1829. TOWN—DURABLE WOOD. Q75 
house, and opposite to it is the church, also built of stone. 
On the side next the sea is the Yntendente’s residence, a low 
range of wooden buildings, erected without regard to taste, 
convenience, or comfort; and opposite to this are two or 
three dwellings, very little superior to common huts, or 
ranchos. 
Within the last few years, however, some substantial build- 
ings have been erected by the more wealthy people in the town, 
an example which is likely to be followed. During our visit, 
several were built equally creditable for strength and con- 
venience; and not a little remarkable for the rapidity, with 
which they were completed. 
Wood, being abundant, and cheap, as well as easily worked, 
is the only material used in the construction of houses, which, 
with the exception of the provision-store, and the church, are 
all built of it; and notwithstanding the perishable nature ot 
the material, which is not protected by paint, or any external 
coating, from the humidity of the climate, they are of extraordi- 
nary durability. The treasury, one of the oldest houses in the 
place, has been built upwards of seventy years; and is even now 
tight, and dry, and by no means unserviceable : but its removal 
has been ordered, and, probably ere this, it has been replaced 
by another. In Chacao, where, in former days, the Yntendente 
resided, the greater number of the government-buildings, not 
less than sixty or seventy years old, are still standing. This 
durability can only be accounted for by the nature of the wood, 
and the practice of charring the ends of the timbers before they 
are inserted in the ground. The lower frame is of ‘ Roble;’ (¢) 
the beams are of laurel, and the floors and partitions, as well 
as the weather-boarding and shingles, of ‘ Alerse :’ the latter 
forms an excellent substitute for tiles, or slate, being much 
lighter, and almost as durable. Some of the houses are thatched 
with reeds; but this shift is only used by those who cannot 
afford the expense of shingling. 
The inclosures, round the houses, are fenced with stakes of 
() A kind of beech, found every where on these shores. The literal 
meaning of Roble, is oak.—R. F. 
a 9 
