Progressive Chile
Date: 2022-05-25T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Chile; Chile -- Social life and customs

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Progressive Chile

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Title: Progressive Chile

Author: Robert E. Mansfield

Release date: May 25, 2022 [eBook #68173]
Most recently updated: October 18, 2024

Language: English

Original publication: United States: The Neale Publishing Company, 1913

Credits: Sonya Schermann and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PROGRESSIVE CHILE ***

PROGRESSIVE CHILE

A PAIR OF SPURS
Frontispiece

PROGRESSIVE CHILE

BY

ROBERT E. MANSFIELD

NEW YORK
THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1913

Copyright, 1913, by
The Neale Publishing Company

TO
MY WIFE

PREFACE

In the following presentation of Progressive Chile, no effort has been made to elaborate, to give undue coloring to the picture, or to magnify its defects. It is a record of impressions gained from personal observations, of the life and customs of the people in one of the most enlightened, progressive and interesting countries in South America.

To attempt to conceal from view, to obscure the unsightly spots and blemishes that mar the social structure and disfigure the body politic, or to unnecessarily expose the moral and social defects and infirmities of a people who possess so many admirable qualities, commendable characteristics and desirable accomplishments, would be unjust, unfair.

The truth is not always pleasant reading, and it may seem unkind to withhold the cup that patriotic pride demands. But let those who know the real life of Chile pass judgment, and if from long association they have not become so accustomed and inured to national, social and political deficiencies as to regard them as established and correct principles, they will agree with one who regards the situation from an unprejudiced viewpoint.

R. E. M.

CONTENTS

PAGE
Geographical | 11
Brief History | 25
Indians | 73
Classified Husbandmen | 93
Habits and Customs | 147
Religion | 154
Superstitions | 167
Marriages | 172
Births and Deaths | 179
Schools and Colleges | 184
Language | 189
Courts and Legal Procedure | 191
Crime | 201
Railways | 211
Industrial Interests | 221
Population and Colonization | 231
Villages and Cities | 235
The National Hymn | 250

PROGRESSIVE CHILE

GEOGRAPHICAL

The Republic of Chile, beginning at latitude seventeen degrees, and extending to the farthest southern limits of South America, forms a narrow longitudinal strip of territory twenty-four hundred miles long, and not exceeding two hundred miles in width in the extreme. It has an area of 462,000 square miles, and a population of 3,500,000.

Nature has been prodigal in the bestowal of her varied gifts upon Chile. Its geographical formation represents a huge serpent with its sinewy form stretched along the west coast of the continent, its head resting in the arid desert of Atacama, and its tail coiled about the wood-crowned hills and ice-bound islands of Tierra del Fuego. Upon one side loom the Andes Mountains, their snow-capped heads in the clouds and their feet in the ocean; upon the other stretches the vast expanse of the Pacific. Bordered as it is by the ocean on one side, and including within its limits a range of mountains reaching in some places an altitude of 24,000 feet, Chile presents a variety of geological, geographical and climatic conditions possessed by few countries in the world. Being isolated by great natural barriers it faces away from all the centers of population and ancient homes of civilization, and of all the countries of South America it occupies the most unfavorable position geographically, and is the most inaccessible from Europe, North America and the Ear East. But with all its isolation, its long struggle to gain a place among civilized nations, its history of cruel and uncivilized warfare, Chile possesses natural resources and attractions which intervening years have made known, and which in the short period of her national life have won for this long neglected daughter of the Spanish colonial family, a reputation for wealth and beauty that has given to it a fame as wide as the world.

NAME.

The name of Chile is of doubtful origin. During the Inca epoch it was called Tilli, that being the name of a powerful and popular Araucanian chief. It was pronounced “tele,” which translated means enemy. From changes in the pronunciation, the word was finally converted into Chile. Some authorities say that the name is derived from the Indian word “Tchile,” or “Techile,” which signifies cold, having direct reference to the snows of the Cordilleras, or the glaciers of the far south.

DIVISION OF TERRITORY.

Chile is divided into four zones,—“Mineral,” “Mineral and Agricultural,” “Agricultural” and “Wooded and Fishing.”

In the region of the “Mineral” or north zone, extending from the province of Coquimbo on the south to the extreme north of the Republic, rain is unknown; there is very little moisture and scarcely any water in the streams. As a result of the arid condition of this territory there is little spontaneous or cultivated vegetation, and no agricultural interests worthy of mention. But the five provinces comprising the zone abound in minerals, and form conjointly with the agricultural resources of other sections the productive wealth of Chile. Among the products of this section are nitrate of soda and guano in quantities sufficient to enrich the lands of the world; there are also deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, quicksilver, zinc, bismuth, iron, manganese and borax.

The provinces of Tarapaca and Antofagasta comprise the great nitrate or saltpeter fields of South America, the richest and most extensive in the world. The province of Tarapaca was acquired from Peru, in the war with that country in 1879-81, and Antofagasta was Bolivian territory previous to the same war. Until recent years this arid region, designated as the pampa or “desierto de Atacama,” was considered nonproductive and practically worthless. Now the products of nitrate of soda alone amount to over 100,000,000 Chilean pesos annually, and comprise two-thirds of the export business of the Republic. This mineral zone covers an area of 235,000 square miles and has a population of 355,000. The great mineral wealth of the country is not limited to this particular section, however, as gold and other minerals are found in a majority of the provinces in Chile, and mines are worked from Tarapaca to Tierra del Fuego.

It is within the limit of this zone that the once famous mines of Chanarcillo and Copiapo are located, from which has been taken millions of dollars worth of ore. But these and other silver mines, once productive, have practically ceased to yield, from the lack of application of modern mining methods, and the silver mining industry has greatly depreciated in Chile in the last decade. Gold mining is also less extensive than in former years, except in Tierra del Fuego, and the product has greatly decreased in the northern zone.

With the decrease in gold and silver mining in the Mineral zone has come increased interest in the production of copper, which now forms eighty per cent. of the metal exports from Chile.

The Mineral and Agricultural zone may be defined as a section of semi-mountainous, sparsely watered country, extending north from Santiago, to the mineral zone. There are within the territory a number of small streams extending from the mountains to the sea, in the valleys of which are small farms, called “fundos.” There are few towns of any consequence in that part of the country, no railways, few improved roads, and communication between the coast and interior is slow and difficult. Mule and burro trains are the common method of transportation, while more rapid communication is made on horseback.

The Agricultural, or central zone is the garden of Chile. It includes twelve provinces, extending from Aconcagua on the north to the river Bio Bio on the south, with an area of 75,000 square miles, and a population of 1,800,000. About eighty per cent. of the people living in this zone are engaged either directly or indirectly in agricultural pursuits. In the northern part of this geographical division is Valparaiso, the most important commercial center in the Republic; in the center is Santiago, the beautiful capital city, and in the south, situated on the Bio Bio is Concepcion, the third city in population and importance in the country. In this section there is a copious rainfall between the months of May and September, and consequently a prolific growth of vegetation. Between the mountain ranges and hills that crowd close down to the sea, are beautiful valleys, where wheat, maize, barley, flax, oats, rye, all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and a variety of grasses grow and mature well. From Santiago, extending several hundred miles south are wide fertile valleys, high and low table-lands, wonderfully productive and in a splendid state of cultivation. This central valley of Chile, lying between the Andes and the coast range, is a continuous garden of luxuriant beauty. The cultivated loveliness of the private estates, which surround the capital, offer a pleasing contrast to the sterner grandeur of mountain forms and color with which it is enclosed. There are to be found the ideal South American haciendas, where thousands of acres are included in one domain, where the primitive system of cultivating the land, introduced by the Spaniards when they came to the western world, with few exceptions, still prevails. There is the one storied castle-like residence of the proprietor, with its wide verandas, roomy corridors, rambling rooms and beautiful patio. The house is often surrounded by a magnificent garden and park, where graceful palms, beautiful trees and brilliant flowers in great variety grow and bloom the year round. There too, are vast herds of horses, cattle and other domestic animals, all fat and sleek from feeding upon the rich pasturage of irrigated “potreros” (fields). Farther south in this zone, the semi-tropical appearance of the northern regions give place to wood-crowned hills and streams fringed with forest trees. Rains are more frequent and the growth of vegetation more general and prolific. Vast farms extend in every direction. Stolid oxen, drawing primitive plows or carts, plod through fallow fields, and the mountains, which are always in sight, give up their solitude in scenes of domesticity and peaceful industry.

