100 
PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
hills were several cattle grazing. These were the only marks of 
civilization 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-look¬ 
ing fishermen, the coast here had the same desolate appearance 
as the rest we had seen, and since we had left Mocha but little 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 they 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; and as I perceived some rocks lying off it, I dou¬ 
bled it with a stiff breeze from the southward, at the distance 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 ap¬ 
proach to it: first a long sandy beach, on the opposite side, offered 
itself to 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, shipping 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 presented to us was as animated and cheer¬ 
ful as it was sudden and unexpected; and had I not hoisted En¬ 
glish colours, I should have been tempted to run in and anchor. 
A moment’s reflection induced me to believe, that, under existing 
