NOTICES OP CHILE. 



119 



tive qualities to any bread I have ever tasted. It is generally 

 made in the form of small rolls. 



Soon after ending our meal we retired to our respective 

 sleeping apartments. Mine was furnished with a mattress, 

 spread upon a platform of reeds placed side by side, raised two 

 feet from the ground, and covered by a coarse '^petate" or 

 mat. A wash-stand stood under a vile distorter of personal 

 beauty — a Chinese mirror about a foot square. — I found conso- 

 lation, however, soon after, being buried up to the chin in 

 Feroni's clean bed. 



At daylight, according to direction, the capatdz knocked at 

 the door, and holding a lantern up to the window, cried, 

 <^Senor, arriba, arriba!" — up, up. Sir! Feroni had prepared 

 tea for us, which was a comfort of a cold morning, and in which 

 the big Frenchman joined us. Then, settling himself alone in 

 his gig, rolled in a large blue cloak, tying a comforter around 

 his neck, burying his chin in its folds, placing a little fur cap 

 on his head, well drawn down in front, leaving no part of his 

 face uncovered, (for his eyes were defended by a pair of spec- 

 tacles), off he drove before us. We took our seats, almost as 

 well defended as the Frenchman, and followed. As we dashed 

 out of the gate, our wheels broke through a sheet of ice nearly 

 an inch thick. The sun had not yet risen above the moun- 

 tains which encircle the plain ; the air was calm and piercing ; 

 the sky was clear blue, and a star still lingered in sight. Our 

 road lay before us in one long, straight line, of three leagues 

 and a half, to the Cuesta de Zapdta. The hedges on either hand 

 were dry, and the trees every where leafless. 



At the foot of the Cuesta are a number of Algarrobo and 

 Quillai trees. Here Manuel hitched his horse to the gig, and 

 we ascended the zigzag road of the Cuesta, three horses abreast. 

 Its highest point is 1850 feet* above the level of the sea. When 

 we reached it, we looked back upon the road we had just 

 passed, which appeared like a single white line stretched across 

 the plain. Here we felt, for the first time that morning, the 

 cheering influence of the sun's rays, which thawed our silence 



* Mlers. 



