bought a piece of yonder blue sky, to breed cattle on."

The subject of their conversation now rode up, and was received with general expressions of pleasure, while Pablo was sent away for the wine barrel and baggage. After they had supped, and were in full glee, taking turns to rest, and watch the cattle, which were grazing around the valley, all found time to complain of some corporeal ailment, for which they wanted a remedy; and the benevolent physician listened in the most kindly manner, giving them the advice he deemed requisite. Sweet was the sleep into which he soon after sunk on his simple couch of horse-trappings spread on the grassy turf; while surrounded by the rude but kindly men, whose hearts he had won by the beneficence of his disposition, which constantly shewed itself in words and acts, alike unpremeditated. To look on that scene by the light of the watch-fire, to which many trees had contributed, while the half-savage looking beings sat on the earth, around the cultivated man of high civilization, amidst the mournful lowings of the stolen cattle: might have stirred up in the philosophic mind, many sources of deep thought as to the origin and definition of good and evil.

So soon as the morning star peeped above the horizon, all were in motion, preparing to continue their journey across the mountain range; and our friend Don Juan was not displeased at the addition to his escort. The cattle drivers were twelve in number, and with a thousand head of bulls and cows, of somewhat restive disposition, they had quite sufficient work in hand; so that it was only at intervals that Don Juan could glean information from them respecting the localities and the plants he met with; and even his guide Pablo felt more disposition to attend to the exciting sport of cattle driving, than to answer questions respecting matters whose utility he could not comprehend. As they advanced, the valley became broader, and various grassy ravines opened into it at intervals, up which the cattle continually strayed; so that it became necessary for half the men to go on a-head, to keep them in the right track. At mid-day, they reached a spot where the hills on either side rose in tall cliffs, and the valley narrowed so, that there was only space on one side for a road, and on the other for the stream, which ran deeply and rapidly down. At this spot, the cattle were necessarily huddled close

together; and they were scarcely got through the narrow pass to a more open spot, when a herd of guanacoes were seen to dash away from the pasture on which they had been feeding, and rush up a track on the mountain side. At this spirit-stirring sight, the men forgot their cattle, and spurred their horses up the steep path, till there was no possibility of advancing farther, and then dismounting, they set on two fine dogs, who needed no urging to follow their prey; yet the voices of the men rang loudly, as they echoed from rock to rock, while they cheered their four-footed friends on their task. O! it was a joyous time, with the bright snn over-head, and a green valley below, and the gurgling clear stream, alternating with the precipitous crags, and the fixed attention of all to the animating sport, and the shouts of rapture as the dogs gradually gained on their chase. At length they came up with their prey; but heeding not those whom they first reached, they sprang through the whole body, and fairly turned them back upon their footsteps. Don Juan, who had hitherto been merely watching, now dismounted from his horse, and prepared his gun, which he successfully discharged on the first who approached; and at the report several others were so startled, that they sprung madly over the steep, and were dashed to pieces. Some few out of the herd escaped the lazos of the hunters, dashed down the valley and escaped, the dogs being too wearied to pursue them; and moreover, occupied in satiating themselves with the blood of those the hunters had slaughtered with their knives.

"To our work, comrades!" exclaimed Antonio, so soon as the bezoar stones * had been extracted from the slaughtered animals.

"Shall we not carry some of the guanaco meat with us?" asked Don Juan.

"If your honour wishes it," replied Antonio; "but not for us. Only the poor beggarly Chilenos eat guanaco from choice. We might eat it if we had nothing else; but with a thousand head of beeves, we shall hardly eat inferior

Notwithstanding all the haste they made, the unruliness of the cattle, and the time they had lost in the guanaco hunt, delayed them so much, that night overtook them as they were passing through a straggling grove of the chanar, the algarrova, and the thorny acacia, which filled the valley from side to side. Much trouble was experienced in driving the cattle away from the shelter of the trees; and they had scarcely got through, when a most hideous and deafening yell startled them back upon their drivers, and a number of horsemen, dashing forwards at the same moment, threw their lazos over the heads of the astonished gauchos, and dragged most of them to the earth.

"Indians! Indians!" shouted Pablo to his patron; and putting spurs to their horses, they endeavoured to ride beyond the reach of pursuit. But the unerring bolas instantly left the hands of many pursuers the limbs of the horses were fettered, and they sank to the ground, while their riders were noosed by lazos, and they were made prisoners. Some few of the gauchos had been killed, while making unavailing attempts at resistance, and the remainder, with Don Juan and Pablo, after their hands had been bound behind their backs, were fastened upon horses, and led away by some of their assailants, whose numbers they could not discover; while the remainder occupied themselves with looking after the cattle, and driving them up the valley. Don Juan spoke once or twice to his guards; but the only reply was the exhibition of a knife, or rather the pressure of the point against his breast. He said no more; but sat still upon his horse, as it was led forwards.

