320 



all kinds of diverfcion. Tliey have likewise a 

 taste for music, and compose verses after their 

 manner, which, although rude and inelegant, 

 possess a certain natural simplicity more interest- 

 ing than the laboured compositions of cultivated 

 poets. Extemporaneous rhymers, or improvi- 

 satori, are common among them, and are called 

 in their language PaUadores. Those known to 

 possess this talent arc held in great estitnation, 

 and apply themselves to no other occupation. 

 In the countries dependant on the Spanish colo- 

 nies, there is generally no other language than 

 the Sp.inish spoken ; but on the frontiers the 

 peasants speak the Araucaiiian or Chilian as well 

 as the former. 



The men dress jn the French, and the women 

 in the Peruvian fashion, except that the women 

 of Chili wear their garments longer than (hog 

 of Peril. In point of luxury, there is no ditfer- 

 ence between the inhabitants of the two coun- 

 tries ; Lima prescribes the fashions for Chili, as 

 Paris does for the rest of Europe. Those who 

 are wealthy make a splendid display in their 

 dress^ their servants, coaches, or titles. Chili 

 alone, of all the American provinces, has en- 

 joyed the superior privilege of having twQ of 

 its citizens exalted to the dignity of grandees of 

 Spain ; these are, Don Fernando Irrazabal, Mar- 

 quis of Valparaiso, born in St. Jago, who was 

 viceroy of Navarre, and. generalissimo of thf- 



