216 SANTIAGO. 



walls and enjoy their cigaritos as they chat with passing friends. Narrow thoroughfares, the 

 materials of which the houses are erected, their method of paving on a layer of earth instead of 

 sand, concave instead of convex streets, the great weight of the immense carts for conveyance of 

 goods, and the hahits of the people, all combine to keep the capital in a state by no means 

 admirable. As there were very trifling if any improvements at all during the three years, I 

 am satisfied that it is only saved from an annual pestilence by the extraordinary dryness of its 

 climate in summer. There is no want of laws nor of police officers to see that they are properly 

 executed ; and perhaps, were there a smaller number of each, it is not impossible both would 

 be more efficacious. 



The police consists of two bodies Vijilantes, who have charge by day, and Serenos, who com- 

 pose the night-guard. The former are invariably mounted when on duty. Of the latter only 

 a part are furnished with horses, though all are armed alike with sabres, and have uniforms not 

 mistakable in the darkest night. The Vijilantes go to their post at daylight, and are authorized 

 to arrest, on the spot, any one violating the peace or public decency : cleanliness and good order 

 must be preserved on their beats. There is at least one at the intersection of every two streets ; 

 and it is not unusual to find two or three lounging under the shadow of one of the corners, 

 gossiping with those who come to purchase from the second-rate grocery and liquor shop, to 

 which corner rooms are usually appropriated. Unfortunately, they have not been much ac- 

 customed either to cleanliness or public decency, and they are scarcely competent judges of the 

 violation of either. If a disturbance occur, the parties are summarily arrested, and the Viji- 

 lante, calling a relief to his post by a whistle, takes the prisoners to the police station to make 

 his charges. As they are not permitted to leave their beats without protection, if one of the 

 corporals or a supernumerary do not chance to be passing along, the call is sounded from corner 

 to corner until it reaches the Vijilancia, when the proper force at once repairs to the seat of the 

 disorder. Should resistance be made to a Vijilante in the execution of his duty, he may claim aid 

 of all passers-by, and it is a criminal offence to refuse that assistance when he demands "favor 

 d la lei" (aid the law). Thus an escape is almost impossible ; and consequently, disorders in 

 the streets by day are of very rare occurrence. 



At night-fall the Serenos are marched to the relief of the Vijilantes. Each of these also has 

 his special beat, and he is instructed not to leave it under any pretext before his whistle shall 

 have brought a relief. Including those who are mounted, they are more numerous than the 

 Vijilantes. If required, he must accompany and protect any person to the extremity of his beat, 

 and pass him or her under the care of the neighboring Sereno ; or he may be sent to summon 

 a physician or priest at the instance of any housekeeper, forwarding the message through his 

 colleagues if the official reside beyond his district. It is their duty to examine whether the 

 street-doors are properly secured ; and as the wholesale stores are usually closed before sunset, 

 the first act is an inspection of all the locks. The shops are generally kept open until ten 

 o'clock; and if one prove to be improperly secured notice must be sent to the proprietor. From 

 time to time they call the hour, accompanying it with a notice of the condition of the weather. 

 When we first arrived, the cry was nominally at intervals of a quarter of an hour, but really 

 every five minutes ; and it was annoying after being late at work to have one bawling under the 

 window at such intervals, "las dos han dado y sereno" (past two o'clock and a starlight night) ; 

 some of them extending it into a song that continued almost until the moment for its repetition. 

 Subsequently the rule was changed to every half hour, and finally to once each hour, the cry 

 being repeated without intermission during his walk from -one end of the beat to the other. 

 Notwithstanding the apparent security which their numbers should afford, and the castle-like 

 construction of the houses, robberies are by no means unfrequent ; thieves introducing them- 

 selves through the acequias or the inner patios, which often adjoin houses occupied by suspicious 

 persons, and during stolen interviews of servants. Indeed, want of chastity and theft are 

 such common vices among the lower orders, that it is extremely rare to obtain servants whose 

 characters are free from both charges. And thus, the order of the Intendente diminishing the 



