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DESCRIPTION OF OUR 



to let its head out for eating, with scarcely room 

 to turn. Its reign in these small prisons is very 

 short, being soon suffocated from its own dirt 

 and want of air; for cleaning them out they never 

 dream of. I now come to my travelling com- 

 panions, whom, as I have observed, were bro- 

 thers, and natives of Mendoza : the youngest, a 

 man about thirty-four, was a lieutenant- colonel 

 in the Peruvian army ; he wore ear-rings. They 

 purchased the carriage on the strength of meeting 

 with two Englishmen, who paid them a hundred 

 and twenty-five silver dollars each for their seats, 

 and for which they paid two thousand paper dol- 

 lars, or shillings, which was the current rate of ex- 

 change at the time. It was ridiculous to see with 

 what pride they surveyed this vehicle every day ; 

 and they did not, positively, know how to open or 

 shut the door, or let down the steps. Every 

 wretched post-house we stopped at, a description 

 of the carriage was given, a general survey held, 

 the door opened and shut, the glasses let up and 

 down half-a-dozen times, very much to the amuse- 



