them to the observatory with the means at command in Santiago, and I found it necessary to construct them of three blocks each. These were drawn on a sled, by two yokes of oxen. They could drag but one at a time, and then only as far as the castle. From thence they were hauled up to the observatory by men, with ropes and boards-what sailors call "par-buckled;" a job that would have been accomplished easily, if the power could all have been applied in the line of motion; but, unfortunately, the broken surface of the hill scarcely permitted two men to stand in the same plane. In illustration of the difficulties encountered, it may be mentioned, that although fifty per cent. was added to the original contract price, in order to hasten its execution, more than two weeks were spent in efforts to blast a block as large as ten cubic feet; and when deposited on the terrace, near the castle, thirty men were more than three hours in raising it to the observatory. In the midst of erecting the piers, one of the many "feast days" observed in Catholic countries occurred, when, for the day, their church places a ban on labor. To us, who acknowledge no days of rest but the Sabbath and our national holiday, or at most Christmas and Good Friday included, the frequent recurrence of interdicted periods, when much was to be accomplished, was extremely annoying; and so public sentiment begins to regard it here. Yet, as government supports the pretensions of the church and its infliction of fines for violation of the appointed times, of necessity the lower orders obey; and while this continues, and the well fed and well clad friars are encouraged to indolence, Chile can never advance to the eminence to which it is entitled to aspire. Though the carpenters did not complete the last one until the meridian circle to be mounted in it had arrived from Germany, both buildings were finally ready about the 1st of January. Indeed, the mechanics had been longer reconstructing houses that required only putting each marked portion in its place, and inserting the screws, than it had originally taken to build them in the United States. Even the Yankee master-workman employed had lost all idea of the value of time, and by procrastination tired my patience beyond measure. True, there was ample work for the small party with the instruments already arranged, and there were few hours of rest even by daylight. Night after night-eighty-seven out of ninety in succession—did the planet Mars command use of the equatorial; and the days and hours pre-arranged for the magnetical and meteorological observations required the constant presence of one assistant at our residence near the foot of the hill. We were domiciliated under one roof, and were gradually becoming accustomed to the novelties of Santiago life. Ordinarily, my earliest consciousness was of the cry of the aguador (water-carrier) who supplied our household, and heralded his entrance to the patio by drawling in a crescendo tone, "A-gua-ti-ro," lengthening each syllable to the duration of a respectable word. He is one of a privileged class who spend their days, from early dawn till nightfall, conveying that essential of life from the two or three fountains through the streets of the city. With a keg strapped on each side of his horse, and a can with which to fill them, his whole life is passed in perambulating a few thoroughfares. He wears cotton drawers and a shirt that are rarely made acquainted with the element in which he deals, a poncho, a high peaked hat of rushes, and sandals of raw hide, or coarse shoes. For seven eighths of a dollar per month he supplies all the water we need for every purpose; but as it is quite turbid, from the admixture of river earths in its passage to the reservoirs or fountains, we are obliged to filter before using it. Soon the streets resound with the cries of venders who have "big, fat fowls and chickens; "potatoes by the peck;" "onions by the dozen;" "pork, fat pork;" "pejereys from Aculeo;' "corn, green corn;" and a host of other edibles that form part of the substantial Spanish breakfast. Each has his peculiar cry and intonation, interpretable at times only by his class or immediate customers, and defying the philological acumen of most of his own countrymen. With the momentary succession of new candidates for the favors of housekeepers, each screaming at the top of his voice, and the tramp of horses and mules within a few feet of one's ear, sleep is no longer possible. By eight o'clock the streets are thronged. Huge carts are passing to their several destinations with merchandise from the port, and wood, charcoal, or watermelons from the country. Here you encounter a cavalcade of mules, carrying long pieces of scantling crossed above their heads, and trailing the ground at several feet from their hinder legs on each side. Probably they have been thus dragged for three hundred miles! Woe to your shins if they come in contact with them. A little farther on is another troop, loaded with wheat in sacks of hide. Yet a third conveys the beds of a family in similar coverings, and their apparel in trunks, also protected by cases of the same material. In another place a train of long-eared donkeys