After advancing half a league, the leader of the party turned up a ravine leading southwards, which made several windings; after which they entered the sandy bed of a rivulet which ran between the stupendous walls of lofty rocks, and was in some parts intersected by mountain masses of granite. At length they began to ascend a steep slope, over which the stream fell; and at the top they emerged on a small level plain, surmounted on all sides by mountains. One of the guides now placed his hand on his mouth, and gave vent to the startling Indian yell, which was instantly replied

to.

The whole party then turned an angle of the mountain slope, and several large fires were seen. They halted before a large building, formed of rough stones, piled one on another, without

cement, and covered with a thatch of rushes; several skins of wild animals sewn together, serving as a curtain instead of a door.

Don Juan and the rest of the party then dismounted, and were led to a fire, where a guard of wild looking men of white blood, and also others of the red race, were assembled; but all alike clad in the Indian costume. A more ferocious assemblage it had never been the lot of Don Juan to look on. Their clothing consisted of one poncho of gaudy colours thrown over the shoulders, and another fastened round the waist; and boots made from the skin of a horse's legs, taken off entire. Some of the whites had, in addition to these, the ragged and worn out clothing of Christians, and wore a species of foraging cap on their head.

Their arms were for the most part, rusty sabres and carbines. The Indians wore cuirasses of hardened hide, and bore long lances of cane, headed with rude points of iron; some of them had sabres, and all, knives. Most of them were bare-headed if long and thick bushes of hair, which resembled the tail of a horse in all but smoothness, can be called bare. Others of them wore a species of hide helmet, set round with ostrich feathers, in the form of a coronal.

In the countenances of the Indians there might be seen a dull ferocity, but in those of the whites there was a malignant expression of diabolic cunning which commonly marks the civilized renegade when he turns to the savage

state.

One after another the prisoners were removed from around the fire, and conveyed to the dwelling, with a considerable interval of time between each: Don Juan was the last who was summoned. An Indian held him on each side, notwithstanding his arms were pinioned; and the skin curtain being lifted, they entered the dwelling. The apartment Don Juan found himself in, was of large size: in the centre was piled up a heap of burning embers, and around the sides were reclining a number of armed white men in tattered uniforms; whose deficiencies were made up with various articles of Indian clothing. It was with much difficulty that Don Juan recognised the uniform as that of Spanish soldiers, though those who were there were evidently natives of Spain. scowled ferociously upon Don Juan, who was ushered by his guides, through a door on the right hand, made of strong planks, into a second apartment, the in

They

terior of which was hung round with Indian ponchos, to serve as hangings. In the centre was a chafing dish of copper, filled with burning charcoal, and over it was suspended a kind of flat bowl of red clay, with two ears, upon a ramrod of a musket which was stuck in the earth at an angle of 45 degrees. Tallow, kept fluid by the hot charcoal, was swimming in the bowl; and a shred of filthy rag served as a wick. From this coarse kind of lamp, proceeded a broad glare of smoky light, which enabled Don Juan carefully to examine the only tenant of the apartment, who reclined upon a low couch, rudely formed of the packsaddles of the mules, on which was spread a large dry hide of an ox, and upon that some soft sheepskins, overlaid in turn by ponchos. The occupant was not a man easily forgotten, when once looked upon. He was in height about six feet, broad shoulders, and of muscular frame. His features and dark complexion, as well as his strong black hair, evinced that he was of half Indian blood. His forehead was of that proportion which gives indication of strong intellect, and a most resolved spirit; and the unshaven beard which covered the lower part of his face, was not thick enough to hide its handsome form. He seemed a man who might have been liked, but for the quick and restless glancing of his full black eye, which told the tale of latent ferocity. His dress was principally of the kind worn by the wealthier class of gauchos, and the jacket of overworn uniform, with its tarnished silver epaulets, seemed to tell that the gaucho costume had been adopted to supply the want of that part of the uniform there was no means of procuring. But it was at any rate cleanly, and the spurs which covered his horse-leg boots, were of massy silver; his head was covered with a silver mounted dragoon's helmet, in which was placed a plume of ostrich feathers. In his girdle was worn a large knife in a sheath, flanked by a pair of large pistols; and by his side was suspended an ironsheathed sabre, with a silver hilt; while on the couch, close at hand, lay a military carbine.

He did not vouchsafe to turn his eyes upon Don Juan, but asked in a stern

tone

"Whence comest thou?"
"From Mendoça!"

"What seekest thou in these mountain passes?"

"I am a stranger, wishing to survey the country, to glean a knowledge of its plants and minerals."

The ferocious chief started from his couch, and fixed his piercing eyes for a while on the countenance of the speaker. He then spoke

"Art thou not the foreign physician who hast lived so long in Mendoça?" "I am!"

The chief drew the knife from his girdle, and approached Don Juan, who awaited his death with a calm look. That was not, however, the intention of the chief, who cut the fastening from the prisoner's arms, and set him free. Then he asked

"Dost thou not know me?"

"Your voice seems familiar; but where I know not."

