22 



CHILI. 



vered with mats, serves as a couch for the siesta 

 sleepers after dinner. 



In one cottage we found a young woman grind- 

 ing corn in a very primitive mill, which consisted 

 of two stones, one a large grooved block placed on 

 the ground, the other polished, and about twice 

 the size of her hand. The unground corn appear- 

 ed to be baked till it could be crumbled into pow- 

 der between the finger and thumb: this coarseflour, 

 when mixed with water, made an agreeable drink 

 called Ulpa. 



In some of the Quebradas, we occasionally dis- 

 covered houses of a better class, generally occu- 

 pied by elderly ladies of small incomes, who had 

 relinquished the fashionable and expensive parts 

 of the town, for more remote, though not less com- 

 fortable dwellings. Nothing could exceed the 

 neatness and regularity which prevailed in these 

 houses ; where we were often received by the in- 

 mates with a politeness of manners, indicating that 

 they had known better days. These good ladies ge- 

 nerally entertained us with the celebrated Paraguy 

 tea, called Mattee, a beverage of which the inhabit- 

 ants are passionately fond. Before infusion, the 



