OP ATACAMA AND COQUTMUO. 



277 



not so well filled, content themselves perforce with fine garments with which to appear in the 

 alauu'diiH. TliUM tin- v. -i \ tinman to whom one sends a trifling utensil for repair, may be M 

 elegantly dressed, ami twirl liis ni..ii>t;i< -he as cosily l>.-t\\<-.-n tin- whiffs of his cigarito, as the 

 man in the veins of whom- pan-nts Mowed the aangre azul of Castile, and who really never give* 

 a thought to money, except win n called on to count sums that have administered to his gratifi- 

 cations. Aware of this passion for display, and of the sacrifices which the mass will make to 

 obtain finery for the annual festivals, several of the large commercial houses contrive to have 

 ships arrive with French and China goods during the last weeks of August, well knowing 

 that every article will command a higher price than at any other time. There was no doubt, 

 however, that the frequenters of the fonda belonged to the "upper ten," and the hours they 

 passed in playing or looking over the billiard tables and child's game of dominos argued little 

 in favor of habits more industrious or intellectual. 



Some allowance is to be made for people whose principal occupation is mining, and who really 

 have little to do when in the city. Their mines being at a distance, and under charge of adrni- 

 nistradores, the only actual demands on their time are for an occasional visit of inspection, 

 which, at most, occupies a few days of the month, and for a like number spent in despatching 

 provisions, and disposing of the ores when mule-trains arrive with the latter at the port. Add 

 to this the low standard of education until within a very recent period, and, by reason of it, 

 the little subsequent disposition for literature, and we will understand how incorrigible habits of 

 idleness seem to have fastened on a large part of the present generation. Nor has the climate 

 been without its influence in producing such result. It is too uniform, too benignant. Man 

 needs extremes to give energy to his thoughts, sudden changes to send the blood vigorously 

 through his veins. Here the temperature is soft and genial from year's end to year's end, 

 leaving one's pulsations as quiet as its vicissitudes. This is shown in the record kept during 

 two years by Senor Troncosa, and published in the Ancdes de la Universidad, from which I 

 have condensed it. 



Mean and Extremes of Temperature and Pressure in 1849 and 1850. 



* According to the Santiago observations, these temperatures are 3 .9 above the true mean. 



The observations were made between 3 and 9 A. M., 3 and 4 p. M., and 9 and 10 p. M., with 

 instruments having French scales. I have converted the millimetres into corresponding 

 English inches, and reduced the readings to 32 Fahrenheit, as well as transformed the centi- 

 grade readings into equivalents of Fahrenheit's scale; but no correction has been mode to the 

 barometric observations on account of elevation above the sea. On the supposition that the 

 instrument is correct, the elevation deduced from the mean of the two years is 61 feet, coin- 



