114 RAMBLES AFTER SPORT. 



people, whipped in by two or three old fogies, who 

 devoted themselves generally on Sundays to rum punch, 

 three-card loo, and anathematising the parson. 



On going abroad the last thing generally inquired 

 about is medical attendance. Of course at home, in 

 dear old England, where one has one's friends to anti- 

 cipate every want, we don't put much value upon it ; but 

 if I were asked what inducements I held out to a young 

 man going to Chile, I should reply that I considered 

 the fact of there being first-rate medical attendance 

 and a first-rate hospital among the highest; it is far 

 superior to any hospital I have seen out of England. 

 The word hospital had always been one of peculiarly 

 unpleasant significance to me. I imagined a square 

 grim-looking building outside, with all the blinds in the 

 windows down ; inside, a number of passages wifch wards 

 on each side, all lettered like stalls in a stable, in and out 

 of which glide nurses painfully clean and prim ; doors 

 labelled ^^ surgery,'' ^^ operating room ;" a medical student 

 or two, and a smell pervading the whole of fresh- 

 scrubbed floors, disinfecting fluid, and senna tea. The 

 very thought of going there made me think I should be 

 experimented upon by some rising young sawbones 

 with a peculiar penchant for fatty tumours or some other 

 disease. I am happy to say the British hospital is the 

 exact opposite of all this. It was originally a private 

 house, and is situated on the top of Cerro Alegre; it com- 

 mands a beautiful view of the bay, and the air is much 

 purer and healthier than in the town below. How many 

 times I thought how the poor wretches at home, in 

 London hospitals, cooped up in small space and doubtful 

 air, would have enjoyed the balmy breeze and nature's 

 glorious panorama. 



