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Deposited by the
Linonian and Brothers Library
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OVER THE ANDES

'OLD HOUSE OF THE SPANISH VICEROYS, LIMA.

[Frontispiece.

OVER THE ANDES

THE ARGENTINE TO CHILI
AND PERU

MA¥ CROMMELIN

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1896
All rights reserved

TO
THE MANY KIND HOSTS
WHOSE GUEST I GLADLY WAS
DURING MY TOUR, IN 1894, ROUND SOUTH AMERICA,
AND HOME BY JAMAICA.

A RANCHO IN THE ARGENTINE.

CONTENTS.

THE SILVER RIVER ....
IN THE CAMP ....
BUENOS AYRES, OR THE TOWN OF GOOD AIRS
THE GRINGO'S DREAM
KEEPING THE BALL GOING .
A 'CARBONADA,' OR HASH OF VARIED MATTER
CROSSING THE CORDILLERAS
VIVA CHILE1 .....
VALPARAISO, THE VALE OF PARADISE
FEAST-DAYS IN CHILI
SANTIAGO, OR THE CITY OF ST. JAMES
THE HOME OF THE HUASO .
ADIEU TO CHILI ....
A LAND OF ' AFTER TO-MORROW ' .
STREET SIGHTS IN LIMA
IN A PERUVIAN VILLAGE
DAILY LIFE IN MIRAFLORES

I
21
45 7i
97
ITQ141165188
2IO
235 257
275
2822933°4
3i8

CONTENTS

SANTA ROSA OF LIMA, AND HER NATIVE CITY
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS IN THE LAND OF THE SUN
A MORNING IN A SUGAR-MILL
WHERE THE SUGAR-CANE GROWS
GOOD-BYE TO PERU .....

331
346358 37°379

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

old house of the Spanish viceroys, lima Frontispiece
a rancho in the argentine . . to face page
an argentine ox-waggon
plaza victoria, buenos ayres
A CORRAL ....
OMBU-TREE ....
ARGENTINE CARTS .
DIAGRAM OF AN OLD-FASHIONED CREOLE HOUSE IN BUENOS
AYRES ....
A GAUCHO ....
A RANCHO ....
THE INN OF LAS VACAS
OLD POSADA AT JUNCAL
SANTA ROSA DE LOS ANDES
CHILIAN ON HORSEBACK
CHILIAN POULTERER'S STOCK IN TRADE
A RANCHO IN CHILI
CHAJUAL PLANTS ; PEASANT RIDING
ARAUCANIAN WOMAN
A HACIENDADO
A RUBRICA ....
MODERN CUZCO, THE FORMER CITY OF THE SUN

to face page

CANNIBAL WOMAN OF PERENE

I
22
44 70
96
108 134 148
150 158176
184 189196216
233261 264270383384

OVER THE ANDES

THE SILVER RIVER.
Waking in the morning, after arriving off Buenos
Ayres, one's first impression of the Argentine Re
public and of its great waterway, the Rio de la
Plata, is a round vista seen through the cabin port
hole. That first glance is a surprise. What ! Is
this the sheeny stream which, when first viewed in
the sunlight, as tradition supposes, caused its Spanish
discoverers to call it the Silver River ?
Rather the view is of a sea of liquid mud ; for
miles of wave-crested flood, brown as a mountain-
stream after a spate, are heaving and gleaming to
the horizon. Call it a bay, an estuary ; but the
water is fresh. One's morning bath to-day much
resembles a dip into a marble basin filled with
cocoa ; but then, as the stewardess encouragingly
remarks, 'It is so soft for the skin. I always re
commend my ladies to try it.' And her words are
those of wisdom.

THE SILVER RIVER

Coming on deck to have a look round, a yellow
flag is flying aloft. Around us lie some seven-and-
fifty other vessels, each carrying the same hated
signal. Alas ! we are in quarantine for a week,
because the Nile touched at Rio three days ago,
where, besides fighting, there is yellow fever.
Yonder vessels have come straight from Europe,
but small-pox and cholera are equally dreaded by
the authorities here. In point of fact, a traveller's
first experience of the Argentine Republic is pretty
nearly always — quarantine ! Well for those travel
lers, like ourselves on the Royal Mail Nile, who are
allowed to stay on board, as paying guests, enjoying
ship's comforts. More often, and always if any case
of suspicious illness occur, the passengers are landed
on the little island of Martin Garcia. Vivid tales
during the late week of gloomy forebodings have
been poured into my ears of disagreeable experiences
there ; of the wretched building and its insufficient
dormitories for the two sexes, bare of almost neces
saries ; of the daily expense, yet lack of enough and
proper food, till once an irate band of men pas
sengers caught the cheating island cook and cuffed
him. Enough that all the 'foreigners,' mostly
English, on board agreed that Martin Garcia is a
disgrace to the Argentine Republic. ' But, then,
what better can one expect from such a Govern
ment ?' This remark generally ended all similar
discussions, and seemed voted unanswerable.

IN QUARANTINE

For six more days, then, our ship remained
motionless, 'taking a list on one side.' In conse
quence, some of us slept as if cradled in a V ; others
found their toes up and heads down. And in walk
ing, everyone's person slanted strangely as if sud
denly tipsy or practising for an Alpine climb at the
angle of a capital / italicised. We looked at the
land — a far-away, low, blue bank ; nothing to be
seen. We looked in each other's faces, and read
dissatisfaction : owners of estancias, or farms, anxious
lest in the late summer drought their cattle might
have died in unusually great number ; others because
wheat was said to have gone down in price ; a few
sad at returning to what they felt a land of exile.
All the old residents seemed to feel a sense of
coming struggle, of striving and strain. Holidays
at home were over, and these bearded men were
going back to their tasks reluctantly. That was the
keynote. It was curious to watch them, for a
passing traveller like myself. What a contrast with
the merry carelessness of the young fellows fresh
out, who all had Spanish grammars in their cabins,
but 'could not study on board.' 'You'll never do
any good until you know the language ; the sooner
you begin the better,' said their seniors gravely, but
unregarded. Some of us therefore played ' bull'— throwing
quoits on a numbered board. Others fished long
hours, catching at last one cat-fish, a whiskered,

&

THE SILVER RIVER

ugly, gurnet-like thing, with a fin on the back that
cut like a razor, and which the sailors declared made
a poisoned wound. Also the Argentine doctor on
board, who watched us as a cat might so many mice,
ordered what clothes we had worn to be baked in
the oven. Luckily, as we were allowed to keep
back silk garments and shoes, nothing was a penny
the worse. Sometimes a sadly different tale is told
of a bride's finery scorched to the hue of browned
mashed potatoes, men's boots curled as if in the
frying-pan. One day a bitter wind blew from the
south, making us all shiver and remember which
pole we were nearing. And, two nights, blue sheet-
lightnings flashed over the sky with extraordinary
rapidity, giving almost the effect of spray driving
before a gale. A storm followed, when torrents of
rain swept the decks as if a waterspout had burst
overhead. Then orange lightning brightened the
intense darkness of the night-scene. So the days
of waiting passed dully. Every morning all eyes
watched for the post, viz., a little steam-launch that
came bobbing fussily round the idle ships delivering
newspapers and letters.
At last one night a launch came alongside, bring
ing various husbands and brothers to greet their
families, and also the glad news that we were allowed
to land next morning.
On March 10, 1894, therefore, we prepared to
land in the Argentine Republic, exactly a month

WHAT THIS BOOK PROFESSES TO BE 5
since we left Southampton. And now, while every
one who has been packing since daybreak finds
nothing left to do during the next long hours — that
the chairs are all tied in a pile, and the deck
supremely uncomfortable — this is a good chance to
tell the modest intention with which this book
on the Argentine will have been written. It is
simply to give a woman's bird's-eye view of
life out there ; what I saw with my own eyes of
scenery and society, of comforts and discomforts
in daily existence, of all that strikes one when
fresh from England of differences from home.
What, further, I learned from the lips of old resi
dents first on board ship, and then during some five
weeks' visit at the British Legation ; and this part
deals with the past and future of the country, its
agricultural prospects, of the golden expectations it
cherished during the boom, and the position it may
yet gain, if rightly ambitious, among the countries
which are the new granaries and meat-markets to
the overcrowded Old World. A few more jottings
also on the gaucho and the gringo ; on the dream
which every British-bred man here, whether biding
his time on a cattle estancia or in a town office,
hopes to realize ' some day '; on the camp and the
capital ; on a new walk round the world. But we
shall see.
My visit to the country was purely one of pleasure
— a rest after being on the wave, and before taking

THE SILVER RIVER

wing for a fresh flight across the mountains to Chili.
Therefore, seeing that on leaving home I knew no
one in the Argentine beyond my old friends at the
British Legation, and on arrival met with universal
kindness and attentions, my description may be
coloured to a somewhat rosy hue. But still, not
owning a sixpence in any one Argentine invest
ment, nor a single relation or old friend trying to
make money in the strange land, at least no per
sonal wishes tinge these views to brightness. This
last is rare.
There are few of us in England who have not a
younger brother or cousin farming in the Argentine.
At least, we are certain to know of some neighbour's
son out there — an arrow from an overfull quiver, shot
across seas to find his mark. But what do we really
know of the daily lives of such, with their tasks and
pleasures ; of their hopes and failures, flocks and
herds ; the drought caused by their summer sun,
the bitter cold of the winter wind, the pampero,
blowing from the south ?
Very little.
Vaguely we remark, ' Oh, young Green is ranch
ing, you know.' Or, ' The Brown boys are some
where on the pampas.' Some misty ideas therewith
begin to float in our brains, roused by dim recollec
tions of novels on Australian Bush life or tales of
Texas. With this we are satisfied. But only wait
till these Brown boys come home, grown to be men,

WHAT THIS BOOK PROEESSES TO BE 7
and they are first amused, then actually impatient,
with the lack of interest — what they even call the
crass ignorance — of their families and friends.
And I, too, lived for years in this state of
Egyptian darkness of mind, only a little enlightened
by meeting a young man who had returned on a
holiday to England to seek a wife. He delighted
in displaying his lasso, heavy spurs, and flat, plaited
riding-whip to us, besides slipping into his poncho,
which is, roughly speaking, a coloured blanket with
a hole in the middle for the wearer's head. (Some,
of course, are handsome, and made of fine cloth ; all
are picturesque, falling in a fold on the shoulders
with pointed and fringed ends formed by the
corners of the cloak.) But this was all — or little
more. ' You see, it's all awfully different out there, but
I've not got the gift of the gab,' confessed the young
fellow frankly on being questioned. ' Any way, it's
a much freer life, and I shan't be sorry to be back
and aboard one of my horses again. I've got any
amount of them on our estancia. Now, at home
I could never afford to do more than hire one — ¦
sometimes.' It was a very warm morning as the Nile, snorting
oudly, got up steam, and her huge bulk began
stirring presently the turbid, shallow river, till in
about an hour she neared the entrance of the
Ensenada Canal. This looked exactly like a pair

THE SILVER RIVER

of long black nippers, stretching a mile or two out
on the water, to seize passing ships and convey
them to the maw of an invisible land monster. A
wrong impression, for its strong sides do the good
work of keeping a channel free of mud up to the
docks. Only smaller vessels than our floating
hotel go right up to Buenos Ayres itself, and we
think ourselves lucky not to have been stuck on a
bank, as happened last voyage, before getting into
the canal.
And now the new-comers stare with anxious eyes
at this land that is to be their new home for many
years maybe. There is room enough ; it is six
times as large as France. Will they make their
fortunes ? Will they toil till past middle life, and
still only find footing low down on the ladder that
their fellows have climbed ?
Here begin low banks to the canal where willows
are refreshingly green to our seafaring eyes. One
old resident takes up his parable, and says : ' That
is the sauce, (saw-see) : it was introduced by the
Spaniards, like all the other trees in this part.
People say there was not a single indigenous tree
hereabouts except the ombu, and it is no good for
anything but shade.' ' Ah ! there is pampas-grass,'
cries a lady, pleasurably recognizing tall silver
plumes stirring in the faint breeze. ' Pampa-grass,
please,' put in an estancia-owner mildly. ' Excuse
me for possible rudeness in correcting you. Livino-

THE PORT OF ENSENADA

out in the camp for months without ladies' society
one grows boorish, I know. Still, you don't say
meadow'.y-grass at home.' Pampa-grass, he further
vouchsafes, is no longer often seen growing wild
excepting in low land. Wherever cattle come, it
begins to disappear, and so seems dying out except
in Indian grounds.
By one o'clock we were moored alongside the
quay, close to a big Custom-house shed, and eagerly
viewing a train awaiting us out on the sunny, sandy
plain. . . . Towards five o'clock of the afternoon,
hot, limp, and dejected, the last passengers emerged
from that same aduana, hurrying to the gaping
gangway in the side of the hospitable Nile for a
last lemon and soda before starting. What a time !
— all indignantly sighed, with memories of the quick
work that British officials at Liverpool or South
ampton would have made of our baggage.
But here we are in a land where nobody hurries
anything — except their horses. It is maddening,
when you want something done right off, to be
smiled on, or shrugged at, and answered ' Manana !'
(To-morrow !), which you soon learn signifies a day
that may come next month, even next year — or
never ! There is often no help for it but to possess
one's soul in patience. The Custom-house ways
were to transport all the luggage pell-mell into the
barn-like building, shooting it down in varied piles
on the ground. Among these wandered disconsolate

THE SILVER RIVER

or eager-eyed owners of lost property, poking,
searching, and fussing, deck-chairs and cabin-trunks
being exasperatingly alike and numerous.
Thanks to having little luggage and a large painted
name on each item, my trunks were soon gathered
from the four corners of the building by friendly
hands. I sat down on my property, watching one
fellow-traveller who had a list of nine-and-twenty
articles, and defending my own heap from the zealous
snatching of other people's porters, who, like 'the
hosts of Midian,' came and prowled around. It was
too hot for words — only fit for ejaculations. Pre
sently came the dreaded inspection, which is reputed
terribly severe. Here luck again helped me. A
fellow-passenger, who had been twenty years in the
country and was returning on a visit, being director
of some of the principal railways, had kindly taken
me in charge. He, helped by friends who had come
to welcome him, made a great show of eagerness in
dragging forward my luggage while keeping up in
Spanish a hot running fire of comment. ' Hombre !
hombre ! (Man, man !) don't look too close at a lady's
belongings. It isn't civil, hardly in good taste.
Who here wants to pry into everything ? She
has nothing to declare — she says so.' The official
looked as if he would have liked to examine some
suspiciously new-looking gowns and hats much more
closely, for duty on any new articles is very heavy.
But, most likely out of respect for my friend, he

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

passed me free. Almost all my fellow-passengers
had to pay more or less. One bride on her wedding-
presents ; a gentleman seven guineas on a dress that
a lady friend had asked him to bring out for her ;
another bachelor five pounds on a parcel of children's
clothes entrusted to his care. The lesson is worth
remembering for intending travellers hither. I even
heard of these same officials, when less pressed for
time than usual — save the mark ! — rummaging
through all the contents of one family's trunks and
charging on new gloves and the soiled pieces of an
old silk gown unpicked in Europe and brought out
as possibly useful.
When in the evening we really got into our train,
this left nothing to be desired. Pullman cars, with
seats for two, reversible, so as to make a parti carrd,
and covered with a cool rush or grass plaited texture
from which dust is easily brushed. All around
spread low ground, flat as the pastures of Holland,
though the grass was far coarser, and dried up after
the summer drought, but equally clothed with herds
of cattle and also horses. This plain, nevertheless,
was called ' rolling land ' by my neighbours, who
pointed out some very slight swells in the distance
noticeable against the evening sky, in which the sun
was now dropping like a fiery bomb diffusing a red
haze. I ought to see the south of the province.
There the land was absolutely flat as the sea, with
never a bush or a tree to be seen — none !

THE SILVER RIVER

I could see very few where we were. ' There
appear to be no stones,' I said. This last remark
was accepted without correction. There is not so
much as a pebble for little naughty boys to fling at
windows, and therefore mud is used for building
purposes, a process I saw later.
First impressions are always the most striking ;
but it is as well to make certain they are not wrong.
Mine I was always glad to submit to the criticism of
' old Argentine hands,' who would rouse thereat to
fresh interest in what custom had staled for them,
adding explanations that, like postscripts, contained
more matter of interest than what preceded them.
So now I noticed that along the dusty roads, and
in some hamlets by which our train passed, there
were many poor-looking men on horseback. They
were, never trotting, but cantering easily on long-
tailed little nags, a sheepskin or two under their
saddles. ' One might fancy,' I remarked, ' that
while English labourers trudge home at sunset,
these ride.'
' Quite so,' assented my kind friend before-men
tioned, of the Custom-house, to whom I also owed,
when on shipboard, hours of interesting conversation
upon his long experiences in the Argentine Republic.
' They all own horses here ; thirty shillings even
will buy one. When I came out as a young man, it
was no uncommon thing to see a man riding in the
streets of Buenos Ayres, who would pull off his

BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK 13
ragged hat and hold it towards you, asking alms for
the love of God.'*
This idea of ' beggars on horseback ' tickled my
sense of the ludicrous ; a few weeks later, when 650
miles inland, I enjoyed seeing the spectacle myself.
' Well, but these are rather sorry-looking animals,
surely,' was the next observation hazarded ; for, in
deed, the subjects of discussion were not only sorry
but melancholy seeming little horses. Some had
ewe necks, drooping hindquarters, and the most an
air of general dejection of outline not much enlivened
by their being often spotted bay and white, or pie
bald, like circus horses.
' Yes, but they are very enduring. I have ridden
sixty miles myself in a day on one horse, and some
will even do a hundred. Of course, then you turn
your beast loose for a fortnight. But as to that, I
remember once, when we were riding for some days
on a journey, I noticed a peon called Pedro, who
was riding the same horse for two days running. It
was a very ugly pony ; a big head and body like a
barrel, with legs so short one might have nicknamed
it The Dachshund. " Pedro," said I, " why not take
* The editor of the Standard, Mr. M. Mulhall (who has
written a valuable handbook on the River Plate), also told me the
same tale. Forty years ago there were no poor in Buenos Ayres
except a few aged persons who wore a police-medal, and made
their rounds on horseback every Saturday, when they were pre
sented with a copper coin by charitable persons, or sent away
with the apology, ' Pardon me, brother, for giving you nothing.'

14 THE SILVER RIVER

another pony ?" for we were driving a troop of spare
ones in front of us. " Oh no, senor," said he ; " this
is a poor man's horse ; he knows what is expected of
him, and we like each other." So twenty-five to
thirty miles a day Pedro did for nearly a week on
the same beast.'
' When the horses are driven ahead, are they not
likely to scatter and give you trouble ?'
' No, because it is generally the custom to take a
mare with them from the same farm. They cluster
round her like a guard, and will even pass right
through a similar tropilla (troop), neither set ever
mixing. But sometimes the horses are tied to the
tail of a cart, as many as sixteen together.'
Another story was told me later by an acquaint
ance in the country to whose door a native rode one
evening, himself and his strawberry horse very tired,
but only meaning to rest an hour or so. They had
galloped from before sunrise about thirty leagues,
and had still some miles to go, making altogether a
hundred English miles. The host begged him to
take the loan of a fresh horse to finish the journey,
but the gaucho refused to part from his own even
for the time. Then the Englishman offered to buy
the strawberry for eight pounds, which would be a
very good price, seeing that ten will buy one of the
best in the country. But the owner again begged
to be excused ; adding, however, he would gladly
make a present of the animal, though he would not

ON RAILWAYS 15

sell it. This, on the other hand, the Britisher would
by no means hear of ; for, as he told me, such a gift
from a native generally costs one far more in the
end than buying at a fixed price. The value of
what is so politely placed & su disposicion is always
expected to be replaced, and never considered a
wiped-out debt, should you go the extreme length of
taking what you are not really wished to accept.
The dust meanwhile poured thick into the train,
as if bucketfuls were being sifted over us. Some
windows were let down on account of the March
heat, but it streamed through the wooden blinds, or
persianos. Our railways in England might, never
theless, well take a lesson from these Argentine
trains, where the passengers' comfort is admirably
well studied.
As so many people at home have money invested
in Argentine rails, which latter, since the crisis, have
naturally not paid their previous high interest, it
may be encouraging to quote the words of my friend,
the popular and universally respected director, on
this subject. Railways in the Argentine, he said to
me, have never done more work, and had less profit,
than of late! The reason of this is owing to an
under-current of want of confidence in the Govern
ment. If once this Government showed sighs of
stability, even only for four or five years, in his
opinion people would then begin to invest money
again and commerce would increase. Now, with

1 6 THE SILVER RIVER

the paper dollar worth about one shilling and three
pence of English money, instead of being equal to
four shillings and twopence, see the result. The
railway companies are obliged to raise the viages
of their servants and officials to keep them from
starving, but they are unable to raise their fares in
the same ratio — for that the travelling public would
not tolerate. Hence the low dividends, which are so
disappointing to those who used to think of their
' Argentines ' as laying golden eggs.
What wretched, tattered and soiled stuff is this
same paper currency ! On first receiving a handful
of it in lieu of a bright English sovereign, one's feel
ings are those of disgust, even of dismay, should the
recipient be of a nervous temperament, inclined to
suspect microbes lurking in what must have passed
through hundreds of grimy hands. Irish one-pound
bank-notes are bad enough, when produced on rent-
day from an old stocking and smelling of peat and
baccy. And perhaps this is the origin of the scorn
with which a mean-spirited buyer is sometimes told
over there to ' Keep your dirty money to yourself
But they are sweet and neat compared to some of
the twenty, ten, and even five-cent notes that pollute
one's purse here. Think of it ! To carry about the
equivalent (as exchange is this year and day) of a
threepenny-bit, of a penny, halfpenny, and three-
farthirigs, all in notes seeming as aged and ragged
scraps of mummy wrapping.

SALADEROS, OR BEEF-SALTING FACTORIES 17
The talk now passed on from horses to the desti
nation of the large amount of cattle I already noticed,
although to the eyes of my companions these numbers
were utterly insignificant, compared with the usually
big herds on large estancias. They told me of a
large saladero, or beef-salting business, which used
to be at Baraccas, near Buenos Ayres. Here over
a million of cows and horses were yearly slaughtered,
the latter for their hides, the former to be converted
into dried meat and sent to Brazil. This in the
course of a century became a public nuisance, as the
river close by, and also the Plate, into which it
flowed, were dark red with blood, while millions of
poisoned fish lined the riversides, producing an un
imaginable stench.
At present Espelata, about fifteen miles from the
capital, owns a saladero, called the Nelson Meat
Factory, supposed to be the largest in the world.
In the handbook of the River Plate, by Mr. Mulhall
and his brother — a most excellent work, full of
statistics and briefly-worded information about each
province, department, and even village, in the Re
public — they say of this, the Highland Scot Canning
Company establishment : ' It can slaughter 6o,oco
head of cattle and 100,000 sheep monthly. The
principal building is a quadrangle three stories high,
with a length of 600 feet on each side, covering
eight acres English. It has ten sections, all lit by
electricity and gas made on the spot. . . . Such is

1 8 THE SILVER RIVER

the neatness of the whole establishment that 500
horned cattle can be killed, cut up, and tinned in
two and a half hours, and at the close not a vestige
is left of the operation.' They add that all the tin
cases, etc., used are made on the premises, where no
less than 300 kinds of machinery are employed.
Whether this really surpasses the famous Chicago
pig transformations I do not know, but it sounds
marvellous enough in the quick food-producing line
for my taste.
Now the train is entering the suburbs of Buenos
Ayres, and passengers begin to flap themselves
energetically with handkerchiefs to remove some
top layers of their dressing of dust, the ' natives '
especially putting an artistic method into their
manner of flipping hats and flagellating backs.
The train was passing through flat-roofed buildings
that gave a semi-Oriental look to the town, while
here and there great buildings reared themselves to
the sky, ' built in the Boom time and now chock-full
of nothing,' said my companions. Looking down
at the streets, their bad pavement, full of holes and
hollows, drew my attention.
'Oh, that is a trifle,' announced my railway-
director friend cheerfully. ' There is a story told
of a man who was walking along carefully, picking
his steps as everyone in Buenos Ayres ought to do.
Presently he saw a new hat lying on the surface of
a broken-up portion of pavement, where he noticed

FIRST TIME OF SEEING BUENOS AYRES 19

a fissure. It seemed a good hat, so the finder poked
at the prize with his stick, uncovering thereby the
head of a man, who said, " Hullo !" " What are you
doing there?" retorted the other. " I've fallen in a
hole." " Heigho ! man, you are in a bad plight."
"Yes, but think how much worse off my horse is.
He is down below me !" ' This tale seemed at first
rather a camel to swallow ; but after a week's experi
ence of the extraordinary possibilities of Buenos
Ayres roads, I could almost have gulped it down
without an effort.
Soon the train steamed into the station with its
guard of white-uniformed, green-epauletted soldiers ;
and here, in the thick of a bustling crowd, my kind
hostess greeted me. It was pleasant, after the heat
and dust of the day, to emerge into the cool of the
evening air and drive through the streets, which had
the pleasingly strange look that after a few days'
acquaintance becomes a vanished charm. Here the
rude arches of an old arcade had a background of
bright colour in shops hung with cheap articles, such
as rose-striped ponchos, and brilliant yellow flannel
shirts, even trousers of the same hue. Farther on a
Chinese theatre was advertised. Then came a gleam
of the wide brown water, pretty green plazas ; here
a palm outlined against the afterglow in the sky,
there a garden pavilion perched at the angle of a
wall starred with jasmine. In every street tram-
cars, announced by tooting horns, scrambled past,

THE SILVER RIVER

no other word serving to describe the stumbling
efforts of the poor tram-horses to start after any
stoppage. Two-horsed street victorias jolted over
pavement more rough than that in any dead town
of provincial France or Italy. It was a rainless
twilight evening, but all the carriage hoods were
up, hiding the occupants. This is a custom of the
country ; the English are known by driving exposed
to the gaze of the populace. In the Calle Uruguay,
where especially the paving-stones were like boulders,
and the street apparently the bed of a mountain
torrent, we lurched into the gutter at an extreme
angle, the swarthy coachman pulled up, making a
hissing sound to his horses — said to be a relic of
Moorish custom learnt by the Spaniards — and we
entered a delightful house. It was dusk in the
drawing-room, but through two wide glass doors
one saw a square of what seemed in the twilight
green jungle. In the middle of an inner patio, or
court, converted into a garden, plashed a fountain.
Palms and bananas mingled their fronds in dark
masses, whilst roses and crimson hibiscus gleamed
faintly below. This was restful indeed to the
senses after a month at sea; and right glad I was
to be now welcomed by my host also to his home,
the British Legation.

[21 ]

IN THE CAMP.
' What is the camp ?' This question is almost
invariably put by every puzzled newcomer to the
Argentine, unless, as in my case, enlightenment was
given on board ship. It is bewildering to hear
most of our fellow-passengers talking of how their
homes are in the 'camp,' and of long rides in the
' camp '; of seeing cattle lassoed and rounded up at
rodeos in the same universal ' camp '; more surprising
still, of its loneliness !
One day during my stay the officers of Her
Majesty's gunboat Racer, calling at the Legation,
naively inquired, ' Please tell us what is this camp
they have here, for we have just met a lady and her
daughters who say they live in it.' And we all
laughed, for they joined in also, at the explanation.
The camp, then, means simply country, derived
from the Spanish campo. And a quinta, or villa,
in the suburbs, or a lonely estancia, or cattle-farm,
surrounded by leagues of grass, are equally vaguely
described as being ' in the camp.' Curiously, this

AN ARGENTINE OX-WAGGON.

WHAT THE CAMP IS 23

idiom seems so to have caught the English ear
that even the more homelike expression of the
Australians, ' to live up country,' is never once
heard. 'We are invited out to the B.'s estancia in order
to show you something of camp-life,' announced my
hostess one day. So, as I much wished to see
one of these large farms, and as Mr. B.'s estancia
especially is noted for its horse-breeding, we agreed
to start early next morning, so as to make a long
day of it. Leaving town towards ten o'clock, our
train was luckily rather empty and still cool at that
hour. The line was that of La Plata, the same
from the Pereyra junction, half-way, as that by
which I had travelled after landing at Ensenada.
But now, not being tired, there were fields of
pumpkins and sweet potatoes to notice, and maize
standing up tall and parched, all its green pride and
waving glory of blossom gone, its pennons brown
and half-mast-high, because the cobs were nearly
ripe. Then we passed the famous demesne of
Senor Don Leonardo Pereyra, on which he is
reported to have spent about two hundred thousand
pounds in improvements and the importation of prize
stock from Europe, and above all — which has woods.
These last looked so shady in the March heat, and
were so agreeably diversified with meadowland, that
the estate had quite a park-like appearance. True,
the trees on closer inspection were all blue Australian

24 IN THE CAMP
gums, and even some fine sized ones, scattered in
a glade where one longed to take a morning canter,
were not planted twenty years ago. No matter for
that. These woods are a unique sight hereabouts,
everyone says. To see really native woods one
must go farther afield to the other provinces.
At our wayside station we were met by Miss B.
with a victoria and pair of horses, and started for
a forty minutes' drive along a road three times as
broad as an English highway. This apparently lavish
prodigality of land has its good reasons, neverthe
less. The roads, be it remembered, have no stones,
not so much as a grit in them, and are therefore
more or less dusty in summer and muddy in winter.
This one, at any slight rise or fall in its generally
dead level, was broken up into respectable gullies
and watercourses, some yards wide in places, and
possibly termed 'ruts,' avoiding which, by judicious
sweeps to right and left, we had still the choice of
between three and four sets of wheel-tracks deeply
defined in brown ridges. But between these the
victoria bowled smoothly along, for carriages here
have springs meant to stand such strains as coach-
builders at home do not dream of. One of my
friends lately staying in the camp was taken out
for a long drive in a waggonette with four horses
by his host. The latter, annoyed at finding an
unexpectedly deep watercourse across the line he
wished to take, drove his team at it and up the

ON ROADS AND MUD-HOLES 25

opposite bank — with success ! But the experiment
was described as nearly equal to attempting- the feat
in England over a ditch and low bank. Miss B.
was proud of their road, nevertheless, as her father
had it mended every winter, so -that it was always
good to drive on. It is in the neighbourhood of
large towns, such as Buenos Ayres, that the heavy
bullock-carts, with their great teams of six to eight
beasts, cut up the highways into bogs of mire.
Given a slight hollow in the stiff clay soil, the
winter rains soon form a pantano, or mud pool, that
grows to a dangerous depth, literally engulfing
whatever luckless animals are driven unwarily into
it. You may see as many as six skeletons in a hole
when summer drought follows, showing where the
poor beasts had sunk up to their nostrils in the mud,
and died exhausted and choked for want of men and
ropes to drag them out.
On either side of the road the camp stretched in
a slightly-rolling expanse, with not a tree or bush to
break its surface, save for some two or three clumps
of wood in the distance. These montds, or planta
tions, proved to belong to the B. estate and that of
Mr. B.'s brother ; they are entirely of blue gum, and
have only sixteen years' growth. The eucalyptus
woods seem a happy experiment here, and, if more
largely carried out, would not only give shelter and
shade to the cattle in the fierce summer heats, but
also help to attract the oft-needed rain. For part of

26 IN THE CAMP

the way we drove by a tall hedge of prickly sina-
sina, a broom-like graceful shrub with yellow flowers,
in and out of which whirred flocks of small birds
like finches. Beyond this the wide fields lay parched
and brown, occasional tracts of lucerne, or alfalfa,
looking most verdant in contrast. Little wonder
that all estancieros, or estate-owners, are enthusiastic
in its praise.
Now we arrived at a wooden boundary gate set
in some miles of wire fencing. This was the entrance
to Mr, B.'s estate, and was opened for us by a. peon
who had come galloping from the house — a mile
away — for that purpose. A large tract of ground
here was covered with manure-heaps, in preparation
for laying down the invaluable lucerne. This will
last at least seven years, whilst it is variously esti
mated that from four to seven crops can be taken
off it in the season. Clumps of bluish-green gum-
trees dotted here and there gave a semi-English
aspect to the scene, further borne out by flocks of
ordinary sheep, and one of bigger Lincolns, grazing
in the distance. But this was altered by seeing tall
gray birds stalking about shyly, much resembling
emus, and that were, in fact, the native ostriches.*
Passing the utterly dry bed of a stream and an
equally empty pond, reminding one that here was
no land of running brooks, the drive wound under
* The rhea differs from the African ostrich in having three toes
instead of two.

THE ESTANCIA B. 27
really fine, although young, gum-trees, that cast a
delightful shade.
We skirted a garden, catching glimpses of velvet
sward and bright flowers, and stopped before a
pretty house, surrounded by a wide veranda covered
with creepers, where Mrs. B. and her family were
awaiting us with cordial welcome.
On entering the house, it was so shady and cool
that one first realized how warm the sun had been
for the last half-hour. We were taken upstairs to
as prettily furnished a bedroom as any in England,
and, after removing the March dust, which here is
not ' worth a king's ransom,' rejoined the family in a
wide upper passage used as a sitting-room. The
cane lounging chairs and noonday twilight — for the
persianos, or outer blinds, were drawn down every
where — showed how much people here avoid the
sun. Breakfast soon followed, at twelve o'clock, for
English hours for meals are seldom kept, and we
went downstairs to a most substantial repast. Be
ginning with soup, followed as a matter of course by
cold meat, called fiambrd, we went through a variety
of courses, ending with excellent green figs, water
melons, grapes, and peaches. By the way, the
Argentinos are so fond of cold meat that they have
many fiambrd restaurants ; nevertheless, they oddly
dub any failure, such as the late Palermo races run
in a slight dust-storm, 'a cold-meat affair.' The

28 IN THE CAMP

origin of the invariable custom of giving cold meat
as a first dish is probably that the traveller, being
supposed to be too hungry to wait, was hastily pro
vided with whatever was ready in the larder. Whilst
he thus took off the sharp edge of his appetite, eggs
were quickly cooked, and then came the bife (pro
nounced ' beefy '), or beefsteak, which needed a longer
time. Lunch over, everyone adjourned — still in shady
gloom — to take coffee in the salita, a small sitting-
room, furnished with a round table in the middle, a
harp on a raised stand in one corner, and a piano in
another. Our hostess and one daughter now dis
coursed to us most excellent music.
Naturally, out in the camp there is lack of even
the weekly arrival of home newspapers, as also of
new books, though in Buenos Ayres Mackern and
Shine's splendid library, and even bookstalls at the
various stations, might tempt one to imagine one's
self again in the land of Smith and of Mudie.
Besides, all pointed here to an open-air life, and the
family were returning immediately to their handsome
town-house in the capital, to enjoy the winter gaieties.
It must not be supposed that this country-house,
with its handsome altos (or upper stories) and large
gardens, can be considered an average specimen of
the usual estancia. The latter are generally of the
bungalow pattern, with a separate building for ser
vants and kitchen across a patio.

THE ESTANCIA B. 29
One description impressed itself on my mind from
its open-air imagery.
' My partner and I lived at an estancia that had,
like most houses, a passage right through it,' an
acquaintance told me one day. ' And when it was
hot weather we used to live out in the veranda a lot,
while the two doors of the house stood open. Then
it was great fun to see some tame guanacos we had
come peering into the passage of the house and sniff
at everything near. It was all right so long as they
were not disturbed. But if anything startled them,
or one caught sight . of himself in a mirror, then
there was a row. The whole set would go straight
for the farther door, seeing light there, and upsetting
all in their way — writing-tables, lamps, chairs, every
thing sent flying !'
Towards three o'clock it was voted cool enough
to go outside, although the sun's glare was still that
of the hottest mid-July at home. So we paced
under parasols to the stables and farm-buildings
close by. In the middle of the first yard rose a
brilliant red water-mill — reminding me of some seen
in Holland, there used for emptying canals — its fans
stirring overhead in a slight breeze. Around were
loose-boxes, prettily built, where, were housed some
promising young horses meant for carriage use, and
to be disposed of at a coming sale on the farm ; also
two magnificent Clydesdale stallions, that, when
trotted out for our benefit, verily, like Job's war-

3° IN THE CAMP

horse, seem clothed with thunder and rejoicing in
their strength. The Scotch major-domo, as they
termed the steward, then showed with laudable pride
the Clydesdale yearlings and two-year-olds. What
beauties they were ! — some thirty of them. They
filled rows of loose-boxes in a vast shed, or galpon,
of which the roof was supported on uprights. One
could have easily believed one's self in England,
hearing him descant on their good points. Yes,
and later, when with an Irish helper he took us to
see as many or more yearling Durhams, filling a
long cowshed — a goodly sight.
But, outside, a glance beyond the wooden paling
reminded one of the land we were in.
There, under the shade of an ombu tree, waited a
group of meek horses, tied up to the railing by their
bridles, and ready saddled for the use of any peon or
herder who might need one. This, to my mind, is
a truly Argentine feature. No Argentine will walk
a yard if he can ride. He may be seen in town
coming out of one shop, meaning to cross the street
to another one opposite. His horse is waiting,
either hobbled or its bridle tied to the stirrup. But
does he lead it across ? Not he. He swinp-s him-
self into his saddle, with its sheepskin beneath and
its silver initials or other ornament, if only a stud
ding of nails, at the raised back, and rides the few-
feet of distance necessary. Whenever I remember
even wayside ranchos — that is, small native farms or

FERTILITY OF THE SOIL 3I

cottages — it is with the picture of a drooping-necked
horse under a tree, saddled, waiting.
Before leaving the farm precincts I glanced into
an outhouse, where a swarthy half- Indian labourer
was shovelling a heap of maize ready winnowed
for use, and that looked excellent. Beyond was
the major-domo's house, with a long row of buff-
washed low buildings containing the peones sleep
ing and eating rooms. It all looked 'fresh as
paint,' and as neat as the most • show ' farm in
England. Next we turned our steps to the kitchen-garden,
admiring the many vegetables and wide strawberry-
beds. On our path a quantity of blue-gum nuts
were carefully spread to ripen in the sun. These
the Italian gardener pointed out, and then displayed
a nursery of baby gum-trees — some of the red kind
also — which he had reared from seed.
' They will make montds soon,' said Mrs. B.
Then passing through a wood, she told us that when
she came to this estate as a bride there had not
been a bush or tree here when her husband built the
house. Looking up at the tall trunks round us,
shedding their bark in strips like aged residents,
with their fine pendent leaves overhead, and then
remembering the excellent kitchen-garden we had
just left, and seeing the pretty pleasure-ground before
the house, with its big palms and aloes, its roses and
tuberoses, fountain and velvet sward, it was difficult

32 IN THE CAMP

to realize that a short sixteen years ago nothing
of all this existed.
' Where we stand was just the pampa ; we laid
out the drive, walks, gardens, and planted the trees.
But come to the other side of the house now. You
have not seen our orchards and fruit-garden yet.'
As we went I thought how encouraging it must
be for any young couples settling down in the deso
late coarse-grassed camp to think that, with means
and energy, they also can grow woods of eucalyptus
and have perfect gardens before sixteen years. So
brief a time ! Given home happiness and some good
seasons, it might pass by like a dream. But one
thing is needed — water ! 'If you planted a walking-
stick in the ground here, and watered it, it would
grow,' has been said to me in forcible illustration of
the fertility of the soil.
On our way the gardener drew the senorita's*
attention to a small ant-hill he had just destroyed by
digging it out and mixing the mass with water, so
that the ants were choked in the mud. Ants are a
terrible plague here, as in so many other countries,
and ingenious devices with kerosene are adopted to
stop their ravages. Mrs. Pakenham told us how
some neighbours near the British Legation found
their mantelpiece cracked one day, and suspected
that ants were to blame. On search, the whole floor
* It is a South American custom to address even married ladies
as Sefiorita (Miss) in conversation.

ON BICHOS 33

of the sala had to be torn up, and she herself saw
two cartloads of ants' nests being removed. This
ant-hill I now inspected was quite small, but I was
told of a large one out in the camp on which one of
our companions and five other persons had ridden
up and ranged themselves abreast.
The orchards now claimed our attention. It was
pleasant to see a number of calves and young heifers
rejoicing in the shade of cherry and peach trees.
Cattle in this part of Argentina inherit no traditions
from their milky mothers of the pleasures of chewing
the cud under spreading trees, or standing knee-
deep in a brook on hot afternoons. Wide pampas,
scorched sun, drought, are their common portion.
In the fruit-garden were long rows of espalier pear-
trees bearing much fruit. Unfortunately, of late
years pears have all been attacked by a bicho, or
insect, which is said to destroy them, though no
details were given me as to its kind. All insects of
a noxious nature are called dichos here, and there is
no dearth of them. Even disagreeable ' humans '
are sometimes designated by this unflattering epithet.
As we entered the house again, passing round the
wide veranda veiled with white jessamine stars, a
dinner-table was already laid there out of doors.
Noontide is too hot in the open air, but how agree
able to dine in the cool of the evening thus, almost
in the garden, while the fire-flies float by like stars
of living flame ! Now it was too late in the year
3

34 IN THE CAMP

to see them, but I have heard them described as
illumining a whole wood with myriad fairy lights,
some separate ones so bright that they can be mis
taken for distant lights in cottage windows. And'
one friend who was invited to a moonlight picnic
had a still more vivid experience to relate. The
guests were all there, but the moon was not. By
some unaccountable freak the presiding luminary
failed to show her face. Whilst feasting in the dark,
the salad for which he was feeling was suddenly lit
up by a strange glow. It was not that his lettuce
had become phosphorescent, but that a fire-fly was
entangled in its dressing. Even Titania could not
have commanded a prettier sight than imprisoned
fire-flies for her royal table. But these fire-flies pale
before the famed railway beetle of Paraguay, which
carries green lights on his side and red danger
signals on his head. Forgive this digression ! The
daughters of the house told me they were accustomed
to ride a great deal, especially in the early mornings
before the summer sun was too powerful. They
have been in the country since last December, and
the heat was frequently tropical. In the evenings,
when the moonlight lit the roads, the family also
often liked to take a drive.
We now talked of departure, but our hostess in
sisted first on a 'sit-down,' ample tea being partaken
of, with jam and hot scones. During this meal — as
it really was — conversation turned on the trials of

CATTLE-THIEVING 35
camp-life for those who have invested their capital
in an estancia. The dryness of this very March,
during which only two heavy showers had fallen —
I secretly thought them brief deluges — was a general
topic of lamentation. No wonder, for already there
had been two successive seasons of drought during
the past two years ; a third would be frightfully
destructive on many estancias.
The loss of life among cattle from this want of
rain is terrible in the Argentine. It speaks for itself
when the sickness of hunger and thirst is classed
among other cattle-plagues as an ' epidemic '; thou
sands of poor beasts die of it yearly, leaving their
carcases rotting on the pampas, and it is painful to
think of their sufferings beforehand.
Among other hardships, cattle-lifting and horse
stealing are frequent enough. A near relation of
our host's had suffered severe loss in this way. One
night his wire fences were cut, and a large number
of animals driven off. ' But did he not try to recover
them ?' was my natural inquiry. ' Could not the
thieves be found out and punished ?' 'He did cer
tainly try at once to have the beasts traced, but it
was of no use. Probably they were already slaugh
tered, and the horses boiled down for grease. After
wards — well, it does not do to make enemies in camp !
It is wiser sometimes to suffer the loss of property
rather than be too energetic in discovering the evil
doers and punishing them.'

36 IN THE CAMP

Other persons have assured me of the same thing.
It is well, they said, to give earnest advice to young
Englishmen who are going far into the camp for the
first time — what Australians would call going up
country — ' Above all things, treat your peones kindly.
Some young fellows make the mistake of ordering
these poor folks about like so many niggers ; but they
run the risk of getting paid out for it some day. It
is a golden rule— do not make enemies in camp.'
When one considers the mixed origin of this face
oi gauchos and peones, it is easy to understand that
their nature cannot be stolid under harsh treatment.
Partly Indian, with an admixture of Spanish blood
derived from ancestors who were the offscourings of
Spain, they must almost by Nature's laws, one would
say, have inherited the cunning of the downtrodden
savage with the vices of his oppressor. The gaucho
(pronounced ' gowtcho ') was once aptly described to
me as ' one of a class that is always on horseback
and makes his living by galloping about.' The. peon
is the Gibeonite of the country, the lowest type
of working man, who does all the odd jobs except
where the poor Italian immigrant has partly sup
planted him. As to the real Indians, they have
been driven farther and farther back before the
Spaniards, their mixed descendants, and the later
vast immigration of Basques, Italians, French, and
other Europeans. Nowadays they are only to be
found in their own grounds, and are dying out

A FIGHT WITH HORSE-THIEVES 37
gradually, although in 1869 their numbers were
estimated at 100,000. Even the gauchos send, peones
are said to be dwindling in numbers.
On the other hand, concerning lawlessness in
camp, an instance was told me by a Yorkshireman
of a successful fight he himself made with robbers.
My friend was owner of a large estancia, and at that
time was also a Commissioner whose duty it was to
keep order in the neighbourhood.
' One evening,' said he, ' as I was coming home,
a man on the road warned me that a party oi gauchos,
well-known horse-thieves, were passing through my
land. Hearing that, I hurried to the house and
there got a friend and another man to join me in
pursuit of these gentry. It was getting dark before,
after riding hard, we came in sight of them. They
were eight or ten rascals, all mounted, of course, and
driving some fifty of my horses in front. They saw
that escape was impossible, for we soon caught them
up ; but we were only three — and the next minute
pistol-shots came whizzing by our ears. With that
our revolvers were out, for, though I might have
hesitated to fire first, our lives seemed now in peril.
I took aim, and my friend also. The whole party
scattered at once, seeing one of their companions
fall, leaving us with the dead man and the horses.
' Yes, I had a little trouble about it afterwards ;
that is the way in the Argentine. Murderers either
go scot-free, or else their imprisonment is a farce,

38 IN THE CAMP

while honest folk generally get into trouble with the
law. However, it came all right, and I gained a
reputation that frightened other thieves from molest
ing my property for a good while.'
If some gauchos are horse- thieves, many are horse-
copers, and though among the younger ones trickery
and dishonest practices are common enough in the
trade, yet warm words in praise of some of the older
men — uttered forcibly by an ardent young English
sportsman and polo-player — still ring in my ears :
' The only honest men that I have met with, during
the five years I have known these natives, are among
the old gauchos. The younger ones prefer lying to
truth, and the more veneer of education they get
the worse they grow. But one old fellow quite took
it to heart lately that a lame pony had been palmed
off upon me by a new horse-dealer, and declared the
latter should be made to smart for his roguery.
" We like to keep up our name for honour," he said
proudly, speaking of his own set ; and certainly no
men could be fairer than I invariably found him and
his friends.'
A gaucho is always picturesque in his peculiar
costume, whether well off or poor, mounted better
or worse. If poor he wears a slouched felt hat, his
long black hair falling on the coarse brown poncho
covering his shoulders. His nether garments some
what recall the appearance of a Zouave or Turco,
but are more flowing in drapery. In reality it is a

GAUCHO DRESS 39

large red shawl which he fastens round his waist,
allowing the end to trail on the ground ; then draw
ing it up between his knees, he tucks it into his
waist-belt in front. Beneath this loose swathing
appear white cotton breeches down to his ankles.
The swagger dress of a swell gaucho, however —
for some of them are very prosperous — is really
handsome. His sombrero is rakish, and his gay-
spiked poncho of finely woven wool. Frills of lace
adorn his white breeches, that are further ornamented
with red worsted embroidery and tags ; while his
boots — but these deserve a fresh sentence. They
are often very curious, when made like some I saw
of seamless hide, the secret consisting in the skin
having been drawn down off the legs of a horse,
whole. When this is tanned the ends are simply
sewn up to make the toes of the boot.
But the gaucho cannot be pictured without a few
words on his riding-gear. The saddle, peaked
before and behind, is sometimes decked with em
broidery and always placed over a sheepskin or two.
Some are merely studded with ornamental nails at
the high back, while others display large silver initials
and devices. Big spurs, and a whip with a heavy
silver knob that can inflict a severe blow, also the
plaited thong which bears its owner's name worked
into it, are the last touches to this get-up.
And now let us return to our tea-table, and talk
upon the trials of farming in the Argentine.

40 IN THE CAMP

Locusts in some provinces, and here also, though
at long intervals, are a scourge no less dreaded
than drought. In graphic words my hostess de
scribed how, on the estancia of a relative, she had
seen a flight of locusts approaching that darkened
the sky. A cloud at first, it spread and spread till
it seemed leagues wide. Both earth and air ap
peared full of locusts, and everyone beat a hasty
retreat indoors, closing the windows tight, lest even
their curtains should not escape. All had been green
outside and smiling that afternoon — grass,- wheat-
crops, garden. Half an hour later the whole scene
was absolutely barren and brown. Not a leaf re
mained on the trees, not a single grass-blade on the
ground. Complete desolation. Again I heard,
though it sounds incredible, of the swarms covering
sixty leagues of country. They even stopped the
passing trains by their slippery little bodies falling
on the rails in quantities. Can science not step in
and invent measures to exterminate this devouring
plague that nothing else living, it seems, will devour
in turn ? Even the dogs that eat a few locusts out
of curiosity sicken for some days afterwards. *
* Soon after writing the above, while in Chili, I chanced to
read an article by the Rev. H. R. Haweis in the Contemporary
Review of March, 1894, on the Mormons. Describing their
powerlessness against swarms of black locusts, he says they tried
to stamp out the plague with fire and trenches. ' The insects lay
dead in huge piles, but still more came on, till, as the Mormons
believe, in answer to their prayer, appeared a white gull ; then

ARGENTINE BIRDS 4I
Now that the evening was growing cool, I noticed
several birds that were hopping outside over the
smooth grass-plot, lately watered. One was about
the size of a thrush, likewise brown, but with a
bright touch of orange near the tail ; and this was a
very interesting little fellow, none other than the
ornaro, or oven-bird, who builds himself a fine two-
chambered mud home, smoothly plastered over and
roofed in. Small yellowish songsters were also
flitting through the shrubs of the garden, some
thing between a canary and a finch in appearance ;
and though I did not then see them from the tea-
table where we sat, I was told that pretty cardinals,
with their dark bodies and knowing little red heads
and top-knots, were natives here. So also are ibis,
flamingoes, black-necked swans, and, last and least,
humming-birds. As to game, at other times plenty of sportsmen
were eager to give me information on that point.
Wild-duck abound in such quantities that, on this
very evening, returning to Buenos Ayres, I saw
ponds almost in the town covered with them. There
are also little batitu, which are excellent eating
(especially when they have fattened on thistle-seeds),
plover, partridge, and a few wild ostriches.
gulls by fifties, hundreds, thousands. They came in flocks over
the Salt Lake, settled down in the fields, gorged and vomited and
gorged again, until there was not a live locust left. No wonder
the gull at Salt Lake is a sacred bird, and to this day no one is
allowed to shoot it.'

42 IN THE CAMP

Of big game, save in the Gran Chaco, there is no
longer any to speak of, though I was given a thrill
ing description of a jaguar hunt in Paraguay. Some
deer remain still in the south ; but beyond some
kinds of armadillo, guinea-pigs, and such small fry,
there are no wild beasts to speak of, except where
guanacos are sometimes seen, shy and rare as
chamois, on the Andes slopes.
Long may the pretty songbirds I saw enliven the
camp and the gardens of quintas, where they are
protected ! But, alas ! they are threatened by a
great influx of Italians into the land, who bring their
own ideas of sport with them. So on Sundays half
a dozen fowlers, with perhaps one gun among them
all, may be seen leaving the suburbs of the town to
enjoy a day's shooting in the country. Noisily and
merrily they beat about for their game, and ' Mire !
mire !' (See ! see !) the others shout in chorus to
the one with the gun at sight of the smallest
feathered creature. He fires, and, if not blown
to atoms, the little bird is bagged, to be sold later
on as a lark. An Italian would even shoot a
humming-bird. Leaving the hospitable estancia, we drove once
more to the station ; and on the way we passed the
first of the great ox-waggons I had yet seen in the
Argentine. Later on, inland at Mendoza, they
were plentiful, as generally in the camp. And to
see one of these huge vehicles, piled high, and

RANCHOS 43

slowly dragged by a team of six or eight beasts,
is a sight which has such an old-time, pastoral
charm that, however frequent, it never failed to
please my eyes.
Outside the poor adobe or mud-walled ranchos
on the roadside, I now noticed the big, round oven
belonging to each house, and after which the oven-
bird is called. It is generally a few yards from the
shanty, and some three or four feet high, some even
bigger, and apparently used in common by several
families. These ranchos were either roofed with
tiles or corrugated iron, and were not particularly
characteristic. But the true peon hovel — or, rather,
booth — constructed mainly of wattled branches^
astonished me later on, under the shadow of the
Andes.

yhytf1

PLAZA VICTORIA, BUENOS AYRES.