stagger under loads of sand or pebble-stones for paving. They nibble, as they pass, at rinds of melons cast aside by the chain-gangs at work on the streets under guards of soldiers. Here comes the baker on an ambling mule, with two neatly finished and trunk-like panniers. He occupies nearly one third the width of the street. He utters no cry, and looks moderately tidy. Silently, also, the milk-woman comes next, with tin vessels similarly suspended; her costume too often resembling the aguador's. There are countrymen on foot driving flocks of turkeys, or with baskets piled up with grapes or figs; and others riding between panniers packed high with radishes larger than one's arm, onions, salads, all other vegetables not requiring a cart to carry them, and every fruit in its season. Each has its recommendatory song, and the combination of sounds renders Santiago a perfect Bedlam. But hark! there are short and rapid strokes from one of the bells of the cathedral; and, with an instant's intermission, from the campanile comes a single solemn vibration through the air. Behold! the life-current is apparently paralyzed. Riders dismount; pedestrians fall to their knees; all bareheaded, bowed, and silent, are motionless as the grave till the third stroke releases them from the act of humiliation, and they rise, crossing themselves. Probably nothing makes greater impression on one arriving in a Catholic country, who knows not the cause of an act apparently so solemn, nor has had opportunity to ascertain the amount of religious intelligence possessed by the community surrounding him. The unseen cause of this remarkable custom is the elevation of the Host in the cathedral at that instant, a ceremony repeated with clock-like regularity each day. Mass over, the friars seem to be let loose. One takes with him a puppet fantastically dressed, borne by a lay brother; himself charged only with a plate on which to receive contributions from the pious, who have the privilege of kissing the doll, or it may be a bit of the fustian of his own garment offered for salutes. Another, and a more humble mendicant brother, presents with one hand a box containing a small wax image amid tinsel ornaments, with the other a tin box in which to receive your oblations. Soon the days became extremely warm, and at times oppressive before noon. Once in these early weeks the clouds banked heavily over the Andes, and towards 4 P. M. we heard the first thunder since leaving the region of the equator. There was evidently a violent thunder-storm on the peaks thirty miles to the eastward; and when the clouds rolled away, so that we could perceive the mountains again, the snow-mantle had descended half way down their rugged sides. Snow and thunder-storms! But if we had no near displays of thunder and lightning, the muttering precursors of earthquakes sufficiently resemble the rumbling of heaven's artillery to keep up our recollection of the phenomenon; and though we had not the warning of the sharp and vivid flash in the cloud, there inevitably followed short, quick pulsations of the earth, more startling because invisible and inevitable. Lightning is a monitor-seen, and one is safe; the murmur of the coming earth-storm may warn without preserving from annihilation. 58 CHAPTER VII. * EXPERIENCES-CONTINUED. ADVANCE OF AUTUMN.-SUNDAY AT SANTIAGO.—ANNOYANCES.-SEARCH FOR A DESAGUADOR OF THE MAPOCHO.-- May 1.-We had had a whole week of cloudy and uncomfortable weather, terminating in rain about the close of April, and clearing away partially after sunset, so that our observations could be resumed. The morning of this day was bright and clear, with a freshness in the atmosphere most invigorating. Our rain had been snow on the mountains, and they presented a most picturesque sight, clothed as they were in winter mantles, perhaps one third of the distance from the summit of the nearer range towards the valley. Returning from my usual walk along the bank of the river, I was struck with the change which a week had wrought in the long rows of poplars intersecting the plain in every direction. A few days ago their dark green foliage was a grateful relief to the eye in the sun's bright glare; now, in the morning's breeze, leaves were falling in golden millions, and the higher branches of many were already stripped-evidence of the repose which nature demands for some classes of vegetable life. It was Sunday; but there were no outward tokens of "the day of rest" for man. True, the church doors were open; and women, gracefully wrapped in mantos, with rugs hanging over the arm, or borne by a following servant, were encountered at every step, going to or returning from their devotions: but these are constant occurrences, and therefore served not to designate the day. On the other hand, multitudes of guasos thronged the streets with droves of turkeys, baskets of fowls, and autumnal fruits, rendering the thoroughfares a nuisance with their cries respecting the various articles for sale. I was no great hand at keeping the Sabbath at home as the strict fathers of the Protestant church would have had me; but it was always a day grateful for the quiet it brought, and in this sad Bedlam memory turned with a feeling