THE GREAT CORDILLEUA, 



193 



inside of the carriage sits a priest, with his hands 

 upUfted and clasped. In this system of depravity 

 the great sinner pardons the httle one. Sins are put 

 into one scale and money into the other, and intent 

 upon the balance, both parties forget the beauty 

 and simplicity of the religion which they nominally 

 profess. 



The siesta at Santiago is as long as it is at 

 Mendoza. The shops are shut at noon, and remain 

 closed for four or five hours, during which time all 

 business is at an end. 



The climate of Santiago is similar to that of all 

 the parts of Chili which I visited. The day in 

 summer is burning hot ; the nights delightfully 

 cool. During the day, the sun, reflected from the 

 mountains which surround the town on every side, 

 and which, of course, obstruct the breeze, has a 

 greater heat than is natural to the latitude. At 

 night the cold air rolls down the snowy sides of the 

 Andes, and fills the Chilian vallej^s with a cool 

 atmosphere, which is unknown to the great plains 

 on the other side of the Cordillera. The effect of 

 this stream of cold air is very agreeable, and people, 

 whose occupations screen them from the sun in the 



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