[45 ]

BUENOS AYRES, OR THE TOWN OF
GOOD AIRS.
' Good Airs !' Such is, literally translated, the rightful
name of this great town, with its population of over
535,000 souls — that is, a larger one than any other
of the South American cities can boast, surpassing
even that of Melbourne or Sydney.
The inhabitants for the most part live in single-
storied houses, built round a square patio, or court
yard, larger dwellings having often a second servants'
patio, and thus covering a considerable space of
ground. These houses are built with flat roofs,
called azoteas, where in summer evenings the boys
carry up chairs, and the families all enjoy the air.
There are balustrades and brick seats on the street
side, and here one may be sure of seeing the dark-
eyed girls watching the passers-by. It is quite a
feature of Buenos Ayres, from late afternoon till
dark, to see clusters of girls at the balconies of the
long windows opening to the floor, where their light-

46 BUENOS AYRES

coloured dresses of the most vivid rose tints or sky-
blue are fully displayed.
But these same azoteas had also — and still may
have here, as in too many other towns of South
America — a very different use. They once swarmed
with armed men, firing down upon the hapless
English soldiery who were butchered in General
Whitelocke's invasion of 1807. And never a revo
lution takes place, or frequent insurrection, or
election, but sees such flat roofs black with excited
men and bristling with gun-barrels, whilst an opposi
tion mob sways in the street below, fighting, shout
ing, and furious. Lastly, azoteas are useful in
collecting rain in their surrounding brick gutters,
which conduct the often precious water into a well
in the patio below. Nevertheless, in many streets
one now sees several houses, though still flat-roofed,
proudly rearing themselves with two altos or stories,
and some newer quarters are even entirely built
three-storied ; while towards the outskirts, on the
side of the Park of Palermo, there are some mag
nificent villas in the French style, with high-pointed
slate roofs, dormer windows, and so forth. But these
date from that time of brief golden prosperity, the
Boom, and now stand mostly empty. Mr. Mulhall
is my authority for saying that it was not till after
the fall of the famous dictator, Rosas, in 1852, that
two-storied houses began to be built here at all,
which is instructive, as noting the influx of Euro-

FOUNDATION OF THE TOWN 47
peans and their ideas — also, it is to be hoped, as a
sign of improvement in government. Lastly, here
and there are to be found a few picturesque, very
old, adobe houses, with tiled roofs, all that remain of
the dwellings of the Spanish settlers, built in the
seventeenth century, about a hundred years after
Buenos Ayres was first founded in 1535.
First founded, because there was a second founda
tion later in 1580. When Pedro de Mendoza in the
beginning marked out the new town, he was harassed
by a large force of Indians, and his garrison so
weakened by hunger that in a few years the site was
abandoned, and Buenos Ayres burnt. Next time
proved successful. The Spaniards laid out the
future capital of the Argentine on the same regular
plan that they followed in all their newly-built New
World cities : so many blocks of ground, called
cuadras, of 140 yards square, or four English acres ;
so many rather narrow streets, intersecting each
other exactly at right angles.
To tell the truth, I must regretfully confess that
Buenos Ayres struck me as one of the ugliest Latin
towns — for these are generally picturesque — -I have
ever seen. A dead level of surface ; flat outlines of
roofs ; few public buildings, or none worth seeing ;
streets three miles long, much alike, and mostly
atrociously paved ; general sameness.
But let us look at the other side of the picture.
This same unlovely town is in many ways remark-

48 BUENOS AYRES

ably comfortable to live in. To begin with, the long
streets are all laid down with tram-lines. Along
these the frequent cars ply, their conductors' horns
tootling. Each car turns to the right after a certain
distance, and presently returns by a parallel street
to that down which it came. Therefore there is
nowhere in" the town to which you cannot ' tram '
for the modest sum of ten cents ; and no one in
Buenos Ayres walks a yard if he can help it.
Besides, under the shade of the pepper-trees in the
plazas are ranged numerous street-victorias, harnessed
with a couple of willing little horses ; and these will
take one anywhere in the town for seventy-five cents
— at the present rate of exchange, about a shilling of
English money. The plazas are fairly numerous,
and prettily laid out with winding paths and seats
for the nursemaids and children ; whilst tall palms
and aloes, common pink oleanders, scarlet hibiscus,
and other flame-flowered bushes, contrast with a
scrollwork of flower-beds.
Also there are good hotels, theatres, clubs ;
among the latter an excellent one for ladies, all
thanks to Mrs. Pakenham, our Minister's wife, who
is its presiding genius. Then the shops, though
certainly very dear, can nevertheless supply every
thing you want. In winter especially there is plenty
of amusement to be had — dinners, dances, etc. ;
whilst daily or weekly tennis, polo, and cricket
matches, besides the various race-meetings, all

AN AVERAGE DAY IN BUENOS AYRES 49

help continually to gather the large English
society together and keep the ball rolling. The
ball! It is curious, when one comes to think of
it, that every good game in every nation is played
with a ball. In addition to those above-named,
there are golf, football, rackets, billiards, baseball,
lacrosse, and the Basque game of pelota, which is
immensely popular in the Argentine.
It may be interesting, as so many folk in England
have either sons or brothers out here, to describe
simply the usual sights and doings that go to fill an
average day in Buenos Ayres.
To begin with, one has an early roll and small pot
of tea served in one's bedroom ; and as these March
mornings are delightfully sunshiny, with just a right
amount of heat, let us take a little stroll in the street
to note any of its peculiarities. Early though it is,
the dustmen are late, which is unusual for them.
Generally it is still dark when the heavy roll of their
great carts resounds through the streets. But now,
outside every door, a dust-box, more or less neat, is
standing, which has been put there last night by the
under-servant before the strong, double house-doors
were locked. Very soon the carts rumble near ;
the boxes are all emptied, taken presently indoors,
and there can be no refuse of stale vegetables in the
scullery, no heap of broken glass and china in the
ash-pit. What a blessing in London if our nostrils
and eyes were thus spared the sight of such unseemly 4

50 BUENOS AYRES

clearance as shames our great capital in broad day
light !
There is no dust in the streets, though it has not
rained for several days and the autumn is so hot.
During the night the water-carts have been plying
to and fro, and the pavements are all fresh-washed
and clean. Is not this an excellence ?
Now, round the corner of the Calle Uruguay a
picturesque figure comes jogging on horseback. He
is a Basque milkman, seated high on a pile of sheep
skins among a number of milk-cans, fastened above
each other on either side of his horse, his own legs
dangling about its neck.
The Basques are a large and important colony in
the Argentine Republic, preserving jealously many
of their home customs and all their independence
and shrewdness of character. They have made
the milk-trade exclusively their own. None but
a Basque is a milkman. No natives, or those of
other nationalities, seem to covet, or perhaps dare
to interfere with, this privilege.
He has his own peculiar ideas on the subject of
making butter, has the Basque. Filling the milk-
cans before he leaves his dairy, he covers them with
the accustomed sheepskin ; then, mounting a-top of
all, he rides off at a smart pace, churning the milk
by his horse's action. At the first customer's house
on the road he calls, peeps into his cans, and collects
what butter-pellets can be skimmed off. Should

A BASQUE MILKMAN 51

these not be enough, he promises the disappointed
housekeeper to return presently with more from his
rounds ; and so, clinking merrily, he gallops along
to churn and vend more of his butter.
When first this custom was told me, I treated the
tale as a joke ; but if some people are squeamish
enough to declare this plan of butter-making horrid
— although they might be perfectly satisfied with the
Devonshire way of stirring round cream with the
dairymaid's hand and wrist — few will deny that the
Basque is more picturesque than the London milk
man, with his hand-cart and horrible cry of ' Meuilk /'
shouted down the area railings.
Strolling along the narrow side-path, the lofty
height of doorways and windows, compared with
those in England, seems probably due to the
necessity for air in the town in summer ; and
another thing which strikes the European's eye is
the odd jumble of rich and poor dwellings side by
side. Here a handsome mansion — beside it a small
Italian wine-shop, with the unpromising announce
ment, ' Vino cattivo ' over the door. At each corner
an almacen, or hardware store, is a certainty, and
possibly its neighbour house shows marble steps
and a delightful peep of a leafy, cool patio. One
wonders whether it is republican equality of feeling
which has caused this strange mingling of habitations,
that is even more striking in other Southern sister
republics.

52 BUENOS AYRES

The lofty, double outer doors of these same rich
folks stand mostly open, disclosing a small entry,
with tiled flooring and frescoes in florid style on
either wall. Those possessing an upper alto often
have no hall, but a fine marble staircase rising
abruptly from the street between walls so elabo
rately painted in landscapes, or night-scenes, that
surely the enormous Italian immigration here must
largely include brothers of the brush. Such marble
staircases are quite common in Buenos Ayres, and
have a curious origin. In former days the marble
was brought over as ship-ballast from Italy, and dis
charged before taking back a heavy cargo of wool
and hides. In England we should be proud to own
so great an ornament to any house ; here they are
held so cheap that. Madame U., the wife of a rich
Argentine gentleman, announced the other day with
satisfaction : ' We are making great improvements
in our house, and we have put a wooden staircase in
instead of that ugly old marble one /'
The atrocity of the street pavements I have
already described with some feeling, even after a
lapse of weeks which has intervened since being
jolted over them jarred all my nerves, reminding
one of the well-known lines :
' Rattle his bones over the stones ;
Nobody cares for the pauper's groans.'
But these irregular, angular chunks of stone now
claim my respect and interest, since the Portuguese

PAVING-STONES AT FOURPENCE EACH 53
Minister told us whence they came and what was
their cost. It seems that pavement was unknown
in Buenos Ayres until the beginning of this century.
In Mulhall's 'Handbook to the River Plate,' he says:
' The first proposal to pave the streets was rejected
by the Viceroy Loreto in 1786 because the rumble
of the waggons might shake down the houses.'
(These, for want of stone, being constructed of
adobe.) 'The first street paved was in 1795. So
late as 1840 there was a pantano (mud-hole, or
quagmire) in front of where the Bolsa now stands.'
Therefore, when paving was voted a necessity of
civilization, as there was no stone in all the country
round, these very paving-stones were imported from
Portugal at a cost of about fourpence each. It was
not discovered till comparatively recently that stone
existed, and could be quarried, in the South.
Of course the morning is the time to go shopping.
So taking an open tram we rattle away past semi-
Oriental flat-roofed houses to the Regent Street of
Buenos Ayres, Florida ; the prefix calle, or street,
being dropped, as with Pall Mall or Piccadilly.
Here a blessed quiet soothes one's ears at once, for
it is wood-paved. On either side the shops display
such handsome glass fronts as almost vie with the
best at home. We go into a long bookshop,
Mackern and Shine's, where, besides a first-class
circulating library, there are all the papers and
magazines I ever knew at home, and some I never

54 BUENOS AYRES

knew ; all the new best books likewise, a few only a
month old. (And what this means to a lover of
literature is only fully appreciated after some months
spent later on in civilized Chili, where at Valparaiso,
though there is so large an English colony, no similar
boon exists.)
What of the shops? Well, one damsel of our
party was heavy-hearted over the lightness of her
purse pretty soon, although all she had bought were
a few feminine trifles : a ribbon, a veil, a pair of
gloves. No wonder that everyone brings out as
many fal-lals as possible from England, and a suc
cessful smuggler of such — like one small shop
keeper I heard of at Mendoza — merits patronage
and protection from all womanly women.
Argentinas crowded the pavement, some pretty,
all fat, and dark-eyed. Many look as if dressed by
Parisian couturieres, as is, indeed, the case ; for the
wealthy native ladies have all the newest fashions
sent out to them, in defiance of the ruinous duties
of the Custom-house.
Let us turn in to the Ladies' Club. A horseshoe
marble staircase leads to some pleasant rooms over
a restaurant. The institution is more modest than
were it owned by the stronger sex. A dining-room
comes first ; a reading and writing-room beyond — that
is all. But the tables are heaped with illustrated
and other papers from home ; the tea and hot
buttered scones baked by the Scotch club -maid

THE FLORIDA PROMENADE 55
are really delicious. One never fails to find some
tired ladies resting, who have come in by tram or
train from the pretty suburbs of Flores, Quilmes, or
Belgrano, and who are delighted to possess a meeting-
place wherein to chat with friends, engage servants,
leave their parcels, or scribble a note.
In summer evenings, Florida is extremely fashion
able. All hired carriages are sternly stopped, for
the beau monde is holding a promenade dressed in
its best, and filling both the street and the pave
ments in the Spanish Alameda manner. The
Argentine mashers, small, dark, shod in patent-leather
and with solitary glasses stuck in their eyes, criticize
the Portefia girls (as those born in the ' port ' of
Buenos Ayres are called in contradistinction to other
fair Argentinas). The daughters and their friends
stroll up and down, six or eight together, in whisper
ing, laughing, apparently loving intercourse, like so
many pretty, bright-coloured birds. Pity that their
complexions are so often spoilt with powders and
paints ! The plump or portly mothers walk behind
— they always walk behind, even when entering a
drawing-room. Is this to keep a watchful eye con
tinually on their girls, who are never allowed to
cross the outdoor threshold without a maid or other
duenna ? It is most likely the reason, but to English
minds there seems a painful want of deference on
the daughters' part in this behaviour of always
pushing before their elders. Certainly Argentine

56 BUENOS AYRES

children are licensed to be as naughty as original sin
prompts them ; parents here, it is said, never attempt
reproof or correction : they leave the little human
plant to grow untrained.
Home again, by another convenient tram. This is
full of poor townsfolk, but their gray or black stuff
coats or gowns show no signs of a national costume.
Some few women wear a small lace scarf tied under
their chins — the suggestion of a mantilla.
The mid-day breakfast is generally partaken of at
eleven or twelve, as suits the family. To-day, while
we are enjoying a ragout of beefsteak, called car
bonado,, cut in small dice and stewed with vegetables,
an unusual stir is taking place in the street outside,
visible through the lofty barred windows that are
almost level with the pavement. There is a flitting
going on from the opposite house. Furniture is
being piled on a very high cart. The carts here
are enormously high, their wheels quite Brobding-
nagian to my eyes. But when one sees the axle-
trees, and even the body of the cart, thickly mired,
one guesses that necessity is the reason why.
'Ah, our neighbours are leaving,' remarked my
hostess, glancing over the way. ' I expected as
much. They had a death in the family lately, and
they are of the old-fashioned kind.'
But why should a death cause a removal of the
household ? was my natural inquiry. Did the
deceased die of some contagious illness ?

IN THE PATIO 57
' No ; of an accident, I believe. It is an old
Argentine custom to change the domicile as soon
after the funeral as possible, perhaps to get rid of
sorrowful ideas. And they have very little furni
ture — not nearly so many things to move as we
should have.'
Certainly, judging from what we saw, there
seemed few Argentine Lares and Penates ; none
of the thousand-and-one small family treasures and
curios gathered from many countries that accumu
late and are cherished in every English home.
However, some plump batitus, delicious small birds,
a kind of sandpiper, reclaim our wandering attention.
Breakfast over, we lounge away a hot hour or two
in the veranda of the patio, our cane lounge-chairs
placed in the shade. The small square of greenery
before us, bounded by the kitchen and servants'
offices opposite, and enclosed on either side by a
veranda passage and a garden-wall, masked with
roses and ivy, is so characteristic of town life here,
that it merits a minute description. The terrible
heat of summer is over ; still, with the thermometer
at 75° in the shade, it is paradisiacal to enjoy this
exquisite tiny garden. And how many and various
flowers and shrubs are massed effectively within
its narrow limits ! Of palms eight lesser kinds dis
play their fan-branches or spiky fronds, while a ninth
has shot its slender stem, crowned by a drooping
head, right up to the alto above, where its leaves

58 BUENOS AYRES

make a murmuring rustle in answer to every breeze.
A young magnolia-tree casts a grateful shade farther
away, and around luxuriate philodendrons, cannas,
and a banana but lately heavy with fruit. Oleanders
are too common to, be allowed into this miniature
garden ; but crimson ceibo and hibiscus are glowing
brilliantly near bushes of gardenias, tuberoses, and
more fragile-seeming English roses. The veranda
pillars are wreathed with jessamine stars and masses
of deep-hued violet Bougainvillea, here called by the
far prettier name of Santa Rita ; and all round the
tiny gravel paths grows an edging of various home
flowers, whether carnations or violets.
Midmost of this pretty spot is a stone fountain,
its basin full of goldfish that hide among papyrus
reeds topped by their high feathery crowns, or
under the leaves of arums and blue water plantains.
But the chief attraction in my eyes is overhead,
where a slight whirring sound has drawn my
attention. The central figure of the old fountain is that of
a delightfully impossible cherub carrying a goose.
And just where the gleaming spray falls on the
weather-stained breast of this ancient fowl, a darling
winged sprite is quivering in mid-air, drinking a
sunlit drop or two. It is a tiny living gleam of iri
descent green ; it is the solitary humming-bird of the
patio — the Ariel of this house-arbour.
Turning within doors, one is struck by the feeling

INDOORS 59

of being in an English home. Perhaps only the
glass doors to all the rooms, mosquito-curtains, and
outer shutters, or persianos, betray the difference
caused by the greater heat. Here are tall stand-
lamps, screens, and deep arm-chairs and sofas ; the
tables are heaped with English novels, magazines,
and papers — only three weeks old. Good water-
colours on the walls, and portfolios full of photo
graphs of the camp, remind one how happy are those
people who have many hobbies and accomplishments.
The larger sala across the corridor is used either as
a music-room or for dancing, as its polished floor
suggests. And during autumn and winter, the gay
seasons, many a large party is entertained by our
British Minister, the Honourable Francis Paken-
ham, and his wife, for there is a really numerous
English society in Buenos Ayres which is the envy
of the other European diplomats.
With afternoon tea, visitors drop in, ladies from
the town, or pretty quintas in the outskirts ; naval
officers from the English gunboat just come down
from Rio, or a German one with a Duke of Meck-
lenburg-Schwerin on board. The sailors are enthu
siastic over the hospitality shown them — what with
cricket-matches and polo, races, shooting and dinner
parties, their stay will seem all too short ; for soon
they must leave for some weeks of gun practice at a
less inviting spot along the coast.
Towards four o'clock it is cool enough to go out

60 BUENOS AYRES
again with pleasure. We might take a carriage and
pay calls, but most of the houses will have little to
describe that is novel, excepting that one or two may
have their patio roofed over with glass and converted
into a central hall or billiard-room. Most drawing-
rooms display a sham fireplace with velvet over
mantel and curtains, steel fender and fire-irons —
only the grate and chimney are wanting, their place
being supplied by a mirror.
' Ah, it is the English who have introduced real
fireplaces here,' one is told. ' In former days there
was perhaps just one in the whole house, and often
people only used a large brasero full of charcoal to
warm themselves in winter.'
Let us rather stroll up to the tennis-court and see
who may be there ; for this is at present a favourite
meeting-place. On the way there are still some new
street sights, if we keep our eyes open. The various
big carts, for instance, hired out for carrying all
manner of unsentimental loads, display amusing
mottoes painted large upon them. Here passes one
piled with empty wooden cases, its sides bearing the
gallant declaration, ' Me gustan las muchachas sim
paticas ' (Delightful girls please me). Simpatica
is an untranslatable expression, for our word ' sym
pathetic ' does not convey a tithe of the charm,
winning qualities, and sweetness signified by its soft
syllables. Others, again, I saw with such inscriptions
as ' Don't bother me,' ' I belong to my master,' ' I

THE TENNIS-COURT AT BUENOS AYRES 61

come and go as required.' Long may this touch of
Spanish picturesqueness be retained ! How different
our own advertisements on rocks, and in green fields,
where the eye, turning to rest and rejoice in Nature,
sees — somebody's soap or pills, writ large and de
facing the landscape.
But we must heed our steps, for here and there
loose flagstones, over cavities suggesting drains,
might easily cause a twisted ankle. Behind the
high walls and wooden gates of the tennis-ground
there is an animated scene. Four or five sets of
players enliven the gravel courts ; bystanders are
drinking tea in the pretty pavilion, various ladies
taking it in turn to provide the means for this indis
pensable afternoon rite. Some Argentinas are play
ing gently, wearing rather too dainty French-looking
gowns ; the English girls are recognizable at a glance
by their dress and air : sailor hat, a shirt, serge
skirt — and energy.
' We all try to look as different to the native ladies
as possible, but many of our Englishmen have the
bad taste to admire their dresses more,' said one
bright young countrywoman of my own to me with
slight chagrin.
So far as tennis and the skating-rink were con
cerned, the latter being still a favourite resort in
winter time, I agreed with her. But otherwise,
what is pleasing to men's eyes in feminine attire is
surely likely to be what is really most becoming.

62 BUENOS AYRES

We women more often put into practice the Spanish
proverb : ' Lo que es moda,
No incomoda '
(That which is the mode can never incommode).
What a pity, by the way, that there should be so
few English girls out here ! Men there are in plenty,
so everyone tells me, at the winter balls and parties,
lining the walls black. But very, very few sisters or
cousins of young married Englishwomen seem to
come on visits, although the journey is so easy. In
consequence, the mankind mostly remain bachelors,
or marry Argentinas.
Strolling home again, the sky is reddish to the
very eastern horizon as from a great conflagration,
for no hills obscure the glory of the sunset, which
promises hot weather still. Below a very slight de
clivity (there are so few in this level land) gleams a
brownish expanse of water — the great river broad
as an inland sea. And as we feast our eyes on
the beauty of the southern sky, a musical tinkling,
recalling cowbells in Switzerland, sounds down the
street. A cow is marching gravely along, accom
panied by her calf, and at a street-door is stopped
to be milked. It is the same custom one sees in
Naples, and is pastoral in its simplicity and con
venience. No fear of the little black-eyed ninos
in there getting their fresh milk watered, or suffering
from a milch stepmother supplanting their accus-

SOME NATIONAL DISHES

tomed nurse. And more cows and their calves
meet us in every street before we reach home in
the sudden darkness that falls here after sundown,
unlike the lingering twilight of the Northern hemi
sphere. Some guests came to dinner, and although the
cookery we were enjoying was that of an English,
or, strictly speaking, an Irish feminine chef, the talk
turned awhile for my benefit on national dishes here.
Chief of these is came con cuero — literally meat with
the hide, which is as famous as a Scotch haggis. It
is the usual roast-meat dish of out-door life in the
camp or on hunting expeditions, and no race-meeting,
election, or such-like public gathering is thought com
plete without it. On board ship a young English
man of the languid type, who was returning to his
family in the Argentine after completing an educa
tion at home, told me he considered the Royal Mail
dinners ' disgusting '; and on my demurring consider
ably to such a description of what seemed to others
very good and certainly lavish fare, he assured me
enthusiastically that to those people like himself
who preferred one or two simple dishes well cooked,
carne con cuero was delicious.
' In the evening, after a long day in camp, the
gauchos kill a lamb and spread-eagle it on sticks on
the windward side of a fire,' he explained. ' As soon
as the wood is burnt down, they heap the glowing
embers over the meat, which is still in its skin, and

64 BUENOS AYRES

when it is cooked there is nothing to touch it /' By
this process the meat, whether lamb or even wild
horseflesh — according to the description given me of
a shooting-tour in the Gran Chaco, a territory almost
as large as Spain, and mostly inhabited by Indians
— retains all the juices that are most nutritious,
and which turn to jelly when cold. On greater
festive occasions, or when there is a large party,
say, of hungry soldiers to be dined, a bullock is
similarly roasted, with the additional peculiarity
that its bones are taken out and made to feed the
fire. Opinions on the merits of the roast-beef varied,
however, as some of my friends were inclined to
think it occasionally underdone.
One fruit may be mentioned here, with which
breakfast or dinner is often begun, as it is eaten
with pepper and salt. This is the tuna, or prickly
pear. The tuna prickles are so sharp they require
to be rubbed off before the fruit is brought to table ;
even then very cautious people hold it in a napkin,
while eating it with a spoon, egg fashion. It is
curious that the tuna should be most cooling, as its
natural home is in barren soil or sandy desert. Still,
to give an honest opinion on its merits, the flavour
seemed to me little, and the seeds many.
But above all, I was interested in hearing mate
talked of, the wonderfully wholesome beverage dis
covered by the Jesuit missionaries, called after them
Jesuit's tea, and which certainly is the national drink

YERBAMATE 65

of South America. China or Indian tea is said to
be supplanting it near seaports, or elsewhere from
servants in foreign families learning to follow foreign
customs. More is the pity. For mate is declared
even by English doctors here to be absolutely harm
less to the nerves, and one ordered it to a friend
of mine for some months during a severe illness.
Others have assured me that in camp they, although
English, preferred it on long expeditions to tea or
coffee, as more sustaining. Lastly, as all the poor
people know, it is excessively cheap, and they in
dulge in it, we may say, at all hours during the day.
Its consumption far exceeds that of coffee, 18,000
tons of yerba having been imported in 1891, as
against 1,900 of coffee.*
A good many English residents in this country
and in Chili, I noticed, affected to despise mate, as
who should say, ' Can any good thing come out of
South America ?' But those dwellers in camp who
used it declared its after-effects to be delicious ; and
an English captain of one of the mail steamers told
me he had grown so fond of mate he always in
dulged in it when possible, finding it had a soothing
effect like that produced by mild opium. The drink
is made of the dried leaves and twigs of the yerba-
tree which have been ground. There is no appa
ratus of teapot and cups. One small gourd only is
needed, holding no more than one of our afternoon
* See ' Handbook of the Argentine Republic,' p. 44.
5

66 BUENOS AYRES

teacups, and this gourd is often set on a tiny silver
tray, with a rim and mountings to match. Richer
people have pure silver mates, of such various and
often curious design that they are eagerly collected
by Europeans. Some which I saw later on in Chili
were shaped like birds— one being a lovely dove
with chased plumage, its body forming the cup ;
another a lively little gamecock in a strawberry-
bed, with some tiny chicks set on spiral silver
wires fluttering round him. But most were goblet-
shaped and supported on a tray by squirrels or
condors. To enjoy mate properly, the family or friends
gather in a group. Boiling water is brought, pro
bably kept hot on a brasero, and poured in when the
mate cup has been half filled with the herb. The
principal person present then begins to sip it through
the silver tube, called a bombilla, often handsomely
chased, and which is bulbous and pierced with
strainer-holes at the end immersed in the fibrous
mixture. There is no chance of a 'good long drink.'
One only gets about as much at a time as of Turkish
coffee. The gourd is again filled up with hot water,
and with its bombilla is then passed on to the second
person. Probably a fresh pinch of yerba is added
for the third and fifth comers. And when the loving"
cup has gone all round the circle the first mate-
drinker begins afresh again, and so da capo until
everyone has had perhaps half a dozen turns. A

YERBAMATE 67

mate-party therefore takes time, but then there is no
lack of that.
An old Scotch maid of Mrs. Pakenham's, who
has lived in the Argentine for the last thirty years,
amused us by an anecdote of her first experience in
Buenos Ayres. The morning after her arrival, on
looking out of the hotel-window into the patio below,
she saw, to her surprise, a number of aged crones
sitting gravely in a circle on the ground. One or
two held gourds, and seemed to be sucking at these
through pipes. ' Well !' soliloquized the Scotch
woman in indignant contempt, ' you are a pack of
silly old women, to be blowing bubbles at your age!'
The Jesuit Fathers established yerba-growing in
that district of the Argentine still called after them
by the name of ' Misiones.' The brief story of the
missions is sad. Invited by the Governor of Para
guay to protect his poor Indians against the cruelties
of the Spanish conquistadores, the padres arrived at
the end of the sixteenth century, and spread the true
Christianity of peace and industry in both Paraguay
and the ' Misiones ' territory adjoining it. For nearly
two hundred years they protected as best they could
their gentle-minded people against the slave-hunters,
who carried them off at times wholesale, selling
60,000 in the market-place of Rio Janeiro in two
years ! Cotton, yerba, mandioca, and oranges were
produced in abundant crops ; colleges and churches
erected, some being both handsome and of large

68 BUENOS AYRES
dimensions. One church, though ruined, still dis
plays a great flight of fifteen stone steps 150 feet
long. But the Jesuits' .work elsewhere in the world was
presumably less blameless and excellent than this,
which will always remain a crown of praise to the
Order. They were expelled by orders from Spain
in 1 740 ; their missions, with arsenals and workshops,
were destroyed by fire, whereupon their Indian dis
ciples fled to the woods. Still, hundreds of acres of
ruins, much of cut stonework, are to be seen over
grown with palms and wild oranges. The tracks of
old roads through woods now thickly tangled, and
paved fording-places at streams, remain to bear wit
ness in lonely spots that here was once a now vanished
civilization. The yerba-tree is known as the Brazilian holly
{Ilex Paraguensis). It is a shrub about eight feet
high with small close leaves, and bearing many
sprouts on the stem. These are yearly pruned, the
branches being as aromatic as their leaves when
dried for mate. As to its mode of preparation in
Paraguay, where the yerbales laid down by the
Jesuits are said to cover 4,000 square miles, I cannot
do better than quote the following from Mr. Mulhall:*
' Yerbamate may probably supplant coffee, as it can
be placed in Europe at twopence per pound. It can
be prepared for market in thirty-six hours. The
* ' Handbook of the River Plate.'

YERBA MATE 69

leaves are slightly scorched by being passed rapidly
through a fire, and then the branches or twigs are
suspended in sheds open at the sides ; here they are
exposed for fifteen or twenty hours to a fire of
scented wood kindled beneath, after which the twigs
are ground. ... In the Reign of Queen Anne the
London physicians forbade Jesuits' tea . . . but
possibly they were jealous of its origin, although
they certainly encouraged the use of Jesuits' bark.
It is now more or less used by eighteen millions of
people in South America.'
But as dinner is ended, so also may be this chapter.
Still, as it is our hostess's weekly reception evening,
more guests will come in later, the Italian Minister
and his wife, the Duke and Duchess of Liciniano
among others, liking to appear about eleven and
stay chatting most agreeably till one in the morning.
So only at that hour can it be said that this our day
of small things in Buenos Ayres is over.

WmL-'w3sS&&& Jill

Saw ^J^s? -"¦
¦¦"Mi I**

¦m m

lp

L 7i ]

THE GRINGO'S DREAM.
A 'gringo'! It is a strange-sounding word, but
one which soon becomes familiar in the ears of an
Englishman arriving in the Argentine Republic, for
he learns that he himself — in common with the
German foreigners here — is a gringo. The term is
not precisely respectful, any more than is that of
gaucho, which one would hardly use directly, unless
in contempt, to any son of the soil of that class
which seems born to be everlastingly galloping
about, wearing a picturesque but dirty poncho*
Time was — and that, as one old resident told me
of personal recollection, even only twenty years ago
— when the English gringo was so respected here
that the people were accustomed to declare in solemn
asseveration, 'On the faith of an Englishman.' In
those days, recounted my friend, he could go into
any shop, and though personally unknown, should
he not carry sufficient money about him for his
* For the same unknown reason the French are styled gabochos,
Spaniards are godos, and the Italians bachichas.

72 THE GRINGO'S DREAM
purchases, it was only necessary to say that he
would return and pay. ' An Englishman's word is
as good as his money,' would be invariably the ready
answer. Now, alas ! the Argentine native has learnt by
experience that all the British who land on his
fertile shore are not of the honest class of old ;
many have come for the good of their own country,
and the extradition treaty is still a new thing.
The English gringo is certainly the chief being
in this far-away land in the eyes of those at home.
' Trv and learn something- of our sons' chances and
their welfare," was a charge laid upon me, when
leaving home, on behalf of many parents. And no
wonder, when one thinks of the many fresh-faced
lads whom Mother England sends out year after
year to earn their livelihood for the most part on the
vast grassy pampas ; and that, if they have grit, by
the sweat of their brows. ' What kind of life do
they lead out there ? Is there a fair hope of their
all making fortunes ? Are they likely to settle down
for good and all ?'
Such were the questions asked me. For letters
home are apt to be brief, or, perhaps, discreetly
silent, on details the old folk yearn to know. They
long to catch a reflection of the bright hopes of their
boys — to reckon up with these the chances of sweet
success or bitter failure. They want to understand
what is the gringo's dream.

FARMING IN THE ARGENTINE 73
Now, this task seemed to me hard of fulfilment,
for my own stay in the Argentine was limited to a
few weeks' visit before pushing on to Chili, lest the
Cordilleras at the end of April should be impassable
from snow. And on this new walk round the world
— as one may call it — my mind had long been set,
believing the route would be not only quick, but
interesting, as showing a great variety of scenery in
the interior, and much more of the country ways
and customs than can be studied nearer the more
cosmopolitan life of a seaport. (In which my fore
cast proved agreeably right.) Therefore, it was
indeed good fortune that seemed to bring in my
way, not only at the British Legation, but also
during the month's stay on board ship, several
pleasant acquaintances who were excellently fitted
to give me the information needed. Among these
were men who had themselves toiled in the Argen
tine during the best years of their lives, and won
a good position, considerable fortune, and ripe
experience. Of several estancieros, or gentlemen farmers, whom
I met, one in especial was universally allowed to be
among the very best authorities in the Argentine on
farming; and I will therefore mainly quote his opinions
thereupon, as farming is by far the most important
occupation for Englishmen here. Also I gladly thank
him for the thought and hours so kindly placed at my
service in writing down the results of over twenty

74 THE GRINGO'S DREAM
years' experience, during which he trod most of the
ups and downs in the path of toil before attaining
to his present position, that of a prosperous land
owner. His creed may be briefly given as follows :
' / believe in the fadure of the Argentine as one of
the finest farming countries in the world ; that stock-
producing has been, and will continue to be, the chief
business of the capitalist ; but that wheat-growing will
increase evermore and more, and make the fortune of
the labourer.'
To begin with the stock, then, of which in
England we have some vague ideas connected with
grassy pampas, lasso-throwing, and branding.
As might be expected of a land where the flocks
and herds are numerous as those of Laban and
Jacob, cattle and sheep are the chief riches of the
Argentine Republic ; wool and hides the principal
products. The aim, therefore, of every young man
coming out to try farming here is to become a part
or sole owner of an estancia, which answers to a
ranch in some parts of the United States, or, perhaps,
a run in Australia. These estancias vary greatly in
size ; - some may be a mere square league, while one
friend of mine owns at present 80, coo acres ! This
he modestly thinks too much for his needs, and hopes
to sell some 20,000 acres during the next three years,
' if all goes well.' As the estancias, so also do the
herds upon them vary in size. One poor man may

AN AVERAGE OWNER: HIS POSSESSIONS 75
own only a sorry number of 200 beasts, while his
neighbour — but this would be a rare instance — may
glance with swelling pride at a splendid army of
100,000 cattle — a horned multitude!
To gain a fair idea of the prospects and posses
sions of most Englishmen who are estancieros in
Argentina, let us take an average owner in illustra
tion. Such a one would possess from 2,000 to
3,000 head of cattle grazing over the pastures sur
rounding the roof of his new home, which probably
looks somewhat like a bungalow. Should his estancia
be a sheep-farm, however, he would own about
20,000 in his flock, sheep being, of course, more
numerous in proportion to the size of the estate than
cattle. I have been told of as many as 150,000
sheep being owned by one rich man, in this respect
like unto him of Nathan's parable. Again, a tenant
farmer may be striving after contentment with only
so small a flock as 1,000, answering to the ewe lamb
of Scripture.
But what size, the reader will ask, as I did, would
be the estancia of the before-quoted average owner ?
Well, most probably about 20,000 acres, or what is
commonly called 'a three leagues lot' There are
a good many holdings of three leagues square,
because this was a very frequent size for Govern
ment originally to sell. And an owner to this
amount would be probably well-to-do. He could
afford to indulge in the luxury of a manager while

76 THE GRINGO'S DREAM
he himself took frequent trips home ; nay, he might
even spend much of his time in England.
At present the chief breeds of cattle on the
Argentine estancias are Herefords and shorthorns,
but the shorthorns are by far the more esteemed of
these two. It is also noteworthy that the aim, or
at least the tendency, of most cattle-owners nowa
days is towards improving the quality of their stock
rather than increasing their numbers. What becomes
of these vast multitudes of cattle ? is the next ques
tion. Well, the saladeros, of one of which I made
mention when describing my first arrival at Buenos
Ayres, can answer for the disposal of a great
number in the form of tinned meat and beef
essences. And the export of hides, as of wool,
is very great, the cow-hides exported even in 1841
being reckoned at 3,940,000 in number ; while of
meat there was in the same year over 62,000 tons
sent out of the country. Likewise a trade in live
cattle with Brazil is considerable and daily increas
ing ; whilst with England also it is beginning and
showing signs of success. As to sheep, there has
always been a large trade in frozen mutton, and
apparently will be a still greater one, for this sale
is growing always larger.
The amount of labour needed for running such a
cattle farm as that of our average owner is small ;
to my surprise, my friendly estanciero assured me
that he found five, or even four, men were quite

HOW A NEW-COMER SHOULD BEST BEGIN 77
sufficient to attend to a square league. It was a
safe calculation, he considered, that more than ten
times as many would be necessary on a wheat-farm
of the same size. But of wheat and its prospects
more anon.
Lastly, the number of horses on this same average
estancia might be reckoned at 400. Many of these
would be wild — the brood mares, for instance, which
are never tamed, as also all those foals still too young
to be broken in for use.
These facts were interesting to me as illustrating
the position of many an estanciero who had been
• out here ' some years and had had luck. But what
about the beginners ? What is the best advice that
a successful man like my informant could give to
lads at home eager to make the most of their
portions as younger sons, the latter most likely
being but a small capital ?
The answer was straight and unhesitating.
' This is a splendid country for young fellows
who have two thousand pounds or upwards of their
own. But there is certainly no good in their
coming out without any capital. What is best of
all is, that they should go without their money at
first and learn experience by hard labour. Let them
work, say for two years, at labourers' wages — work
with the men, but take their meals with the " bosses."
Then they can send home for their little fortune,
and begin on their own account with a fair chance.'

78 THE GRINGO'S DREAM

The custom of asking premiums with pupils,
though a new idea, is already a good deal in vogue
here. Eighty to a hundred pounds for the first
year is considered a fair sum to ask until the pupil
has learnt Spanish and can make himself useful, for
a knowledge of Spanish is absolutely essential.
True, half the Argentine population and their chil
dren may be reckoned as foreigners to the soil,
although the children when born here are classed
as Argentines ; still, Spanish is the one means of
communication between all these different European
immigrants, and will undoubtedly continue to be the
language of the country.
And now a word or two on what the life is like.
The conditions of camp -life have altered greatly
within the last fifteen years, I am told. Formerly
one could count the different estancias where the
ordinary comforts of existence were to be found,
while to-day most people try to live as comfortably
and agreeably as is possible under the circumstances.
As regards food, the best of meat, also milk, butter,
and eggs, are to be had almost for the asking, and
vegetables of all kinds can be grown at a trifling-
cost. Then as to the daily round : it seems to swing
on cheerily, according to my friend, who declared
that, for a young fellow interested in his business,
' camp-life is far from a bad one.'
Up with, or rather before, the dawn, a cup of tea
and some bread-and-butter follow on the quick task

ON LIFE IN THE CAMP 79

of dressing. Then out of doors at once into the
fresh, cool air, while the red sun is only preparing
to show his face on a level with the hardly aroused
earth ; for work here begins with sunrise and ends
with sunset. Back again to the house at eight
o'clock in summer-time for breakfast ; then more
work till noontide, when the hungry appetites of the
Britishers enjoy a heavy lunch. In the long days
of hot weather this is generally followed by a siesta,
or at all events a rest of a couple of hours, that is
very welcome, and even necessary. After this the
cup of tea, so dear to the British heart, is a frequent
afternoon custom ; then once more to work until
sundown — that is to say, night in these regions.
As to the indoor life, my friend, himself a bachelor,
expressed it from his own point of view with amusing
briefness. ' It is very much the same as in most of our
colonies,' he said ; ' pleasant enough if there are
ladies, and wearisome to a degree if there are
none !'
Domestic servants in this camp-life seem to be
one of the chief difficulties. The supply of English
servants is small, while the class of Italians and
Spanish who emigrate here are seldom clean in
their habits. Certainly the Basques earn high
praise on all sides, as being excellent in every way,
clean and willing. But they can now seldom be
persuaded to take service with any but their own

80 THE GRINGO'S DREAM
countrymen, who almost always thrive, put by savings,
and become owners of land and of sheep in a few
years, or work in some manner on their own account,
either at wire-fencing, brick-making, or other contract
labour. On the estancias all the heavy farm-work
used to be done entirely by Basques twenty years
ago ; nowadays hardly a labourer of them can be
had, to the regret of the owners. But here the law
of compensation seems to be once more applied by
Dame Nature. For whereas a few years ago none
of the natives would dream of fatiguing themselves
with any task except such as might be accomplished
on horseback, like the duties of herdsmen, yet now
these same peones are taking the place the Basques
used to fill in the country, and make quiet, good
labourers. Nevertheless, the great bulk of the
agricultural work in the Argentine is at present
done by Italians, though many French, Swiss, and
Germans are also engaged in farming.
The northern Italians are the best and chief
colonists in the opinion of two or three of my infor
mants. Upon arriving, they proceed to work on a
share system until they have gained enough to buy
land for themselves. They are sober, live on the
most frugal fare, and the supply of them from Italy
seems endless. Lastly, wages are at present cheap,
while the premium on gold remains so high as it is,
the paper dollar being only worth from thirteen to
fifteen pence, instead of four shillings and sixpence.

ON THISTLES 81

What a splendid crop of thistles are to be seen on
many of these estancias ! Not even Switzerland can
boast such specimens, nine to ten feet high, as I saw
standing in withered armies, and which must look
beautiful when in their glory of purple blossom at mid
summer — that is, Christmas. But it is on a smaller
thistle, in reality a wild artichoke, that the little batitu,
or sandpiper, fattens to toothsome plumpness. Those
black oily seeds are also greedily licked up by the
sheep, which will grow fat on them in apparently
barren ground. It was quite a surprise and pleasure
to hear that thistles in the Argentine have found
their appointed use in Nature's economy, and are
not mere tares of the field. On the contrary, they
are highly valued on sheep estancias as a sign of dry
land, but more because of the shelter their height
and serried ranks afford the sheep. When the pam
pero — the cutting wind blowing from the South Pole
— sweeps over the bleak camp where are no bushes,
trees, or hillocks and hollows to afford shelter, the
poor sheep come racing to that given by the friendly
thistle groves, as we may call these, and cower
beneath them. Several of my friends told me that
when on horseback they measured these thistles as
higher than themselves, and that they had often
seen ' rides cut through them, as through woods at
home.' And now what of the grain industry ? On board
ship, as we neared the Argentine shore, it seemed

82 THE GRINGO'S DREAM
to me that all the passengers who had a heavy stake
in the country 'talked wheat,' and thought of the
harvest. The topic was evidently of absorbing
interest, and some of them explained to me the
reason why. ' Our chief aim in life out in South
America is to make our pile ; the one great occu
pation is a scramble for the dollar ! And wheat in
the last ten years has begun to take an equal place
with wool.' I was beginning to understand that we
were approaching a land where, as regards us English,
the various subjects which at home fill men's minds,
as politics, church, law, army and navy, and many
more, are all reduced to one — that of money-making
in a foreign country. This somewhat dull mass of
intention is brightened by the fire of family affection
when men are married ; slightly varied for the others
by Sunday-afternoon cricket near towns, and polo-
playing in the camp, when neighbours ride great
distances to meet each other. ' It is our only holi
day, and we often have no church to go to,' was
explained in deprecation. Therefore, as wheat-
growing is a chief means to this aim of my country
men, I listened with attention to glowing descriptions
of its future in the Argentine.
Ten years ago wheat was brought into the
country, now nearly a million tons are exported ;
nay, a rise soon to a million and a half is confidently
looked for. The price is low, yet the wheat area is
rapidly increasing, and pasture is being broken up

ON LUCERNE, OR ALFALFA 83
where suitable for wheat. Such land — good free
hold land — can be had at from ten shillings to one
pound an acre, within two hundred miles of a river-
port or seaport. And the speakers triumphantly
pointed out to me the natural advantages possessed
here over those of a great part of North America.
California, they said, sent her wheat round by Cape
Horn. These virgin wheat-lands can be used from five to
ten years, after which they are being laid down with
lucerne (called here alfalfa) for permanent pasture,
which is, I was assured, as fine as any in the world.
Indeed, the enthusiastic praise evoked by the mention
of lucerne was infectious, especially when the sight
of its green growth rejoiced one's eyes in a dry land,
where no water had been for many weeks. On some
estancias, such as that of the B.'s, which I before
described, several successive crops of alfalfa are
taken in the year ; but it is mostly grazed, and will
last thus from seven to ten years. After this, the
land is in splendid condition for the plough to
prepare it for fresh wheat. Lucerne (or alfalfa)
hay is now becoming a large trade to Brazil, and
some growers are turning their minds to the question
of sending it 'home,' as they simply said; but the
freight would be heavy, as, however compressed,
there is so much bulk for weight in the hay.
Only twenty years ago these wheat-lands were
still unoccupied, or in the possession of the Indians.

84 THE GRINGO'S DREAM
Even ten years ago men were barely beginning to
bring them into cultivation. And it was about this
same time that owners of estancias still liked to hold
large tracts of camp grazed over by an inferior class
of wild cattle and sheep. To-day these ideas are
changing. Estancieros are learning that true advan
tage lies in their owning less land, but a better stock.
The risk is greatly reduced — and what terrible risks
they must run, between drought, camp-fires, locusts,
and inundations ! — while the product is three times
as much on the same average, and the taxes
fewer.* All this applies chiefly to land in the north of the
province of Buenos Ayres, south of Cordoba and
the province of Santa Fe. In the south, however,
of this great province of Buenos Ayres lies an enor
mous area of magnificent natural pasture-land grazed
over by sheep and cattle; and though this could doubt
less produce wheat in great quantities, it has not yet
attracted colonists to nearly the same extent as the
north. Perhaps this is owing to a colder climate
and uncertain frosts ; but another reason may lie in
* In Buenos Ayres ' the northern camps are mostly high, and
sometimes visited with drought; more than four million horses,
cows and sheep perished in the drought of 1859. The southern
camps are low, and so subject to inundation that, in 1880, the
Salado drowned a million sheep and cattle. . . . Locusts are at
long intervals a dreadful visitation, destroying crops, fields, trees,
and sometimes thatched roofs of houses.' — ' Handbook of the
River Plate.'

NORTH V. SOUTH

the fact of emigrants following each other like sheep,
and the Italians, who began to colonize in the north,
cling closely together.
These cattle estancias are on a bigger scale than
the wheat chacras, for the latter is the future of the
poorer man, but stock-raising that of the capitalist.
Still, wheat-lands, though at first supposed to be of
moderate worth, are now found to pay well. Pasture,
on the contrary, was bought, and is at its full interest-
producing value.
Besides these lands before-named, the province
also of Entre Rios (literally, ' Between the Rivers '),
though till lately much neglected, is said to be well
worth attention, and its wheat is of the best quality
in the Republic. Speaking of these districts, my
friend, the prosperous estanciero, emphatically de
clared : ' For any young fellow with from two to
five thousand pounds, who will attend to his work —
as he would be compelled to do to earn a bare living
in any of our English colonies — the Argentine offers
facilities far superior to those of any other part of
the world at the present time. At least, that is my
opinion.' But what of the unstable Government ? I ques
tioned. 'Well,' was the reply, 'a Spanish, and therefore,
I hold, a bad, Government is a great drawback,
though not so serious to the individual as might be
supposed. But, talking of English lads, mark this !

86 THE GRINGO'S DREAM
Were the Argentine Government believed sound,
capital would at once flow in streams into the
country, and where would the small investor be
then ? Even now what good openings there are for
large capitalists ! Land in the south of Buenos
Ayres can now be bought to let again and return an
interest of from five to ten per cent., with the almost
certainty, in my belief, that its intrinsic value must
increase, as our experience shows these virgin lands
keep improving in the quality and quantity of their
grasses, and carry proportionately more stock.
Then, for any man at home who can afford to wait
a few years for his interest, there is land in plenty to
be bought to-day that must double in value the
moment railway communication reaches it.'
There are also other openings than farming for
' our boys ' to be got here. The banks, railways,
gas, electric, water, and telephone companies are all,
or nearly so, in English hands, although Italians,
French, and Spanish very greatly outnumber us in
population. Some other rural industries, such as
mills, have been attempted, but were generally
failures. This is hardly surprising, as the sanguine
would-be millers did not pretend to know their
business. Said one informant to me, laughing :
' Hitherto it has been a case of the engineer
turning to farming ; the blacksmith carpentering ;
the farmer railway-contracting.'
Which shows that in this comparatively new

AS TO THE RECENT ARGENTINE CRISIS 87
country the competition has not been keen. Many
minor industries are now starting, and ought to
succeed under the high import duties. But their
starters should have practical knowledge. The battle
is to the strong ! — in health, brains, industry, and a
fair competence.
The ardour my friends showed in praising this
Egypt in which they toil of free-will for the flesh-
pots — and hard toil it is, and that for a good many
years — might have stirred me into an eager belief
that this was indeed a land of silver, but that a cold
shiver of recollection brought the recent Argentine
crisis unpleasantly back to memory, so I spoke
of it.
' Ah, yes !' came reflectively in answer, yet with
stanch conviction still. ' People at home keep on
labouring under a painful impression that our in
dustries are being paralyzed, because they know the
Government is almost worthless. They cannot
understand that now is even a safer time to invest
money in land than were the country still enjoying
the full tide of prosperity. No old resident here
would dream of risking his money in a Government
security ; but in England our friends have not learnt
to distinguish between that and the land.'
On the whole, therefore, it seemed to be the
general opinion that the outlook of the Argentine
Republic is good, in spite of the bad Government.
The country, all my friends declared, has the very

THE GRINGO'S DREAM

finest pastoral and agricultural land in the world ; also
emigration from Europe, especially from Italy, con
tinues to flow in, in a steady stream. And so the
hopeful spirits anticipate that we may see the
Argentine replacing America as the storehouse to
provide Europe with meat and wheat. Already it can
compete favourably with Australia and New Zealand,
for it is nearer England, and its land is cheaper.
These statements were made to me without reserve ;
but while repeating them I emphatically disclaim
further responsibility. Too many Englishmen have
already sown their gold in this land and reaped
failure !
When all the foregoing has been said, there still
remains to know how and where the English gringo
•hopes to enjoy his money when he has made it.
Perhaps a conversation between two old gringoes
and an inquiring mind, at which I assisted, may
briefly illustrate this.
Inquirer {meditatively asking) : 'But what is the
end to all this toil ? Money is merely a means. Is
it to settle down on a big estancia, to call the land
by your name, and leave it to your children ?'
Both gringoes {speaking together) : ' Certainly not.
It is to get out as quickly as possible. Make our
money — and leave the country.'
Inquirer {in some surprise) : ' Why ?'
Pro : ' Because, simply, the conditions of life are
disagreeable.'

THE GRINGO'S LEADING THOUGHT 89
Con ; ' All rubbish ! He is ungrateful and hard
to please. Still {musingly), although I can't quite
say why, it is true.'
Inquirer : ' What is true, please ?'
Con : ' That nobody makes a home, except some
few whose fathers were shepherds, or working men,
and who know nothing of English life. No one
says, " I shall end my days here, please God, for it
is a good country for my children to spend their
lives in" — as they do, say, in New Zealand. The
English colony is composed of exiles and a few
birds of passage. We pass our days working to
get home.'
Pro : ' It is all on account of the wretched Govern
ment. One can't alter that, unless we have our wish
and the foreigner gets a vote without losing his own
status as an Englishman.'
Con : ' Yes, but the Italians are more numerous
than we are, and they don't want one ! All they
want is to get home with enough money to buy a
little land in Italy — that is their dream. / think
them dishonest and selfish.'
Pro : ' We are all selfish. At least they are sober
and hard-working.'
Inquirer : ' But in what way does the Government
annoy you ?'
Both gringoes {in eager alternate sentences) : 'In
a hundred ways, besides the sense of insecurity.
For instance, in the camp, what between alcaldes,

90 THE GRINGO'S DREAM
comisarios, and one petty official after another, one
cannot do anything without leave — not so much as
sell a cow to a friend without a stamp. It is all
papel sellado — stamped paper. And these small
tyrants have it in their power to be so intensely dis
agreeable to any neighbour who offends them that
his existence in camp can be made a burden. He
will be warned that his wire fences are out of order,
refused permission to make certain improvements,
and generally worried.'
Inquirer: 'And what is the attitude of the
Argentines themselves towards foreigners ?'
Pro : ' On the whole it is good. They know
that Italian labour and English gold are the making
of the country. Some few small papers snap in a
currish way at the fat dividends of the gringoes, but
they are not worth consideration.'
Inquirer: 'The Indian element does not, appar
ently, need to be reckoned with ?'
Con : 'No, the aborigines are fast dying out, or
being driven north or south. You will see some
still in the army. They will soon only partly survive
in the gauchos, or three-quarter breeds, who are our
camp lower strata, and the peones, who are the
lowest.' It is cheering to remember that if our self-exiled
gringoes lead often solitary lives, theirs is at least a
healthy existence. In a country 2,300 miles long,
stretching from Bolivia to Tierra del Fuego, the

CLIMATE AND SCENERY 91
southern provinces will naturally be cold, and part
of the northern ones almost tropical. But if the
summers from December to March are hotter than
those in Northern Europe, the winter season is
invigorating, although snow only falls in the south
and on the Andes. Imagine a country as big as
Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, and part of
Germany ! Naturally, it is as varied in climate as
diversified in features. There are the vast grassy
pampas of Buenos Ayres south and west, where
a man standing on the ground will see as far and
freely to the ring of the horizon as if he were in a
boat at sea, the sea of grass being utterly devoid of
tree or bush for miles round. Again, the various
forests in the Gran Chaco cover some 60,000 square
miles, the hunting-grounds of the surrounding
Indians, and are infested with pumas and jaguars
(or lions and tigers, as they are here called), as well
as deer, wild horses, and pigs ; ant-bears, antelopes,
and ostriches. And friends told me of visits to
pleasant estancias in other districts, where their
rides seemed to be through English scenery — thorn
brakes and dimpled hills and dells. Civilization,
through its handmaiden Agriculture, is also even now
perceptibly altering the Argentine climate — and for
the better. One estanciero assured me that not only
did the planting of gum-trees attract rain, but that
in his belief — perhaps a mistaken one — the breaking
up of pasture did so likewise. A friend of his tried

92 THE GRINGO'S DREAM
wheat, against warnings, in a dry district. Some
rain fell, and he was cheered by the result ; so,
although the neighbours jeered, he sowed still more
wheat next year. Proportionately more rain fell,
and since then for some years he has been successful.
During my brief stay some of the newspapers noticed
the infrequency of violent dust storms and rain
storms compared with those which played havoc
formerly. Besides much sunshine, there is another pleasure
in Argentine life especially dear to Englishmen —
that of riding. In camp a man may gallop from
morning till night, using almost as many horses as
he pleases ; while even in town this delight can
refresh the jaded toilers before or after office hours.
Where else in the world — excepting Chili — can
clerks in banks or mercantile houses buy capital
hacks for five pounds to ten pounds, and keep them
at about fifteen dollars a month ?
One hears strange stories here of successes and
failures, one among which was specially striking, as
illustrating the contrasting fates of four men. Some
land which two friends had bought near a river
mouth for two thousand pounds turned out to be the
very site needed for a port, and they soon sold it to
a couple of speculators in the time of the ' boom '
for two hundred thousand pounds. The buyers
gave one hundred and sixty thousand pounds in cash,
with a mortgage for the remainder. Then came the

SUCCESSES AND FAILURES 93
Argentine crisis. The port was left unfinished, the
two speculators found themselves unable to pay the
remainder of their debt, and were ruined, while the
original owners are living in Europe — rich. Again,
the estanciero once before mentioned as owning
80,000 acres had made a good fortune, and gone
home to settle down in an estate in England before
the golden days of the boom. After the crisis, when
he learnt by letters from his manager that his cows
could only be sold at ten shillings each, instead of
from three to four pounds, he promptly returned
with his family, and again settled down to life in the
camp. ' I have lost forty thousand pounds, yet I still
believe in the Argentine as the country of the future,'
he declared to me hopefully. Then, unconsciously
echoing other speakers whom I have quoted, he
added, ' Only wait until the foreigner gets a vote
without losing his own status, and all will be well.
The Radical party are already willing for this— they
may yet carry it through.'
The great excitement of the cattle-farms are the
rodeos, a term used when the stock is enclosed for
the purposes of dividing and branding them. One
heard much of the dangerous delight in these scenes,
when all onlookers must be on the watch to gallop
out of the way of a bull's mad rush. Even amateurs
sometimes share the day's hot and dusty joys of
' rounding up ' the cattle to be lassoed by dexterous

94 THE GRINGO'S DREAM

hands, flung down in the corra], and thereby stunned
to powerlessness. These sights I could not stay to
see ; the autumn was too far advanced. But in Chili
there might be chances of seeing the same thing on
some of the great haciendas.
So with this chapter we may take leave of the
Argentine gringoes, hoping many of them may be
able to retire, having made the fifteen hundred to two
thousand a year that appears to be the average
fortune which most hope to realize. Of these fairly
lucky men the pleasant suburbs, which may be called
Greater London, know several groups — friends who,
after being old neighbours in the Argentine, have
settled down at home near each other, thus wisely
avoiding any first feeling of loneliness on returning,
and of having lost touch with people in England
during long years of absence. Several of these one
heard discussed. Some missed their work, it was
said, and made meals their only milestones in the
idle days, when ' they did not know, poor old chaps !
what to do with themselves.' Others, again, who
had never ceased to cultivate congenial pursuits and
hobbies in the money-making time- — whether garden
ing, astronomy, turning at a lathe, or so forth — were
as happy as possible.
As I write this in Chili, three riionths after my
stay in the Argentine, the following legend has been
told me as the traditional origin of that puzzling
word gringo. Two Englishmen, this sets forth,

ORIGIN OF THE WORD 'GRINGO' 95
were riding years ago up to Santiago in days when
Englishmen were less well known than now. And
as they rode on their way they sang ' Green grow
the rushes, O,' whereupon greengoes — for an r more
or less matters little to huasds or gauchos ear — the
natives called them, this being the pronunciation of
gringoes. So, if this tale be true, these same young
men must have crossed, still singing, over the
Cordilleras by the Uspallata Pass, and so down
by smiling Mendoza town, with its rushing brooks
and green trees, and over the great pampa, stretching
away for leagues, even to Buenos Ayres port on the
wide La Plata.