The wooded or southern zone, includes all the territory from the river Bio Bio, south to Cape Horn, and forms the least developed portion of Chile. In the southern provinces are vast virgin forests, rich in varied resources, awaiting commercial development. In some sections of the country the forests, overrun with creepers, are so dense that they form an almost impenetrable jungle, where the sunlight never penetrates, and where twilight lingers throughout the entire day. In these forests are various woods of excellent quality, including oak, cypress, lingue (the bark of which makes excellent tanning material), rauli, redwood, laurel, resin pine, poplar, and quillai, the bark of which is exported in large quantities, and is used as a mordant for dyeing.

Sawmills have been established in recent years, and are now in operation in the timber districts of southern Chile, but the lumber industry, which promises to become one of the important commercial interests of the country, is only in its infancy. In fact the mills have so far made practically no impression upon the forests, their cuttings being limited to choice timber along the streams and water-ways where transportation facilities are good.

In addition to the valuable timber interests and great agricultural resources of southern Chile, it possesses large deposits of coal, gold, iron ores, Portland cement, roofing slate and other minerals, awaiting development. On the plains and in the valleys luxuriant vegetation develops annually and remains to enrich the soil for the use of future generations. Unexplored hills and mountains, hoarding a wealth of minerals, await the ambitious prospector and industrious miner. In the sands of Tierra del Fuego is gold to gladden the hearts of men, and the forests contain material for lumber sufficient to supply the demands of the continent. In this subdivision there are also extensive fisheries and oyster beds. Along the coast, rugged hills that reach down to the sea are covered with forest trees, and on the Cordilleras near the southern limits of the continent, vegetation extends up to an altitude where virgin snows and verdant green meet and mingle in strange contrast. In the mountain and forest solitudes of this undeveloped region, are many lakes, resting like emerald settings in the landscape. Viewed from the sea the scenery along the coast of southern Chile presents a picturesque appearance. The Andes Mountains, grand and imposing, form a splendid background for the verdant forests forming the shore line. This range of mountains constitutes a conspicuous physical feature of the continent. To the south it crowds close upon the Pacific, and throughout the length of Chile the Cordilleras cover a double series of highly elevated summits enclosing longitudinal valleys within the region of perpetual snow. On the western range there are three smaller mid-land mountain chains called the “Cordillera Maritima,” running parallel with the Andean, between which are numerous well-watered valleys possessing a delightfully equable climate. From any of these valleys the giant peaks of the Andes, royally crowned and ermine robed are plainly visible. And as the day-god rides over them, touching their white crests with fingers of gold, the scenes presented are wonderful in variety and spectacular effect.

RIVERS AND WATERWAYS.

The rivers in Chile all have their source in the Andes and empty into the Pacific. Unvexed by fretting wheels of commerce, they flow peacefully on from mountains to the sea. The distance being short and the declivity great, the current of the streams is swift, affording excellent power for manufacturing purposes. Sometimes in the rainy season, when the rivers are flushed from excessive rains, or in summer when their waters are augmented by melting snows, they become raging torrents, sweeping everything before them, frequently causing much loss of life and great damage to property. Among the more important rivers in Chile are the Aconcagua, Mapocho, Maipo, Cachapoal, Tinguiririca, Teno, Lontue, Mataquito, Rapel, Claro, Maule, Nuble, and Bio Bio. Some of these rivers are navigable for light-draft vessels for a short distance from the sea, but the winding course of the streams, irregular depth of water and the swift current make traffic unsafe, impracticable and unprofitable. The most peculiar and complicated river system on the continent is formed by the converging of the numerous streams that empty into the bay of Corral, near Valdivia. In some places as many as four rivers converge at one point. The scenery along these rivers presents a panorama of constantly changing views. Wooded hills rise abruptly along the banks, and in many places trees lean out over the streams, in the crystal waters of which are reflected their inverted images. Islands, overrun with creepers and brilliant with the scarlet bloom of coiphues and fuchsias, and the yellow hues of goldenrod, are some of the features of the picturesque scenery along this peculiar river system.

The fact that the rivers of Chile afford practically no transportation facilities is a matter of little commercial importance, because of the narrow territorial limits of the country from east to west, the general course of all the streams. As a compensation for this lack of natural transportation routes to the interior, the coast of southern Chile is a succession of bays, sounds, gulfs and channels, including the historic Straits of Magellan, which separate Tierra del Fuego from the mainland, and Smyth’s Channel, dangerous to navigate because of the swift currents flowing through the narrow, tortuous ways. In many places along the coast the descent of the shore is so abrupt that heavy-draft vessels are enabled to pass within a few yards of the embankments, and directly under overhanging trees. This southern archipelago, with its hundreds of islands, presents a panorama of scenes peculiarly picturesque and interesting. Among the more important islands of the coast are Chiloe, the original habitat of the potato, Wellington, Hanover, Queen Adelaide, St. Ines, and Desolation, so-called because of the lack of vegetation and desolate aspect of this long narrow strip of land lying at the western entrance to the Straits of Magellan. In some of the narrow channels separating the islands from the mainland and from each other, the currents are so swift, the waters so disturbed and the storms so fierce in certain seasons, that the sea seems a boiling, seething caldron, terrifying to passengers and mariners on passing ships. But those dangerous passages add a fascinating feature to the scenic effects of the most picturesque portion of the coast country.

The Straits of Magellan are a wise and beneficent provision of nature, forming a great canal or natural transportation route across the southern portion of the continent, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Ships pass through the Straits instead of around Cape Horn, one of the most dangerous seas in the world to navigate. The Andean range of mountains, extending from the Arctic Ocean, and stretching its vast, rugged length across the two Americas, ends at the Straits, Mount Victoria, a massive pile of gleaming ice and snow, being the last link in the jagged chain. South of the Straits is Tierra del Fuego, “Land of Fire,” the hills and mountains of which, including the great pyramidal cone of Mount Sarmiento, perpetually covered with a mantle of snow, stretch away hundreds of miles to Cape Horn, the most southern point of the Continent.

The scenery as well as the topographical and geographical conditions of Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia, in fact all the southern archipelago, are different from those in the arctic regions. There is more vegetation and a greater variety of scenery than in the coast countries of a corresponding latitude north. There are the beauties of the Thousand Islands, and Darwin, in describing a voyage through the Straits, compared the glaciers of Tierra del Fuego to a thousand frozen Niagaras. All the beautiful tints and combinations of coloring to be found in lakes Como and Lucerne, of the Mediterranean and the bay of Naples, are equaled, if not surpassed by, the hues reflected in the deep waters of those channels. Huge glaciers crowding down into the sea; giant rocks, rising like sheer walls of masonry for thousands of feet above the water, sometimes ending in shapes resembling church pinnacles and cathedral domes; mountains, whose forest-fringed bases are washed by the sea, their snow-mantled heads in the clouds; islands, frosted with snow and bejeweled with ice, in which is mingled the hues of gray-green moss and verdant vegetation; numerous winding, tortuous water-ways, dividing the islands from each other and separating them from the mainland, are some of the features of the panoramic view of coast-line, mountains and islands, presented in a landscape that is wonderfully picturesque and prepossessing. When storms sweep through these narrow channels, driving seas mountain-high against rocky shores, increasing the force of natural currents, obscuring the view with a shroud of snow and sleet and mist, a wild aspect is added to the scene. Mountains and islands rise ghostlike out of the water, their forms dimly outlined against the angry sky; and the din of booming seas and swiftly rushing waters adds terrifying confusion to the dangers of navigation.

