SANTIAGO. 17'J 



is only one private r. -si.h-nce, and two or three churches, in all the city, that are built of stone 

 a sort of granit.- : ;i <h/Mi. perhaps, of hard-burnt brick; and all the others of adobes, 

 plastered over ami whitewashed. I'litil n-ec-ntly, private residences never exceeded a single 

 story in height, hut . I of suit. -s of r..,. MIS built around open polios (courts) that extended 



in series hack of each other to one half the depth of the square. Experience having measurably 

 dissipated the fear of destruction by earthquakes, of late years it has become fashionable to add 

 a second story to the range of rooms on the street ; and although adobes allow but little range for 

 the exercise of architectural fancy, and the universal custom of guarding all windows externally 

 \\\\\\ iron bars still gives to edifices something of a prison look, yet the town is gradually acquiring 

 a more European aspect. Many of the bars are fancifully wrought, with scrolls in the centre 

 containing the initials of the owner's name, and, when gilded or painted in lively colors, are 

 rather pretty. Most of the rooms on the street are occupied by mechanics, as residences or 

 workshops, the proprietor rarely retaining more than the one he uses as a carriage-house. The 

 streets immediately leading out of the plaza are exceptions, shopkeepers taking the place of 

 artisans ; and their goods displayed under a blaze of lamps by night, renders these thorough- 

 fares very gay. Moreover, as it is not considered the best road to fortune to devote oneself to 

 a single class of merchandise, the attractiveness is increased by the variety of wares exhibited. 



A doorway high and wide enough for a mail-coach to pass through, admits you within the 

 first patio of a residence. Around it, and also the interior ones, there is either a corridor sup- 

 ported by columns, or the eaves project far enough beyond the walls to shelter one from the sun 

 or rain. A Norfolk-island pine, a magnolia grandiflora, or other fine ever green, occupies its centre, 

 and vines or clusters of plants adorn the columns. The second patio, however, is more generally 

 devoted to flowers. Fronting the entrance are the parlors ; dormitories, and perhaps a small 

 room used as a library, occupying the remaining sides of the first patio. The inner patios 

 furnish space for dining-rooms, family dormitories, and domestic purposes. Few proprietors 

 have as yet ventured on the extravagance of cut-stone pavements, though none fail to pave the 

 patios with pebbles from the Mapocho, sometimes incorporating in the doorway or near the 

 centre, a crest or date, formed of the extremities of the leg-bones of mules and asses. A stream 

 of water, distributed from broad canals in the upper part of the town, flows through the inner 

 patio, and, though turbid, is useful in carrying off slops and dirt. By the time it reaches the 

 lower part of the city, much has been accumulated ; and it may well be conceived that its odor 

 in summer is not as pleasant to those who live there as would be that of a red apple. These 

 acequias (as they are called) are attended with one equally annoying inconvenience to those 

 who live, like ourselves, near Santa Lucia : they bring a vast deal of sand from the river, which 

 constantly chokes them by its deposition. Careless and unclean as the habits of the lower 

 classes are known to be, and essential as it is to comfort and health to preserve a rapid flow, 

 although the city supplies offal-carts gratis that call daily at each house, the police regulations 

 to prevent extraneous matter being thrown into them are wholly disregarded, and the contents 

 of the drains must be brought through the house from time to time, the odorous heap often 

 lying for days before the front door. Thus, what was intended as a benefit has become a nui- 

 sance ; and the day will arrive when the practice in Lima open acequias in the middle of the 

 streets must be substituted for the closed ones within the premises. 



With thick walls, high ceilings, and few windows, there is a degree of comfort within the better 

 class of houses which is rarely met with at home in the extremes of temperature to which the cli- 

 mate of the northern hemisphere is subject. As the floors are of square tiles laid directly on the 

 earth, one would expect to find them damp and chilly during the three months in which rains 

 prevail ; and that such is not the case, is no doubt attributable to the porous nature of the soil 

 the city stands upon, and the rapid drainage of the plain. Besides our little observatories, there 

 was only one of the houses we visited that had plank floors ; and that was erected by an opulent 

 and hospitable fellow-countryman for his own use. The only wood on the plain surrounding 

 the city suitable for carpenters' work is poplar. All other kinds must, therefore, be carted 



