The splendid and substantially-built iron bridge thrown over the Maipú here, 1500 feet wide, at an elevation of 1822 feet above the level of the sea, was like everything used on the line, with the exception of the wood, imported from North America. Of the difficulty and expense attending land-transport in Chile, some idea may be formed from the fact that the freightage of one ton of goods from New York to Valparaiso, 10,000 miles by sea, is but £1 1_s._, whereas the conveyance of the same quantity from Santiago to Valparaiso, only 100 miles, costs £7 7_s._!!
Although evening surprised us ere we returned to Santiago from Maipú, and a dense mist hung over the landscape quite precluding all views for the greatest part of the road, we were so fortunate, shortly before our arrival at the city, as to be favoured with a glimpse of the majestic range of the Cordillera, lit up by the declining rays of the sun, a spectacle resembling the sunset splendours of the Alps in Switzerland; but the novelty of the details of which, coupled with its suddenness and brevity of duration, greatly deepened the impression of awe and admiration with which we regarded it.
At noon of the 30th of April we set out on our return to Valparaiso. On this occasion we availed ourselves of a different kind of vehicle, an American mail-coach as it is termed, from its having been first organized by a North American, which admitted of our seeing a different range of country. In this journey we were fortunate enough to be accompanied by Mr. James Volckmann, a young German gentleman, who is an active colleague of the renowned geologist, Mr. Pissis, and has already himself contributed many valuable additions to our acquaintance with the geology of Chile. The coach stopping at Melepilla, the next station, a neat little town nestling on a level surface at the foot of a lovely valley, whence it was to proceed the following morning to the port, we took advantage of the opportunity to pay an _impromptu_ visit to a Chilean family in the neighbourhood, to which we had introduction. We rode out accordingly to the _hacienda_ of Las Esmeraldas, about two miles distant from Melepilla, where we were received like old friends of the hospitable family Lecaros. Most of the wealthy landowners of the country pass only a few months of each year in their splendid houses at Valparaiso or Santiago, and spend the rest of their time in affluent retirement upon their properties. The small, externally unsightly, mansion was furnished within with all that could minister to that genuine English notion of COMFORT; and the ladies, though the hour was so late that they could scarcely have expected any further visitors, received us in full Parisian toilette. This surprised us the more, inasmuch as the national costume is very much more graceful than that of Europe,--even an elderly female, dressed in sombre-hued silk, and with a long black coif around the head, the left ribbon of which is turned over the right shoulder, having quite a unique, piquant, and attractive appearance.