In Patagonia the Andes differ in many of the essential features of their geographical conformation from that magnificent mountain system which further north is the pride and despair of the western countries of South America. The grand simplicity of structure in the northern system, the magnificent continuity and lofty grandeur of its main ranges, the altitude of its dominating peaks, its terrible and forbidding wastes of desolate and highly elevated table-land are wanting in the mountain masses of the far south. The topographical condition of the Patagonian country represents an immense system of ancient lake beds, and sea inlets separated and divided by groups of mountain peaks, sometimes piled upon a massive pedestal of crystalline rock, sometimes strung out in jagged lines of sierra or ridge, fringed with moraines or terraces, shaped and reshaped by the ice-agency of more than one glacial period; mountains which have been split again and again by stupendous volcanic action, and enormous masses of volcanic deposits.

TIERRA DEL FUEGO.

Tierra del Fuego, instead of being a “Land of Desolation,” as it is generally designated, is a land of picturesque scenes, and possesses natural resources to make it a country of prospective wealth, with a promising future. The archipelago includes hundreds of islands, some of which are rocky, mountainous, and barren, but most of them are covered with woods, and on some of the larger islands, especially that of Tierra del Fuego, are wide stretches of valley and plain, covered with rich grasses, affording splendid pasturage for sheep, cattle and horses. There is some valuable timber on the islands, and placer gold mining is carried on to some extent at various places. The commercial importance of the archipelago depends, however, upon sheep raising, an industry that is rapidly developing, and one that is proving profitable. There have been established in recent years a number of large sheep ranches, called “estancias,” on the island of Tierra del Fuego, and in Patagonia. Millions of sheep are pastured on the rich grasses that grow luxuriantly there, and the annual output of wool, mutton, and fat is an important commercial product of the country.

There are few more interesting and picturesque sights than those far southern farm lands in the Magellanes territory, the Scotland of South America. Long, sweeping, undulating downs climb upward to the forest-clad hills, or down to the edges of the blue glacial lakes; and through the mazes of black thorn, the bloom of which fills the air with fragrance in the flowering time, wander vast herds of sheep, often accompanied by large flocks of ostriches, which find safety in associating with the wool coated animals. Northward across the horizon, the castellated and unbroken outlines of innumerable mountains stretch their length across the landscape; while all around are sandstone hills, cliff-bored, and forest covered, and along the banks of turbulent streams, wild flowers bloom, giving a touch of brilliant coloring to the pastoral scene. It is beautiful in outline, detail and coloring, and in its infinite variety.

BRIEF HISTORY

For more than five hundred years previous to the discovery of America, the territory which now constitutes the Republic of Chile was inhabited by bands of nomadic, barbarous Indians. The indigenous races of Chile possessed none of the arts of civilization. They had no knowledge of cultivating the soil, and the rich mineral resources of the country remained undisturbed and undeveloped during all the centuries in which they were left in undisputed possession. They had no system of government, no recognized social or moral laws, no commerce, no medium of exchange, no occupations. The nearest approach they had to houses were rude huts “rucas,” made from the branches of trees, which afforded little protection against rain or cold; neither had they clothing with which to cover their bodies or protect them from the elements. They were nomadic, cannibalistic savages, living like the beasts of the forests, subsisting upon wild fruits, berries, nuts, and such animals as they could capture or kill with crude weapons, made from wood and bamboo. There being few animals and birds indigenous to the country, the Indians were often driven to the extremity of eating insects, mollusks, lizards and reptiles, as a means of sustaining life. The absolute lack of civilization, the low level of the intellectual standard, depraved moral condition, vicious habits and disgusting customs that prevailed among the indigenous races of Chile previous to the peaceful conquest of portions of the territory by the Incas, finds few parallels in the history of the world. Might was right; there was no law, no restraint, no incentive or encouragement to progress or improvement; no punishment provided for those who committed murder and outrage. When one person killed another, he feasted upon the flesh of his vanquished adversary, eating it raw, the formality of cooking being dispensed with.

When the character of the aborigines of Chile is taken into consideration; the conditions out of which the Republic was evolved, a century ago—1810; the elements amalgamated into the present homogeneous population, inherited peculiarities, traditional customs and superstitions taken into account, the wonder is that progress has been so rapid along the road of national advancement, commercial and intellectual development.

More than one hundred years before Columbus discovered America; before the flood-tide, which carried in its current a curious collection of ambitious adventurers and the poor and oppressed of all the European nations, set in towards the western world, making the Atlantic Ocean the “Path of Empire;” before the advance guard of Spanish adventurers and despoilers drifted from the Antilles to tropical America, and crossing the Isthmus of Panama started in quest of gold—a mission of robbery and butchery of the defenseless inhabitants of the west coast countries; before Francisco Pizarro despoiled Peru and destroyed the Inca Empire, where existed the only material evidences of an advanced civilization in South America, created and maintained by a native race; long before Diego Almagro, friend and ally of Pizarro, who was refused a share of the spoils secured in the conquest of Peru, went to Chile, the Incas had invaded the territory and made peaceful conquest of portions of the country which now constitutes the northern part of the Republic.

In the early part of the fifteenth century the Inca of Peru sent a small army to explore the country to the south, with a view to increasing the territorial limits of his Empire. The expedition went as far south as the valley of the Aconcagua, a rich, fertile country, where later was established the city of Quillota, the first capital of Chile. An attempt was made to explore the country further south, but the advance was resented by the Araucanians, and the Incas returned to Peru to report the success of the undertaking. A few years later another army was sent by the Inca into Chile, which explored the country as far south as the River Bio Bio, which is now the northern boundary of the Araucanian territory.

The Incas being much more advanced in civilization than the Indian tribes of Chile, introduced ideas and customs that furnished the foundation upon which was later erected the superstructure of the Republic. They taught the Indians how to irrigate and to cultivate the soil, the value of precious metals, how to weave fabrics from the fur of the vicuña and guanaco, and the art of manufacturing pottery. They also introduced maize, beans and vegetables of various kinds, in the cultivation and uses of which they instructed the natives. In fact, the first advance made by the Chilean Indians from a state of absolute barbarism towards a condition of semi-civilization was due to the teachings and example of the Incas, the most intelligent, progressive and highly civilized of the numerous indigenous races in America, North or South. With a view to making Chile a part of the Peruvian Empire, the Incas built a magnificent military road across the desert of Atacama, which was later partially destroyed by the Spaniards, but portions of which still remain as evidence of the genius and creative skill of that wonderful people.

In 1535, one hundred years after the peaceful conquest of Northern Chile by the Incas, Diego de Almagro, one of the Spanish freebooters and Pacific pirates, started from Peru with five hundred adventurous soldiers on an expedition of conquest of Chile, hoping to repeat there Pizarro’s experience in the spoliation of the Inca Empire. The expedition of Almagro, to whom history generally accords the honor of the discovery of Chile, was attended with many hardships and much suffering. After leaving the road constructed by the Incas across the desert, they had to cross the Cordillera of the Andes, the higher ranges of which were covered with snow and over which there was no road and where the cold was intense. After a voyage lasting six months, in which innumerable difficulties were encountered, Almagro arrived at a point where Copiapo is now situated, with less than one half of his followers, the others having died from cold and starvation in crossing the mountains. It was on this expedition that Almagro manifested characteristics which later gave him the reputation of being one of the most cruel and inhuman of the many adventurers who invaded Chile. When animals used in transporting provisions and equipment for the expedition died, Indians encountered on the way were impressed into service as beasts of burden. They were compelled to live with the pack animals, with which they served in common, and when unable to longer support the burdens under which they struggled across deserts and over mountains, they were brutally murdered, or maimed and left to suffer the tortures of a slow death by the wayside.

