Each of these is said to equal in weight eleven hens' eggs; so that we obtained from this one nest as much food as 297 hens' eggs would have given.
SEPTEMBER 14, 1833.
As the soldiers belonging to the next posta meant to return, and we should together make a party of five, and all armed, I determined not to wait for the expected troops.

My host, the lieutenant, pressed me much to stop.

As he had been very obliging--not only providing me with food, but lending me his private horses--I wanted to make him some remuneration.

I asked my guide whether I might do so, but he told me certainly not; that the only answer I should receive probably would be, "We have meat for the dogs in our country, and therefore do not grudge it to a Christian." It must not be supposed that the rank of lieutenant in such an army would at all prevent the acceptance of payment: it was only the high sense of hospitality, which every traveller is bound to acknowledge as nearly universal throughout these provinces.

After galloping some leagues, we came to a low swampy country, which extends for nearly eighty miles northward, as far as the Sierra Tapalguen.