built along a narrow strip of land, between the cliffs and the sea; and, as this space is limited in extent, the buildings have straggled up the sides and bottoms of the numerous ravines which intersect the hills. A suburb-the Almendral, or Almond Grove-much larger than the town proper, spreads over a low sandy plain, about half a mile broad, bordering the bay. In the summer months-i.e., November to March-the anchorage is safe and pleasant; but in the wintry months, notably June and July, gales are prevalent from the north, in which direction it is open to the sea.

Captain Basil Hall, R.N., gave some interesting accounts of life in Chili in his published Journal,* and they are substantially true at the present day. He reached Valparaiso at Christmas, which corresponds in climate to our midsummer. Crowds thronged the streets to enjoy the cool air in the moonlight; groups of merry dancers were seen at every turn; singers were bawling out old Spanish romances to the tinkle of the guitar; wild-looking horsemen pranced about in all directions, stopping to talk with their friends, but never dismounting; and harmless bull-fights, in which the bulls were only teased, not killed, served to make the people laugh. The whole town was en carnival. "In the course of the first evening of these festivities," says Captain Hall, "while I was rambling about the streets with one of the officers of the ship, our attention was attracted, by the sound of music, to a crowded pulperia, or drinking-house. We accordingly entered, and the people immediately made way and gave us seats at the upper end of the apartment. We had not sat long before we were startled by the loud clatter of horses' feet, and in the next instant, a mounted peasant dashed into the company, followed by another horseman, who, as soon as he reached the centre of the room, adroitly wheeled his horse round, and the two strangers remained side by side, with their horses' heads in opposite directions. Neither the people of the house, nor the guests, nor the musicians, appeared in the least surprised by this visit; the lady who was playing the harp merely stopped for a moment to remove the end of the instrument a few inches further from the horses' feet, and the music and conversation went on as before. The visitors called for a glass of spirits, and having chatted with their friends around them for two minutes, stooped their heads to avoid the cross-piece of the doorway, and putting spurs to their horses' sides, shot into the streets as rapidly as they had entered; the whole being done without discomposing the company in the smallest degree." The same writer speaks of the common people as generally very temperate, while their frankness and hospitality charmed him. Brick-makers, day-labourers, and washerwomen invited him and friends into their homes, and their first anxiety was that the sailors might "feel themselves in their own house;" then some offering of milk, bread, or spirits. However wretched the cottage or poor the fare, the deficiency was never made more apparent by apologies; with untaught politeness, the best they had was placed before them, graced with a hearty welcome. Their houses are of adobes, i.e., sun-dried bricks, thatched in with broad palm-leaves, the ends of which, by overhanging the walls, afford shade from the scorching sun and shelter from the rain. Their mud floors have a portion raised seven or eight inches above the level of the rest, and covered with matting, which forms the couch for the invariable siesta. In the cottages Hall saw young women grinding baked corn in

"Extracts from a Journal written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico, &c."

almost Scriptural mills of two stones each. From the coarse flour obtained, the poor people make a drink called ulpa. In the better class of houses he was offered Paraguay tea, or mattee, an infusion of a South American herb. The natives drink it almost boiling hot.. It is drawn up into the mouth through a silver pipe: however numerous the company, all use the same tube, and to decline on this account is thought the height of rudeness. The people of Chili, generally, are polite to a degree; and Jack ashore will have no cause to complain, provided he is as polished as are they. He generally contrives, however, to make himself popular, while his little escapades of wildness are looked upon in the light of long pent-up nature bursting forth.

CHAPTER XI.

ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (continued).

FROM THE HORN TO HALIFAX.

The dreaded Horn-The Land of Fire-Basil Hall's Phenomenon-A Missing Volcano-The South American Station Falkland Islands-A Free Port and Naval Station-Penguins, Peat, and Kelp-Sea Trees-The West India Station Trinidad-Columbus's First View of it-Fatal Gold-Charles Kingsley's Enthusiasm-The Port of Spain-A Happygo-lucky People-Negro Life-Letters from a Cottage Ornée-Tropical Vegetation-Animal Life-Jamaica-Kingston Harbour-Sugar Cultivation-The Queen of the Antilles-Its Paseo-Beauty of the Archipelago-A Dutch Settlement in the Heart of a Volcano-Among the Islands-The Souffrière-Historical Reminiscences-Bermuda Colony, Fortress, and Prison-Home of Ariel and Caliban-The Whitest Place in the World-Bermuda Convicts-New York Harbour -The City--First Impressions-Its fine Position-Splendid Harbour-Forest of Masts-The Ferry-boats, Hotels, and Bars-Offenbach's Impressions-Broadway, Fulton Market, and Central Park-New York in Winter-Frozen Ships -The great Brooklyn Bridge-Halifax and its Beauties-Importance of the Station-Bedford Basin-The Early Settlers-The Blue Noses-Adieu to America.

AND now the exigencies of the service require us to tear ourselves away from gay and pleasant Valparaiso, and voyage in spirit round the Horn to the South-East American Station, which includes the whole coast, from Terra del Fuego to Brazil and Guiana. Friendly ports, Rio and Montevideo, are open to the Royal Navy as stations for necessary repairs or supplies; but the only strictly British port on the whole station is that at the dreary Falkland Islands, to be shortly described.

Every schoolboy knows that Cape Horn is even more dreaded than the other "Cape of Storms," otherwise known as "The Cape," par excellence. In these days, the introduction of steam has reduced much of the danger and horrors of the passage round, though on occasions they are sufficiently serious. In fact, now that there is a regular tug-boat service in the Straits of Magellan, there is really no occasion to go round it at all. In 1862 the writer rounded it, in a steamer of good power, when the water was as still as a mill-pond, and the Horn itself-a barren, black, craggy, precipitous rock, towering above the utter desolation and bleakest solitudes of that forsaken spot-was plainly in sight.

