NOTICES OF CHILE. 



109 



ing unembarrassed over one shoulder, complete the travelling 

 dress. 



One advantage of this mode of travelling, is that the travel- 

 ler is free to choose his hour for setting out, as well as that for 

 halting ; and as only two can ride together, he always has the 

 privilege of selecting his travelling companion. In 1826, the 

 gig, horses, &c. were hired to go from Valparaiso to Santiago 

 for seventeen dollars ; owing to the increase of commerce, and 

 the consequent necessity of more frequent communication be- 

 tween the port and the capital, the price is reduced to ten. 



About one o'clock P. M., our " capatdz" (sort of prefect or 

 overseer) brought the gig to the door ; and, having seen our 

 trunks carefully lashed with thongs of hide to the sides of a 

 pair of patient baggage mules, we mounted. While chatting 

 with our friends, and giving occasional directions about the 

 mules, our vehicle was well stowed with what are called "en- 

 comi6ndas," or small packages, directed to various persons in 

 Santiago. We were seated ; the postillion looked back, nodded 

 his head, and said, interrogatively, *'^yavamos, Seiiores 

 — do we start now, gentlemen? We answered, ''vamos." He 

 bestowed his whip right and left, and we trotted off as fast as 

 the many obstructions, from mules and carretas, crowded in 

 the narrow street, would allow. On reaching the lower end of 

 the Almendrdl, we met the second ^^peon,"* or postillion, 

 with a troop of six or eight horses, destined as a relay upon 

 the road. We halted ; the capitdz came up with the mules, and 

 drove them, as well as the extra horses, ahead. In the mean 

 time, the second postillion hitched on to the vehicle, by a 

 thong passing from the shaft to his saddle girth ; then both ap- 

 plying whip and spur, we moved up the Altos de Valparaiso 

 at a round trot, with three horses abreast. 



Domingo, the capataz, had several new straw hats, which he 

 was carrying to some of his friends ; they were placed one 

 within the other, and then upon his own, forming a pyramid 

 on his head. He had changed the pace of his stout, long bodied 

 iiorse, into a walk, when Domingo threw the rein behind him, 



• The word " peon" designates a laboring man. 