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[97 ]

KEEPING THE BALL GOING.
It was a hot Sunday morning as we all came out
of the English church after noontide. A German
Protestant service had been held earlier within
the same walls — a sympathetic but distinctly stuffy
accommodation. ' And now,' said my hostess, 'we will drive out to
a polo match in the afternoon. Sunday is the only
English holiday here, and it is an established
custom for the cricket or other matches to be held
on Sunday afternoons.'
Accordingly, towards three o'clock the mulatto
coachman was at the door. On my appearance
he promptly suppressed a cigarette. This was a
sign of good training ; many another here would
have smoked it.
Belgrano is the most fashionable suburb of
Buenos Ayres, and its polo-ground a popular resort.
We drove thither through the rough-paved, tram-
lined streets, past the Recoleta cemetery and its
embowering park, where there is the only slightly
7

98 KEEPING THE BALL GOING
rising ground I noticed in all the city, and that is
brightened by gleams of water and a variety of
scarlet and crimson blossoming trees and shrubs.
Leaving behind the rows of flat-roofed low houses,
with their high doors and windows, we passed a
few really fine quintas, standing in their own little
grounds, one of these villas being decorated on an
upper ledge with almost life-size stone animals,
among which a cow and a humped-up cat, both
equally huge, especially tickled one's sense of the
ludicrous. This Noah's ark and its neighbours were
deserted, their owners being nearly all bankrupt
since the Boom.
This Boom time seems indeed unlikely to be
forgotten in Argentine history ; for as we drove
farther, while a sharp breeze sprang up, to right
rose the handsome and imposing buildings of the
waterworks, also a failure, it is said, since that date,
when they were erected on a magnificent scale.
Two miles out of town lies Palermo Park ; but
the increasing wind and its accompanying dust
hardly allowed one to look up enough to admire
a wonderfully wide avenida, studded with double
rows of electric lamp-posts, diminishing in noble
perspective to the brown river-estuary. In that
feverish time when British investors poured their
gold into Argentine hands with a blind confidence
that any enterprise in this Tom Tiddler's ground
would repay them from seven per cent, upwards —

PALERMO PARK 99

in that briefly gorgeous holiday for the Republic all
these electric lamps shone on summer nights. The
rank and fashion of Buenos Ayres streamed out
here in hundreds of splendid carriages that paraded
up and down in slow procession, and a stranger
might have fancied himself in some European
capital. Alas ! nowadays the town can only afford
to light half its lamps, and far, far fewer carriages
move at the fashionably funereal pace along the
avenida before or after dinner, according to the
season. The Palermo Park is fine and extensive, but we
only skirted it this day, passing the racecourse.
Here a crowd was watching some races, while out
side the railings meek saddle-horses were tied up by
twenties and thirties, and belated sightseers came
cantering on long-tailed nags, often two men on one
steed. But now the sky had darkened, and the high
wind and flying dust so increased that it was a
matter of difficulty to keep hats, or even bonnets,
from taking flight, or to open one's eyes for occasional
glimpses. ' There is an ombu-txee ! Look at it ! It is the
only kind of big tree you will see in all the country
round here, and very few there are,' exclaimed one
of my companions, who was slightly sheltered under
the lee of the coachman's box. Looking, therefore,
though at once half blinded, I caught sight of a noble

foo KEEPING THE BALL GOING
tree resembling a Spanish chestnut, of great girth,
with massive gnarled roots and a splendidly heavy
head. Its appearance was patriarchal, so it was not
surprising to hear that the shade of the ombu makes
a summer parlour for the house which is generally
attached to it ; while, should this be a rancho, the
poor folk cook and eat, sew, and lead half their
domestic lives around its trunk. ' Hay ombu '
(There is an ombu-tree) may be read added to
the advertisement of a house as a great attraction.
Nevertheless, the ombu's use begins and ends here.
It is neither good for timber nor even for firewood,
the fibre being as light and friable as tinder.
Presently we found the carriage turning into the
polo-field, and so alighted, battling with our skirts,
while one or two gentlemen hurried forward to greet
us — at least one straw hat hopping wildly before its
owner. It was a boon to find comparative shelter
in the wooden stand, with about a dozen ladies and
a good many of the stronger sex, while tea was
offered to everyone by the hostess for the day,
neighbours volunteering in turn for this post at such
like friendly gatherings.
In front of the stand stretched no grassy lawn,
but a bare brown ground, where a mimic battle
seemed going on, the combatants charging amidst
rolling clouds of dust raised from the dry earth at
each stroke of their ponies' flying feet.
But who could, with smarting, streaming eyes,

A POLO-MATCH IN A DUST -WIND 101
descry colours or belts in yonder reddish whirling
dust-haze, which sometimes obscured half a pony
completely, and always entirely hid the ball ? When
the match was over and the players came up to the
stand, they seemed remarkably loath to approach the
ladies — ah unusual feature here. But their appear
ance gave a sufficient explanation, for the blackness
of a sweep hardly describes the grime left by heat
and dust on their faces. Nevertheless, this was not
a ' real ' dust-storm, I was assured — far, far from
that! It appeared that for a year back no one
remembered playing on so horrid a day, while after
rain I ought to see how green the lawn would show !
(This was the first time I noticed how unusual the
weather could be, as if in mockery of the passing
stranger. But later on in Chili the same fate oddly
accompanied me ; at least, so the residents said.)
Dust or none, polo flourishes in the Argentine ;
for ponies are cheap and fast, while hardly a better
choice of level ground could be found in the world.
Although the game is of comparatively recent intro
duction, there are already twenty-eight clubs, and it
is rapidly spreading in the camp, wherever it is
possible to find enough players. A good deal of
talk about horse-stealing was going on in the stand.
The lady who gave us tea had lost her pet horse a
short time ago — but this seemed scarcely strange,
for the peon in charge had tied it outside the stable-
door on a hot night, though certainly within an

102 KEEPING THE BALL GOING
enclosure. Another narrator chimed in with the
experience of his best pony having been also taken,
but he was lucky enough to recognize it some
months later in a tramcar, and, his brand being still
visible, he claimed it. This was a surprising 'find,'
as Buenos Ayres is big, and its tramcars legion. A
worse trick of the thieves is simply to sell a horse to
be boiled down for grease. As to the police, or
vigilantes, they are quite indifferent about such
trifles — if, indeed, as some people darkly suggest,
they are not friends and former comrades of the
offenders. It is a common thing for English
residents to declare that the police are recruited
among gaol-birds ; and certainly the worst convicts
are pardoned and let loose on society again in the
Argentine after the merest farce of imprisonment —
so everyone agrees. The branding on every animal
here is a great disfigurement to the horses, but is
enforced by law. Whenever a horse changes hands,
a guia is given, or certificate describing its previous
markings, to which the new owner immediately adds
his own monogram. Thus some horses' flanks look
like ruins visited by picnic - parties. Even one
hideous brand might be a drawback to their selling
well if exported to Europe — a project that has been
once or twice already rather unsuccessfully tried.
On our way home, as we passed through the
pretty suburb of Belgrano, its villas nestling in
flowers, and its church proud of a really splendid

ON REAL DUST-STORMS 103
dome, we now noticed watermarks on the walls.
waist-high, left by the flood of last week's thunder
storm — or possibly waterspout. On board ship we
had felt something of its force, the rain pouring into
the music-saloon, that was soon hung round with
buckets and blankets ; but out here people waded
knee-deep in their drawing-rooms, and, apparently,
must have been forced to try swimming in the
streets. When it does rain in South America — it
rains !
To reconcile me to the still worse dust-wind in
returning, which has left a lively remembrance as a
new experience it were a thousand pities to easily
forget, true tales were recounted by the rest of the
party as to real dust-storms.
When one is first sighted at the end, say, of some
street in the town here, it appears like an approach
ing black wall topped with lurid red, and folk rush
into shelter and close their doors and windows. One
of our party was almost caught in one whilst shop
ping this summer, and had only time — so quickly it
came on — to rush down a street obscured to mid
night darkness and enter the ladies' club before the
big outer portals were closed. If shut out, she might
have beaten in vain at the various heavy street
doors without being heard, or possibly opened to.
Also about the same time some friends of my
hostess, who were living on an estancia, suffered
severely from a dust-storm. Possibly there was no

104 KEEPING THE BALL GOING
time to close their sala windows, or they may have
been absent for the day and the servants careless.
At any rate, dust was blown in so great quantities
into the pretty sitting-room that it needed men with
spades working all next morning to excavate the
buried apartment, like unto one in Pompeii. In
her disgust and grief, the mistress of the estancia
declared she would return to Europe immediately,
and no longer endure such climatic freaks.
Again, the manager of one of the chief railways
told me that his line was covered this summer by
a dust-storm in one place to the height of a metre,
and that, as rain followed, the dust caked into mud,
requiring a number of navvies and hard work to dig
it away. And this reminds me that locust-flights
often stop trains by falling on the lines, which their
slippery little bodies soon make greasy. A plague
of grasshoppers was similarly witnessed by one of
my acquaintances who had crossed from ' the other
side,' viz., Chili. After leaving Mendoza some
distance, the train pulled up, and it was found
that grasshoppers had fallen on the ground and
rails in so great a quantity it was impossible to
proceed. A number of passengers were obliged
to help some men from a neighbouring station to
brush the insects off for a mile or so before the
train could go on.
' See !'- interrupted one of my companions, as we
now reached a particularly wide, solitary -looking

HINDRANCES TO SOCIETY 105
stretch of road about a mile and a half from town ;
' we were telling you of our winter mud. This is
where a lady we know had her carriage stuck fast
last year, returning from a ball at Belgrano, and she
was obliged to walk into Buenos Ayres at two
o'clock at night in her ball-gown and satin slippers.'
It is no unusual thing for guests to arrive an hour
or so late for dinner in winter, thanks to having got
mired in a pantano on the way.
Upon reaching home, it was a great relief to wash
the dust off our faces, but for days afterwards one
kept discovering overlooked deposits in the most
hidden folds of one's clothes, in spite of strenuous
brushing given them by that treasure in this easy
going land — a conscientious Scotch maid.
Violent dust-storms are much less frequent now,
people say, than they used to be some seven-and-
twenty years ago. The Minister told me that,
during his first stay here as a young secretary of
Legation, he often saw houses so thickly plastered
with mud, when rain followed the dust-storms, that
they needed scraping and repainting.
On this present mild occasion the subsequent rain
waited kindly a few days. Then, as if the climate
wished to impress upon me that it does nothing here
by halves, down came a shower one morning. A
water-tank up in the sky seemed to have burst ; and
in next to no time there were pools and lakelets
lying on the flat roofs around and in the patio. It

106 KEEPING THE BALL GOING
had the refreshing effect of cooling the air, so the
last mosquitoes of summer left us in peace. Lately
they seemed to be maddened by their solitary lives
to a ferocity which, one sorely felt, called for a
Government order to muzzle them.
On the following Sunday we went to a cricket
match at Flores, which is, perhaps, next to Belgrano,
the favourite suburb of Buenos Ayres. After the
rain the outlying streets and roads were — well,
instructive. One really appreciates the blessing of
European civilization when jolting in and out of
holes in the paving and avoiding deep puddles in
which a mother goose and her goslings might easily
enjoy a swim. Then one's mind is taken back in
history to the days when English highways may
have been just as impassable with quagmires as
these. The carriage turned down one road, resem
bling a ploughed field, our swarthy coachman keeping
carefully on the tram-lines : for all carriages here,
even hackney ones, are expressly built to allow
of easy stolen runs on these, delightful when the
big car is behind, but most annoying when an
angrily tooting horn ahead obliges you to be jerked
off the smooth lines on to the horrible road again.
Probably the tramcar shareholders get less dividends
owing to this extra wear and tear ; but, then, they
must be glad to feel themselves public benefactors !
Our heavy landau, I may here remark, was of native
manufacture, for no ordinary English-built carriage

ARGENTINE ROADS 107
could stand the strain to which it would be put
here. Presently, as we bowled along, a man riding
towards us grinned, raised his hand, and called out
' No se puede ' (It can't be done). Alas ! it was true,
the road was too bad ahead — so shouted in confirma
tion the driver of a high cart which just then creaked
painfully in approach. All carts here struck me as
being ridiculously high, with gigantic wheels ; but
the reason of this was now apparent, for the very
axle-trees of this one were thickly mud-coated,
while the leader and wheeler, which are always
needed to draw such a cart, had sunk above their
knees in mud, poor beasts ! Round we perforce
turned, therefore, this involving an extra mile or
two, driving past some notably big convents and
many ornate quintas, occasionally resembling chil
dren's toys with their bright colours and fanciful
shapes. Arrived at last at the English cricket-field, we
found cricket going on. There were also tennis sets
close by in full swing.
It was a cheery gathering, very typical of life in
the Argentine, and the many and varied English
faces at each of these sociable meetings was a
constant surprise to me. People were all eager to
talk of the great cricketing event of the past summer,
when in December (mark the time of year!) an
Argentine picked team crossed the Andes to play

ARGENTINE CARTS.

FAIR EQUESTRIANS 109
the men in Chili, where they had received an
enthusiastic welcome.
Several ladies rode up to see the cricket, for all
who live here are horsewomen as a matter of course,
if not of necessity ; but the best rider there was the
smallest. She was a little girl about nine years old,
who apparently grew scornful of watching her small
brothers, or friends, instructing their nursemaid in
shrill Spanish how to bowl to them with a tennis-
ball. So she dashed down her large picture-hat on
a bench and marched off alone to where some horses
were tied to a wire fence. Choosing a side-saddled
pony among these, possibly well known to her, she
proceeded to let down the stirrup with a scientific
air, till, after frequent trials, she could reach it with
her toe. Then up she hopped, retightened the
stirrup, and galloped away from tiresome society
into the delicious freedom of the meadow's farthest
limits, careering round and round, her white frock,
pink sash, and golden hair flying loose. No one
seemed to pay the little equestrian any special atten
tion ; children ride here from the time they can
hold on.
As the sun was growing low, we drove home
again, admiring a gorgeously fiery sunset and some
side-lanes on our way that looked like rich allotments
deeply ploughed. Here and there one caught a
gleam on a shimmering, liquid-looking spot. That
was a pantano, or mud-hole, not dangerous now,

KEEPING THE BALL GOING

though perhaps two feet deep ; in winter it might
be ten.
' Now you have seen some of our polo and cricket,
you ought also to see the favourite game which all
the Argentines are wild about — the famous pelota,'
was said- to me. Pelota is the Basque national game,
as everyone knows who has visited Biarritz and the
North of Spain. And here, though the Argentines
do not care to exert themselves much, they pay well
for players to come across the Atlantic, and applaud
so vociferously that a few years ago, when people
were richer than since the crisis, hats, sticks, coats,
used to be flung down into the court, purses full
of money thrown enthusiastically to encourage this
player or that one, chairs and benches torn up in
anger and hurled about if the popular favourites
were beaten. Pelota (ball) is made a gambling
matter, and at great matches, when the betting is
unusually heavy, the players are commonly sus
pected of taking bribes to arrange who shall win.
Everyone agreed, however, it was a splendid game,
and the sight so interesting that it was a great
pleasure to me when one of the guests at dinner
one evening proposed to take us, for my benefit, to
see a good match the following afternoon. Mrs.
Pakenham and I drove, therefore, next day to the
frontone, where our host and one of the officers of
H.M.S. Racer met and took us upstairs to a box in
the gallery, overlooking one side of the oblong court.

PELOTA in
Below us was seated the sporting section of the
spectators, who were dividing their attention between
newspapers and bets. Ladies were few, for at this
season they were lingering in camp, or perhaps at
Mar del Plata, the Brighton of the Argentine, or at
the hotel on the Tigre River, till winter cold and
gaieties should fairly set in and bring them to
town. Opposite us was a long wall marked into sections,
numbered i, 2, 3, 4, etc. The narrower and very
high wall at the upper end had a line painted about
three feet from the ground, above which the ball
must strike to count. The four players soon
appeared in the court, wearing differently striped
jerseys and the red or blue Basque caps that are
so like Scotch Lowland 'bonnets'; whereupon some
preliminary play began, as if to rouse the attention
of the onlookers and the blood ¦ of the combatants.
The smallest man of the four, a blue-stripe, chal
lenged one of the reds. Each man then drew on a
glove bound to his cesta, or weapon of play, a narrow
pointed basket, in side-view like a reaping-hook, and
that corresponds to a sling. Stepping out, they
tossed who should begin, and blue winning, he
dashed a ball on the ground, scooped it dexterously
up into his cesta, took a short run, then danced side
ways for some steps. Next moment, allowing the
ball to drop, the player struck it against the wall
with tremendous force, so high that it rebounded far

KEEPING THE BALL GOING

behind in the court, and the red, running back at
utmost speed, almost missed returning it. His
stroke was weaker, and the ball hit the wall half
way, whereupon blue, catching it easily, sent it this
time so neatly low, only a few inches above the
ground-line, that red almost dashed himself against
the wall in a headlong rush to scoop it up — too late !
The blue champion easily defeated both the reds,
and also his fellow -blue, whereupon loud applause
rang round the court, and the victor was instantly
made the favourite in the betting.
Now the real match between all four players
began. It was intensely exciting! Never — I can
unhesitatingly declare — have I seen a game of skill
to approach this of pelota in breathless interest.
Perhaps the reason was partly because, being so
near above in the gallery, even my short vision
could see the full play of muscle which flung the
ball higher and higher, stronger and stronger still ;
the wily returns, the hot rushes, the way each man,
watching the player's eye and hand, knew instinc
tively how high or low the latter meant to throw
the ball, and was ready, as if on springs, to meet it,
either in mid-air or at the rebound. Hardly a
second's breathing-time did any one of the four
ever snatch, what with running, dodging, watching,
dancing about the ground. No wonder that the
two players who guarded the court far back, and
who had the severe runs to make with the sun

PELOTA

"3

shining in their eyes, most often missed. Then a
storm of hisses and disapproval went up from the
galleries around, and the unlucky player would shrug
his shoulders in comical apology, or pull off his cap
to hide his face, or turn to the wall as if longing to
obliterate himself from public obloquy.
At these pauses, before the other side went in
to play, three of the overheated players generally
called for grace, and would retire to rub their
streaming faces and necks with towels. Once one
of the reds, having just missed, and lost the innings,
leant against the asphalt wall and slowly let himself
slip till he sat on the ground, with his cap over his
eyes, to express deep self-disgust. At that a roar
of laughter greeted him, so stentorian that the comic
actor looked up in surprise, to see fingers pointed at
the wall behind. There a wet smudge, exactly the
breadth of his own shoulders, was a visible joke.
Despite the heat of the day, the champion blue,
wiry and dapper, never turned a hair, and scorn
fully kept practising by himself, with wonderful
flourishes of his cesta, till the others were called
back by the timekeeper.
His play from the beginning had made the blues
favourites and the betting eager in his favour, but
as the score approached thirty the reds began
creeping up. They had changed their tactics, and
being themselves men of equal build and strength,
kept the ball so furiously high that the champion 8

ii4 KEEPING THE BALL GOING
had no chance of getting in for his low and crafty
play; while his 'back,' who was a young giant, got
overblown at the end of the court, where he was
kept on the qui vive.
At last the reds scored even — then two higher !
And a sudden babel of anger, jubilation, and of
betting cries burst out around us. A suet-pudding
old Argentine close by, who had backed blue,
jumped up, his fat body literally shaking with
excitement as he screamed out accusations that
the game was being sold. Then, fancying he saw
a chance of hedging, he shrieked below, ' Yo doy
diez pesos — yo doy — yo doy!' (I give ten dollars —
I give !). But no one heeding him, he relapsed in
disgusted bitterness of spirit into his seat, and, un
folding the evening paper with trembling hands,
pretended that the vanity of such a miserable game
had no longer the least interest in life for him. But
see ! the blue champion has begun to run, having
hitherto rather selfishly spared himself.
He wins two more strokes splendidly — shouts
redouble — the newspaper drops on the fat man's
lap. And now the reds make one, and again seem
winning. The interest is breathless. One more
the champion makes by a low ball, so low that chal
lenging cries ring out, but the umpires declare in his
favour. And now, now — the last ! — Blues have won f
Amidst the tremendous applause which greeted
the favourites, I noticed our Falstaff neighbour

BOATING ON THE TIGRE 115
swelling like a frog with pride and pleasure ; then
suddenly the gleam faded. He was watching some
individual in the crowd below, already streaming
towards the exit — doubtless the man with whom
he had his bet. Suspicion, anxiety, were printed
plain on his fat features, till, roused to a burst of
anger, he waddled in a run down the gallery steps
and vanished from our ken.
' Do you know that these Spanish fellows get as
much as from six hundred to seven hundred pounds
a year for their play ?' said one of our party as we
were leaving. And cricketers though they were,
three or four Englishmen told me they preferred
playing pelota out here to any other game, though it
truly is tremendously hard work.
Other amusements there are also of so British a
nature that people enjoy them all the more, though
they need description less. In warm weather one
can take the train and arrive in an hour or so at the
Tigre River, where smaller streams meet under the
shade of tall gum-trees and weeping- willows. There
is a good hotel by the water's edge, where people
often spend some weeks, especially at regatta-time.
Some cautious critics grumble at being eaten alive
by mosquitoes and sand-flies, and of unlovely smells
from the ooze, but gayer spirits declare it is 'quite
like the Thames ' at Medmenham, or even Maiden
head, what with all the boats and oarsmen — although
these may not be just as many.

n6 KEEPING THE BALL GOING
Again, there were the famous Hurlingham pony-
races that Easter week. We went out a large party
by train into the country, passing new suburbs of
little houses for Italian emigrants. The plain beyond
was sparsely dotted with tiny ranchitos, their thatched
eaves fringed with corn-cobs, and each owning a big
oven outside and a bigger cart.
A horrid smell came down wind to my nostrils
just before we whizzed past the carcass of a dead
horse, torn by birds of prey. ' One is nothing,'
lightly commented an encouraging friend. ' Going
over the pampa next week you may pass hundreds,
if there has been any cattle sickness, and there
will be a stench.' Luckily I escaped this ordeal.
Yet, as if to verify his words, five minutes later
there lay a dozen and more skeletons near a slight
hollow in the ground — others presently. Had there
been water there, to which the poor beasts staggered
thirsting, only to die of weakness ?
But away with these depressing reflections on
Nature's unthrift! We have reached a modest
wooden station, proudly calling itself Hurlingham,
and here some odd ' shandrydans ' await those who
do not care to walk a little way to the big gates
giving entrance to the grounds of the sporting club.
Here are a few small quintas outside the gates, built
by some speculative souls who counted on the English
love for a 'little box in the country.' And beyond
the lodge are red-brick bachelor quarters, now full

ARGENTINE 'HURLINGHAM' 117
of members who have been playing polo, or finally
training their ponies last week. Some are even
sleeping out in spare railway-cars on the siding.
Shrubberies edge the approach ; the racecourse is
almost as level as a billiard-table, and if neither
trees nor hills are here to form a background to the
unbroken expanse, the ground is pretty, all shimmer
ing yellow from the humble oxalis that has sprung
up after the first autumn showers.
The grand-stand is filled with rows of brightly-
dressed town-ladies and sunburnt estanciero men,
come in from the camp for a fortnight's holiday.
Two groups of sailors were amusing to watch : the
Racer bluejackets, eager to see their First Lieutenant
ride, who was got up in the most taut and trim style
of silk jacket and cap ; and the Germans from the
Alexandrine, with theirs, who is a younger brother
of the Grand - Duke of Mecklenburg - Schwerin.
Duke August is a big young man, apparently eager
for sport, and who speaks English very well.
English voices fill the air ; the paddock is full of
jockeys in rainbow hues, and ponies — ponies every
where. The hero who won most of the races was a
Baron whose nationality I heard described as both
French and Austrian ; himself an estanciero, he was
loudly cheered. Only late in the afternoon, after
tea, did we return to town, praising this excellent
copy of the more famous club at home. This
Argentine Hurlingham is thoroughly English,

KEEPING THE BALL GOING

remember, although the Britishers are but a minor
section in a foreign land. It is the venture of some
sportsmen, who laid out the racecourse, cricket and
polo grounds, and made the racquet and tennis
courts to gratify the longing of all our countrymen
for ' a good game ' and a breath of country air.

[ "9 }

A 'CARBONADA; OR HASH OF VARIED
MATTER.
The four winds of the Argentine are an example to
all the blasts that ever blew in Europe.
There is first thepampero, blowing from the bitter
South over " the pampas. Then a tormenta is an
ordinary gale, and a tormenta de tierra a dust-storm ;
but the hot North wind is most trying of all. So
greatly does it irritate human nerves that it is
allowed as an extenuating circumstance in trials for
murder! And suicides are as frequent while it
blows, as in London during the November fogs.
My experience of a thunderstorm at night was also
rousing. It was after eleven o'clock p.m., and I was behind
my mosquito-curtain, but awake, with the light still
burning and the windows slightly ajar, finding it
very warm. Suddenly the tempest burst upon us
without warning ! The wind roused and roared as
if the mighty element were ridden by spirits in pain.
It caught and lashed the palm-leaves in the sheltered

120 A ' CARBONADA,' OR HASH OF VARIED MATTER
patio, and before I could spring out from under the
drapery of white netting, it burst the windows wide
open, though the wooden persianos outside remained
fastened, and blew out the gas. The first thing to
do was to grope for the latter and turn it off — no
easy task in the intense darkness, for the jet was
half-way down the wide room. Then a lightning
flash revealed that I was stretching my arms vainly
over the wall, a yard or so away. To close the
window next needed a fierce struggle with the
wind, while the rain, dashing even through the close
wooden blinds, wetted my nightgown freely.
What a storm it was ! In England, and even in
Switzerland, where I remembered seeing a glorious
one lasting all night long, I had never witnessed a
spectacle to equal this for suddenness and violence.
How the thunder crashed ! How the lightning
flashed, coursing in balls along the blackness of
the sky ; in sheets of flame ; in zigzagging tongues !
Sometimes it was crimson. Well might one think,
as the Psalmist wrote, that the voice of the Lord
spoke in the thunder, 'hailstones and coals of fire.'
When morning came there were many tales told
of the night's wreckage, some disastrous, some
facetious. Factories had been blown down, also
one barrack, where several poor soldiers lay dead
under the fallen mass. The roof of a house was lifted
sportively off and placed on the unfinished walls of
a new one — so said next morning's paper. But, it

ON THE CITY OF LA PLATA

must be added, English South American papers
generally try to be funny. So great a storm had
not been known for years, although formerly such
were common enough, said another journal, adding,
' But the climate of a country changes as civilization
proceeds, and latterly a noticeable change for the
better has been perceptible in Argentina.'
We were concerned as to the fate of a guest of
the preceding evening, who had gone back to his
home outside Buenos Ayres 'by train, with the pros
pect of a walk to end with. Luckily, the storm
broke before he left the wayside station, where he
sheltered ill enough till the small hours, and then
picked his way in evening dress through pitchy
darkness along the railway line, the road being
impassable with mud.
This same friend had interested me after dinner
by an account of the birth, growth, and premature
decay which he had witnessed — all in the last few
years — of the brand-new city of La Plata. Famous
it is, as a striking example of how men may nowadays
resolve to raise a town as by magic, build it perfect
in theory, but — a dead failure ! Perhaps because
individual wills, not general human needs, brought
those stones together and reared the walls. The
city's story is brief.
Every province in the land boasted its own
capital, with an Alcade and a staff of officials. That
of Buenos Ayres was chosen to be also the capital

122 A 'CARBON ADA,' OR HASH OF VARIED MATTER

of the federation, an honour to its province but a
deprivation, perhaps, to certain local magnates.
Hey, presto ! it was proposed to build a new pro
vincial capital, a triumph of modern art and science,
and call the result La Plata.
Agreed ! begun !
The site chosen is some thirty miles from Buenos
Ayres, and about five from the port of Ensenada,
where we landed. My informant went down by
rail in those days to see 'how towns are made,' as
he said. It was an interesting sight. Plough-
furrows marked out the streets. Here and there
stood up hoardings and zinc sheets, the shelter of
the engineers who were laying out the ground.
Four years later the visitor returned once more and
found a city of palaces. In one of the wide streets
was a bank, with a magnificent hall that might
shame the Bank of England for size and the number
of its safes — mostly empty. Public offices, museums,
schools, all were unrivalled in South America for
size and splendour. As to the electric lighting, it
was then a wonder, for at night the town was almost
as clear as by day.
This is how La Plata was built ; but what is it
now? Alas! Another failure of the Boom. The
merchants' palaces are deserted, the light -towers
darkened, grass is growing in the streets ; it is muy
triste. When evening comes the trains are crowded
with young men and old — all eager to hurry back to

MEGATHERIUM AND OTHER FOSSILS 123
busy Buenos Ayres and feel themselves in a living
city again. Only the provincial employes are forced
by law to reside here. Perhaps in some fifty years
more this new Babel may be a heap of ruins — this
city which was proudly intended to tower a pattern
to all the progressing towns of the world.
The museum alone still attracts strangers to La
Plata, for its collection of prehistoric animal skeletons
is hardly second to that in South Kensington.
Darwin believed that ' the whole area of the pampas
is one wide sepulchre of extinct gigantic quadrupeds.'
Here roamed the megatherium, eighteen feet high,
a huge mammal allied to sloths and ant-eaters.
Balancing himself on his strong tail and hind-feet,
he pulled down branches, and even small trees, to
feed on their leaves.* Giant armadillos, old-time
horses, and elephants kept him company ; and when
dry seasons nowadays lower the Salado, and other
rivers of these alluvial plains, huge bones are found
sticking out of the barrancas, or riverside bluffs. It
has been supposed that these monsters perished
during great droughts ; when seeking water in the
miry river-beds, they were stuck fast, too weak to
extricate themselves. So cattle died by thousands
lately in the Parana River during the gran seco,
when unable to crawl up the treacherous banks
down which they had slid, and thus herded together
they died of hunger or flood.
* 'Extinct Monsters,' by Hutchinson, p. 177.

124 A 'CARBON ADA; OR HASH OF VARIED MATTER
A promise must now be kept.
One morning the English man-servant announced,
suppressing a smile, ' Captain  , of the Salvation
Army, wishes to see you, ma'am.' And I was sur
prised by the entrance of a neat, modest young
woman. ' Our colonel ' (presumably masculine) ' has
sent me in the hope that if you are writing about the
Argentine you will mention our good work,' she said.
' And please will you accept a copy of our new
magazine.' This was called Hullo ! meant to
signify an exclamation of kindly British greeting
to exiles and outcasts. I promised to meet her
wishes, if possible, after due inquiries. These latter
proved most satisfactory. Mrs. Pakenham was able
to assure me that many cases of apparently hopeless
degradation, which the Benevolent Society found
difficult to deal with, had been passed on to ' the
Army,' with good results. I quite liked my captain
and her dark, simple gown.
' Describe our hospital before all things,' urged
Buenos Ayres Britishers, proud that theirs is the
envy of all others here. Briefly, it is most excellent.
' Folk at home,' sore-hearted to learn that some son
or brother is lying ill in this British hospital, may
take heart, and feel certain that nowhere could
greater care and kindness be given to the sufferer.
A large building, with wide passages, commodious
wards, a staff of gentle-mannered, trained English
nurses, and a doctor whose cheery voice and hand-

THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY STATION 125
shake of themselves infuse vigour, is the pleasing
impression imprinted on my memory. Further,
operating-rooms, with all or most new scientific
appliances to lessen pain and hinder ill after-effects,
private apartments, with comforts and prettinesses,
and out-of-doors an environment of shrubs, flowers,
and trim paths.
More promises. ' Tell us of the Southern
Railway and the Waterworks,' friends with in
vestments in both these had begged when I left
England. Next as to the Southern Railway Station, which
fine edifice is one of the boasts of the town. We
drove there that I might admire its entrance -hall,
with a horseshoe marble staircase, guarded by
sculptured lions. Within, the glass station roof is
as large as most in Europe, while an English book
stall displayed new railway novels and papers. ' One
could almost fancy it was home,' remarked my com
panion, perhaps wistfully. Plainly, Buenos Ayres is
' not a sighty town,' as an American lady once re
marked of Belfast, when taken to admire its new
mills for lack of older architecture. ' It is the same
thing in camp,' a new-comer confided to me. ' People
always drive me to see their station /' It is needless
to discuss here the prospects of the railway itself.
May it prosper as it should, being the iron road to
the estancias of so many stout-hearted young English
men cattle-farming on the pampas !

i26 A 'CARBONADA,' OR HASH OF VARIED MATTER
And last comes a House Beautiful indeed, the
Buenos Ayres Waterworks. Imagine a building
occupying one whole block, or cuadra, oi 145 square
yards, its exterior, which alone cost sixty thousand
pounds, glistening in the sunlight. How so ? one
may well ask. Because the authorities, during the
Boom (once more that time of craze), recklessly voted
this sum for the decoration of the Waterworks. It
was decided that all the outside walls should be
covered with Doulton tiles. Imagine machinery
set in a rich casket. Of course the general effect is
splendid — of a rich, dull red below, then cream-hued,
with niches for ornaments, shields, and devices, in
the Argentine blue and white colours, of rising suns,
caps of Liberty, and flowers. Said a practical person
to me : 'It ranks in my mind only next to the
Pyramids as a monument of useless expenditure !'
Peering through great wrought-iron gates, we could
see the tanks within, for the splendid wooden doors
stood ajar. To these tanks the water is pumped up
from the filtering-beds, that are nearer the river, and
themselves highly ornamental. Let us hope that the
shareholders will be getting good interest for their
money when these pages are printed. If not, they
can unselfishly rejoice that its visible sign is a pleasant
sight to the eyes for the dwellers in its somewhat
poor neighbourhood.
It was the end of Lent ; therefore, except for
quiet dinners among the English, no gaieties were

WOMEN AND THEIR WAYS 127

going on which would have shown me the Argen
tines in society.
' You do not miss much,' so several friends con
soled my supposed regret. 'Argentine hospitality
is simply this : A long dinner-table spread, say, for
twenty. If any of their numerous relations chance
to drop in, the family are delighted. Perhaps none
may come, or three, or fifteen. But strangers have
little footing among them.'
Though thus reserved towards foreigners, the
plump Argentinas cannot be called uncivil. On the
contrary, if they happen to meet any European lady
of distinction, they beg her most prettily to call,
with assurances that their houses are 'at her dis
posal.' She accordingly rings next day, but they
are all invisible. Either the sehoras are indulging
in siestas, or are not yet dressed for the afternoon ;
and they are far too easy-going to dream of calling
in return. Nevertheless, should they see the lady
in question driving in the park some fine evening,
they smile sweetly again, coaxing her to return, for
their houses are a su disposicion, and so on da capo.
Theatres and dances are their chief joy, while some
are said to be extremely musical.
' Laziness is their great failing,' declared an ener
getic English critic to me.
The bad manners of the Argentine men, on the
other hand, is a theme which constantly arouses the
gringoes ire. Not certainly from my kind hosts,

128 A 'CARBON ADA,' OR HASH OF VARIED MATTER
whose attention was turned to all the good points of
the people with whom it was their duty and pleasure
to keep up friendly relations ; but on board ship and
elsewhere I heard the same indignant accusation —
the tyranny of petty officials, the general discourtesy
towards foreigners. A newly arrived Englishman
of good official position, whom I know, was intro
duced to a Minister with whom he would be presently
obliged to transact business. The latter turned his
back upon him, remarking with a sneer, ' The senor
does not speak Castilian.' This was then true, yet
the sefior was excellently well acquainted with French,
German, and Italian. Good manners are so native to
men of Spanish blood that one is surprised to notice
this possible outcome of jealousy at the foreign influx
and their growing influence in the land. And I was
more struck later by this, when seeing the warm terms
of respect and friendship existing in Chili between the
English and Chilians; while Peruvians are proverbial
for their good breeding, derived doubtless from their
ancestors of blue blood who settled in Lima, the
capital of the Spanish Viceregal Court.
Lent was ending, as I have said, and Good Friday
dawned warmly in a blessed hush and silence through
the erst noisy streets of Buenos Ayres. No tram-
horns tooted their warning like the combined cry of
Punch and a bagpipe's first squeak ; no carts creaked,
nor carriages rattled over the big stones. Such
sounds were forbidden ; even the church- bells were

EASTER EVE: A DIN 129
mute. But black-dressed crowds, mostly of women,
were hurrying silently from church to church, so as
to visit seven that morning in honour of the stations
of the Cross. One visitor later told us of a little
maid who, having small time at disposal, went seven
times in and out of her own church, visiting the
stations in turn, and praying ' as fast as possible,' so
she naively related to her mistress.
On Saturday at noon out burst a resounding din
of pealing church-bells from every spire ; of carriage-
wheels ; horns ; stir and life. It was like the palace
of the Sleeping Beauty all waking up. Crackers
went off at every corner, where street urchins were
' exploding Judas.' Some juvenile crowds carried
the latter in effigy.
' Ah ! but it is not so fine a contrast as in Mexico,'
said my kind host, recalling his own days as attache.
' There, so soon as the ban of silence is removed,
at mid-day, the empty streets fill with noises and
rejoicings, carriages and vehicles, with miraculous
suddenness ; all the horses are fresh groomed, and
even the costers' donkeys wear gilded shoes !'
The prettiest sight in or near Buenos Ayres is
that of Palermo Park, outside the town. It is really
a Bois de Boulogne, with its fine avenidas, woods,
and gleams of willow-fringed water. One day we
went thither to enjoy an open-air tea-party, consisting
only of our gentler sex, old and young. We rambled
to the flat, sedgy banks of the great brown river La
9

1 30 A 'CARBON ADA; OR HASH OF VARIED MATTER
Plata, and down wooded rides where singing and
the twanging of guitars occasionally told that Italian
or Basque poor families were enjoying an al-fresco
afternoon, like richer ones, picturesquely grouped on
fallen trees. This sounds a pastoral scene, yet it is
not safe for Englishwomen to take solitary rambles
here. The ladies of the land never go out un
attended, for the 'rough' class that drifts to this
sea-board town from Europe would be disrespectful,
if not dangerous.
Strange stories these clumps of flowering aloes
and bosky walks could tell, one thought, wandering
under the murmuring shade of the she -oaks, for
Palermo was once the favourite country home of
Rosas the Dictator, whose bloody deeds and tyranny
at last roused the Argentines to revolt. They fought,
conquered, obliged him to fly, and his confiscated
property was seized by the nation.
Two of my companions, Englishwomen, but born
and reared here, told me interesting tales of that
time. Rosas, they said, was very handsome, a
brilliantly blue-eyed man of English type. Although
of good family, he preferred the company of gauchos
from his boyhood, and, when in power, loved to lower
the pride of his own aristocratic class. A gang of
desperate characters surrounded him, ready to wreak
his vengeance on all opponents ; but my informants
added that he perhaps did not know all their evil
deeds done in his name.

THE DICTATOR ROSAS 131
Manuelita, his daughter, a sweet, graceful
creature, alone could influence him to mercy, and
if this lady be alive, it should please her to know
that her memory is still cherished in many hearts.
The tyrant himself, when overthrown, fled to South
ampton, where he lived in comfort and died in peace ;
but she, Dofia Manuela, has always remained exiled.
And what seems still more hard is, that her betrothed
husband, who had the manhood to follow and marry
her, lost alike home and fortune for so doing.
Rosas chose red as his, the federal colour, and
ordered men to wear red waistcoats, and women red
bows in their hair out-of-doors, as a sign of loyalty.
One lady told me of how some neighbouring girls of
good family once rushed to her mother's house for
safety, making their way over the flat roofs. Some
friend had warned them to hide because they had
been noticed walking in the street without the tyrant's
badge, and Rosas' men were tracking them. The
girls escaped, but their poor old mother, who bravely
stayed at home, was cruelly beaten by the ruffians.
' Rosas was a despot, but at least he was honest,'
so the narrator summed up the Dictator's character.
' We have had so many tyrants who have not been
honest.' 'Come and see my house,' said this friend. 'It
is a real old native one, unlike the newer ones of
European style.' Which offer I accepted for the
next day.

132 A 'CARBONADA,' OR HASH OF VARIED MATTER
Stories of the bloodshed and terror of those times
lead one to speak of the lawlessness which still exists
in the Argentine. One morning during my stay,
when a murder, almost as usual, had taken place in
the night — the assassin, of course, escaping — the
following comment was made by an English news
paper : ' It is no extraordinary affair for the police
to find almost in view of their own station some
hacked and mangled corpse, whose blood-stained
garments and bleeding body bear witness to the
ferocity of its murderers. Most truly may it be
said of Buenos Ayres that even the very stones cry
aloud for vengeance on the cowardly assassins who
make life in many parts of it a daily menace and
nightly danger.'
Again and again residents repeat, ' There is no
such thing as law here.' The poor Italians who
save up money and hide it in their huts are con
stantly attacked by the gauchos for their hoard.
Some years ago three gauchos massacred an entire
family of women and children. The colonists, in
fury, rose and shot the murderers by lynch law.
Ten of these colonists were thereupon promptly
seized and put in prison by the authorities for a
long period. But murderers themselves are re
leased after two or three years, and then enrolled
in the army. There is no capital punishment.
An instance is quoted of an Italian who murdered
his wife, and ingenuously explained to the judge

AN OLD-FASHIONED ARGENTINE HOUSE 133
that he had brought her out from Italy in order to
do so, having heard at home of the Argentine mild
ness of punishment. His candid confidence was
rewarded by a light sentence.
' If there should be a row in the street here, as
might easily happen this minute,' said an English
gentleman to me as we sat on the low seat of the
open drawing-room window, protected from the side-
path only by the usual tall grating, 'and if a man
were knifed, I should not dream of going out to
help him. Even if I happened to be outside, I am
afraid I should walk away in the opposite direction.
It is actually illegal as well as dangerous to assist a
dying or wounded person. The law assumes the
nearest passer-by to be the assassin.' So the victim
lies bleeding till the police come in their baggy blue
uniforms, shakoes, and white spats, bringing their
own doctor — when the latter can be found.
People who have a fancy for being their own
architects may like a description of my friend's old-
fashioned Argentine home. Its front stood on the
street, painted dark brown, with an entrance-hall
and drawing-room in front. Beyond these came
an oblong space of courts open to the sky, and
dwelling-rooms so curiously disposed that a diagram
will be the easiest explanation. On one side three
small patios were shaded by billowy canvas awnings.
The said courts were paved in black and white,
patio the first being filled with flowers and plants ;

134 A 'CARBONADA,' OR HASH OF VARIED MATTER
while in the centre of the second stood a delightful
stone well, with wrought-iron open work overhead

DIAGRAM OF AN OLD-FASHIONED CREOLE HOUSE IN
BUENOS AYRES.
I, Entrance-hall ; 2, drawing-room ; 3, first patio, surrounded with flower-pots
and palms ; 4, small room — study or bedroom ; 5, best bedroom ; 6, second
patio, well in centre ; 7, 7, small rooms ; 8, dining-room ; 9, servants'
patio; 10, kitchen; 11, open space with orange-trees, poultry, etc. Up
stairs, alto bedrooms cover part of the roof ; but the azotea looking on the
street is one-storied, and here the family gather to sit of an evening.
(N.B. — This, being roughly sketched from memory, is probably defective in
scale, and possibly wanting in the number of smaller rooms.)
wreathed in curves. Vague memories of Pompeii
were roused by these summer parlours, not unlike

AN OLD-FASHIONED ARGENTINE HOUSE 135
the tesselated and curtained courts where Roman
damsels and dames of old reclined at noontide.
The patios were partly divided by projecting
rooms — -what one has heard Yankees term jogs.
The first was the best bedroom ; the next the
dining-room ; these were connected by smaller bed
and sitting-rooms opening out of each other like a
rabbit-warren. ' Yes, it is nice in the summer to enjoy the open
air, but in winter it is very unfortunate that there is
no room for a covered veranda here,' pathetically
remarked the lady of the house.
Whereupon there rose in my mind the graphic
description of a dinner-party recently given in just
such a Creole house. It rained as it does rain out
here ! What matter ? Umbrellas were simply pro
duced by the servant. And away each dinner-
couple started under one, pattering through two
streaming patios and arriving with a hop, skip, and
a jump into the dining-room. Dinner ended, the
guests all returned through the bedrooms in pro
cession, for the children by this time were put to
bed, and sleeping soundly.
The dining-room of my friendly acquaintance was
so dark that one could hardly distinguish a fine
show of old silver goblets and dishes piled on the
sideboard. There were no windows, and little light
filtered through the heavily blinded glass doors ; the
gloom surprised me, not knowing yet how in all

136 A 'CARBONADA; OR HASH OF VARIED MATTER
South America the sun is excluded when possible.
As to the furniture of the house, this was of the old-
fashioned French style, relieved by some modern
English touches, especially in some pretty bedrooms
upstairs, looking out on the azotea. When rain falls,
after this flat roof has been thereby washed clean,
the water is then diverted from the gutter-pipes into
another one leading into the well in the courtyard
below ; here the hostess showed me with pride how
carefully it is twice strained on its way. Of course,
the aforementioned alto (upper) bedrooms are some
what of an innovation.
Lastly, English cooks would envy this and many
such another Argentine kitchen opening into the
third patio, airy, bright, and gleaming with white-
tiled walls and well-scoured copper.
And here one may mention the great difficulty
of getting servants in the Argentine, and their high
wages when found. Thirty pounds to even forty
pounds is the price of an ordinary cook in the home,
say, of a banker's clerk ; and she hardly knows her
business, having, most likely, been a laundress or
nursemaid in her last situation. All seek variety
of occupation. One lady told me, laughing, that
she had lately advertised for a kitchenmaid, where
upon came an applicant in the shape of a man !
When her Irish cook inquired into the last trade of
this brawny help, he naively owned he was a black
smith.

ADIEU TO THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC 137
Young Englishwomen coming out here will do
well to remember that they may be obliged to turn
their hands to much household work that was always
done for them at home. Even the poorer kind of
Irish girls are sought after for servants, and they
look down with amusing contempt upon ' them
Italians.' French and Basques are excellent in
service, but are hard to persuade into accepting
housework. Alas for fleeting time ! It only seemed four or
five days when I found that as many weeks had
elapsed of a delightful visit which must soon be
brought to a close, before the snows of May, falling
in the high mountain region, should prevent me from
crossing the Andes.
' Why should you hurry away ? Stay a month or
two longer with us, and come up to Paraguay,' urged
Mrs. Pakenham hospitably, her husband being ac
credited to that Republic as well as to the Argentine.
All their accounts of Paraguay certainly sounded
most interesting. Lovely views on the long river
journey ; gentle Indian women dressed in white ; red
earth banks bordering the lanes ; deep woods ; tiled
roofs of divers shapes. These Indians are the only
natives in all South America who have a love for art,
and they are also the most courteous, so Mr. F  ,
one of the Secretaries to the Legation, told me. He
praised them warmly, while admitting that 'there
was not much of their dress or houses to speak of—

138 A 'CARBONADA,' OR HASH OF VARIED MATTER
indeed, little to vanishing-point ;' for dwelling, four
poles and a tile roof ; for dress, one cotton garment,
but that snowy.
However, staying to see Paraguay would necessi
tate continuing my journey to Chili by the Straits,
the only sea-trip of which I have a nervous dread,
from having had several friends either lost or ship
wrecked there ; also giving up crossing the Cordilleras,
and the inland scenery my mind was bent far more
on seeing. For salt water and ice glaciers are, after
all, pretty much alike all the world over.
Before leaving the Republic, a few words should be
said upon the Jewish colony here, and Baron Hirsch's
scheme for rescuing his distressed country-people in
Europe from misery and oppression, to bring them
to this good land of milk and honey, where they may
found a new Judaea.
I regretted being unable to visit the colony, but
made inquiries about it from some who had been
employed in the scheme, and who warmly praised
its administration by Colonel Goldsmidt. This
well-known English officer gave up temporarily his
chances of a fine career at home to help enthusiasti
cally in the task of regenerating his unhappy, mostly
Russian, co-religionists. On his arrival, it was found
that many Russian- Jewish families of the lowest class
had been sent out in a spirit of mistaken generosity.
These were squatting in zinc tents on the plain round
the Administration House, amply supplied with the

THE JEWISH COLONY 139
necessaries of life, but indulging in idleness. It was
necessary to return nearly one thousand such loafers
to the committee at Hamburg, as incapable or un
willing to undertake agricultural work — here the
chief field of labour. About two thousand Jews
remain, and their number will probably be increased
by fresh European drafts.
Under the efficient rule of Colonel Goldsmidt,
lands were soon measured out to the colonists and
work well begun. He has now returned to England ;
but if, as is the opinion of some onlookers, the di
rection of the Jewish affairs here has not been too
frequently changed, it will be interesting to watch
the future of this perhaps unique paternal scheme.
Curious, nevertheless, and illustrating Argentine
life and thought, is the fact that many others to whom
I spoke took not the faintest interest in the matter.
One never heard the Jewish project discussed.
' Why is this ?' was my surprised inquiry.
' Because,' replied an estanciero, who loved the
topics of wheat and cattle-farming, or of polo-play
ing in camp — ' because, above all, the Argentine is a
land where everyone is busy trying to make money as
fast as possible. The Jews ! that is Baron Hirsch's
affair. Here every other man has his scheme, his
dream, and is too anxious about his own irons in the
fire to think it worth while to talk of his neighbour's
business, except in some rare idle moments. We
have no leisured class /'

140 A 'CARBONADA; OR HASH OF VARIED MATTER
So there came an evening when, after early dinner,
I regretfully said good-bye to my kind hostess and
friend of olden days in Ulster, who is so deservedly
popular here that she is said not to have a single
enemy. Mr. Pakenham ' sped his parting guest ' by
escorting me at nine o'clock to what is called the
Pacific train, which leaves three nights of the week
on a thirty-six hours' run, especially conveying
travellers bound on crossing the Andes. In this,
by the care of a friendly director, I was given a
four-berthed sleeping compartment to myself.
As with many good-byes and hasta la vista's
(in French au revoir) we steamed away into the
darkness of the plain, first one Italian attendant, and
then another, who also spoke German, came to in
quire solicitously after my wants. They had orders,
it appeared, to look after me especially well, which
they carefully carried out.
Soon I was asleep, as comfortable as could be,
bound for Mendoza town, six hundred and fifty- four
miles inland, at the foot of the Andes. All night
our train was speeding over the vast grassy plain —
the Gran Pampa ; and in one's drowsy ears clicked
the old friendly wheel-tune, ' racketty-rick ! ricketty-
rack ! of many a night journey in Europe.

[ i4i ]

CROSSING THE CORDILLERAS.
I awoke, surprised at finding myself sleeping in a
Pullman car instead of on shipboard. It was sun
rise, and the horizon was ringed with a brilliant
band of red melting upwards into gold. All around
was a vast circle, which was nothing but grass — ¦
grass — tussocks of grass. How different from the
blue sea-ring, hardly flecked with foam, to which
my eyes had grown lately accustomed !
So this was the Great Pampa, a gigantic meadow
of some hundreds of miles, 'miles of nothingness,'
as it had been described to me. After all, if
monotonous, there is a grandeur, a solemnity, in
seeing the sun rise from the east out of the grassy
plain, and sink down into it again on the west.
No high hills, no trees to obscure one's view of the
great luminary; it should make one a sun- worshipper.
Nevertheless — to sleep once more.
At eight o'clock came a lonely shanty of a station
and cups of coffee. Men passengers got off the
cars, and hurried to drink and wash at the primitive

142 CROSSING THE CORDILLERAS
draw-well. (They did so at other stations all that
day.) Till noon — nothing, as regards scenery, but grass
to be seen ; then one low bunker of sand, as if
meant for golfing. More nothingness. But now
and again one perceived wild-looking cattle in the
distance. Horses there were in plenty. I counted
one herd of about two hundred mares and colts, a
small one ; there must have been thousands on the
pampa. Terrible indeed must be the sight of a prairie
fire : miles of flame sweeping along the horizon ;
poor beasts, in maddened herds, flying terror-stricken
in a too often vain hope of escape.
After a fair lunch on board the train, I returned
along the corridor to my compartment and grew
drowsy. Rousing in the late afternoon, behold
there were bushes dotting the plain like thorns
sometimes thus scattered in an English meadow,
two or three to the mile. And, hurrah ! here come
clumps of willows and tufts of pampa-grass — quite a
feature. One chacra, or small farm, with a big hay
stack, next appeared — a lodge in the wilderness.
Passing some fine woods, our train once more
bore us into the wide pampa. There was a blue
hill far away ; it seemed just like sighting land from
a ship at sea. How far can one see around here, I
wondered, if lost on the plain ? Not so far as from
the height of a ship's deck. As the sun sank, there

CROSSING THE PAMPA 143
was a lovely view ahead of dark violet hills against
an orange and crimson western glow. Below, the
pampa, dark - specked with grazing cattle, spread
golden in the level beams.
Quickly the dusk falls ; and in starless darkness
we speed on towards the Andes through the night.
A fair dinner at San Luis for two dollars (or two
shillings at present rate) breaks my solitude. Then
sleep follows, and dust — dust for hours sifting through
the windows so thickly that in a few more hours one
would need to be dug out. It lay inch-deep, and
gray everywhere save under my head on the pillow.
' Sefiora, it is five o'clock. Here is Mendoza.'
The attendant was knocking at my door.
Ugh, ugh ! There was only time to get fully
equipped, wash one's face, and shake off the dust
before we stopped. Then an English voice was
heard asking for me in the darkness, and there
followed a hearty English hand-shake and welcome.
Before leaving Buenos Ayres, an invitation had
arrived for me to spend a few days at Mendoza, and
rest before the fatigue of crossing the mountains.
My new host and his wife were friends of the
Pakenhams, and he held an official situation on the
railway here. So do most of the very few English
men who inhabit this pretty town nestling under the
shadow of the giant Andes. A delightful place, in
my opinion, and that of some other passing travellers ;
but primitive, also distinctly solitary for those with

144 CROSSING THE CORDILLERAS
roving British blood in their veins whom fate im
prisons here for some years.
How deliciously fresh the air was, as, after some
invigorating, hot coffee in the station, we walked
across a plaza of young green trees ! The stars
were dying out pale, deep violet hills encircled the
sleeping town, and a lovely, faint orange glow gave
token of the dawn. My host's house lay quite near,
and right glad I was, entering the little patio, to
find an open window-door awaiting me, and a real
bed. After two hours' sleep, I appeared through the
window, or door — for in these native houses there
is no other light — to find my pretty hostess and an
English breakfast awaiting me in the small veranda
of the courtyard.
Breakfast over, we three sallied forth on a ramble
' down town*.' The old Mendoza was destroyed by
the terrible earthquake of 1861, and this one, a little
removed, is new. Here are wide streets, so wide
that in another earthquake shock one could rush
out with safety; shady plazas ; avenidas; fountains.
Trees line most of the streets ; green vistas greet
the eyes everywhere. And a noise of running water
fills one's ears in the Alameda, for down most of
the principal streets flows a rapid mountain stream,
diverted hither from a great irrigating canal of the
neighbourhood made by the Inca Guaymallen of
old. So wide and deep are these lesser water-

CHIEF IMPRESSIONS OF MENDOZA 145
channels, called acequias, that many a child has been
drowned in them ; therefore, most are loosely boarded
over. At one corner we came full on a crowd sur
rounding a cart and a struggling horse. His hind-
legs and part of his body had crashed through some
of these rotten planks. He was hauled out in
triumph, yet I wonder and doubt if the hole he left
there is mended yet.
This water is used for washing, and even drinking
purposes, in the town, and strict penalties are enforced
if it is wilfully fouled. Little bridges over it at
intervals connect the side-path with the roadway,
and green garden-seats lining these form both a
parapet and convenient gossip-lounges for house
holders in the cool of the evening.
These three things are my chief impressions of
Mendoza : foliage, running water, and seats on the
acequia bridges.
The principal incident in Mendoza's history is its
great earthquake. In March, 1861, 'the geologist
Bravard wrote that Mendoza would certainly be
destroyed by an earthquake in less than forty years.
Ten days later he perished with 12,000 of the
inhabitants.'* ' It happened on a Sunday, or feast-
day, I believe ; for most of the population were in
church, when the earth literally yawned and engulfed
them, as it did Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
An English doctor, riding into the country that
* ' Handbook of the River Plate.' IO

146 CROSSING THE CORDILLERAS
morning to visit a patient, found his home vanished
on his return, and the town a mass of shapeless mud
ruins veiled in dust. His wife and children were
all at mass when the catastrophe happened. Only
the nurse and baby, who . had been straying in the
garden, survived. This latter I met, now a grown
man, and speaking only Spanish, though English by
name and origin. Forty of his relations, he told
me, perished on that fatal day.
But its chief horror lay in that a number of the
victims were entombed alive, and the gauchos,
flocking from the country around in hope of plunder,
joined in the work of digging them out, but are
accused of despatching many for the sake of their
ornaments. ' There was one nun I knew,' said an Irish friend
of mine, ' who was saved by a pair of scissors.
"How so?" do you say? Well, the Mother
Superior sent her out into the garden with a pair
of scissors to cut roses, and there she felt the earth
shaking under her, and heard it cracking. When
she came to her senses, there was no convent nor
chapel, nor one of the whole Sisterhood left, barring
herself. So, you see, the scissors saved her.' We
did not quite see ; but let that pass.
' I can tell you of a stranger case than that,' broke
in another friend. ' There was a little girl here
who was dug out of the earthquake ruins alive
beside her dead mother. She was sent over to

A LIVE BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK 147

Chili to some relations, and there, only a little later,
was in the great church in Santiago that took fire
when some 2,000 women were in it on a feast-day,
and all but a few were burnt alive, owing to the
throng getting jammed in the doorways. This
child, being small, was lifted up to a narrow window
and pulled through the grating. So she escaped.
You will hardly believe it, but on her wedding-tour
— for she has grown to womanhood now — she and
her husband were shipwrecked somewhere on the
west coast, and were either cast on a desert island
or drifted in an open boat for days till found, I forget
which.' Now, was this good luck to escape, or an ill fate
to be three times in such great peril of life ? The
question was argued on both sides.
I stayed for six days in Mendoza, enjoying greatly
some glimpses of its simplicity of life and its daily
sights and scenes — a piquant change of pabulum
to a homely British palate. Take one morning, for
instance, when I sat in the little drawing-room (for
It was a small house) with the window open on the
street. Up rode a gaucho, dressed in white, if I
remember rightly — no worse than his fellows, at any
rate. He bestrode a nag, sorry enough, yet still
capable, and wore a medal round his neck. Off came
his hat in a bow of much grace, but he stretched
out his hand towards the window-grating, imploring
alms.

