There is now lying in the middle of the
courtyard a little mountain of mortar, which rivals in hardness the
rock on which it is placed. It was brought from Chile, and cost
7000 dollars. The revolution having broken out prevented its being
applied to any purpose, and now it remains a monument of the fallen
greatness of Spain.
I wanted to go to a house about a mile and a half distant, but my
guide said it was quite impossible to penetrate the wood in a
straight line. He offered, however, to lead me, by following
obscure cattle-tracks, the shortest way: the walk, nevertheless,
took no less than three hours! This man is employed in hunting
strayed cattle; yet, well as he must know the woods, he was not
long since lost for two whole days, and had nothing to eat. These
facts convey a good idea of the impracticability of the forests of
these countries. A question often occurred to me--how long does any
vestige of a fallen tree remain? This man showed me one which a
party of fugitive royalists had cut down fourteen years ago; and
taking this as a criterion, I should think a bole a foot and a half
in diameter would in thirty years be changed into a heap of mould.
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