180 SANTIAGO. 



either directly from the southern provinces or from Valparaiso. In the latter case, as the pine 

 of the United States is held in great repute, a large portion of it has heen brought round Cape 

 Horn. Kaw material is thus sold at extravagant rates ; and so small is the number of good or 

 even tolerable mechanics, that their charges for labor are scarcely less exorbitant. It may safely 

 be said that the carpenters obtain for their labor at least four times the amount paid to similar 

 artisans in North America; their wages being double, whilst the amount of work accomplished 

 in a day is not more than one half. On these accounts, it would be true economy to have all 

 the wood- work of houses prepared in the United States or Europe and shipped to Valparaiso. 



If the floors are not of boards, the ceilings are; a style of finish probably originating in the 

 impossibility of preserving them whole where earthquakes are so frequent, and the difficulty in 

 obtaining proper plasterers. The walls, being only smooth-plastered with mud, are covered with 

 ornamental paper in every apartment, causing the greatest possible contrast between the 

 appearance of a dwelling in progress and when finished. In passing through their saloons, one 

 misses the elasticity of the floors and the cheerful look of fire-places ; but the carpets are soft and 

 yielding, the climate is benignant, and as it is customary to retain the cloak if the weather be 

 cool, habit soon reconciles one to the change. With a lantern in the door-way, another in the 

 porter's room under its arch, others in the corridor, and a blaze of light from the parlor win- 

 dows, there is an external air of cheerfulness which intercourse with the inmates fully realizes. 

 Wealth and good taste, the latter almost universally characterizing refined women, have been 

 specially combined here to furnish many houses in elegant style, the dominant fashions being 

 those of France, whose mechanical productions, as well as personnel, are more numerously 

 represented than those of any other foreign nation. 



At the close of 1850 there was quite a furor for house-building. The April earthquake had 

 seriously injured many dwellings, and there were piles of rubbish from those torn down in 

 every street. By intercourse with the world their proprietors had learned to appreciate more 

 commodious arrangements, and the new dwellings were a marked improvement on the old. 

 No less than three immense structures were going on at the same time on different sides of the 

 plaza ; so that when the carts came in from Valparaiso in the morning, it was almost impossi- 

 ble to pass amid the heaps of materials. Wherever one turned, evidence was encountered 

 that opulent citizens were determined their capital should no longer be reproachfully com- 

 pared with its port, but they would build it up with attractions which would call back the 

 merchants, when the telegraph and railroad shall facilitate their intercourse. 



In order to control the valley, and at the same time to have a secure retreat in case of being 

 pressed hard by the Indians, Valdivia selected the vicinity of Santa Lucia for his residence. 

 The house still stands, in a street a little to the east of the hill, and in nearly the same condition 

 as he left it three centuries ago differing from those now constructed only in the thickness of 

 its walls and ruder work on the iron grating of its single high-placed window. Time has 

 done little to mar its exterior ; its carved lintel and door- way are perfect ; and it is only when 

 we compare the present occupants with the members of the vice-regal court who once inhabited 

 it, that the deterioration is made appreciable. At the approach of the national anniversary of 

 1850 it was proposed to lay the corner-stone of a monumental chapel on the spot, but something 

 intervened to prevent it then ; and it is not improbable that the civil war which subsequently 

 raged will have created other necessities for the public funds. 



THE CATHEDRAL. Though begun more than a hundred years ago, unlike most works com- 

 menced by the church, the cathedral remains incomplete to the present day. Its front, rather 

 more than a hundred feet broad, is intended to be a copy of that of St. John de Lateran, at 

 Home ; and even in its unfinished state it has an imposing appearance. Through its whole 

 length of 350 feet, it is divided by two heavy colonnades supporting longitudinal and transverse 

 arches, on which rests the framing of a semi-cylindrical roof. For additional strength, the 

 colonnades and outer walls are tied together with broad, perforated beams of wood, ornamentally 

 carved and gilded, and the walls are externally supported by strong abutments. Ash-colored 



