66 



VALPARAISO. 



dow, which was shaded by a piazza. Though 

 the sun shone brilliantly the air was cool and 

 lights like a May morning in Italy. I never 

 experienced a more agreeable temperature. 

 The latitude is nearly the same as that of 

 Buenos Ayres. The town consists of a long, 

 narrow street, built like Hastings under the 

 cliff, and it follows the sinuosities of the shore 

 close to the sea-side. The houses have all 

 altos or stories above the ground-floor; they 

 are not flat-roofed. Painted piazzas are sub- 

 stituted for balconies almost at every house, 

 and their diff*erent colours give the town a 

 lively appearance. Gauchos on horseback, 

 with large straw hats and white ponchos 

 were riding up the streets to the market 

 at the further end of it, and droves of mules 

 were passing loaded with fruit packed in the 

 same sort of flexible portmanteau as that in 



