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diamond sea. Ah^ well ! life is not all a picnic. As the 

 fishing took place ac night, we loafed, bathed, and 

 fished from the rocks all the afternoon. Federico 

 amused himself with smoking cigarettes, while Juan, 

 who was evidently the handy man of the party, set 

 about our dinner. Of course the principal item in this 

 was charquikan, and, moreover, we fortunately had got 

 cliarqui de guanaco. Before it is cooked it is the most 

 uninviting-looking stufi" I ever saw. It looks, more 

 than anything else I know, like long strips of dirty 

 brown leather, with drops of candle grease all over it. 

 The mode of manufacturing the so2:)a is simple : the 

 smoothest and largest stone is picked out, and a strip of 

 charqui is placed on it ; another oblong pebble is taken, 

 and the strip is pounded into shreds ; it is now put into 

 a pot with water and boiled. When finished, a quantity 

 of aji, or Chile pepper is put in, and the dish is then 

 eaten ; it has a peculiar rank flavour, and is excessively 

 heating. All the Chileno ^roprios, or couriers, who 

 sometimes ride incredible distances on horseback, 

 almost entirely live on this charqui, binding the slips 

 between the skins of their saddles. Besides this we 

 had broiled lisas, fried congreOj raw sea-urchins, and 

 roasted picos. These echinos or sea-urchins are eaten 

 sometimes made up into a salad, but more frequently raw 

 — that is, their tongues, of which they have five, of a broad 

 beadlike appearance like the hard roe of a bloater. 

 The jpicos are the very best shellfish I have ever eaten ; 

 they are called so from their resemblance to a parrot's 

 bill : when roasted they open like clams, and afi'ord the 

 most delicate food — indeed, I know nothing compar- 

 able to them. Our repast we washed down with some 

 capital Chile claret, quite equal to inferior Bordeaux. 



