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JOURNAL. 



The furnace is built a little under-ground, yet so as to admit a free 

 current of air ; the flooring is about eight feet square, and the whole 

 18 feet high. These are of picturesque forms, and, scattered over 

 the plain, gave me the idea of antique tombs : on one hand the river 

 was flowing majestically past the town, and beyond it Chocolan, with 

 light evening clouds hanging round its sides, and woods burning in 

 different places near the summit ; to the east the Andes, at about the 

 same distance that Mont Blanc is from Geneva, are seen at the end 

 of a long valley, whose boundary mountains sink into nothing before 

 the " Giant of the Western Star." 



Shortly after we returned from our walk, some young women 

 neatly dressed, with their long hair braided hanging down their 

 backs, and natural flowers placed in it, came and seated themselves 

 under the window and played on their guitars, singing at the same 

 time some verses welcoming us to Melipilla. We then invited them 

 to enter, and they sat with us till a late hour, singing ballads and 

 tristes, and dancing various dances ; the newest and most fashionable 

 being the Patria, with suitable words not ill adapted to the times. 



1 5th September. — This morning Doha Rosario and her brother 

 went to early Mass, while Mr. de Roos and I prepared all things for 

 beginning our journey back to Santiago. So we left Melipilla quite 



