A VISIT TO THE COUNTRY. 545 



than indifference a new one in the mother's bosom before the lost has left her arms. 



Tin- groups of hull-dad <>r naked litth- children just able to walk were thus account. <1 lor, and 

 one t-i. ul. I tin -ii .-a-ily < Minpr. li.-nil why they were occasionally left to gratify their appetite* at 

 will from piles of ^tv.-n fruit. 



I must nt I*.- understood as asserting that all ranches and all peons on the haciendas are 

 living in this miserable and criminal condition, but only that such is the general rule. There 

 \\civ many except inns on the estate of rny friend, where walls were neatly plastered, roofs well 

 thatched, ami there were clusters of flowers about the doors external evidences of industry and 

 desire for improvement, not less creditable than the well-ordered and comparatively comfortable 

 arrangements within. These had clean stools to offer us, and a well swept floor took away the 

 fear of vermin which originated on entering so many of the others. In one of these a mother 

 sat busily twirling her spindle beside the primitive cradle of an infant, not then three days old, 

 saying, in reply to the expressions of surprise addressed to her, " My children need clothes, and 

 I cannot afford to lie idly in bed any longer!" Most of her children, she told us, were at the 

 school, established by the liberality of the " patron." Education and the example of such 

 mothers will go far towards reclaiming the race from habits of idleness, improvidence, and 

 beastliness, so encouraged by climate and soil vices in whose exemplification it may be men- 

 tioned that many had refused to build adobe houses for themselves after all the materials had 

 been offered gratis, nor could they be persuaded to whitewash those in which they then lived 

 when the lime was taken to the doors ; their excuse being, the pigs would soon soil them again ! 

 Indolence and improvidence render the peons of Chile quite as thoroughly slaves as are the 

 negroes of Cuba or of the Southern States of America. Generations after generations occupy 

 the same spots, without advancing a step in intelligence or worldly wealth, and by their habits 

 have become as unable to move as though bound to the soil by the ties of law. True, they 

 have a legal right to seek new homes and new employers ; and this has been taken from the 

 African. But of what avail is the right, if any cause incapacitate from its exercise? Whose 

 condition is best the one nominally free, who was born in sin, reared in idleness, lives through 

 the Sabbath, and generally the following day too, in the debauchery which a previous week's 

 earnings will produce, and is left to starve or subsist on charity when sickness or old age over- 

 take him ; or the slave, born in legitimate wedlock, taught the precepts of the Bible at Sunday 

 school, is well clad, well nurtured, and kindly watched over when infirmities or declining age 

 have rendered him useless?* Yet the picture is not over-contrasted. Indeed, it would be dif- 

 ficult to convey to the mind their uncleanliness and misery, or to impress a more deplorable 

 idea than actually exists. There are some who, by industry and economy, have become possessed 

 of a cart and a yoke or two of oxen, and who cultivate half a score of acres of ground, rented 

 from the proprietor of the hacienda. Their wives, like the one with her distaff, contribute 

 portions from the poultry-yard, and their children are made to gain medios (six cents) or 

 quartillos (three) in the harvest and vintage seasons. These are thriving in the world ; but 

 they seemingly live apart, uninfluencing the rest the exceptions which confirm the rule. 



Laborers on estates are of two classes: peons (hired men) and inquilinos (tenants) 

 veritable remnants of the feudal system. The whole time of the former is disposable for the 

 cultivation or benefit of the property. He receives three rations in meals, and from fifteen to 

 eighteen cents per day, paid weekly, in money. A ration for breakfast consists of a pound of 

 bread; for dinner, a pint of beans, mixed with wheat and grease; and for supper, a peck of 

 corn or wheat each week. Usually the food for the peons is cooked at the house, whose mis- 

 tress, when present, strives to send something extra from her own dispensa. Prepared at the 

 kitchen of the residence, it is served to them at the sound of a bell, each one conveying his 

 allowance to his family, if he has one. Perhaps, too, they are permitted to milk a cow or two, 

 and cultivate a little ground immediately round their ranches, in onions, beans, and potatoes. 



* With the ct-useut of the States, most gladly would I wituess the departure of eoery descendant of Africa from our shores. 



44 



