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MELTING MOMENTS.

sition, in which she remained for some moments, whilst he hung in anxiety over her, mingling on her bedewed cheek the briny evidence of his own woe. For my own part, although I thought it nothing extraordinary for a grandson past forty to lose a grandfather past eighty, I could not for the life of me restrain my tears, which I felt trickling down my cheeks like drops of dew on a pane of glass. An indifferent, or cold-hearted person, might possibly have been amused in witnessing so sudden a transition from boisterous hilarity to such a dismal scene of general weeping, and which, no doubt, may be attributed in as great a degree to the effects of the wine as to the effects of the speech; for wine can elevate or depress the spirits and excite joy or grief, according to the sensibility of the nerves upon which it acts. Be that as it may, we all wiped away our tears, and speedily resumed our innocent mirth, which, at a later period of the evening, was attempted to be again interrupted by a gentleman, who, conceiving that living parents were as fully entitled to respect as those that were dead, proposed the memory of his venerable mother, but all sympathy, ceremony, and respect, had been drowned long before; and, after every exertion on his part to obtain the silent

GENERAL HILARITY.

317

attention of the company to no purpose, he was obliged to sit down and drink alone his toast of filial gratitude, unpitied and unnoticed; for the eyes of all were directed to the lady and the shopkeeper, who had risen and commenced waltzing round the room, to the melody of a flute, accompanied by the jingling of glasses, the clapping of hands, and other such bacchanalian music, the loudness of which made ample amends for the deficiency of harmony. The night was well advanced before I took my leave of this jovial assembly, and, in returning home, although I distinctly saw two moons, their light was not sufficient to prevent me from losing my way, and wandering through the streets in great perplexity a full hour, though at starting I was not ten minutes' walk from my own door.

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JOURNEY TO CHUQUISACA.

CHAPTER X.

A last letter-Bones of ancient giants of Tarija.-Horse grenadier-guards of Colombia.-A bold scheme boldly executed. — Military rencounter.-Province of Tarija.

APRIL 28th. To recover the amount of a few hundred dollars in bills, which had been transmitted to me on an individual in Chuquisaca, I set out for that city, and owing to the friendly interference of Don Manuel Martin de la Santa Cruz, whom I had occasion to mention in his office of Provost of the University, on my first visit to that city, I succeeded in recovering three hundred and fifty dollars. I remained but one day in Chuquisaca, then returned to Potosi, where, by the sale of ores previously extracted from our mines, together with a fund arising from the disposal of part of my private property, I have at length been enabled to leave with Mr. Garda the means of

LAST LETTER TO THE DIRECTORS.

319

paying the rent of Linares' house when it becomes due, retaining a sufficient sum to bear my expenses to Buenos Ayres. When I had accomplished this anxiously-looked-for object, I lost not a moment in writing my last letter from Potosi to the Directors, in the following

terms:

"Long since informed by letters from your Board, that no pecuniary assistance from England must under any 'consideration be expected,' and, by letters from your Chief Commissioner, that he cannot send me one rial,' I have no alternative, to avoid the last stage of distress, but to depart from Potosi whilst I have the means of defraying the expenses of the long and lonely journey before me. I propose leaving this to-morrow for Tarija, where I have a friend, on whose hospitality I must throw myself, until the road to Buenos Ayres is re-opened to the public, political commotions having for some time past completely intercepted all communication with the lower provinces.

66

My late companions in disappointment have dispersed and gone where each thought he could best earn his bread. For myself, I have remained at my post, until all support and even hope of support have been withdrawn from me, but notwithstanding the difficulties with which we have been beset, it is a consolation to know, that in transferring to Mr. Garda the authority I possessed in the absence of the Chief Commissioner, I have left nothing for that gentleman to perform; he merely waits the final directions of your Board respecting this ill-fated enterprize.

66

Very small means would have sufficed to carry the object of this Association (under new restrictions) into full

320

GIGANTIC BONES IN TARIJA.

and prosperous effect, which must prove how culpably negligent the Directors of it have been, to have so suddenly and effectually occasioned its ruin, by acts wholly and solely proceeding from themselves.-I have the honour to be," &c.

The friend alluded to in the foregoing letter, is Colonel O'Conor, who had recommended me to take the road to Tarija, and offered me an asylum in his house, until it should be ascertained that the passage to Buenos Ayres was free and safe to travel. The province of Tarija, I have already had occasion to mention, and hope soon to be able to speak of it from personal observation; for the present, I shall only remark, that it is particularly celebrated for bones and even whole skeletons of prodigious size, which have been found from time to time in ravines, and in the sides of banks and precipices. Throughout America, to this day, they are known and talked of as "huesos de los gigantes antiguos de Tarija," (bones of the ancient giants of Tarija.) I have frequently heard the gravest discussions upon them, and those who are a little incredulous as to the existence of a former race of giants endeavour to account for the growth or increase of the bones, by reason of the properties of the soil; but on no occasion did I ever hear it mentioned that they belonged to any beast, or at all doubted, that