148

CROSSING THE CORDILLERAS

' It's all right, he's one of our beggars ; the town
has ,so many licensed ones who are allowed to come
round,' said my hostess, looking out over my shoulder.
So, instead of dismissing him with a ' Pardon,

\\'H''/

A GAUCHO.

little brother, for not giving you anything,' some
small coins were placed in his palm.
'Dios lo pagara' ('God will repay it'), was the
dignified response, uttered as if returning a cheque
with interest that would be placed to one's credit
in the accounts of Providence. Now, where would

AN AMUSING INCIDENT 149
be self-denial or real charity, if a giver meanly ex
pected every sixpence to be thus repaid?
Failing to see he had paid a poor compliment to
Western minds, and with a farewell bow of perfect
politeness, this beggar on horseback rode on.
It surprised me at first that a mendicant could
afford a steed. But, as my friend and reflection
both pointed out, how easy it is to buy an old horse
for a few shillings in this country, and graze him for
nothing in the outskirts of the town ! Further, if it
is not difficult to buy the horse, it is still more easy
to steal him. Also, it is barbarous to expect any
poor man to walk when he can ride. Another usual
sight is, perhaps, some old woman with the very
biggest of goitres. Even dogs here, and also fowls,
it is said, get goitres from drinking the water, in which
there is much lime.
A third incident amused me much one morning,
when we happened to enter a fashionable con
fectioner's shop. It was only mid-day, but by the
counter lounged three officers in blue uniforms and
gold lace, swords grasped in their left hands, all busy
enjoying sweets. They and two civilian friends were
nudging each other in the ribs, laughing like school
boys over a good ' tuck-in.' At last the martial band
clattered out, sabre in one hand and a parcel apiece
of jammy cakes in the other.
Of course we made a due pilgrimage to the ruins
of the old churches, solitary surviving witnesses of

oXoz<

BY THE ZANJON RIVER 151
the earthquake. These look more imposing in
photographs than in reality, being only of adobe, or
mud brick, fast crumbling away. What thousands
of bodies still lie entombed under the dust almost
knee-deep around those low walls and in the brown
plaza ! It is a huge catacomb.
It was far more pleasant to drive into the country
by the Zanjon river, past thickets of tall tasselled
sugar-canes, willow fringes, and picturesque ranchos.
Some of these were extraordinary, mere bamboo
booths without roofs ; others owned mud walls, and
were covered with branches. At first I took them
to be miserable shelters for cattle.
The Zanjon had resolved itself into five or six
streams, bordered by weeping willows, and wander
ing through a broad tract of gravel. Its effect was
green and poetic. We were driving in a street
victoria, my hostess and I, accompanied by a nurse,
baby, small boy, and two dogs. Returning home
by a different road, it was necessary to ford the
water. Hd ! Hd ! Our lively but ill - tempered black
nags jolted down into the first stream, crossed it,
and mounted the opposite bank. Hold ! Hold !
Through stream the second in safety. Our ancient
driver now shouted himself hoarse in encouragement
— Ea! Sus! Animo! while cracking his whip deafen-
ingly. Down we went the third time. And then
the ponies and front wheels indeed rushed up the

152 CROSSING THE CORDILLERAS
gravelly side, but no farther. One horse suddenly
jibbed, sulked ; the carriage stayed in the water.
Reproaches and whip-slashes mingled in a storm.
' Ojald !' (from ' O, Allah !' most euphonious of in
terjections) — all was useless ; and ladies, babies, and
dogs were obliged to land on the adjacent bank of a
shingle island.
Another street victoria was luckily passing, and
crashed to the rescue through bushes, water, and
gravel. Hey presto ! our wicked black gees turned
and rushed back into the river, where they began
calmly drinking to their own success. As we drove
away later with the relief party, their disgraced
master was still filling the air with useless wrath
and woe.
And now the crossing of the mountains, the crux
of my long journey, was discussed.
'Is it not very courageous of you to think of
going over alone ?' said many of my friends.
' The question is not one of courage, but necessity.
It is so late in the year that only the last swallows
are left. Some travellers must be crossing this week.'
It turned out that eleven were so doing, myself
the only lady. There is a firm here, called that of
Villalonga, which undertakes the personal charge of
travellers and likewise forwards parcels.
'Go by it,' urged my friends. 'We shall feel
so much happier about your safety,' (Like Tony
Lumpkin, I agreed in order to feel happier myself.)

A START ON THE TRANSANDINE RAILWAY 153
Sefior Villalonga came to call upon me in amusing
tribulation one afternoon.
' What shall I do ?' he asked in Spanish. ' My
head will be cut off, it appears from letters I got, if
you are not taken great care of! Shall I send an
English clerk with you all the way ? He belongs to
your Young Men's Christian Association.'
Was he used to riding mules by precipices ?
This seemed doubtful.
As we all laughed, the English ' administrador
and chief engineer of the Transandine Railway,
who was also calling upon, me, banished all our
small fears by offering to take charge of me himself
for at least the first day. He was going up with two
younger engineers to examine the line, and the mouth
of the tunnel already begun, which is some day to
pierce the summit of the Andes and form a subway
between the Argentine and Chili.
So good an offer was not to be refused. Mr. D.
not only holds the chief post on the mountain line,
but crossed the Andes on foot in the snow some
years ago with two companions — if ' on foot ' is a
proper expression, when much of the journey ap
parently consisted of sliding down the snow-covered
mountain -sides seated on a fringe of sheep's tails
carefully tied on for that purpose.
So before seven one morning my most genial host
and I were breakfasting at the station. The still
twilight sky overhead was a sight not to be forgotten.

1 54 CROSSING THE CORDILLERAS
Great splashes of indigo clouds shaded to brighter
edges of blue ; for the sun was later rising than
ourselves. The Transandine train, with its tiny long cars,
reversible seats, and mirrors in every panel, is a
gem of its kind. Away we went at half-past seven,
past suburbs of bamboo hovels, maize patches, and
sugar-cane, ascending the low foot-hills.
The railroad follows the course of the Mendoza
River, up a valley often narrowing to precipitous
gorges, with bridges flung across the roaring torrent
below. The rocks above seemed to close in over
head. Now the river would be foaming far beneath
on the right ; a few minutes later on the left. Out
again into a barren valley, mottled with a few sad-
coloured bushes, the only verdure to be seen. One
of my companions told me these plants have large
roots useful for firing ; while the leaf is a good
remedy for horses' sore backs.
My other two friends were riding on the engine,
wrapped in heavy ponchos, and doubtless keenly
scrutinizing the line. I might have had the glory
of a seat above the cow-catcher ; pleasant here, I
was assured, where cattle are few, though often gory
on the great pampas. But, knowing to-morrow would
bring some hardships of travelling, this lazy chroni
cler preferred luxury inside the cars whilst it might
still be enjoyed.
Two hours later we passed one green oasis— a

A WILD REGION 155
small estancia, with a row of poplars and rich alfalfa.
After that the region grew wilder, grander, and utterly
barren. Forget all your impressions of Swiss pine-
woods, sharp peaks, and deep, richly green valleys.
Here the eye wanders over great red spaces of rocky
mountains rising into the sky, buttressed by lower
cliffs and foot-hills, all as if fired once in some great
furnace. It is a weirdly fine colouring, this hot
volcanic glow.
' But how it fatigues the eye,' said one young
engineer. ' After travelling up and down here for
two years, one's sight aches for a green leaf.'
No coffee was procurable at the wooden station
huts, but presently our chief left his engine and
gave four of us a breakfast in his private coche,
produced from provision-cases meant to last the
trio for the next few days. Our full claret-glasses
were placed on the floor for want of a table, and
so smooth was the motion, the line being admirably
laid, that not a drop was spilt. Compare this with
the rough old journey by the mule-track along these
gorges. Yet Mendoza was always more Chilian
than Argentine in its ways, close intercourse having
been kept up with its neighbours on 'the other side.'
The difficult Uspallata Pass was easier to traverse
than the 600 miles of grassy sea which stretches to
Buenos Ayres.
Interesting stories are told of the difficulties and
dangers of making the railroad. Hardly a wretched

156 CROSSING THE CORDILLERAS
posada up these valleys. Higher still in the moun
tains, only casuchas, or shelters for the postmen
who have long dared the passage across the moun
tains, even in midwinter.
Not pleasant to be storm-bound, like our chief,
in one of these for some days — half frozen with
snow coming through a hole in the roof; stifled
with smoke from a fire in the middle ; no chimney,
no window, and but little food. Travellers used to
journey with some half-dozen dogs apiece, which at
night, lying near, would keep vital warmth in their
owners. These were 'good old times,' hearing of
which made me the more thoroughly enjoy present-
day comforts, hoping even brighter things for the
Transandine in future.
The excessive good care taken of me here, and,
as I may gratefully now remark, everywhere else
during a ten months' tour, soon necessitated lunch
at a larger station. This was likewise a rude
building in the barren cliff- bound valley. Yet
memory vaguely recalls white Italian soup, hot cut
lets, a good omelette, and country wine with coffee
to follow. One may fare worse, even in England,
on cross-country lines.
On again, ever imperceptibly ascending ; more
barrenness but for the few sage-like bushes, looking
as if some gardener had dibbled them in at regular
intervals ; then a wider valley, the river-bed strewn
with large boulders.

THE END OF THE LINE 157
We stopped, for the railway was as yet made no
farther. It was about three o'clock, and a group of mules
awaited us in the shade of some cottages. I was
promptly hoisted on a small black mule by an Italian
guide, who now took possession of me as his lawful
property. This was Villalonga's head-muleteer, or
capataz, who announced that, as I was the only lady
of the tropilla, it was his duty not to leave my side,
and that, by his master's orders, the best beast
was given me. With grateful glee I started, the
engineers trudging off up the line on business, but
promising to rejoin me in the inn by dinner-time.
' Leave your mule alone, sefiora ; it knows the
way,' said my guide. And this trusty animal
immediately tried to walk with me over the edge
of a bluff, to the discomfort of my nerves and the
indignation of its master.
With the capataz riding by my side, a young
arriero behind, entrusted with my rugs, dressing-
bag, and umbrellas, the luggage following on pack-
mules, away went our cavalcade, swelled by the
other ten passengers. We scrambled down a steep
bank, and trotted along a stony road through a dry
and barren scene.
A cloud of dust soon appeared in front, shrieks
and shouts were heard, and some apparent madmen
thundered towards us at a gallop, wildly waving arms
and spurring steeds. Only quiet arrieros bound on

THE INN OF LAS VACAS.

THE INN OF LAS VACAS 159

some simple errand or other. Next came some
biting and kicking mules which disputed our right to
pass. Then a loud shout from behind ; a four-horsed
coche tore past us, bound for an inn beyond that of
Las Vacas, swaying and rolling so perilously round
sharp corners, by narrow parts of the road over
hanging the river, and through fords, that I was
thankful this was not the public one which runs in
full season, and which was stopped at the approach
of winter, or I might have booked a place in it.
Soon in a valley of desolation I saw some pools
and a few corrals of dry stones, beyond which lay a
square of zinc-roofed low buildings.
' Are these the inn stables ?' I asked, expecting
to see some dwelling perched under the edge of the
volcanic cliffs, where not a blade or a sprout of green
grows. ' Sefiora, this is the hotel oi Las Vacas.'
A troop of pack- mules were being unloaded.
Baggage, saddles, and sheepskins lay in piles on
the stony, dusty ground. Rough men in ponchos
were blindfolding the sulky mules with sacks to
keep them from biting or straying, the beasts looking
as if affected by toothache. Gaunt dogs prowled
around, and an important individual hurried to dis
mount me, exclaiming in protecting tones : ' Vous
aurez une bonne petite chambre a vous seule.'
To this day I am not clear what were his par
ticular privileges concerning my welfare ; but I had

160 CROSSING THE CORDILLERAS

begun to feel like a registered parcel, marked
'Fragile' and handed from one to another with
care. Which agreeable feeling of faith lasted,
and, indeed, grew by justification, during all my
journey till home again. He led me through the
inner yard, littered with hen-coops, rabbits, bones,
and peones, to a kind of cowshed door. Here,
unfastening a thong hitched to a rusty nail, he
displayed with pride — my room ! A mud floor,
four-paned window (one pane of wire sieve), three
camp-beds, two morsels of matting, no chair, and a
tin washbasin ! And how lucky to enjoy these
comforts alone, and not with strange senoras, as
when crowded.
Neither bolt, key, nor door-handle was discernible.
But my capataz was never distant in any dilemma.
In a trice he ran off, then reappeared bearing a rough
plank, which he planted in a deep hollow of the floor,
leaning the other end against the door.
' Mire ! do this, and a regiment of Indians could
not rob you, sefiorita. Besides, for safety, I shall
sleep just outside.'
There were truckle beds scattered out of doors
under the roof- eaves for guides and peones, and,
true enough, at my threshold the good fellow snored
through the night.
Lurking distrust in the safety of my luggage
without personal inspection being a weakness of
mine, I now ventured outside, ' going delicately.

SPANISH EXPLETIVES 161
I he innkeeper was a Scotchman, who cordially accom
panied me in search of my treasured gear among the
other luggage heaps flung down in the dusty corral.
My dress-trunks, it may here be noted, were all
small enough to balance each other on pack-mules
when crossing the mountains.
Oh, my best hats ! their light box was cruelly rope-
marked and half buried under dead weight.
' Hombre !' the Scotchman cannily pointed out
to the ubiquitous capataz. ' See, there are the
senorita's sombreros de Domingo (Sunday -go -to-
meeting bonnets). Behold !' And the capataz
shouted indignantly to an underling of an arriero
with a resounding ' Car-amba !'
Now this, I always formerly believed to be a
Spanish oath ; but several Chilian ladies have as
sured me sacredly it means no worse than ' Oh dear !'
or the Irish ' Bother !' and that they constantly use
it. , What a safety-valve for a poor housewife to have
such a delightful expletive with a rolling r to burst
out with ' when the china is broken ' !
' Hombre !' (Man !) is the correct way of address
ing any masculine being — friend or chimney-sweep
— in amusement, surprise, reproach, or otherwise.
I used it as a preface to my Spanish sentences
whenever possible, just to give myself a careless
air of fine acquaintance with the language.
Out of doors was so uninviting, I returned to sit
on my bed and lay out my travelling wear for to-
u

162 CROSSING THE CORDILLERAS
morrow ; the one day of probable discomfort, and
certainly of a long mule -ride for the best part of
some eleven hours, which various friends' accounts
made me anticipate like a willing martyr with some
what 'fearful ' joy. Nether riding garments, a serge
skirt and warm jacket — for the cold would be bitter
on the mountains before sunrise and towards evening
— was the sage counsel given me, which was grate
fully followed.
' And at Mendoza buy one of the enormous straw
hats sold there to wear going over the mountains.
They are tied down with white tape to keep the
sharp air and sun from one's ears and neck. Every
one gets them.'
I did so too, but modified the rigour of the law
by black satin ribbons tying over my hat gipsy-wise.
Also a gauze veil, long enough to cross behind and
swathe round the neck — a Buenos Ayres purchase
which nearly reduced me to bankruptcy, costing
about five shillings. The effect of that hat was
prodigious. In size, if placed on a pole, it would
almost shelter four at a tea and tennis party.
'Above all things, do not wash your face for three
days ! !' was the crowning sentence of warning.
' Oh, of course, if you like your skin to peel off, do !
Otherwise you must use vaseline or cold cream.'
This simple toilet made, dinner followed in a
whitewashed room. My three English friends and
myself occupied chairs of honour at the head of the

A MOUNTAIN MEAL 163

table ; the other eight or ten travellers came next ;
while the guides and some very indifferent company
were seated lower down on benches.
The meal had several courses ; some terribly tough,
to the sorrow, rather than anger, of a French
neighbour. In the bustle of departure this morn
ing, a kind somebody had vaguely presented him
and some other fellow-passengers, urging hurriedly
upon them the high responsibility of taking care of
me on the morrow.
' If madame will allow me the honour, as we
are all fellow-travellers and in republican countries,'
smiled the little Gaul politely. He now at dinner
explained with simple frankness : ' Madame perhaps
does not know that I am a hotel-keeper myself.
Mine, if I may say so, is perhaps the biggest hotel
of Santiago — the Oddo ; still, I know what can be
done in the way of cooking, even among these
mountains. '
The repast over, I said farewell to the engineers,
whose society had dispersed all possible feeling of
loneliness during the day's interesting journey.
' We are bound to work slowly up the valley to
morrow, where our line is to be continued,' said the
chief. ' Remember, should you feel too tired half
way to go on, you may count on seeing us in the
evening at Las Cuevas. But it would be pleasanter
for yourself to push on to Juncal, where the inn is
much better, if you can.'

164 CROSSING THE CORDILLERAS

Retiring to my den with this assurance, the capataz
and a lantern guided my stumbling steps across the
yard. And so to bed — a fair enough seeming one —
but not to rest.
I have slept through the worst thunderstorms on
land, and in a severe gale or two at sea ; can dream
peacefully sitting bolt upright all night in a train ;
yes, and even while a steamer is coaling till daybreak,
with the winches working beside my cabin port. But
the test of Las Vacas was too much !
Between fevered dozes and frantic starts, making
vain sorties armed with candle and insect-powder
against invisible attacking foes — so the horrid hours
passed. Well, to-morrow would see me in Chili !

[ 165 ]

VIVA CHILE.
It still seemed night, when a loud knock thundered
at my door.
' Senor-z'/d:/'
Half-past five, and two cut-throat looking mule
teers were demanding my luggage, as the pack-
mules started earlier than the travellers. Hastily I
dressed (did not curl my hair), and, taking shelter
under the hat, peered out shivering into coldness
and darkness.
The faithful capataz mysteriously appeared at
once, and, grasping my elbow and a guttering
candle, led me past sleeping human and other
animals to the room where my companions for the
day were gulping down their coffee.
Being thus fortified, after warm good wishes from
the Scotch innkeeper for my journey, capataz and
self again groped out to the corral. Here shadowy
figures helped me to mount an object, which by
touch seemed my mule, the latter instantly whirling
round and bolting into utter blackness among wire

166 VIVA CHILE

fencing, confusing me like a blindfolded player when
started in a children's game.
'Ohd! sulky animal, lazy one! Here, sefiora,
this is the gate. Can you see yon white mule ?
Follow it.'
A gray form showed indistinctly ahead, which I
energetically followed as guiding star, aided by
whacks on my mule's flank that revealed my care
taker's presence behind.
' It was starlight still as we crunched over gravel
paths and splashed through shallow fords. But soon
came a weird light ; it grew clearer, yet retained a
solemn charm. No one spoke, and the leading
white mule kept gliding ahead like a ghost. Once
or twice my animal shied sharply. It was at an
evil-smelling carcase, or the skeleton of one of its
kind, beside the sandy track. Many such ribs,
picked clean by the condors, we passed that day.
Up rose the sun, though still hidden behind the
high mountains ; the valley widened, and the road
became a good sandy one. Here we began to
gallop off and on for an hour or two pleasantly
enough, But if ever I ceased beating my mule
with a thong whip fastened on the rope reins by a
running noose, the wretch degenerated into a jolting
trot. My arm was aching, when a small boy of the
troop clattered up behind, and with hideous shouts
and whacks drove my lazy steed before him in ah

PUENTE DEL INCA 167
easy canter. He kept this amusement up all day
unless I implored breathing-time, while the guides
laughed and clapped him on the back.
This amateur arriero was a French boy, sent
from Santiago to Las Incas for the high air, because
his chest was weak. So he told me later with
grumpy shyness when we dismounted. Certainly
this air must work wonders, for any unwitting
onlooker would have imagined the youth's lungs
to be of brass.
As the sun, now high, at last warmed us, streaming
over the mountains, we arrived at Puente del Inca —
the Inca's Bridge. A halt was made at a rough-
looking inn, mud-walled and low-roofed. Here in
summer a fair number of patients come up from
Chili or the Argentine, to be cured of skin and
other diseases by bathing in the natural hot springs.
We all dismounted, and Faithful — as my capataz
might justly be named — led me over a reddish steep
slope down a zigzag path to admire the famous
bridge. This is a natural structure of stalactite
formation, some 60 feet high by 120 feet wide,
made by the mineral springs close by, beneath
which the Cuevas River has cut its way for
countless centuries. Here, in the cliffside also,
are the baths, i.e., rough-walled, gloomy grottoes,
where the water is, nevertheless, clear and almost
too warm.
On we went again, passing through one valley

1 68 VIVA CHILE

into another, with a sandy river-bed not far away,
our track always imperceptibly ascending, while we
were now at a height of about 1 1,000 feet.
' How grand the view must be up there, in sight
of the everlasting snow !' people have since said to
me. But this is hardly so, for the valleys them
selves being at so great a height, the surrounding
mountains are correspondingly diminished. Some
snow-clad crests, peeping over nearer brown ones,
looked fine, it is true, but far less so than when seen
in the clear air from the plains below, at a distance
of a hundred or more miles. Still, the solitude, and
the utter absence of all life, even to the smallest way
side plant, were strangely impressive.
One wide valley struck me especially as grand.
Great sweeps of barren mountains surrounded it,
painted in wide washes of colour. Here Tyrian
purple, there reddish, then gray ; and further a
cliffside of palest yellow — perhaps owing to some
lichen growing over its surface.
It was nearly mid-day, and the sun was pouring
hotly down upon our heads, so, with a curious feel
ing of lassitude stealing over me, I jogged more
quietly along.
Two self- constituted aides-de-camp rode on my
either hand : one, the little Frenchman, who had a
wonderful instinct for showing me all objects of real
interest, yet never obtruding his presence ; the other,
an old German merchant, who lent me blue spectacles

PUNA, THE MOUNTAIN SICKNESS 169
against the sandy glare, and provided wraps, light or
heavy, as sunless gorges or hot sunshine necessitated.
Faithful, outnumbered by these, fell back on the
society of the arrieros. But as now and again my
companions grew pale, and with murmured apologies
turned aside, he trotted up.
' It's the puna, the mountain sickness,' he con
fidentially imparted, with a grin. ' The sehorita has
not got it. That is right.'
But the sehorita was conscious of a growing head
ache, such as among severest ones she had never
before experienced, an agonizing pain, when one's
head seemed bound by an iron band screwed tighter
every minute excruciatingly, like a torture of the
Inquisition. This puna, called sorrochd in Peru, is the effect of
the rarefied air in these altitudes of 1 1,000 to 13,000
feet. Some travellers bleed at the nose and ears.
Those with sound lungs suffer the most severely,
for these organs gasp like a rabbit under an air-
pump, and the heart beats with painful quickness.
Whilst riding this is bearable, but the least personal
exertion brings on giddiness and prostration. One
naval Lieutenant assured me that the Oroya mountain
line in Peru had reduced him to such sickness for a
day and night as he had never before dreamt of.
Perhaps sickness might have relieved my head,
which grew worse as the valley closed in to a gorge,
and we wound by sharp curves overhanging a narrow

170 VIVA CHILE

river, until at last Punta de Las Cuevas came in sight
about one o'clock. This inn was like the last — some
zinc-roofed buildings in an utterly lonely valley. As
the capataz fairly lifted me off my mule, I rather
wished he would dig a hole in the sand there and
then and bury me.
' How much further do we p-o ?' — this with flutter-
ing breath.
' Up yonder ; that is the cumbrd (summit).'
Alas ! my failing eyes saw a track zigzagging for
a thousand feet up a great brownish mountain-side
and disappearing at the sky-line. And yonder was
only halfway in this day's journey !
' I cannot do it. I shall die of this puna.
Capataz ! I shall stay here all night.'
' Sefiorita !' in tones of bitter dismay. ' But what
shall I do ? I am the only guide to the tropilla, and
must lead these gentlemen over the summit to-day,
but I dare not leave you, either. Even by riding
back all night, I could not bring you in time for the
train at Los Andes.'
The inn-keeper's wife — an Italian — advised me to
lie down for an hour before deciding, showing me to
a fairly clean, mud -floored cabin. Here my head
throbbed to bursting, one thought constantly beating
like a sledge-hammer : ' How shall I ever get up to
that cumbrd, like a fly crawling up a wall ?'
A call to come to comer. I feebly rose, to find
the rest of the troop as feebly lunching. The

THE CUMBRE

171

Frenchman, looking as if he had just crossed the
Channel, came towards me, kind soul ! with a plate
of thin bread cut in inviting morsels, but spread with
suspicious white bulb shreds.
' I supplicate you, try a little. The guides say this
is the great mountain remedy,' he begged. 'Yes, it
is garlic, but still — please try to take a little.'
Since then other Frenchmen, the Commandant
and Flag- Lieutenant of the Pacific Fleet, declared,
when I told them this narrative, that they would
infinitely have preferred the mountain sickness. But
they spake in ignorance. All I can say is, I was
willing to swallow asafcetida on the chance of a
cure. A cure ! it was a charm. I took only a little,
but felt better at once. Then, with head still heavy
and back still aching, I mounted and began the ascent
of the famous cumbrd in this the Uspallata Pass.
The guides are always anxious to hurry travellers
over the summit before two o'clock, for they de
clare that so high a wind rises in the afternoon that
the mules will not face it. Even at times, they say,
man and beast are obliged to lie down for hours till
its force has lessened, or they are blown over into
the abyss. (One wonders if any ever were !)
' Riding up is best. It is coming down the Chilian
side that is so dreadfully steep,' announced my aides-
de-camp with forcedly cheerful tones.
In my feminine opinion, riding uphill is worst. It
may be a question of saddle and dress. So shutting

i72 VIVA CHILE
my eyes, out of pure fatigue, I felt the mule under
me climbing up, and up, and up — as it and fate
pleased. At times my eyelids unclosed lazily,
getting glimpses of the narrow path, winding along
great screes of loose stones, which seemed sliding
into the valley far beneath, where the inn had
dwindled to a toy, while our riders looked like flies
scattered on the zip-zaps.
Ah ! here comes new danger. Faithful urged his
mule beside mine, drawing both animals into com
parative shelter near a boulder. Some baggage-
mules were cantering wildly down the track, their
driver of course half a mile behind. These animals
are utterly selfish, and, with truly mulish disregard
for others' safety, will gallop past on the inside, their
packs grazing the unwary traveller's knees, or even
pushing him over the cliff-edge. Loaded with zinc
sheets or metal rails, such irresponsible wayfarers
are verily to be avoided.
Lastly, just as the garlic had worked so great
wonders that I was beginning to feel myself again,
came a stone -strewn crest. My fellow-travellers
dismounted, and the capataz, with a beaming smile,
announced, ' This is the cumbrd.' Here, roughly
speaking, we may say, was the boundary-line, and
Chili lay before us.
Some of the men now walked downhill ; but I,
who had no wish to do so, was vehemently entreated
by my faithful caretaker not to dream of following

DESCENDING THE PASS 173
their example. The guides turned their mules adrift
with loud cries, and we all stumbled onwards with
fresh courage, the path now diving into abysses
of wild desolation, now rising again only to make a
fresh descent. Lamentations soon arose from the
pedestrians, who were twisting their ankles among
the loose rolling stones, while the extra exertion
made several of them suffer anew from puna.
For myself, I enjoyed this part of the day most ;
there was enough danger to be exciting. So from
three o'clock till after five I lay back on my mule's
tail, so to speak, while she slid and crawled down
steep and stony places, which were ' touch-and-go '
once, if not twice, when riding along a pathless slope
in single file our animals were forced to jump a small
stream. Had one slipped on the sharp incline, it
must have been precipitated hundreds of feet into
the valley below.
There is a path- — and some travellers even consider
it fairly good. But at one corner of this we suddenly
came upon some hundreds of cattle being driven from
the Argentine over into Chili. A mass of red hides
and horns jammed the way hopelessly, although the
vaqueros, mounted on lean nags, with wooden stirrups
shaped like coal-scuttles, threw stones at the wearied
herd, in vain efforts to make them move on. ' Vaca !
vaca !' they yelled till they were hoarse. Our only
escape was by a rough short-cut across the hillside,
followed by a jump down into the path below, each

X 74 VIVA CHILE

mule waiting its turn with all four feet gathered up
together, at times seeming to be sitting on its hind
quarters. Again and again we had to do this as we
met fresh numbers of cattle, the poor beasts, half
maddened by hunger and thirst, occasionally trying
to escape by breaking loose and dashing up the hill
above us, where they dislodged showers of stones,
that came leaping down.
A glorious bit of blue, like a large gleaming
sapphire, now delighted our eyes between two high
mountains. It was a lonely tarn, called the Lake of
the Inca, fed by snow and ice at this great height
of 12,000 feet, with never a bush, bird, or tree to
enliven its solitude.
Presently, descending out of the warm afternoon
sunlight into the cold, dark shade of some high
mountains, there came a loud report of blasting.
The new Chilian road, which is being made over
the cumbrd, was the origin of these sounds. Our
capataz at once made us halt, and sent the younger
arriero galloping his cranky mule at a breakneck
pace ahead to see if the way was free from the
danger of falling rocks. Soon came a long, mono
tonous valley, where I almost fell asleep in my
deep saddle from fatigue as we jogged along. It
was bitterly cold here in the shadows of the great
hills, so besides my own rugs my companions pressed
ponchos and shawls upon me. Then, in dead silence,
we ambled on and on. Any exertion, even that of

JUNCAL AT LAST 175

talking, might have brought back the mountain
sickness. And now came the last and worst descent of all ;
more cows, and wilder galloping herdsmen. Some
stout country damsels, riding easily, and carrying
big bundles, joined us in the narrow path, anxious
to flirt with our arrieros. As if knowing that
Faithful was thus cut off from my assistance, my
tired mule began to stumble once or twice badly ;
her pace and manners were excellent, to do her
justice, except for crossness at starting.
We now got on the wide new road, where gangs
of Chilian navvies were spreading the metal. Very
easy will be the crossing of the Uspallata Pass soon,
when this is finished. And down in a twilight valley
far below were roofs — those of Juncal, our resting-
place for the night.
How far off it seemed ! But better this than the
old casuchas, or postmen's shelters, which we had
passed at various spots during the day. These
are stone beehive huts, raised about six feet from
the ground to escape the winter snows, with only a
doorway, but neither fireplace nor light.
At last ! at last ! Was it possible we were on the
level and riding up to a nice little inn, with a moun
tain-stream rushing close by its door ? Out hurried
a young Italian, or rather Piedmontese hostess,
pretty, obliging, and as well dressed as if in Europe.
She put her arm round my waist, for I was extremely

OLD POSADA AT JUNCAL.

JUNCAL AT LAST 177
tired, and assisted me into the salle a manger, as she
called the comedor, speaking glibly in French, where
a strong cup of tea, into which she insisted on pouring
some brandy, soon revived me. The guides con
sider it a great mistake to take spirits during the
day's journey, as these only quicken the heart's
action, and so increase puna. But I no longer felt
the latter, Juncal being not quite 8,000 feet above
the sea-level — a considerable relief in altitude to
one's lungs.
My room was one of three in a new wooden
building apart, kept sacredly for superior travellers ;
our English Minister and his wife, crossing lately
from Chili, had occupied these, said the signora
with pride. Also other diplomats, and the English
clergyman from Valparaiso — my future host. What
a blessing to find a chamber that was sweet and
clean, with boarded floor, walls and ceiling ! There
was also an excellent bed, a stool, and a window
which really gave light — all luxuries, remembering the
different experiences of the night before at Las Vacas.
After I had enjoyed a welcome rest of an hour or
so, the little manageress came to escort me through
the black darkness to dinner in the larger house.
All was tidy in her inn-yard ; luggage and mule
saddles ranged neatly by the house-walls, not flung
in a chaotic pile in a corral. Within, the meal was
spread after the same fashion as at Las Vacas, but
with what a difference ! 1 2

178 VIVA CHILE

The large room, with a bar at one end, was clean
and airy ; the long table covered with a spotless
white oil-cloth (and pray why not ? better so than a
soiled linen one with bare boards at the lower end).
' I think we shall have a good dinner,' confided
the Frenchman to his fellow-travellers. His face,
beaming with anticipation of satisfaction, grew
brighter and brighter, as" six courses, all fair, and
one or two very good, made their appearance.
' And madame can sit here and trust all to come
from the kitchen correctly,' he murmured, with the
admiration of a critic who understands such
matters. 'It is famous.' Then aloud to the
hostess : ' Madame, je vous en fais mes compli
ments.' The little woman, who presided in simple fashion
at table, bridled and smiled ; then, as a knock came
at the outer door, she herself rose to open it. A
ragged peon shambled in, but the signora greeted
the vagrant with just as sweet a smile as she might
have given a greater personage, showing him to a
place at the far end of the board.
The momentary opening of the door had given us
a glimpse of outside darkness, mountain cold, and
the noise of the brook swelled by snow-water. All
indoors seemed warm, bright, and cosy by contrast.
When dinner was ended, and as I was retiring to
my outer chamber, two fresh belated guests came
in. Although roughly dressed, wearing heavy

JUNCAL AT LAST 179
ponchos, one guessed at a glance that they were
English, and had probably some posts of authority,
which proved to be the case, for next day I heard
that they were English telegraphists, engaged in
repairing the new underground cable over the
mountains to Mendoza.
After a long night of dreamless sleep and perfect
rest, I woke to find the sun already shining high.
On stepping out into the sweet sharp air, I admired
the amphitheatre of high hills round our little inn
in the cup-shaped valley like the crater of an extinct
volcano. But where were my companions and our
mules ? Not a sign of them to be seen. Only by
the inn door lounged the capataz, and a small
carriage waited near, with three white horses
harnessed abreast. This was meant to convey
my gracious self down the valley, more riding
being considered unadvisable by my caretaker,
besides thus giving me extra sleep, the other
travellers having started two hours ago.
Now, there are not many occasions in life, it
seems to me, when it is better to be a woman
than a man. But plainly this was one of them. All
such rare moments should be hailed with thanks
giving, which I joyfully prepared to do.
The hostess now came with suggestions of break
fast — coffee and tortilla, or omelette. To my sur
prise, her smiles were flown, her face pale and
manner frightened. Just then the head English

180 VIVA CHILE

telegraphist approached me, and entered into con
versation as with a fellow-countrywoman.
'We had a narrow escape last night,' he gravely
announced. ' But for a mere chance we should all
have been sent to kingdom come.'
It appeared that in the night a watchman found
two fires lit beside a store-hut, close behind our inn,
which hut was full of dynamite, kept for blasting
operations on the new road. The man was only
just in time to rake the embers away, or we should
have been blown to pieces. On examination, two
cases were found to be missing — most likely pur
loined by some ignorant Chilian navvy, more out
of mischief than malice.
' Probably he is sitting somewhere among the rocks
on his stolen dynamite, smoking a pipe,' remarked my
new acquaintance.
No wonder the signora looked nervous.
' Don't mind, madame ; you are quite in the great
world,' I remarked cheeringly. ' Why, this is like
being in Paris or Barcelona.'
Back came her smile. ' Ah, it is happy that you
take it sur ce ton la. Quite true, we have everything
in the Cordilleras, even the Anarchists.'
So with restored gaiety the little woman bade me
good-bye ; and my own tribute is gladly added to
the enthusiastic praises with which all travellers over
the Uspallata Pass mention her name. She had
a young husband too — he obeyed the behests of

DOWN THE VALLEY TO SALTO DEL SOLDADO 181
his brighter partner with an air of admiring slow
zeal. Away I started in my low cochd, that was like a
village-cart, with two seats back to back. Mine was
the hinder one, as the three horses galloping along
sent up a little shower of gravel, which was not
pleasant to face. An eighteen or twenty miles drive
lay before us, down to Salto del Soldado, where we
should find our fellow-travellers and the mountain
train. It was a delightful drive indeed, in the brisk,
high air and glorious sunshine. The valley, at first
arid, soon became wildly picturesque, our road over
hanging a brawling river full of boulders — of course
never a fence, though the track was at places broken
away. ' See, condors ! The sefiorita is in luck, for often
one sees none,' remarked the capataz from the front-
seat beside the driver. He pointed to two birds,
seeming the size of crows, but so high — high up on
the side of a great mountain — that they must have
been large indeed. Presently came two more. One,
the smallest, flew so near us overhead, I could dis
tinctly see his cruel beak, while his wings seemed
about four feet outspread ; the others were much
bigger. One engineer friend afterwards described
to me how, sometimes out surveying in a lonely
valley, he had watched them sailing below, and
could distinctly hear the rush of air from their huge
wings as they swept past.

1 82 VIVA CHILE

Small mountain-flowers now first appeared amongst
the rocks ; then came bushes, grass, in varied and
verdant vegetation. The mountain -side bristled
with tall, pale green cacti ; low trees overhanging
the foaming water were wreathed with a brilliant
red parasite in full flower.
Now and again we passed little hamlets in the
valley, and former post-houses, set among trees and
rough ground, that made charming pictures, which
memory can often glance at hereafter in its pleasant
galleries. We had started about half- past eleven, and it
seemed all too soon when the three good grays
slackened their gallop, and we pulled up at a larger
inn than most, on the roadside. Out hurried the
old German, the Frenchman, and my other travelling
companions, with welcoming greetings. They were
lunching in a trellised outdoor parlour in front of the
inn, myrtle -roofed and walled, as it should be re
marked were most of the ranchos in the valley
down which we had come. This was my first sight
of a ramada, which is one of the chief features in a
Chilian landscape. It is made of upright poles, a
few more tied crosswise, and branches wattled be
tween. When the myrtle or other leaves are green,
it is charming, but in this April autumn they were
already withered. ' The winter winds will soon
sweep it away without trouble,' remarked my fellow-
travellers.

DOWN THE VALLEY TO SALTO DEL SOLDADO 183
A feast was being given, it appeared, by the land
lord, Hispa, to his French confrere from Santiago,
and I was most courteously invited to partake of
the chief dish, which had just made its appearance.
This was an aged fowl, so tough that the carver's
veins swelled in his forehead after the laborious task
of detaching a small portion for my benefit. The
bread was bullet-proof, but the coffee was good ;
while the company, if not select, were well-mannered
folk. Presently I wandered by myself up the hillside to
see the gorge of the Soldier's Leap, or Salto del
Soldado. The river has here cut its way through
a very deep ravine, narrowing overhead so closely at
one spot that it has given rise to the accustomed
legend in such places, of how a soldier, pursued by
his enemies, leapt across for safety. Among the
rocks around prickly pears spread their fleshy green
platters, and standing for the first time under a tall
cactus, I found it was some fifteen feet high.
Now time pressed, so we drove a little way further
down to Punta de los Rieles, where the mountain
train was waiting ; and a rough, shaky one it was,
with no windows to protect us from the dust and
wind. No matter ! We were speeding down a rich
valley, ever widening, while the sweep of hills on
either side showed full of colour and variety in the
yellow evening light. It was strange to see large
branch-wattled ranchos here, of several rooms ; their

SANTA ROSA DE LOS ANDES.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF CHILI 185
flooring, the hard ground swept clear of dust, with
openings for windows and doors in the crazy structure.
Bright scarlet and yellow cotton garments hung out
drying ; women were sewing or cooking out of doors,
seated on the ground, all with an air of gipsy comfort
and cleanliness, which closer acquaintance must have
dispelled. Prettiest of all were little brown children,
with naught of clothing but a cotton shirt, running
out to stare at the puffing engine. Soon came bigger
farmhouses with brown mud walls, tall trees around,
and wide fields. How green and refreshing the
verdure of Chili appeared to our tired eyes after
the red aridity of the mountains ! When the poor
'Argentine cattle first get down here, it is said they
rush into the first meadows they meet, and can hardly
be driven out before they have grazed to swelling
point. ' Look, look ! see how walls are built in this
country,' said one of my companions, pointing out
a man by the roadside below us. He was standing
in what seemed a high wooden box filled with mud,
beating this down with blows from his heavy tamp.
The wall reminded me of Devonshire ' cob.'
Towards twilight we arrived at the pretty town of
Los Andes, or properly Santa Rosa de los Andes.
Here many travellers spend the night in a fairly
good hotel, so as to enjoy the scenery on the follow
ing morning of what is called the Garden of Chili.
But not caring to remain alone, and having some

VIVA CHILE

months of stay in the country before me, I preferred
hastening on to Valparaiso. Driving across Los
Andes to the other station came my first amazement
at the ramshackle Chilian street-flys.
Again we started, this time in a large train and
Pullman -car, darkness falling so swiftly that soon
none of the vineyards, which are said to be famous
in the country around, were discernible. It was
between eight and nine o'clock when we reached
the junction of Llai-Llai, an Indian word signifying
' Winds.' Here my fellow-travellers all branched
off to Santiago, and for the first time on my journey
I expected to be really left alone. But, on stepping
out into the pitchy darkness of the platform, my ear
caught the sound of my own name, pronounced in
English inquiring accents. And following the clue,
I met an old friend face to face, my expectant host,
the English chaplain at Valparaiso, who had kindly
come thus far to meet and greet me on the way.
What a capital dinner we had in the wide restaurant
of Llai-Llai, famous throughout Chili for the cheap
ness and excellence of its fare ; and how we talked !
Then the real luxury of the next train, with its velvet
arm-chair in a big saloon car, was delightful indeed
to one's tired frame. It was eleven o'clock when we
entered Valparaiso, seeing its wide crescent of lights
reflected in the dark waters of the bay. Indeed, for
some time past, we had been skirting the Pacific
Ocean.

ARRIVED— AT LAST I 187
Then came a short walk across the paved In-
tendenzia Square, a dive into a narrow alley, and up
long steep flights of wooden steps, ending apparently
in a winter watercourse that had washed a gully in
the centre, against which my companion warned me.
Overhead hung a little white house, seeming in mid
air, a gas-light outside, which was our beacon.
A few minutes of what I deemed mountain climb
ing, and we gained the terrace above. Then came
the pleasure of being warmly welcomed by my
hostess : ' So you have really come to Chili at last !'

[ i«8 ]

VALPARAISO, THE VALE OF PARADISE.
Valparaiso ! Now, why should this town be called
the Vale of Paradise ? has been often asked. One
lady a year or two ago guessed the reason. ' When
I came down the coast from Peru, I knew,' she said
triumphantly. ' I can tell you that, after those
hundreds of miles of awful barren cliffs, it really
did look green here. The old Spaniards must have
thought the same when they sailed into the bay.'
Imagine a deep bay with two long and dull
streets on the sea-level, all wharves, counting-houses,
merchants' offices. Close behind these parallel
streets rise steep cliffs, ending in high, reddish hills
that give a fire-glow to the landscape. For a con
siderable distance above the town these hills are
thickly covered with villas of the English and
German residents, mingled with the despachios
(grocery and drinking shops) of the people, and'
picturesque but ill-smelling hovels. Higher still,
against the sky-line, the glowing sweep of hills is
' splotched ' with dark green. Forgive the ugly

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

189

word ! but to say ' splashed ' might imply more con
tinuous verdure, and the bushes in question only
grow in round and separate clumps, browsed about
by donkeys and some few goats. In spring, folk

K'f"/Ajr"J ¦'"

CHILIAN ON HORSEBACK.

say, the hills are green enough, and the wild-flowers
make Chili a very garden. But in my autumn visit,
for winter begins towards the end of May, this was
how the landscape looked after the summer's heat

1 90 VALPARAISO, THE VALE OF PARADISE
and strong dust-winds, which, however, are a blessing
to the town in blowing away evil smells and germs
of infection.
Valparaiso may be described as a cosmopolitan
seaport. Put it down anywhere else in the world
of commerce, and it would be in place. Some
Spanish families certainly live here in flats above
the shops, down the long tree - lined, tram - laid
principal street ; but these hardly give the town
any individuality. They think the English mad to
strain their lungs and tire their knees climbing daily
up and down the frightful hills. The English
proudly retort that they like fresh air, and that if ever
a severe earthquake does come, followed by a tidal
wave, not a house below but will be washed into
the deep sea. And not one overhead but may be
engulfed if the ground yawns, as at Mendoza, and
certainly all may fall, reply the easy-going inhabi
tants of the lower level, with smiles and shrugs.
There are no sights whatsoever down in the town,
excepting always a splendid monument to a sea-hero,
Prat, in the principal square of the Intendenzia. It
was made in Paris, and the four figures guarding its
base are so full of vigour and life that one finds
one's self enviously murmuring, ' We have no statue
as fine in London !' Soon after arriving, my host
took me out one afternoon ' to look round,' and
amply satisfied my curiosity in two hours.
Our terrace on the Cerro Alegre, or Hill of Joy,

A TOWN OF STAIRWAYS 191
had two approaches ; one the watercourse way
already described ; the other — 102 crazy wooden
steps, which I carefully counted soon after arriving,
eked out by a few asphalt slides. Prancing down
these steps (as some were very high and all were
unequal, the expression may be permitted), we
entered a wicked street, that of the brokers. This
is the Stock Exchange, and from nine till dusk the
pavements are crowded with groups of eager men,
for stockbroking is at present laughingly described
as ' about the only paying profession in Chili.' No
lady alone, or even two ladies, would be bold enough
to risk the passage of the Calle Prat, ' for those men
do nothing but gossip and make remarks.' Indi
vidually the said men are the fair speakers' own
fathers, brothers, and husbands, and excellent in
each capacity. But collectively they form a street
club, and everyone knows what horrid places clubs
are for gossip. Now, of all towns Valparaiso is the
most inquisitive. ' So, my dear, you were down
in the market yesterday morning, and seen buying
potatoes and cauliflower ' — thus I have heard one
lady accosting another ; but never, let it be quickly
added, have I heard less real scandal and fewer
malicious remarks than among this kind and warm
hearted colony of English and Germans.
Leaving our ' characters behind us ' among the
brokers, we crossed the Plaza, taking a tram through
the low town where sailor men from the foreign

192 VALPARAISO,- THE VALE OF PARADISE
vessels love to congregate. Presently we alighted
close by the farthest town lift, which hoisted us
giddily up the cliffside of a vividly red hill. Here
a fine naval school is perched on a small plateau
of bare earth, with a precipice in front and dangerous
paths winding down the farther steep slopes. Below
lay a fort ; in the bay some men-of-war of the fine
Chilian navy. One of these, the Arturo Prat, is
worked almost entirely by electricity, being the very
newest and most costly of its kind ; and it is reported
that, the European engineers who brought out the
ship having been dismissed from a feeling of national
pride, the Chilians who replaced them are some
times at their wits' end to manage its delicate
machinery. The navy is much honoured in Chili,
perhaps because its service is not compulsory, as in
the army.
Back we hie by the same lift and tramway, take
a glance at the long street where are the principal
hotels, a few English tailors and French modistes'
shops, with tiny plazas and fairly good churches.
The public garden is here, too, so microscopic that
I supposed it attached to a cafe, and humbly apologize.
Are not its two marble lions famous ? — brought
hither with much other spoil of statues, pictures, and
books, from Lima after the war with Peru.
Towards five o'clock the pretty Chilian girls
promenade demurely up and down this street,
dressed in French style. 'Watch the funny way

CHILENAS VERSUS GRINGAS 193
the ladies here embrace, patting each other on the
shoulders. Nothing struck me more when I first
came,' had said a bright-eyed countrywoman.
This evening I saw them. Groups of ladies
rustled together, kissed with gentle effusiveness,
and, raising plump hands, went pat-pat-pat upon
each other's backs first on the right side, then on
the left. When introduced, they shake hands
warmly ; a mere bow would mean extreme coldness.
But at this hour all the Englishwomen are at tea
on the steep hillsides. Whirr ! let us mount sky
wards in the near lift and join them. This lift
shoots us out on the hill of the English Church, a
large, handsomely-windowed building, but forbidden
a spire because of its heretical creed. Time was,
and not long ago, when foreign services were held
only in supposed private houses, and winked at
rather than permitted here, as still in Peru. But
Chili is broadening her mind now in many ways.
The ordinary day here begins for all Englishmen
and many women with a ride between six and eight
o'clock on the camina cintura, or encircling road.
In sharp-frosted or misty June mornings, in already
warm and dusty November ones, gal-lop, gal -lop,
they are all cantering round the sharp turns of this
road, its deep quebradas, or ravines, lying unpro
tected on one side, and stray kids bleating on the
rugged hillside above. Everyone can afford a horse
in Chili : ' A good one may cost ten pounds ; the
13

194 VALPARAISO, THE VALE OF PARADISE
best in the land (except an imported English
thoroughbred) could easily be got for forty pounds,'
said several men to me. Back they clatter to
breakfast, for by nine o'clock all the offices and
banks in town are humming with work till one,
when strings of ponies are seen up side-streets
awaiting their masters, who will ride uphill for a hasty
lunch. Work is then resumed till six o'clock, always
excepting on mail-nights, when patrons and clerks
must sit up till perhaps midnight, and if a fiesta
falls on that date, great is the lamentation. With
what eagerness we all study the list of vapores till
the mail comes in ! Strange, this feeling of waiting
five weeks before your written words reach eyes
in England, ten before an answer can come back
from those you love.
One morning, as I was dressing for nine o'clock
breakfast, came a sudden rattling of my window.
There was an accompanying rumble, so like the
noise of some big waggon outside that — forgetting
this was not London, and no vehicle could pass on
our narrow hill - terrace— I quietly continued my
ablutions. Next came a kind of roll under the
floor, with creakings of the walls and rattling of
the door and window. Again ! From the patio
arose the voices of Carmen and Clorinda, the maids,
crying piteously, ' O por Dios !' Already I had
guessed this was an earthquake, and sprang to open
the door lest it should jam. It seems it was a severe

EARTHQUAKE WEATHER 195
shock, though here there are seldom dangerous ones,
like those which submerge the other seaports all
along the coast to Callao. A week later, sitting with
Mrs. Wetherall at night in her bungalow, came a
rattling apparently in the roof. ' Rats !' I exclaimed,
while she breathed ' Earthquake !' and a heave that
followed under the floor was undeniably a queer
sensation. I counted from seven to eight decided
shocks during my four months' stay.
It is a lovely morning, still and warm as earth
quake weather. Going out to the shady veranda
and little garden-plot after breakfast, the cries of the
usual morning vendors are heard. One man comes
driving some turkeys ; another has a string of
partridges, or willow cages full of fresh - caught
quails or singing birds ; while the vegetable boy
on his pony, and the polliero, with fowl and duck-
coops, instead of panniers, on his nag, are truly
Chilian sights, and picturesque withal.
Then my bright hostess whisks me down the hill-
steps to go shopping, thrilling fiery-cross news passing
round, after one of the usual fires, that adjacent shops
were 'selling off' It is frosty, even cold, in the
shady streets, but we pant in the sun climbing up
to our Cerro Alegre. Then, hastily getting into
smarter gowns, we toil higher yet uphill, bound for
a 'hen' lunch. As everyone pleasant — and their
number was many — in Valparaiso had kindly called
upon me, my popular hostess and myself were soon

196 VALPARAISO, THE VALE OF PARADISE
head over ears in debt for visits, paying which often
took the form of these ladies' luncheons.
' This heat is extraordinary for April,' remarked
my friend, as we paused for breath halfway up a

CHILIAN POULTERER'S STOCK IN TRADE.
steep road of rough stones imbedded in dust. There
was a lovely backward view of the bay, the air being
so transparent that, in spite of smoke-haze from the
town, the vessels lying below, with their frequently

APRIL— IN AUTUMN 197.
bright red hulls, looked quite near. Yonder, clear
and sharp, gleamed Aconcagua, although 120 miles
distant, his snow-crested head 25,000 feet high.
I n all the world only Chimborazo in Peru is a
higher mountain -brother, with Mount Everest in the
Himalayas highest of all three.
So up we climb, past gullies like earth - shoots,
with the queerest shanties ever seen clinging to their
sides. Here are rows of middle-class dwellings,
all light framework, adobe-filled, as best to with
stand earthquakes. Terraces follow, of uninteresting
two-storied English homes, where the only Chilian
sign is the darkened drawing-rooms, into which one
literally gropes. Scattered on steep places are
delightful-looking old houses, single -storied, built
round patios, and surrounded by verandas and
flower-plots. Generally the road owns an asphalt or brick side-
path, with wooden curb and frequent steps. From
this comparative vantage-point we pass picturesque
groups in the impossible roadway, now deeply
dusty, but that winter rains will soon make a miry
sea, two or even three feet deep. Perhaps a crazily-
high glass coche (such as one sees in pictures of
George III.'s day) scrambles by, with its three
horses abreast ; two scorn to attempt the hill, and
simply jib if any driver rashly tries to break this
equine custom. Or three mules in a cart slither
down a sloping dustbin, dignified by the title of

198 VALPARAISO, THE VALE OF PARADISE
calle; or, again, some gray donkeys come laden
with the furniture of a family. The first donkey
is carrying pots, pans, and a kitchen - chair ; the
second little beast only shows ears and feet beneath
a bulging pile of crimson mattresses ; the third
totters under a huge barrel that sways perilously,
although balanced by stools and boxes. These,
driven by brown, screaming urchins exactly like
Murillo's beggar boys, make 'a picture.'
Plenty of flowers hang in masses over garden-
gates or walls, through which doors, often unpainted,
give entrance to the pretty house beyond. Lovely
flowers, blue plumbago and geraniums growing wild
as weeds and high as bushes, with mimosa trees,
called here aromo, which in July will make a
yellow glory in the land. Everyone tells me that
in spring Chili is all one garden of flowers ; even
the waste sands down by the sea are purple with
them. Arriving at our destination, after the usual pre
fatory regrets that ' No gentlemen can be ever had
here for lunch, you know,' comes an invariable
query, ' Have you seen the mountains to - day ?
Aconcagua is looking lovely !' This subject takes
the place of the weather in England.
Here is one small difference between England and
Chili. At home everyone grumbles at, in Chili each
is continually praising, the climate. ' It is perfect,'
all assured me with enthusiasm; then added, with-

A CHILIAN 'NO' 199

out the least depreciation of tone, ' though certainly
the summer winds are very disagreeable.' How
satisfactory it is to see people so satisfied ! Even
in winter I scarcely heard them complaining, though
the heavy rains and ' norther ' winds were' partly
unroofing houses and flooding drawing-rooms, and
though most homes contain but one sitting-room
fireplace for the whole family, or none. (That one
is often unlighted, as people born out here adopt
Chilian ideas, and declare that colds are always
taken by going from the single warmed room into
the other cold ones.)
The ' hen ' lunches proved to be solid banquets,
beginning with soup and ending with grapes, or
chirimoyas, though it was hardly the season for
these delicious custard-apples. I was much struck
by the word 'No' used by all English people here
when asking anything. ' Do you like Chili — No ?'
said a young girl ; the negative uttered just as it
was on my lips to assure her that I liked Chili very
much indeed. Another lady electrified me by the
remark, ' You see I have got a husband — No ?'
And I could hardly restrain an eager disclaimer of
being supposed to dispute so large and cheerful a
fact as the gentleman's individuality. This ' No ' is
a Spanish idiom, either copied from Chilian friends
or learned in the nursery. For the little English
children here — wa-was, as all babies are called,
evidently from an Indian word — learn to prattle

200 VALPARAISO, THE VALE OF PARADISE
first in the soft Castilian, which gives them later a
kind of singing accent in speaking English.
Of course, everyone asked me, ' What do you
think of Chili ?' immediately answering themselves
with a ' Though, of course, you have hardly seen it
as yet.'
But I could say that many things struck me at
once as picturesque, notably the mantos, or black
shawls, worn by all the poorer women over their
heads and shoulders as daily costume, and by rich
and poor ones universally for going to Mass. There
is quite an art in pinning these shawls prettily tight
to the back hair and at the chin ; while everyone
knows that swathing them gracefully round the body
is a hereditary gift of the Spanish women, just as
Sappho boasted the women of her isle raised their
draperies more gracefully than others about the
ankles. To see some five or six of these black
bodies gossiping together in the street gives one
quite a curious idea as of nuns broken loose.
Ladies wear silk shawls or embroidered china crepe
ones ; their humbler sisters are content with cash
mere or alpaca. Surely, it is a pleasing idea that
all classes should thus appear garbed alike in the
House of God, the Court of Heaven. Even English
visitors peeping into a church here are expected to
put on a manto ; a bonnet would be quite disrespect
ful head-gear.
To return to our lunch. Married women are

BRIDES 'ON THE SHELF'

chiefly invited to these parties, as also to dinners.
Otherwise the many and pretty girls in the English
colony have the ' best of it ' in all amusements.
' We poor wives are quite out of everything here,'
many regretfully told me. Even brides, eighteen
years old, find themselves set at once on the shelf,
while their elder unmarried sisters are still enjoying
the amusements natural to their age.
On feast-days, for instance, a general picnic of
young people will be got up, when one young and
favourite 'Mrs.' is invited to chaperon some thirty
young men and maidens.
In spite of this doleful prospect, I heard nearly all
the girls were engaged to be married ! Weddings
were thick as blackberries during my stay, and a
good thing too. For though Valparaiso owns clubs,
young men, wearied with long days of work, find it
irksome after dining at these to climb uphill to their
lodgings ; while life for unmarried Englishwomen,
excepting a very few who have family duties that
keep their energies healthy and minds sweet, seems
sadly empty of daily work. This last was the wither
ing end of our ancestresses in the days of ' Cranford ' ;
gentility above all things, economy, tea, and gossip
— and the snows of early winter at an age when
women nowadays are still enjoying the full summer
or ripe autumn of the existence God gave them to
be useful in to their fellow -beings, and therefore
thankful for with praise.

