could obtain no tidings of a single farthing on the Atlantic side of
that continent; but he learned one thing most thoroughly and
satisfactorily, as thousands have done besides him, that if he had gone
there in the first place, and seen the nakedness of the land, and the
deplorable and remediless ignorance and superstition of the people, his
fifty thousand pounds would have snugly remained in the three per cents.
and India bonds. He was determined, however, now that he was fairly
afloat, to "go the whole figure," and see the worst, if there was any
thing worse to come. Accordingly he took passage for Valparaiso, where
he found how, why, and wherefore his steam-boat concern had become a
decided take-in; it is not very profitable running a boat of that kind
in a country where wood sells at three cents per pound on the beach, and
where the people have no idea of travelling except in the saddle.

Chili, then under the directorship of O'Higgins, was the only South
American province that seemed to have changed for the better, by
renouncing its allegiance to "Ferdinand the Beloved." Its ports were
thrown open to foreign commerce; its navy was respectable, for the
ships, the officers, and the seamen were English or Americans; its
inhabitants had become quite civilized and tame, for the murdered
foreigners in the streets of Valparaiso did not average much more than
one or two per night; which, compared with Havana and Buenos Ayres,
gave Chili a preponderance of refinement scarcely credible. Mr.
Effingham was highly delighted with the country; and indeed Chili,
setting aside the inhabitants, for the salubrity and mildness of its
climate, the fertility of its soil, and the variety and delicacy of its
fruits and vegetables, is certainly one of the finest countries in the
world. He found many Englishmen established in various sections of the
country, and the better sort of inhabitants very much disposed to treat
them with kindness and urbanity.

He had been about eighteen months in St. Jago when he sent for his
daughter, who now constituted the whole of his family; his English
business he knew was safe in the management of his partner, and he sat
himself down with the determination of making a magnificent fortune very
much at his ease. Poor man! he little dreamed that the whole of South
America is as infamous for revolutions as it is for earthquakes.

Having said thus much concerning the father of Julia Effingham, it is
but fair t