THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 489 



longed for, as we were getting very hungry. The vehicle in 

 question appeared before long, and at seven we sat down to 

 dinner, after which we set out on a stroll in the moonlight. 

 It was a night of such perfect beauty, and the air so refresh- 

 ingly cool, that we walked out for at least three miles before 

 thinking of retracing our steps. The palms and bananas 

 appeared singularly fine in the moonlight, as their fronds were 

 stirred by a passing breeze, and as we walked along we were 

 treated to an extraordinary concert, furnished by cicadas and 

 frogs of various species ; nearly the only drawback to our 

 happiness being produced by the ferocity of the dogs belong- 

 ing to the cottages which we passed, to provide against 

 whose attacks we were obliged to arm ourselves with stones. 

 Next morning we rose at seven, and as we were informed 

 that breakfast would not be ready till between nine and ten, 

 we employed the time at our disposal in a short walk. At 

 breakfast, when the landlord sat at the head of the table, 

 we were the only guests, and we had much talk with our 

 host, who informed us that he had spent some years in Eng- 

 land between 1830 and 1840, mentioning the names of a 

 number of celebrated people and places that he had seen. He 

 evidently thought that London contrasted most unfavourably 

 with Paris, remarking that Paris was all white, while London 

 was all black, but went into raptures over the beauty of 

 Edinburgh, and condescended to say that he liked the English 

 mode of living better than the French style, as being more 

 tranquil, observing that he had been over at the Exposicion, 

 and had considered the Parisian life too bustling after the 

 Brazilian quiet way of living. In the absence of any 

 cicerone to teU us what was most worth seeing in the 

 neighbourhood, we decided on following the road we had tra- 

 versed the day before ; and accordingly, after breakfast, set 



