HETURN TO VALPARAISO. 203 



was evidently in an advanced stage of pulmonary 

 consumption. He had been on a visit with friends, in 

 the vain hope that the pure air of this mountain 

 valley might arrest the disease, and now, as the 

 season was far advanced, wished to rejoin his wife 

 and children at Santa Rosa. Like many consumptive 

 patients, he had a feverish proneness for talk ; and, 

 having first told me his own story, he asked me a 

 multitude of questions respecting my present journey 

 and as to the other countries that I have visited. At 

 length, with evident reference to my age, he gravely 

 said, " No le parece Sefior que es tiempo para 

 descansar .■' " I answered that there would be time 

 enough to descansar when one is laid underground, 

 and that for the present I saw no occasion to rest. 

 As I stopped the carriage only two or three times to 

 gather plants, and the driver kept his horses at a 

 smart trot most of the way, we accomplished the 

 return journey of eighteen or twenty miles in a little 

 under three hours, and reached the town at nightfall. 



On the 26th I returned to Valparaiso, meeting the 

 Santiago train at the now familiar junction station of 

 Llaillai. Although the weather was still fine, clouds 

 hung round the Cordillera, and I was not destined 

 again to enjoy the glorious view of the great range. 

 My first care on reaching the port was to secure my 

 passage in the German steamer as far as the Straits of 

 Magellan. I found that the steamship Rhamses of the 

 Cosmos line, which in ordinary course should have 

 departed on the 28th, was delayed until the following 

 day, May 29. It was inevitable to regret that the 

 additional day had not been devoted to the Rio 



