in its favour. The rooms are good, but the
situation is noisy, being at the corner of two streets; the servants
are attentive, but the cuisine and arrangements are bad. Independently
of all this, we have great reason to complain of the conduct of the
landlord, for my first question, as soon as he had introduced himself,
was, of course, 'Have Mr. and Miss Brassey arrived?' 'Yes, Madame, and
went away this morning.' 'What! and left no letter?' 'No; but Monsieur
returns to-morrow.' Imagine my surprise and disappointment! But there
was nothing to be done but to go to the hotel and wait patiently. We
afterwards found that _Tom had left a long letter, and that he had
never said a word about returning_. The wretched man would not give me
the letter, because he thought he could detain us, and he never sent
the telegram I handed to him to forward to Tom at once, asking for an
answer.

[Illustration: Huasso Huts.]

Our luggage arrived just in time to enable us to dress for the second
table-d'hote at six o'clock, after which we went for a walk through
some arcades, paved with marble, and full of fine shops, past the
Grand Hotel, which was situated at the end of the Alameda, and is
built over an arcade of shops. It is a handsome building, and must
command a fine view. The cathedral and the archbishop's palace, large
but rather dull-looking brick buildings, are close by. The surrounding
gardens looked pretty by gaslight, and the scent of roses pervaded the
evening air.

[Illustration: Huasso of Chili]

CHAPTER XI.

SANTIAGO AND VALPARAISO.

_Gems of the changing autumn, how beautiful you are,_
_Shining from your glassy stems, like many a golden star._

_Thursday, October 26th_.--Our kind hostess at Lota had given us a
letter of introduction to her manager at Santiago, who called this
morning to inquire what arrangements he could make which would be most
agreeable to us during our stay. She had also given orders that her
carriages and horses should be placed at our disposal, and at about
ten o'clock we all started in an open break, drawn by a pair of
good-looking half-bred brown horses, bigger than any we had seen
before in this country.

[Illustration: Morning Mass at Santiago]

We went first to the Compania, a large open square, planted with
flowers, the site of the old Jesuit Church, which was burnt down on
December 8th, 1863. Well known as the story is, I may here recall the
tragic details, standing o