NOTICES OF CHILE. 



135 



strongly with their entirely white dress. They are a stout and 

 brave race ; and from their constant habit of sleeping in the 

 open air, and faring hardly, make excellent soldiers. 



There are several fine military bands, which add much to 

 the display. It is in the Alameda that the whole beauty and 

 fashion of Chile ma)^ be seen strolling along the shady walks 

 in gay attire, on fine afternoons ; in fact I have never seen any 

 where so many good looking women as in the Alameda, on 

 a Sunday, in the summer, just before sunset. The Alameda 

 is about a mile long, and one hundred feet wide, planted with 

 double rows of poplar trees, having streams of water running 

 between them, and white stone seats, in their shade, at conve- 

 nient distances. It is the finest promenade in South America, 

 and is kept in excellent order. Every evening in the summer 

 it is a place of general resort. Gentlemen enjoy the " cigarrito," 

 and ladies bons-bons and trifles beneath the trees. Boys mani- 

 fest their early propensities for gambling, by placing two chips 

 or two pieces of water melon in the stream, and stake small 

 sums upon which will beat in the race, running along the edge, 

 shouting and laughing, as they keep way with the objects of 

 their interest. 



On a Sunday evening I visited an elderly lady of the haut 

 ton of Santiago. The house of Dona Xaviera is a large one, 

 and resembles most of the fashionable mansions of the city. It 

 is one story high, with a great ^< puertacalle'^ opening from 

 the street into a large patio, paved with small pebbles, in such 

 a manner as to give it the appearance of being tesselated. 

 Sleeping rooms look into it from right and left, while the side 

 parallel with the street, and farthest from it, is taken up by the 



Sala" and Cuadra" — hall and drawing room. The " Cud- 

 dra" is a large apartment, with a high ceiling, separated from 

 the Sala" by a glass partition, constructed of large panes, 

 the edges of which lap over each other, instead of being se- 

 cured in a sash. The furniture of the cuadra is remarkable for 

 the abundance of chairs and sofas, ranged in two confronting 

 lines. There are two mirrors on the same side of the wall, 

 with a table beneath each, having " guardabrisas,^^ or candle- 

 shades upon them, far too costly and beautiful to guard from 



