CHILIAN DINNER. 



143 



ciability of the breakfast party, for in these coun- 

 tries 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 sa- 

 tisfied. 



We 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, 

 exceedingly good, and enriched either with fish 

 or meat, a distinction so immaterial, we thought, 

 that our surprise was considerable when we ob- 

 served a gentleman of the party start up, and, 

 with a look as if he had swallowed poison, ex- 

 claim, O 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 returned with a most woe-begone coun- 

 tenance, and finished his plate of soup as if it had 

 been the last he was ever to taste. A feeling of 

 delicacy prevented our asking questions, although 



