74 



THE REAL WORLD BEATS THE IMAGINARY. 



who, from holding communication with the out- 

 law, merited, if not the same, at least nearly the 

 same punishment." 



This singular official document winds up with 

 the four following lines, in prominent characters. 



Esos monstruos, que cargan consigo 

 El caracter infame y servil, 

 $ Como pueden jamas compararse 

 Con los Heroes del cinco de Abril ? 



Those monsters, who bear about with them 

 A character infamous and servile — 

 How can they ever compare themselves 

 With the Heroes of the 5th of April? 



The 5th of April heing the anniversary of the 

 battle of Maypo, which decided the fate of Chili, is 

 an era introduced, naturally enough, on every pos- 

 sible occasion. The foregoing lines form a stanza 

 of their most popular national song. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



CHILI. 



Excursion to the Mining Districts of Chili.— Coquimbo.— 

 Parallel Roads in the Valley of Coquimbo. — Theory in 

 explanation of these Appearances. 



After returning from this very busy and amus- 

 ing trip to Arauco, I landed my instruments, and 

 set up an observatory at Valparaiso, where I hoped 

 to profit by a week or ten days of leisure, which 

 were allowed me before proceeding on a fresh 

 cruise to the northward. Nothing, indeed, could 

 be less favourable to the successful performance of 

 the delicate experiments I had undertaken, than 

 the constant hurry and distraction in which I was 

 necessarily kept at this time ; but I was willing to 

 give them a chance, and, although in the end no- 

 thing material was accomplished, I had the satis- 

 faction of acquiring sufficient experience in using 

 some of the instruments which were new to me, 

 and especially the Invariable Pendulum of Captain 

 Kater, that, upon subsequent occasions, I was 

 enabled to take advantage of accidental moments 

 which otherwise must have been lost. It is not, 

 however, my present purpose to enter into any 

 detail of these operations ; their results are given 

 at length in the Appendix, and I shall merely 

 remark, in passing, that even in so hurried a way, 

 there is something particularly interesting in the 

 progress of astronomical observations. The beau- 

 tiful regularity and absence of all bustle in the 

 celestial movements — the majestic silence with 

 which they are conducted — and the total separa- 

 tion which exists between them and the affairs of 

 the earth, come forcibly home to the imagination 

 when the attention is seriously called to them. 

 While the observer's eye is fixed at his telescope, 

 in expectation of some approaching phenomenon, 

 and his ear is conscious of no sound but the beat- 

 ing of the clock, h<- feels for the time lifted into 

 another sphere, and admitted as it were to a 

 companionship with the wonders of distant planets, 

 and is tempted to ask how, with such objects of 

 curiosity and interest ;it his command, he can ever 

 condescend to mingle with the turmoil of human 

 affairs, or exchange the contemplation of such 

 matchless order for the instability of earthly pas- 

 sions ? The fascination of such pursuits can only 



be known to those who have deeply indulged in 

 them ; and I am sure they will bear me out in the 

 assertion, that there are few purer enjoyments. 



On the 14th of November, 1821, I received j 

 orders to proceed in the Conway from Valparaiso 

 towards Lima, and to call by the way at the inter- 

 mediate ports on the coast of Chili and Peru. 

 The object of this cruise was to inquire into the 

 British interests at those places ; to assist and pro- 

 tect any of his Majesty's trading subjects ; and in 

 a general way to ascertain the commercial resources 

 of the district. Several points of this inquiry have 

 formed the subject of official reports ; but, as any 

 interest they possessed was of a temporary nature, 

 I shall not repeat them here, but confine myself 

 to a general sketch of what we saw on the 

 voyage. 



The ship being required by a certain day for 

 other services, we were much restricted in time ; 

 which was the more to be regretted, as accidental 

 circumstances put it in our power, if we had pos- 

 sessed leisure, to have visited many of the mines 

 under considerable advantages. Hurried, how- 

 ever, as we. were, it was impossible to take more 

 than a superficial glance at that interesting part of 

 the country ; and we were more solicitous to mark 

 the effects of the recent political changes on the 

 mining system, than to investigate minutely the 

 nature of the ores, or to inquire into the details of 

 working them. 



Sailing from Valparaiso on the 15th of Novem- 

 ber, on the 16th, a little before sunset, we steered 

 into the bay of Coquimbo ; and, having anchored the 

 ship, landed at a point near some huts, in order 

 to inquire our way to the town of La Serena, or 

 Coquimbo, lying two leagues to the northward. 



On entering a remote foreign port which no 

 one on board the ship has before visited, there 

 always arises a delightful feeling of curiosity and 

 uncertainty, which recalls those juvenile emotions 

 with which every boy has read Robinson Crusoe. 

 The reality, in general, comes fully up to the vivid 

 promise which the imagination holds out, nor is 

 this interest abated by the repeated sight of new 

 objects; but on the contrary, each new place seems 

 more curious than the last ; and as the sphere of 

 observation is enlarged, curiosity becomes more 

 impatient, though, at the same time, it is fortu- 

 nately more easily gratified. The world, indeed, 

 in every place is so thickly crowded with new and 

 varied objects, that no traveller, even by the most 

 awakened attention, can observe thoroughly the 

 details of any scene ; and his interest is thus kept 

 constantly alive by the certainty of meeting every- 

 where with novelty. If he does not fall in with it 

 in the great outlines and broad distinctions, he is 

 sure at least to find it in the minute shades of dif- 

 ference, which experience will teach him to discri- 

 minate, and enable him to apply with increased 

 satisfaction, as the objects of comparison are multi- 

 plied and his familiarity with them extended. In 

 the first instance, the observer's pleasure springs 

 out of ignorance — in the course of time it is derived 

 from his knowledge. 



Just as we were mounting our horses, two 

 English gentlemen from Coquimbo came galloping 

 towards the landing-place. They had mistaken 

 our ship for the American frigate Constellation, 

 on board of which a son of one of them was 

 expected to come as passenger. The father bore 