When Almagro reached the valley of the Aconcagua, where he had been preceded more than a century by the Incas, who established friendly relations with the Araucanians, he was kindly received by the Indians. But the natives who had been enslaved and cruelly treated by the Spaniards enroute, related their experiences to the friendly Indians, who became suspicious and fled into the forests for protection. This angered Almagro who ordered his soldiers to go in search of them and to kill all who refused to return to their places of habitation. The Spaniards who were provided with horses and arms pursued the defenseless natives and slaughtered hundreds of them.

Having gone to Chile in search of gold, with no other motive than to sack and rob, and finding only poor, ignorant, miserable Indians in possession of the country, Almagro soon returned to Peru, disappointed and disgusted with what he described as the poverty of the territory he had explored. Because of this disappointment, previous to his departure, he committed outrages and atrocities upon the helpless natives, by whom he had been received as a friend, which have few parallels in the record of cruel deeds, with which the early history of South America is so replete. The acts of treachery and outrage committed by Almagro and his followers created a feeling in the minds of the Araucanians that ultimately led to hostilities which lasted for over three hundred years; hostile feelings that have never been removed, and prejudices that will remain so long as a representative of that brave, obstinate race survives.

Almagro’s unfavorable report and the miserable appearance of his soldiers on their return to Peru, together with the stories of suffering, created in the minds of the Spaniards the impression that Chile was the poorest of all the South American countries. But in 1540, Pedro de Valdivia, a young Spanish captain, apparently more ambitious for fame than riches, organized an expedition for the purpose of exploring Chile and taking possession of the territory in the name of the King. Writing to his sovereign concerning the undertaking he said: “I have no desire but to discover and add territory to your Majesty’s Kingdom, and fame to my memory.” With one hundred and fifty men the intrepid young officer, who had gained distinction for valor in European wars, started on a journey from Peru over deserts and mountains to Chile, where he was to lay the foundations for a future Republic. On reaching the beautiful valley of the Mapocho, surrounded by a wall of mountains, and from the center of which rises the Santa Lucia, one of the most remarkable natural formations in the world, Valdivia laid out and established the first city in Chile, which is now the splendid capital of the Republic, Santiago, on February 12, 1541.

On the arrival of Valdivia and his soldiers, the Indians remembering the deception and cruelty practiced by Almagro, abandoned the country near where the Spaniards located. But on being informed by Valdivia that he desired to live on terms of peace with them, they returned to their “rucas” and resumed the cultivation of their “sitios.”

The beautiful city of Santiago of to-day, with its palatial residences, magnificent Alameda, grand cathedral, splendid public buildings and miles of fine business blocks, bears little resemblance to the pioneer village of 1541. The first houses were built of the trunks of trees, plastered with mud and thatched with maize stocks. One of the first buildings erected was a little temple at the corner of the Plaza de Armas, on the site of which now stands the cathedral of Santiago, the corner-stone of the Catholic church in Chile, which is to-day a potent political factor, and exercises a far-reaching influence in the Republic, through its representation in Congress and in the press of the country.

The friendly relation first established with the Indians by Valdivia, and by which means he hoped to take peaceful possession of the country, did not long continue. The necessity of means and greater resources for carrying out his schemes of conquest encouraged Valdivia to prospect for gold, and some mines were opened near the port of Valparaiso. In these mines Indians were placed by force and worked as slaves. In return for the gold secured the Spaniards incurred the enmity of the Indians, who determined to kill all their persecutors as a means of ending the tyranny to which they were subjected. With that cunning and strategy which has always characterized the Araucanians in war, they waited to make the attack until Valdivia was absent on an exploring expedition in the south with some of his followers, leaving only thirty mounted and twenty foot soldiers to guard the little garrison at Santiago. For fifteen hours the fifty men held the fort which was besieged and assaulted by a force of Indians numbering six thousand. Finally Captain Alonso de Monroy, who was in charge of the Spanish forces changed his tactics from defensive to the offensive, and leading his little band of soldiers attacked the Indians with such courage and ferocity that, notwithstanding their great numbers they were driven off. A great number of Indians and several of the soldiers were killed, but the greatest loss suffered by the Spaniards was the destruction by fire of the entire village, except the fort. When Valdivia returned he found himself and his men without houses in which to live, and without provisions or supplies, everything except the clothing they wore having been burned or destroyed during the battle.

After several years of indecisive warfare, in which the Spaniards made no progress in the way of conquering the Indians, or the undisputed occupation of the territory, Valdivia decided to return to Peru for the purpose of enlisting a more formidable force of men and arms with which to prosecute the war against the Araucanians. He started on this mission in 1547, leaving the depleted forces in Chile in charge of Francisco Villagran, returning two years later with two hundred infantry and a troop of one hundred cavalry, all well armed and equipped. Feeling secure with this army, Valdivia began an aggressive warfare against the Araucanians immediately after his arrival. Soon after the beginning of this war several important battles took place, chief among which was that of Concepcion, in which over two thousand Indians were killed and two hundred taken prisoners. The Spaniards also lost a number of men in the engagement. Following his cruel instincts, and with a view to terrorizing the Indians, Valdivia cut off the right hand and the nose of each of the prisoners captured in the battle, and then released them to return to their people, maimed and disfigured. This act of cruelty, instead of having the desired effect, incensed the Araucanians to greater hostilities. So persistent became their pursuit and attack that the Spaniards were given no time to sleep or rest from the strife. Day and night they were harassed by the Indians who finally collected their forces for a decisive battle at Tucapel. In this encounter Valdivia employed the same tactics used in other engagements, charging the enemy with his cavalry. But on this occasion the Indians seemed to be innumerable and invincible, and after being almost annihilated, the heroic little band of soldiers were forced to submit to superior numbers, and those who were not killed in battle were taken prisoner, Pedro de Valdivia being among the latter. When brought into the presence of the Araucanian chief, Valdivia said: “If you will give me my liberty I will promise to retire with my soldiers from the country.” Painful experience had taught the Indians to place no value upon the promises of the Spaniards, and desiring to avenge the cruelties inflicted upon their people, they refused to release the prisoners. Valdivia was tortured with all the horrible cruelties he had practiced upon the Indians, and all the soldiers taken at Tucapel were put to a tortuous death.

Soon after the death of Valdivia, the colonial government in Chile was organized by the worst class of Spanish Bohemians,—men who had not even a cheap or spectacular glory to their credit, and who lacked the capacity or disposition to engage in work of any character, or to develop the resources of the country. It was a sad and calamitous existence the people led under the despotic and ruinous misrule of Spain. Nothing flourished or savored of goodness. The only landmarks of civilization left from that period are various towns, some of which from geographical positions have grown into important cities.

All traces of progress lay buried beneath bigotry and tyranny. The sovereign and his representatives retarded development and advancement, evincing only selfish and unpatriotic ambition for personal gain, treacherous deception and cruel oppression. Chilean officials under Castilian rule had to be Spanish born, and with impunity they plundered the colony of all that was worth possessing. For nearly three centuries Chile lived with modest labor in honest poverty. Those conditions served as antecedents to the special characteristics of economy, industry, independence and love of liberty so manifest in the Chileans of to-day.

