of slaughter, but that it presents a most animating scene of dexterity and skill. It is described in the most lively strain in the entertaining book before us; but our limits will not permit further extracts on this subject. The party at length breaking up, the old gentleman and his daughter returned with Captain Hall to Santiago; from which, in an excursion to a waterfall, they visited another landholder, who was intent on the cultivation of his estate, and took them all over his vineyards and his olive-groves. He shewed them also his wine-presses, and his immense cellars, along which were ranged many hundreds of gigantic jars, capable of holding at least a tun each. Wines and olives here form the great staples of agriculture, and, in the progress of trade, will no doubt afford profitable articles of export to the northern countries of Europe. Captain Hall again left Valparaiso on the 26th of May, and proceeded along the coast for Lima. He continued in sight of land almost the whole way, and the voyage was enlivened by distant glimpses of the majestic Andes, under all their most various and picturesque aspects. He touched at several towns on the coast, where the war had left its desolating traces, and anchored, on the 24th of June, in Callao roads. By this time General San Martin was bringing to a close the campaign which he had pursued of cautious and calculating manoeuvres. The inhabitants of Lima, enervated by a long peace, viewed with inconceivable feelings of alarm the approach of the enemy, as he drew nearer and nearer their town. They looked for nothing short of a general pillage. General San Martin, on the other hand, was advaneing by slow and sure steps. His policy was not to make a conquest of the capital, but rather to enter it as a friend; and, with this view, he was in no haste to advance, but was anxious rather to make friends to the cause of independence, and in this manner to undermine rather than violently to overthrow the old authorities of the country. His object was to effect, not merely a revolution of power, but a revolution of sentiment; and while he was approaching with his army, his friends in the capital, by their arguments and discussions with the people, were paving the way for his peaceful entrance. The viceroy seeing no prospect of defending the city, issued a proclamation that he was to abandon it, and pointed out Callao as a refuge for the alarmed inhabitants. This was accordingly the signal for immediate flight, and the road to Callao was covered with a long train of miserable fugitives, acting under the influence of mere panic, and flying from unknown evils, the work chiefly of their own terrified imaginations. In the capital, a similar panic prevailed, and an indistinct presage of some terrible catastrophe. The Marquis of Montemire, who had been left by the Viceroy as Governor of the city, convened the principal inhabitants to consult for their common safety; at this meeting Captain Hall was present, and he gives the following account of it: Many whose politics had obliged them to keep out of sight for a long time, now came forward from their places of concealment ; and many whose authority had a few days before carried all before it, now looked sadly crest-fallen. Some expressed the greatest alarm, some sorrow; others were exulting and congratulating one another on the consummation of their political hopes; and some bustled about amongst the crowd, merely to say how very much they were in doubt what ought to be done. My old acquaintance, the ex-inquisitor, whom I had met in the same house in February last, was there amongst the rest, but was treated with a contempt that very clearly proved his occupation to be gone. On the other hand, I recognised a strange little man, folded up in an old dingy Spanish cloak, with a broadbrimmed yellow hat, hooked loosely on one corner of his small square head, and shadowing a face plastered all over with snuff, which, in the vehemence of his agitation, he flung at his nose in handfuls; but through this forbidding exterior it was easy to perceive, by the flash of his eye, and the sarcastic turn of his expression, a promise of intellect far beyond that of the people about him. He had been formerly pointed out to me in the streets as a furious republican, who had been with difficulty restrained by his friends from breaking out too soon; and his active intrigues, it was also said, had essentially contributed to that revolution in public sentiment which had been gradually accomplished in Lima. By the advice of this person, a letter was written to San Martin, inviting him to enter the city, and protect it against the dangers with which it was threatened from the violence of the mob, and from the slaves. A brief and admirable reply was received from General San Martin, mentioning, that he had no desire to enter the city, unless expressly in vited by the inhabitants themselves; and in the meantime, to prevent any alarm, and to give full time for deliberation, he added, that orders had been sent to the troops