the plain abounds with drugs for dying. The weaving is managed 

 with great skill, but the loom is the most clumsy I ever beheld ; and 

 most of the work is done without a shuttle at all. 



In the evening we went to the chacra of Don Jose Funsalida, to 

 see the pits whence the fine red clay used in the famous pottery of 

 Melipilla is taken. Overlooking the plain eastward from the town, 

 there is a long high perfectly flat bank of great extent ; and there, 

 under a layer about two feet thick of black vegetable mould, lies the 

 red clay, almost a3 hard as stone. Of this the fine red water-jars, and 

 the finest vessels for wine, as well as jars for cooking and many other 

 uses, are made. The plain beyond the clay bank is covered with 

 large ovens for baking the wine-jars, and alembics for distilling ; not 

 that there is any large manufactory for them, but every peasant here 

 makes jars, and the richest and most skilful of course has most 

 trade ; and, of all the ovens we saw, not more than three belonged 

 to any one man. 



There is no difference between the method of pottery practised 

 here and that at Valparaiso in making the coarsest ware, excepting 

 that I think more pains is taken in kneading the clay. I went to one 

 of the most famous female potters, and found her and her grand- 

 daughter busy polishing their work of the day before with a beau- 

 tiful agate. There I saw the black clay of which they make small 

 wares, such as matee-cups, waiters, and water-jars, often wrought 

 with grotesque heads and arms, and sometimes ornamented with the 

 white and red earths with which the country abounds. The large 

 wine-jars and alembics are made by men, as the work is laborious ; 

 especially as no wheel is used, or indeed known, in the country. The 

 small ware is still often baked in holes in the earth, the large vessels 

 in ovens; where indeed they are often made, the workmen forming 

 the jars where they are to be baked. 



