ROUND CAPE HORN VALPARAISO SANTIAGO. 99 



shark. Some of tlie sailors had a mess off Ms flesh, 

 and the cook sent some of his tail in the shape of 

 cutlets to the cabin; but 1 can^t say I think much of 

 shark. I considerably astonished the skipper by catch- 

 ing nearly every dolphin I saw with a spoon bait, which 

 they took most ravenously, evidently mistaking it for a 

 flying fish, of which they are excessively fond. Off Cape 

 Horn we had a gale which lasted twelve days, and which 

 left us precisely in the same place as we were at first ; it 

 was certainly worthy of the spot. The skipper concluded 

 he would throw overboard some cargo, as we were too 

 deep to carry sail, so the very first chance we had we 

 threw over some hundred and fifty tons ; after which we 

 made pretty good weather of it, and in seventeen days 

 more made Valparaiso Light. We arrived at midnight, 

 and the city being built on numerous small hills, and 

 being extremely well lighted, presented rather a prepos- 

 sessing effect. We were not allowed to land, however, 

 and so my first impressions of the '^ Vale of Paradise" 

 were not to be derived from a gaslight view — always 

 very deceptive. 



" There is in America a city which cannot possibly be 

 compared to any other in the whole world. That city is 

 Valparaiso. Valparaiso ! The word resounds in the 

 enchanted ear like the gentle and soft notes of a love 

 song; a coquettish, smiling, and mad city, softly re- 

 clining, like a careless creole, round a delicious bay at the 

 foot of three majestic mountains, lazily bathing her rosy 

 and dainty feet in the azure waves of the Pacific, and 

 veiling her dreamy brow in the storm laden clouds which 

 escape from Cape Horn and roll with a sinister sound 

 round the peaks of the Cordilleras, to form a splendid 

 glory for them .... a pile of shapeless dens and mag- 



H 2 



