102 RAMBLES AFTER SPORT. 



way from England it is a downriglit shame tliat it 

 should be so horribly and intensely Britisji. By-the- 

 bye, where on earth can you get out of the sound 

 of Bow bells ? Lima ? Bah ! a colony of Scotch 

 and English Jews. China ? India ? Japan ? All the 

 same — smelling, of Cheap. Who does not associate 

 the South Seas, the lovely South Seas — the pei-las 

 oceanicas — with soft balmy breezes and dreamy lotus- 

 eating days, eating the luscious grape, and drinking 

 the pure morning dew out of the hollowed fruit rind ? 

 Who has not heard, and dreamt perhaps, of those fair 

 virgins of Typee, the sunny island girls, embodiment of 

 grace and love, who pass their days in dreamy inno- 

 cence ? Oh, Tahiti, how all thy visions fade at the first 

 breath of facts. Thy fair virgins ?— half-naked wenches, 

 remarkable for nothing except inordinate desires and 

 greed for dollars. The balmy breezes ? — a damp, hot 

 climate, that dries you up like a herring in about two 

 years. Thy dreamland, lotus-eating days ? — if anyone 

 can manage to enjoy many of them among a parcel of 

 French officers, slaveowners, drunken sailors, marine- 

 store keepers, American loafers, and a sprinkling of 

 British scamps, he must be honoured with imaginative 

 powers in a most remarkable degree. 



I can't say I was much prepossessed by the first appear- 

 ance of Valparaiso by daylight. It could never be made a 

 handsome city, in any sense of the word, if all the 

 palaces in the world were placed there. I should say 

 that the greatest breadth between the foot of the hills 

 and the beach is under two hundred yards, and in many 

 places is less than sixty , consequently there is absolutely 

 no room for building in regular squares. A very large 

 portion even of the existing building ground has been 



