ovalle's historical relation op chile. ffl 



they have made very good new balconies to them, and large windows, to fee the buU- 

 feafts and other public cfiverfions which are made there. The north fide is all upon 

 arches of brick ; underneath which are the fcriveners and public notaries, as alfo the 

 fecretarifhips of the royal Audiencia, and the town-houfe : and over-head are the royal 

 lodgings, with balconies to the place, with the great halls for the meeting of the town- 

 houfe officers ; and in the middle are the audience-rooms of the royal chancery, with 

 their galleries to the place : and, laftly, the royal apartments, where the royal officers 

 are lodged ; and the rooms necejQfary for the treafury and chamber of accounts, and 

 lodgings for the officers. 



The fide that lies to the weft has in it, firft, the cathedral church, which is of three 

 ifles, befides its chapels, which it has on each fide : it is all of a fine white Itone ; the 

 chief ifle, or that of the middle, being upon arches and pillars of an airy and gallant 

 architecture. The remainder of this fide to the corner is taken up with the epifcopal 

 palace, which has a very fine garden, and noble apartments both high and low, with 

 a gallery fupported by pillars, which anfwer the Place ; which, if it were equally built 

 on the eaft and fouth fides, would be one of the moft beautiful and agreeable places 

 that can be ; for it is perfe£tly fquare, and very large, with a due regard to the whole 

 plot of the city. I doubt not but in time the two old-fafhioned fides will be pulled 

 down, and others built on pillars and arches proportionably to the other fides. 



The greateft part of the buildings, (except the public ones, which are of a rough 

 ftone, but very hard, which the mountain of Santa Lucia affords, and is within the 

 city, and fome great gates and windows which are of mouldings of ftone or brick,) 

 that is to fay, the ordinary buildings, are of earth and ftraw well beaten together, which 

 is fo ftrong, that I have feen great openings made in a wall, to make great gates after 

 the modern way, and yet the wall, though a very high one, not feel it, though the 

 houfe was none of the neweft, but almoft as ancient as the city ; for the fun bakes and 

 hardens the earth and ftraw fo well together, that I have feen a piece of thofe walls fall 

 from a high place, and not break in pieces, though fo big that a man could not carry 

 it. At prefent, the houfes that are built are of a better form, higher, and lighter than 

 at firft, becaufe the firft conquerors were more intent upon getting gold, and fpending 

 it in fumptuous treats, and high living, with fplendour and liberality, than in build- 

 ing palaces, as they might have done, by reafon they had many hands, and ftone 

 hard by. 



In matter of buildings, this city, as moft others of the Indies, may brag, that it imi- 

 tated Solomon, who began with building the temple and houfe of God before he built 

 his own palace. So the Spaniards have done all over the Indies, in this new world, 

 inheriting this cuftom from their anceftors of Old Spain ; for I remember, that travel- 

 ling in Caftilla, I made this obfervation, that let the place or village be never fo fmall, 

 yet it has a good church ; and even where the houfes were poor, and like dove-coats, 

 the churches were of free-ftone, with a fteeple of the fame ; which gave me matter of 

 edification, confidering the piety of the faithful on this occafion. 



Juft fo the Spaniards of the Indies began firft to ere6: churches, with fo much appli- 

 cation, that they do not feem buildings made within thefe hundred years ; but rather 

 fuch as one would think they had inherited from their anceftors, or had been built by 

 the Gentiles ; and yet there is not a church in all the Indies, which they have not raifed 

 from its foundation. We have already fpoke of the cathedral of St. Jago ; and much 

 more might have been faid of its ftrength and beauty, and the ornament of its altars 

 and facrifty. There are befides feveral other fine churches. That of St. Domingo, 

 though not of ftone, is built upon arches of brick, with a great many fine chapels on 



z 2 each 



