296 Von age ^f ^^^^ Novara. 



streets intersecting each other at right angles, are in a state 

 calling loudly for sanitary regulation; uneven, badly bal- 

 lasted, with huge ruts at the sides, so that it is difficult to say 

 whether the foot-passenger or the charioteer is the worst off. 

 Much of this is due to the number of heavy two-wheeled 

 carretas or country waggons, drawn by six or eight oxen, in 

 which all produce is conveyed from the interior of the country 

 to the harbour, and foreign merchandise transported from the 

 sea-board to the capital. On our journey hither we counted 

 124 of these lumbering vehicles, creaking and rattling on their 

 way ; but tliere are on the average 300 such on the road be- 

 tween Santiago and Valparaiso. A good deal of the less 

 bulky merchandise is also carried on horse or mule back. 



Of striking public buildings Santiago is almost as destitute 

 as Valparaiso, the Mint,* which dates from the time of Span- 

 ish Supremacy, being the sole building worth noticing. 

 The city also boasts of a Plaza, a large quadrangular, open 

 spot, of no special elegance, although it has on one side the 

 Cathedral, still in process of erection, on the other a range of 

 private dwellings with arcades beneath, in which nestle 

 swarms of stall-vendors, besides several Government build- 

 ings which are concentrated here. Of public promenades, 

 the Alameda, a long, wide poplar-alley, is, beyond all ques- 

 tion, the finest, as well as most frequented, especially on 

 Sundays and holidays. The period of our visit, the winter of 



* The Chilean Mint is entirely arranged on the French system, and is provided 

 with French machinery. 