202 VALPARAISO, THE VALE OF PARADISE
But even these bright girls do not have — if they
only knew it — at all so varied, and therefore agreeable,
lives as in Enpland.
' What do you do on ordinary days, not fiestas ?
What fun have you among yourselves ?' I asked
some of my young friends.
There was the early morning ride, they said.
Some shopping, of course, and perhaps making
their own dresses ; one afternoon a week sewing
clothes for the poor. Then occasionally, in summer,
eight or nine girls will ride out together past Vina to
the sea with two mozos — not like English grooms in
livery, but stable-boys — useful to keep huasos from
being rude, and who carry picnic baskets and bathing-
gowns. At Salinas the damsels undress among the
rocks, swim, and then lunch, sing songs, and ride
home. Other times a moonlight picnic is got up
with young men who are still unengaged, and have
some energy left after the day's work. A little inn
is generally the goal, to which they bring their own
beefsteaks, cooking these in the ashes on a skewer
of boldo wood, which gives the meat a delicious
flavour. Above all, surprise - parties are a usual
resource when society seems a trifle dull.
A surprise-party is managed as follows. Two or
more bright spirits, natural leaders of their respective
sexes, agree to have a dance, fix its date, the number
of youths and damsels who shall share in the festivity,
and, above all, on the house of the good-natured host

A SURPRISE-PARTY 203

and hostess who it is believed will not object to being
•surprised.' A hint is judiciously thrown out to
these : Would they much mind if some evening  ?
Should they not frown, the lady of the house suddenly
hears after dinner a volley of cheerful rat -tat -tats.
Hey presto ! the house is invaded by some sixty
merry-makers, bearing baskets of provisions and
wine. In a trice the drawing-room ornaments are
whisked away, drugget is laid down, supper laid in
the twinkling of an eye, and a cheery dance follows.
Some of the guests may be unknown to the master
and mistress of the house ; their own best friends
are perhaps missing ; but these are among the
chances of a surprise-party, which, failing a revolt
of the uninvited married, is a most amusing institution
that promises to flourish.
Luncheon having lasted from two till well past
three, I imagined that soon after returning to the
drawing-room we should naturally take our leave
and an afternoon walk. Not so !
It was whispered to me that where you lunch you
drink tea ! or there is risk of being supposed bored
by your entertainment. So we all rested after our
many courses of lunch, inwardly hoping for appetite
to face more delicacies at five o'clock tea of hot
scones and sweet Spanish cakes. Many ladies pro
duced little bags, thoughtfully brought with them,
containing their work — of that kind euphemistically
described as white. On Tuesdays the cream of the

ao4 VALPARAISO, THE VALE OF PARADISE

English matrons met at each other's houses in turn
to sew for the poor from three to five. This seemed
their chief recreation, with excellent results. I was
always kindly invited, buttons and tapes being re
served for me, when it became known that, except
for these and light millinery, my
' fingers rather the gray goose-quill knew
Than the gold needle.'
' How the married ladies must talk us over !'
shuddered the bachelors.
There are few poor in Valparaiso, either foreign
or Chilian, so sewing and some visits to the hospital
are the only outlets for the indwelling charity of
most British bosoms. But during the late war the
English ladies nursed the wounded with praiseworthy
devotion. Of other amusements there are football,
cricket, and polo at Vina del Mar, or the Vineyard
by the Sea, with occasional balls and acting ; much
music ; reading and debating clubs.
One day my hosts took me to see Vina del Mar,
the Brighton of Valparaiso. Lying at the mouth of
a river valley, it is reached in twenty minutes by
a train running past bays where in ' northers ' the
waves break over the line. Rocks and waste grounds
were brilliant with yellow eschscholtzia ; though this
Californian flower is not indigenous to Chili, I was
told, but has naturalized itself. We whizzed past
charming villas half hidden in heliotrope, banksia

VINA DEL MAR

205

roses, bananas, and pepper-trees, their gay aspect
reminding one of the French Riviera. Taking a
coche, my friends (the English chaplain and his wife)
drove me half a mile away to see the famous cancha,
or racecourse, where the grand-stand boxes are
surely unique, being excavated in a steep hillside,
and overgrown with creepers, passion-flowers, and
roses. A rifle-match was going on between a team from
the flagship, H.M.S. Royal Arthur, and Valparaiso ;
for the Pacific fleet lay just then in harbour under
the command of Admiral Stephenson. Some of the
officers came to talk to us, one to claim acquaintance
with me as a friend of his family, though we had not
met since his naval cadetship days. These pleasant
surprises continually occurred wherever I travelled,
meeting English speaking folk. In how many
instances we mutually knew somebody at home who
was a foundation to our cordial acquaintanceship ;
or they were good enough to say they knew me
through my books.
Leaving the green cancha, the one level spot for
miles round where public games can be held, we
drove to lunch at the Vina hotel. It was a charming
surprise, with its flower - terrace in front, inner
courtyard, and shady walks and pleasure-grounds
stretching behind high up among the hills, over
grown with blue gums and coppice. Here Mr.
Kennedy, our English Minister, was staying, who

206 VALPARAISO, THE VALE OF PARADISE
kindly invited me to pay a visit to the Legation in
Santiago a fortnight afterwards. It may not come
amiss here to note a walk in the neighbourhood I
specially liked, when paying two pleasant visits in
Vina later, towards August. We went to see the
grounds of a rich Chilian lady here, celebrated for
her gardens. Entering through high gates, the wide
avenue was so grass-grown I privately mistook it for
waste land. But this was not owing to neglect on
the part of the many gardeners, I was assured, rather
that vegetation and weeds grow rank in Chili ; while
also the mistress was absent in Santiago for the
winter season. This garden interested me, being
almost a jungle of rare trees, sheltered under steep
hills clothed with wood. Here were Brazilian arau-
carias, which bear pinon fruit, Indian bamboos, and
foreign palms. The glass-houses were overgrown
with masses of tropseolum, which grows wild over
the hills ; the scarlet kind, called soldado (soldier) by
the natives, was now in full blow, the yellow just
beginning to blossom, but the blue lags till later.
Passing a grove of plantains, which I could never
distinguish from their brethren bananas, except by
the fruit, which is coarser and considered a vegetable,
we began climbing garden-paths winding for a mile
or more up the ravine. The pleasure-grounds
differed from English ones in that under high trees,
or by a tumbling brook, one came suddenly on
garden-plots, pansy-beds or strawberries, with re-

CHILIAN FLORA 207
curring surprise. Leaving the blue gums and
graceful pepper- trees behind, we emerged higher
still in a coppice of Chilian bamboos, and other
low trees or shrubs with an insignificant leaf. I
was going to examine one, when my friend cried
out :
' Come away ! That is the lichtrd ' (or litrd, as
some spell it). ' It is so poisonous that it will bring
out a skin rash if you touch it, or even stay near
it. My child has been often unable to go to school
because she played near one. Our servants' remedy
is to chew maize and lay it on as a poultice. As
that is a disagreeable idea, I have tried dry, pounded
maize, which answers just as well.'*
Under the miniature hanging wood of bamboo
sprang a thick carpet of maidenhair fern. We
gathered three kinds at least of fresh fronds : one
very large-leaved variety ; a smaller one with crinkled
edge ; and lastly, what seemed green spray trembling
on fairy-like stalks.
The open hill stretched away inland for miles,
only dotted by thorny bushes and a rare occasional
palm — more's the pity. Not so long ago these
Chilian palms are said to have been plentiful, but
constant tapping for the delicious palm-honey {miel
de palma) has killed many groves. Grown wiser
* In the late Miss North's ' Life and Travels,' when visiting
Chili to paint its rare flowers, she describes the litre as poisonous,
in her opinion, from an invisible insect that infests the bark.

208 VALPARAISO, THE VALE OF PARADISE

nowadays, the Chilians only draw honey from the
trees at regular seasons.
Returning to the garden by another woodland
way, we passed peumo-trees. These smell like bay
if their leaves are crushed. The fruit is greedily
eaten by peasants and children, and when cooked
is not disagreeable for those who like a strong
candle-grease flavour. But of many Chilian native
trees, I most admired the glossy green leaf and
strong -scented white flower of the boldo, which
makes one wish to see it introduced into English
pleasure-grounds. At every turn the fragrance of
the white pittisporum filled the air ; and there were
big yellow bignonia-trees overhead with varieties of
small begonia flowers underneath.
Among all Chilian flowers, the floripondio (pendent
flower) struck me as so universal that it might be
the national emblem. Its long yellow or reddish
trumpets droop in every garden-plot, and Chilian old
wives can reduce swelled faces by simply laying on
its leaf. But the white datura {Hyoscyamus muticus)
has a worse reputation, for in Brazil the Indian women
are said to poison enemies or faithless spouses by its
means, no trace being left. And here I may quote
other Chilian native flowers, calendrinias, puyas, and
mesembryanthemum, which covers the rocks by the
sea with its rose or cream-coloured stars, reminding
one of the blue Mediterranean shore at Costebelle ;
the fuchsia and myrtle grow wild over the hills, with

A CLOUD OF HUMMING-BIRDS 209
aloes, cacti, prickly pears ; and among many more
there are oxalis, hybiscus, wild artichoke, and
cardoon. Vina del Mar has its own little society of both
Chilian and English families, the men leaving daily
by train for their work in town. Many of these
quintas, or villas, are pleasantly wedded in my mind
with Anglo-Chilian hospitality.
One impression especially remains a picture in my
memory. It is that of a wooden house -veranda
raised above the garden ; an arbutilon-tree is golden
with blossoms, and a cloud of humming-birds are
whirring over these, shrilly scolding in notes far
sharper than so many sparrows. These picafiores
are a dark-green kind, the males with heads of
burning gold. Their advent heralds winter here in
the lowlands ; in summer they inhabit the mountains.

H

FEAST-DAYS IN CHILI.
' Will you drive out with me next feast-day and
see our little country-house at Plasilla ?'
This invitation was given by one of my new
friends in Chili, an Englishwoman.
Now, Plasilla is the site of the great battle where
the Opposition finally defeated Balmaceda in the
late Civil War, marching into Valparaiso that same
evening. Waterloo and Sedan are dwarfed in com
parison with its importance, or so all Chilians, and
some foreign residents, apparently think.
The kind proposal being eagerly accepted, away
we started one morning in my friend's waggonette.
Her husband and two more of their large and cheery
family went on foot by a short-cut across the hills.
Three schoolboys were riding their ponies. It was
a merry little party. The July air was so keen that,
despite the warm sun, we were glad of our fur cloaks,
as, after passing through the low town, we re-
ascended to the upper Zorras Hills, and on by a
lonely road winding up the face of a mountain-ridge.

A WINTER PICNIC TO PLASILLA 211
At its sharp inner curves the road was often broken
away where the wheel of some ox-cart had slipped
over. One such cart we passed, its great weight
alone saving it from rolling into the gorge below,
the team of eight oxen placidly awaiting as many
more before trying to raise the mass. On these
lonely roads the ox- waggons are especially dangerous,
for the drivers go to sleep, as one did the other day
here, and, falling off, was crushed by the wheel.
His team slowly paced on for two miles till stopped,
piloting their cart round the looplike bends by either
habit or instinct.
As we climbed up 1,000 feet, the scenery took
on its Chilian wintry character, the wide hill-ridges
around being coloured a peculiarly dark-green shade
owing to their low scrub of wild-fuchsia, myrtle, and
cacti ; but absolutely treeless ; lonely. Far beyond
rose the nearer Cordilleras, sharply outlined and blue
as indigo. The reddish haze in which they are bathed
in hot weather, which had struck me so much on
first arriving, had long vanished.
At last we gained a table-land on the hill-top, all
furrowed with water runnels, deep enough to hide,
as they possibly once did, rows and rows of soldiers.
This was the battlefield of Plasilla. Here was the
Government position, and here their cannon were
placed. Up from yonder valley rushed the Opposi
tion troops, though the ground is so steep, and cut
down the gunners ; the fighting then became hand-

FEAST-DAYS IN CHILI

to-hand, desperate, the terrible Chilian corvos (curved
knives) being brought into play.
Descending into the valley, a few hundred yards
farther came a wood and garden wall ; and here
was my friend's country home, nicknamed by pass
ing carters ' The House-in-the-Hole.'
' Ours is only a place for the children to spend
the summer months in,' explained Mrs. C. 'Some
thing like a farmhouse in England which townsfolk
take for the holidays ; but it is quite Chilian, and
that may interest you.'
Passing through high wooden gates, the carriage
stopped beside a long barra, or wooden bar, to
which the schoolboys' ponies stood tied. Such a
bar is invariably seen outside every rancho and
farmhouse in Chili, and a favourite rough game,
literally horse-play, is called ' pushing at the bar,'
and played by some dozen riders. The one-storied
farmhouse was built round a square court, closed
by massive wooden doors.
' See the marks of the rifle-bullets through them,
and where the lock was partly blown away,' said
my host, who now joined us. And he told me of
how these gates were kept strongly barred by the
gardener's family while Plasilla was being fought,
so that the victorious Opposition soldiers vainly tried
to enter, suspecting that routed Government men
were sheltered within. My friend's dwelling-rooms
were partly closed, furniture piled, beds sheeted

A COUNTRY HACIENDA 213
as in England under similar winter conditions, but,
still, one could see how pretty and cool they would
be in summer-time. Across the patio, were the
kitchen and offices, while at one place the veranda
of the court was widened into a concrete square,
vine-trellised overhead. This was the summer open-
air comedor, or dining-room.
After a brief house inspection, we searched for
flowers in a plot where violets and half-frozen roses
lingered, despite the July winter. Farther away
was the large kitchen-garden, where Mr. C. especially
bade me notice the popular Chilian vegetable papas
de apio, or celery potatoes. He thought this celery
but slightly different from our own kind. It is not
earthed up, and the tubers, served with white sauce,
resemble Jerusalem artichokes, but with the strong
celery flavour. Surely this would be an excellent
addition to the list of our English vegetables.
Such a merry lunch as we had now in the parlour,
unpacked and laid by ourselves picnic fashion, while
the swarm of boys out-talked each other, chattering
of • their ponies, of the tortolita or wood-pigeon one
of them had just shot outside ; and how three of
them were going to school in England by the next
steamer, not to return to their beloved Chili for
some years, as their elder brothers had done before
them. Then discourse turned on the peasantry around,
whose ways my friends had come to know intimately

2i4 FEAST-DAYS IN CHILI
in summer-times of country seclusion. As to their
food, 'Our workmen,' they said, 'take an early
desayuno, or breakfast, of a piece of unleavened
bread called pan bianco, with a cup of hot cedron tea.'
' Pan bianco is fine stuff when fresh,' exclaimed
one boy.
'Very heavy,' murmured his father.
' And the cedron tea is made of the leaves of a
wild shrub growing here,' volunteered another boy
volubly. ' The leaves smell very sweet, and are
dried ; then they pour on boiling water, and add
sometimes just a pinch of real tea.'
' But you should tell, too, that in England it is
called sweet-scented verbena,' added his mother,
delighting me by the information.
' It's excellent to drink, any way,' chorused all the
boys. My hostess, who from long residence in the
country spoke Spanish like a native, or, as she
herself laughingly said, like a peasant, took the
liveliest interest in the huasos, their herb - lore,
customs, and especially their native songs and
music, for they love improvising and playing
on the harp and guitar. Many other English
women agreed with her in assuring me that the
native knowledge of healing plants, plainly handed
down to the Chilians from their Indian ancestors,
is excellent. Chilian nurses will cure their English
charges of whooping-cough by giving tea made of

CUSTOMS OF THE CHILIAN PEASANTS 215
kilo (a herb of which we vainly tried to find the
English name), with syrup of violets to ease the
cough. And this cure answers so well that English
doctors now often adopt it. Again, a small piece of
bark of the quillai-tree put in boiling water is ex
cellent for washing one's clothes or one's hair ; while
the handsome boldo-tree is of much virtue in liver
ailments. And now a long-standing promise was revived
— that I should see a samacueca, which is danced in
every rancho and inn and festive gathering in Chili
every Sunday and feast-day through the year. A
friendly message was sent to the owners of a neigh
bouring rancho, asking if they expected friends that
afternoon, as an English sefiora wished to see a
cueca. Quickly there followed an answer that,
though having no company, they would themselves
dance with pleasure.
' The Chilian peasants are very independent, and
like gentry to be muy corriente, easy and pleasant in
intercourse,' explained my hostess, as we picked our
steps up the deeply muddy road, such as folk living
in England could never imagine. Our goal was
a mud-walled cottage with a projecting roof that
made a long porch. (The meanest ranchos in the
country are nearly all thus built, even though only
ramadas of wattled branches, or hovels of cane and
mud with bulrush-thatched roofs — savage huts, in
deed, through which the winds can whistle.) Seven

'¦^J^S

A RANCHO IN CHILI.

A RANCHO INTERIOR 217

or eight riders were ranged by a long barra outside the
rancho as we approached, and four of these — women
— instantly left. Perhaps they were shy of drinking
chicha— the native tipple — in our presence, for both
it and bread were sold here. One carried her
month-old babe, another seemed ill, but all rode
easily, looking not unlike Irishwomen in their stuff
skirts, with their mantos or black shawls pinned
tight over their heads. Four men in ponchos re
mained, drinking the biggest glasses I ever saw full
of chicha, and wearing straw hats as large as a cartr-
wheel. (Felt ones are also worn in winter, gray,
with gay tassels, and of a width and weight almost
incredible to the imagination.)
We were received with cordial welcomes on
entering the living room of the rancho, which was
lit from the open door, for the only window was
closely shuttered ; perhaps the glass was broken.
My first impression was one of incongruity, and
again thoughts of Ireland recurred. The unswept
floor was, as is usual here, of large square mud-tiles,
which soon grow soft and dirty ; the doors were
unpainted and ill-fitting. Yet there was a good
table, also dirty, new cane bent-wood chairs, and an
excellent bed, where lay an invalid child. On one
side, was the store-room, or dispensa, filled with
implements, firewood, and a chicha barrel. On the
other side I caught a glimpse of bedroom walls
thickly covered with newspaper pictures. There

218 FEAST-DAYS IN CHILI
was no fireplace — all cooking here, as in the Argen
tine, is done out of doors over the charcoal brasero,
or in the round mud oven.
Three youngish women were sitting in the semi-
gloom against the wall, dressed in pink cotton
blouses and dark skirts. One had a potato ' head
ache patch ' on her forehead. These patches, stuck
on with starch, are a common remedy in Chili and
Peru for all manner of ailments. One not only sees
peasant women, but maidservants wearing them ;
often a green patch of bean or pea husk. But men
put their faith more in cigarette-paper, of which
they wear patches as gravely as their spouses.
And an English gentleman, with a large estate in
the North, told me that his wife kept rolls of
coloured tissue - paper — pink, green, or blue — to
dispense to their labourers as a sovereign charm in
the latter's eyes.
The mistress of the cottage was an old granny,
whose head was so marvellously tied up in white
cloths that she reminded one of a picture of Lazarus
in his grave head-gear. With friendly hand-shakes
and pattings of her neighbour, Mrs. C, she dis
coursed of her rheumatics, and raised a big black
bottle of mineral-water to her mouth. After a long
chat, Jose, the son, was called in from the barra,
where he was tightening his waist-belt in a shy
preparatory fashion. His Sunday shirt was very
white ; his gray coat and trousers new, if unpic-

A 'SAMACUECA ' 219
turesquely European. Waistcoat and tie he appar
ently despised, a sign of individuality that slightly
cheered me. For what a dull world it will be to the
eyes when all mankind are dressed pretty much
alike in cheap German or English suits.
Now uprose the youngest and plumpest girl
present, shyly drawing out a crumpled handker
chief. The little cripple in bed chirruped with
delight, fumbling under his pillow for another hand
kerchief to offer Jose.
' They dance best when some chicha has been
drunk and they are all a little tipsy,' whispered my
friend. 'You should see how excited they grow
then, and how all the company keep time with their
hands in a clap ! clap ! clap !'
Meanwhile an elderly sister was tuning a harp
of no mean size carried in from the bedroom. The
third sister accompanied her with a guitar. These
are the national instruments, and Mrs. C. murmured
to me that she and her sisters had learned many
airs from their cooks or housemaids, who could
often play very fairly by ear, though constantly
changing both the notes and words of their songs.
The harpist now twanged a plaintive tune, and Jose
and his partner 'took the floor,' as the Irish say.
The man waved his white ensign over his head and
began footing it bravely, while the girl ambled in a
sidelong shuffle, and was coy in the use of her
kerchief. This was correct, for, no matter with what

220 FEAST-DAYS IN CHILI

excitement of steps and gesture the cueca is danced,
the man should look serious, the damsel demure.
An accompaniment of chanting and hand-clapping
arose from the few bystanders, and the dance was
certainly pretty, some of Jose's steps being fairly
elaborate, and the abrupt alternations of wooing —
eagerness, shyness, flight, and conquest — well ex
pressed by the play of handkerchiefs.
The cueca ended, we perforce sipped at glasses of
a-o^\e-chicha handed around, while the granny took
another gulp straight from her black bottle. Then
followed a song with guitar accompaniment, the
eldest sister crooning a kind of echo to the singer,
for the Chilians seldom sing alone. It was a love-
song, of which the only two lines I caught signified :
'Your arms drop dead for love of me,
And my heart escapes from my body,
All for love of thee.'
After we left, with many hand-shakings all round,
and should er-pattings from the granny, Mrs. C. told
me of another and very favourite cueca song, which
begins : ' A little bird sat on a tree ;
Half-dead of love he seemed to be.'
We crossed the road to visit a second but empty
country-house, also belonging to my friend. Picking
our way through tangled rose-bushes and shrubs,
she bade me peep through the windows to see the
ceiling still riddled with bullets since the day of

RELICS OF THE BATTLE

Plasilla, and two round holes that had been drilled
by shells. Then, strolling homeward, I was shown
the charming wood and pretty brook behind the
house. We searched among the sage-bushes and
myrtle and a plant like white heath for the grave
of some soldiers found dead on the hillside after
the great battle. Only a reddish earth-patch, two
sticks tied crosswise, and a faded wreath.
' On All Souls' Day I always bring flowers here,
and dress their grave, as is the custom of the
country,' said my hostess.
One of the schoolboys was heard calling us just
then, having caught a wounded humming-bird. He
was hoping to nurse it well ; but the tiny sprite died
in his hands, so he stuffed it for me as a keepsake —
a dark-green bird, with a golden-red patch on its
head. Anita, his young sister, gave me a humming
bird's nest, like a ball of wool and thistledown.
' There are plenty in the bushes round,' she told
me. ' Once I found one all made of the ravellings
of my new dress, which I had been sewing outside
in the wood.'
The winter afternoon was now shortening, so we
started homeward, carrying great bunches of maiden
hair which the boys had gathered in the crannies
of the brook, which was overhung with willows and
blue-gum. On the way back, Mrs. C. told me
instances of the ignorance of her servants, whom
she had often taught to write and read.; one nurse

FEAST-DAYS IN CHILI

used to repeat a perfectly senseless gabble for the
Paternoster. ' Our country schools need improving,' said my
hostess ; ' but, after all, these poor people are no
worse than a Sunday-school child at home, whom I
once heard repeating that part of the Belief about
Pontius Pilate as " He sat down under a bunch of
spiders /" ' (Suffered under Pontius Pilate).
Have I already said that the only holidays for the
working English here are Sundays and the Spanish
feast-days ? The latter, roughly speaking, are one
fiesta a month, three holidays at Easter, and, above
all, the famous week of the Diez y Ocho, or
eighteenth of September, the anniversary of the
liberation of Chili, when the park in Santiago is
crowded with carriages — ' just like the Row in
London,' declared several narrators enthusiastically.
Many Chilian families live economically for months,
in order to make the braver display in the capital
at this festal time. Hotels, theatres, streets, are
crowded with holiday folk in gay attire ; peones,
huasos, small proprietors, deputies, senators, and,
above all, the great Chilian gentry.
On May Day, and the winter fiestas following,
weather and ground permitting, the Valparaiso Paper-
chase Club have a splendid gallop. Then an early
train is full of forty to sixty riders and their horses
bound for some favourite meet in a country of big
fields, high gates, and deep ditches.

FIESTAS

223

The Corpus Christi procession on May 26 was a
pretty sight, though small-pox was so rife in the town,
where freshly-pitted faces met one at every turn, that
we would not mingle with the crowd, so my hostess
and I looked down from our hill terrace. Crimson
arches and white and pink shrines- adorned the Inten-
denzia Plaza. Then with military music appeared a
long row of candle and banner bearers, defiling past
Lord Cochrane's statue, while holy emblems were
borne aloft by priests or crimson-robed boys. Troops
of children and young girls, dressed in white muslin
and long veils, followed these, singing. Lastly came
the Host, carried by the Bishop under a baldaquin,
surrounded by priests in gorgeous vestments, and
followed by another military band and a regiment
or two. As the Host paused to visit each temporary
shrine, the acolytes faced round, swinging their
incense smoke in a soft haze over the varied scene ;
candles twinkled in the daylight ; and the kneeling
maidens chanted one of the lovely Latin hymns
composed by St. Thomas Aquinas six centuries
ago. For the Corpus Christi (or File Dieu) was
instituted by Urban IV., who commanded St. Thomas
Aquinas to consider well how a feast-day of love and
mercy could best be celebrated. After some days of
seclusion and prayer, the present beautiful service,
justly called an ornament to the breviary, was
humbly brought by the saint to his Pontiff.
On summer feast-days, picnic rides are got up

224 FEAST-DAYS IN CHILI
by the English, their direction sadly limited by the
surrounding hills. Riding up these heights is an
arduous mountain climb over deep cracks (rain
fissures) and around gullies.
But it is a real pleasure to praise the bridle-road
to Plasilla, whither I rode with some friends another
day. A sudden heat-wave had followed three weeks
of raw cold that at nights often chilled one to the
marrow ; now we felt too warm on crossing the hill-
crest, behind which lay red ridges, scrub-grown, and
grazed by a few donkeys. The path wound by
innumerable curves of quebradas, all of which had
their histories. Below this one was the famous
reservoir which burst one early morning, sweeping
down tons of earth, wretched shanties and their
dwellers, trees, gardens and animals, in a mixed
horrible flood into the town far below.
My friend, Mr. N., narrowly escaped being caught
in this as he was riding on the camino cintura, but
galloped into Valparaiso to give warning and begin
the work of rescue. The wreckage in the town was
terrible, and for weeks afterwards bands of Chilian
and foreign volunteers were still busily digging the
mud out of the streets, and disinterring some eighty
bodies. Perhaps there were many more victims, for
there is a large number of vagabonds in Chili, any of
whom, if missed, are simply supposed dead. The
Chilians are very good not only to their own poor,
but also to all foreign beggars, such as English run-

A RIDE OVER THE HILLS

away sailors (called beach-combers), who become
highway idlers, living on the compassion of the
peones till they die of drink or disease and are buried
by the English Benevolent Society.
Here another deep gully recalled the joke of an
English merchant's clerk, newly arrived, who had
not yet learned to ride. Galloping round this very
bend, he shot off, and was buried in the bushes,
causing, as the Spanish papers would phrase it, ' his
humanity ' {su humanidad) ' to make acquaintance
with the earth.'
Farther on, in the heart of the hills, there were
lovely views at last — peeps of brilliantly blue sea
framed in dark green. At times we cantered, but
when the road was greatly broken, my steed, an
aged hired gray, paced along with a quick tittuping
gait, outstripping my companions' partly English-
bred horses. This was not the famous Peruvian
' pacing ;' in Peru horses ought even never to gallop.
But a true Chilian horse, though able to canter
all day without tiring, is generally ridden on long
journeys at this ambling pace, often overtaking some
gringo who, hare-like, thought he had left the tortoise
far behind hours ago.
Presently we drew rein in the high air of the
battlefield. Here (he will forgive a smile) the
gentleman who had kindly got up the party for
my instruction in the famous tactics of Plasilla drew
suspiciously aside. It was another who took up
15

226 FEAST-DAYS IN CHILI
his parable, describing graphically how he had ridden
out here at four o'clock on that gray August morning
with other Englishmen, bringing succour to the
wounded, who lay around thick as a human harvest.
Into these details my mind entered with all sympathy,
but what did I know of military strategy ? Of how
the German Colonel had taught the Opposition troops
to skirmish in open order, so that the Government
old-style soldiers supposed them a scattered rabble ?
Of the forced march inland made by the victorious
fighters for greater civil freedom ? Or how the
infantry had crept round yonder foot-hills, and the
cavalry charged up the valley ?
Verily, on all such points, there is no more ignorant
lady alive. So it was with much amusement I after
wards learnt that my entertainer's kindly impulse
had been checked by fears of his own incompetence
to explain Plasilla properly to my supposed critical
ears, a terror which was a subject of joke with his
friends before our expedition. To tell the truth, my
heart had also sunk, fearing he might later expect me
to describe the battle in true military correspondent
style. Passing the C.'s house, where we had lately
picnicked, and splashing through a brook crossing a
wide road, we stopped at aposada in the valley hamlet.
How different from an English inn ! Knocking with
riding-crops at a crazy wooden door in a wall, we
ducked heads and rode into a disorderly yard. Its

HUASOS AND THEIR HORSES 227
surrounding sheds much resembled each other,
whether stables or dwelling-rooms. But the guest-
parlour, opening on a long mud-floored porch, was
quite comfortable. It boasted well-stuffed green
sofas, a big table covered with oilcloth, a cheap
piano adorned with empty shells from the battle
field, while Spanish fans and danseuses in tissue-
paper enlivened the walls. Refreshments were
brought in — native Limache beer, which is said to
be excellent, for our men friends, and tea without
milk for my girl companion and myself. Also there
was pan bianco, very hard unleavened rolls, that even
a huge pat of butter could not soften.
As we started homewards, two tipsy huasos passed
us at full gallop, in clouds of dust, working their
arms like railway-signals, one almost brushing me,
so that I dreaded a blow from his heavy wooden
stirrup. They rode full dash to the rancho where I
had lately seen the cueca danced, and at the wooden
barra their clever nags turned round sharp, stopping-
dead. This is a common trick taught the Chilian
horses, which are 'as wise as men,' so all the
English say in warm praise of these tireless, good-
tempered, wonderfully trained animals. Half an hour
after, the same huasos tore past us again, quarrelling
loudly after their late glasses of chicha, and a mile
farther dashed up to a second rancho and its barra,
never slackening speed till they brought up short.
These Chilian peasants certainly ride like centaurs.

228 FEAST-DAYS IN CHILI
One English acquaintance assured me that huasos
will gallop at a wall till the horses graze it with their
fore-feet, and yet wheel without falling.
The low sun blazed blinding in our eyes as we
cantered homewards over the level hill-top. A sharp
cry of ' Ware mud !' from my riding companion
startled me just in time to swerve slightly from a
single muddy patch in the broad track. What
danger lay in that ?
' It must be a deep mud-hole to be wet at all
when the rest of the road is as dry as dust,' came
in anxious explanation. ' I was terribly afraid your
horse might sink up to his girths.'
Presently, when the sun set, as we dipped among
the bosky hills, the sky showed a more exquisite
variety of colours than I have seen anywhere else
in the world. Imagine a brilliant three-quarter
moon rising behind as we rode over the last dark-
green and blood-red hued hill. Straight overhead
the sky was intensely blue, shading lower down into
a wonderful heliotrope, then a pale blue, turning to
green, and next — oh ! next was a lovely yellow, dying
in a faint rosy line, level with the ring of shimmering
gray sea. And right on this blue and yellow horizon,
in wonderful contrast, there glowed one cloud like a
crimson banner hung out in honour of the sun-god
which had dipped below out of sight. Then the
moonlight grew sharper, the shadows blacker, and
lights twinkled in Valparaiso town, and from the

A NOTE ON COMMERCE 229
ships in harbour, glowing brighter and multiplying
as we rode into the town over the rough causeways,
and down the dusty, steep streets.
' Are these, then, the only holidays that you have
in Chili ? You all work much harder here than in
England,' I remarked to a lad freshly come from an
English public school.
' Harder work ; but then we have the riding to
make up for it,' said the boy cheerily. 'Still, we
do get an extra holiday now and again for cross
country races. Only those beastly Germans are so
keen on every halfpenny ! If we send round the
offices asking for a general holiday, the English
always gladly say "Yes." Ten to one the German
houses refuse to agree, thinking they see a chance
of getting the better of the English for that day.'
One hears complaints everywhere that the German
commerce is cutting out the English. Some wise
heads told me this is because of the cheaper goods
imported by the Teuton. Take, for instance, an
English kettle, which, though dear, will outlast three
German ones. The latter are worthless but cheap,
so the Chilians buy them without reflection. Dark
hints also are whispered as to custom-house officials
being bribed to let in German goods lightly. Of
this I know nothing certain, but where there is so
much smoke there may be fire.
A feast-day in another sense was given me by
Mrs. C, the same kind friend of our picnic to Plasilla.

230 FEAST-DAYS IN CHILI
' Come to lunch — the children's dinner, you know
—and you shall have only real Chili dishes. After
wards you can all ride over to Laguna.'
So one day, warm as winter on the Riviera, I
rang at a wooden door in the street wall, and, going
up some brick steps, approached what seemed two
sides of a greenhouse with a low house-roof beyond.
This describes many old-fashioned houses here
where the encircling veranda has been glassed
over to make a passage apartment. It was indeed
a feast of fat things to which I was bidden. First
came a cazuela — most favourite of Chilian dishes —
made of chickens boiled down in soup thickened
with peas, rice, and potatoes. Next empanadas, or
squares of thick paste filled with meat, gravy, and a
suspicion of onion — excellent. Then papas reinas,
which are rissoles of meat rolled in potatoes and
fried. More potatoes followed, such as the peasants
eat alone for their mid-day breakfast ; these were
swimming in a clear, appetizing gravy, likewise
much flavoured with onion.
What a cheery family party it was, the small boys
all ravenous and chattering at the top of their voices !
' They are cormorants,' remarked their younger sister
scornfully. Presently came postres, or puddings.
Chili cheese also, strong-flavoured, but somewhat
melting ; besides dulces, such as preserved yams,
or sweet potatoes.
Ting-a-ting, ting ! In the midst of the feast the

TO LAGUNA 231

telephone kept constantly ringing with messages
from the town, to which the elder boy sprang up
to reply, with answering calls of ' Hillo, hillo !' They
now loudly clamoured for cups of hot mate, as it was
a real Chili dinner, and they ran to borrow tin
bombillas from the servants ; but Anita, their sister,
sipped hers through a beautiful old tube of native
straw, exquisitely plaited and dyed in a pattern.
' See how trade is spoiling the country industries,'
remarked Mrs. C, who, like myself, did not thirst
for the hot Jesuits' tea, else we should have imbibed
ours out of silver cups through silver bombillas.
' What a pity that the servants buy these horrid
trashy Birmingham things the boys have got hold
of! They turn green if not cleaned, and the yerba
fibre gets into them.'
Our ride in the evening has left as pleasant a re
collection in my mind as the lunch. I was lent one
of the boys' horses. Anita galloped ahead with her
hair streaming ; her pony Chico (Little One) and she
seeming part of each other.
Laguna is a bay, or rather lagoon, south of
Valparaiso, and after two miles of riding over the
hills, the scenery became the prettiest I have yet
seen here. For long stretches we had a fairly level
road of hard red earth, skirted by grass, though
cracks and rain-fissures, as usual, were to be avoided.
On the wayside we looked into a miserable rancho,
on the pretext of buying eggs. It was a single room

232 FEAST-DAYS IN CHILI
of adobe or mud, rush-thatched, and the door hung
on thong hinges. An old crone allowed me to peep
from my saddle at the mud-floored interior, with its
rags, squalor, and wretched pallet, that had, how
ever, a tidy counterpane. She was as pleased as
any old Irishwoman to get some pleasant words and
a few pence. Plenty of fowls clucked about the bare
road, while six donkeys grazed among the bushes.
Most of the poor beasts had terrible sores on their
sides, probably from carrying bags of bricks without
proper padding. One frequently sees a string of
sixteen in the town thus heavily loaded wherever
building is going on.
At last, after descending a hill with a splendid
sea-view, came the Quebrada Verde, or Green
Ravine. Here was a lonely country house with
splendid mimosa-trees overhanging the road. Anita
gathered some of the yellow ' aromo ' blossom that
filled the air with fragrance, whereupon two crawling
brown babies at the gate instantly called with indig
nation on ' Mamita !' (little mother), so we rode away
from their wrath. More hills, more blue sea-peeps,
with brushwood covering the lonely hills for miles
and miles ; then the road overhung the precipice,
with the lagoon lying far below. This was the out
flow of a stream banked by sand from the sea, that
rolled into the bay with a long, low roar. On the
cliffs overhead grew strange-looking plants, like dead
aloe-sticks, ten feet high, with mops'-heads outlined

THE CHAJUAL

^33

against the sky. These were chajuals, a kind of
agave, among the rare flowers Miss Marianne
North came to Chili to paint. A little later and
their newly-sprouted sticks would blossom with

o

S5 <<wa.

HZ <a.j<a<xo

spikes of yellow-greenish flowers. But I could not
stay for the spring-time.
As we stopped, breathing our horses, a bird on
an opposite hill sang ' Tio-tio-Autin ' (this is sup-

234 FEAST-DAYS IN CHILI
posed to mean ' Uncle, Uncle Augustin '). Another
bird, the 'long-tail,' builds a nest like an inverted
sugar-loaf, into which the hen dives, sitting with her
caudal finery snugly upright.
We dallied till late on the way, so cantered home
in the twilight that soon turned to darkness. At
the top of the Calle Hospital, where the street is
like a mountain-side, our horses nearly stumbled
over a drove of asses sleeping soundly, poor beasts !
on the smooth-worn rocks in the middle of the
road.

[ 235 1

SANTIAGO, OR THE CITY OF ST. JAMES.
Although I had been invited to stay at the British
Legation in Santiago immediately on my arrival in
Chili, from one cause or another my visit thither
was delayed till the lingering heat of April had
given place to May, with its expected winter.
So one early morning my friends, the Wetheralls,
and I, scrambled down the long flight of steps from
our hill in haste to -catch the 7.30 express. The
luggage followed on porters' backs. Then, with
much bell-ringing of the engine, our train went
through the town without killing anyone at the
street-crossings. What a lovely morning it was, fresh, but almost
too warm as the sunlight streamed into the luxurious
Pullman-car ! Away past the Valparaiso Bay and
pretty Vifia ; then inland up a bosky valley, and out
of the hills into the open vine-country.
Beyond Limache was a rich land, well watered,
and its fields divided by long lines of giant weeping-
willows, like green cascades, that had a pleasingly

236 SANTIAGO, OR THE CITY OF ST. JAMES
pendent effect new to my eye. Elsewhere were
grand golden rows of autumn-tinted poplars ; while
for miles a thicket of blackberry bramble bordered
the railway line, so deep that even a Chilian waggon
and team of oxen might have been hidden in its
luxuriance. Many of these great osier-sided carts,
filled with mountains of green pumpkins, we saw,
slowly being dragged past comfortable brown farms,
set in walnut orchards, their adobe walls always
reminding me of Devonshire ' cob.'
The scene presently changed. Our train rushed
among mountains, and began to climb more slowly
up a wild and rocky valley across giddy bridges and
round sharp curves overhanging deep precipices.
The scenery is very fine^ — even grand at parts- —
especially heightened in its terrors to timid womanly
minds by a knowledge of the dangers of this line.
We passed a chasm where very lately a terrible
disaster, with great loss of life, occurred ; when two
spare engines, rushing down by their own weight,
crashed into a passenger train, despatched only a
short time before, and that was stopped by an
accident to its brake. What between swollen rivers
and frail bridges, besides ineffective gear, it is not too
much to say that railway-travelling in Chili is a real
risk. On the best authority I was told that ' sixty-
two first-class accidents' happened in the preceding
year, and the English engine-drivers complained
bitterly of worn-out brakes, to say nothing of easy-

SANTA LUCIA ROCK 237

going Chilian pointsmen who think it a trifling
matter to go to sleep on duty.
Having crossed the highest ridge, our train
descended into the wide plain of Santiago, dotted
with small, solitary hills, and surrounded by the
magnificent range of the Andes, now bathed in a
rosy heat -haze. Then came a large and busy
station, and oh, joy ! level streets again, and a
wide alameda. Handsome town-houses belonging
to the great Chilian families bordered this on
either side, some fanciful, especially one that was
like a blue and white mosque surmounted by a
large dome. Then, about half- past twelve, we
arrived at the British Legation, in the Calle Ban
dera, and felt it was almost European to mount a
staircase once more to a first - floor flat, and see
houses on either side with two, or even three, stories.
After lunch and a rest, our host took us out in
the afternoon, and as in duty bound — in the opinion
of all dwellers in this picturesque town of Santiago
— led me first to see the famous view from Santa
Lucia. Santa Lucia is a high rock, rising abruptly in the
midst of the town, and was the first stronghold of
the Spaniards, when Valdivia conquered the country
with a handful of men, until southward the Arau-
carian Indians arrested his progress. Later on, it
became infested by rascals, and there was even talk
of blowing it up, when a citizen conceived the happy

238 SANTIAGO, OR THE CITY OF ST. JAMES
idea of turning it into an ornamental garden. We
praised this public benefactor, Vicuna Mackenna
(whose name, like many others of present im
portance in Chili, signifies descent from an Irish
herd or mechanic), as we turned from the streets
into the gates of the rock-garden. This much re
sembled the Chateau at Nice, only it was more steep.
Encircling roads rose gently, shaded by pepper-trees
and palms, while cacti, prickly pears, and geraniums
ran wild, the peeps of town and plain growing ever
prettier, till, passing a fashionable restaurant for little
dinners and banquetes, besides a chapel and open-air
theatre, a flight of steep steps reaches the summit.
Here was the mirador, or view-point. A glorious
view indeed ! — for Santiago lay like a map below us.
Farther spread the plain fringed by hills ; but east
ward the Andes rose in height beyond height and
sierra above sierra to the far white peaks ever
lastingly snow-capped. Looking down at the long
alameda, which forms a straight line of trees for
three miles through the town, I exclaimed, ' It looks
like a green river.'
' It was a river,' said Mr. Kennedy, who had
accompanied us from the Legation. ' The water
has been dammed higher up under the hills, and
diverted for the use of the town ; but you see the
original bed, and what a splendid street it makes !'
I was astonished to find what a large area
Santiago covers ; but this is because of the house

THE PLAZA DE ARMOS 239
patios chequering it everywhere in tiny green squares,
as seen from our eyrie eminence. These palm-shaded
inner courts betray pleasant leafy glimpses as one
strolls by open doors down the sunny, dusty street.
There are few altos, or upper floors, except in the
principal quarters, so that a city of equal size in
Europe or the States would hold three times the
population of Santiago. Also some of the houses
of the great families are widely spread.
' Two of these, if fine, will sometimes occupy a
whole cuadra, or block,' said the Minister. And he
took me in to see one mansion, belonging to friends,
that was much like a handsome Paris house, with
its courtyard and richly-furnished rooms ; though the
great wooden doors were additionally strengthened
by spy-holes and heavy protecting gates, doubtless
most useful during the late civil war.
My next morning's impression of the town was
equally charming. We visitors hurried out early
by ourselves, our host's duties necessarily occupying
his forenoon — to our regret. The sunny streets
were very noisy, but, then, so full of life and colour.
Here we passed the fine building of the Congress
Houses,* and then turned off to the great square,
the Plaza de Armos, and its big, if uninteresting,
cathedral — folk must not be fastidious as to archi
tecture in South America. On one side a shady
arcade reminded one of Spain, filled as it was with
* These have since been, unfortunately, burnt.

240 SANTIAGO, OR THE CITY OF ST. JAMES
booths, where birds, stationery, vegetables, and
cravats were in succession pressed upon us by eager
vendors. And from this arcade branched imposing
glass passages with large, almost Parisian, shops
(their goods, indeed, come each season from Europe),
all showing that in fashion, as in almost everything
else, Chili leads the van in the southern continent.
Down by the river-bed the vegetable market was
a characteristic sight, although its former attraction
— the old bridge, studded by stone sentry-boxes —
has, alas ! been < improved ' away.
Hundreds of huge osier- waggons filled the market
place, their oxen herded together in horned groups,
and their disgorged contents of onions and melons
or pumpkins piled on the ground, guarded by
squatting half- Indian women, cooking the men's
breakfasts over little brasiers, or selling cakes.
Many other sights there were for other days.
One afternoon we went by tram to the Quinta
Normal, our party joined by two Englishmen
travelling for pleasure. Here was a fine museum
of agriculture set in a public garden. And beyond
gleaming ponds and great willows were the yards
of a small ' Zoo,' where the pretty native vicunas and
the slightly bigger guanacoes that can still be
stalked in the Andes — though rare and shy as
chamois — could be compared. Beside these were
coarse-haired alpacas and big llamas. But the latter
graceful and useful beasts of burden should be seen

SANTIAGO SURROUNDINGS 241
free, and in Peru. There how proudly a drove
come stepping along, following their leader, who
wears a knowing red cap on his head, each llama
carrying a pack of just the weight he feels suited to
his strength ! An ounce more and he lies down,
when no force, coaxing, or cruelty will make him
budge. Another day a neighbour, one of the very few
English residents, took me out in a smart dogcart,
driving a pair of ponies tandem. We nearly ran
over some Santiago flaneurs, who did not hear the
light vehicle, what with the ear-splitting din of
tramcars and waggons continually passing on the
paved streets. Luckily escaping the leader's likely
entanglement in various teams of oxen, we reached
safety in the beautiful park. Here was a great
central circle, the Campo de Marzo, ringed by a
fine drive and a wood intersected by shady walks,
ornamental water, and gardens. The scene was
framed by fine hills of a rosy violet tinge in the
evening light that showed sweetly against the
extremely clear blue of the sky.
Next, bumping over a road like a switchback
railway, we drove to the excellent racecourse,
which proved once more that the Chilians can
justly be called the 'English of South America,' if
only from their love of sport. The new stand was
itself a thing of beauty, ended by its two towers
with peaked roofs ; while the view of mountains 16

242 SANTIAGO, OR THE CITY OF ST. JAMES
beyond a foreground of autumn-tinted trees and
meadow lingers pleasingly in my memory.
I was very grateful to my host for kindly intro
ducing me during my stay to some of the great
Chilian families, which enabled me to gain a more
correct impression of the manner of life among the
best-born Chilian ladies than I could otherwise easily
have gleaned. The old Spanish tradition prevails
among them of distaste to mingling in society with
the foreigners in their country, who are necessarily
almost all employed in some kind of trade. To
diplomats or travellers, however, they will extend
a warm hospitality.
Many stories had been showered upon me of the
middle-class Chilian women, belonging to the smaller
gentry, the merchant, and the shopkeeper grades
— of their devotion in religion, their goodness
as wives and mothers, but also of their grave
failings in British eyes ; their love of laziness, and
shortcomings as to tidiness and tubbing. All which
latter denote simply a Spanish strain and a back
wardness of education such as probably prevailed
even in England a little over a century ago. Some
of these tales were amusing, if not kind.
One concerned a friend of mine who was invited
to stay for a rodeo at a large country hacienda. The
host was British by birth, but the son of a Chilena,
and married to another. He showed his guest into
a bedroom on the ground-floor, long unused, a blade

SOME CHILIAN CUSTOMS 243

or two of grass pushing through the brick pavement,
the walls damp.
' My dear fellow, could you not give me a room
in your alto ?' expostulated the dismayed visitor.
' I am subject to chills.'
' I am very sorry,' returned the host, 'but my wife
hates the trouble herself of going upstairs, so wont
ask her servants to do so.'
After another rodeo, several of the country pro
prietors present sat down to dinner, their ponchos
still smothered in dust, and their unwashed hands
begrimed. In winter afternoons it is to be regretted that
many town ladies, if surprised by a visitor when it is
not their day for receiving, may appear looking warm
and suspiciously sleepy. When taxed, they will
prettily confess : ' Well, yes, I have been in bed,
but in this cold weather there is nothing else to do.'
Of a lower class, instances were told me of the
daughters in a lodging-house rising late and pro
ceeding to the housework unwashed, with loose torn
gowns pulled over their night attire. Towards
evening they would dress their hair and put on
smart clothes.
Society parties mostly consist of evening visits
paid in a clannish kind of way, or great banquetes,
with twelve courses at least. But this applies to
Santiago, where there is hardly any foreign element.
At Valparaiso, British and Germans have so inter-

244 SANTIAGO, OR THE CITY OF ST. JAMES
married with Chilians that the Chilenas are often
only distinguishable from their European sisters by
their sweeter and more caressing manners. Going
to church daily, sometimes twice, seemed to be the
chief occupation or distraction of most ladies in the
capital. At certain hours they thronged the streets,
taller, stronger than the Argentine or Peruvian
women, looking almost severe in their correct church
garb of black dress and manto, with humbly glove-
less hands covered with rings ; their complexions
lovely, but their type of feature sometimes heavy.
It is remarkable that while the corruption of morals
in Chili among the men, not excepting the priests,
is proverbial, and said to be even worse than in the
Argentine, never did I hear one word of reproach
breathed against the conduct of the gentle Chilenas
by even their worst detractors. Almost all ladies
I met were excellent musicians, good linguists, and
often fond of painting, but as yet more given to
imitation than originality.
And now for a brief description of some great
country houses in the neighbourhood of Santiago.
One sunny day Mr. Kennedy drove us out of the
gay but noisy streets up the long green alameda
with its rushing acequia, and its noble white statues
of Chilian heroes, such as O'Higgins, the Irish
General (pronounced O'Eechens), into the open
country. Dust lay deep on the roads, smothering
the adobe walls of the dry fields and the mud huts

THE QUINTA OF NUNOA 245
thatched with bulrushes. But a swift canal, fed
from the snows of the near Andes, foamed on one
side, thick-edged with wild-cane. Soon came pink-
walled farms comfortably roofed with tiles ; their
large orchards, and farmyards where stood fat oxen,
all showing signs of plenty. But even in the meanest
hovels were glimpses of melons and pumpkins
lavishly piled on the floors ; of scarlet chilis drying
in the sun. The children who ran out from these
homes were all fat and well clothed. There are
really very few poor folk in Chili. The climate is
temperate, and some grapes, bread, and oranges
suffice them for a meal. But the conditions of life
are unsuited to British immigrants, so I learned on
the best authority.
Presently, skirting a long adobe wall, we turned
into the quinta of Nufioa, belonging to the Ossa
family. Beyond a ring of grass, a fountain, and
shrubberies, stood the three-storied mansion, raised
on a stone terrace, and not unlike a French chateau.
The family had just migrated to their handsome
town-house in Santiago for the winter, but Don
Luis, or, as we should say, Mr. Ossa, was awaiting
us to play host, having driven out here for the day.
First he showed us the pleasure-grounds behind
the house, studded with palms and flowering shrubs ;
then many hothouses full of glorious tropical plants
and. orchids — these last sent out from England by
Veitch. Passing through a trellised walk, hung

246 SANTIAGO, OR THE CITY OF ST. JAMES
with late grapes, we found a herd of fine English
sheep browsing in a walnut orchard. ' The ram
cost a fortune,' said our host, smiling. Further on
was a pleasant view of woodland embosoming a pretty
pond. It seemed strange to be crunching dead
leaves ankle-deep underfoot while the sun was
roasting hot. Winter this May had delayed so long
that the thermometer still marked 8o° in the shade,
and no snow lay yet on the near mountains, save on
one towering peak.
On returning to the house, the wide marble
central hall felt like an ice-cave after the sunshine
outside. This hall and the handsome drawing-room
boasted some good Italian statues and pictures,
tables of rosso antico and jasper, besides bronzes.
Some lofty bedrooms on the ground-floor were very
richly furnished in French style, with bed-canopies
fifteen feet high. But the upper ones, though large,
were more simple, even bare to English ideas, as
might be necessary in the hot summers here.
We climbed out on the very roof to see the view
from the mirador. The great Nufioa vineyards lay
outspread, still golden-green after vintage, and re
minding us how excellent are several of the Chilian
wines when kept some years. And beyond the
wide, flat plain, studded with the woods of neigh
bouring estates, rose the giant Andes, not four miles
distant, their steep slopes arid, but softened by a
warm, sunlit haze.

