their bodies bent forward, leaning with their arms on the steps, their
legs bowed, their muscles quivering, the perspiration streaming from
their faces over their breasts, their nostrils distended, the corners
of their mouth forcibly drawn back, and the expulsion of their breath
most laborious. Each time they draw their breath, they utter an
articulate cry of "ay-ay," which ends in a sound rising from deep in
the chest, but shrill like the note of a fife. After staggering to the
pile of ore, they emptied the "carpacho;" in two or three seconds
recovering their breath, they wiped the sweat from their brows, and
apparently quite fresh descended the mine again at a quick pace. This
appears to me a wonderful instance of the amount of labour which habit,
for it can be nothing else, will enable a man to endure.
In the evening, talking with the _mayor-domo_ of these mines about the
number of foreigners now scattered over the whole country, he told me
that, though quite a young man, he remembers when he was a boy at
school at Coquimbo, a holiday being given to see the captain of an
English ship, who was brought to the city to speak to the governor. He
believes that nothing would have induced any boy in the school, himself
included, to have gone close to the Englishman; so deeply had they been
impressed with an idea of the heresy, contamination, and evil to be
derived from contact with such a person. To this day they relate the
atrocious actions of the bucaniers; and especially of one man, who took
away the figure of the Virgin Mary, and returned the year after for
that of St. Joseph, saying it was a pity the lady should not have a
husband. I heard also of an old lady who, at a dinner at Coquimbo,
remarked how wonderfully strange it was that she should have lived to
dine in the same room with an Englishman; for she remembered as a girl,
that twice, at the mere cry of "Los Ingleses," every soul, carrying
what valuables they could, had taken to the mountains.
14th.--We reached Coquimbo, where we stayed a few days. The town is
remarkable for nothing but its extreme quietness. It is said to
contain from 6000 to 8000 inhabitants. On the morning of the 17th it
rained lightly, the first time this year, for about five hours. The
farmers, who plant corn near the sea-coast where the atmosphere is most
humid, taking advantage of this shower, would break up the ground;
after a second they would put the seed in; and if a third shower should
fall, they would reap a good harvest in the spring. It was interesting
to watch the effect of this trifling amount of moisture. Twelve hours
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