THE GENESEE FARMER. 



239 



punch back with a long cane pole, with an iron point 

 in the end. Going down a hill, one yoke of oxen is 

 put on behind, to hold back. 



" The horses are the finest saddle horees I have ever 

 seen — fine limbs, eyes arched neck, and a decidedly 

 fancy appearance. They have wonderful powers of 

 endurance, and are always ridden on the jump. They 

 are perfectly broke, standing in the street wherever 

 left, and I have never yet seen one ofifer to bite or 

 kick. The Chillanos are splendid riders, and seem a 

 part and parcel of the horse. I have seen one of 

 them put his finger on a post and hold it there for 

 fifteen minutes, his horse going round on a run ; and 

 a favorite sport with them is to lock knees and go 

 round, seeing which will unhorse the other. Horses 

 are cheap; a good one can be bought for two ounces 

 — S34.50. The people go to great expense in sad- 

 dles, bridles, etc. — the rig of a horse frequently costing 

 from $300 to $500. Silver bits, stirrups, spurs, .to.. 

 are used. The country women ride on the right side 

 of the horse. There are not over four or five car- 

 riages, and but one buggy, that I have seen in this 

 city. The common vehicle is a large stout gig, one 

 horse in the shafts and the rider on another, attached 

 ■with a rope to the shafts. This is the only convey- 

 ance to Santiago, the capital, eighty miles inland. 

 For a change of horses, they start with six or eight 

 here, and run them along the road, and every few 

 miles catch up one and put him in the shafts, turning 

 the other loose to run with the rest. 



" There is a good road from here to Santiago. The 

 trade is carried on entirely by ox-carts — taking, at 

 this season, about a week to make the trip ; and in 

 ■ninter two weeks. A friend counted between here 

 and Casablanca, thirty-six miles, 360 of these carts. 

 All the merchandise, goods, etc., and the flour, pro- 

 duce, <tc., are transported thence, and from there on 

 these carts. A railroad is located to Santiago, going 

 up the valley of the Quillotee river, about forty 

 miles of which will be completed in three or four 

 years. The length of the road is 110 miles; and 

 the estimated cost seven and a half millions. AH 

 public, and in fact private, enterprises move slow 

 among these people. They have no knowledge of, 

 and are rather averse to, labor-saA^ing machinery. 

 There is a telegraph between here and Santiago, but 

 it is with difficulty kept up. The natives, thinking 

 it some mysterious, heretic afiair, ai-e constantly break- 

 ing the wires and cutting down the poles. Your 

 neighbors at Erie would find able coadjutors in this 

 counti-y, and had better send down here for a detach- 

 ment of peons. 



"We have a mail once in two weeks from the 

 United States, and we get arrivals from California by 

 ships in from forty-two to fifty-eight days, and from 

 Australia in forty-five. 



"As to the government, although a repubhc in 

 name, it is a kind of ecclesiastical, military concern, 

 the Archbishop being in point of fact the ruling 

 genius. 



" Protestant meetings are allowed here, but no bells 

 or steeples are permitted on their churches. Funerals 

 are not permitted in the day time. The dead are 

 carried to the Pantheon at 12 o'clock at night; next 

 morning the funeral takes place in the chapel there. 

 The poor Catholics are all buried in one ground ; 



and not two in a hundred have a coffin. They are 

 buried for a short period, and then taken up and 

 thrown down a deep pit, which is in the middle of 

 the burying ground. The rich, if they pay enough, 

 are permitted to rest ; but if not, are dug up, and 

 with their coffins burned, or thrown down the same 

 jjlace. 



"The province of Valparaiso is about one of the 

 poorest in soil and productions of any in the countrj'; 

 and the fruits, vegetables, &c., are mostly brought 

 from the Quillotee vallc}-, a distance of forty miles. 

 We have now apples, sweet, which look exactly like 

 the JYewtown Pippins, lemons, oranges, figs, six kinds 

 i of pears, three of blue plums, three of yellow and 

 j green, peaches (six varieties), melons, apricots, necta- 

 ; rines, and all the vegetables we have at home. The 

 1 fruits are pretty good — plums very fine. Cannot 

 ; learn if they have the curcuHo in this country. The 

 grape flourishes extraordinarily — immense vineyards 

 in the interior. I notice in the market the White 

 Sweet Water, the Portugal grape of commerce, and 

 two varieties of purple, called Francisco grapes, be- 

 cause they came from California. I have seen bunches 

 fifteen or eighteen inches long, and six or eight across 

 the shoulder, good, but not high flavor ; they make 

 wine — one a light, and one kind quite like the Port. 



" The grape season, they say, will last two and a 

 half months. We had strawberries fi"om the middle 

 of October to the first of January. They are very 

 large, equaling the largest Hovey — vines and leaves 

 very large, flesh very firm, but not the high flavor. 

 All the fruits want our hot sun to bring out the 

 flavor. They have two kinds of cherries — Early 

 May and black — both good for nothing. No cur- 

 rants, gooseberries or raspberries. The rocks all 

 about the city are covered with Cactas two varieties, 

 purple and white, Snap Dragon, and a variety of 

 smaller flowers and small shrubbery. I have noticed 

 the potato vine among the rest. The largest tree I 

 have seen in Valparaiso is an Orange in a pubUc gar- 

 den, eighteen inches through ; an Auricanian Pine, 

 thirty feet high, but of no account, and Xorfolk Pines, 

 very handsome. The soil, as far as I have observed, 

 is strongly colored with oxide of iron, and has clay in 

 it enough to make good mortar, which is in general 

 use inside of buildings as well as out. The soil is 

 said to be wonderfully fertile wherever it can be irri- 

 gated.'" 



1^ *-^— 



FARMING ON THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 



As there is little doubt that the Hawaiian Islands 

 will soon become a part of the United States, what- 

 ever relates to their agriculture is likely to be read 

 with attention by our young and enterprising farm- 

 ers. The Chief Justice under the present government 

 is a native of New York, and has 8100,000 invested 

 in a sugar plantation, which up to this time has not 

 proved a profitable operation. A correspondent (A 

 the JValional Era ^Tites as follows: 



" I need not speak of Honolulu as she has been 

 these several years, only to say, that, having a safe 

 and capacious harbor, a good supply of fresh water, 

 and other means of comfort and convenience for sea- 

 men, there has, of late, been a considerable increase 

 of shipping at that port The village, for 'ti^ ootli- 