THE RICHEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD 247
On descending, we were offered in turn beer,
champagne, and lemonade. And after the last-
named refreshment, we found our carriage in the
yard in the company of some fifty ploughs. Don
Luis, having sent a peon riding to open the gates in
his private farm-road, which was a short-cut to the
neighbouring estate, that of the Cousinos', we took
our leave, only sorry that this day we could not meet
our host's pretty wife. A month later I had this
pleasure at some cross-country races, where she
kindly drove me and a friend about in her carriage,
on first meeting. But then, as she flatteringly said,
some of my novels had been for several years her
boudoir friends. Dofia Emilianita herself, though
one of the loveliest of society butterflies, was then
busily translating an article on Chili in the Revue
des Deux Mondes into Spanish for newspaper publica
tion. And though only having visited England once,
for her honeymoon, she spoke English charmingly.
Her husband, like many Chilians of good family,
had been educated at Stonyhurst, and patronized
London tailors no less than English breeders of
prize stock.
Our next visit w,as to Macul, belonging to Sefiora
Cousino, supposed to be the richest woman in the
world. Her lovely country-place, near Concepcion
in the South, is mentioned by the late Miss North
in that lady's travels ; also the Santiago town-house,
a dream of luxury, in which the drawing-room silken

248 SANTIAGO, OR THE CITY OF ST. JAMES
curtains are alone said to have cost ,£3,000. After
driving up an avenue a mile long, we found the
great gates locked, so perforce skirted the demesne
adobe wall, shaded by noble trees, for a consider
able distance. This showed me a curious sight.
On great estates, such as this one of many square
miles, it is customary to house and feed all the very
many peones employed. The single men live in a
kind of large barrack under a steward's eye. The
married are given cottages, when it becomes their
interest to safeguard the lands of their master.
Thus here, beyond an open ditch and screen of
bulrushes, was one of these labourers' villages.
The almost Indian mud and wattle huts were
scattered among trees and thick scrub ; pigs, babies,
fowls and cats straying promiscuously among the
bushes and cane-brakes. It was most picturesque,
if a trifle uncivilized.
No family house was ever built at Macul, though
the demesne is enormous ; the owner herself lives in
Paris. Passing large stables, we therefore stopped
at the small house of the English administrador.
This latter post is one often given to our countrymen
— a responsible position, considering the large herds
of cattle and sheep, and the troops of horses, on a
great hacienda. One lady told me she had lost two
prize English horses and quite a large number of
cows one year, stolen by dishonest Chilian herdsmen.
Mr. Kennedy was warmly welcomed as usual by

TO HERMIDA 249

a group of Chilian gentlemen at the door, among
whom was a son of the Sefiora Cousifio. We ladies
were carried off by as many Chilenas to a sit-down
tea (the strongest and blackest beverage imaginable),
and found ourselves regaling on buns and quince
jam, and embarking bravely in a sea of Spanish.
But we were soon hurried away, for the afternoon
was waning, and the neighbouring proprietor of a
third great estate had driven hither purposely to
meet and bring us to his hacienda. He was Sefior
Guillermo Errazuriz (since, alas ! dead), one of the
most courteous and kindly specimens of a highbred
Chilian gentleman, who, as an admiring English
friend of his — no mean judge — said, had all the gifts
of fortune man could wish, excepting health.
Being invited to the box-seat of his waggonette,
I was driven by Don Guillermo along a country lane,
edged perilously by a rushing canal from the snow-
hills. Round sharp corners, by broken places, we
sped, the strong native cobs sending a shower of
small gravel and dust in our faces, as if it were
summer, when the high Chilian winds are annoying.
My guide meanwhile explained to me the necessary
system of irrigation here, the ' best in the world,'
and how all the dry plain around was watered from
this same canal. His lucerne, or alfalfa, fields had
thus given three crops last summer and would now
be grazed in winter, equalling, he said, five crops.
In speaking, the sefior's English accent was so

250 SANTIAGO, OR THE CITY OF ST. JAMES
excellent that I almost mistook him for a fellow-
countryman ; then I learnt he had been at an English
public school for several years. Soon came a bridge
of unguarded planks laid across the water, some
boards wanting, for carpenters were mending it ;
but the horses rattled over bravely. So we entered
the farm gate of Hermida.
By the large farm buildings Sefior Errazuriz drew
up to show me his lucerne hay, pressed for export.
And just then along the wooded lane came a long
string of thoroughbred racehorses, returning from
exercise, with an English trainer following on a
Chilian pony. They were the pride of Sefior
Errazuriz's heart, and he eagerly brought us into
the wide yard surrounded by boxes, ordered chairs
for the ladies, and all the beauties were trotted past.
About five -and -twenty two -year -olds came first,
winners every one, though in Chili they are allowed
to be raced once only at this age. Then came some
more older horses, all of pure English breed, one
chestnut never yet beaten in Chili, and two prize
stallions, lately imported from England. A prize
Suffolk Punch was the only low-born animal we saw.
Pity there was no time to see the famous Hermida
short-horns, 200 milch cows ! Nor the brood mares
and foals ; nor the English sheep.
Leaving the horses lingeringly, we visited the fine
new house of Hermida, approached by horseshoe
steps leading to a high stone terrace where two big

THE HOME OF DON G. ERRAZURIZ 251
boar-hounds gambolled. Beyond a small outer hall,
we entered a splendid inner one, all wainscoted in
beautiful dark-red Chilian wood, looking like any
ancestral hall in old England, what with its noble
stone fireplaces and the stained-glass window on
one side. But, opposite, glass -doors gave a view
of orange-trees surrounding the gravelled patio,
noble palms beyond in the pleasure-grounds, and
— startlingly near — the glorious mountains. One
could see here and there a rancho clinging to their
lower slopes, while higher came bare great sweeps
of warmly brownish colour, and above on the topmost
heights rosy sunset lingered, with the occasional gleam
of a far, pure snow-peak.
In the family wing, enclosing the patio on the left,
Dofia Blanca Errazuriz and two of her children were
suffering from a slight attack of measles. But a few
weeks later I met this very handsome Chilian lady,
whose Titianesque hair and complexion of milk and
roses reminded one of Devonshire rather than of the
Pacific coast.
We were shown the opposite visitors' wing, on the
right, its many bedrooms ending in a chapel with
some good Italian pictures and a fine triptych. Here
Mass is held for the household servants and farm
peones, the prie-dieux of the family being placed in
the ante-room.
Returning to the reception-rooms, my attention
was specially called to a fine library, fairly well filled,

25 2 SANTIAGO, OR THE CITY OF ST. JAMES
"though still too new,' as our host remarked. A
large drawing-room boasted two grand Murillos and
also an Andrea del Sarto on the walls, for, as Sefior
Errazuriz told us, his father was fortunate enough
to visit Italy at a time when the monks in many
monasteries were selling their treasures. But the
dining-room was hung with landscapes by modern
British artists.
And now the dusk was settling down softly over
the plain, and a long drive lay before us. So,
refusing the usual Chilian hospitable offer of cham
pagne, we said good-bye. The horses cantered
homewards (forgetting that trotting were better
manners) and we whirled along the twilight dust-
laden roads, by giant poplars, the finest I ever saw,
and by ranchos where supper was cooking, while an
orange sunset overspread the sky.
Next day we left, our regret being only lessened
when at the wayside stations some semi -Indian
peasants offered us through the train windows
partridges, wood -pigeons and baskets of grapes,
figs and pears — all which country delicacies Mr.
Wetherall gleefully bought like a provident house
keeper. When next I had the pleasure of revisiting
Santiago, the August snows powdered the Cordilleras
in shining whiteness, the beauty of the scene being
only equalled by that of the Pyrenees as seen from
Pau. This time my visit was to the K.'s, the next-

A GREAT DEBATE IN CONGRESS 253
door neighbours and friends of Mr. Kennedy, who
joined our circle, or we his, most evenings. On
some of these a party of eight, clothed in evening
dress and their right minds, might have been seen
seated round a table where stood a round disc, all
holding telephone receivers to their ears in silence.
Which meant that the opera was being performed ;
and this was the fashionable way of listening to the
singing when disinclined to go out.
One exciting day a Chilian lady, whose letters
were published in the Times during the civil war,
called and carried me off to hear the great debate
of the day in Congress. Should amnesty be extended
to all those who took part in the late civil war ? —
yea or nay ? The Sies were raining from the
crowded Liberal benches as the President called the
names for voting, while No ! was yelled by three
solitary Conservatives. Then a storm of hisses and
cries burst from the galleries above — the President's
bell rang on and on for order, and loud Vivandos
surged up from an anxious mob in the halls below.
Now, though it is two years since the war, small
wonder that blood still boiled and many hearts were
bitter, for the crux of the matter lay in this — Were
the Lo Canos murderers to be forgiven ?
To my mind Lo Cafios was the saddest episode
of the fratricidal struggle, when families were torn
asunder — some fighting for established laws, others
for fuller liberties. The old wineskins which had

254 SANTIAGO, OR THE CITY OF ST. JAMES
served since Chili threw off the yoke of Spain were
rent by the fermenting vintage of new thought and
strivings towards ideal progress. As to the story
of Lo Cafios, it is as follows :
During the civil war, Balmaceda heard that a plot
was on foot to seize the southern railway, cut the
wires, and stop his troops. A number of boys of
the best Santiago families had been incited to
attempt the deed, the eldest being barely twenty,
the youngest not fifteen. They stole out to the
tryst, the small farmhouse of Lo Cafios, five miles
from Santiago. There they were surprised by a
detachment of President Balmaceda's soldiers, who
set fire to the dwelling, and as the lads rushed
out they were butchered, and either thrown back
into the flames or horribly mutilated. Eight, who
probably did not attempt fight, were taken prisoners
and marched all the way to town.
Now, whether Balmaceda gave orders, or that his
wishes were evilly misinterpreted by his lieutenants,
or some one blundered, may never be rightly known.
But a few hours later these eight wretched boys were
hurried back and shot against the walls of the farm.
Later the charred remains of all the victims were
brought to Santiago mixed up in sacks, as was
related to me by one who went, hoping to identify
a corpse, and witnessed the ghastly spectacle. Only
two boys somehow escaped. They were helped to
hide by some pitying rotos, or roughs, in the brush-

CHILIAN SCHOOLS 255
wood, and saw the tragedy and their comrades' fate.
At last after some weeks they ventured to steal
secretly to their homes, hardly recognisable from
the terrible shock, and bowed like old men. The
gloom cast over Santiago afterwards was great.
People skulked about the streets, their looks black
with fear and shame, livid from rage.
And now the vote was carried to 'draw a veil
over the past,' as one deputy expressed it.
My friend, Dofia Anita de J., with her husband
and some of his fellow-members, then showed me
the two handsome houses and fine marble hall
connecting them, where, on June 1, the President
in state used to declare Congress open ; also several
spacious committee-rooms and a library, where we
met and chatted with some Ministers, senators, and
deputies. Next morning these friends drove me round
various schools. The public spirit and eagerness
for the real good of their country I met with among
the well-bred Chilians is remarkable — a striking con
trast with the apathy in the neighbouring republics
of all but those who are struggling for places and
pensions. The great ladies are especially interested
and powerful in politics; the opinions of several
being quoted with as much respect as those of
leading men, while their salons are the society
camps of their parties.
We first visited the Escuela Profesional, a Govern-

256 SANTIAGO, OR THE CITY OF ST. JAMES
ment institute where various .professions are taught
to girls, free of expense. The low rooms sur
rounding two courts were buzzing with the chatter
of many maids, from sixteen to eighteen years
old. One class was for cooking, where we tasted
good pumpkin dulce, or jam ; others were taught
to make dresses, cardboard boxes, artificial flowers,
embroidery, hand-painting on fans, etc., also the
manufacture of gloves, excellent in cut and kid — a
boon here, where one pays so dearly in the shops
for those imported from Europe. Above all, book
keeping is the most valued instruction of the school,
enabling girls for the first time here to take situa
tions of trust. Besides this, we saw a higher school
for teachers, and some other institutions for public
good. My guides were all eager to improve the status
of women in Chili. ' Men respect our sex more
now they see that girls can support themselves,'
said the sefiora, whose zeal for establishing country
schools is praised in the late Miss North's ' Travels,'
when that accomplished flower-painter stayed with
her in Chili.

[*57 J

x.

THE HOME OF THE HUASO.
Besides the visits already mentioned, I spent a long
and happy one with the N.'s, at their pretty hill
side home in Valparaiso. We went, among other
sights, to a Chilian wedding, which took place at
eight at night, being followed by a ball and supper
of twelve courses. Only the golden rule of brevity
forbids my dwelling on this and another visit to
my Irish friends, the Y.'s, who took me charming
rides by sea-cliffs, and over grassy downs at Vifia.
All was so interesting. Why do not more English
try this trip over the Andes ?
But what is there to be seen ? people ask.
Well, as regards Chili, let us sum up the matter.
Besides Santiago and Valparaiso, one can go South
and enjoy almost English scenery, rocky rivers and
deep woods. Two Chilian ladies described to me
enthusiastically a journey they took thither, when
at times the forests were so dense they had not
seen daylight for miles, and the moss was deep
underfoot. One said she had ridden twenty leagues
17

258 THE HOME OF THE HUASO
between Union and Valdivia, when, in the heart of
the woodsi twelve leagues from anywhere, they
came on a lonely wayside hut. This proved to be
a wooden shrine, with a cross on the roof, and some
candles burning within. On looking closer, they
saw a plate laid, containing several five-cent pieces.
' It is the tomb of a miracle-worker,' said their
country guide. ' Long ago, when the Spaniards
fought here in the last war, an old prisoner they
were dragging along died of maltreatment and was
buried at this spot. He must have been pious, for
somehow his fame as a saint grew ; and all herds
men passing by invoke his aid should they lose a
stray beast. He has so often helped them that
they built this tomb by degrees (a wooden cabin),
and always light candles, and leave money, which is
never stolen.'
' Well, that is a miracle in this country !' exclaimed
her hearers.
It is to be truthfully noted that thieving and
lying are the two great faults of the Chilian
peasants. Fibbing is considered a polite accom
plishment among them — so, at least, I was repeatedly
told. And a father will proudly relate the exploits
of some youngster in this art, amid shouts of laughter
from an admiring audience.
In all this, it should never be lost sight of how
largely the native class is mixed with the Indian
element. And down South the pure Araucanian

DOWN SOUTH 259

Indian is seen within his own lands, and is interest
ing enough to repay travellers for the journey to
Concepcion, and thence inland. It is his savage
virtues that are the sinews of the Chilian folk ; his
ingrained passion for drinking in carouses of days,
varied by dancing and improvising songs (as old
travellers have described two centuries ago), and his
fierce fighting instincts, that are yet the vices of his
civilized descendants. And on the whole his is the
best Indian stock in all America — indeed, the only
one which has created a nation ; not merely the
governing of the peon class by the superior caste
of Spanish or foreign blood, but a still gradually
blending whole, like that formerly of Saxon churl
and Norman noble. And this will one day ap
parently make Chili a power to be reckoned with.
There are at the present day some 50,000 Arau-
canians left, living together in semi-independence,
since twelve years ago the fierce warriors at last
made peace with Chili. Their dwellings are great
beehive-shaped huts, some twenty or thirty grouped
near that of the cacique, whose family consists of as
many wives as his means allow him to keep in
Indian comfort. The men are a handsome, digni
fied race ; many of the women are very pretty in
youth. Dressed in dark-blue garments, woven of
guanaco wool and dyed by themselves, not unlike
the Greek chiton and himation, they are loaded
with silver ornaments of Indian make.

260 THE HOME OF THE HUASO
Hospitality is the pride of the caciques; and a
friend of mine who visited one at Lebu, so poor
that he could only afford two wives, was yet offered
his best fare after her long ride. This was a large
earthenware dish containing a dozen roast spring
chickens, and a second tray followed with potatoes.
In general the chief's dishes are of solid silver,
rudely hammered out.
While speaking of silver-work, I should add that
all classes in Chili seem to have equally prized silver
household gear, either as a family investment or
for the quaint devices of its native workmanship.
Money in troubled times was not put in banks, but
beaten into solid basins and jugs, door-handles or
massive stirrups — in fact, every utensil imaginable,
except, perhaps, those for rough kitchen use. When
I visited the pawnbrokers, with friends all eager
to secure some bargain of a chased mate (teapot),
useful to hold roses for dinner-table decoration, sacks
of great silver dishes and plates were outpoured
before us. ' They will be sent to England for
bullion,' said the merchant.
Two centuries ago, the few travellers who visited
Chili and wrote their impressions — as Catalina, the
Spanish nun-soldier ; and Frezier, the agreeable spy
sent by Louis XIV. — noted the wonderful riding
of the Chilian Indians, and the quantity of native
horses. ' Although this animal was first introduced
by the Spaniards,' says the latter, 'and that the

THE ARAUCANIAN INDIAN

261

horseflesh is eaten by the natives, their number is
so great that one only costs a few crowns.' In
which respect Chili has not changed.
The Araucanian cacique is still always mounted
when he goes abroad, even to a near hamlet to buy
provisions. His wives as invariably follow on foot,

ARAUCANIAN WOMAN.

bearing a sack, a babe, and as many other burdens
as he may please. Indeed, the oppressed lives of
these patient slaves, the chief workers and weight-
carriers for their lazy lords, who like to lie in the
sun, rouses one's blood with indignation. But to be
just, is not this the transition state of semi-civiliza-

262 THE HOME OF THE PIUASO

tion ? In a savage existence, the Indian man was the
hunter and warrior, both pursuits needing constant
toil and hardship. The tasks of the sexes were
then not unfairly divided ; but now he has not yet
learned to use spade and axe instead of lance and
lasso, so the woman suffers.
The fine horsemanship of the Indian has not
degenerated in his half-bred descendant, the huaso.
And the time to see the latter at his best is at a
rodeo, or, in English words, the parting of the cattle
on a big hacienda. This is held as a holiday by all
the neighbouring haciendados, or farmers ; by the
huasos, or peasants, who can afford a horse ; even
by the poor peones, which, literally translated, means
' pawns,' men of no account.
A great annual rodeo is a red-letter day for twenty
miles around, and from early dawn the huasos may
be seen jogging to the scene of pastime. Many will
be riding quite poor ponies, but leading each his own
animal, carefully prepared and groomed for the great
occasion. Now, a huaso is still utterly unawakened
to the sense of chivalry which stirs even the rough
American cowboy, yet some feelings in his breast
this morning resemble those with which a good
knight used to set out to a tourney. Riding his
palfrey, Sir Bedivere was wont to eye his mail-clad
charger with anxious pride, thinking on the lists he
was about to enter. And so the huaso, for on his
horse depend his chances of winning fame among

HUASO AND HACIENDADO 263
his fellows ; on it hangs often also what a true Chilian
values lightly enough, the rider's life.
A huaso' s dress is picturesque, with his enormously
wide felt or straw hat, leathern gaiters fastened up the
back of the leg by many buckles, and a poncho which
blows backward as he gallops. The trappings of
his clever nag are no less worthy of description.
Its bridle is of thin hide strips beautifully twisted
into a fine rope, adorned with tassels and silver
tubes, while the bit also boasts silver ornaments.
His high-peaked saddle, in contrast to the wide flat
one of the Argentine gaucho, is lined into a comfort
able nest of black and white sheepskins, and like
wise brightened by triangular silver ornaments
ending the square flaps. To keep the neatly-coiled
lasso from flying loose, there also falls a trident-
shaped piece of leather, generally stitched or em
broidered. The whip is peculiar, formed by the end
of the reins plaited into a heavy thong ; and the
girths, often blue and red, are also of hide, the
separate strips of which are joined by cross-pieces,
with an iron ring for buckle. Lastly, the gigantic
wooden stirrups, coal-scuttle in shape, and the huge
spurs, radiating like old pictures of the sun, may
come from Birmingham ! Most of them now do, but
their effect is nevertheless good.
A haciendados costume is not really different from
this of the huaso, except in the finer material of his
clothes, and that his spurs of shining silver are

264 THE HOME OF THE HUASO
massive heirlooms. Cruel though these spurs seem,
an Englishman, fond of horses and merciful to his
beast, told me he used Chilian ones, their rowels
being blunt, in preference to the sharp prod of the
English spur. The small proprietor's saddle will be

A HACIENDADO.

also much more heavily loaded with chased silver,
the back of the peak often bearing the owner's
monogram. And the hand-carving of his stirrups
is sometimes quaint.
Once all have arrived, the scene of a rodeo is
most animated. Within the palisades of a wide
corral a multitude of cattle — bulls, cows, and calves

A RODEO 265

— are huddled in a surging, lowing mass. These
are to be parted — a dangerous business. Outside
the corral gates runs a long palisade, ending in
separate yards, and by this palisade are ranged the
eager volunteers for the day's sport, both gentry
and huasos, in twos and twos. All take their turns
in rotation, and any two men undertake to tackle
any animal, however furious.
Now begins the fun. An old man, the capataz,
once a good horseman, rides into the centre of the
corral, and with a long goad keeps pricking what
ever beast he singles out. At once the animal
begins forcing its way through the herd, seeking
escape from the pain. As it nears the gates, these
are opened in the nick of time ; the two first waiting
horsemen standing by. Then the beast — say a bull
— sees fancied freedom, and rushes forward.
But a rider is close alongside, whose horse presses
heavily on the bull's shoulder, forcing him against
the palisade. What is this ? Angrily the bovine
brute tries to stop short and back, but another horse
and man are urging him on from behind. It is
beautiful to see the intelligence of the horses in
avoiding the bull's horns, and never ceasing the
watchful pressure in which lies their safety.
Suddenly the bull stops dead ! So does the
horse, both fore-legs out and body bearing back.
Rolling his red eye, the bull pauses — then makes an
unexpected rush. But at the same instant the horse

266 THE HOME OF THE HUASO
is off too, having felt the first movement of his
opponent, and stride for stride horse and bull keep
together till the smaller yard for bulls is reached.
Then as the big beast rushes in, his tormentors
stop, the gate closes, and the riders jog back ; while
another pair begin their turn of the sport. None of
the riders may use either stick or goad, so the
pastime is a manly one ; for the horns of both cows
and bulls have to be reckoned with.
A rodeo is no child's play, for there is seldom a
big one at which an accident does not happen, often
enough fatal. It may seem strange that the worst
mischances happen in driving calves ; but these are
lower than the horse's shoulder, so he cannot press
on them so easily ; while, also, they dodge and twist
under his legs, possibly upsetting him, when his
master risks a broken limb or even neck.
Young Chilians of good family are so fond of the
excitement of some well-known rodeo, that they will
even go from Valparaiso to Santiago for one with
their favourite horse. But Englishmen, however good
horsemen after the fashion of their country, seldom, if
ever, attain the Chilian proficiency in rodeo-riding or
rounding up cattle. Only English born in the land,
especially of Chilian mothers, equal their comrades
in the corral.
It will also interest our traveller to see the lasso
ing, although in this practice it is generally conceded
that the Argentines are the more dexterous. Bolas

A CHILD'S WAKE 267
are different, these being a pair of leather thongs
fastened together, one about twenty - four inches
long, the other shorter, to the ends of which are
bound three hide-covered round stones, the size of a
hen's egg. The shorter line is held in the rider's
hand, who whirls the other round his head while
galloping at full speed towards the object of attack.
Then the bolas are thrown, generally either killing
or so hindering the victim that it is easily caught.
Bolas were in use among the Indians when the
Spaniards first landed, and many of the invaders
were killed by these weapons, which are still not
unfrequently seen.
Among other sights, that of a child's wake is most
interesting ; but, of course, difficult for a foreigner
to see, if not impossible. When riding with friends
one day, I was surprised to see a man trudging
towards a cemetery gate, carrying a small bright-
blue coffin unconcernedly over his shoulder. Two
women, shrouded in the usual black mantos, trotted
behind without much semblance of grief. ' That is
a very poor funeral,' said my companions. ' Gene
rally a huaso gallops off after the wake with the
coffin under his arm ; he is half tipsy from drinking
chicha in the house, so he and his comrades race
along the roads, and maybe drop the coffin !' On
inquiring further, full particulars were given me of
this custom, which again reminded me of old Ire
land, my native land.

268 THE HOME OF THE HUASO

Wakes for persons of all ages are not uncommon
in Chili ; but especially the velono of a child is made
an occasion for feasting, as the sinless babe is sup
posed to become straightway a little angel, or
angelito, without passing through the cares and
sorrows of life. So this happy event is celebrated
by much eating, more drinking, and the neighbours
rejoice around the corpse, which is propped up like a
small saint, surrounded by lights and flowers. My
friend Mrs. C. was one day passing the house of
her washerwoman, when she saw a crowd within,
singing and carousing. ' Look in, sefiorita ; it is an
angelito 's wake,' said her maid, who accompanied
her. Peeping through the open door, she saw the
corpse of a child of three hung up against the wall
above the bed ; it was dressed in white, and wreathed
round with flowers. The poor mother hovered near,
weeping, although partly consoled by her friends'
joyful assurances that the niito was now become a
' little lamp of light,' which, when she herself died,
would show her the way to heaven. The general
merriment and singing are also supposed to cheer
the infant soul itself on its flight from earth.
Another picturesque custom is that of the trilla,
or threshing-floor, in country districts. A ring of
ground fenced in is brushed clean, and a wheat-
stack piled in the middle, on which stands a labourer
with a pitch-fork, who flings down grain on the
ground. When he is ready, a gate is opened, and a

THE TRILLA 269

dozen to sixteen mares are driven in by some riders,
who gallop round and round as in a circus, shouting
vociferously, ' Oh, yegua ! yegua ! yegua !' (' Mare !
mare !'). As mares are seldom, if ever, used for
work, they are unshod, and do not bruise the grains.
Presently the troop stop, and then gallop in reverse
order till the wheat is so deep that the animals can
only tread it with labour. When all the straw is
trodden, it is forked aside, and the wheat tossed in
the air till the wind has winnowed away the chaff.
I have already spoken of the love of song and
music as a special trait of the Chilian character ; and
improvising is also an amusement of theirs. They
will sit in a circle, one beginning a song, which all
take up in turn. They share this trait with the
Argentine gauchos, who, however, declaim to the
guitar rather than sing, much as the Celtic bards
and English minstrels seem to have ' swept the
strings,' and then recited the gallant deeds of the
chief in whose hall they sat. And so — but far more
rudely — the Chilian Indians are said to have for
merly recounted at feasts their family histories in
sing-song orations lasting for many hours, as did the
festival for several days.
But if these last two customs do not affect the
passing traveller, there are others that will.
Note the signature to a receipt, for it will be
adorned by a flourish peculiar to the writer, and
called a rubrica. This is affixed by custom to all

270 THE HOME OF THE HUASO
documents of importance both in Chili and the
Argentine Republic ; and it is a far worse crime
to forge the rubrica than the name of anyone, for
the genuineness of a document is tried by this sign
manual. Here is a simple rubrica used by a trades
man, and which I copied :

But the public notaries have far more elaborate
ones, needing time and care to draw, and almost
always (in the Argentine, at least) ending with a
cross at the top, which seems suggestive of a
church origin. This rude outline drawn for me by
an old resident will give a faint idea of the original :

Another thing to be noted is the system of
employing young women as tram-conductors. They

WOMEN TRAM-CONDUCTORS 271
are neatly and nautically dressed in serge gowns
and sailor hats, besides large white aprons, with
ample pockets for the pennies ; while a small seat
under the doorway awning gives them rest and
shelter. It is light work ; they are civil ; and men's
brains and superior muscles are not wasted.
As to telephones, every house has one, and from
morning to night folk are ringing up neighbours
or being rung up. Even in the charming retreat
of the Zorras, a hill-nook some two miles out of
Valparaiso, country residents ' speak ' in to town, or
beyond it, to friends, giving news or invitations to
tea and tennis. And one morning I was surprised
at holding a chat with a friend at Santiago, 114 miles
distant — just an easy discourse, in the clearest of
tones, on a copper wire.
But telephones can be undesirable — sometimes.
For instance, when the Chilian children get hold of
the family one, as most of them manage to do.
Ting-a-ring-a-ring ! One morning a friend with
whom I was staying for a few days was nearly
deafened by a continued call, just as she was deep
in consultation with her cook :
' Hallo !'— ' Hallo ! I don't want you — tell I nes '
(the daughter of the house) 'to come.' This
squeaked in infantile Spanish. The speaker was
quickly recognized as the five-year-old son of a
neighbour living some two miles away. I nes,
arriving on the scene, called me to share in the
fun ; and the flirtation began.

272 THE HOME OF THE HUASO
'Is that you, Ines ? I've learnt a new song'
(voice swelling with importance). ' Would you
like to hear it ?'
' Gracias, boy ! how sweet of you ! — do sing.'
So the boy chirped at the end of the wire. He
sang of ' Daisy Bell,' that London street-air I hoped
to have left far, far behind across the ocean. The
piping little voice, sounding from a distance, was so
ludicrous in its serious conviction of giving delight
that we went into fits of laughter. Then the good-
natured girl would call to her nursery admirer, who,
though English by parentage, was still in his first,
or Spanish, stage of speech.
' Bravo, boycito ! — tan rico ! No sabe nada mas,
boycito ?' (Bravo, little boy ! — quite delightful !
Don't you know another, little man ?)
Now, this was only one out of many instances.
We have something more to be grateful for yet in
English homes than some people think.
Again, we may sometimes grumble at the British
workman ; but whatever his faults, he does not make
it a rule of life to get drunk on Sunday, keep it up
on Monday, sleep it off on Tuesday, and come back
on Wednesday, expecting the patron to smile in
dulgently on his weakness. Or, if this is a slightly
severe account of the peon, shall we say he may
generally return on Tuesday ?
Then as to the servant question— one of world
wide household interest, which may perhaps be

THE CONVERSION OF THE PAPER DOLLAR 273
solved by the late Chino- Japanese War, and an out
pouring of Chinese emigration — our home-bred
Mary Ann and Jane are not half so high-spirited as
Carmen or Clotilda. On the least provocation, such
as a well-merited reproof, these exclaim, ' Me voy !'
(I'm going!), and up they pack their bed and
bedding, which each provides for herself, and per
haps some furniture as well, on the backs of a string
of donkeys, and whisk off to their friends, quite sure
of a place when they please, owing to the scarcity
of domestic labour, and meanwhile rejoicing in a
holiday-time, when they can wear their hair down their
backs in a long plait, muffle up in an old shawl, and
squat on the ground to gossip and thrum the guitar.
' Don't offend the lady. She may leave, and you
are sure to get a worse,' I have often heard a friend
exclaim, in mock dismay, if in his presence any maid
made some blunder, such as closing the shutters out
side, and leaving a whole party in the dark before
she appeared to light the gas or lamps.
This, Irish fashion, was spoken in half jest and
whole earnest, for there was much truth in the warn
ing. But when a Chilian servant is good, he or she
can be most faithful and trustworthy. Nurses especi
ally, so mothers have told me, are invaluable in quick
ness and cleverness when children are ill, their own
country remedies generally forestalling the doctor's
orders. Chili, however, merits high praise for its good
18

274 THE HOME OF THE HUASO
example of honesty and present steadiness of govern
ment among its weak-kneed neighbours.
And now, as this poor description of my happy
visit in Chili is drawing to a close, what but on the
whole a warm and good impression is left on my
mind of the country, its future, and its. people?
Even as I write these words in England, a great
piece of news comes from over seas, namely, that
the ' conversion ' will soon be a fact. ' The conver
sion ?' does somebody ask. Yes, of the pest-laden
paper-money into silver. The ' price of the dollar '
was the one engrossing topic of talk and anxious
thought of everyone during late times in Chili.
Friends used to say on meeting, not ' How are you ?'
but ' How is the dollar to-day ?' During my short
stay, it varied from eighteenpence down to even, for
a few days (if I rightly remember), tenpence and one-
sixteenth in value. How the poor, ignorant peones
must have wondered why their wages only bought
half as much bread, melons, and chicha as before !
But on this currency question so much has been
written by wiser persons that I only record my glad
ness at so hopeful a beam of sunshine illumining the
future of Chili. May its prosperity be as assured as
sound-thinking English residents believe who invest
confidently in country industries.
And few or none doubt it will be so if, satisfied
with the rich nitrate fields wrested from Peru, Chili
will wait and develop her own inner resources before
longing to stretch her borders further yet.

[ 275 ]

ADIEU TO CHILI.
It was now August, and time for me to say adieu to
Chili, and take an English mail steamer northward
for Peru, whither I was warmly invited by Mr. and
Mrs. R., as yet unknown friends, but who had
heard from relations in Valparaiso of my visit to the
West Coast.
Letters of introduction were also kindly given me
by our Minister in Chili to the chief British repre
sentatives in Peru.
Before departure, I was much amused to hear that
'all the girls in Valparaiso would like to kiss me,'
as their champion and friend, which exceedingly
gratified me. May they remember me yet a little
while. This was how it came about. The debating
club had announced that at their next meeting the
girls of the day were to be discussed, and many-
tongued rumour declared that the attacking party
had been for some weeks preparing a terrific
onslaught, furnished with war materials from all
the wildest novels of the season. The defenders.

276 ADIEU TO CHILI
on the contrary, were more sadly studying past
records of noble womanhood, meaning to argue
that human nature alters little, and what was, will
be. The members were men only ; so to satisfy
the eager yearnings of all Valparaisan womanhood
to hear itself accused, a larger hall than usual was
engaged to accommodate the lady guests, and a
special train ran from Vifia.
There was a great crowd ; an eager hush of
attention to the fiery denunciations of the orators,
only broken by pained breathings of engaged girls,
even whosefiancds smiled among the jeering opposite
mass of men. The feminine anger simmered and
spread till at last there was not a woman present, old
or young, but was inwardly boiling with righteous
indignation. Perhaps the president feared danger
unless a safety-valve were provided. He suddenly
asked — to the universal surprise — would any guest
wish to reply for her sex.
Some horrid moments followed, during which I
was pinched black and blue, was prodded from
behind, while from farther away came girlish
whispered entreaties, ' Oh, speak for us — do !
Now I had never before addressed even a
private audience ; but plainly someone ought to
rise — and no one else would.
So I found myself, without preparation, making
my first speech — the most timid David that ever
faced the Philistines, slinging facts hastily gathered

NORTH TO IQUIQUE 277
from the shore of London's sea of life. However,
the audience was most kindly interested, and after I
had bravely struggled past each point hastily marked
in my mind to the goal, my friends treated it as a
winning-post, and lavished more flattery on me than
these candid critics are wont to bestow.
So the evening came when the big mail steamer
of 6,000 tons took me on board, waving regretful
adieux to my kind hosts and old friends. And for
twelve days to follow we glided north, by mountains
from 3,000 to 4,000 feet high, never far inland, and
often rising sheer from the lazily-rolling, deep Pacific.
But for stopping every day, at some townlet, often a
mere handful of wooden dwellings on a strip of sand,
between the grandly barren cliffs and the terrible
sea with its tidal waves after earthquakes, one
should get to Callao in half the time. Coquimbo
was reached the first afternoon : a small place, only
notable to me for the big sea-lions sunning them
selves on its, rocks, one with a grand mane. Next
day Caldera, scattered among sand-drifts ; and then
Antofagasta, with its silver foundries and railway
running up a desolate valley towards Bolivia.
Smaller ports followed, where the ship dispensed
stores and the produce of the fertile South to the
dwellers on these sandy beaches, where no green
plant grows and fresh water is brought from far
inland by pipes, or distilled from the sea.
Iquique, the most important town on the Chilian

278 ADIEU TO CHILI
coast after Valparaiso, was reached, I think, on the
fifth morning, and here we stayed till afternoon. It
was very like all the other ports, only larger and
handsomer. The agent of the late Colonel North
kindly sent a boat and one of his English young
men to bring me on shore. I was first driven round
the wooden town, which is painted green to relieve
the eyes, tired from the surrounding sands and arid
background of bluffs. Four flower-plots and some
real, if ragged, young trees in a plaza were displayed
with pride ; for every drop of water in Iquique
comes from eighty miles above, across the nitrate
pampas. One hears tales so terrible of how Iquique was
twice washed away by tidal waves, in 1868 and in
1877, that it was strange to see wide, sandy streets,
roomy houses, tram-cars and — wonder of wonders in
South America ! — excellent street vehicles.
' But how can people live and work and look happy
knowing that any night they may all be engulfed
in the ocean ?' I cried. My hearers shrugged their
shoulders. There was money to be made : then
watchers guard the shore to give warning if the
tide recedes unusually, a sign of the sea gathering
itself into the dreaded great wave. Yes, as in 1868,
there would be probably half an hour's time before
the wave rose from forty to sixty feet high, as
variously reckoned along the coast. One could
snatch up anything handy and fly to the railway-

THE NITRATE FIELDS 279
station, where there is always a train ready to start
uphill for the pampas.
Other travellers have described these vast, barren
pampas, where the nitrate layers are buried for
leagues under sand ; where the dynamite explosions
rise in white columns, dotting the fields ; and the
great oficinas, or works, are like small fortified
villages, set some miles apart in the monotonous
plain. I could not spare time to test their famous
hospitality, and enjoy the rides and evening dances
of which cheerful tales are told.
Towards eleven my host, Mr. M. and his wife,
after showing me their pretty home, drove me through
wide sands along the shore to the point of Cavancha.
Here on some rocks is a restaurant, the favourite
resort of merry-makers ; and we met other ship
board friends and Iquiquians, also invited like myself
to breakfast. The wooden building was gay with a
few flowers and some macaws ; while the sea flowed
under our open-air parlour, and was clearly seen,
green and cool, between the boards. What with
sea-breeze, good fare and good company, it was a
most pleasant meal.
As usual, we took a large cargo on board of live
stock, cows or mules. The latter, one night when
the ship rolled terribly, had a stampede under my
head. Other unlucky people were wakened. But
at Pisagua I became truly envied, when we coaled
at night, the lighters unloading beside my necessarily

280 ADIEU TO CHILI
closed ports {two cabins had been allotted me, as a
most favoured mortal). To the condolences which
greeted me at breakfast from heavy-eyed fellow-
passengers, I could cheerfully reply that my sleep
had been unbroken.
Now some few travellers dislike this West Coast
voyage. They hate the long, slow roll of the ocean,
though hardly a wave is ever seen ; weary of the
shore view ; and are rightly vexed with the thievery
of Chilian or Peruvian sailors, which forces everyone
to lock and bar cabin doors and windows carefully.
But these are not lovers of the sea. Many more
— like myself — really enjoy the fine weather and the
unbroken range of great cliffs past which one glides.
Then the vessels are big, the stewards honest and
attentive ; and the daily stoppage at the little ports had
an interest of its own. Curious it is to land and see
what crazy wooden shanties even British-born men
will live in happily here, and declare there is no tonic
comparable to the dry air of this rainless coast ! For
the sea-winds blow up and down this Pacific shore,
but take no moisture inland, while the high chain of
the Andes acts as a barrier to the rain-clouds which
gather on their further, Brazilian, side.
Many invalids would surely be benefited were
they to make this journey round South America,
as I did, but at a different season. Were they to
leave England in September, they would reach
Buenos Ayres three weeks later to find the spring-

A RAINLESS COAST 281
time. Then, so soon as the snows were melted on
the mountains, they could cross the Cordilleras into
Chili for a month of summer weather. New Year's
Day might see the travellers in Peru, where they
could visit the sugar-cane fields — the finest in the
world. And there, after the usual three days' wait
of the mail steamers, on for twelve more days from
Callao to Panama ; and so across the green jungle
of the isthmus. A three days' run would bring
them to the dream-island of Jamaica in its loveliest
and cool season, where a month to enjoy its tropical
beauty would be all too short before sailing home to
spring once more in April.
And hardier travellers, too — those who go round
the world with less forethought than our ancestors
when making the grand tour of Europe — they would
find here a new track, with plenty of rough work,
should they diverge into Paraguay, Bolivia, or the
interior -of ' Peru.
Lastly, should this route become more used, doubt
less some drawbacks at present existing, such as the
slowness of the Pacific trip, would be greatly im
proved.

[ 282 ]

A LAND OF 'AFTER TO-MORROW:
It was on a wintry morning — i.e., in August, 1894 —
that I looked at the low landspit of Callao through
a gray drizzle that wetted the decks of the big Pacific
mail-steamer and the thronging visitors.
' Oh, it is not rain. It never really rains in Peru,
and people laugh if one puts up an umbrella.'
So said my kind English (hitherto unknown)
friends, come on board to welcome several relations
from Chili and myself. These were the R.'s, who
had sent me the hospitable invitation, before-men
tioned, to stay with them in Peru, hearing of my
visit to Valparaiso from mutual friends there, and
knowing me through my novels.
If not rain, the mist was sufficiently damping.
Confusion and bustle still reigned through the ship,
though from six o'clock that morning we had been
uselessly roused, and it was now past ten. Would
our luggage never be got up from the hold ?
' Paciencia,' quoted one of my fellow-passengers
from Chili, who had spent twenty years of his life in
Peru. ' We have a saying down south that the

LANDING AT CALLAO 283
Chilians only conquered the Peruvians in the late
war because, though Chili is a land of " To-morrow "
{manana), Peru is aland of " After To-morrow." '
At last we were rowing ashore, where swarms of
the most hybrid specimens of humanity ever seen
were perched in ragged rows on a mean jetty.
They looked to me like so many buzzards.
' Yes, they are a polyglot lot. You see there the
native shore-Indians, or cholos, mixed with a low
Spanish type ; then the imported negro element and
the Chinese. A mixture of negro-Chinese is a fairly-
common, queer result. But the Chinaman is scorned
even by the negroes here. He is called the lowest
of the low.'
Mr. R., my host to be, was the speaker, and his
wife added an illustration of this contempt. She was
looking out of a window in Lima one day, attracted
by a noise in the street, and saw a curious scene.
A borracho, or drunkard, was lying on the ground
deaf to the urgings of the selladores, or police, who
wished him to come and be locked up ; so these,
looking round the assembled crowd, caught violent
hold of two Chinamen, desiring them to carry the
man to prison. The insult had its desired effect.
Rather than be contaminated by such vile hands, the
tipsy wretch staggered to his feet, and walked away
quickly with his captors.
On landing, one of my friends took me for a walk
round Callao, which was much more old-world than

284 A LAND OF 'AFTER TO-MORROW'
any town I had yet seen in South America. Its
long-galleried windows had a Jacobean air ; closed
wooden balconies like huge packing-cases nailed to
the walls overhung the street ; the plaza was gay
with flowering shrubs. Nevertheless, the real old
port of the conquistadores was engulfed by a tidal
wave, following a great earthquake, and ruined walls
are said to be still sometimes visible under the sea.
Peru has always been a pious country, so a little
thanksgiving chapel was at once reared on the sands
by the survivors to mark where the inflowing tide
had stayed — of thanksgiving that their own lives
were spared, though their loved ones were taken.
Surely a memorial chapel, dedicated to sorrow and
penitence, would seem more fitting.
Now the train was starting, and half an hour's
run brought us to Lima. The country we passed
through seemed to my eyes flat, treeless, and brown.
Roads ankle-deep in dust were walled on either side
by imposingly massive blocks that might be sup
posed concrete, but were only adobe, or dried mud.
Beyond in the drab-coloured fields wound a serpen
tine mound, or low hill, its surface strewn with loose
stones like a sea-beach, except where some mud-
brick arches protruded.
' Look !' cried someone ; ' that is a well-known
huaca, one of the catacombs or storehouses of the
old Incas.'
With eyes fresh from finishing Prescott 's ' Con-

THE CITY OF KINGS 285
quest of Peru,' I looked, expecting to see stone
ruins. What a disappointment !
' Welcome to the City of Kings !' said my new
friends, as our train arrived at Lima, and, emerging
into wet, greasy streets, we hurried hungrily towards
the Hotel de Francia y Inglaterra.
It was still rain  nay ! gently drizzling. Under
these circumstances, I was not prepared to notice
keenly any differences between the sights here and
in other South American towns now fairly familiar.
Yet the rather imposing outlines and dome of San
Domingo Church did give me a sensation of surprise
as we passed. Not from its size. Had not every
one already told me this was a city of churches, and
Peru still a country of such fervid religious feeling
that inland, if foreigners do not kneel in the dust,
and the men uncover, as a procession passes by,
their hats will be knocked off and themselves roughly
treated ?
No, it was merely that its whitewashed, adobe
walls were garnished with huge panels coloured,
apparently, by somebody's unrivalled washing-blue.
A statue of Mercury, ready to hop, surmounted it,
flanked by a guard of hideous turkey-buzzards
roosting in security. The gallinazos are the recog
nized town scavengers, and a fine of about ten
shillings is imposed upon anyone killing one of
these loathsome but useful servants of the Peruvian
Board of Health.

286 A LAND OF 'AFTER TO-MORROW'
Here was the hotel close by. Entering the patio,
used as an open-air dining-room, we found breakfast
awaiting us at a table under the gallery, and, besides
more solid dainties, we partook of early green peas,
strawberries, and the famous orange-coloured potatoes
of Peru. The latter are excellent, but on transplan
tation to any foreign country lose their golden hue
and mealy qualities, it is said. A good many other
people were enjoying a noontide once. There
were creepers all around, sawdust underfoot, sun-
blinds overhead — not needed in the soft gloom of
the wintry day. Lastly, the cooking was fairly
good. And now my friends were anxious to start by
train for their home in Miraflores, a pretty village
near the coast, seeing it was Sunday morning, there
fore a holiday to be enjoyed. They kindly wished
me to accompany them at once, declaring that their
ranchito (little cottage) was elastic, and would accom
modate not only their uncle and cousins — my fellow-
passengers, who were going on to England when the
steamer started three days hence — but also myself,
whom they expected on a longer visit.
But I stoutly declined to risk overcrowding them,
or intruding into the family circle, whose time for
pleasant confidences must be so brief.
Upon my decision to stay two days in the hotel,
Mrs. R. led me up a wide wooden stair (on which
the passers-by freely spat), to a matted gallery over-

WEST COAST HOSPITALITY 287

head surrounding the patio. Here she commended
me to the special care of Manuela, the manageress,
who sat huddled in a shawl, sewing patchwork strips
of hideous pattern. The latter rose joyously, with a
true Peruvian greeting. She threw her arms wide,
and bent forward as if to hug my friend, but in
reality never touched her. A street embrace be
tween ladies here is much the same as in Chili, both
acquaintances patting each other on the back as if
to cure a fit of coughing.
' Pray remember to hold up your dress, for you
will not find anywhere very clean. And I do hope
you will not be lonely,' said Mrs. R. in reluctant
parting. Lonely ? Not at all. Ten minutes later visitors
were announced — a young lady I had met in Chili,
who, being on a visit to relations, had hurried with a
brother-in-law, hearing I was alone. This was only
the beginning of an unequalled kindness I was
shown, first by my hosts, next by their neighbours ;
for, indeed, all the West-coasters are justly famous
for their hospitality. Then another friend from
Chili, who had come on board to meet me, arrived
as my cicerone for the afternoon.
' We will go first to the Lima Exposicion — i.e., it
was one some years ago, but now it is the museum,'
said Mr. D.
Our street-carriage was passable, but not so the
terrible pavements over which we jolted, through

288 A LAND OF 'AFTER TO-MORROW'

small streets, to the museum gardens. Fire-brigade
practice (a partly volunteer service, I understood,
and officered by gentlemen) was going on in the
wide, dusty plaza, beyond which the garden-walls
enclosed tall palms and other verdure refreshing in
this barren and dry land.
The museum itself was a handsome whited sepul
chre, full verily of dead men's bones and all unclean
ness. Its large rooms showed everywhere shameful
neglect. Here were cases of glorious orange or
blue butterflies mixed up with all manner of other
insects promiscuously. There lay on the floor
pictures of the Incas, dropping from their frames.
Windows stood wide open on rusty hinges, and the
damp air rotted the curious Inca garments of woven
and embroidered guanaco wool ; the narrow baskets
full of dyed yarn and knitting-pins once buried with
dead Inca owners. Their very bodies 
Poor bodies ! Looking at some curious and
regular knotting of heavy cord round a square
parcel left carelessly on a bench, and done up in
what seemed ancient sacking, I noticed coarse
human hair protruding from a rent.
' An Inca mummy. They are found buried on the
sea-shore at Ancon, where the sand has preserving
qualities, as elsewhere,' explained my companion.
When foreign ships came in, it used to be a common
practice to make prodding-parties for mummies. By
poking with iron rods, they could be felt under the

PIZARRO'S CATHEDRAL 289
surface. But now Government reserves the rights
over these hunting-grounds.'
Then, going outside, we inspected the Zoo, where
the elephant had lately seized his keeper, cracking
his ribs, and then flinging him aside dead. The
brute still looked cross— was ill, they said. Near
by a splendid lion was confined in a slight cage, its
masonry broken away at the side. We admired this
truly Peruvian trait, but still more admired a beautiful
black bird with an orange bill and comb. It was
called a mountain turkey, and had the trick, peculiar
to the turkey tribe, of shivering at times.
On our return, we paused in the very heart of
Lima — its great plaza. This is bounded by the
big Cathedral on one side and the low terra-cotta-
coloured walls of the President's palace on another,
while arcades and shops fill the remaining half.
' Pizarro's Cathedral,' was my thought, gazing with
pleased satisfaction at the twin domes of the big
pile. It might be barbarous in architecture, only
built of adobe ; still, the effect of its size and com
parative, age was picturesque in this South American
land, where the European mind pines for ancient
history and art.
' In all the revolutions here — and they are legion
— one side or other seizes those towers. See the
bullet-holes in them !' remarked my companion.
' The top windows are mostly used to hang Presi
dents from. Hallo! there is Caceres' (then President) 19

'ago A LAND OF 'AFTER TO-MORROW
' driving in that brougham. I wonder how soon he
will be turned out. The insurgents — Pierola's men
• — were within nine miles of this town last week, you
know.' I knew indeed — and it was to my bitter vexation
later — -that a revolution was already blazing in scat
tered fires over the mountains. Six months after
wards saw Lima's streets swimming in blood, and
Nicholas Pierola replaced in his old power.
' Last week for three days there was a crowd
staring for hours at a brace of black ducks roosting
on that tower,' went on my companion. 'A rumour
ran like wildfire that this was a strange portent, only
seen before a President was murdered. People
actually came up by train from Chorillos and Mira
flores to view the sight. Nobody much minds a
revolution here, they are too frequent. When a row
begins in Lima, " Cerra puertas !" (Shut the doors !)
is the cry, and everyone bolts into the nearest house
before the big street-doors are barred. There they
stay a day or two, till the shooting in the streets
ceases — it is a recognized duty to give sanctuary.
Then the peaceable folk come out and ask, " Please,
who is President ?" '
Another tale was told me later by a friend of the
individual to whom this incident happened, and who
arrived in Lima during a rising. Being all alone
in the street, he saw a soldier covering him with a
rifle, who cried ' Quien vive ?' Unable to guess on

THE FATE OF GUTIERREZ 291

which side the fellow was, the Englishman had the
presence of mind to answer ' La Patria,' and was
allowed to pass.
So chatting, we strolled across the wide plaza,
prettily dotted with shrubs, its kidney pavement
relieved to the feet by flagged paths. And looking
once more at the sun-baked Cathedral walls and its
pillars of imitation marble, I thought of a thrilling
account given me lately on ship-board by an eye
witness of the strange spectacle which happened on
these very stones in 1873.
Said my friend : ' In that year I held a post in a
Lima bank, and was newly married. The times
were troubled, and one day the President Gutierrez
had me dragged out of my house, on the charge of
giving money to the opposition, and for two and a
half hours I was kept waiting with soldiers drawn
up ready to shoot me. Of course I was a British
subject, but little Gutierrez cared.
' Two days later, when I had been worried, but let
off, that same man was murdered in the street by
the mob ; or, to speak exactly, they pursued him
into a chemist's shop, where he sought refuge, and
despatched him as he was hiding in a bath. They
hated him so that they stripped his body, and hung
it out of the highest window in one of the Cathedral
towers. That same day they caught and killed his
brother down at Callao, whose corpse they dragged
some eighteen miles into Lima at the tail of a cart,

292 A LAND OF 'AFTER TO-MORROW '

and then hanged it on the other Cathedral tower.
But their revenge was not complete. The mob
sacked the house of Gutierrez — dragged everything
out of it, even to the very beams of wood. Then
they piled the spoil in the centre of the plaza, set
fire to the mass, and next, though it sounds hardly
credible, except of savages, they cut down the body
of Gutierrez, which, falling from that height, was
crushed on the pavement. But they flung the
shapeless mass on the bonfire, after which they
danced round, drinking and scrambling for his
charred bones to stir up their chicha.'
The particulars of this horrid tale were confirmed
to me later in every detail. One Peruvian gentle
man added that he had himself seen a brawny negro
fight for a morsel of burnt flesh, which he gnawed
with gusto. Looking up to a balcony, he caught the
Peruvian's eye, who asked, ' Why do you do that ?'
' Ah, sefior !' said the negro, ' when he was General,
he tortured my brother, who was in the army.'
' Gutierrez was a devil incarnate to his soldiers, and
he deserved all he got, in my opinion,' added the
native-born speaker.
And now we returned to the hotel, where presently
dinner was again served under the patio gallery ;
darkness and mist in the centre, but lamps and some
gaudily crimson or blue silk gowns, worn by plump,
dark-eyed Peruanas, brightening the tables.

