t, with a dexterous pinch at the pretty ancle, and again
went on like a bird. She had captured a flea! but it was a style of
piedermain worthy of the great Adrien; a feat I was prepared to believe
nearly equal to mounted Cossacks picking up pins from the ground with
their teeth, at full speed--in fact, something really wonderful, and
although I was quite confounded, and almost speechless with amazement,
yet I followed mechanically in order to see what she could or would
accomplish next. Nor could I repress some audible expressions of
encouragement; but the fair _doncella_, unconscious of having performed
anything remarkable, gave me a look, as much as to say, in the language
of a touching nautical ballad--

"Go away young man--my company forsake."

So not wishing to appear intrusive, I returned pensively to mine inn.

Fashions in ladies' dress are similar to those in Europe or the United
States, and even among the lower orders the bonnet is worn; but to my
way of thinking, a Spanish girl's forte is in a black satin robe and
slippers, a flowing _mantilla_, fine, smooth jetty tresses, and a waving
fan to act as breakflash to sparkling eyes!

Of the men of Chili, or at least those of them whom transient visitors
encounter in the usual lounging resorts of _vaut-riens_,--theatres,
cafes, tertulias, plazas, and other purlieus, they cannot be said to
compare with their captivating sisters--for a more indolent, hairy,
cigar-puffing race of bipeds never existed. In dress they ape the faded
fashions of Europe, retaining, however, the native cloak costume of the
_poncho_. It is a capital garment for either the road or the saddle,
leaving free play to the arms, and at the same time a protection from
dust or rain. It is worn by all classes, and composed of the gaudiest
colors, occasionally resembling a remarkably bright pattern of a drawing
room carpet, with the head of the wearer thrust through a slit in the
centre.

The President of Chili during our visit was General Bulnes, a soldier of
distinction in the civil wars of his own state, with a laurel or two won
in numerous bloody blows dealt upon the neighboring Peruvians. As the
hero of Yungai, his Excellency was elevated to his present position by
the bayonets of the troops, but latterly he evinced a keen sagacity in
reducing to a small force this army of vagabonds, who are prone, in
South American republics, in the absence of more agreeable occupation,
to amuse them