52 CHILI AND VALPARAISO. 



classes ; and the system of education introduced into the 

 schools and colleges is said to be superior. 



The administration of public affairs is better conducted 

 than in any other country in South America. Generally 

 speaking, the magistrates are men of ability and integrity, 

 and nowhere else are life and property better protected. Uni- 

 versal suffrage is granted by the laws of the constitution to 

 every one above twenty-five years of age, and no public 

 measure can be carried which is adverse to the welfare of the 

 masses. 



On the 28th of April, General Joaquim Prieto, President 

 of Chili, arrived from St. Jago. He was received by the 

 inhabitants with all due respect. The civil authorities and the 

 military went several miles out of the city to receive him ; the 

 batteries saluted, and the streets through which he passed 

 were decorated with flags and evergreens. 



On the evening of the 30th, we attended a ball given by the 

 citizens of Valparaiso, in honor of the recent victory of Yungai 

 over the Peruvians. It was a brilliant affair, equaling any- 

 thing of the kind we ever witnessed in the United States, or 

 any other part of the world. The place selected for it was a 

 space between two large buildings; temporary arches were 

 erected over head, and the whole was covered with an awning, 

 lined with blue and studded with stars. The room was 

 brilliantly lighted by handsome chandeliers suspended from 

 the arches over head ; the floor was carpeted, and the pillars 

 which supported the roof were decorated with emblems of the 

 victory and nation. At the upper end there was a transpa- 

 rency of General Bulnes, the hero of Yungai, surrounded 

 with scrolls of his deeds. On the sides were hung paintings 

 and rich mirrors, in which hundreds of lights were reflected, 

 while the national flags, formed into festoons, intermixed with 



