SANTIAGO. 219 



native made are by far the most valuable, being literally wrought by the hand, of good wool, 

 \\ell twisted, and capable of turning ruin. Some of tin-in, romp,,-.-,! win. 11 \ .,f the finest Alpaca 

 or Vicuna wool, art- valued nt more than a hundred dollar* ; tlnm-li on-- quite UK hand* 

 and almost as serviceable, may be purchased for a fourth of that sum. So closely have English 

 manufacturers imitated the fabric, that only an expericiK '-,in del. < the foreign art 



Nearly the win. I.- .supply of tin- inferior qualities comes from that soiin-e. Peru and Ecuador 

 furnish straw hats; though one very often meets with perfect cones of felt, from the apex of 

 \\ hit h hangs a bunch of vari-colored ribbons. 



As there are few of the day-laborers or peddlers who know the luxury of cither bedstead or 

 bed other than a raw hide in a corner, none of them who hesitate to seat themselves anywhere in 

 the >hade, and but a small number who risk their complexions by contact with water more than 

 once in a week, it may well be imagined that their cotton garments do not long preserve a 

 snow-colored aspect, and that these specimens of humanity have not the most tidy appearance. 

 On Sundays and other holidays they brighten up, and along the Tajamar one may find a score 

 of barbers, with a bit of canvass stretched across poles to make a shade, surrounded by crowd* 

 of attending customers. Equipped in a clean bhirt and trousers, under the waistband of which 

 he has stored a water-melon and mug of water for breakfast, he is ready to spend the week's 

 earnings at a "chinyana," or with " bolas," or other variety of gambling; stuffing himself with 

 fruit all day, if it is attainable, and drinking no little chicha during the same interval. Monday 

 is spent in recovery from his debauch. These are the only enjoyments he knows. Kpuchero, 

 (composed of meat and all manner of vegetables boiled together) or a dish of boiled beans and 

 a small loaf of bread, form the varieties of his weekly diet. The women of the same class are 

 not much more careful of their personal appearance ; but, though apathy predominates, they 

 are redeemed by an expression of native intelligence and kindness. As a rule, they comprehend 

 more quickly than the men, and are superior to them in energy as they are more liberal in sen- 

 timent; traits found among the better classes of society with even greater frequency. Hanging 

 down their backs in plaits a custom no doubt transmitted from their Indian ancestors their 

 long black hair is their greatest ornament, though very coarse, and often unsmoothed for days. 

 Except in the very hottest weather, wherever they are, in the street or over the wash-box, (for 

 they have not yet accomplished the refinement of coopered tubs), some sort of shawl envelopes 

 them, one corner being temporarily confined to the person by being thrown over the left shoulder. 

 The shawl enables them to remove their arms from the sleeves of their gowns, and free the 

 shoulders and breast from its confinement. The whole sex in Chile appear to have an aversion to 

 corsets and tight dresses ; and nothing is more common than for ladies to move about the house, 

 not excepting the parlors, their inseparable shawls concealing dresses open at the back : a locust 

 fashion, as one of my countrymen called it, which one is not anxious to see introduced into the 

 socirfl life of the northern hemisphere. 



The class to which mechanics and the retail shopkeepers belong is infinitely removed from 

 the preceding in habits and appearance. There is an inherent want of tidiness in their domestic 

 life; but in public, fine dress is a passion with them, and a stranger would scarcely suspect that 

 the man he meets in a fine broad-cloth cloak, escorting a woman arrayed in silks and jewelry, 

 occupied no higher rank in the social scale than that of a tinman, carpenter, or shopman whose 

 whole stock in trade of cotton cloths or haberdashery might be packed in a box five feet square. 

 They will go to any lengths to obtain fine clothes and fine furniture, or to attend the theatre 

 on holidays, yet constantly live in the utmost discomfort. This disposition is not confined to the 

 humbler class ; it pervades all society , and impoverished families of rank live on in their 

 huge houses with fine mirrors, fine carpets, a box at the opera perhaps, and scarcely a 

 servant to keep the bouse in order. Pride thus becomes a vice, though it would be the most 

 innocent of all that are dominant did it not beget indolence, which the old adage tells us is 

 " the root of all evil." And here we have full evidences of its truth. The records of San 

 Juan de Dios, San Francisco de Borja, the Casa do Expositos, fully exhibit one ruling criminal 



