THE YELLOW FEVER. 



Our pic-rtic differed greatly from the repasts 

 under that name which I have shared in other 

 countries ; our table displayed at least a dozen 

 dressed dishes, with all the formalities of a dinner, 

 not followed, however, by the customary siesta ; a 

 most remarkable omission. The party being in a 

 merry mood, voted that, instead of sleeping, they 

 should go to a flower-garden about a mile distant. 

 This proposal being carried by acclamation, we 

 all set out, and having sauntered up and down 

 the cool walks for an hour, returned to the town 

 loaded with roses and sweetbriar. 



One morning about sunrise, I was awakened in 

 my lodgings on shore by loud groans from a 

 person in the neighbouring house. I rose, and 

 having hastily dressed myself, went to the next 

 door, which I found open. The apartment was 

 little more than six feet square, and every way 

 wretched. On a truckle-bed lay a poor man, 

 who, from the tools and shavings about him, I 

 supposed to be a carpenter : he seemed in dreadful 

 agony, with the veins on his forehead swelled to 

 the size of my little finger, and his eye-balls 

 starting from his head. His brow was covered 

 with a coating of white-wash, and his limbs were 

 as rigid as if they had been made of iron bars. 

 The only attendant upon this miserable object 

 was a little child of four years old, who could 

 give me no information ; and all I could extract 

 from the man himself was, " Oh, give me some 

 water ! — some water ! " From his appearance I 

 immediately supposed he was seized with the 

 high fever of the country called cheva-longa, a 

 fatal disease if not speedily checked. I was de- 

 lighted, therefore, to discover my boat rowing 

 into the cove near the spot, and hurried her back 

 to the ship for one of the medical gentlemen. On 

 his arrival, the doctor saw that no time was to be 

 lost, for already the man was delirious ; and seizing 

 a piece of cord which lay on the floor, he bound 

 up and opened the veins of both arms. The relief 

 which this afforded was quite wonderful. In the 

 course of half a minute the delirium vanished — 

 the intolerable heat gradually subsided — the eyes 

 assumed new life, and, as the blood flowed, lost 

 their glazed appearance. The patient still called 

 out earnestly for water ; but before it could be 

 brought, his thirst had also gone ; and in a few 

 minutes the pain across the eyes, which he had 

 described as excruciating, left him likewise ; but 

 the doctor, who was a bold practitioner, would 

 not stop the bleeding till every symptom had dis- 

 appeared. In this case, upwards of fifty ounces 

 of blood were abstracted, and the poor fellow 

 remained abundantly weak, indeed, but altogether 

 without complaint. Had the fever been allowed 

 to follow its course, according to the opinion of 

 the medical gentlemen, the patient could not have 

 lived another hour. He was quite well, however, 

 and again at his work within the week. His first 

 act on getting out was to come on board to thank 

 the doctor, and to offer him a few pieces of silver 

 money — his whole fortune. On his being seized 

 with the fever, he told us he had been placed in 

 bed by his friends, who had daubed his head with 

 lime-water, saying that if that did not save him, 

 he must take his chance, and had left him with 

 only the little child whom we found crying and 

 helpless by his bed-side. The native practitioners 

 fumed a good deal upon the occasion, and said it 



was madness to bleed in such a case. — The Chilian 

 carpenter expressively shrugged his shoulders. 



On the 22d of January his Majesty's ship Owen 

 Glendower arrived at Valparaiso, and the Conway 

 being ordered to proceed to Peru, sailed on the 

 27th for Callao, the sea-port of Lima. 



CHAPTER III. 



Notice of the Revolutions in Chili.— General San Martin.— 

 Battle of Chacabuco. — General O'Higgins. — Battles of 

 Talca and Maypo. — Arrival of Lord Cochrane, who takes 

 Valdivia.— Expedition against Peru.— Capture of the 

 Esmeralda. 



Chili first threw off the Spanish yoke in Sep- 

 tember 1810, but the national independence was 

 not fully established till April 1818. During the 

 intermediate period, the dissensions of the dif- 

 ferent parties ; their disputes as to the form of 

 government, and the law of election ; with other 

 distracting causes, arising out of the ambition of 

 turbulent individuals, and the inexperience of the 

 whole nation in political affairs, so materially 

 retarded the union of the country, that the Span- 

 iards, by sending expeditions from Peru, were 

 enabled, in 1814, to regain their lost authority in 

 Chili. 



Meanwhile the Government of Buenos Ayres, 

 the independence of which had been established in 

 1810, naturally dreaded that the Spaniards would 

 not long be confined to the western side of the 

 Andes ; but would speedily make a descent upon 

 the provinces of the River Plate, of which Buenos 

 Ayres is the capital. In order to guard against 

 this formidable danger, they vigorously resolved 

 themselves to become the invaders, and by great 

 exertions equipped an army of 4000 men. The 

 command of this force was given to General Don 

 Jose" de San Martin, a native of the town of 

 Yapeyu in Paraguay ; a man greatly beloved by 

 all ranks, and held in such high estimation by the 

 people, that to his personal exertions the forma- 

 tion of this army was chiefly due. 



With these troops San Martin entered Chili by 

 a pass over the Andes heretofore deemed inacces- 

 sible, and on the 12th of February 1817, attacked 

 and completely defeated the Royal army at Cha- 

 cabuco. The Chilians, thus freed from the im- 

 mediate presence of the enemy, elected General 

 O'Higgins as Director ; and he, in 1818, offered 

 the Chilians a constitution, and nominated five 

 senators to administer the affairs of the country. 

 This meritorious officer, an Irishman by descent, 

 though born in Chili, has ever since remained at 

 the head of the government. It was orignally 

 proposed to elect General San Martin as Director; 

 but this he steadily refused, proposing his compa- 

 nion in arms, O'Higgins, in his stead. 



The remnant of the Spanish army took refuge 

 in Talcuhuana, a fortified sea-port near Concep- 

 tion, on the southern frontier of Chili. Vigorous 

 measures were taken to reduce this place, but, in 

 the beginning of 1818, the Viceroy of Peru, by 

 draining that province of its best troops, sent off 

 a body of 5000 men under General Osorio, who 

 succeeded in joining the Spaniards shut up in 

 Talcuhuana. Thus reinforced, the Royal army, 

 amounting in all to 8000, drove back the Chilians, 

 marched on the capital, and gained other consider- 



