SANTIAGO. 201 
which are wide and well paved, having a footpath flagged with slabs 
of granite and porphyry ; and through most of them a small stream 
is constantly running, which, with a little more attention from the 
police, might make it the cleanest city in the world: it is not very 
dirty ; and when I recollect Rio Janeiro and Bahia, I am ready to 
call it absolutely clean. 
The house of Cotapos is handsomely, not elegantly furnished. 
Good mirrors, handsome carpets, a piano by Broadwood, and a rea- 
sonable collection of chairs, tables, and beds, not just of the forms of 
modern Paris or London, but such, I dare say, as were fashionable 
there little more than a century ago, look exceedingly well on this 
side of the Horn. It is only the dining-room that I feel disposed to 
quarrel with: it is the darkest, dullest, and meanest apartment in the 
house. The table is stuck in one corner, so that one end and one 
side only allow room for a row of high chairs between them and the 
wall; therefore any thing like the regular attendance of servants is pre- 
cluded. One would almost think that it was arranged for the purpose 
of eating in secret; and one is led to think, especially when the 
great gates close at night before the principal meal is presented, 
of the Moors and the Israelites of the Spanish peninsula, jealously 
hiding themselves from the eyes of their Gothic tyrants. 
My breakfast was served in my own room according to my own 
fashion, with tea, eggs, and bread and butter. The family eat nothing 
at this time of day ; but some take a cup of chocolate, others a little 
broth, and most a matee. The ladies all visited me on their way to 
mass; and on this occasion they had left off their usual French style 
of dress, and were in black, with the Mantilla and all that makes a 
pretty Spaniard or Chilena, ten times prettier. 
About noon, M. de la Salle, one of the Supreme Director’s Aides 
de Camp called, with a polite compliment from His Excellency, wel- 
coming me to Santiago. By this gentleman I sent my letters of 
introduction to Dofia Rosa O’ Higgins ; and it was agreed that I should 
visit her to-morrow evening, as she goes to the theatre to-night. 
DD 
