220 SANTIAGO* 



passion ; the arrest of 456 persons principally for theft in less than a month (May, 1852) is proof 

 sufficient of another ; and the want of veracity among the lower orders, and the love of gambling 

 among all, are notorious. Notwithstanding the 800 policemen, at one time thefts were committed 

 in the densest part of the town during broad daylight. Whole wardrobes, and even an iron 

 chest, were taken out of houses not far from the plaza at noon-day ! and shortly prior to these 

 robberies, $20,000 in specie were stolen from a residence close to Santa Ana early in the eve- 

 ning, the robbers escaping detection. And about this same period (May, 1852) the papers 

 actually narrated in good faith the miraculous recovery of stolen clothing through the inter- 

 cession of a saint, to whom the poor woman losing them had made a pious propitiatory offering. 

 On a certain evening she was led to an out-of-the-way house, where a priest, or one so clad, 

 delivered the missing articles, and she went on her way rejoicing another link added to the 

 chain of superstition that bound her. Elsewhere his priestship might probably have found it 

 difficult to acquit himself of the charge of receiving stolen goods. 



Gambling as a national vice is spoken of more at large in another place. Were the laws im- 

 partially enforced, it might soon be eradicated to a great extent ; but the guardians- of public 

 morals well know whom to interfere with : and thus, so long as it continues to be publicly 

 known that it is carried on with impunity in the houses of certain wealthy persons every night 

 of the year, so long will it continue to increase among the class to whom it is perhaps most per- 

 nicious. Nor can the church be wholly counted on for its support in suppressing the custom, 

 no inconsiderable number of its members, aye, dignitaries too ! being among the most inveterate 

 card-players. This would not have been asserted, but from ocular proof of the fact on more than 

 one occasion. Miners carry it to the greatest excess. Individuals have been known to lose 

 more than $100,000 at a single sitting ; and one of the most confirmed, whilst possessing habits 

 the most parsimonious, has not hesitated to stake a thousand doubloons ($17,250) on a single 

 game. Such losses, amounting in some cases to all their property, would in other parts of the 

 world drive many a man to suicide. Not so the Chileno. He cries a little, perhaps ; lives on 

 his creditors or friends for a while ; and it may be that a rich vein is struck in a hitherto 

 worthless mine of which he owns a share, and he is set up again. To put a pistol ball through 

 his head or a rope about his neck, for the purpose of cutting short unpleasant thoughts, never 

 enters the mind of any one : they reach the Panteon quite soon enough without any agency of 

 their own ; and with this public cemetery I will close the chapter on Santiago. 



The magniloquent tendency that converts children's schools into colegios (colleges) has made of 

 the cemetery el Panteon (the Pantheon). It is about a mile and a half north of the plaza, and not 

 far west of the base of Cerro-Blanco. About sixteen acres of ground, enclosed by moderately 

 high walls, are divided by iron railings into lots denominated the " cloister of monuments," 

 "cloister of families," and "cloister of the poor ;" names which sufficiently indicate the wealth 

 or vanity exhibited by surviving relatives when selecting a depository for their dead. Along 

 the southern front there are apartments occupied by the chaplain in charge and the workmen, 

 together with appropriate rooms for tools, &c. A pleasant corridor extends their whole length. 

 Separated from these buildings, by an open court, is a small octagonal chapel, which is lighted 

 through windows in its dome. It has three altars one in the centre surmounted by a large 

 cross, and one on the east and west sides respectively. Over the latter there are paintings 

 representing the marriage of Joseph of Arimathea with Mary, and the descent from the cross ; 

 and around the walls are smaller ones, illustrating more than twenty scenes from the trial and 

 crucifixion of the Saviour all badly executed, if not feebly conceived. Just under the octagonal 

 skylight are short Latin inscriptions, selected from the Bible, and referring to the last mortal 

 hours of man. One small room in the rear of the central altar is furnished with a marble 

 table, to support the coffin when brought from the city; and another beside it is used as a ves- 

 tuary for the officiating clergy. There is a prettily laid out garden behind the chapel, planted 

 with flowers, cypresses, and orange-trees; and not only the vicinity of the chapel, but also 

 many parts of the two cloisters first named, are adorned with rows of cypress-trees. Imme- 



