VALPARAISO. 121 
greatest labour, however, is bestowed on irrigating the gardens which 
is rendered indispensable by the eight months of dry weather in the 
summer. A multitude of little canals cross every field, and the 
hours for letting the water into them are regulated with reference to 
the convenience of the neighbours, through whose grounds the com- 
mon stream passes. One part of every chacra is an arboleda, or 
orchard, however small, and few are without their little flower plot, 
where most of the common garden flowers of England are cultivated. 
The lupine both perennial and annual is native here. The native 
bulbous roots surpass most of ours in beauty, yet the strangers are 
treated with unjust preference. Roses, sweetpeas, carnations, and 
jasmine are deservedly prized ; mignonette and sweetbriar are scarce, 
and honeysuckle is not to be procured. The scabious is called here 
the widow's flower, and the children gathered their hands full of 
it for me. 
From the flower-garden we went to the washing-ground, where I 
found a charcoal fire lighted on the brink ofa pretty rivulet. On 
the fire was a huge copper vessel full of boiling water, and swimming 
in it there was a leaf of the prickly pear (Cactus ficus Indicus), here 
called ¢unia ; this plant is said to possess the property of cleansing 
and softening the water. Close by there stood a large earthen vessel, 
which appeared to me to be full of soap-suds, but I found that no 
common soap was among it. The tree called Quillai, which is com- 
mon in this part of Chile, furnishes a thick rough bark, which is so 
full of soapy matter, that a small piece of it wrapped in wool, moist- 
ened, and then beaten between two stones, makes a lather like the 
finest soap, and possesses a superior cleansing quality. All woollen 
garments are washed with it, and coloured woollen or silk acquires 
a freshness of tint equal to new by the use of it. I begged a piece 
of the dry bark ; the inside is speckled with very minute crystals, and 
the taste is harsh like that of soda. 
In my walk home from the washing-ground, I had occasion to see 
specimens both of the waggons and carriages of Chile. The wheels, 
R 
