SANTIAGO, CAPITAL OF CHILI, _March 24, 1852_.
On entering the harbor of Valparaiso, I was struck with the number of
vessels anchored in its deep bay, sheltered from all but the northers,
which are at times most destructive to shipping. It has great depth
of water, say from sixty to eighty fathoms, near the shore; from the
broken and peculiar formation of the many clay-covered hills in the
background, with deep ravines, and huts, and frame dwellings clustered
on the side, above the narrow city below, it appears not unlike a town
of stairs, the dry and parched appearance of the summits affording no
vegetation, there having been no rain for many months. Much movement
and commercial life are there; the shattered buildings of last year’s
earthquake are mostly repaired; the hotels are very fair; the number of
foreigners large, and the population upwards of fifty thousand. The
civil war of last autumn having ceased, the newly elected president
has been received by all classes on his arrival from the capital, and
remains the guest of the city. He is a lawyer, and occupies a high
judicial position; he is the first civil governor Chili has ever had;
his opponent, General Cruz, who attempted to nullify his election, was
defeated with the loss of four thousand men in one battle.
I had brought letters from Rio Janeiro for the officers of the flag
ship Raritan and St. Lawrence, and had gone on board the former to pay
the commodore a visit, when the latter entered the harbor, having left
Rio two weeks before us, going round the Horn; but our ship had made
the quickest passage on record--fifteen days and twenty-two hours,
moving time, via the Straits. A salute of thirteen guns was received,
and nine returned, agreeable to rank. The Portsmouth has also just
arrived from Rio. Mr. Peyton, our Ambassador here, tells me that he
has just received advices from Ecuador, that General Flores has been
fitting out an expedition from Callao to Guayaquil, and the presence of
this ship will be required there. These South American Republics, which
do not merit the name, are almost always in confusion, you perceive.
We found that the American vessel which had been seized by convicts
at Port Famine, had arrived in the harbor of Valparaiso, having been
rescued from the pirates by an English steamer; the ringleaders
will soon be executed. I regretted to learn that the owner, who was
barbarously hung, and whose body was burned, was an acquaintance, he
having on one occasion conveyed me from New Orleans to Havana; I saw
him last at San Francisco. The Captain is now here, accompanied by
Mr. Duer, our consul at Valparaiso, prosecuting claims against the
Chilian government; but I fear it will be very slow work. The usual
mode of travel from Valparaiso, a distance of ninety miles, is in
biloches, a sort of heavy gig with two and three horses, each mounted
by postillions, the outside ones attached at will by heavy straps at
each side of the shafts, and fastened with hooks to a heavy saddle;
the riders attach or detach themselves at full speed, going with the
greatest velocity up and down mountains and over a desert country,
where nothing is seen but bushes and scraggy shrubs in a sandy soil.
A few places are seen on the road where peach and pear trees, as well
as grapes, are found, but the country is destitute of water most of
the distance. The horses are driven ahead in a drove, and changed as
required.
The Bilocheros have the habit of racing; a certain rivalry exists
between them, and where opportunity offers they go at full speed up
and down the hills, and over the plains, regardless of horse-flesh,
which is only nominal in price. We made the distance in twenty-four
hours, passing part of the night at a small village, where the fleas
disputed possession stoutly, and we were glad to make a start at three
in the morning to escape them. We had clouds of dust from the large
numbers of laden mules and ox-carts. The entire elevation is some
two thousand five hundred feet to the base of the Andes, a chain of
Cordilleras, which show their snow-clad summits beautifully as you
approach the delightful and extended valleys of Santiago, and it is
gratifying to discern the well watered plain, with its long lines of
poplars and willows in the distance. Bridges are thrown across the
river, or mountain torrent, which is not unlike the Po at Nice, and the
rides along the banks of the stream in this genial climate, with its
vineyards and fruit trees, amply compensate for the trouble of getting
here. The rides up the mountains give you a fair view of the city,
which is extensive, and has a population of some ninety thousand. It is
the residence of all the foreign ministers, and the seat of government;
it derives its revenues from silver mines, and its agricultural
products; it has a good supply of red porphyry for sidewalks; its
streets are wide and long, and paved with small pebbles; its houses
are mostly built of adobe, or unburnt brick, which resist the shocks
of earthquakes. The cathedral is rather dangerous, being somewhat
shattered. There is a corps of United States astronomical engineers
here, whose observatory is placed on the summit of the little hill of
Santa Lucia. I find an acquaintance here, in the person of the French
minister, whose family came out with us in 1849. One of the church
festivals has just taken place by torchlight, in the Alameda, the
pride of the city, a promenade of a mile in length, with six rows of
tall Florentine poplars, and pure streams of running water the entire
distance.
