THE STKAIT OF MAGELLAN. 411 



a curious winding road leading up some hills for nearly 2000 

 feet to the mine, where we were to spend the night. In the 

 course of our ascent I observed several specimens of a curious 

 Uchinocactus which was new to me. It was of a nearly 

 spherical form, like a large deeply-ribbed gourd, bristling with 

 spines, and from nine inches to a foot in height. The mules, 

 I was told, when suffering from thirst, often strike off the spiny 

 rind with their hoofs, and eat the watery succulent pulp. It 

 was a beautiful evening when we reached our destination soon 

 after sunset, and shortly after we had dined we retired to rest. 



The morning of the 21st was gloriously bright and clear, 

 and after inspecting the copper of the mine we mounted our 

 horses and rode down the hill. On our way we passed within 

 a short distance of three parrots, banded with brown and yel- 

 low, which were perched on a Cereus, and screeching dis- 

 cordantly. Unfortunately there was no gun ready, and they 

 accordingly escaped without injury. As before we reached 

 Samo, a distance of about eighteen miles, our horses showed 

 signs of fatigue, and the day was rapidly wearing on, we 

 determined on spending another night there before proceeding 

 onwards to our next stage. 



On the 2 2d we left Samo at seven A.M., accompanied by 

 our kind host, who wished to introduce us at a farm named 

 Torre, where we designed to make a halt at noon. Ascending 

 the winding road which led us down into the valley on the 

 19th, we crossed an elevated plain nearly as flat as a board, 

 and from thence descended into the valley of Ovalle. We 

 rode through the town of that name, which appears rather a 

 flourishing one, possessing about six thousand inhabitants, 

 and alighted for a short time in the principal Plaza, where 

 a guanaco was tethered. The signs over some of the doors of 

 the shops were very eccentric, a large blue mermaid figuring 