of veneration to the customs of our Puritan land. "Sad Bedlam!" one may regard as contradictory words in juxtaposition; but the designation is approximatively true of Santiago. The absence of activity and evidences of commercial life and thrift during ordinary business hours, of crowded streets, and of the hum that ever pervades large cities in all other parts of the world, most emphatically impress one that it is sad, whilst almost eternal cries and the clatter of bells fully entitle it to be classed as a second Bedlam. Even the observatory was no place of refuge; for the noises came up on all sides of Santa Lucia, and the cordilleras sent back the echoes. On arriving at Santiago, if not more than half inclined to side with the Catholic faith, I was by no means willing to remain silent when their mode of worship was contemned. But there is quite "too much of a good thing" in an exclusively Catholic country; and when, at night, the churches began firing their squibs and ringing bells, sometimes I almost wished bells and friars at the bottom of the ocean. In any but a Catholic country one can form no idea of the senseless and intolerable clatter they frequently keep up during an hour or more. This starts into concert scores of worthless curs, about the base of Santa Lucia, utterly masking the beat * In this and the following chapters chronological order has been disregarded for the purpose of grouping analogous subjects. of our clock, and sorely trying one's temper when clusters of stars came rapidly into the field of the telescope, as was sometimes the case. Had they been mellow-toned bells rung harmoniously, or the sharp and angry barks of faithful watch-dogs, one might have abided the infliction amiably; but all Santiago does not boast a sweet-lipped bell, and the little clappers fly as though suspended from the necks of running cows; whilst the villanous dogs do nothing but cumber the sidewalks, and foot-passengers-fearful of disturbing their slumbers-must take the outside of them. It being quite certain that there is, on an average, one dog for every house in Santiago, we are astonished that the city government permits such a wholly worthless multitude. It would be a different matter were revenue derived from their retention; but the city imposes no taxes, except a very moderate one on every house, with which to pay for police and lighting the streets. This amounts to nearly three fourths of one per cent. of what the house rents for, and is collected from the occupant. House, furniture, and all other personal property are exempted. Of course things work badly, and the means for repairs or improvements derived from privileges to sell snow, kill cattle, &c., are wholly insufficient for the wants of so extended a city. May.-In company with Mr. P. and Prof. Domeyko, an early start was made one Sunday morning, to examine two localities a few leagues distant. At one of these, the waters of the Mapocho were said to disappear; at the other, they re-issue from their subterranean filtration thoroughly limpid. Striking the stream within half a league of the city, we continued between its banks, fording and re-fording as often as it became necessary in pursuing our way among the water-worn pebbles and sand. There is little change in the width or character of the bed for four miles. It has an average breadth of one hundred and fifty yards, and is wholly composed of the materials just mentioned. At this time the water in places was separated into two or three rapid rivulets; farther down, it was united into one stream perhaps ten or twelve yards wide, and it is only during heavy and continued rains of winter that the volume is increased to fill the wide space between the banks. That floods do so fill it, there are abundant traces to show in the recent washings on either side of the low gravel-formed shores. At a league and a half from Santiago the nature of the surface-soil somewhat changes, and the distance between the banks is diminished to less than thirty yards, with a considerable but not proportionate increase in the depth of the water-way. As there are no indications of overflows, it is evident that a large body must percolate the pebbly reach just above; and it was here, if anywhere, that we expected to lose the stream. This was the place indicated; but we found only such a diminution in the volume as could readily be accounted for in the multitude of irrigating channels, and the ordinary operations of absorption and evaporation. Inquiry of guasos afforded little satisfaction. The general opinion among them was, that the water only disappeared during a portion of the summer, when they most needed it; and that as soon as the rains began, there was always abundance. However, they all asserted (and inquiry addressed to other creditable persons on our return went to show) that there is such a locality as we were in search of some eight or ten leagues farther to the southwestward. Recollecting the difficulty of obtaining correct information from countrymen even in lands where there is more intelligence among them, the rivulets were followed a league farther, but without success; and we were only partially rewarded for the task of tracing its