60 



SANTIAGO. 



with two horses^ carrying some travellers to 

 Valparaiso. This mode of performing the 

 journey from the capital to the seaport^ is the 

 most common^ and sufficiently rapid ; but our 

 long seasoning gallop over the Pampas had 

 made us more at home in our saddles^ than we 

 could have been in a jolting vehicle, over a bad 

 stony road. 



At about two o^clock we reached Bustamente^ 

 on the plain, beyond the mountains we had 

 crossed* This is a solitary inn, surrounded by 

 trees and a garden, and kept by a Portuguese, 

 who speaks English. Here we got an excellent 

 breakfast of coffee, tea, eggs, fresh butter, and 

 beef steaks ; besides peaches, figs, and sweet- 

 meats ; a most luxurious diet, especially when 

 compared with the miserable fare we had been 

 reduced to on the Pampas. 



We had heard at Santiago of a murder re~ 



