1835. 



QUI APO ' ITLPU CATTLE. 



461 



At Quiapo we had a mixture of corn and water, which T 

 thought tolerably good. It is a common mess among the 

 lower class of natives in many countries besides Chile.* A 

 few handfuls of roasted corn, roughly pounded between two 

 stones, were put into a cow's horn, half full of cold water, 

 and well stirred about with a stick until changed into a sub- 

 stantial mess of cold porridge. Our haste shortened the jour- 

 ney, and we should have reached Arauco in good time, had 

 not a second guide (the man who waited at Quiapo with the 

 Arauco horses) mistaken the road, and taken us along a track 

 which was crossed by two rivers, not then fordable. His error 

 was not discovered until too late, and to pass the rivers we 

 were obliged to make a delay of several hours. The tract 

 of country we traversed this day, was as fine as any that I 

 have attempted to describe. I do not think we rode over or 

 even saw an acre of unproductive land. The woody districts 

 were very pleasing to the eye, and as specimens of a rich and 

 fertile country almost in a state of nature, equally so to the 

 mind. In many places our road lay through an open forest, 

 where fine trees stood at considerable distances apart, and not 

 being surrounded by underwood allowed us to gallop between 

 them as we pleased. I thought of England's forests in the 

 ' olden time.' 



In one of the quiet woodland glades we passed through, 

 some of the finest cattle I ever saw were grazing. One im- 

 mense animal would have attracted admiration, even by the 

 side of show-cattle in England. Very large, well-shaped, and 

 extremely fat, he looked and moved as if few things had ever 

 caused him to turn against his will. These cattle have owners, 

 I was told, but are seldom molested : once perhaps in some 

 years a large number may be killed for the sake of their 

 hides and tallow; and even then so extensive and so little 

 known are these woods, that a considerable proportion of the 

 cattle are not seen by their indolent destroyers, nor yet at 

 the almost nominal musters which take place annually. The 



• Among^ the Araucanian aborigines it is made with maize, and called 

 ulpu. 