Then there was little communication with the outside world. Colonists suffered and endured without encouragement, hope of relief, or promise of better things. But during those turbulent times, those years of oppression and Spanish misrule, when the Republican idea was growing, there was one powerful force in operation, resenting and resisting the authority of those who were plundering and robbing the country in the name of law and civilization. That force was the courageous, valiant, unconquered Araucanians who maintained their independence for over three hundred years, preferring annihilation to subjugation.

A great majority of the colonists in Chile lived in poverty and ignorance, apparently resigned to their unfortunate condition. For two hundred and fifty years there had been transmitted from parents to children the idea of obedience to the king, believing that person to be of divine origin, and that his power was omnipotent. They also believed that the Spanish-American colonies would always remain subject to the authority of Spain. Fortunately, however, there was a small minority that entertained a hope of relief from the rule of oppression. This hope was encouraged, and the idea of independence implanted in the minds of the people, by the revolution of the English colonists, the declaration of independence of the United States, and the establishment of the first American Republic. The success of the North American patriots encouraged the revolutionary idea in Chile to such an extent that in 1810, when Spain was involved in the turmoil of a general European war, the opportunity was seized by the colonists to secure their independence, which was declared September 18, 1810.

The new Republic, born of patriotism and christened in war, was destined to struggle through its first years of existence in poverty, and afflicted with that most fatal of national maladies, internal strife. The people, long subject to despotic rule, filled with doubt and distrust of those who promised better things, had little experience, training or knowledge to fit them for the political liberty they had been so anxious to secure, and in possession of which they found themselves. Inexperienced in self-government, depressed with poverty, disturbed with internal dissensions and burdened with exploded theories, Chile began to set her national house in order without example or precedent to guide her in the experiment.

The government of Chile, organized in Santiago, September 18, 1810, was provisional and experimental, consisting of a “junta” (committee) of sixty persons, with Mateo de Toro y Zambrano as president of the junta, and in fact the first president of independent Chile. On July 4 of the following year an election was held at which congressional deputies were selected. A month later the national congress appointed a government junta, composed of three persons. The first laws of the new government were promulgated in August, 1811, among which was one prohibiting the importation of slaves, and declaring freedom to the children of all slaves then in the country. Thus did the young Republic place her seal of disapproval upon slavery, thereby setting an example for other nations, including the United States, after which the Chilean Republic was modeled.

For more than twenty years after the organization of the government the country was rent by jealousy, dissension, revolution and general disorder. The patriots who were struggling for national life and independence, and who were confident that out of chaos would come order, peace and prosperity, had to contend not only with an aggressive foreign foe, but to encounter intrigue and disloyalty at home. During the first decade of national life, numerous able and courageous men endeavored to direct the Ship of State through the turbulent sea of strife and discord to a safe and secure harbor. None succeeded, but many contributed materially to the final solution of the problem of government by the people. Among those who were conspicuous in the service of the country during its formative period may be mentioned Juan Martinez de Rozas, Camilo Henriquez, Manuel Salas, Admiral Blanco Encalada and Lord Cochrane. But the two characters that stand out most conspicuously, the names that are inscribed first upon the roll of honor of Chilean patriots, the men who contributed most to the establishment of order and law in the government, are Bernardo O’Higgins, the first capable, courageous Governor of Chile, and the brave, patriotic San Martin, who united the forces of the Argentine with those of Chile, Bolivia and Peru, for the purpose of putting an end to Spanish rule, and establishing independent government in the several colonies.

O’Higgins was Governor from 1817 to 1823, during which time he used his splendid executive ability in an honest effort to establish law and order, and to introduce some kind of system into the government. After six years of vain endeavor, and believing that the people were unprepared for self-government, he resigned, asked permission to leave the country, and went to Peru. General O’Higgins was succeeded as Governor by Ramon Freire, who held the position for three years, 1826. Then followed a period of several years during which the country was in a state of political anarchy. Changes of government were so frequent that it was impossible to maintain anything like law and order. Revolutions, conspiracies and intrigue were organized and practiced by political combinations and individuals. Independent government was a theory only, and many sincere patriots doubted the wisdom of further effort to establish and maintain a Republic, believing that existing conditions were even worse than Spanish rule.

The theory that if the seed of independence is once planted in the soil of public opinion, it will ultimately bring forth a harvest of good national results, holds true in the case of Chile. For notwithstanding the political disorder, frequent changes of government and the sanguinary revolutions that prevailed from the first, the declaration of independence produced beneficent results. The greatest of these benefits was the liberty of trade and freedom of commerce. People were permitted to buy and sell merchandise when, where and to whom they pleased, while under the colonial system all commercial privileges were controlled by the crown; and while Chile was under the authority of Spain, foreigners were not permitted to engage in trade in the colony.

Under the influence of approaching peace, the gradual amalgamation of political factions into united parties, the expansion of trade and the development of the country’s natural resources, the young Republic developed national life to such an extent that a political constitution was promulgated on May 25, 1833. The independence of the Republic was not recognized by Spain, however, until 1846. The constitution gave to the president authority as ample as that possessed by the king, over the colonies, authorizing him to use in certain cases and emergencies extraordinary powers even to the suspension of the constitutional authority. These provisions were embodied in the constitution for the purpose of suppressing political anarchy and revolution, which had so often interrupted the progress and threatened the life of the Republic from the time of its organization, without waiting for congressional approval. The constitution as adopted in 1833 remained unchanged until 1868. Since that date various amendments have been adopted, limiting the powers of the executive, and adjusting constitutional authority and law to meet the changed conditions of the times and the country.

FORM OF GOVERNMENT.

The form of government under the constitution adopted in 1833 is republican with legislative, executive and judicial branches. The legislative power is vested in the National Congress, consisting of a Senate and House of Deputies, the former, under the latest census, being composed of 37, and the latter of 108 members. Senators are elected for a term of six years, one-half the number being elected every three years. Members of the lower branch of Congress are elected for three years by direct vote, the apportionment being one for every 30,000 inhabitants or fraction of not less than 15,000. Congress is in session from June 1 to September 1 of each year. During the recess of that body a permanent committee consisting of seven senators and seven deputies acts for Congress, and is consulted by the executive upon all questions of importance.

The president is elected for a term of five years by electors who are chosen by direct vote. He is ineligible to election for two consecutive terms. The salary of the chief executive is 60,000 pesos, equal to about $20,000 in U. S. currency. He is assisted by a Council of State consisting of 11 members, six of whom are appointed by Congress and five by the president; and also by six cabinet ministers who are named by the executive, but are responsible to the Congress.

The constitution having become an established law, Chile made rapid progress along the road of national life, leading to order, authority and prosperity. But it was not until Manuel Montt, who was president from 1851 to 1861, had put down two revolutions that order and executive authority were firmly established, and the force of organized national defense demonstrated. In 1861 Montt was succeeded as president by Jose Joaquin Perez, who continued as chief executive for ten years. The condition of law and order that was established and maintained by the government previous to his election continued throughout his two administrations, and national authority was extended and enlarged until liberty of action and speech was insured to every citizen of the Republic. By his political moderation and conciliation, President Perez established a feeling of internal peace and security that had not been previously felt in the country. Unfortunately Chile was soon to be disturbed again by a war-cloud upon the peaceful horizon. Having secured their own freedom, and established an independent government, the patriotic people were not content to remain indifferent to the arbitrary actions of Spain in taking forceful possession of the Chincha Islands in 1865. By force of public opinion and popular sentiment, President Perez was compelled to make an alliance with Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, to defend the interests of South American Republics against the domination of Spain.