Captain Basil Hall, and his officers and crew, in 1820, when rounding Cape Horn observed a remarkable phenomenon, which may account for the title of the "Land of Fire" bestowed upon it by Magellan. A brilliant light suddenly appeared in the north-western

quarter. "At first of a bright red, it became fainter and fainter, till it disappeared altogether. After the lapse of four or five minutes, its brilliancy was suddenly restored, and it seemed as if a column of burning materials had been projected into the air. This bright appearance lasted from ten to twenty seconds, fading by degrees as the column became lower, till at length only a dull red mass was distinguishable for about a minute, after which it again vanished." The sailors thought it a revolving light, others that it must be a forest on fire. All who examined it carefully through a telescope agreed in considering it a volcano, like Stromboli, emitting alternately jets of flame and red-hot stones. The light was visible

till morning; and although during the night it appeared to be not more than eight or ten miles off, no land was to be seen. The present writer would suggest the probability of its having been an electrical phenomenon.

The naval station at the Falklands is at Port Stanley, on the eastern island, where there is a splendid land-locked harbour, with a narrow entrance. The little port is, and has been, a haven of refuge for many a storm-beaten mariner: not merely from the fury of the elements, but also because supplies of fresh meat can be obtained there, and, indeed, everything else. Wild cattle, of old Spanish stock, roam at will over many parts of the two islands. When the writer was there, in 1862, beef was retailed at fourpence per pound, and Port Stanley being a free port, everything was very cheap. How many boxes of cigars, pounds of tobacco, cases of hollands, and demijohns of rum were, in consequence,

THE NAVAL STATION AT PORT STANLEY.

177

taken on board by his 300 fellow-passengers would be a serious calculation. The little town has not much to recommend it. It has, of course, a Government House and a church, and barracks for the marines stationed there. It is, moreover, the head-quarters of the Falkland Islands Company, a corporation much like the Hudson's Bay Company, trading in furs and hides, and stores for ships and native trade. The three great characteristics of Port Stanley are the penguins, which abound, and are to be seen waddling in troops

in its immediate vicinity, and stumbling over the stones if pursued; the kelp, which is so thick and strong in the water at the edge of the bay in places, that a strong boat's crew can hardly get "way" enough on to reach the shore; and the peat-bogs, which would remind an Irishman of his beloved Erin. Peat is the principal fuel of the place; and what glorious fires it makes! At least, so thought a good many of the passengers who took the opportunity of living on shore during the fortnight of the vessel's stay. For about three shillings and sixpence a day one could obtain a good bed, meals of beef-steaks and joints and fresh vegetables-very welcome after the everlasting salt junk and preserved vegetables of the ship with the addition of hot rum and water, nearly ad libitum. Then the privilege of stretching one's legs is something, after five or six weeks' confinement. There is duck and

loon-shooting to be had, or an excursion to the lighthouse, a few miles from the town, where the writer found children, of several years of age, who had never even beheld the glories of Port Stanley, and yet were happy; and near which he saw on the beach sea-trees -for "sea-weed" would be a misnomer, the trunks being several feet in circumferenceslippery, glutinous, marine vegetation, uprooted from the depths of ocean.

would create a sensation in an aquarium.

Some of them

The harbour of Port Stanley is usually safe enough, but, in the extraordinary gales which often rage outside, does not always afford safe anchorage. The steamship on which the writer was a passenger lay far out in the bay, but the force of a sudden gale made her drag her anchors, and but for the steam, which was immediately got up, she would have gone ashore. A sailing-vessel must have been wrecked in the same position. Of course, the power of the engines was set against the wind, and she was saved. Passengers ashore could not get off for two days, and those on board could not go ashore. No boat could have lived, even in the bay, during a large part of the time.

The West Indian Station demands our attention next. Unfortunately, it must not take the space it deserves, for it would occupy that required for ten books of the size of this -ay, twenty-to do it the barest justice. Why? Read Charles Kingsley's admirable work, "At Last"--one, alas! of the last tasks of a well-spent life-and one will see England's interest in those islands, and must think also of those earlier days, when Columbus, Drake, and Raleigh sailed among the waters which divide them—days of geographical discovery worth speaking of, of grand triumphs over foes worth fighting, and of gain amounting to something.

On the 31st July, 1499, Columbus, on his third voyage, sighted the three hills which make the south-eastern end of Trinidad. He had determined to name the first land he should sight after the Holy Trinity, and so he did. The triple peaks probably

reminded him.

Washington Irving tells us, in his "Life of Columbus," that he was astonished at the verdure and fertility of the country, having expected that it would be parched, dry, and sterile as he approached the equator; whereas, he beheld beautiful groves of palm-trees, and luxuriant forests sweeping down to the sea-side, with gurgling brooks and clear, deep streams beneath the shade. The softness and purity of the climate, and the beauty of the country, seemed, after his long sea voyage, to rival the beautiful province of Valencia itself. Columbus found the people a race of Indians fairer than any he had seen before, "of good stature, and of very graceful bearing." They carried square bucklers, and had bows and arrows, with which they made feeble attempts to drive off the Spaniards who landed at Punta Arenal, near Icacque, and who, finding no streams, sank holes in the sand, and so filled their casks with fresh water-as is done by sailors now-a-days in many parts of the world. "And there," says Kingsley, "that source of endless misery to these harmless creatures, a certain Cacique-so goes the tale took off Columbus's cap of crimson velvet,

and replaced it with a circle of gold which he wore."

Alas for them! that fatal present of gold brought down on them enemies far more ruthless than the Caribs of the northern islands, who had a habit of coming down in their canoes and carrying off the gentle Arrawaks, to eat them at their leisure-after the fashion