"You remember the robber who was shot by the order of the public authorities-but not dead; he whom you afterwards cured, in secret, and dismissed with money? Here is the scar!" "And you have turned robber again? I now remember you. Is this my reward?"

A bitter smile passed across his countenance, as he replied—

Stranger! I am no robber. I hold the commission of the king of Spain.— Behold it!"

As he spoke, he drew forth the document, and handed it to Don Juan, who after perusing it, exclaimed

"You are then Pincheira; he who was so long the terror of Southern Chile, and who was supposed to be in Chiloe?"

"I returned with a fresh commission from the governor, as general for the king of Spain, to wage a war of extermination, of which the patriots set me the example, when they shot me, and left me for dead."

"But you were then a robber?"

I was

"I was what they made me. sent to San Luis to be butchered in cold blood, after my father had fallen in battle. I escaped, and lived long unknown. My father was a Spanish officer: to be the son of a Spaniard, was a deadly crime; but my mother was an Indian woman of the Pehuenches tribes, and that was held to be a dishonour. I resided in the city of Concepcion, under a feigned name; and, as I lacked not coin, I was made welcome in the dwellings of those, who, reckoning only Spanish ancestry amongst their kindred, deemed themselves of noble blood. My blood was hot as theirs, and like an idiot I madly loved a daughter of one of their proudest families. I would have laid myself at her feet; I would have poured forth my blood at her command; I

would have taken service in the Patriot

re

army, had she wished it. She might have made a god of me, and she turned me into a demon! Unskilled in the arts of women, I deemed that they were all faithful and simple as the mother who nursed my youth, in the fort of San Carlos, on the frontier of the Pehuenches. The white-blooded woman ceived my offerings, she smiled on my rude and untutored affection, and I believed it was the smile of sincerity, when it was but the mockery of what she deemed my presumption. I spoke out plainly, I humbled myself before her, and asked for love, where love was not. She spurned me with contempt; she called me 'Indian, base blooded Indian,' and told me that if I presumed again to address her thus, the carcel and stripes should be my portion. She then took the hand of a newly-made patriot officer, who sat near her, and declared him her accepted lover. I had not in my youth been taught the arts of the whites; but the feelings of nature prompted me, and I frowned defiance on him who was to rob me of all that I valued in the world. He arose and struck me. My left hand was upon his throat, and my right hand reached to my girdle, when the shriek of her who loved him and hated me, restrained the stroke; and her father and his slaves entering, I was bound in her presence, and the carcel and stripes she had threatened, became my portion. She spoke no word to save me from shame, and all feelings of mercy were scourged away from me. I thought of vengeance while in prison, and I escaped from my bonds to wreak it. Had I possessed power at first, I had slain her lover; but I had time for reflection; and I remembered that if he perished, I might make room only for another rival. (Concluded at page 60.]

RABELAIS' WILL AND TESTAMENT.

The celebrated Rabelais is said to have made the following will:-"I owe much -I possess nothing-I give the rest to the poor."

SPANISH FLATTERY.

The Spaniards do not often pay hyperbolical compliments; but one of their admired writers, speaking of a lady's black eyes, says, they were in mourning

for the murders she had committed.

* Spanish prison.

AN EULOGIUM ON COFFEE. BY COUNT RUMFORD.

AMONGST the numerous luxuries of the table unknown to our forefathers, which have been imported into Europe in modern times, coffee may be considered as one of the most valuable; its taste is very agreeable, and its flavour uncommonly so; but its principal excellencies, are its salubrity, and its exhilarating quality. It excites cheerfulness without intoxication; and the pleasing flavour which it contains, lasts many hours, and is never followed by sadness, langour, or debility; it diffuses over the whole frame a glow of health, and a sense of ease and well being, which is exceedingly delightful. Existence is felt to be a positive enjoyment, and the mental powers are awakened, and rendered uncommonly active. It has been facetiously observed, that there is more wit in Europe, since the use of coffee has become so general among us, and I shall not hesitate to confesss that I am seriously of that opinion. Some of the ablest, most brilliant, and most indefatigable men I have been acquainted with, have been remarkable for their fondness of coffee; and I am so persuaded of its powerful effects in clearing up the mind, and invigorating the faculties, that on very interesting occasions I have several times taken an additional dose for that very purpose. That coffee has contributed to our innocent enjoyments, cannot be doubted; and experience has abundantly proved that so far from its being unwholesome, it is most certainly very salubrious.

TO MAKE COFFEE AS THE FRENCH MAKE IT.

Have a coffee-pot with a lip; pour into it as many cups of boiling water as you wish to make cups of coffee; let the water boil, then put in as many tablespoonfuls of coffee as there are cups of water, stir it in, let it simmer till the head falls. When the coffee is done, take it off the fire, pour in a cup of cold water, set the coffee on the hearth, and let it stand ten minutes, when it will be fine. For breakfast, put one cupful of this coffee to three or four cups of boiled milk, and sweeten to your taste, and you will find it a luxury at a small expense, as great as wealth can procure.