DON BENJAMIN V. MACKENNA. 159 



service as head of the municipality of Santiago, has 

 been a prominent member of the legislature, and was, 

 in 1 88 1, the unsuccessful candidate for the presidency 

 of the republic. But it is chiefly by his fertility as a 

 writer that Mr. Mackenna has secured for himself an 

 enduring reputation. Gifted with keen intelligence 

 and a marvellously retentive memory, his readiness 

 to discuss in turn the most varied topics, whether 

 by speech or pen, is quite phenomenal. Besides being 

 a constant contributor to newspapers and periodicals, 

 he has published over a hundred volumes, most of 

 them devoted either to illustrate the history or to 

 promote the progress of his native country. I was 

 most kindly received, and my only regret, on this and 

 subsequent occasions, was that the shortness of my 

 stay prevented me from enjoying more fully the 

 society of this interesting man. From the room — in 

 itself a library — reserved for the spare copies of his 

 own works, I selected four volumes out of the many 

 which he was kind enough to place at my disposal. 



On the following day Mr. Vicuna Mackenna was 

 kind enough to devote several hours to taking me to 

 various objects of interest in the city, beginning with 

 the natural history museum at the Quinta Normal. 

 Rightly supposing that they would be of interest, my 

 guide afterwards took me to see the most remarkable 

 trees of the city, each of which possesses some historic 

 interest. In an old and rather neglected garden 

 attached to the palace of the archbishop is the finest 

 known specimen of the peumo, the most important 

 indigenous tree of Central Chili. Popular tradition 

 affirms that under this tree, in 1640, Pedro de Valdivia, 



