70 



MENDOZA. 



the water of which is seldom up to their knees, the 

 men and women all together ; and certainly, of all 

 the scenes which in my life I have witnessed, I 

 never beheld one so indescribable. 



However, to return to the Almeida : — the walk 

 is often illuminated in a very simple manner by 

 paper lamps, which are cut into the shapes of stars, 

 and are lighted by a single candle. There is ge- 

 nerally a band of music playing, and at the end of 

 the walk is a temple built of mud, which is very 

 elegant in its form, and of which it may truly be 

 said materiam superabat opus." 



The few evenings I was at Mendoza, I always 

 went as a complete stranger to this Almeida to eat 

 ices, which, after the heat of the day, were exceed- 

 ingly delightful and refreshing ; and as I put spoon- 

 ful after spoonful into my mouth, looking above 

 me at the dark outline of the Cordillera, and hst- 

 ening to the thunder which I could sometimes hear 

 rumbling along the bottoms of the ravines, and 

 sometimes resounding from the tops of the moun- 

 tains, I used always to acknowledge, that if a man 

 could but bear an indolent life, there can be no 

 spot on earth where he might be more indolent and 



