American ports, St. Petersburg, Constantinople, and several other
places, besides those from dear old England.

About four o'clock Tom and I went ashore. We had intended going alone
in the 'Flash' (our lightest boat), but a strong southerly wind had
sprung up, which at once made the sea so rough that we went in the
'Gleam' (the gig) instead, with six oars. It took the men all their
time to get us ashore, though we had not far to go, for wind, tide,
and waves were all against us.

Valparaiso consists mainly of two interminable streets, running along
the edge of the sea, at the foot of the hills, which rise immediately
behind them, and on which are built all the residences and villas of
the gentlemen of the place. Very few live in the town itself, which is
composed almost entirely of large warehouses and fine shops, where you
can get almost anything you want by paying between three and four
times as much for it as you would do in England. For instance, the
charge for hair-cutting is a dollar and a half (4s.), a
three-and-sixpenny Letts's Diary costs two dollars and a half (10s.),
a tall hat costs fifty-eight shillings, you must pay sixpence each for
parchment luggage-labels, threepence apiece for quill pens, four
shillings for a quire of common notepaper, and so on in proportion.

We had, as I have said, seen the yacht leave Lota Bay, with a strong
head-wind blowing, on Thursday, the 19th instant. In a few hours the
wind fell to a calm, which then changed to a light favourable breeze,
and the 'Sunbeam' reached Valparaiso on the following Saturday
afternoon, anchoring out in the bay, not far from H.M.S. 'Opal.' Here
they rolled and tumbled about even more than if they had been at sea,
the swinging capacities of the saloon tables and lamps being tried to