20 



Poster's Voyage 



and wishing to have some communication with them, I hoisted 

 the English ensign and pendant, and a jack for a pilot, but 

 none of them appeared disposed to come alongside. In the bot- 

 tom of the bay was a small enclosure with a hut, and on the top 

 of the next projecting point was another small building, appa- 

 rently covered with tiles. On the sides of the neighbouring hills 

 were several cattle grazing. These were the only marks of civi- 

 lization we had yet met on the coast, and nothing whatever ap- 

 peared to indicate our approach to the most important city of 

 Chili. With the exception of the few cattle that grazed on the 

 arid rocks, the two huts before mentioned, and the miserable 

 looking fishermen, the coast here had the same desolate appear- 

 ance as the rest we had seen ; and since we left Mocha, but Uttle 

 of it had escaped our observation. It was in vain that we sought 

 for those handsome villages, well-cultivated hills, and fertile 

 valleys, which we had been prepared to meet in this part of the 

 world. 



The whole coast is skirted by a black and gloomy rock, 

 against the perpendicular sides of which the sea beats with fury. 

 At the back of this rock the country appears dreary beyond 

 description. Yellow and barren hills, cut by torrents into deep 

 ravines, and sprinkled sparingly here and there with shrubs ; 

 but not a tree of any size was to be seen on this whole extent 

 of coast. When the weather was clear we always saw the Andes ; 

 and as these were never clear of snow, they were not calculated to 

 give us a more favourable impression of the interior. 



The next point which presented itself, on the top of which the 

 afore-mentioned tile-covered house was situated, was the point 

 of Angels, which I had learned formed the western point of the 

 Bay of Valparaiso. As I perceived some rocks lying off it, I 

 doubled it, with a stiff breeze from the southward, at the dis- 

 tance of nearly half a mile, keeping the lead going, but got no 

 bottom at ,the depth of sixty fathoms. As we rounded this point, 

 I sought with my glass the city of Valparaiso, or some proofs 

 of our approach to it : first a long sandy beach, on the oppo- 

 site side, offered itself to my view ; next a large drove of loaded 

 mules coming down the side of the mountain by a zigzag 

 pathway , and in an instant afterwards the whole town, ship- 

 ping with their colours flying, and the forts, burst out as it were 

 from behind the rocks, and we found ourselves becalmed under 

 the guns of a battery prepared to fire into us. The scene pre- 

 sented to us was as animated and cheerful as it was sudden and 

 unexpected ; and had I not hoisted English colours, I should have 

 been tempted to run in and anchor. A moment's reflection in- 

 duced me to believe, that, under existing circumstances, it would 

 not be adviseable to do so, as several large Spanish ships, with 