surrounding the capital to obey, implicitly, the Governor of Lima. On assembling to hear this answer read, the whole company were thunderstruck at such an unlooked-for example of moderation; doubts were started as to the sincerity of the General, and one person went so far as to say, that the whole was a mockery of their distress, and that the city would be pillaged in a few hours. On this the little old republican, mentioned as so active in all these consultations, and who appears to have been clearly in the interest of San Martin, proposed that an order should be sent to some of the troops investing the town to move to a greater distance, which would at once bring the General's sincerity to the test. This order was instantly obeyed; the news of which flying through Lima, at once restored general confidence. "In a day or two, (says Captain Hall,) every thing was restored to its ordinary state, the shops were opened,-the women were seen stealing out of their convents,-the men ventured forth to smoke their segars in the Plaza, the streets were lined with people returning to their homes, and with loaded mules bringing back trunks, boxes, and household articles. of all kinds,-the mass-bells were again tinkling,-the street-criers bawling as heretofore,-and the great city once more restored to its wonted noise and bustle." Captain Hall gives the following well-drawn portrait of General San Martin: There was little, at first sight, in his appearance to engage the attention, but when he rose up and began to speak, his superiority was apparent. He received us in very homely style, on the deck of his vessel, dressed in a loose surtout coat, and a large fur cap, and seated at a table made of a few loose planks laid along the top of some empty casks. He is a tall, erect, well-proportioned, handsome man, with a large aquiline nose, thick black hair, and immense bushy dark whiskers, extending from ear to ear under the chin; his complexion is deep olive; and his eye, is jet black, his whole appearance being which is large, prominent, and piercing, highly military. He is thoroughly wellbred, and unaffectedly simple in his manners, exceedingly cordial and engaging, and possessed evidently of great kindliness of disposition; in short, I have never seen any person, the enchantment of whose address was more irresistible. In con, versation, he went at once to the strong points of the topic, disdaining, as it were, to trifle with its minor parts; he listened earnestly, and replied with distinctness and fairness, showing wonderful resources in argument, and a most happy fertility of illustration, the effect of which was, to stood in the sense they wished. Yet there make his audience feel they were underwas nothing showy or ingenious in his times, perfectly in earnest, and deeply discourse, and he certainly seemed, at all possessed with his subject. At times, his animation rose to a high pitch, when the flash of his eye, and the whole turn of his expression, became so exceedingly ener getic, as to rivet the attention of his au dience beyond the possibility of evading his arguments. This was most remark. able when the topic was politics, on which subject I consider myself fortunate in having heard him express himself fre quently. But his quiet manner was not less striking, and indicative of a mind of no ordinary stamp; and he could even be playful and familiar, were such the tone of the moment; and whatever effect the subsequent possession of great political power may have had on his mind, I feel confident that his natural disposition is kind and benevolent. General San Martin entered Lima on the 12th of July, and, by his popular manners, appeared to give satisfaction to all ranks. He was waited upon by all the public authorities,the independence of Peru was proclaimed and solemnly sworn to,-and public balls were given in honour of the auspicious era now commenced. On Sunday, Te Deum was sung, and the evening concluded with a ball at the Palace, given by San Martin, who joined heartily in the dances, conversing with every individual in the room with ease and cheerfulness, and appeared, of all the company, the least burdened with official duties. The following strange custom, as mentioned by Captain Hall, prevails in this country at balls, public as well as private: Ladies of all ranks, who happen not to be invited, come in disguise, and stand at the windows, or in the passages, and often actually enter the ball-room. They are called Tapadas, from their faces being covered; and their object is to observe the proceedings of their unconscious friends, whom they torment by malicious speeches whenever they are within hear. ing. At the Palace, on Sunday evening, the Tapadas were somewhat less forward than usual; but at the Cabildo, or Magistrates' ball, given previously, the lower part of the room was filled with them, and they kept up a constant fire of jests at the gentlemen near the bottom of the dance. The Conway sailed from Valparaiso on the 1st of October, to the south, in quest of a noted pirate, Benavides, who