300 JOURNAL. 
November 14th, Concon. —This morning we set off early from 
home, and at eleven o’clock arrived at Vifia a la Mar, the hacienda of 
the Carreras. The family has suffered much during the revolution, 
the head of it being cousin-german to Jose Miguel Carrera. Some of 
the sons met an untimely death; one of them is now an exile in the 
service of Artigas: three daughters only, out of nine, are married ; 
the rest are living with their parents at Vita ala Mar. It is a noble 
property: the little stream Margamarga flows through it to the sea, 
forming a valley exceedingly fertile; and at the village, whence the 
stream takes its name, the best dairies in the district are situated. The 
house of the hacienda is placed nearly in the middle of a little plain 
formed of the alluvial soil washed down from the surrounding moun- 
tains, which rise behind it like an amphitheatre. A few fields and 
some very fine garden ground, cultivated by a Frenchman, Pharoux, 
occupy the space between it and the sea. Behind it lies the exten- 
sive vineyard, which is gradually making way for corn, which is both 
more successful and more profitable than wine here. 
We were received most hospitably by Madame Carrera, who was 
sitting on a very low sofa at the end of the estrada, on which some 
of her grand-children were at play, while her daughters sat round on 
chairs and stools. Refreshments were offered instantly, and warm 
milk with sugar and a little grated cinnamon was brought in and pre- 
sented, with slices of bread. The invalid was then taken into a 
pleasant cool room to rest; and while he slept, the young ladies 
showed Mr. Davidson, who had escorted us from the port, and my- 
self, the garden, orchard, and farm offices, which differed little from 
those I had seen before, except that they were much out of repair. 
But as the nature of the farm is changing from a wine to a corn farm, 
all the vats and the alembics for brandy, &c. are becoming useless, 
and will be replaced by granaries. The dinner was a mixture of 
Chileno and English customs and cookery; the children and the 
grandmother being most Chilian, the young ladies most English. 
After a reasonable time after dinner, we rode on to Concon, and were 
met about half way by Mr., Mrs., and Miss Miers, It was one of the 
