THE ANDES. 



13 



go, to bring back a sister who was at Santiago 

 on a visit. Don Melchor, our guide^, knew 

 this person very well, and we found him an 

 agreeable addition to our little cavalcade. 



The sun had given me such a headache, that 

 I made my servant hang up the hammock 

 between two wooden posts supporting an 

 open shed, and turned in at four o^clock to 

 repose. The day had become quite overcast, 

 when we reached this farm-house. The clouds, 

 descending from the Andes, swept over the 

 plain in such black and threatening masses, 

 that it was evident they were brewing mischief 

 for us ; and it turned out that we had no rea- 

 son to regret so early a halt on that day^s 

 march. About nine o^clock the storm began 

 in dreadful peals, which were echoed by the 

 Andes, where ^^from crag to crag, leapt the live 

 thunder the intensity of the vivid lightning 



