actors or spectators in the great event, were kind enough to allow her to write down, from their verbal account, the main particulars which she has detailed. What was related by those still Royalists, agreed in all facts with what was told by the patriots, and all with the clear and spirited narratives of the Supreme Director, O'Higgins; whose liberality and politeness on this, as on every other point, towards the writer, deserve her warmest acknowledgements. From 1818 to 1821 ample accounts were published in the gazettes of every public occurrence, and every document was during that period laid before the people. But sometime in the year 1821, it became evident that the political speculations of the Protector of Peru, and the commercial schemes of the ministers in Chile, were of a nature not to be unveiled, and the public papers are accordingly very defective from that time. The writer cannot flatter herself that she has been able to supply the deficiencies entirely; but she trusts that the leading marks she has been able to set up will be found sufficient to induce others, more capable of the task, to fill up the outline which she has but sketched. As the struggle in Spanish America was purely that of the colonies with the mother country, the writer had of course nothing to do with the mention of any transactions between the neutral trading nations, whose vessels, either of war or of commerce, might be in the seas of Chile, unless where a direct interference, as in the case of Captain Hillier's guarantee of the treaty in the south of Chile, renders it absolutely necessary. The Postscript to the Journal contains papers from which the present political state of Chile may be understood. There is so much of good in that country, so much in the character of the people and the excellence of the soil and climate, that there can be no doubt of the ultimate success of their endeavours after a free and flourishing state: but there are no ordinary difficulties to get over, no common wants to be supplied; and if the following pages shall in the slightest degree contribute directly or indirectly to supply those wants, or to smooth those difficulties, by calling attention to that country either as one particularly fitted for commercial intercourse, or as one whose natural resources and powers have yet to be cultivated, the writer will feel the truest satisfaction. V. View over the Plain of Santiago from the Top of the Cuesta de Prado 197 XI. Street of San Domingo in Santiago, from my Balcony Sketched on the 18th September, the Houses adorned with Flags 269 XII. Quintero Bay, seen from the Place where the House was 329 XIII. Landing Place at Juan Fernandez 351 XIV. Cacique with his Troops advancing to meet Carrera 419 VIGNETTES. Page 113.-Fort at Valparaiso, in which several English Officers are buried. 142.- A Peruvian Double Vase, which being half filled with water and moved from side to side, produces a whistling sound. These jars were buried with the dead, and are now occasionally found on breaking open the tombs in Peru; the specimen from which this cut was taken was given me by an English Officer. 190.-The Cart, Plough, and Leather Bucket of Chile. 227. The Capelita or little Chapel of Colinas,-drawn from the Roof of the Bathing House. 262.-Great Ovens for baking the Wine Jars, &c. on the Plain of Mellipilla. 304.-A Corner View of the Drawing-room Division of Lord Cochrane's House |