Spain sent a fleet to blockade the ports of Chile, which was not a difficult undertaking, as the Chilean navy then consisted of one gunboat, the Esmeralda. On November 26, the Esmeralda, under command of Captain William Rebolledo, made a brilliant coup by attacking and capturing the Spanish corvette, Covadonga, which daring deed was accomplished within view of the Spanish squadron blockading the harbor of Valparaiso. The admiral commanding the fleet was so humiliated by the fact that one of his ships had been taken by the Chileans that he committed suicide on board his flagship, a few hours afterwards.

To avenge the loss, and apparently as an act of spite inspired by the humiliating incident of the Covadonga, Spain sent a more powerful fleet to Valparaiso, and on March 31, 1866, bombarded the city, causing considerable loss of life, and destruction of property to the value of fifteen million dollars.

At that time Valparaiso had no land fortifications nor means of resisting an attack from a hostile fleet, and Spain’s action in bombarding the port has been generally condemned. This apparent unjustifiable destruction of a defenseless city was the last armed demonstration of Spain in South America. For three centuries she attempted to govern Chile as a colony, and for the first fifty years of national life of the Republic the threatening attitude of the parent government continued as a menace and an obstacle to progress and industrial development. Peace was not established between the two countries until 1884, but after the bombardment of Valparaiso, there was no further hostile demonstration, and Chile was permitted to direct the force of her energies towards building up neglected national institutions and developing the natural resources of the country.

The bombardment of Valparaiso forced upon Chile a realization of her defenseless position against attack from a naval force. Without a navy to defend her extensive coast country, or fortifications with which to protect her ports, she was at the mercy of any maritime power. To meet this requirement and to strengthen her national position, she acquired a formidable navy, the most powerful in South America, and constructed modern fortifications in all the principal ports. Since that time Chile has been regarded as one of the most formidable and aggressive naval and military powers among the Latin-American Republics.

During the administration of President Perez the liberal element in the Republic began to assert itself, and to demand political reforms. This was the first demonstration and show of resistance against the conservative church party, which had been in control of the government since its formation. The program of the liberals was: “The absolute guarantee of personal liberty; that local governments shall be invested with that complete independence necessary for the thorough exercise of their prerogatives; that the different branches of government shall be independent of each other, that all persons shall be equal before the law and that all special privileges shall be abolished.” This was a move from the oligarchy towards democracy. The liberals scored their first victory in 1868, when Congress passed an amendment to the constitution, making the president ineligible to reëlection. The laws providing for civil responsibility, for political treason, and imprisonment for debt were also abolished by the same Congress.

Don Federico Errazuriz, who was elected to the presidency in 1871, was a man of scholarly attainments, and had had a long and varied experience in public life. He had been minister of foreign affairs, of the interior, of justice, and of war, and had served in both branches of the legislative body.

During the administration of President Errazuriz, the liberal party succeeded in passing a number of reformatory measures, among which was one providing that the clergy should be amenable to the civil authorities, and further that all sects might worship in churches erected by private enterprise. The president also decreed that space should be reserved in catholic or public cemeteries for the interment of dissenters, who could be given the right of burial according to the form of their respective denominations. Against these acts the clerical party filed a remonstrance which was signed by the Archbishop of Santiago; and members of Congress who voted for the measures, as well as magistrates who should attempt to enforce the laws, were threatened with excommunication from the church. But those progressive measures still remain upon the statute books of Chile.

Don Anibal Pinto succeeded Don Federico Errazuriz as president in 1876. His administration was early confronted with a financial crisis, and in 1878 the government authorized the banks to suspend specie payment, and guaranteed their emission of paper money to the amount of $15,500,000, which was made redeemable in coin on August 31, 1879. A year later the government found it necessary to resort to a second issue of paper currency to the amount of $6,000,000.

The church question, which had been made the paramount political issue in previous campaigns continued with unabated zeal and acrimony throughout President Pinto’s administration. In 1878 the Archbishop of Santiago died, and the government recommended the appointment of Don Francisco de Paula Taforo as his successor. The clergy of the country opposed the appointment, but the government maintained that inasmuch as the State supported the ecclesiastical officials, the civil authorities should name the church dignitaries. After a bitter contest lasting for several years an apostolic delegate was sent from Rome to make report on the affair. He was expelled by President Santa Maria, who succeeded President Pinto, and the victory was won by the government.

Throughout the administrations of Presidents Perez, Errazuriz, and Pinto the country made rapid advancement along the road of national progress and civilization. Previous to that time all reforms and advanced measures were initiated and directed by the executive, whose political power made him practically the government.

Neither the House of Deputies nor the Senate made any pretense to parliamentary rule or order. In both national and private life the poor but honest element predominated. People earned a legitimate livelihood by honest industry, and wanton extravagance was little known.

THE WAR OF 1879.

There are various versions of the causes leading up to the war between Chile, Peru and Bolivia, but the immediate cause of hostilities, which placed Chile in possession of the greatest nitrate fields in the world, was the cession by the Bolivian government to the Anglo-Peruvian firm of Gibbs & Company, of the right to work the nitrate deposits north of twenty-four degrees south, to construct a mole at Antofagasta and build a railway to some mines in the interior. Later this firm disposed of a portion of its concessions to a Chilean company, the “Compañia Salitres y Ferrocarril de Antofagasta.” When the Bolivian government discovered that Chilean capital and industry were developing the desert into a source of wealth, it laid an export bounty of ten cents per hundred weight upon manufactured nitrate of soda. The Compañia Salitres y Ferrocarril objected to paying export duties upon the products of its properties, and appealed to Chile for protection. Bolivia then threatened to seize all nitrate in the hands of exporters. The Chilean government protested against this arbitrary action and sent a fleet to blockade the ports of Antofagasta, Cobija and Tocopilla. On February 14, 1879, Chile took possession of Antofagasta and sent troops to the interior to protect the property interests of its citizens. General Hilarion Daza, President of Bolivia, then declared war, expelled some Chilenos from the country and confiscated their properties. Thus the fraternity and harmony of interests of the neighboring Republics were destroyed, the trumpets of war sounded, and the result was a change in the map of South America.

Peru tendered her services as mediator and sent special envoys to Santiago and La Paz. But Chile,—having knowledge of a secret treaty celebrated between Bolivia and Peru in 1873, the purpose of which was declared to be the mutual guarantee of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the two republics, and mutual defense against aggression,—the proposition was looked upon by Chile with distrust. Peru proposed that Chilean troops should evacuate Antofagasta; that the three republics should guarantee a neutral administration of affairs. Chile demanded the annulment of the secret treaty of 1873, and that preparations for war on the part of Peru should cease. These propositions were rejected, and Chile declared war against the allies on April 5, 1879.

Hostilities began at once and in earnest, both upon land and sea, continuing until Chile gained her final victories in the battles of Miraflores and Chorrillos, January 13, 1881, and four days later the victorious troops marched into Lima and occupied the Peruvian capital. The campaign was a succession of brilliant victories and achievements for the Chilean arms.

Peru believed her navy superior to that of Chile, but she had not reckoned the valor, skill and zeal of the patriotic Chilean officers, whose feats won for them not only victory, but the admiration of the world, and established for Chile an international reputation as a fighting nation. Equally brilliant and successful was the campaign of the land forces. In the battles of Pisagua, Tacna, Arica, and finally at Miraflores the Chilean troops were invincible.

Among those who distinguished themselves in the navy during the war with Peru and Bolivia was Captain Arturo Prat, who gave up his life in the battle of Iquique, where, after his ship, the Esmeralda, had been disabled and was being rammed by the Peruvian cruiser Huascar, leaped from the deck of his own vessel to that of the enemy, and with his sword attacked single-handed the forces that confronted him in overwhelming numbers. There is in the Plaza Intendencia, Valparaiso, a handsome bronze monument erected to the memory of Arturo Prat, whose heroic deeds and valiant service form some of the most brilliant chapters in the history of his country. Admiral Patricio Lynch was another naval officer with a foreign name who distinguished himself in the war with Peru, and later received the title of general for meritorious service in the Chilean army. During the occupation of Lima, by the Chilean forces, Admiral Lynch was placed in command of the troops in the Peruvian capital, where he remained in charge until April, 1884, when the treaty of peace was ratified and Chile withdrew her army from the conquered country.