[ 293 ]

STREET SIGHTS IN LIMA.
It is truly said that first impressions should be
noted when travelling in a strange country, or they
will fade. Mine, as I write these pages a year later
in England, give an agreeable recollection of my
Lima hotel, with its jungly effect of creepers and
shrubs in the open - air court and galleries. But
here is an extract from my note - book, which
prosaically describes facts : ' Going downstairs to
breakfast just now, it struck me an umbrella might
be useful fastened above my chair, as it was drizzling
fast. Feeling softly wetted now as I write, I see
with surprise that an unnoticed skylight overhead
has some panes missing. The wooden walls of my
chamber are papered in that blue shade we see at
home on parcels of sugar. The door, which has no
handle, opens by means of a heavy key on an upper
brick-paved passage, also free to the air and drizzle.
A screen of yellow tropsolum is flowering prettily
across the patio balustrade, and the smallest hum
ming-birds I have yet seen are playing around the
flowers.

294 STREET SIGHTS IN LIMA
' Yes, it is picturesque ; but still '  The pause
signifies that some customs of the house are horrid.
It is idle to add we will leave them to imagination,
for no British mind could dream of them without
a previous disagreeable experience. The printed
rules hung in each bedroom for the good behaviour
of travellers is a shock, to begin with.
Does one want hot water ? There are no bells,
so you go outside and clap your hands, as if in
energetic applause of somebody, till, by good luck,
Matildo appears. He is the sole chambermaid,
boots, etc.
Being alone on my first morning in Lima, I resolved
to look round the town, so sallied forth to inspect the
nearest churches, after duly tying a black mantilla
over my head. When European ladies, even good
Catholics, have inadvertently gone to worship in
South America wearing a bonnet, the worldly head
gear has been nearly pulled off by feminine sticklers
for propriety. Further, in Peru the black manto, or
shawl, is daily donned in the streets by every lady,
even more commonly than in Chili, where European
ideas are creeping in, learnt by travel. The dif
ference between the sterner Chilian character and
the light-minded Peruvian one is shown even in this
trifle. A Chilena's longer, stronger face is swathed
in the rigid folds of a silk or stuff shawl, but a
Peruana glances coquettishly past the filmy lace
border of her light crape head-wrap. Some young

CHURCHES v. INCA HUACOS 295
girls even dare to wear only lace, in Spanish
fashion ; a charming frame to their round, pretty
faces, that have such roguish or languishing black
eyes and kissable mouths.
The Peruvian churches have suffered with the
prevailing ruin of the country; though a few boast
good wooden carvings, they are otherwise sadly
squalid. Crowds of women kneel night and morn
ing on their dirty, ill-bricked floors ; on the walls
tawdry velvet hangings are dropping from their
fastenings, and spotted with candle-grease ; miser
able images are wreathed with grimy paper
flowers. It was more pleasant to pass down the plaza
arcades and peer for curios in the bric-a-brac shops,
of which Jacoby is king. He is famed as an honest
man here — a German Jew, who landed as a penni
less lad, one of a family of fifteen, and who made
his fortune. Here was great plenty of Inca relics,
supposed to have been found in the burial-mounds.
These are mostly pottery vases, of which it is said
the greater part, and certainly the most proper in sub
ject, now come from Birmingham ; also Indian feather
garments and lances, or blowpipes and poisoned
arrows from the Amazon district beyond the great
Cordilleras ; silver dishes and vessels were massed
in the windows, besides filigree turkeys for incense,
and sometimes a ' royal turkey ' or peacock. Bolivian
Indian spoons also have a sharp skewer-handle',

296 STREET SIGHTS IN LIMA
which serves also as a fork, and, the meal over, is
used to fasten the loosely- woven poncho.
Peru, like Chili, has always loved household gear
of precious metal. In the famous old Inca days all
was of gold in the great houses of the princely
caste, the many sons of the Inca sovereigns being
ennobled. But when the Spanish conquerors sent
galleons of spoil back to Spain, little except silver
remained. Traditions teem in the land of golden
treasures buried to escape the greed of the cruel
white men. Yet where was the gold found, one
wonders ? The silver-mines inland and on the
coast are still fabulously rich, such as the Huanchaca.
And think how these have been worked ! Is it not
told on the coast how at Copiapo, some thirty years
ago, during one of the frequent revolutions, lead
ran short for the bullets, whereat one man said,
' Nay, but silver is plentiful '; and thereupon the
people made silver bullets, and used them.
Yet this modern tale is poor compared to that of
the Viceroy of Spain at Cerro de Pasca, who, on
the occasion of his daughter's marriage, caused the
road to be paved for some miles with silver ingots.
Also it is matter of history that on the entry of the
Viceroy, Marquis de la Galeta, in 1682, the streets
of Lima through which the procession passed were
overlaid with bars of solid silver.
Speaking of the Viceroys reminds me of their
former Government House, which Mrs. R. showed

THE OLD HOUSE OF THE VICEROYS 297
me this first day, for, fearing I might be lonely,
she kindly called. This house was indeed a de
lightful woodcut to a page of Middle-Age history.
Shades of Drake and Hawkins, of Grenville and
good Amyas Leigh — how they rose in the mind,
seeing this dwelling of the men they fought !
In a narrow street I was delighted by beautiful
wooden balconies overhead, and remarked, ' They
look like huge carved chests, hung up on the wall !'
' This is the house,' said my guide, as we passed
through a noble wooden entrance, heavily carved,
its ponderous doors studded with iron, the beams
and corbels of the passage likewise richly worked.
Within, the patio was set round with upper wooden
arches of Moorish style. A stairway of old wrought
woodwork had the most shallow of steps and widest
of balusters, with blue and yellow tiling on the walls.
The door above, opening on the courtyard gallery,
gave me a pleased start of recognition. It was all
of baluster-work, i.e., made in rows of tiny wooden
balusters set close to admit some air and a little
light. Why, these were the same windows described
by the witty and worthy Monsieur Frezier, spy of
Louis XIV., who, writing of his voyage hither of
1 71 2, complains that glass was so rare in this city
that the inhabitants made use of wooden pierced
shutters, which rendered the interiors very dark
and somewhat chilly in winter. These windows
are growing scarce nowadays. How old-world !

298 STREET SIGHTS IN LIMA
One could fancy one of the beruffed, black-garbed
Vice-kings, whose portraits still darkly line a gallery
in the Exposicion, stepping statelily across the
court. After this we wended our way to the public library.
The Bibliotheca is severely simple. A vast court
yard ; low rooms, well lined with books ; and this is
praiseworthy for Lima, seeing that in the war of
1880 the Chilians carried away the valuable volumes
brought from Spain by the old Viceroys, and de
stroyed the edifice. Above all, the director was
most courteous, inviting me, as an English writer,
to study Peruvian literature at my pleasure ; which
I later did once or twice, to the evident surprise of
the various young men and old, who were plainly
unaccustomed to such a feminine invasion. With
almost tears, the old director showed me a valuable
folio that had been recovered from a Chilian ' savage '
for a few pence, after the sacking and pillage of the
city. Now, I much liked what I had seen of the
Chilians ; but what respect for letters can be expected
from any soldiery, above all, the fierce half-bred
descendants of the warlike Southern Indians?
But let us notice the street sights, which on this
and following days in Lima never failed to interest
me. To begin with, cries of warning startle our ears
— two tram-cars are crossing in the rough, narrow
calle, and their mules are refractory.
Alone of its kind in Lima, the street of the

PERUVIAN PACERS 299
Mercadores is a gem. Its road is smooth ; its
side-paths paved with coloured tiles ; the shops gay.
But more attractive still is a pet of a Peruvian
' pacer ' ambling by. These dear little horses are
of Andalusian breed, looking like circus ponies with
flowing manes and tails. The well-bred ones have
Arab heads raised like deer, while their arched necks
seem braced up by the tightest of bearing -reins,
instead of merely bridles decked with silver orna
ments. Silver also adorns their saddles, beneath
which black goat-skins almost hide the small steeds.
It is said that good pacers are now being exported
to Europe at very high prices, so are growing rare.
They should do six miles an hour from daybreak to
nightfall without ever cantering or breaking their
quick, shuffling gait, which comes from both legs
on one side moving at the same time. The riders
never rise in the saddle. How different these ladies'
palfreys from the sad if swift Argentine nags and
the excellent, stout Chilian cobs !
Now came a comic spectacle — that of a tipsy man
being taken to prison. No crowd ; no wrangling
nor stretcher. Only a policeman wheeling a wooden
bath-chair calmly, in which the prisoner was reclining
with a drunken smirk ; certainly handcuffed, but
otherwise much at his ease.
' Alms for the love of God !' Looking down at
a doorstep, there crouched what seemed a human
monkey, hugging its knees, and so shrivelled it

300 STREET SIGHTS IN LIMA
seemed as if one of the dried, black Inca mummies
from the museum was galvanized into life.
' These beggars are pleasant compared to those
who are allowed out on a Saturday from the hospitals
as their privilege. Wait till you see them !' said my
companion. On one such day I did behold them.-
Dwarfed, diseased, misshapen, mutilated, they were
like the hideous things that gibber round a fever-bed
or before a maniac's vision.
But this lowest caste must not be looked upon
as other than one type among many in the mixed
population of Peru. There are the Cholos, which
strictly speaking means the mixed Indian and Spanish
race on the sea-board. There are the S?erranos — pure
Indians they from the great sierras, who are gentle,
obedient creatures, but who often pine and droop
from homesickness if taken from their mountain
homes. And beyond the chain of the Cordilleras
there are the numerous forest tribes and those of the
Amazon and its tributaries, some said to be cannibals.
Here comes a Cholo milk-woman riding down the
street, sitting astride on her pony's shoulders, the
milkcans piled on its back. Her broad Indian face,
with its yellow skin, looks almost comely in its
cheerful healthiness under a manlike felt hat. In
contrast of position, a bread-boy hoists himself on his
mule by help of its 'tail, to which he sits close
behind his panniers.
And next, being on the watch for unusual sights.

A PERUVIAN PADRE 301

presently my attention is taken by a small brown
dog, with a green lemon hanging round its neck ; he
is hairless, but for a tawny patch on the head. This
is a Chinese specimen, and the Peruvians love to
make pets of this breed. One guesses as much
by the care with which an ample-bosomed, black-
gowned dame eyes him now trotting at her side,
while she also delicately sniffs a lemon carried in her
hand to cure a headache. Has the lapdog a head
ache, too ?
' It is unwell, and a lemon is considered a certain
cure,' said my companion, amused at my surprise.
As the afternoon draws on, a cup of chocolate
would be refreshing in the Strasburger restaurant,
the largest in the plaza. Its patio has been altered
into a garden, with tables set among hibiscus bushes
in flower. As we sat down, in swaggered a lean,
sportsman -looking padre, in shiny hard hat and black
soutane, to which garb he gave a strangely rakish
air. Three very fat gentlemen in uniform waddled
in his rear.
' Be seated, coronel, and you, sefiores,' cried he.
' Mozo, fetch four bottles of English beer — sharp !'
The grinning waiter leisurely brought four glasses
first ; next he brought one bottle of stout. The
padre flew in a rage.
' Four bottles !' he shouted, slapping the table.
' Do you imagine I divide one bottle among my
friends ? Four, I tell you !'

302 STREET SIGHTS IN LIMA
The guests laughed, eyeing his eager, shaven
visage with sleepy good-humour. Plainly, thepadre
was considered a gay dog, and the energy with
which he now marched to choose cigars at the bar
received the admiring, if slow, approbation of his
friends. Of other street sights, there are the great doors,
with their grated loopholes, belonging to once
wealthy houses ; massive portals that have with
stood many an assault in revolutions, and beyond
which one sees noble patios and wide galleries.
Also there is a pretty square, with the statue of
Bolivar the Liberator on a prancing steed. They
say he and his charger likewise paw the air in most
other South American towns.
Crop-eared donkeys, even horses sometimes, are a
frequent and more painful spectacle in Peru. Others
have their nostrils slit far up, these mutilations being
intended as marks of ownership.
In the plazas, at the railways, at all corners, men
and boys keep shouting suerte (lottery) tickets, and
flourishing them in one's face.
' Buy your fate. You may win the big prize,
20,000 soles.'
These lottery tickets are everlastingly sold, and
must do much harm by tempting poor work-folk to
try their luck instead of trusting to their own labour.
Those for small prizes only cost ten cents, but a
ticket for the great prize is worth one sol, though

SUERTE TICKETS 303
half or quarter tickets are often sold. The sol, or
sun — so called from Peru being of old styled the
Land of the Sun — is a big silver coin, though its
present value is only two shillings. One- hears
frequently tales of how several Englishmen have
been rewarded by the big prize, generally when
they had bought the ticket in charity from some
starving urchin. All day and every day the sale
goes on briskly, its surplus being the main support
of the various hospitals and charities, and a very
large one. Therefore suerte gamblers have the
double pleasure of believing that they are also doing
a pious deed.

[ 3<M ]

IN A PERUVIAN VILLAGE.
After passing only two nights in the picturesque
discomforts of a Lima hotel, I was carried off to
Miraflores by my kind friends, the R.'s, who claimed
me henceforth as guest during my stay in Peru.
' The steamer has sailed. Our spare room is
empty. Come and see life in a Peruvian village,'
they said.
Most of the English, American, and German
residents here have their homes in this pretty village
of Miraflores, which is only some twenty minutes by
rail from Lima, and healthily situated on a plateau
above the Pacific Ocean, about half a mile inland.
Our train sped through flat fields, dried and brown,
separated by mud walls sometimes so high and
park-like that old associations inspired me with a
transient feeling of respect. More often the impres
sion they gave was that of a succession of projected
cemeteries, perhaps because the enclosures at this
season appeared too arid for any other use. At one
station a great herd of cattle crowded in what seemed

A WALK ON FIELD-WALLS 305
to me a narrow field, hardly more dusty and barren
than its neighbours. It was the wide bend of a
highroad, bless my eyes ! and whether my in
different sight was more to blame, or the poverty
of the so-called pastures, the mistake will serve my
turn in describing the landscape.
' You have not learnt the value of these walls
when we go out for a Sunday afternoon walk,' cried
some young people gaily, sitting behind us in the
long American car.
And they told how lately, starting for a cross
country ramble, accompanied by some officers from
a ship of Her Majesty's Pacific fleet, they were glad
to seek safety from savage cows on the broad tops of
these walls, along which they promenaded for nearly
a mile in single file, smiling on the horned enemy,
which kept following in baffled anger.
' Oh, these cows are fierce sometimes. Once or
twice, when the bulls from near the mountains have
failed for the bull-ring in Lima, a savage cow has
been brought into the arena,' it was told me.
Out here a brown hillock rose in the open plain,
somewhat like a British barrow, only bare of even
a grass-blade. It was the second huaca I had seen ;
but later, in country excursions, they became daily
sights. After several contradictory assurances from
European friends, a Peruvian gentleman explained
as follows the difference between a huaca and a
kuaco, a trifle that confused me when hearing of
20

306 IN A PERUVIAN VILLAGE
these ancient granaries, catacombs, or treasure-
houses of the Incas. The word huaca means a
mound ; huaco is any relic therein found. And
now, looking back at Lima, one perceived how
oddly shaped, like haycocks, are some hills close to
the town. So near are they that, in the frequent
revolutions here, poor Lima groans when the forts
crowning them are taken by the masters of yesterday,
the enemy of to-day, the victors of to-morrow.
Behind in the distance loomed the dark mass of the
great Cordilleras, which are seldom or never lost
sight of when sailing along this Pacific coast.
As we alighted at a small station, the train sped on
to Chorillos, the little Brighton, or Trouville, of
Peru. A group we left behind in the train were thither
bound to take the air. It consisted of the pretty
daughters of President Caceres — since exiled with
their parents — plump little creatures, their hair
waved, and gowns and hats made after Parisian
fashion, their powder and rouge applied in the more
lavish manner of South America. These, with a
duenna and some undersized, effete-seeming youths,
in age from eighteen to twenty, who had most likely
begun their society life at fifteen, and whose eye
glasses and varnished leather boots were also most
likely brighter and clearer than their wits, made up a
typical group of young Peru. Sefiora Caceres was not
with them, to my regret, for I had already heard

MIRAFLORES VILLAGE 307
strange tales of her chequered life and strong, now
despotic, character. Having followed the varied
soldier's fortune of her present husband for several
years (somewhat as a vivandiere, it is whispered), her
energy of mind helped the General, and won his
gratitude while he alone made a fair stand against
the conquering Chilians. When Caceres was sent
to Paris as the representative of Peru, folk were
curious to know how his wife's manners would bear
such a crucial test, and crowded round an American
who soon after arrived in Lima from the European
Mecca of his nation.
' Oh, she is improving wonderfully,' he declared.
' She has learnt not to spit on the carpet.'
Outside Miraflores Station a tramcar, with a pair
of mules, trotted us quickly down the straight road,
bordered by its side-walk (the village alameda), and
an avenue of young ficos, planted for the sake of
weekly moisture in the deep, smooth - plastered
acequias, or water - runnels, on either side. The
old big trees here were cut down in the war with
Chili ; since when it is only thanks to the energy
of the village alcalde that pretty Miraflores is begin
ning to recover from the effects of its sacking and
burning. Two items were now pointed out to my
notice, eager of such trifles. The first, that our
tram fare was but several small nickel coins, in total
value under a penny. The second, that, though the
afore-mentioned acequias were now dry, Sunday

308 IN A PERUVIAN VILLAGE
evening next should hear the sound of water coursing
down them. On Sundays the thirsty land is given to
drink. Water is turned on from the big canals in
the hills inland, but not till late in the day does it
reach the coast.
'One Sunday,' said my hostess, 'the water did
not come till midnight, and we were up with lamps,
helping our old Chinese gardener and the Peruvian
house-boys to divert it from the larger garden -
channels into the tiny cross ones. You shall see
them !'
This I did, and admired the ingenuity with which
miniature canals are conducted through all gardens
in Peru with apparent childishness, till one learns
that heavy mists alone naturally water this country.
Each plot is carefully divided by tiny runnels, in
which blocks of wood are used as sluice-gates.
Every small flower-square is then flooded, till the
garden resembles toy filtering-beds filled in turn.
Now, this system of thorough irrigation, spreading
its ramifications into the villages, is distinctly Peru
vian. Furthermore, the far-conquering Incas of Peru
left behind in Chili — and even across the great moun
tains, in Mendoza, a province now Argentine — their
wonderful art of veining the land with great and
lesser canals, fed from sources high among the
Andes' snows.
Miraflores village looked a charming retreat as
our train passed its pretty villas, nestling under high

A GLORY OF FLOWERS 309
trees, some with big bulbous trunks, others with
long air - roots hanging like creepers from their
branches. But it was sad to see how often, in
gardens glowing with the scarlet blossoms of a
tropical land, rose the roofless shells of large houses,
once tenanted by rich merchants, before the Chilian
invasion, now the abode of washerwomen whose linen
hung out from the gaping, fire-blackened windows.
However, Mother Nature had done her best to
repair the ravages of hideous war.
As we alighted where the tramway ended, the
glory of flowers glowing on the bushes below, and
spread in giant mantles high among the trees, fairly
ravished my sea-weary eyes, so that I drew my breath
inward with delight. Along the high garden-wall
a bougainvillea spread for yards in such heavy
thickets of violently purple blossom that the
masonry was breaking down under the weight of its
twisted tendrils, which sprang from a gnarled trunk
thick as a tree. Its native name here is brocambile,
less pretty than the Argentine one of Santa Rita.
Still grander, though more subdued in gorgeous
colouring, was the spectacle of two tall trees across
the road, like standard - bearers displaying great
banners of rich red and orange shades mingling as
flame and fire. What might this glorious creeper
be ? For two days I was puzzled, unable rightly to
distinguish the flower high overhead. On the third
morning a stray, low-growing cluster was captured

310 IN A PERUVIAN VILLAGE
and kindly brought me, when it proved to be a twin
sister to Santa Rita, another variety of what we
call bougainvillea, which I had not seen either in
Argentine or Chilian gardens, or in English hot
houses. ' Welcome to our ranchito !' said my hostess, as
she pointed to her garden-railings, beyond which
rose the veranda of a pretty bungalow.
Even a brief glance at the garden first was a
pleasure. Native smilax (last seen in London
ballrooms) wreathed its delicate green leaflets and
tendrils about the veranda pillars, while baskets of
wild maidenhair, transplanted from the cliffs, hung
above. Further away, giant white heliotrope con
trasted with the glow of poinsettias and hibiscus.
Before a thicket of purple convolvulus, or morning
glory, sprawled a queer shrub over the ground,
bearing a huge leaf seeming pierced in a pattern,
and an equally huge apparent flower, like a thick
white china cup with a stout central cone. Some
friends afterwards told me they had seen this plant
described in an American scientific journal as a very
rare and curious one. They vainly tried to recover
the journal for me, but, quoting from memory, said
that the supposed flower was really the fruit.
Another shrub, which I often admired in Peru,
bore crimson flowers like small thistles, but soft as
down when brushed against the cheek. This, one
Peruvian gardener told me, was the 'flor del Inca';

A PERUVIAN HOUSE 311
and the poinsettia he called the 'cardinal flower.'
But a second gardener reversed these names ; and
even in the neglected Botanical Garden it was
impossible to gain any information about native
plants. In Chili a friend of mine, devoted to his flowers,
was so fired by a description in a British magazine
of the beauty of poinsettias that he ordered some out
from England. What was his wrath, when they
blossomed, to find they were only the native ' flor del
Inca,' as common as are sweet-peas with us !
Entering the glass house-door from the veranda,
we stepped straight into the drawing-room, as is
usual in these quintas. Thence a passage, with
bedrooms on either side, ended in the dining-room.
The servants entered here by another door-window
from the back-veranda and garden region, where
were wooden out-houses for the domestics' quarters
and kitchen.
My hostess was greeted, as we sat down to after
noon tea, by Chocolate, an aged brown dachshund,
who brought her a withered leaf in his mouth. Then,
seeing me, he trotted outside and eagerly returned
to lay a similar tribute at the guest's feet. Presently,
as two bright American girls dropped in from a
neighbouring villa, there rose a pile of leaf-offerings
on the carpet, which the old courtier eyed contentedly.
Where had the poor vagabond picked up the doggish
idea that such gifts were pleasing, we wondered ?

312 IN A PERUVIAN VILLAGE
He was a legacy from a deceased old Chinese
gardener, who used to live in a tiny hut among the
vegetables and fruit-trees behind the house.
Later on, I was introduced to a pleasant bedroom,
also on the ground-floor ; then dinner followed, for
which some Lima friends arrived by train and tram.
Whilst staying down South in Chili, the fame of
certain Peruvian dishes had already reached my
ears. My palate now promptly declared that white
soup, thickened with Indian corn, and flavoured by
strong country cheese, which colours the surface
to an orange hue, is excellent fare. And when fish
followed, seviche was hailed rapturously by two
English guests, come up from Chili on business,
and who, like most gringoes, were extravagantly
fond of this Peruvian dish.
Seviche is raw fish cooked in the juice of bitter
oranges or lemons. Do not feel shocked. It is
really cooked when served. At ten in the morning
the fish— which, like all those on the Pacific coast, is
large and coarse compared with the delicate finny
denizens of Northern waters — the fish, I repeat, is
laid in flakes on a shallow dish, with sufficient lemon-
juice poured over to cover all. After soaking in this
acid till evening, the flakes are no longer rosy, but
white, as if boiled. The fish is then seasoned with
strips of tomatoes and pungent chilis, while various
hot vegetables were handed round with the seviche
when I tasted it. There were Indian corn toasted,

A FAMOUS MOUNTAIN RAILWAY 313
and the same boiled on the cob ; yellow potatoes, yam, "
and the yucca-root, which is like a giant parsnip.
The rest of the meal, reminding us pleasantly of
England, needs no description ; excepting that Juan,
the Chinese cook, proved justly famed for his
picantes, or savoury dishes.
Sitting in the drawing-room later, while the gentle
winter air came through the open door, the talk
turned naturally on the news of the day. How near
were the insurgent monteneros now to Lima ? Were
they likely to seize the world-famous mountain rail
road running from Lima to Oroya up in the moun
tains, at one point 15,000 feet high ? Rumour said
they were hovering near this coveted line at several
points ; had seized a British overseer of certain
works, and only released him on payment of a
ransom. Their late prisoner was then freed for
an hour or so, when he was sportively caught again,
cat and mouse fashion, and this time a double ransom
was claimed. Luckily, by some means the captive
escaped, struck the line, and, finding a trolley, was
soon rushing by the impetus of this hand-car down
the line on deep declines by overhanging cliffs and
terrible ravines, till he had put some thousands
of feet between him and his persecutors. These
hand-cars, though dangerous even with a strong
brake, are sometimes used by engineers and their
friends on this Oroya line, the highest and most
precipitous in the world;

314 IN A PERUVIAN VILLAGE
li Lima were besieged by the Pierolistas (as came
to pass six months later), what would happen ?
laughed some young folk. ' We foreigners should
be forced to shut ourselves in our houses, live on
tinned stores and the garden and fowl-yard produce ;
perhaps eat the peacocks,' said the elders, speaking
from experience.
In these frequent revolutions the unhappy Chinese
in Peru are the first sacked. An English merchant
told me that during the Chilian war many of these
implored him to store their household gear in his
bodegas, or cellars, for safety. j
' Ah ; those Chilian soldiers were devils !' ex
claimed a Peruvian gentleman to me, his eye firing.
He owned an English face and bearing, and an
English surname, by the way, but was native born
and bred, and a Peruvian on his mother's side and
by feelings. ' Do you know how they acted after the
battles here which they won ? I will tell you. First
they rested, and then in cold blood they went back
to the field for the repasso ! — doing it over again !
You understand, eh ? They killed all the wounded.'
He went on to explain that one reason for the
Chilian victories, in his opinion, was that their
officers gave the men raw spirits before a battle, so
that they ' fought as if going to — well, you guess
where. '
' But our soldiers were all advised to confess their
sins, and the priests went busily to and fro, urging

SOME MARITAL CUSTOMS 315
them to get absolution. So the poor fellows grew
frightened and lost heart. Why, a priest came to
my tent, too, that night, and  Well, I have not
often confessed, but this time I thought, " Perhaps
it will make my family more happy." '
Our friend became so excited by these memories
that the rest prudently changed the drift of con
versation, and drew him to tell me some of the
legends with which Peru is teeming ; also of the
superstitions, especially among the poor folk, besides
their terror of ghosts, called penas. On this and
other evenings the English would chime in, reviving
memories of many things which had struck them as
strange when they came to Peru. Custom too soon
stales the first fresh impressions in a foreign land,
which, if sometimes disagreeable, yet have the in
terest of novelty, and are often a charm to minds
impatient of monotony.
For instance, British godfathers and godmothers
may be surprised to hear that the Roman Catholic
law here forbids such 'gossips' to intermarry, because
their spiritual alliance is too close. Said a bearded
seafaring giant to me, with an honest laugh :
' My wife pretends to be jealous of a great friend
of hers. Then she says to me in triumph : "At all
events, if even I die, you can never marry Juanita
Montt, because I made you both be commadre and
compadrino together to my brother Enrique's boy."
She managed that well.'

316 IN A PERUVIAN VILLAGE
Again, in a crowded assembly once, some people
near me kept stealing glances at a Peruvian lady
who wore handsome diamonds.
' That is Sefiora So-and-so ; her husband put her
in the House of Correction, you know,' they startled
me by whispering.
What might this expression mean ? Enlighten
ment came later from the Peruvian gentleman
before mentioned, when, on his calling at my en
tertainer's house after dinner one evening, some
gossip arose about a young lady of good family who
had lately tried to elope with her lover.
' Ah, her father has put her for six months in the
house of the Good Pastor, in punishment,' said the
senor calmly.
He went on to explain, in answer to my questions,
that the religious house in question was one of
correction. ' Don Luis placed his peccant wife there for a
year. It is frequently done, if our wives and
daughters should require it. Why ! you think that
the liberty of the individual should be protected by
the laws of the State ? But if women — especially
the servant-maids in my house — are foolish, as their
master it is my duty to place them in restraint for
the good of their souls.'
And what of the poor men's souls, one slily won
dered. By all accounts, they stand far more sorely
in need of such aid ; for in each country of South

MEN v. WOMEN 317
America I have visited, the same account was
given me, by foreigners, of the native-born residents.
The men in private life — even the priests — are for
the most part corrupt to a degree that revolts the
healthier-minded sons of temperate climes. The
women, on the contrary, are good-tempered wives,
devoted mothers, and console themselves for their
vacant lives — as contrasted with the many occupa
tions of their European sisters — by daily and frequent
church-going. Except in a few exceptional cases,
their detractors can only say that they are lazy,
indulge excessively in sweets, grow too fat, and age
early.

[3i»]

DAILY LIFE IN MIRAFLORES.
Now, shall I describe our life in Miraflores for one
day among many happy ones ? It is in small daily
matters that customs in Peru struck me as so varied
from the jog-trot of comfortable routine at home.
To begin, then, with this day of small things.
Waking about seven, one looks with sleepy
gratitude at the mosquito-curtains, which have
repelled many blood-thirsty attacks throughout the
night, as the sound of tiny trumpets in the dark
gave warning. Tea is now brought in by Gubbins,
the maid, who is black, but smiling. Of pure negro
blood, she comes from Chala, on the coast — a hand
ful of wooden houses under barren cliffs, which she
fondly describes as ' Such a nice place, missus !'
Probably her ancestors were brought to Peru from
Jamaica, where they had adopted some owner's
name, as the Chinese do here with any popular
master. For instance, there are yellow-skinned
Cannevaros by the hundred. Speaking Spanish or
English apparently indifferently, Gubbins gently

A MORNING IN PERU 319
apologizes because the water for my bath will not
reach the house till eight o'clock. The village
aguador, or water-carrier, is still probably at the
spring near the sea ; but he will come riding leisurely
up the bajada, or hollow lane, followed by his troop of
eight or ten small donkeys, each laden with a couple
of water-barrels.
Windows are closed here at nights, for the. heavy
mists give tertianus. But now it is delicious to let
in the fresh air laden with jessamine scent from the
garden, where earth and flowers are all wet, though
no shower has fallen. Then, after some morning
occupation, follows a solid breakfast at 10.30 or 11.
At breakfast we begin with either maize porridge
and milk, or the excellent orange-hued soup made
of camerones, that is crayfish from the rivers, and
thickened with cheese, eggs, and potatoes.
Next, there is no more delicious salad-fruit on
earth than the paltas here — elsewhere called ' alli
gator,' or avocado pears — which are soft as cream-
cheese, and nutty-flavoured, only surpassed by those
at Guayaquil higher up on the coast. The fried
fish, cutlets, claret, and coffee, which appear after
wards, are world-wide fare. Not so the fruits, for
which Peru is famous.
At dessert, we enjoy chirimoyos, or custard-apples,
large and curd-like of flesh, with black seeds, and a
subtle tropical flavour that may vary, yet to my
mind distinguishes all the fruits in the hot lands

320 DAILY LIFE IN MIRAFLORES
where the sun penetrates the earth deep, and for
long months, with its vivifying rays. Better still is
the yellow granadilla, a species of passion-flower
fruit. One slices off its tip, when the luscious green
pulp and seeds are best eaten egg-fashion with a
spoon. The native manner is to skin the granadilla,
then gulp down the adhesive centre entire ; but this
sight disagreeably reminded me of a snake trying
to swallow a frog. The dessert is completed by
bananas, guavas, pineapples, pomegranates, loquats,
with perhaps prickly pears — the latter insipid enough,
to my thinking. And, lastly, a few strawberries are
already ripe, as September is advancing.
In the opinion of Domingo {the primero, or first
man-servant), we must yet have still some vacant
places to fill, so he invariably places home-made
guava jelly on the table before he leaves. Domingo
is a negro, dashed with Chinese blood, although the
latter imputation would grievously affront the honest,
steady fellow, who is considered ' too good to last.'
His segundo, or second-'boy' (Demetrio),is a sierrano,
freshly brought from the hills, who was so home-sick
after one month that he was sent back on a visit.
But in his pais the youth presently recalled with
longing the fleshpots of the plains, and returned
cured to work well, and learn Spanish instead of
Quichua. The latter seems the most universal
dialect in all South America. It was perhaps spread
in the Inca days ;. and the poor Indians of Peru,

PERUVIAN DOMESTICS 321
impressed as soldiers in times of stress, mostly only
speak it.
General Caceres became formerly popular by
speaking Quichua to his men in the hospitals
during the late war. There is a well-known story
illustrating the ignorance of the raw recruits then
raised to withstand Chili, undrilled and unwilling.
An Englishman found a wounded soldier near his
door, and, after assisting him, asked on which side
he was fighting. ' I don't know,' murmured the poor
Indian ; ' I think it is against Seiior Chile.'
The press-gang was at work during my stay.
Domingo had just bought off his younger brother,
who was caught one day by the Government men,
and told he must serve Caceres.
In describing the household of my friends, Juan,
the Chinese cook, must be specially mentioned.
This yellow gentleman daily arrived from Lima by
the morning train, bringing a market basket of pro
visions. After cooking our breakfast, he never
troubled himself to wash up even a plate, but strolled
towards eleven o'clock up the village to the Chinese
pulperia, which answers to our public-house. Here
his fellow- cooks from neighbouring villas met and
gambled with him, till evening shades warned them
that dinners must be prepared. By eight Juan re
turned to town, where he probably gambled again
till the small hours.
It is a lovely, if gray, morning, so let us stroll
21

322 DAILY LIFE IN MIRAFLORES
down to the beach and inhale the sea-breeze, which
seldom rises to disturb the still air in the high
ground here. Just outside the house the lane dips,
and to right and left, even to far away, not a grass-
blade shows on the shingly soil ; it is a miniature
desert scene. For half a mile the bajada descends
between walls of sea-washed pebbles and mud, which
wise folk say was once the sea-beach, adding that this
coast is still being slowly upheaved.
'You would hardly believe that many rills are
trickling at some distance below this surface,' said
Mrs. R. ; ' but presently you shall see.'
And, as she spoke, we heard the sound of running
water, where the lane dipped still lower, and saw
maidenhair ferns embowering a spring gushing from
the rock. The village aguador filled the foreground
of the scene with his donkeys and water-barrels.
Then as the slope grew steeper there came the
sound of breaking rollers, a breath of brisk air, and
between the rugged sides of a lofty natural gateway
gleamed the Pacific blue. Wooden stairs led us
down to the bathing-boxes under the high cliffs,
which latter were no longer barren, but thickly
clothed with ferns, that were sprayed unceasingly
by water dropping in showers from overhanging
ledges ; while all around miniature cascades and falls
leapt down silvery clear into the briny deep below.
What a waste of Nature's wealth, when remembering
the thirsting land that stretched above us !

A COUNTRY WALK IN PERU 323
Returned home, there was a light lunch ready for
those who needed refreshment. Then the English
clergyman from Lima arrived presently by train to
call on me, and take my hostess and myself out for
a country walk.
We went first up the village, where — though a
week late — Miraflores was holding a joyous fiesta in
honour of Santa Rosa of Lima, the prettiest of girl-
saints, and the most popular in all saint-worshipping
Peru. Little arches across the street were covered
with roses and geraniums, violets and bougainvilleas,
and fluttered gay with pink-spotted cotton flags, a
dozen to the yard.
As heretics, we only peeped respectfully into the
village church, that stood with its big doors wide
open to-day. Outside it was buff-washed, and neatly
surrounded by a grass plot planted with palms and
plantains. Inside, the floor was clean-swept ; new
paper roses decked the side-chapels ; the lace altar-
cloths seemed freshly washed. A group of copper-
hued strong men, Cholos all of them, stood by the
porch, their heads bared and their faces beaming
with honest pride. But when martial music sounded
across the plaza, and the little procession appeared,
carrying aloft a white image, while a Bishop in violet
came behind, walking between the attendant priests
— then excitement carried away the village crowd !
A well-dressed young man beside me dropped on his
knees in the dust, smiting his breast ; while women

324 DAILY LIFE IN MIRAFLORES
pressed forward to fling white rose-leaves to the
saint. They cried, they laughed ! And so genuine
was their emotion that one's own tears partly rose
in sympathy, responsive to the magnetic thrill which
bids us feel with our fellow-beings, our brothers and
sisters. Leaving the village, we struck out across fields of
poor pasture. Some grew lucerne ; others, apparently,
crops of stones, that in places were deep as a shingle
beach, and all worn smooth by the sea ages ago.
Near the village small orange lilies had newly sprung
up ; further afield bushes of broom waved yellow,
and a small brown-blossomed weed was not unlike
a wall-flower. But it was winter time still, albeit
my hopeful companions declared the landscape was
already taking on a faint spring green. Certainly
one or two of the toy hills near Lima were vividly
emerald as a Swiss Alp in patches, though several
of their brethren were yet an arid brown.
'What a good paper-chase country!' exclaimed
our guide as we climbed the enclosing low mud-
walls, finding toe-hold halfway, for they were mostly
built but ' two-boxes high.' The manner of raising
these adobe walls by stamping mud in a wooden case
I have already described, as seen in Chili. Our goal
was a large Inca huaca, which rose across the flat
fields in a high serpentine mound, brown and bare.
Hitherto, my inquiries concerning its history had
received conflicting replies. One called it a burial-

THE JULIANA HUACA 325
place ; another said it was a treasure-house more
likely, which the Peruvian Government was too lazy
to dig for, while refusing foreigners the permission
to explore. One Peruvian even declared that folk
of old lived on such raised mounds to be above the
risk of ague and fever ; a second believed they were
signal-posts in times of danger ; both holding gallantly
to their original ideas. It was characteristic that
neither had ever taken the trouble to inquire con
cerning a landmark visible from their windows, and
plainly a relic of the ancient history of their country.
Our cicerone, Mr. C, had, however, found for me
a description of this Juliana huaca in 'Two Years in
Peru,' by Mr. T. Hutchinson. The latter says this
huaca at its highest point measures ninety-five feet,
with an average width of fifty-five yards and a total
length of twenty-eight yards. The mound is sur
rounded by a double wall, giving an enclosure of
about seventeen acres. He adds : ' An old man
told me this was the burying-place of Ocharan, a
district in which the chief cacique, named Pacullar,
was the governing power long before the days of
Cuyo Mancu. How this Solomon came by his
knowledge I cannot tell.'
We climbed the huaca by a track near which were
many holes, where no doubt treasure-hunters had dug,
and whence adobe bricks protruded to the summit.
Were there single large chambers in the interior, or
honeycomb ones superimposed ? one wondered.

326 DAILY LIFE IN MIRAFLORES
Evidently the whole had been roofed thickly with
mud mixed with smooth, water-worn pebbles and
stones, now rolling loose. From the summit we
could see far over the plain, chequered in patches
of brown and dull green. Southward on the coast
rose the Morro, or sea-hill of Chorillos. which word
morro used on this coast reminded me of our Irish
term murragh for sea-downs ; while north stretched
the low land-spit of Callao, with San Lorenzo Island
prominent in the bay.
Now we descended, meaning to visit a farmstead
below that was enclosed by very high mud-brick
walls, ornamented in zigzag pattern on the top by
loose tiles leaning against each other. In the distance
gleamed a pool among bamboos ; but our wide road
was literally ankle-deep in dust, or, rather, powdery
earth, even when we entered the high hacienda
gateway. To rightly realize my impression of a Peruvian
farm, one should first, by way of contrast, call before
the mental vision some English yeoman's home, with
its dwelling-house and trees, ricks, buildings and
garden, all pleasant to the eye and comfortable to
live in.
Now look on this other picture.
In front spread a wide hacienda yard, desolate, but
for one fowl and a distant pair of oxen. The pro
prietor's flat-roofed house occupied one side of the
square ; as the family only lived here in the summer,

A PERUVIAN FARM 327

it was closed, dreary, and the ugly wooden corridor
outside lacked paint. To the left rose a buff- washed
chapel, slightly larger than some neighbouring sheds
that housed bullock carts, begrimed with dust and
dirt. On the right side only were signs of life.
Through a crazy door ajar we caught a glimpse of
an enclosure where the labourers were housed, as is
usual on Peruvian estates. Here a row of wretched
doors were set so close in a low, long wall that each
family could only own one small room, perhaps with
a partition. Some very miserable urchins, mostly
black, were playing listlessly near. One little negro
girl of five limped towards us with her foot bound
up in rags, having been stung by a pique in the fields.
This is the jigger of the West Indies, an insect like
a tiny flea, which will bore through any boot, and if
not extracted with a needle, after which a drop of
kerosene should be applied to the foot, it will leave
an egg-bag, that causes great swelling and pain.
Piques abound here in ploughed fields, stables, even
in gardens if manured ; and we were lucky to return
this day foot-whole. One of our party gave the child
a small silver coin, at which she stared and crept away.
As my friends knew the farm, they proposed a
rest in the small store, that also serves as public-
house, and which is attached to all estates. No Irish
hovel could be more dirty, with its mud floor and
smoke -blackened walls. The store -keeper came
from behind a small counter to dust a rough-hewn

328 DAILY LIFE IN MIRAFLORES
bench in welcome. He told us there were few horses
or bullocks on the premises, but some fifty cows.
' Fifty-one !' said a hollow voice, apparently from
the ground.
We three started. In a dark corner we dimly dis
cerned what seemed a heap of rags flung down on a
log. 'He is a negro with a pain in his head,' grinned
the barman meaningly.
We were not loath to leave the shop, with its
miserable bottles and grimy prints of saints on the
walls. But we had not gone far on the highroad,
when a negress ran after us with eager gestures dis
playing a silver coin, and calling out, ' O, sefioras,
sefior ! Which of you may I thank for such kindness
to my child ? Where do you live ? May God repay
you ! Oh, what goodness !' Her blessings filled the
air till we turned the corner of a long lane, stretching
ahead in grotesque curves. Its walls resembled two
gigantic, elongated earthworms defining a dust-track
so sinuously that when slain by a Peruvian St. George
they apparently died in parallel death wriggles. At
least, their curves varied the horrid sameness of the
lane, and protected us from some fierce milch-kine
that glared and sniffed, as became the mothers of
fighting bulls. Presently we climbed a high gate
into a field of maize, where was a pleasing home-
sight — that of our own trefoil - leaved milkwort
thriving underfoot. Here were great fissures,

AN EVENING IN PERU 329
stretching from far inland to the coast-cliffs — some
were new cracks, others green in their depths, whence
came the tinkle of tiny brooks. Soon we regained
the stony descent by the village, and heard the
popping of revolvers, for practising shooting is a
favourite amusement in Peru on feast-days. Lastly,
we were greeted by home and the tea-table.
Two pretty girls, who strolled in, now told us their
mother had been stung the day before by a yellow
house-scorpion, but little larger than a cockroach, and
was suffering from its effects. Better known insects
than these, or jiggers, are still worse hourly plagues
in Peru ; as I already knew, being bitten almost to
fever-point. My friends consolingly explained that
whereas mosquitoes are only maddening in summer
time, fleas are like the poor — always present. They
declared that even the rough Chilian soldiers suffered
tortures from them, and hailed being marched up the
mountains, where their persecutors dwindled. Later
on, I was shown in the markets small pieces of rough
yellow baize which are sold as traps in which the
lively foe is entangled to destruction.
After dinner this evening we were bidden to a
glee-meeting at a British neighbour's quinta. In the
soft, misty darkness, it needed care to avoid stepping
into the deep acequias, so a boy and lamp preceded
us. The bungalow, with its railed front-garden,
was like that already described, but for the Peruvian
detail of two looking-glasses and a hat-rack being

330 DAILY LIFE IN MIRAFLORES
hung in the open-air corridor. Also I admired the
silken costume of Ah-Sin, the Chinese butler, who
handed tea with his long pig-tail down. (This orna
ment is rolled up by the Chinaman when he wears
European workaday clothes.)
It was a pleasant evening, and if the English and
Americans are few, they are all the more sociable in
Peru. We sang, looked at silver curios or carved
cocoanuts, and at photos taken by a guest lately
come down on a brief holiday from a great silver-
mine high among the mountains. And with the
good-byes ending a pleasant day, this description of
Miraflores village and Peruvian life might also end
— but that one touch remains to be added.
On our return, Gubbins, the black maid, was
found still out of bed, and sobbing bitterly. She
had asked leave to attend a revival meeting held by
barefooted friars, who every four or five years make
it their mission to visit and stir up the lazy, and often
careless-living, priests and their flocks.
' Oh, missus, the friars say the devil is going about
in Miraflores ; and I do feel so wicked !'
It appeared the friars could show just cause for
their wrath. All the week they had been busy
christening even big children, or marrying couples
who had for years omitted this rite.
Next day we saw a gaunt, gray brother, cowled
and sandalled, striding trainwards, while a fat, red-
faced cura in black trotted after him panting, with
features full of deprecation.

[ 33i ]

SANTA ROSA OF LIMA, AND HER
NATIVE CITY.
August the 30th was the birthday of Santa Rosa de
Lima, one of the most famous of girl-saints, who is,
indeed, without a rival for popularity in her native
Peru ; it was also that of a much lesser personage,
the chronicler. Both facts pointed out a holiday as
fitting ; besides, on such a great feast-day every
shop and office in Lima would be closed, and all the
world in the streets.
So, on a lovely morning, we arrived in Lima,
the capital, from our village home of Miraflores,
bound on a long day's sight-seeing. Being a
quartette, we filled a street vehicle that jolted us
first to admire the Dos de Mayo plaza and monu
ment. This last is a fine column made in France,
crowned by a gilt aerial figure, and supported by
colossal statues representing Chili, Peru, Ecuador,
and Bolivia. It was erected in memory of May 2,
1866, when Spain made her last effort to interfere
with the South American republics, and was success
fully repulsed.

332 SANTA ROSA OF LIMA
' What vandalism !' suddenly lamented one gentle
man of our party. ' They have fresh painted the
statues and bas-reliefs in honour of Santa Rosa —
painted the bronzes dark-green !' And, for some
time, he could not be comforted.
Next we paid our respects to a church built over
the youthful Rosa's home, wherein she used to
aggravate her commonplace parents into sinful
tempers with her pietism. She would go to a ball
weeping, and fasten her famous wreath of roses on
her head with sharp pins, to mortify vanity. She
padlocked an iron belt secretly round her waist, and
dropped the key down the deep house well (into
which we respectfully peered).
At last her spiritual directors explained that the
supposed goose was a swan, the difficult daughter
a budding saint. So she was allowed to enter a
convent to her own satisfaction, besides, perhaps,
that of everybody else. And Lima glories yearly in
memory of the pretty girl, whose melting eyes and
rosebud mouth were rapturously extolled by old
priestly chroniclers.
There was naught to see in the church but a
dense crowd of black-robed praying women, a
galaxy of tapers and roses — roses everywhere — of
pink or white paper. But, in the afternoon, the
saint's bones were carried in procession round the
plaza of the Cathedral, and from the balcony of the
English club close by we saw this festal sight.

THE SAINT'S PROCESSION 333
There were rows and rows of different monks,
black, white, and gray ; acolytes with silver censers ;
an image in black velvet, gilt-spangled ; the white-
robed Archbishop with his mitre, and two Bishops in
violet, while a swarthy crowd filled the plaza, and
military music filled our ears. One felt sorry for the
old Archbishop, as with slow steps he painfully
approached over the rough pavement. Behind,
the saint's poor bones were borne in a shrine — quite
a cheerful sight, for the chest was covered with pink
calico and muslin exactly like an old-fashioned
dressing-table. It was amusing to watch the
military guard of honour which followed. Indian-
faced soldiers were stolidly marking time as the
procession constantly halted, while the gray-haired,
fierce-mustachioed officers with drawn swords must,
one fancied, have felt somewhat bored — unless they
amused themselves by picturing the shy surprise
with which in life the fair nun would have viewed
them escorting her.
But all classes and professions honour Santa Rosa.
The President and Ministers did not attend this year
officially. ' Perhaps too dangerous,' folks whispered.
Deputies and Senators, however, and all the gentry
of Lima, followed bareheaded round the great plaza
and streets.
After the procession had passed by the doors of
the deserted Cathedral, closed to services because in
a dangerous state of disrepair, we went to visit the

334 SANTA ROSA OF LIMA
old pile. Truly, it was a pitiful spectacle. Here
were wide walls, a noble nave, lofty pillars, and
everywhere a deserted stillness. One's eyes were
satisfied with the proportions of this, the oldest
church in South America, which might still be a fine
monument of the old Spanish conquerors. But,
looking up, a light shower of plaster-dust fell on us.
The floor was covered with debris, for the old roof
of cane and mud was visibly cracking, and even
showed daylight in places.
It is popularly believed that the great high altar
of Lima Cathedral is still of solid silver, yet folk
whisper that some of its pillars are supposed to have
been stolen and replaced by wood, covered with
tinsel paper. Pity, that what remains should not be
sold to defray the expenses of a new roof, and so
preserve this historic edifice !
In the choir we seemed transported half across
the round world to some Spanish or Italian minster,
with its dark carved stalls, miserere seats to entrap
any nodding monkish brother, and Apostolic figures.
But, alas, the pavement ! — it was strewn thick with
dirt and plaster. Close by, a pile of huge and ancient
chant-books was stacked on the bare stones. Open
ing one of these, to admire the illuminated letters,
suddenly we dislodged a shower of ' matter in the
wrong place'; while nearhand a silver altar was
shorn of its adorning roses as high as impious hands
could reach, even by climbing.

PIZARRO— AS HE IS/ 335
Around the aisles were side-chapels, feebly guarded
by crazy, wooden-latticed gates. One chapel was
disfigured by a glaringly-white monument set in the
wall, representing a coffin, but with a glass side.
' Look in, sefioras. Here is the embalmed body
of Francis Pizarro,' announced the verger.
And, striking a match, he held it close to the pane,
displaying a dark, grinning skull laid on a red
cushion, and a shrunken, coffee-coloured thing — a
horrible caricature of the human shape, not unlike a
blackened doll, with cotton-wool protruding from its
interior. Against one thigh-bone was propped a
vulgar spirits bottle, in which some shapeless horrors
could be dimly seen. That is all that remains of the
cruel conqueror's heart and brain.
What a sermon was this gruesome sight ! And
one may moralize and wonder on the misery that poor
Peru has known ever since this once living man first
appeared on the coast with his cavaliers to destroy
the religion of the sun, and to preach Christ's
Gospel of love by means of fire, torture, and sword.
Well might one or two Spanish chroniclers of the
conquest exclaim, as godfearing men, ' Truly, Spain
will suffer for these wicked deeds !'
There is a superstition in Chili that any persons
who have been reared on goats' milk (as often
happens) will turn out wild and unsettled in life.
Francis Pizarro, so legend says, was suckled by a
sow, and some evil influence on his character from

336 SANTA ROSA OF LIMA
such fostering was apparently inferred by the tradi
tion. We gladly hurried away to inspect a supposed
Murillo in another chapel. It was properly a
Descent from the Cross, but the Christ's figure
alone was covered with glass, so dirty it was almost
impossible to discern the painting. Beyond this
frame protruded the rest of the canvas, showing
cherubs that will soon, probably, be utterly destroyed.
As a parting favour, we were led into the large
sacristy, where crimson priestly vestments were
lying on the great wooden chests, betokening the
unusual stir of this fiesta.
' Behold the twelve Apostles, sefiorita !' blandly
observed our guide, pointing out a row of bas-relief
figures on the high-panelled wainscot.
' Quite so ; only there are surely fourteen /' was
my polite comment, after a momentary puzzle over
the unusual crowd.
'Ah, si! They have with them St. Joseph and
another for company,' replied the verger in a jovial
tone, as who should say, ' Would you deny them a
guest now and again ?'
His ready answer recalled the old story of an Irish
jarvey poking fun at an English tourist he was
driving round Dublin.
' See, your honour, that is the post-office, with the
twelve Apostles standing round it.'
' Twelve ! Why, man, there are only eight !'

LA PERICHOLA 337
' Ah !' returned Pat, ' shure, the other four is inside
sorting the epistles.'
To see more Lima sights we drove over the nearly
dry Rimac River by a sixteenth-century bridge, with
stone seats in its jutting-out angles. On the further
side was a pretty little alameda — just a long enclosed
walk lined by trees, shrubs, and statues. Some of the
flowers here I had never seen elsewhere ; in especial
a tree with a creamy blossom like a large dandelion
seed-ball ; a ' clock,' as children say, blowing it to
guess the hour. This quiet paseo, or walk, led to
the church of the Franciscan friars, called Descalzos
(Barefeet) where we ladies were not permitted to
view more than a crowd of some twenty beggars
sitting at the gate with tin mugs, waiting till noon
struck, when they would be fed. Only men may see
the cloisters — naught else — in this and other Lima
monasteries, for the discipline on this point is austere;
though lax to an almost incredible degree in other
details — so, at least, I was told.
Presently we passed a large building, now a
brewery, but once the house of La Perichola, the
native-born mistress of the Viceroy Amat in the last
century, and yet more known as the heroine of
Offenbach's opera. Strange tales are still told of
the imperious Peruvian's whims, and the devotion
with which the old Spaniard gratified them. When
he took the sea-air at Miraflores, she horrified the
aristocracy by riding in his escort astride of her
22

338 SANTA ROSA OF LIMA
horse — as the Chola women, of whom she was one,
still do nowadays — wearing a hat with gay plumes.
He lavished riches on her ; diverted a town canal
to water her garden. Nevertheless, on returning to
Spain at the age of eighty, he deserted his half-
Indian love, and married his own niece. The
Perichola thereupon gave herself up to good works,
and died blessed by the Church, leaving a name
honoured by her grandchildren.
We next went towards the bull-ring, passing the
remains of an old city gateway, its high wall pierced
as with portholes. In the absence of all other pre
tensions to architecture in Peru, these few Spanish
buildings seem striking. Beyond was a very poor
quarter, yet interesting, because every door stood
open, and cooking went on either at the threshold, or
in the street, over a brasier. As in Chili, so food is
cheap, good, and plentiful in Peru. Most dishes
were of maize or eggs, and all floated in an orange
gravy, coloured by the aji of the west coast, a mild
and fragrant pepper. At many corners, tables of
refreshments were set out with plates of bread and
sausage, slices of melon, or meat pies, all looking
clean and appetizing. Other tables were covered
with the very biggest glasses ever seen, brimming
with chicha. And in honour of Santa Rosa, boys
amused themselves, wherever a group was gathered,
by thrusting a small doll under the people's noses,
inviting them to kiss the image — price a penny !

