TWO DA.YS^ FISHING IN CHILE. 221 



we up sail and away towing the halsa behind us. 

 Although the breeze was moderately fair, we decided not 

 to go back to our home till the morning ; and far better 

 had it been for Federico if we had gone at once. 



On arriving home next morning we found that a Chile 

 horserace was coming off close to a small bay a mile 

 or two down. Before we disembarked, said Federico, 

 *'let^s go-/^ and we went. One little mare belonged to 

 an English sporting butcher, and was called La Negrita, 

 and the other came from some distance, and was called 

 La Camelia. The odds were two to one on La Camelia, 

 which was a very fast mare at this particular distance, 

 viz., three hundred yards. Of course it was a race 

 a la Chileno, and an immense crowd of people were 

 present, nearly all on horseback. The two mares were 

 placed side by side, with their forefeet exactly level on a 

 line scratched across the track ; a row of stout sticks 

 extended at right angles to this line some thirty yards 

 down the course, between the two mares, to prevent 

 them rushing against each other at the start, and two 

 boys, the size of large monkeys, bestrode them bare- 

 backed. When the mares had been set and were 

 perfectly motionless, amidst the most breathless silence 

 the grito was given, and off they went like arrows, 

 arms, legs, whips, and spurs all flying about like flails. 

 " La Camelia ! La Camelia V^ yelled all the men of Chile : 

 '^ she's in front ! she win's V " No she doesn't, ISTegrita 

 wins !" and win she did by a length; and there was grief 

 in Israel. 



I knew Federico was acquainted with the butcher, 

 and I therefore augured well for his success on the 

 race. I sought for him a long time, and at last I spied 

 him in a booth liquoring up with a dirty-faced man 