By the treaty of peace celebrated with Bolivia on December 11, 1882, Chile obtained all the latter’s seacoast, including the port of Cobija, privileges for constructing railways into the interior and twenty per cent. of Bolivian port customs.

The treaty between Chile and Peru, which was signed at Ancon, on October 20, 1883, contained provisions that led to complications which still leave the question of final settlement in dispute; complications that resulted in a discontinuance of diplomatic relations, which at times became so strained that another conflict at arms seemed imminent. Peru ceded to Chile the province of Tarapaca, forever and unconditionally. In lieu of $10,000,000 cash indemnity, and as security for payment of same, the territory constituting the provinces of Tacna and Arica passed into the possession of Chile for a period of ten years, at the end of which time the ownership of the territory was to be determined by a vote of the legal residents of those provinces. Whatever the result of the election, the country to which the provinces should be annexed, engaged to pay the other $10,000,000 in cash. The time limit for this provision of the treaty expired in 1894, and Peru not being prepared to comply with its requirements, Chile continued in possession of the territory, and the question of Tacna and Arica remained a disputed one.

THE TACNA AND ARICA QUESTION.

A few years later Peru became more prosperous through the development of her rich mineral resources and began pressing for a settlement of the question. To the arbitration proposition presented by Peru Chile maintained that there was nothing to arbitrate. In 1905 Peru presented her side of the question in the form of a written protest against certain proposed industrial improvements in the disputed territory. The reply of the Chilean government to the arguments offered in the protest was an able statement of the case, which left little doubt in the minds of those familiar with the subject that it was Chile’s intention to retain possession of the territory in question.

In June 1905 diplomatic relations between the two republics were resumed, and Peru sent Don Manuel Alvarez Calderon as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Santiago, where he was warmly received by President Riesco and his Cabinet Ministers. In his address in presenting his credentials to the President of Chile, on November 4, 1905, Señor Calderon stated that he was charged with the task of settling outstanding questions in conformity with treaty stipulations, meaning, it was understood, the Tacna and Arica question. In February 1906 the Chilean government named Don Rafael Balmaceda as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Peru.

The more amicable relations resulting from the appointment of diplomatic representatives continued until 1909 when Chile proposed the taking of the plebiscite on certain bases which were then considered unacceptable by Peru, and diplomatic relations were again broken off by the latter country. The main points at issue in this instance involved the questions of who were to constitute the voters, who should preside at the proceedings of the plebiscite, and at what date the election to secure an expression of the residents of the disputed territory should take place.

During the year 1912 an effort was made on the part of the respective governments to agree upon terms acceptable to both countries for the celebration of the plebiscite provided for in the treaty of Ancon, to determine the nationality of the provinces of Tacna and Arica, and the following general agreement was reached:

Peru agrees that all inhabitants, whether Chilean or Peruvian, shall have the right to vote, provided that they enjoy electoral rights under the constitutions of their respective governments. This is the proposition made by Chile in 1909, except that she was willing to include foreigners amongst the voters, while Peru insisted on their exclusion. Chile assuming that the plebiscite would then take place at once, proposed six months’ residence as a necessary condition for voters, and Peru demanded that the time be extended to three years. The plebiscite under the latest arrangement is to be postponed for twenty-one years, during which interval it is hoped and believed that the prejudices engendered by the war, and the ill-feeling existing on the part of the citizens of both republics living in the disputed territory will greatly change for the better, and lessen the chances of a conflict in the final settlement of a difficult question of long standing.

Peru is willing to accede the claim to preside at the taking of the plebiscite, and the president of the Supreme Court of Chile will preside. The rest of the board will be composed of two Chileans and two Peruvians, and final decision will be reached by the majority.

The most important feature of the arrangements, however, is the contemplated treaty of commerce and navigation, by which both countries hope to create such a powerful influence for peace that the question which for so many years has proven an insuperable difficulty to the best efforts of the statesmen of both countries will play a secondary and unimportant part in the relations between the two republics.

Chile is no longer disposed to treat with Peru in a conciliatory manner, or submit to arbitration a question in which she has the right of possession. Having settled peacefully the long standing boundary dispute with the Argentine Republic, which for a quarter of a century hung like a war cloud over the Cordilleras, and got possession of Bolivia “tregua” (tentatively), by means of a treaty of peace and amity, Chile is no longer afraid of a triple alliance with the Argentine, Bolivia and Peru, which once menaced her security and national life.

When the Spanish-American colonies united to secure their independence from Spain it was mutually agreed that there should be no “no man’s land.” To attain this end it was covenanted that the boundaries of the new Republics should be those assigned to each as a colony. In many instances those boundaries were ill defined, and in others conjectural or imaginary. As explorations proceeded these errors were discovered and naturally gave rise to territorial questions between neighboring nations.

Chile had but two neighbors and she had boundary disputes with both. The dispute with the Argentine led to the erection of a fort and the founding of a settlement in the Strait of Magellan by Chile in 1843. From that time until the boundary award by King Edward in 1903, the two republics were in a continual controversy over territorial limits, which on more than one occasion led them to the brink of war. With her other neighbor, Bolivia, Chile had a boundary dispute which has had far-reaching consequences. A modus vivendi which seemed to promise lasting peace was agreed upon. Contrary to expectation, however, the agreement produced war, procuring for Chile another neighbor and still another territorial dispute. Previous to the war of the Pacific, the province of Antofagasta, which was Bolivian territory, separated Chile and Peru, but as a result of that war Chile came into possession of the province of Antofagasta and consequently became a neighbor to Peru. Surrounded as she was then with three Republics individually and collectively maintaining a hostile attitude to her independent and aggressive policy, Chile was placed in a peculiarly delicate and dangerous political position. If one of her three neighbors made a move in its boundary question the other two pressed for a settlement of similar claims.

During the civil conflict in Chile her three neighbors took advantage of the internal disturbance to urge settlement of their boundary questions. And when the relations between Argentina and Chile became so strained as to make war imminent, Bolivia and Peru assumed a most aggressive attitude in demanding a settlement of the questions growing out of the war of ’79. Chile has not forgotten these acts of her neighbors, but her attitude is not one of resentment. Her desire is for peace, as has been demonstrated by her generous and amicable adjustment of differences with Bolivia and Argentina; peace at home and abroad, but peace with honor. She governs her sword in accordance with the motto of the Castilian Hidalgo: “No me desenvainas sin causa; no me envainas sin honor.” (I do not unsheath my sword without cause; I do not sheath it without honor.)

The territorial questions of Chile with Argentina and Bolivia have been definitely settled, and the three countries have been greatly benefited thereby. Chile and the Argentine have been relieved of the enormous drain upon their resources in the purchase of ships and preparations for war, and under treaty arrangements capital is seeking investment in Bolivia in the development of its natural resources. The only outstanding territorial question that Chile now has to deal with is that relating to Tacna and Arica.

