A HOUSE IN SANTIAGO. i6i 



had been planted seventeen years before, and, like 

 twins, had kept pace in their growth. The height 

 was about sixty feet, and the girth at five feet from 

 the ground about seven feet. 



As a specimen of one of the better houses in 

 Santiago, Mr. V, Mackenna took me to that of one of 

 his cousins, who with his family was at the time 

 absent in the country. The building included three 

 small courts, or patios, each laid out with ornamental 

 plants well watered. The reception-rooms, very 

 richly furnished in satin and velvet, as well as the 

 apartments of the family, were all on the ground floor, 

 most of them opening into a patio. Over a part of 

 the building were small rooms constructed of slight 

 materials for the use of servants, so that the risk of 

 fatal injuries even in a severe earthquake seemed to 

 be but slight. 



I was told the history of the owner of this fine 

 house, which, from what I afterwards heard, was no 

 more than a fair sample of the economic condition of 

 Chilian society. Many of the older Spanish families 

 are large landowners, and, in spite of vicissitudes due 

 to droughts and occasional inundations, derive settled 

 incomes from property of this kind. But the pro- 

 digious wealth that has flowed from the rich mining 

 districts has prov^ed a temptation too strong to be 

 resisted, and there are comparatively few of the 

 wealthier class who have not engaged in mining 

 speculations. It is needless to say that along with 

 some great prizes there have been many blanks in the 

 lottery, and the result has been that the fortunes of 

 families have undergone the most extraordinary vicis- 



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