invaded by a crowd of Porters touting for employment.  They are all dressed in white, and wear red caps, on which is a brass number, by means of which they are easily recognised.  The landlord from the Hotel Ingles, M. Tellier, met us, and we at once drove off, leaving our luggage to follow, in charge of one of the red-capped gentlemen.  The drive from the station was along the Alameda, on either side of which were many fine houses; but the road was ill-paved and shaky as usual.

[Illustration:  Cacti of the Cordillera]

The Grand Hotel, which used to be considered the best in South America, is now shut up, the company who owned it having recently failed; so all the smaller hotels, none of which are very good, are crowded to overflowing.  The Hotel Ingles is considered the best, though I cannot say much 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.