• A BULL AND LION FIGHT 339
Of all the dilapidated wooden structures I have
ever seen, the great plaza de toros of Lima most
needed paint and nails. Bull-fights were not held
during my stay, as it was winter in Peru, but by all
accounts, though people are passionately fond of the
spectacle, this is a less cruel one than in Spain. No
horses are killed, though six or seven bulls may be de
spatched in one day. Yet the matadors can hardly
be dexterous, for an eye-witness told us that he saw
one poor beast plunging round with three swords
sticking in its neck, until a fourth weapon touched
the vulnerable spot.
Several accounts were given me of a horrid fight got
up, about a year or so ago here, between a circus lion
and a specially fierce little bull, whose owner backed
him heavily. Lest the beasts should avoid each
other in the wide arena, a large cage was built in
the centre, into which both combatants were forced.
One spectator told me that the lion was timid, and
crouched beside the bars. The bull, too, showed no
wish to fight, till a red flag was waved behind the
lion. At that he grew angry, and charged, but his
horns were wide and got caught in the bars. The
lion vainly tried to climb these last as a means of
escape ; then, brought to bay, seized his opponent
by the muzzle till the bull was nearly suffocated.
Rousing all his might, the latter thereupon trampled
the lion's side, breaking a rib.
' One could hear the lion groan, as the wind was

340 SANTA ROSA OF LIMA
knocked out of him. It was horrible !' said the
disgusted narrator.
In the end both animals were allowed to get free,
as they only sought to avoid each other ; but the
mortally injured bull had to be destroyed, while the
lion was sorely hurt.
Returning into fashionable Lima, we passed by
the Chamber of Deputies, and, although sympathizing
with the poverty of Peru, it was impossible not to
smile at the comical exterior of this public building.
It was a one- storied edifice, painted chocolate
colour, with a crazy balustrade protecting its flat
roof, and a slovenly sentry guarding wooden doors
hardly good enough for a coach-house. Through a
wicket-hole one caught a glimpse of some straggling
flowers in the patio.
The Chamber of Senators, in the adjoining side
of the plaza, was a great improvement on its fellow
Assembly-house. True, we were led, on entering
this, through shabby small rooms disfigured by
matchwood partition walls covered with hideous
paper. Yet the richly-carved old doors, the wainscot
ceilings overhead, showed that some noble Spanish
salas had existed here in the days of the Inquisition ;
for this very spot was where the Jesuits held their
dreaded courts.
Next, we entered the ancient hall of the Inquisi
tion, now the Senate-chamber. At last here was a
noble sixteenth-century room, neither maltreated,

RELICS OF THE INQUISITION 341
modernized, nor suffered to fall into decay : the only
such remaining memorial in all Peru of the men who
— whatever their crimes — suffered incredible hard
ships with fortitude, and displayed a valour and
perseverance almost unrivalled in the world's
history. The rich, dark-pannelled ceilings and walls
were all carved, though only in bas-relief; while the
doors were deeply ornamented in wheels and circles.
In one of these latter a small hole was cut to evil
purpose, for the witness against any victim being
tried before the tribunal of the Inquisition stood
outside, and spoke through the door, so that the
prisoner should not recognise his enemy.
But instead of calling up the old-world scenes of
tragedy and suffering that these walls witnessed, the
present comfortable and easy aspect of the senators'
chamber deserves a word or two. Down the noble
hall from the President's raised tribune stretched a
crimson carpet, on which two rows of armchairs
were ranged, with as many spittoons between them /,
My first rapid idea was that the senators were given
precautions in case of sea-sickness ; for the impression
was like that of a Channel-steamer cabin in windy
weather. Our attention was specially directed to the life-size
portrait on the walls of ' the good President, Pardo,'
shot dead in the patio outside, by a soldier who
imagined that he owed Government a grudge.
A list of Presidents of the Republic who have died

342 SANTA ROSA OF LIMA
violent deaths in Peru would be instructive. Other
republics might supplement it. Then, in a dis
passionate spirit, one could consider whether men
really suppose themselves happier under this form
of government than others. Certainly, in South
America republicanism has almost lost a sense of
public spirit, except in Chili. Bloodshed, insurrec
tions, unceasing struggles to seize power and the
public purse, sadden the minds of both patriots and
strangers. In my short journey round the southern
continent, Brazil, where we first touched, was in the
throes of civil war. Calling next at Monte Video,
we heard that fighting over the Uruguayan elections
kept most men lively — if killing others. The Argen
tine Republic was quiet, certainly, during my autumn
visit ; but, a few weeks later, there came a rising of
the troops in the South. Chili alone was peaceful ;
progressive ; eager in self-improvement. Here in
Peru — as before described — there was civil war just
begun, which swelled early in the next year to a
disastrous loss of life when Lima was captured.
Further North, Ecuador surprised me as it has other
passing ocean visitors by its record of peace and
prosperity. Quite an unusual energy for these
climates is shown by the little men, called ' monkeys,'
of Guayaquil, at which port we spent a hot tropical
day. ' It is because the Presidentship is a family
affair, and so the Government is not disturbed,'
I was told. Poor Ecuador ! a few months later, and

ONE WHO WAS TOO HONEST 343
some small paragraphs in European papers showed
that it also was in trouble. Lastly, on staying
at Panama as guest of the British Consul, before
passing through the isthmus, the Colombian Presi
dent's funeral was being celebrated. Though internal
dissensions did not arise, there was at least an alarmed
apprehension of them.
To return to the picture of Pardo. Although
only presiding over the Senate when murdered, he
had before filled the post of President of Peru, being
the only one unanimously elected by the whole country
— rich and poor. This a Peruvian friend told me, and
many voices added their praises of the dead man, as
the one, only, single-minded gentleman, well born
and bred, cultured and honourable, who had as yet
ruled this land. Alas ! that such men should be
so rare.
' He was assassinated because he was too honest,'
was the mournful elegy uttered by several of his
countrymen. Before ending my description of sights in Lima,
it is pleasant to give unstinted admiration to one, at
least, and that is the Pantheon. One afternoon
a small party of us devoted two hours to driving
thither outside the town, and visiting its grounds,
which proved a well-spent time. The French naval
officers of the Pacific fleet, whom I met several
times, had also praised it in glowing terms, with sur
prise. And certainly, of all the ' God's acres ' I

344 SANTA ROSA OF LIMA
have yet seen, this one is the fairest. As a septua
genarian Peruvian said to me :
' It is not sad to think of being taken to so pretty
a place, is it ?'
After passing a mill, famous for four life-size marble
statues adorning niches in its walls — lone surviving
relics of former commercial greatness — we arrived
at the cemetery walls, and stopped outside a hand
some chapel.. Just then, on the wide brown road, a
wretched horse staggered under its rider, stood still
in spite of whip and spur, then fell. With aching
hearts we watched it cruelly flogged, but it did not
stir. An hour later, it lay there dying, saddle and
bridle gone, while a row of hideous turkey-buzzards
waited near.
The chapel hall was round, with a beautiful statue
of a recumbent Christ in the centre. By this all
funerals pass, and the mourners, raising their eyes,
are comforted by the touching love expressed in
those marble features, and take hope, remembering
that He went first the unknown road by which their
dear dead have followed, and that He rose again and
lives. So the processions wind down by steps into
the garden, where a crowd of monuments, often
like tiny chapels, are embowered with roses, ivy,
and blossoming trees, while the mountains rising near
form an encircling background that should raise one's
thoughts, as their peaks aspire, heavenward. There
were some really fine statues among the flowering

THE LIMA PANTHEON 345
plots allotted to the richer families, and all was in
exquisite order. The poor are housed above-ground.
To right and left, broad low walls diverged in
geometrical pattern, pierced with apertures to receive
one coffin lengthwise. These resting-places may be
either bought entirely, or leased for fifty years. As
each is occupied it is closed in with a memorial
stone, and all are lettered and numbered, so as to
make search easy. Nor were their humbler graves
wanting in flowering shrubs near and evergreens,
signs of living and loving care.
Yea, verily ; it was a pleasant place.

[ 346 1

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS IN THE LAND OF
THE SUN.
After leaving letters of introduction at the British
Legation and on Mr. Clinton Dawkins (then repre
sentative of the Peruvian Corporation of Bond
holders) and his wife, I was several times kindly
invited by the latter to their charming home.
On one afternoon visit we made an inspection of
the house, as a typical Peruvian one, for my benefit.
Entering the patio, and mounting by a marble stair
to the alto above, here were a suite of handsome
rooms, in which the wealthy — mainly British bond
holders — expect their representative to entertain
especially Peruvians, though a delightful hospitality
was extended to French and English naval officers,
as to passing strangers like myself.
The rooms of the family surrounded one court,
those of the servants a second one. From this last
we mounted a wide ladder to the flat roof, past
chicken-coops, pigeons, beehives, and some flowers.
Here was a wide view of church-spires and over

A RUN ON THE ROOFS 347
neighbouring roofs ; these last useful for drying
linen, taking the evening air, and still more im
portant as a means of escape, lately used by neigh
bouring politicians when an excited mob, filling the
streets below, were seeking for their opponents. My
hostess told me that once her own household was
ready for flight also across these roofs, when the
ignorant populace clamoured that the foreign bond
holders were draining Peru of money. They could
not understand that Peru had twice raised large
loans in Europe to build railways and develop her
great natural riches, and that the (mainly British)
lenders naturally desired to receive interest from the
borrowers. This, after the Chilian invasion and the ruin of
Peru, necessitated making special terms with the
Government ; which terms the Corporation entrusted
their agent from England to see duly carried out.
The aforesaid roofs are made first of wood, then
cane, lastly of dried mud layered thickly above. On
the rare times when it has really rained in Peru, the
result in the houses became disastrous beyond words ;
every available vessel, from a sponge-bath to a
saucer, being needed below the leakages. Once, when
the sky actually thundered as well, all the poor
population sank on their knees in terror, believing
the unknown sound must be the Last Day's trumpet !
Later on, when staying in the country, I was invited
by Mrs. Dawkins to dine, and go on to a dance at

348 THE LAND OF THE SUN
the French Legation, given in honour of a French
flagship. As the Commandant and his officers were
dining at the Peruvian Corporation, French speech
was ' the order of the evening ;' and several Peruvian
gentlemen present spoke it and English remarkably
well. Before leaving for the ball, our host showed us a
collection of curios, picked up during the journeys in
land that were necessitated by his post. Here were
costumes of the poor Indians from the vast districts
beyond the Cordilleras, watered by the mighty
Amazon and its tributary rivers. A chief's head
gear was a band of wood-shaving and one upright
feather ; his robes, four strings of dried nuts and
monkeys' teeth, with an apron of parrots' plumage.
Glorious blue butterflies came from the interior also.
But the absence of animal life in the great woods
is remarkable, so say all travellers. One acquaint
ance told me that, during a week's ride to the new
coffee plantations of Perene, he only saw one wild
creature, a monkey. We were invited to guess the
nature of some flat objects on the wall, made of thick
black felt, and crossed by silver lace. One, more
gaudy than its fellows, was like a silvered tea-tray
with a bulge in the middle. ' Some kind of platter,'
unhesitatingly declared the Gallic flag-lieutenant,
rushing into the breach. It was difficult to believe
that these weighty things were navvies' ordinary hats,
worn at Cuzco under blazing sun during hard work.

A LEADING PERUVIAN TOPIC 349
The silvered, one, however, was that of a chief, and
with further surprise we learnt it was worn balanced
on the head with the concave side up.
Of course, conversation in this half-European
gathering was not the solemn affair it generally is at
a Peruvian lady's day 'at home,' to some of which
I was invited.
To begin with, the guests range themselves in a
circle round the hostess, in the very middle of a
scantily-furnished room. A true Briton is debarred
from our famous first topic on introduction, for the
weather being invariably blazing in summer and
drizzling in winter, it would seem idiotic to notice it.
A Peruvian lady leads off the talk with her staple
leading question to strangers, whom she presupposes
married and with a family :
' How many children have you ?'
One acquaintance of mine astonished her hostess
by the simple reply :
' I have an only daughter.'
' What a short family !' (' Che corta familia !') was
exclaimed in pitying tones.
' And how many have you, sefiora ?' asked the
Englishwoman in turn, as politeness in Peru de
manded. ' I have ten children alive, though nine are dead?
replied the Peruvian lady, as calmly as if speaking
of her poultry-yard or tame rabbits.
Ten, eleven, or twelve, are a mother's usual

350 THE LAND OF THE SUN
quiverful in this prolific land. And foreigners
vainly wonder how this young generation is to be
provided for in a ruined country, where none work
who can live without it, and girls would be deemed
mad who tried to support themselves like their
brave American or English sisters.
But it is when illness occurs — this I have on
hearsay — that Peruvian manners are seen at their
strangest ; that is, by foreign eyes. A rich Peruvian
being ill lately, an English lady whom I knew found
she was held to have sinned grievously against good
taste by not going in person to offer her sympathy
to his family. Hastening next day to repair this
fault, she found the sala crowded with mute friends
and acquaintances, sitting in rows round the walls.
From time to time, deputations of these took it in
turn to visit the sick man, whose malady demanded
quiet and rest. This custom of attending on sick
persons was carried yet farther in the case of a
young girl, the daughter of a well-known politician.
On an English diplomatist— who was unmarried and
not yet of middle age — calling to leave his card, the
mother of the young lady invited him to visit the
invalid in her bedroom ; she seemed to interpret his
unwillingness to intrude into either a lack of sym
pathy, or fear that the illness was contagious.
Our. dance that evening proved diverting. Going
upstairs from the patio, we found the Minister in
one room, Madame Wagner in a second, the dancers

PRETTY NINAS 351

in a third. As some of our escort stopped to chat
with their compatriot, a gentleman was rapidly caught
to give me his arm, for Peruvian politeness would
be shocked that two ladies should enter a ball-room
with only one cavalier. Likewise, in Chili I have seen
strangers offer their services for this ceremony, with
out afterwards presuming on acquaintance. My
partner at once presented me to several of the
principal ladies present ; though not leaving me time
to exchange more than a sentence in Spanish with
any one before carrying me off to another.
The Limefian beauties were all present, mostly
very plump young girls with lovely teeth, dark eyes,
and fine hair. One foresaw how in a few years their
figures would resemble the unwieldy outlines of their
cheerful, ponderous mothers ; but meantime they
smiled bewitchingly — and said nothing. The
correct behaviour of a well-bred nina seemed to
be a modest casting of the eyes downwards (which
showed off their long lashes), and an everlasting
smile ; the corners of her rosy, prim mouth being
much helped by an upward dash of paint. Further,
she should keep very still, and answer prettily, ' Yes '
or 'No.' This I judged from a recognized beauty at
dinner, who was a ' social success,' and whose plump
hands hardly ever uncrossed themselves, except
when their owner ate a little, as if by stealth. Of
course, the dancers were only very slightly decolletes,
while the matrons were all collets montds. Our

352 THE LAND OF THE SUN
English effrontery in baring necks and arms shocks
the sensibilities of South Americans, who bear out
the truism that the more profligate a man may be,
the more particular he is as to the conduct of the
women of his family.
Although our hosts were 'foreign/ they had
somewhat conformed to the customs of the land.
Therefore between the waltzes and lancers trays of
' bocks ' were carried round, together with ices and
quantities of sweets ; and the beer was drunk no
less freely than if we had been in Germany. As
always in South America, any gentleman disinclined
for exertion, who yet wished to honour a lady by
inviting her to dance, offered his arm and proceeded
to promenade with her round and round the room,
among the whirling couples, till she was giddy or
the music ended.
When midnight struck we adjourned to the dining-
room, where tea and chocolate were dispensed at the
table, all the ladies sitting close around, while the
gentlemen behind handed them preserved fruit and
sweet cakes ; after which a cotillon followed. At
smaller evening ' at homes ' of Peruvian ladies, such
as are given in muy confianza (much intimacy), the
guests all sit in a circle ; and every half-hour the
servants enter with relays of sweetmeats, cham
pagne, tea and cakes, beer and coffee. But every
one waits till, last of all, chocolate is brought after
midnight. This is the signal for departure. A

HOW A CIVIL WAR BEGAN 353
French lady called these entertainments, when
speaking of them to us, ' soirees aux petits
gateaux.' Peru is now, as was said to me by a speaker
of consideration, ' ruined — played out — with no
money left.' A brief account of the guerilla Civil
War, which was going on during my visit, will
show some of the causes why (unless readers skip
it)- General Caceres, the President, had already filled
this same post eight years before, being considered
a good ruler, if dictatorial. When his term of power
was about to end, Caceres pulled the wires so well
that one of his own partisans was elected President
to 'keep the seat warm.' This friend should
naturally, on retiring, have done as much in turn for
Caceres, instead of which he ungratefully died, and
that on the very day before the elections.
Now, in such an event, it is the rule that the first
Vice-President shall assume office. This the worthy
man in question properly wished to do, when the
second Vice-President improperly kicked him out.
Upon this the first one hastily fled. The usurper
then assumed the Presidentship, till, on being
promptly threatened with assassination, while also,
on his appearing at a theatre, the populace showed
signs of fury, he, too, preferred discretion to valour,
and retired from the stage. The elections then duly
showed Caceres first on the list, and he installed
23

354 THE LAND OF THE SUN
himself in the President's palace. But he had not
reckoned with Nicolas Pierola.
Pierola was also a former President — also wished
to be the new President. So, pointing out with a
patriot's virtuous indignation that the missing first
Vice-President was legally the chief ruler, he called
upon Peru to throw off the yoke of the usurper,
Caceres. Having roused the ever ready 'other
side,' he himself hastily took shelter in Chili, whence
he stirred the fire of insurrection with a silver poker ;
for he had rich clients at his back, to whom he
formerly gave loaves and fishes in the days of his
power. Events were in this state during my stay, no one
knowing how numerous the monteneros really were.
Small bands had appeared all over the country, while
they mustered strongly enough to engage the
Government troops only a few miles from Lima,
in which action a good many were killed.*
My host at Miraflores, Mr. R., had an exciting
experience of these guerilla gentry. Leaving his wife
and myself for a few days, he went on business with
a friend up the coast to the port of Salaverry. There,
from the steamer's deck, a long line of mounted men,
leading spare horses, could be seen descending the
sandy heights, and forming a cordon round the little
town. They were monteneros, for the glasses
* As has been already said, Pierola was victorious in a few
months, and became President.

HOW THE WAR WENT ON 355
revealed that their uniforms were made of English
sacking, probably looted somewhere from ware
houses ; while their horses were certainly ' requi
sitioned ' from the unfortunate hacienda-owners on
their line of march, whose cattle also suffered.
The spectacle was amusing, as our friends watched
the town captured. But presently large boats piled
with cotton bales, behind which gleamed gun-barrels,
pushed out to attack the English steamer. The
insurgents had forced some poor Italian boatmen,
under threats of being shot, to row them, knowing
that a few Peruvian soldiers, with a store of
Government arms, were on board. As a shower of
bullets swept over the deck, the English discreetly
retired to comparative safety. So did the Peruvian
soldiery. But the stewards and sailors, as Chilians
— to whom any fight is keen joy- — rushed for their
pistols and corvos (curved knives), hoping the ship
would be boarded. Dire was their disappointment
when the British skipper weighed anchor, and the
vessel swung out of reach, and headed towards the
ocean, with a long shriek from the siren. The
Chilians tore tablecloths from the saloon, waved them
in derision, and yelled contempt as their pursuers'
parting shots whistled round their ears.
Such incidents as this caused a slight excitement
when told ; but afterwards it was pitiful to see the
resigned despair which filled men's minds as to the
future of Peru. Caceres, although a brave soldier

356 THE LAND OF THE SUN

and able President, was growing more unpopular
every day, being accused of having robbed the country
too freely. What if he did ? They all do ! was the
apathetic reply of others. Each President in office
is always hated by those who wish their own patrons
to spend the public money in private largesse.
One instance, that happened to my own knowledge,
will illustrate the shameless robbing done by men in
power. Caceres, having no navy, for Chili had de
stroyed the Peruvian warships, wished to buy a
steamer belonging to a foreign company.
' He means to escape on it, if pressed,' folks
said. The vessel's price was agreed on — twenty-
two thousand pounds. But this was swelled to forty
thousand pounds by the bribes which the various
Ministers demanded of the President, before they
would give their seals to the documents required.
One Minister asked for and received ten thousand
pounds, so it was whispered on good authority !
Another talked-of incident was a fight on board
the steamer plying on Lake Titicaca. This lake —
the highest large one in the world, being situated at
about 12,000 feet above the sea-level — is visited for
health's sake by invalids suffering from chest com
plaints. Also many travellers along the Peruvian
coast see it by leaving their steamer at Mollendo,
and thence taking the train to Arequipa and La Paz.
This I, too, much wished to do, being only deterred
by the rather lonely journey for a solitary unit — as

PRISON TORTURES 357
also by some talk of monteneros. Perhaps it was as
well the plan was renounced ; for, at that same time,
a fighting editor from Lima went on board the lake
steamer with some friends, in disguise, and presently
seized it in Pierola's name, imprisoning the crew. In
turn the latter were freed by an English steward, and
I think an Italian one, who by a clever ruse took the
captors captive. Later on, a young German, my
fellow-passenger to Panama, was still suffering from
the results of a ball in his shoulder received in this
fray. The editor was taken prisoner, and people
said that Madam Caceres so hated him, because he
had written articles reviling the ex-cantiniere's un
blushing sales of places, that, once lodged in prison,
he was likely to have some quiet thumb-torture
applied to him. Hearing this, I cried out in dis
belief of such treatment being possible, but was
assured on all sides that, though not practised
openly, it is done in secret.
Certainly, the Lima prison seems arranged after
the best European plans, with passages radiating
from a central hall, where a grim warder sits like a
spider in a net. Yet in this highly-praised institution
the cold-water punishment has been shown often to
visitors, with pride. A drop of water is made to fall
regularly on the back of the culprit's neck, the agony
in time being sufficient to cause madness. This is
simply an old torture of the Inquisition.

1 358 ]

A MORNING IN A SUGAR-MILL.
Whoever visits Peru should see its sugar-cane fields,
the finest in the world, because of the misty yet
rainless climate. Therefore one morning I duly
started at 8.30 with some friends for Lima, and
thence, still by rail, to the Ancon Valley.
So gray a morning as it was ! For the last three
weeks the sun had not once shone, yet we were in the
heart of the tropics, and only twelve degrees from the
Equator. True, it was still winter ; though in Rio,
which should be much colder, being further south,
this month of September is extremely warm. The
reason for the temperate climate of Peru is a cool
wind, which, as the old Spanish conquerors noticed
in their chronicles, always blows up and down this
west coast ; it also prevents the clouds of the
Cordilleras from descending in rain, though, as
Pizarro remarked, ' vapours ' brooded in winter over
the country lying between the mountains and the
ocean. Leaving town, the route lay through orchards
of chirimoyas, or custard apples, among which orange

THE ANCON VALLEY 359
nasturtiums were wreathed in wild luxuriance ; then
came thickets of splendid bamboo, followed by brakes
of wild cane, bearing aloft tall spikes flowering in a
gray grass -pennon, whence its common name of
bandera (flag).
The Ancon Valley is rich in pasture — that is, for
Peru— and large herds of cattle were grazing over it
as we passed close under the mountains that rose,
one bright green, but its brother brown and stony,
with the continual sharp contrast that strikes one at
this season in Peru.
Soon the sight of a large sugar-cane field burst
upon our eyes with a gladdening impression of the
quick -coming spring, for the young yellow -green
blades cheered the gray landscape with a sunlight
hue. One caught a pleasant glimpse of a hacienda,
a sugar-mill and farmhouse combined, with gay white
and red walls. It had a garden and orchard close by ;
beyond, a small line of rails from the fields carried
trucks laden with chopped cane-stalks, like so many
cabbage-sticks. Our goal lay still further ahead, in a wider part of
the valley. Here, alighting at a small solitary station,
nothing met our eye but bamboo and scrub, through
which two narrow tram-lines led respectively to two
sugar -mills that lay beyond. Mr. Heaton, the
manager of the nearest one, awaited us with a small
car. The darky driver whipped up his mule, and we
presently reached the mill of Puente Piedra, so called

360 A MORNING IN A SUGAR-MILL
from a small stone bridge, a rarity in Peru, where
most country bridges are merely three logs covered
by loose sods.
Work was in full swing, as we stopped under the
mill walls. A line of trucks full of cane chopped to
the length of bamboo walking-sticks, which they
resembled, had just been drawn from a far field along
the tram-lines ; these last are easily moved wherever
needed, the land being level. Cholo workmen were
feeding a long trough that moved slowly and un
ceasingly upwards with its load of canes, disgorging
them through a hole in the mill wall into the jaws
of a greedy hidden monster. Entering the mill, we
viewed the glutton with curiosity, for its heavy rollers
were sucking in and bruising the most recalcitrant
canes between close-set iron lips. Poor canes ! they
were like live things being swallowed by a cobra,
their ends all a-quiver. Crushed and mangled, they
disappeared ; but a brownish thick stream poured
continually into a well below, while a warm mass of
broken fibre was as constantly being drawn away
from the dragon on another circular trough, which
emptied its load into a row of waiting carts. The
yard outside was littered thick with this refuse spread
to dry.
' Then it is burnt in the furnaces ; nothing is
wasted here/ said our cicerone, who was also a
partner in the mill, and had invented most of its
modern improvements.

PUENTE PIEDRA 36 1
As this gentleman kindly wrote me out later a
description of the process of sugar-making (see
p. 366), I will only give my own superficial im
pression of the scene.
The first transformation of the live cane-sap into
that brown reluctant fluid, on its way to gladden
mortals' lips, was to me the most wonderful of all.
But the whole animated scene was curious. The
large mill-space was all alive with whirring wheels ;
full of pipes, boilers, and the grinning faces of pure
negro workmen, swarthy native Cholos, and yellow-
skinned Chinese. From the well the juice is forced
by steam-pressure up yonder pipes to boilers under
the roof ; so we climbed thither up high ladders, and
crept along platforms, to peer into seething caldrons
covered with foam, or scum. Again, peeping
through a glass eyehole set in a huge vessel, one
saw bright brown syrup within, thickening towards
granulation. All day there sat a patient Chinee
beside this, extracting from time to time a dab of
fluid, which he examined on a glass plate through a
magnifying lens, then thickened or thinned the syrup,
according as the sugar was required to be coarse
or fine-grained.
' All this delicate work is entrusted to Chinese ;
we can only give natives, or negroes, the coarser
labour,' said the manager, to my sincere pleasure,
feeling sympathy for the oppressed state of these
unhappy foreigners.

362 A MORNING IN A SUGAR-MILL
But the prettiest sight in all the building was the
centrifugals. Few women understand machinery
(in which respect the writer is very much a woman),
but even the most uninitiated could not fail to
admire these wonderful vertical boxes. It was the
business of a negro to fill them with lumps of sticky
molasses, broken up by a crowbar, when instantly
the centrifugals whirled round with such swiftness, the
eye could only perceive that they seemed to shiver.
Inside, the molasses grew white — and whiter still.
That was the sugar, which could not fall because
revolving too rapidly. Meanwhile, the liquid portion
of the molasses escaped through a lining of fine
netting into a vessel below. The centrifugals
stopped. Down dropped a shower of white sugar
from all round their circular sides, which harvest
two negroes deftly scooped up into wooden vessels
that were immediately weighed.
After this we were shown a brown sugar drying-
room, where the heat was tropical, and the warm sickly
smell that pervaded all the mill seemed almost intoler
able ; but the sugar-heaps rivalled the finest sand-
castles of one's youth. We were glad to be carried
off to fresh air, and a mid-day breakfast in the
manager's wooden hut by the stockade fence.
After the usual Peruvian once of white soup,
veal cutlets, Chilian wine, and avocado pears, we
sallied forth to inspect ' the town.' This term applies
to the dwellings of the work- folk, mostly Chinese,

CHINESE SLAVES 363
who live on the premises in every Peruvian hacienda
(this word signifying any kind of estate).
It makes one heart-sick to hear of the cruelties
practised only a few years ago on the unfortunate
Chinese mill-hands in Peru. Engaged by a Chinese
contractor to work, say, a year, on some estate, they
were — and still are in the North — confined in a
walled enclosure, and guarded at nights by sentries
with loaded guns to prevent desertion. Now,
gambling is the chief vice of the Chinaman, while
honesty in keeping a bargain is his best virtue.
The owners always reckoned rightly that in a few
weeks the labourers would have lost so heavily at
bones or dominoes — or have squandered any gains
in the opium shop — that each man would come to
beg an advance of pay for six months, or even a
year. From that moment he was a slave! Never
was his contract expired — never, till life ended,
would his labour be done! The debtor was
heavily chained, marched in and out to work daily
in a gang with his equally unfortunate comrades ;
cruelly flogged. It is said here that a Chinaman will
work or starve with scrupulous honesty to pay his
gambling debts ; still, after years of forced labour,
the poor serf often felt his owners had been amply
recompensed. Then, but one way remained to any
such wretch of returning to his beloved native land
— the gate of suicide !
One narrator told me how, to his personal know-

364 A MORNING IN A SUGAR-MILL
ledge, one man had been flogged every day before
work for six months. At last one morning, passing
the furnaces, he exclaimed, ' I'm off to Canton !' and
leapt into the glowing interior. His fellow-slave,
who was chained to him by the leg, was dragged by
that death-spring to the furnace-door, and could not
escape till the fire itself freed him. There were
also terrible tales whispered of mutinies hatched ;
revenge taken on the owners ; and their ten-times
worse reprisals. But, nowadays, slavery is sup
posed to be forbidden by law ; even a Chinese
Commission has been appointed to watch over
the condition of these descendants of exiles, who,
degraded and despised in Peru, remain vainly loyal
to their far-off native land.
The Puente Piedra ' town ' was a model one.
Rows of mud-plastered bamboo walls, thatched with
light canes and sods, were pierced with many small
and crazy doors set close together. Most were
carefully locked, their owners being bachelors ; but
here and there some wretched-looking negresses, or
Cholo wives (for no Chinese women ever emigrate),
humbly beckoned us to peep into their dismal
little homes. The village shop, or tomba, was kept
by a bland, supple-mannered old Chinaman. In the
darkness behind his dirty counter gleamed a tiny
light in what seemed the interior of an oven. This
was what we much wished to see. It was an opium-
couch — just a raised divan, with coarse curtains, and

A CHINESE PARADISE 365
room enough for one poor dreamer to lie at peace
and smoke himself into a fancied paradise. The
old man rather shamefacedly showed us the opium-
pipe, somewhat like a mandolin in shape. A dark
pellet of the drug is stuck in the centre of the flat
disc, where is a tiny orifice to draw up the smoke
when a match is applied.
' It does not degrade the men nearly so much as
whisky-drinking,' said more than one thoughtful
British observer later to me, dispassionately.
Afterwards this village, with its blue gums planted
before the doors, seemed a model of neatness com
pared with other Peruvian hovels, that were merely
fit for turkey-buzzards to roost in.
Lastly, our host pointed to a large hillock of
ashes, saying, ' The only thing we do not use is
there. We could make that into splendid compost
for the land, and so give back all that is taken out
of it ; but, unfortunately, it stands in our agreement
that all ashes are to be thrown away. We have
tried hard for leave to alter the words, but in vain.
Perhaps we might get it by paying double what the
stuff is worth. It is a pity !'
As in all countries of decadence, law and lawsuits
are terribly dear in Peru, and a favourite luxury ;
perhaps because of the welcome attendant excite
ment.

366 A MORNING IN A SUGAR-MILL
A Detailed Account of the Central Sugar
Factory at Puente Piedra.
As in Peru cane ripens every month of the year,
grinding in the sugar-mills can be carried on un
ceasingly, and machinery is only stopped for repairs.
The. cane is crushed between powerful rollers, and
the juice strained through finely perforated copper
plates. During its passage between these it is
treated with sulphurous acid gas.
It is then rapidly heated to a degree too high to
allow of fermentation, and when this heat is attained
is run into a mente-jus.
When this vessel is full, steam is let into it, which,
forming a pressure, forces the juice into an overhead
tank, from whence it runs into vessels called ' de
fecators.' These defecators are hemispherical in
form in the lower part, with straight sides. The
inner part which comes in contact with the juice is
made of copper, and particular care is taken to
cleanse these portions thoroughly each time the
vessels are emptied.
When a defecator is about half full, steam is
turned on ; so that very soon after the charge is
complete, the liming-point has been reached — viz.,
1 750 to 1850 Fahrenheit, according to the state of
the juice.
Finely sifted, fresh-slaked lime is then used, mixed
with water, to neutralize the acidity of the juice.

THE FIRST PROCESSES 367

This mixture is introduced when the juice is at such
temperature as experience shows will give the best
results, and all well stirred up. The heat is then
continued till the juice is very close to, but not
actually at, boiling-point. Steam is then shut off,
and the contents are allowed to settle.
The clear liquor, when drawn off, is run into a
skimming tank, where it is subjected to a brisk boiling
for a few minutes only, while being skimmed at the
same time.
This clean juice is then run into closed vessels
and evaporated under a vacuum, the heat for which
operation is supplied by the escaped steam from the
different engines in the factory. From this apparatus
the juice is pumped as a liquid of specific gravity
of about 2 50 Baume into another tank, termed "a
clarifier,' which is fitted with a steam- coil. Here it
is again boiled and skimmed during a very short time,
and then run into settling tanks, where it is allowed
to stay from one day till another.
If this syrup is likely to remain more than twenty-
four hours, the density is made higher, so as to
avoid, as far as possible, fermentation setting in.
From these settling tanks the syrup is drawn off
quite clear and bright, and diverted into the ' strike
pan.' Here, under a vacuum, it is boiled to form
grain, the size of the grain being governed by the
demand. Peruvian consumption requires small
grain, whereas for export a large one is preferred.

368 A MORNING IN A SUGAR-MILL
The sugar, on being discharged from the ' vacuum
pan,' is next brought into circular coolers, which are
fitted with wheels to run on rails. These coolers
have central tubes, which cause a current of air to
pass through the hot mass, that then rapidly chills.
The cooler-car is then run over a sugar-mixer
placed in a pit ; the central tube is removed, and the
sugar {masse-cuite) shovelled down! through the hole
left by the removal of the central tube into the
mixer, from whence it is raised by a special apparatus
for that purpose, and charged into the centrifugals.
The baskets of these centrifugals are vertical,
each centrifugal being provided with one shaft and
two baskets. (It has been found that for making
washed sugar this style of centrifugal does the work
more thoroughly, and with less loss of the first
product, than can be accomplished with the ordinary
kind.) The molasses from the first product is limed to
neutral -point and brought to boiling-point only,
continued boiling not being employed. It is then
settled in the same manner as that described for
syrups, cooked to grain in the vacuum pan, and
cooled and spun in the centrifugals.
The molasses resulting from this second sugar is
used for making third-class sugar or rum, as may be
determined upon. All the washings are carefully
collected, and with molasses and water are fermented
and distilled.

LAST WORDS 369

The only fuel used in this factory is that supplied
by the cane itself. Grinding is carried on by day
only, the working hours being from six a.m. to
six p.m., while one hour is allowed for breakfast.
However, if necessary, work could be continued at
night also.

[37°]

A GREAT PERUVIAN HACIENDA.
If the sugar-mill last described was interesting' to
see, even far more so was the sight of the wide
fields of tall, waving canes — the monthly harvest of
this land which should be so rich.
All the friends whom I met in Peru were most
eager to show me, as a stranger and writer, what
they thought worthy of description. Mr. St. John,
our chargd d'affaires, among other kindnesses, intro
duced me at an evening party to the Sefiora Canne-
varo, whose husband is chief proprietor of perhaps
the second largest sugar-cane estate in the land. As
we talked, this lady asked me, with all the sweetness
of manner that is so pleasing in her countrywomen,
what I still most wished to see during my stay.
' An hacienda in the country,' I replied.
' You shall see ours at Caudivillia ; I will get up
a party for you. We only live there in the summer,
but we will go one day by train, and lunch at the
house,' was her prompt suggestion.
Unfortunately, this kind plan was marred by

CAUDIVILLIA 371

illness in the family, just as the sefiora and her
husband had taken some trouble, so I learnt from
mutual friends, to arrange the pleasant excursion.
Nevertheless, a long afternoon at Caudivillia is one
of my most pleasing memories of Peruvian life,
although the owners could not themselves show me
their vast estate. This had recently been increased
and formed into a company, of which the Cannevaro
family, however, held most of the shares.
Leaving the Puente Piedra Station, before de
scribed, some friends and myself were met by a vehicle
that much resembled a family omnibus. This was
a neat tram-carriage, well-cushioned, yellow-painted,
and drawn by a good mule, that carried us quickly
down the vista of a narrow line, laid between cane
brakes and great thickets of bamboo, into the Caudi
villia property, twelve miles square. Each half-mile,
or so, our road passed through gates set in mud-
walls, dividing the square fields ; the latter were
of exactly equal size, so that the amount of canes
therein could be precisely calculated.
A vivid crimson spot on an adobe wall now
attracted even my short vision. It fluttered and flew
off to a thistle, where it swung itself. This living
gem was a small bird with flame-red head and breast,
but the blackest and glossiest of wings and back.
In country parlance, here, it is called a tutupellin.
Afterwards we saw several more ; but even one was
enough to make the heart glad with its beauty.

372 A GREAT PERUVIAN HACIENDA
After two miles of barren land, or swampy thicket,
we reached a wide and dusty plaza, where were rows
of mud dwellings for the Chinese labourers, and a
large joss-house, shaded by some trees. Beyond
rose the high walls of what resembled a square fort.
This was the Caudivillia homestead.
Entering the gateway, we found a light-blue, two-
storied house, belonging to Sefior Cannevaro, on one
side of the square. Next came a large old-fashioned
crushing-mill. Opposite — as in pious Peru it should
— stood the chapel for the family, attended also
by the natives and negroes. Beside it a belfry
arch led to the garden. There was also a house,
which large letters on the walls set forth to be a
' hotel for visitors ' ; near it a store to supply the
workfolk ; and, lastly, stables filled up the wide,
strongly enclosed plaza.
The administrador, or manager, kindly showed us
first over the mill ; but this seemed less excellent in
machinery than that of Puente Piedra, though three
times as big. Again, the warm, sickly smell of the
moist sugar oppressed us, yet for the sake of some
fresh items of information we valiantly went round.
Aguardiente was largely made here, and that,
curiously, from the very dregs of the refuse stuff.
This spirit, however, does not approach the excel
lence of the famous Jamaica rum.
It seemed odd that, in this land of sugar, the solid
white squares used in Europe are considered a rare

WHERE THE SUGAR-CANE GROWS 373
dainty. They are sold as a sweetmeat, which friends
send on festal days to each other. A maid carries a
tray heaped with sugar lumps, and covered with a
white cloth, edged with the coarse lace of the country.
This last, with the tray, is invariably returned. I
heard of an English lady, elsewhere in South America,
keeping a small vase, in which a. birthday bouquet
had been sent her, till aware that she had grievously
sinned against etiquette. The only sugar daily used
in Peru is either brown or a soft white kind.
On visiting the high-walled and neatly-irrigated
garden, one creeper seemed rare to me among those
lately grown familiar. It bore a huge yellow flower,
like a floripondio, but upright. The gardener called
it a sombre, but, like even the best of his class in
Peru, seemed utterly ignorant on the subject. My
companions also had never seen it before, though
residents here.
And now we were invited for a long drive through
the cane-fields — the chief object of our visit. Away
we started, of course on tram-lines, but our vehicle
this time was merely a workman's car, though with
cushions kindly placed on the benches in honour
of the sefioras. After wide cleared fields, where
only hacked cane-stumps and forgotten brown leaves
were left, the line plunged into an almost intermin
able perspective of dense, green, cane-jungle. The
intermingling blades rose above our heads. Wild
creatures, deer and such-like, lay close hidden in

374 A GREAT PERUVIAN HACIENDA
the gloomy depths of the brakes, where little light
or air can ever penetrate.
On and on ! Our track grew indescribably mono
tonous, between the sheaves of great leaves that were
like walls on either side. We hailed the interruption
of some open ploughed land, wherein lay a large
mound, the remains of an Inca village, that had never
yet been dug open, we were told. As strangers and
exploring gringoes, our eyes glistened with yearning ;
and the manager courteously stopped the car.
' Shall we go there ? Only — think of the jiggers,
ladies, in that fresh-turned earth !'
The name of these dreaded pests threw a cold
douche on our ardour. Let us at least possess our
feet in peace, free of such pertinacious, burrowing
intruders. ' Drive on, Cocktail,' called out the administrador ;
and the Chinese driver lashed his mule from the
footboard. ' Ah, you smile at the name, sefioras.
It is a strange one. No ? But all our Chinese have
names so alike, it is impossible to distinguish them ;
so we generally give sobriquets of our own. Now,
Cocktail, what is your real name ? Ah Shin ? Yes ;
they all begin with Ah.'
Presently the cantering mule neared a gate ahead,
beside which lived the usual gate-keeper. Now,
already I had noticed some of these said guardians
emerging from lairs of reeds and sods, that appeared
to be merely a noontide shelter. But this gate-

HOMES OF THE SIERRA NOS 375
lodge gave me such a sharp surprise as still returns
each time the scene rises in my memory.
The dwelling was like a large open-work lark's
cage of bamboos, set down on the field, and lightly
roofed with canes and rushes. Inside one of its two
divisions, one distinctly perceived a swarthy woman
in a cotton skirt and loose bodice, combing her black
mane of coarse hair. And, quite appropriately,
across the road, the owner of this airy abode — an
old man — was busily making cane bird-cages. The'
lodge seemed a joke. For where was privacy or
comfort in walls through which the winds could
whistle, or a neighbour both see and thrust his hand ?
There seemed no furniture, either ; save for a few
coarse earthen dishes.
' Do they pass the day in there ; in rain or sun
shine ?' was my naive query.
. ' The day ! They spend their lives there, night
or day, winter or summer,' returned my equally sur
prised friends. ' That is the usual home of the hill-
Indians, or sierranos. They are very hardy ; and,
as you perhaps have heard, it never rains in Peru,
so why should they be cold ?'
Why indeed ? Except that the misty mountain
air made me feel chilly, although warmly dressed,
for we were nearly 3,000 feet above the sea. I
shivered, fancying what it must be like in such a
dwelling on a drizzling winter's night in July, with a
wind from the hills. A Chilian ramada, a mere

376 A GREAT PERUVIAN HACIENDA
booth of wattled myrtle-boughs, roofed with sods, is
a snug nest, indeed, compared to a sierrano's cage
in Peru.
After this our tram-lines ended by some farm-
buildings on the verge of the estate. Here a tram-
engine was puffing away, ready to start when its
train of trucks should be loaded with cane.
A hundred yards distant a field of cane was half
cut ; the men slashing down the big plants with
bill-hooks, others cutting off the tops and leaves,
while women bound the sheaves, which were quickly
piled on waiting waggons.
Once more my friends impressed upon me the
twice-told tale, that Peru is the only country in the
world where sugar-cane can be cut all the year round !
It owes this immense advantage to the absence of
rain. And, further — the plants being irrigated — no
water is given them for three months before cutting,
which causes the sap to be more saccharine. When,
some weeks later, being in Jamaica on my home
ward journey, I mentioned this fact to a sugar-
planter friend, he would have torn his hair with
envy, but that, as the negroes there say, he had ' a
peel head.'
' How can we compete with that ?' he asked,
apostrophizing the surrounding scene — a dell in the
Blue Mountains. ' Once you 'have seen those
Peruvian sugar-estates, you may rest assured there
is nothing like them anywhere in the world.'

HOW THE CANE IS CUT 377
Briefly, as to the process of planting the cane.
This costs almost ten pounds an acre in English
calculation, and for two years, till the plants have
grown, there is no interest for the outlay. The
ground is prepared by burning the old stumps, care
being needed lest the adjoining standing canes
should be fired also. Then the steam-plough, with
its twin engines, turns up the soil thoroughly, after
which short pieces of cane are laid slantwise in
drills, so that more than one section has a chance to
put out roots. After this the plants are left to grow,
only needing irrigation ; also some light weeding by
means of ox-ploughs. There are three cuttings
of the same canes. The first harvest ; the next,
when the roots have sprouted again to full height,
which is called the soka ; and the third time, or resoka.
Sometimes the soil is so good that a fourth cut can
be made ; and there are even districts where the
canes have never been replanted within living
memory, though these produce but little juice.
Some especially succulent bits of cane were now
carefully peeled for us to taste. Still, in spite of all
one hears in its praise, sugar-cane seemed to me a
dry morsel, indeed, compared with even the. rudest
sweets of one's childhood.
Alighting to inspect the tidy large farm, with its
usual tomba, or store and bar combined, some
more peasant huts in the outskirts attracted me.
Peering through the house walls, one noticed some

378 A GREAT PERUVIAN HACIENDA
more furniture — a stool or two, a bamboo bed-frame
raised a few inches from the ground, some pots and
plates. One woman lay fast asleep on a sack of
straw laid on the mud floor. She wore her cotton
gown, because — as was explained to me — she pro
bably possessed no other garment but this one.
' Do not pity them,' said an English gentleman
present. ' The finest fisherfolk I know are some
here in Peru, who live in just such a village. It is
a real sight to see their little naked children running
into the surf, and jumping on their tiny caballitos
(little horses) ; so they call the small bundles of reeds
they paddle through the waves, in imitation of their
fathers, who use larger faggots as boats.'
It was growing chilly on these upland cane-fields
as we returned. Then, with a glance at some of the
handsomest ' pacers ' ever seen, kept in loose-boxes
with an open-air yard for each proud small steed, we
took our leave, after being offered beer in refresh
ment, as usual in Peru. The tram-carriage lastly
bore us swiftly away from Caudivillia, in time for the
evening train to Lima.

[ 379 ]

GOOD-BYE TO PERU.
Everyone who intends to visit Peru of course reads
Prescott's history of its conquest.
Everyone, equally, on arriving is surprised by the
unanimity with which the residents in Peru assure
newcomers that, though delightful, his picture of the
wonderful civilization existing under the Incas' sway
is exaggerated. Nevertheless, what an old-world romance is the
story of this governing caste ! One fable asserts
they were white-bearded men who came from the
heights of Lake Titicaca, and brought new knowledge
to the Indian dwellers in the lowlands. Another,
more universally told, is that they descended from
a wondrous brother and sister, Manco Capac and
Mama Oello Huaco,* who likewise appeared one
day on the shores of the same lake. They an-
* ' Capac meant great or powerful. Mama with the Peruvians
signified mother. The corresponding word papa with the ancient
Mexicans denoted a priest of high rank.' — Prescott's ' History of
the Conquest of Peru.'

380 GOOD-BYE TO PERU
nounced themselves to be Children of the Sun, who
had sent them to teach his worship, besides agri
culture and arts, to his benighted people.
Certain it is, nevertheless, that prehistoric temples,
of much more massive masonry than those assigned
to the Incas, exist in Peru ; and especially in the region
of Lake Titicaca. Whether these, again, are con
nected with strange stone monuments, like small
huts, of which I heard in Bolivia, called by the people
'Tombs of the Gentiles,' it is hard to guess. The
latter were described to me by an English engineer,
whose duties had led him far into the interior. In
his belief they were raised stone sepulchres, but
unusually large, as if meant for men of giant stature.
The Incas themselves reckoned their dynasty to
have only existed during the lives of thirteen princes
before the Spanish conquest. It is evident that a
previous powerful race must, therefore, have dwelt in
Peru, who owned some civilization and arts, yet who
mysteriously died out, not leaving even a legend
among the simple Indians to tell of their past
greatness. When the Children of the Sun first arrived,
whether but a royal pair or more, they speedily im
pressed the lower Indian race with their superior
will and wisdom. What splendid roads they made,
straight as those of the Romans ! What a wonderful
system of irrigation was theirs, seeing that the now
barren mountains on the iron road to Oroya are

THE STORY OF THE INCAS 381
terraced to their summits, so that the men of our
days wonder how water was possibly conducted
thither ! Then, how paternal was their despotic
government ! They gave wise laws to the weak
Indians under their sway ; marriage was enforced ;
the land was frequently redistributed, according to
the numbers in a family, so that, if no subject might
be rich, no man could starve. Only the ruler himself
was wealthy, and to a lesser extent his numerous
princely relatives who formed the nobility ; and above
all the Sun -god, whose granaries and treasure-houses
were richly stored — and their contents borrowed by
his descendant, the Inca, when needed.
Then appeared the white men in strange ships on
the coast. Pizarro and his adventurers landed, a
mere handful in numbers, but armed with mail.
They massacred the Indian armies with the zeal of
Crusaders, in the name of Christ, while fired also
with greed of gold. For so rich was Peru, that the
.royal gardens were decorated with golden plants,
beasts and birds. And when the Inca Atahuallpa
was taken prisoner by stratagem, gold was brought
for his ransom according to his offer, ' that he wduld
not merely cover the floor, but would fill the room
he stood in as high as he could reach.' To this end
the royal city of Cuzco was despoiled, in which the
great Temple of the Sun blazed with gold, according
to Spanish testimony ; for the Inca begged that some
of the conquerors should themselves go thither, under

382 GOOD-BYE TO PERU
safe conduct, to see with their own eyes his good faith.
The murder of Atahuallpa, after this, in prison was
one of the most treacherous deeds of that blood
stained conquest.
But judgment seemed to overtake the wicked in
this instance. The Almagros, father and son, were
put to death by the Pizarro faction ; while the great
conqueror, Francisco, was himself murdered in his
own house in the town of Lima, which he had founded
and cherished. Later on Hermano Pizarro lingered
twenty years in a Spanish prison, and Gonzalo Pizarro
was beheaded.
Now, the modern criticism of Peruvian residents
on Prescott's glowing account of the golden treasures
of the Incas is, that, judging by those now dug up in
huacas, the ornaments must have been very thin
and the workmanship uncouth. Certainly my host,
Mr. R., possessed such a specimen, which he showed
me. It was a tall, tumbler-shaped golden vase, thin
as paper, except at the brim ; while its design was the ,
face, and especially the nose, of the great Duke of
Wellington, rudely prophesied. Similar vases would
fill a good deal of space, if piled as ransom. As to
the pottery vases, generally called common huacos,
some are ingenious, with their whistling handles, but
their ornamentation is rude.
Again, none of the royal Inca graves, built of
bricks, show any beauty of structure. And Ata-
huallpa's own palace, which tradition declares was a

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MODERN CUZCO, THE FORMER CITY OF THE SUN.

[To face/. 383.

POOR PATRIOTS 383

dwelling still standing at Cuzco, though massive, is
rudely thatched. Lastly, these detractors affirm that
the royal roads, while excellent in construction, show
no trace of engineering, but run straight uphill, or
through morasses that a slight curve might have
avoided. It seems as if some monarch had decreed,
' Make me a • road from here to yonder,' when
thousands of Indians simply obeyed.
But, whatever the height of Peruvian civilization
under the Incas, none can deny that with the
Spaniards its glory departed.
Look at Peru nowadays ! A degraded Indian
population is mixed with Chinese and negroes.
The formerly cultivated mountain-slopes lie waste.
In the lowlands great sugar-estates are held by men
who are all supposed to be more or less bankrupt.
If any individual is lucky enough to amass some
money, I was assured that he would send it secretly
to Europe, and leave his native land himself as soon
as possible. Otherwise, should the Government in
power scent his dollars, it would certainly send him
a polite but imperative request to ' give a loan to the
country as a patriot.'
One owner of a large estate told me that a few
days before he had been requisitioned by Govern
ment to furnish horses. For these a vale would
be given — worth so much waste-paper. Being
greatly impoverished, he was at least able to prove,
even to the satisfaction of the messengers, that the

384 GOOD-BYE TO PERU
few animals he still owned were insufficient to plough
his land. ,
The character of the Peruvian Indian seems still
what it was under the rule of the Inca caste — timid,
submissive, somewhat cowardly. When feeling ill,
a labourer will come to his English employer, saying
gently, ' Patron, I must die to-night.' Whereat the
patron, if wise, kicks that man for a poor fool, telling

A CANNIBAL WOMAN OF PERENE REGION, PERU.
(From a photograph.')
him he is only lazy ; and thereupon the sick man
obediently gets better. If not so cured, he does die ;
this, at least, I was assured. Many of the heathen
hill-tribes have been Christianized by the good
missionary priests, not by the fat, demoralized
clergy of the towns. One lady who spent Christmas
lately at the Pucara mines, was amused by the
Indian converts bringing her the wig of the Christ

A 'CURE-WOMAN' 385

image to be curled. Their innocent delight was
great when she succeeded in the task. Beyond the
Andes, the tribes in the great forests and jungle of
the Amazon districts are little known ; but some are
said to be given to cannibalism, while others live
on roots, caterpillars, and such-like savage fare.
As in Chili, so even more in Peru, there are
t
native wise women, in whose powers of healing
unlimited faith is placed by the poor folk. One
strange instance of their leechcraft was related to
me by Mr. R., as having been seen by himself:
An Englishman was at the point of death from
haemorrhage and dysentery, and his case declared
hopeless by the doctors. On this, Mr. R., who was
nursing him, got their leave to call in the ' cure-
woman ' of the village ; she could do no harm if she
could not do any good. The cure-woman came
accordingly, and looked at the sick man. 'It is
too late to save your friend ; I might have done
so earlier,' she said. ' Still, I will do my best.'
Going out into the garden, she thereupon gathered
herbs, on which she poured boiling water for a drink
that soothed the invalid. Then she asked that four
guinea-pigs should be brought to the bedside, when
she cut them open down the breast with a sharp
knife-stroke, next instant covering the severed flesh
with mustard, and laying two of the animals spread
out on each side of the patient.
Feeling that this was a last chance, Mr. R. held
25

386 GOOD-BYE TO PERU

the poor, living plasters, and watched with disgust
but desperation their eyes goggling and their muscles
quivering. To his amazement, the dying man in
stantly fell asleep — for days he had not closed his
eyelids. The haemorrhage also ceased ; he seemed
refreshed, and at ease after great pain.
For some hours this sleep lasted, till Mr. R.
began to entertain cheering hopes. Then his friend
passed away painlessly. The wise woman was right :
she had been called in too late.
But to this day the narrator has remained un
shaken in his belief that the treatment was effica
cious in soothing the agony of those last hours ; and
one shrewdly guessed he even thought the cure
would have succeeded if applied in time.
And now, after a month's pleasant stay, it was
time to say good-bye to Peru. The country was so
disturbed by the insurrection that all the pleasant
rides to sun-temples, and excursions up the Oroya
Railway, planned for me by my kind friends, were
too dangerous to attempt. So, at least, said Mr.
St. John, who had been foremost in wishing me to
see these interesting sights.
So it was once more ' All aboard !' And as the
big North-bound Imperial steamed away from
Callao, I regretfully said farewell to the last shores
I should visit as a guest of this most hospitable
West Coast. Yet not quite, the last, for at Panama,

HOME AGAIN 387

thanks to the British Consul and his wife, was I not
housed by one new friend, and driven round the
lovely environs, and dined by another ?
So across the isthmus — loveliest if fever-laden of
jungle scenery, like a green dissolving view of heat-
mists and palms, flowers, and tree-ferns — to the wait
ing steamer that conveyed me to Jamaica. There,
not knowing anyone in the island — and only meaning
to stay a few days, because alone — I found myself
expected, and the guest of the Acting Governor for
some five weeks. This truly delightful time was
varied by short visits to other newly- made friends,
whose homes were perched in leafy coigns of van
tage in the famous scenery of the Blue Mountains.
There is no space left to tell my pleasing impres
sions of Jamaica ; besides, the beautiful island is
better known than either the Argentine, Chili, or
Peru. Otherwise I must have praised this emerald
jewel, with its coral-white strand, set in the brilliantly
blue waters of the West.
And now that I end this book, when home in
England once more, my mind is still faithful to the
agreeable memories of my South American trip.
And to all friends who wish for a six months' winter
holiday, I should heartily say, 'Go, and do likewise.'
the end.

HILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD. /. D. & Co.

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