Large numbers of ladies are seen in church-dresses, with black mantas
covering the head; the people are not of the pure Castilian type as
in the south of Spain, many showing signs of descent from the Indian
race. The countrymen all wear the ponchos, of various colors; the
poncho is a blanket with a hole in the centre, through which the head
is passed, and falls over the shoulders. The women of that class
wear men’s panama-hats, with long hair plaited, and falling in two
parts over the back. It is curious to notice the primitive manner
in which some things are done here. The watering of the streets is
done by a muleteer on the back of his animal, which carries two small
twenty gallon kegs, one lashed on each side; these are filled at the
top from the fountain. When he arrives at the dusty spot he pulls
the cork from the bottom and starts his mule on a trot until the
contents are scattered, and then returns for fresh supplies. One of
the curiosities shown here is the first house built by Valdivia in
1560. It is a one-story adobe dwelling, with gratings above near the
roof, in order to give ventilation and light, and to prevent attacks
of Indians by openings below; it has had additions since. The wheat
crops are excellent, and the exportation of flour and beans from Chili
to California is very heavy. We visited the chacras or farms in the
valleys, where thousands of bushels of grain were exposed in heaps in
the open air, without fear of rain, having been trodden out by cattle,
and numbers of men, employed at fifteen cents per day, and found, were
throwing up the wheat to the breeze, which carries off the chaff and
winnows it perfectly. Labor is improving, however, and in the cities
fifty cents per day, and one dollar twenty-five cents for mechanics,
are paid, in consequence of the great emigration to California. Two
vessels lately sailed thither with two hundred emigrants each, and from
personal experience I know that very many Chilians are found in that
country. Vast sums have been realized here from Eldorado for products,
and large mills are now being erected in the south for the supplies
of that market, though too late, I think, as Oregon can produce
immense quantities when once the population becomes more dense. The
transportation of products from this capital to Valparaiso is performed
by heavy ox-carts, many with covers resembling small round-top houses
with windows; these covers are a protection during the winter months,
which commence in June, also against the sun’s rays in summer, which
has already passed; they travel now mostly by night, with a brilliant
sky, and you see families of women and children occupying their
tenement by the desert road-side, or cooking the supplies brought with
them. They train their oxen not only to pull, but to hold back the load
by the horns; they have four yoke for the immense zigzag cuttings, a
mile and a half in the ascent; they then reverse the order of things,
and the poor beasts are seen behind, with heads bowed to the ground,
holding back, and almost tripped off their legs, and not unfrequently
off go the whole troop down the precipice and are dashed in pieces.
A nephew of the president joined me in coming up from Valparaiso, his
family having left earlier, and we overtook them and dined on the road.
They were going to his chacra, in another direction. At the little
village where we stopped at night, he introduced me to the Catholic
curate of this poor place, who regaled us with cakes and matte from
Paraguay; matte is the leaf of a tree much in use as a substitute for
tea and coffee, and sucked through a tube; we passed the evening in
conversation and smoking cigarettes, until the time came to be devoured
by fleas in bed.
The English steamers touch at half-a-dozen towns on the way up to Peru,
giving an opportunity of passing a day at each. I shall embark from
Valparaiso in a few days for Callao and Lima.