1834.] QUILLOTA—SAN FELIPE. 259 
horse, and scorns to exert himself excepting when on its back ; 
the Guaso may be hired to work as a labourer in the fields. The 
former lives entirely on animal food; the latter almost wholly 
on vegetable. We do not here see the white boots, the broad 
drawers, and scarlet chilipa; the picturesque costume of the 
Pampas. Here, common trowsers are protected by black and 
green worsted leggings. The poncho, however, is common to 
both. The chief pride of the Guaso lies in his spurs; which 
are absurdly large. I measured one which was six inches in the 
diameter of the rowel, and the rowel itself contained upwards of 
thirty points. The stirrups are on the same scale, each consist- 
ing of a square, carved block of wood, hollowed out, yet weigh- 
ing three or four pounds.- The Guaso is perhaps more expert 
with the Jazo than the Gaucho; but, from the nature of the 
country, he does not know the use of the bolas. 
August 18th.—We descended the mountain, and passed some 
beautiful little spots, with rivulets and fine trees. Having slept 
at the same hacienda as before, we rode during the two succeed- 
ing days up the valley, and passed through Quillota, which is 
more like a collection of nursery-gardens than a town. The 
orchards were beautiful, presenting one mass of peach-blossoms. 
I saw, also, in one or two places the date-palm; it is a most 
stately tree; and I should think a group of them in their native 
Asiatic or African deserts must be superb. We passed likewise 
San Felipe, a pretty straggling town like Quillota. The valley 
in this part expands into one of those great bays or plains, reach- 
ing to the foot of the Cordillera, which have been mentioned as 
forming so curious a part of the scenery of Chile. In the 
evening we reached the mines of Jajuel, situated in a ravine 
at the flank of the great chain. I stayed here five days. 
My host, the superintendent of the mine, was a shrewd but 
rather ignorant Cornish miner. He had married a Spanish 
woman, and did not mean to return home; but his admiration 
for the-mines of Cornwall remained unbounded. Amongst 
many other questions, he asked me, “‘ Now that George Rex is 
dead, how many more of the family of Rexes are yet alive?” 
This Rex certainly must be a relation of the great author Finis, 
who wrote all books ! 
These mines are of copper, and the ore is all shipped to 
