called a regular ball, but a
_teriulia_, so the ladies were in _demi-toilette_. Tom described the
room as good, the floor first-rate, the music excellent, the ladies
good-looking, and the men agreeable. To-day he met us at the station
with the children; and now, therefore, one account will describe the
movements of the whole reunited party.

_Sunday, October 29th_.--We all went ashore to church, having been
told it was only five minutes' walk from the landing-place, instead of
which it took us at least a quarter of an hour, in an intensely hot
sun, to climb up a steep hill. The building itself was large, airy,
and cool, and there is a good organ and choir, but most of the
choristers had gone away to-day to a picnic in the country. During the
Litany our attention was suddenly drawn to the fact that earthquakes
are matters of frequent occurrence in this country, by a special
prayer being offered up for preservation from them and their
destructive effects.

At four o'clock we went ashore for a ride, and having climbed the
hills at the back of the town, which command extensive views over land
and sea, we galloped across the downs and through some villages on to
the old high road from Valparaiso to Santiago, along which we rode
only for a few yards, turning off into a romantic valley, where the
path was so narrow that we could barely squeeze through between the
thickly growing shrubs and trees. At last we went up a steep hill on
to another high road, and re-entered the town quite at the opposite
end to that at which we had left it, after which a ride of two miles
along the stony, ill-paved streets brought us to the landing-place.

_Monday, October 30th_.--We were to be off directly the sea-breeze
sprang up, at about eleven o'clock, and as I had many letters to
write, I was called at 4 a.m., and finished them all before breakfast
at eight. But first one visitor and then another arrived, and it was
nearly eleven o'clock when we landed to make the final preparations
for starting on our long voyage of eleven thousand miles across the
Pacific.

Our route, as at present, arranged, will be via the Society, Friendly,
and Sandwich Islands. Juan Fernandez (Robinson Crusoe's Island), which
we at first thought of visiting, we have been obliged, I am sorry to
say, to give up, not on account of its distance from Valparaiso, as it
is only 270 miles off, but because it lies too far to the southward,
and is consequently quite out of the