122 



EAMBLES AFTER SPORT. 



to walk." '^What!^^ cried he; ''walk up there V' "Well, 

 yes, we were thinking of it/^ " Ingleses locos !" (mad 

 Englishmen), he muttered, and went away without 

 another word. After rather a tiresome climb we gained 

 the summit, and were well rewarded for our pains. It 

 was near the hour of sunset, which gilded with its rays 

 the vale of Quillota which lay stretched out at our feet, 

 lighting up its hundred smiling homesteads, and throwing 

 the broad shadow of many a poplar grove athwart its 

 fertile meadows dotted thick with lowing kine. It was a 

 lovely sight, a lovely land, and for full an hour we sat 

 and gazed upon it ; one could not help reflecting what it 

 might become under an improved system of cultivation 

 and emigration. On our return we found our fame had 

 preceded us, for a sort of levee was waiting to look upon 

 the three madmen who had actually walked up a hill. 

 Of course no Chileno who can possibly beg, borrow, or 

 steal a mule or animal of some sort, ever thinks of 

 walking. I don^t believe there is a man in the country 

 who could walk twenty miles. There is a well-known 

 proverb, " Put a beggar on horseback,^^ &c. ; I think it 

 must be a Spanish one, as it is by no means uncommon 

 to see an old beggar ride comfortably into town from his 

 country mansion, tie up his nag, and commence his 

 vocation as calmly as possible. However, the only 

 efi'ect the work had on us was that we did ample justice 

 to a remarkably good dinner, and enjoyed^ our cigars 

 under the vines with an extra zest; moreover, after 

 partaking of a compound of whiskey, lemon, and hot 

 water, cunninging devised by one of my companions (a 

 Scotchman he), I for my part slept like a top. 



Out of bed at six in the morning — such a mca^ning ! 

 (they have them every day nearly in Chile; about a 



