CHAPTER IX. 



VALPAEAISO. 



ORIGIN. ITS NAME. EXTENT. GROWTH OP THE CITY. PLAZAS. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. CHURCHES. BONDED WARE- 

 HOUSES. HOSPITALS AND ALMSHOUSE. WANT OP AMUSEMENTS. POPULATION. TABLE OF MORTALITY DURING TEN 

 YEARS. TRADE WITH TOWNS ON THE COAST. FOREIGN COMMERCE. STATISTICS OF IMPORTS, EXPORTS, COASTING 

 TRADE, AND REVENUE. EXPENSES OF COLLECTING THE REVENUE. TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF THE FOREIGN 

 VESSELS AND THE VALUE OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS FROM 1844 TO 1851, BOTH YEARS INCLUSIVE HOW THE 

 BALANCE OF TRADE IS LIQUIDATED. PRODUCTS OF THE HACIENDAS. PRODUCTS OF THE MINES. TABLE SHOWING 

 THE VALUE OF THE SEVERAL METALS EXPORTED FROM 1843 TO 1852. GOLD SENT TO THE MINT DURING THE SAME 

 PERIOD. TABLE SHOWING THE PRINCIPAL EXPORTS AND THE VALUE OF EACH. TABLE SHOWING THE PRINCIPAL 

 IMPORTS CONSUMED, AND THE VALUE OF EACH. POSSIBLE DECREASE OF TRADE. PROJECTED RAILROAD TO SAN- 

 TIAGO. STORMS IN THE BAY. 



Valparaiso first comes into notice in the history of Chile as the port at which succors arrived 

 for Pedro Valdivia, in July, 1544, and to which the new governor made a visit in September fol- 

 lowing, to confer with his intended lieutenant by sea, Juan Bautiste Pastene, respecting a 

 projected voyage of discovery along the coast as far as the Straits of Magellan. Tradition, 

 repeated by most of the naval officers, (and there are few others who have published experi- 

 mental knowledge of Chile), assigns to its settlement, or at least to the time of its baptism, an 

 earlier year ; the salt-encrusted mariners who first gazed on its ever verdant ravines, after pass- 

 ing months on weary waters, exclaiming in the exuberance of gratified vision, Val Paraiso! 

 (Vale of Paradise). Nor is there a doubt that it was named as early as 1543, there being among 

 the archives at Seville a letter from Valdivia to the Emperor Charles the Fifth, dated 4th 

 September, 1545, informing his Majesty that "in the month of September, 1543, a ship belong- 

 ing to Lucas Martinez Vegazo arrived at the port of Valparaiso." When the city began, no 

 one knows. No mention is made of the time by Ovalle, in the narrative and history of Chile, 

 published about the middle of the next century ; nor have subsequent investigators found any- 

 thing that would throw light upon the question, either in the archives of the municipality, some 

 of whose earlier members would probably have felt interest in it and made examination, or 

 among the documents of Valdivia. As a large portion of the lands once belonged to the 

 Augustin monks, it was supposed that their MSS. might afford some clue ; but a search made 

 at my request has been equally unproductive of information. 



According to Ulloa, it was still a borough of small extent in 1744. He says: "At first it 

 was only a few store-houses, built by the merchants of Santiago for their wares, until they could 

 be shipped for Callao, to which Valparaiso is the nearest port. Then, it had no other inhab- 

 itants than the clerks whom merchants sent there to take charge of and expedite the goods. By 

 degrees, the merchants established themselves there, with their families ; and to these were added 

 others, wholly drawn by the conveniences for commerce ; until at last, the borough is so much 

 increased that it is actually of considerable extent and quite populated. Were it not for the bad 

 disposal of its land, no doubt it would become much greater; but there is a mountain very close, 

 and so near to the sea that the larger number of houses are either built on its declivity or in 

 the ravines, the remainder being at but a little distance from the water. This (last) quarter is 

 larger and more commodious, so far as land is concerned ; but on account of weather it is more 

 objectionable, it being extremely exposed to north winds in winter, and these place it in danger 

 from waves which the sea rolls in to the very doors of the houses. Some of these last are of 

 stone and lime, others of adobes (briques crues), and others of thatch only." And a little 



