218 SANTIAGO. 



into which their special congregations were falling day by day. Moreover, each additional 

 indulgence desired brought additional lumps of gold into the lap of the church valuable 

 reasons why too close attention should not be given to the persons whom their enterprising 

 parishioners should choose as companions. Some were married, beyond a doubt, though not 

 many. The offspring of these first emigrants half white, half Indian have transmitted their 

 principal characteristics unchanged to the present day. There are shades, certainly, and these, 

 from the further admixture of European with the half-blood, are very generally lighter than 

 darker in color ; but they are not common, the larger proportion of the population possessing 

 just the shade and the other marked traits enumerated. If below the medium height of their 

 European progenitors, and apparently wanting in muscular development, many of them are 

 actually capable of physical exertions that would startle a stronger-built man. The "car- 

 gador,"* who never practises to strengthen himself, and, it may be, sits idle for two or three 

 days, waiting as many jobs, will not hesitate to shoulder from 300 to 400 pounds, when such a 

 package offers, and walk off with it half a mile or so. Having on one occasion a box ready 

 to send to Valparaiso, I asked the cargador who brought me a small parcel just at the time to 

 send me a cart, that it might be taken to the warehouse of an acquaintance constantly sending 

 to the port. Among other heavy objects, it contained at least 300 pounds of ores and fossils, 

 and weighed in all perhaps 400 pounds. He was a man of the form just mentioned, short, fleshy, 

 robust, without marked muscles ; and though it took two other men to assist in lifting it to the 

 back of his neck, he carried it half a mile without a halt, well earning the price a cart would 

 have charged, and cheerfully was it paid. Another departure from the anatomical structure of 

 their European ancestors is rendered more observable by the manner in which women wear 

 their hair, viz: A marked flatness of the posterior portions of the parietal and occipital bones, 

 with a corresponding elevation in the upper part of the former. This is so very general that a 

 gracefully-formed head is rarely seen. 



Of a right, those who can trace their origin to Spain are no little proud of the " sangre azul;" 

 and patriots as they were, and republicans as they claim to be, they would like well to be called 

 by the titles belonging to their families before the revolution. These may be a sixteenth of 

 the population; the other portion of the white inhabitants consists of French, Argentines, Ger- 

 mans, English, and Italians. The United States is represented by its minister and his secre- 

 tary two gentlemen who have been above twenty years in the country and perhaps half a 

 dozen mechanics. Therefore, when my own party came away, one half the American society 

 in Santiago was lost. Of negroes there are very few. I do not remember to have seen twenty 

 embracing all ages; and of their descendants with mingled blood there is apparently a smaller 

 number. There are no such admixtures as are to be found at Lima, where slavery is still in 

 existence. 



The great mass of the population are day-laborers, and peddlers of one article or another ; 

 and the dress of the class is neither picturesque, neat, nor clean. A coarse cotton shirt, white 

 wide-legged trousers of the same material, but which scarcely descend to the ankles, a pair of 

 high-heeled shoes that compel the wearer to walk tip-toe fashion, a conical and ribbonless straw hat 

 with narrow brim slouched about the ears, and a poncho of coarse woollen material, is the univer- 

 sal costume. The color of the poncho, or the shape and material of the hat, are the only variable 

 articles of the wardrobe. The former, which at different times serves them for jacket, cloak, 

 blanket, towel, and even basket, is a bit of cloth with a slit in the centre to pass the head 

 through, and is long and wide enough to fall to the hips and elbows. They are .of all colors ; 

 though bright red and green or yellow stripes, on each "side and through the centre, seem 

 essential to meet their taste. It is a most convenient article of equestrian costume, and is 

 universally worn as a protection from dust, whilst its flowing folds act as a sort of fan to keep 

 one cool. Those for ladies are usually of white Vicuna wool, or other light material. The 



* These are the public carriers, carts being rarely used in the city unless the number of parcels would make it more 

 economical to the owner. 



