WHALING VOYAGE. 
207 
his complexion,— the frozen regions of the southern or 
northern pole may retard the rapid current of his blood, 
but they can neither change nor retard the warm and 
generous feelings of an Englishman, wherever he may 
happen to reside. 
One day, on going up to the town of C o qui m b o , — th e 
best way to get to it from the port, as it is called, is 
on the back of a mule,— I found the inhabitants merry- 
making, and celebrating the feast of the “Cheya;” in 
this commemoration they have a very remarkable usage 
of throwing water at each other, or at any person they 
may meet or see in the street ; the poorer persons carry 
it about in bladders, which have a small hole made in 
some part of them, which allows the fluid to escape at 
the will of the projector. By merely employing a little 
pressure upon it, a long stream of water rushes out, and 
bespatters the face of any luckless perambulator who 
does not quickly take to his heels or otherwise escape 
the ablution ; but those who are higher in the scale of 
Croesus employ other means of enjoying their recreation. 
The ladies, for instance, amuse themselves by sprinkling 
rose or other scented waters upon the pedestrian from a 
balcony or window, and great is their delight when they 
succeed in surprising the unwary traveller with their 
odoriferous shower-baths. Such was my fate one fine 
evening, just before sunset: as I was passing through a 
quiet and lonely street, I was attracted to a certain spot, 
on perceiving a few very beautiful flowers lying scattered 
on the pavement, which happened to be directly under a 
balcony, and which had no doubt been purposely placed 
