374 Chile. 



smiles on every man or boy present. These ornamental parts of 

 the towns show considerable taste on Italian and Parisian lines. 

 It is astonishing to see what a magnificent effect a few square 

 yards of stucco coloured a delicate pink and gaily painted railings 

 can produce. This sort of rococo and stucco buildings and bad 

 statuary might, however, have been avoided in some cases. Th-i 

 old rock of Sta Lucia, the original camp of Pedrode Valdiavia. 

 and the cradle of Santiago, might surely have been left in ils 

 original stern ruggedness. It is now so covered with gilt railings, 

 stucco parapets, gardens, and restaurants that it only reminds one 

 of the decorations usual on boxes containing inferior cigars. 

 Santiago with its 292,000 inhabitants, Valparaiso with 136,020 

 inhabitants, and a large residential suburb, Vina del Mar, were 

 to us the least interesting parts of Chile. 



It is in these towns also that the health of the people appears 

 to be worst, that the people are worst off, and that religion seems 

 to be at its lowest. In the smaller places there is a larger 

 percentage of men attending more regularly than in any ordinary 

 London church. Indeed, through Chile the priests have great 

 power. This is shown by one astonishing fact. Every woman 

 in the country, whatever her position in life, attends Mass in a 

 black manta made of various materials, but entirely without 

 decoration or ornament. These cities also suffer as regards 

 health. Typhoid and other fevers are common, but in some ways 

 they are in front of us in Dumfries, for every wall and tramcar 

 and seat is placarded with agonised appeals to the public not to 

 expectorate in public places. Over the most of Chile the climate 

 seems to be excellent, and the only complaint seems to be that there 

 is an extraordinary infant mortality. But when linen is habitually 

 washed in what may quite fairly be called open sewers, when 

 little children play with mangy dogs and measly swine on what we 

 call here a free coup, it is absurd to expect anything else. Even 

 amongst people quite well off, babies dine at table-d 'botes, and 

 cry for a second glass of beer. On the whole, however, this 

 vigorous little republic which calls itself the England of the 

 Pacific makes an excellent impression on the stranger than is 

 possible at home. Moreover, with a considerable experience of 

 my fellow-countrymen when exiles abroad, Chile is the one place 

 I have ever known in which everybody has something good to 

 say of his Babylon, and, as a matter of fact, the descendants of 



