1839.] TOPOGRAPHY. 99 



As in Valparaiso and Santiago, most of the better class of 

 private dwellings throughout Chili, are built of adobes, one 

 story in height ; the habitations of the peasantry, and of the 

 lower classes in towns and cities, are mere huts, usually hav- 

 ing but one room, constructed of reeds and mud, and thatched 

 with straw. 



Educational improvement, and the introduction of a more 

 refined taste, will, doubtless, produce great changes in the 

 manners and customs of the people of Chili ; but, while earth- 

 quakes continue to be so frequent, it is questionable whether a 

 finer or more expensive style of building will prevail. Pru- 

 dence and economy, in neither of which are they lacking, will 

 always give the preference to the safest and cheapest mode. 



Most of the Indian population continue to dwell in a state 

 of independence south of the Biobio ; but a considerable number 

 live in missions. The former belie, in almost every respect, 

 the highly-wrought and nattering descriptions in the Arau- 

 cana of Ercilla y Zuniga ; they are wild, fierce, and intracta- 

 ble, and but little more advanced in civilization than the rude 

 inhabitants of Patagonia. 



(6.) In the northern part of Chili, the country rises from 

 the coast to the Great Cordillera, by a number of successive 

 terraces running parallel to the sea; but, elsewhere, it is a 

 broad expansion of the mountainous Andes, spreading forth 

 its spurs and branches from the central ridge towards the 

 Pacific, whieh diminish continually, but irregularly, till they 

 reach the ocean. These ramifications of the main Cordillera 

 are generally two thousand feet above the bottom of the val- 

 leys that intersect them, and seldom less than one thousand 

 feet. The patches between the ridges constitute the finest 

 portions of middle Chili. Some of the valleys are broad, as is 

 the case with the boasted vale of Aconcagua, one of the most 

 fertile spots on the American continent. North of 30° 30', 

 the Cordillera is divided into separate ranges, inclosing the 

 immense valley of Uspallata, celebrated more particularly for 

 its extensive mineral ri:hes. There are a few small plains 



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V* y .tot*** 





