30 



NIGHT SCENE AMONGST THE ANDES. 



stinctively sure of a cold reception. Tn this, how- 

 ever, we were much mistaken ; for the master of 

 the house no sooner saw who we were, than he 

 begged us to walk into his sala or drawing-room, 

 a very different apartment from the first. As we 

 entered, we could scarcely stand the glare of light 

 from a dozen wax candles. The floor was covered 

 with a rich carpet ; the roof and cornices were 

 neatly finished, and the walls ornamented with 

 mirrors and pictures. At the upper end of the 

 room stood a grand piano-forte, by Broadwood, 

 and at the tea-table, near it, the lady of the house 

 and her daughters received us most kindly. We 

 soon became acquainted ; and while one of the 

 young ladies went out to gather some flowers for 

 us, another opened the piano-forte at our request, 

 and played very good-naturedly, while we sat 

 chatting with the old people, who were entreating 

 us to stay the night. There was something so 

 unexpected in this kind of reception ; and the 

 people themselves were so obliging and agreeable, 

 that I, for one, was very reluctant to quit such 

 good quarters ; but as it was deemed necessary 

 by the rest to go on, we mounted our jaded horses 

 again with a very bad grace. 



But the charms of the night-scene were now 

 all gone, and the wild embellishments with which 

 fancy, an hour before, had dressed up the scenery, 

 were supplanted by the dark and comfortless re- 

 ality. Everything seemed to go wrong ; the road 

 was full of holes ; the travellers weary of them- 

 selves, and of one another, and the journey was 

 never to be at an end ! At length, after a tedious 

 ride, we reached the Chacra, or farm, to which 

 we were bound, and had proceeded about half-way 

 up the approach, when we were overtaken by two 

 riders, one of whom proved to be the master of the 

 house. He immediately dismounted, and welcomed 

 us to the country with a frankness of manner, 

 and a kindliness of tone, peculiarly pleasing to an 

 uninvited visitor. The ladies of the family, they 

 said, were just behind us, the whole party being 

 on their return from a little dance in the neigh- 

 bourhood. We therefore hurried on, and had our 

 horses put away in time to hand the ladies from 

 their carreta. 



29th of March. — When we met next morning, 

 every one looked well pleased to find himself in 

 the country, free from the bustle and distraction 

 of the capital. The fresh feeling, always produced 

 by the free air of the fields, was increased on this 

 occasion by their being covered with vines, and 

 olive-trees, and sweet-scented shrubs, and decked 

 out with all sorts of gay blossoms. There is a 

 genial influence in the country in all climates, 

 under which the frost of etiquette melts away, the 

 natural character comes into view, and many 

 amiable qualities, heretofore unobserved, are 

 discovered and acknowledged. But we missed the 

 sociability of the breakfast party, for in these 

 countries the family seldom assemble till the 

 dinner-hour, which is generally before two. Yet 

 we found ample objects to interest us during the 

 early part of the morning until the heat of the sun 

 drove us into the house, long before our curiosity 

 was satisfied. 



Wo sat down to dinner, a very merry party, the 

 master of the house insisting upon my taking the 

 top of the table ; a custom he said that could by 

 no means be dispensed with. The first dish which 



was placed on the table was bread soup, exceed- 

 ingly good, and enriched either with fish or meat : 

 a distinction so immaterial, we thought, that our 

 surprise was considerable when we observed a 

 gentleman of the party start up, and, with a look 

 as if he had swallowed poison, exclaim, " Lord, 

 there is fish in the soup ! " and while we were 

 wondering at this exclamation, our friend ran off 

 to the kitchen to interrogate the cook. He re- 

 turned with a most woe -begone countenance, and 

 finished his plate of soup as if it had been the last 

 he was ever to taste. A feeling of delicacy pre- 

 vented our asking questions, although our curiosity 

 was raised to the highest pitch, by observing the 

 gentleman touch nothing else, and go without his 

 dinner. It was Friday, and it was in Lent, cir- 

 cumstances which might have accounted for his 

 horror at meat ; but it was fish which had shocked 

 him ; besides, we saw the rest of the company eating 

 both one and the other without scruple, which 

 puzzled us exceedingly, and the more so as the self- 

 denying individual was really a very sensible man, 

 and showed no other symptoms of eccentricity. 

 We at last discovered that he had, for some reason 

 or other, come under a religious engagement not 

 to eat both fish and flesh, though the South Ame- 

 ricans are permitted to do so, by an express bull in 

 their favour, which any one may purchase who 

 pleases. It so happened, that this conscientious 

 individual had set his fancy most particularly 

 on a meat dish close to him, never dreaming of 

 what had been put into the soup; but fish once tasted, 

 his feast was at an end, and, to do him justice, he 

 kept his vow in a manner worthy of an anchorite. 



We had then the Olla, a dish celebrated in all 

 lands where Spanish is spoken. It consists of 

 boiled beef, piled round with all sorts of vegetables, 

 and well covered with a large yellow pea, called 

 a Garbanza ; and so inseparable is this union, that 

 our " beans and bacon" is not better known in 

 English, even in a proverbial sense, than " Olla 

 con Garbanza" is in Spanish. Besides these 

 dishes, we had various rich stews, and last of all a 

 dish of roast beef. This did not in the smallest 

 degree resemble the glorious roast beef of England ; 

 but was a long thin, black strip of dry, burnt-up 

 meat, without a single bone to give it a shape, and 

 with every bit of fat carefully cut away. Mean- 

 while we finished our dinner, and then partook of 

 a capital dessert of cool bursting figs, fresh from 

 trees within sight of the table ; as well as the 

 luscious sweet grapes, the pride of our host's 

 heart ; and lastly, the enormous purple water- 

 melon, the staff of life amongst the poorer 

 classes in this country : to all which was added 

 a pleasant small wine, manufactured, as our host 

 triumphantly imparted to us, by our absent hostess. 



The whole scene was highly characteristic of 

 the country. We sat in the cross draught of two 

 open doors and numerous unsashed windows, en- 

 joying the balmy air as it passed through the house, 

 whisking in its course the dried fig and vine leaves 

 along the floor. On one side we could see the 

 gravel walks of the garden, stretching far under 

 trellised vines, and shaded by a broad belt of lofty 

 walnut-trees, which formed a grateful screen be- 

 tween us and the fiery glare of the western sky. 

 On the other hand, our view extended to the base 

 of the Andes, fifty or sixty miles off, indistinctly 

 seen through the waving haze caused by the fierce- 