had taken two American, and one English whaler, and of whose operations and final exit on the scaffold we have an interesting account. On the 14th of November 1821, Captain Hall received orders to proceed from Valparaiso towards Lima, calling at the intermediate ports. He accordingly touched at Coquimbo, a shipping port for the produce of the mines; also at Guasco, the village of Asiento, pleasantly situated on the banks of a stream, with gardens and trees between, and shady walks reaching from the doors to the water. They were every where kindly and hospitably received, and had an opportunity of inspecting several mines, and the works established for the smelting of the metal. On the 22d of November they anchored in Copiapo bay, and early next day they set off for Copiapo, which, in April 1819, was thrown down by an earthquake. It is about 60 miles from its port. The party consisted of three passengers in the Conway from Coquimbo, and three officers. They soon entered a broad valley, where the surface was covered with a crust of salt several inches thick, which looked like snow on the ground. The day was dreadfully hot, and they were almost choaked with dust, VOL. XIV. when they approached, with delight, 3 D riods of these calamities being 1773, 1796, and 1819. The great earthquake was the chief subject of conversation at Copiapo, and many characteristic remarks were made on this topic. The question being asked at one of the inhabitants when they had last felt a shock, he replied, "in April," meaning the great earthquake of April 1819, not conceiving that any one would take an interest in such petty shocks as would not destroy a town; an old man in company seeing the mistake, explained that it was a long time since they had felt a shock of any consequence; and on being pressed more closely to say what he considered long, he replied, a month." The following account of the sensations of those who were present gives a lively conception of this dreadful catastrophe: On our return, we were gratified by meeting two agreeable and intelligent men, whom our host had considerately invited to meet us; they were most willing to exchange local information for news about the rest of the world, with which they appeared to have extremely little intercourse. We soon engaged them in conversation about the great earthquake. It began, they said, between eight and nine in the morning of the 3d of April, and continued, with gentle shocks, during that day and the next. At four in the afternoon of the 4th there came a violent shock, which produced a waving or rolling motion in the ground, like that of a ship at sea, which lasted for about two minutes. In every case these shocks were preceded by a loud rolling noise, compared, by one person, to the echo of thunder amongst the hills, and by another to the roar of a subterranean torrent, carrying along an enormous mass of rocks and stones. Every person spoke of this sound with an expression of the greatest horror. One of the gentlemen said, it was "espantoso!" (frightful.) "Yes," added the other, shuddering at the recollection, "horroroso." The people, at a particular moment, were excited to a more than ordinary terror, and they all rushed in a body to the church called La Merced. They were advised not to enter, but rather to bring the images to the streets. This advice was happily followed, and they had scarcely left the church when a severe shock brought down the roof and one end of it, so that almost the whole popu lation of the town must have perished, if they had not been judiciously detained in the open air. After this, the description proceeds in the following terms: After the fall of La Merced, the inha❤ bitants fled to the neighbouring hills, leaving only one or two fool-hardy people who chose to remain. Amongst these was a German, who, as he told me himself, divided his time in the Plaza, be tween taking notes of the various passing phenomena, and drinking aquardiente, the spirits of the country. Slight shocks occasionally succeeded that on the 4th ; but it was not till the 11th of April, seven days after the fall of the Merced, that the formidable one occurred, which, in an instant, laid the whole town in ruins. It was accompanied by a subterranean sound, which, though at first of a low tone, gradually swelled to a clear, dreadful loudness, of which no one, I observed, even at this distance of time, could speak without an involuntary shudder. After the first great shock which levelled the town, the ground continued in motion for seven minutes, sometimes rising and falling, but more frequently vibrating with great rapidity; it then became still for some minutes; then vibrated again, and so on, without an intermission of more than a quarter of an hour, for several days. The violence of the earthquake now abated a little; the intervals became longer, and the shocks not quite so violent; but it was not till six months afterwards that it could be said to be entirely over; for the ground, during that period, was never long steady, and the