126 



RAMBLES AFTER SPORT. 



and also that of the flowers and plants of Chile ; the 

 Government allows the magnificent sum of three hundred 

 dollars or fifty-five pounds a year to the curator, and I 

 believe it spends something like five hundred thousand 

 dollars a year in keeping up a preposterous army. 



The Plaza is a large square, with a fountain, &c., in 

 the centre; on two sides are colonnades, with some 

 handsome enough shops, and the other two are occupied 

 by public buildings, among which is the cathedral 

 and the archbishop^s palace; underneath the latter are 

 shops, rather an odd mixture it struck me. One might 

 look for a month, and never guess which was the 

 cathedral, as it is a huge square red-brick building, of no 

 beauty or design whatsoever. The same description 

 serves for all the churches and cathedrals throughout 

 the country, the only difference being that some are 

 small, and some large; it is exactly the same with re- 

 gard to the jpueblos or towns — you might, so to speak, 

 shake them all up in a bag, and I'd defy anyone to 

 tell which was which. Instead, therefore, of .giving a 

 detailed account of everyone of the innumerable churches 

 I visited, I shall simply describe one once for all, and 

 have done with it. 



A Chile church is a square building, with a window or 

 two near the eaves ; sometimes it has one tower, some- 

 times two ; it always has a peal of bells, and the incessant 

 jangling they keep up is a perfect nuisance. Inside 

 there are two rows of pillars down the centre, the ceiling 

 being more or less gilt, according to the wealth of the 

 order. At the far end is the altar, with a figure of the 

 Virgin, which may be either superbly dressed and 

 decorated with jewels, or else, as in the country towns, a 

 mere mass of tinsel and rubbish. Around the walls iare 