abominable paths by seeing the plants of its peculiar botany and a few novel specimens of birds. On our return, leaving the river to the right, we struck into a main road that passes through a village at the base of the Cuesta Renca. Dividing there, one branch of the road extends westward; the other passes over a portezuelo to the northern side of the hill, and thence along a shallow lake formed by unconsumed water of the irrigating channels to the eastward. On either side of the portezuelo the ground has been thoroughly perforated by field-rats, whose principal sustenance is the bulbs of plants. So abundant is the Oxalis lobata there, that the flowers which had matured under the rains of the few preceding days literally made patches of earth appear at a little distance as though covered with cloths of gold. The summit of Renca is rather more than 1,100 feet above the plain. Its general geological structure is similar to that of Santa Lucia, though disintegration has covered large portions of its surface with a rich soil producing pasturage for multitudes of sheep and cattle, until the droughts of summer burn up all vegetation that has only superficial roots. On the northern side, a small canal winds close to its base. Well up the slopes there were fields of grain dependent on natural irrigation; and still higher, the Acacia cavenia and arborescent cactus throw out their arms towards the sky amid outcropping prismatic rocks on whose surfaces rain can scarcely be known for six months at a time. Except a marshy plain near the southeast border of the lake, all the surrounding valley presents that abundance of vegetable life with which so benignant a climate blesses Chile. Here the finest strawberries are grown; and, in their season, pleasure parties come frequently from the capital to enjoy freshly gathered fruit. Guasos and peons were collected at Renca, the village mentioned, for their usual Sunday dissipations and diversions-new chicha (like new cider in two respects, cheapness and agreeable flavor) tempting many to debauchery, which often terminates in murder. Unlike cider, it quickly inflames the brain; and under its influence, they resort to the knife for redress of real or imaginary grievances. One ragged vagabond, whose nose, like Bardolph's, was an index of the strong waters he had imbibed, chased us nearly two miles, unsuccessfully begging means to obtain a drink of his favorite beverage. His only reward was advice to soak his proboscis. in water-perhaps that would afford him a liquor sufficiently potent. He had left many companions playing at bolas at the pulperias—a favorite game, which tradition claims to have been transmitted from the time of the conquest. It is a sort of billiards, in which the earth forms. the table, and an iron ring the pocket; the balls are of hard wood four and a half or five inches in diameter, and flat pieces of board some two inches wide serve instead of cues, or rather maces. The earth is made perfectly level and smooth for a space one half larger than the ordinary billiard-table, and has guards to prevent the balls from passing beyond its limits. There are three balls. These are not struck, as in playing billiards, but receive their impetus by being scraped along under accelerated motion of the flat pieces of board. The great stroke of the game is to make a cannon from the third ball to that of your adversary, driving the latter though the ring. Other parties had withdrawn from the roadside, and were earnestly occupied with cards; the use of which being prohibited, every peon covets a pack, and will gamble away his last real at monte. May 13.-A storm of wind and rain from the northward commenced early in the morning, at times blowing with much violence; and though the rain did not fall as heavily as during short periods on two or three previous occasions, it was absolutely without cessation for about thirteen hours, and the amount deposited exceeded three and a half inches! Towards sunset there was a narrow streak of clear sky to the westward, and by eight o'clock the heavens were cloudless. Still the wind blew as freshly as during the day, and a nebulous haze surrounded all the more brilliant stars. By midnight the temperature had fallen to 40°, evidencing the deposition of a large body of snow on the Andes, which the starlight partially and the dawn of the following morning wholly revealed. Far as the eye could trace the ranges, they were enveloped full two thirds from the crests downward; and there were also patches about the more elevated summits and table-lands of the Western cordilleras. The following day proved calm and cloudless; and the sharp, cool air that poured down from the mountain-sides, modulated by a bright sun, was most refreshing and invigorating. But it was torture to the poor peons, whose cotton garments, threadbare ponchos, and perhaps bare feet, kept them shivering as they crept along the sunny side of the streets. May 21.-Starting shortly before noon on one of the Indian summer like mornings with which we had occasionally been favored, a gay cavalcade of us rode to the Salto de Agua. For he first two or three miles the road follows near the south bank of the river, between quintas |