frightful noises in the earth constantly portended fresh calamities. In the course of these conversations, many little circumstances were detailed, which impressed the stamp of authenticity on the narrative given. One of the party, describing the severe shock, mentioned that it was about four in the afternoon. "Oh no," said another, "it was later, I assure you." "Indeed it was not," answered the first; "don't you remember we were playing at bowls at the time, and when the sound was heard I stopped playing, and you called on me to look what o'clock it was? I took out my watch, and told you it was past four." Another person, mentioning the panic in which some little insignificant person was thrown, added, they forgot the shock in quizzing this little mannikin. He "Nevertheless," added he gravely, "although I am not a man to cry out and play the fool on such occasions, yet I do fairly own, that earthquakes are very awful; and, indeed, must be felt, to be understood in their true extent. Before we hear the sound, or, at least, are fully conscious of hearing it, we are made sensible, I do not well know how, that something uncommon is going to happen; every thing seems to change colour; our thoughts are chained immoveably down; the whole world appears to be in disor der; all Nature looks different from what it wont to do; we feel quite subdued and overwhelmed by some invisible power, beyond human control or comprehension. Then comes the horrible sound, distinctly heard; and immediately the solid earth is all in motion, waving to and fro, like the surface of the sea. Depend upon it, Sir, a severe earthquake is enough to shake the firmest mind. Custom enables us to restrain the expression of alarm; but no custom can teach any one to witness such earthquakes without the deepest emotion of terror." Captain Hall gives a very distinct and satisfactory view of the mining concerns in Chili. The metals produced are gold, silver, and copper, the last by much the most abundant and most profitable-the cop per-mines being to the gold-mines in the proportion of 50 to 1, and, to the silver, as 15 to 1. The average produce of copper has been increased to 60,000 quintals, of 100 Spanish pounds each, the greatest part of which goes to Calcutta, a small quantity to the United States, and the rest to China. The annual export of silver is about 20,000 marcs, at 8 dollars per marc. It is well known that, according to the mode in which mining was carried on in South America, the miner was obliged to depend on the capitalist, who resided at some of the ports, for advances to carry on his business; in the same manner, as in agriculture, the seed was, in the rude ages of Europe, advanced to the husbandman by the richer landlord. He is accordingly at the mercy of this money-lender, to whom he is always in debt, and who exacts from him the most usurious advantages. By the free trade, and the introduc tion of foreign capital, a greater competition has now arisen; and Captain Hall details a pleasing example of a miner who had been long held in this unjust thraldom, liberated by the interference of an English merchant, who advanced him the necessary capital on easier terms, on condition that he should have, at a fair price, the whole produce of the mine. Copper is the great staple of the country, and affords the most/ eligible remittance in return for goods imported. The advantage of having a command of this article, therefore, is, that the merchant is thereby enabled to act as agent for the mercantile houses of the capital. The consignee of the British goods in South America must apply to the agent of the mines for a supply of copper; his ship calls at the appointed time, and receives its cargo. By this means the whole transaction is wound up-the British manufacturer receives his payment-the South American agent receives his commission, and a profit on the sale of the goods -and the agent of the mines has also his profit and his commission. As the trade increases, however, the business will no doubt gradually run into other and more diversified channels. The late free trade has brought with it incalculable advantages to the trade of mining, as it has doubled the prices paid for the copper, while all articles necessary in the working of the mines, such as steel and iron, have fallen from 50 and 25, to 16 and 8; fine cloth from 23 to 12; printed cottons from 18 and 24, to 2 and 3 reals; velveteens from 26 to 2 reals; crockery-ware, per crate, from 350 to 40; hardware from 300 to 100; glass from 200 to 100. In the course of his account of the mines, and the mode of working them, Captain Hall has laid down a principle in political economy, as applicable to this subject, which, on consideration, he may not find so clear as he at first imagines. Mining, he says, no more than any other branch of industry, can long continue to yield extraordinary profits; "since, if capital were more productively bestowed on mines, than on any other employment, it would be speedily withdrawn from these other employments, and affixed |