SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
227 
machine which ought to be a mutual accommodation be¬ 
tween man and horse, is often a torment to both. The 
clumsy stirrups, however, which are neither more nor less 
than wooden boxes for the feet, each hollowed out of a 
simple block, are convenient for passing through the thorny 
forests, where they protect the feet admirably; but they are 
strange looking things, and, added to the weight of the 
saddle, would be reckoned in England almost as burdensome 
to the horse as if he carried double. 
The first three or four miles leading from the village 
of fishing-huts and warehouses to La Serena, lies over a 
dreary track of sand, dotted with a few low shrubs; but on 
approaching the town, the scenery improves into positive 
beauty. The white buildings are disposed on a gentle de¬ 
clivity, having on one side a bright sandy bay, and on the 
other a fertile valley, through which the river winds in many 
turns ere it reaches the sea. Among the houses, groves of 
olive, citron, palm, and fig-trees give freshness and shade; 
and, in the distance, the Andes present every form of moun¬ 
tain grandeur. 
A friend belonging to the Anglo-Chilian mining com¬ 
pany, to whom we had given a passage from Valparaiso, fur¬ 
nished us with beds, and proposed to us, on the following 
g g 2 
