The view was here pre-eminently striking: the dead level surface, covered in parts by woods of acacia, and with the city in the distance, abutting horizontally against the base of the Andes, whose snowy peaks were bright with the evening sun.

At the first glance of this view, it was quite evident that the plain represented the extent of a former inland sea.

As soon as we gained the level road we pushed our horses into a gallop, and reached the city before it was dark.
I stayed a week in Santiago and enjoyed myself very much.

In the morning I rode to various places on the plain, and in the evening dined with several of the English merchants, whose hospitality at this place is well known.

A never-failing source of pleasure was to ascend the little hillock of rock (St.Lucia) which projects in the middle of the city.