176 SANTIAGO. 



usually belonging to a capital large or small, nor evidences of trade except rude signs painted on 

 the walls in orthography which will scarcely be regarded by others as an improvement on the 

 Castilian, although sanctioned by so learned a body as the University of Chile. Unless it be 

 a chain-gang repairing a street under surveillance of armed guards, a guaso, or the water- 

 carriers hurrying homeward, from the western limits to the base of Santa Lucia there are few 

 to greet the stranger ; the stores are all closed, and even the plaza is vacant. 



The city covers nearly seven square miles of ground, its longer axis being from W.N.W. to 

 E.S.E., whilst the direction of the streets and fall of water is nearly from east to west. The 

 acclivity is moderate and uniform from the west to the E.S.E. quarter, where a mass of compact 

 sienite resembling basaltic organization rises suddenly, and whose crest was for so long a time 

 the locale of our nightly labors. The horizontal dimensions of this hill, Santa Lucia, may be 

 judged of from the plan of the city. Its west side is the most precipitous and rugged, and the 

 summit is only attainable by rudely terraced walks on the more inclined faces next the Andes. 

 From the running water at its base to the pinnacle is some two hundred feet, though the principal 

 observatory was only about 1*75 feet above the water. From thence, excepting a narrow belt to 

 the southward interrupted by the rocks, we commanded a view in all directions. To the west- 

 ward the vision is bounded by the undulating line of the Central cordillera, most cerulean in 

 its hue in this lucid atmosphere. To the right, its junction with the giant chain is perceptible, 

 as observed from the Cuesta de Prado ; whilst to the left, the hills wind away to the south- 

 ward until their separate outlines are no longer distinguishable. Limiting the view to the 

 northwest and north, two other isolated hills that spring abruptly from the plain attract atten- 

 tion. These are Kenca, a long, irregular, yet gracefully formed mass in the former direction, 

 and Cerro Blanco, a conical granitic eminence quite close at hand, in the latter. Near by, 

 also, and a little to the east of north, a spur of the Andes terminates in the sugar-loaf of San 

 Cristoval, enclosing between two bases a deeply embayed and picturesque valley, through 

 which the Mapocho flows. Turning our eyes on the hills to the southward, thirty miles or 

 more away, and then following the chains up, every altitude and color rewards the sight from 

 the contrast of the golden hues of the ripened cereals with the dark verdure of the olive groves 

 and vineyards about the bases, to the blackened slopes, grisly sides, and snow-crested summits 

 in the distance to the northeast. How magnificently they stand out against the sky I how 

 sharp and distinct they tower mass over mass into the blue depths of space ! 



Groves of trees in clusters or in long winding lines, whitened dwellings here and there amid 

 fields of grain, and a tortuous streamlet between low banks, compose the scenery of the pla- 

 cidly embayed glen to the northeast, and, with slight exception, characterize the appearance of the 

 valley without and surrounding the city. How softened its tints in the early morning and eve- 

 ning, or how golden the sunbeams reflected from the Cordilleras, when lies Santiago in the 

 shadows, a painter's pencil alone can tell. 



At our feet lies the city, with its right-angled streets, low and tile-roofed houses quaint in 

 style, though not wholly without ornament or architectural pretension. A universal love for 

 flowers and shrubbery has caused the introduction of plants within almost every enclosure, and 

 oranges, acacias, myrtles, pines from New Holland, magnolias from North America, here a 

 graceful Araucaria, there a native palm, rise above the walls and relieve the sameness necessa- 

 rily consequent to houses built almost without exception of the same material and in the same 

 style. But that which earliest arrests the sight are long lines of poplars shading a broad 

 avenue extending from east to west nearly through its midst. Noisy streamlets of snow-water 

 from the mountains gush beside their roots and throw cool vapors around ; and neatly cut 

 benches, at equal intervals, invite to the enjoyment of this public walk. Next, an open, 

 unshaded square (plaza), with a marble fountain at its centre ; half a score or so of smaller 

 ones, alike without verdure, in different parts of the city ; a handsome arched bridge, and, 

 nearer by, one of humbler pretensions across the Mapocho ; a strong wall with a terraced walk 

 guarding its winding waters within and above the city ; and a multitude of ungraceful church 



