VALPARAISO. 163 
sensible to show, to amusement, and to external associations. Is it 
not, therefore, wise to turn these shows and associations to the account 
of patriotism? And is it not more probable that the superstition 
will be forgotten, while the near and almost personal feelings that 
belong to national triumph strengthen with time. Shakspeare un- 
derstood the value of such associations, when he makes Harry the 
Fifth say — 
** Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by, 
From this day to the ending of the world, 
But we in it shall be remembered.” 
And who in England has forgotten Agincourt ? But who, besides 
the shoemakers, ever thinks of St. Crispin ? 
Chile is so obviously a maritime country, shut up as she is to 
landward, by the Andes from the eastern provinces, and the desert of 
Atacama from those to the north, that I would, were I its legislator, 
turn every feeling and passion towards the sea. St. Peter’s day should 
be a national and naval spectacle: I would distribute prizes to fisher- 
men and boatmen ; I would bestow honorary rewards on officers ; I 
would receive and answer petitions and representations from all con- 
nected with the sea; in short, I would, on that day, let them feel 
that the protection of government went hand in hand with that of 
religion over the most useful, and therefore the most favoured class 
of Chileno citizens. 
June 25th. — I went with a party to the Lagunilla, a small fresh- 
water lake formed from the waters of several little streams, and 
divided from the sea only by a bank of sand: the road into the 
valley of the lake is good, but the steepest I ever recollect riding. 
On leaving Valparaiso, from which the lake is three leagues distant, 
we found ourselves on a high table land, whence we enjoyed a mag- 
nificent view of the central Andes on one hand, and the coast with 
all its harbours and bays on the other. The little bay of the Lagunilla 
is said not to be safe for ships, who always make it in coming from 
the southward. At the bottom of the valley we found a Rancho, which 
just now looks poor and miserable: but it is the poor time of year; 
¥2 