Bolivia’s loss in the war with Chile was irreparable, depriving it of all coast territory and an outlet to the sea. It now occupies the unique position of being one of two inland countries in the sisterhood of South American Republics. After the war Chile took possession of the long strip of desert bordering on the Pacific, which furnished Bolivia access to the ocean and direct communication with the outside world. The territory is a rainless region, devoid of vegetation, but beneath its surface are nitrate deposits sufficient to supply the world, and its acquisition made Chile the richest country on the globe, in proportion to its population. It derives from that source about 90,000,000 pesos, equal to $30,000,000 United States currency, or $8.50 per capita, annually. The source of this enormous revenue has become the permanent possession of Chile. Bolivia has apparently abandoned the idea of pressing further claims for readjustment of questions growing out of the war, and is endeavoring to make the best of a bad situation by developing the resources of her remaining territory and promoting her industrial interests. In 1905 she celebrated a treaty of commerce and amity with Chile, which provides among other things for the building of a system of railroads through the provinces of Tacna and Arica, thereby giving to Bolivia access to Pacific ports, providing means of communication and facilities for transporting her products to the coast, as well as to ports of entry.

Bolivia also has a large scheme of railway-building of her own, some of the more important branches of which will connect with the lines built by Chile, extending from the coast across the pampa. It was the announcement of this treaty agreement that caused the last vigorous protest by Peru against Chile’s course in the Tacna and Arica question.

During the administration of the phlegmatic but conscientious Domingo Santa Maria, who was president from 1881 to 1886, Chile passed through an important epoch, the pivotal point in her national history. It includes the war with Peru and Bolivia, and an international complication with the Argentine Republic in which war was averted only by a diplomatic handling of the question.

Argentina had an unsigned alliance with Peru and Bolivia, and advantage was taken of Chile’s war engagement to press the question of boundary limits, and also that of the possession of Patagonia and the Straits of Magellan. To meet this emergency and to avoid if possible another war, the government commissioned Jose Manuel Balmaceda, who was then serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, to go to the Argentine capital and save Chile from impending difficulties. Although coldly received in Buenos Aires, Señor Balmaceda entered upon the task with zeal and determination, unraveled the tangle of international questions, and tied the hands of Argentina by withdrawing Chile’s claim to that portion of Patagonia lying east of the Cordilleras. Previous to that time all of Patagonia was Chilean territory. It was included in the Spanish Vice-royalty inherited by the Republic. This concession precipitated other boundary disputes which were the cause of many years of international contention, almost resulting in war between the two nations on several occasions. It was finally settled by arbitration in May, 1903, when a boundary line, established by a commission appointed by King Edward VII, was accepted and approved by a treaty agreement between the two countries.

On his return from the Argentine, Balmaceda was made Prime Minister and became a most potent political factor and powerful incentive to material progress and development. From armed conflicts and international complications Chile emerged triumphant and successful. Her territorial limits had been extended to include some of the richest mineral deposits on the continent, her national prestige greatly increased, her credit unimpaired and her wealth producing resources multiplied.

From that time Chile made rapid advancement along lines of industrial development and intellectual progress. For the first time in her national existence the exports exceeded her imports; the balance of trade was favorable to her commerce, and the surplus in the national treasury reached 100,000,000 pesos. A remarkable thing about this surplus is that it was accumulated while the government was engaged in building railroads, bridges, public schools and colleges, penal and correctional institutions, constructing highways and providing better means of communication throughout the country. The Congress of that period, 1882-5, was notable in the history of the Republic for its progressive policies, unity of purpose and patriotic support of the government.

The administration party, led by Balmaceda, with the encouragement of President Santa Maria, was marshaling its forces for some radical departures from former governmental policies. The president issued a message in which it was declared the intention of the administration to enact a law providing for the civil registry of births, deaths and marriages. In the National Congress, September 26, 1885, Balmaceda, representing the administration, declared the following to be the government program:

“Reciprocate and counterpoise every arm of public power; sacredly maintain the independence of constitutional and judicial powers; protect from abuse the electoral power and liberty of suffrage; formally reorganize municipalities for honest, harmonious legislation; separate the church from the state and protect the liberty of thought; foment progressive public instruction, examine proofs of character and competency in the exercise of public functions; realize national administration in the most correct, upright and economical manner.”

Little attention was given to these patriotic sentiments at the time, but later when Balmaceda became minister of the interior, he declared in congress that “the Catholic religion marches contrary to the current of the century, restrains the liberty of State, refuses modern progress, denies freedom of thought and destroys liberal ideas; the church condemns culture and fosters ignorance. With the creed of Catholicism it is difficult to unite the politics of modern State, as the Catholic religion is an exclusive compulsory factor and beneficiary in Chilean administrations.”

After a bitter congressional campaign, in which the measure was opposed by the church element, the civil registry act became a law. History credits President Santa Maria with giving his country this beneficent law, but it was the aggressive Balmaceda who led the fight against all the fortified conservative forces, religious and traditional prejudices of Chile, inculcating into the minds of the people new and advanced ideas, and making the passage of the law possible. Inspired by patriotic motives, and with excessive confidence in others, including his enemies, Balmaceda committed the common mistake of politicians in believing the cause he advocated would prevail because it was right. The war with Peru and Bolivia had left multiform internal and external questions for settlement. While these international problems were pressing for solution, requiring the attention of the administration, the opposition party made a fierce fight in the elections of 1886, securing a majority in the Congress. Then followed the greatest political struggle in the history of Chile. The elements opposing the civil registry law, and other political measures advanced by the administration, employed every means within their power to arrest the liberal advance, which had made such rapid progress in the few years immediately preceding, to embarrass the administration of Santa Maria and destroy the influence of Balmaceda, who had become a political power in the Republic.

ELECTION OF BALMACEDA.

The contending forces and warring political elements of that critical period in Chile’s history reached a climax in the struggle for supremacy in the campaign of 1886, which resulted in the election of Balmaceda as president. During the years intervening between the war with Peru and Bolivia, and the inauguration of Balmaceda, Chile had prospered wonderfully. The rich nitrate properties, acquired as the fruits of war, were being developed and worked with foreign capital, and were producing an enormous annual revenue. The Republic was then in the period of its greatest prosperity, having accumulated a large surplus in the national treasury, notwithstanding the fact that public works, including highways, school houses, bridges, harbor improvements, etc., were being constructed. Order and system prevailed in the management of government affairs, and the country was in the bloom of industrial progress and national prosperity.

Under these favorable conditions, Don Jose Manuel Balmaceda became president. To the creation of these conditions he had contributed much in the way of honest industry, but the full fruition of his hopes to make of Chile an independent Republic, where every citizen, irrespective of condition, creed or religion, might exercise his rights without prejudice to his individual interests was never to be realized. Not only was he destined to disappointment and ultimate defeat, but this strong, brilliant man, the greatest in many respects that Chile has produced, proved the rock upon which the Ship of State foundered. His administration ended in a revolution, the tragic end of which was the death of the president by suicide in the Argentine Legation, in Santiago, where he sought asylum after the final success of the revolutionists and the overthrow of the government.

It was on a constitutional question that Balmaceda clashed with Congress, which resulted in his downfall. Under the constitution the president must convoke Congress in regular session from June 1 to September 1, each year; he has power to prorogue it at any time for a term of fifty days, and he can summon it in special session whenever he chooses. He appoints his cabinet ministers, governors of provinces, diplomatic representatives, and five out of eleven members of the Council of State, “Consejo de Estado.” He also appoints the judges of the several courts, upon recommendation of the Council of State. He approves, promulgates and takes part in the making of laws, issues decrees, regulations, etc., which he may consider desirable for the execution of laws. The authority thus vested in the president gives him a power which, if abused, might become a menace to the Republic. It was perhaps for this reason that the framers of the constitution of Chile, apparently desiring to avoid the possibility of the concentration of political power in the Republic, made the ministry responsible to the legislative branch of the government instead of the executive. Following the plan of the French Republic, legislation affecting the general policy of the government originates with the ministry. When Congress convenes the president outlines the administration policy in a message calling attention to such measures as he thinks should receive attention and consideration from the legislative bodies. Bills are prepared by the cabinet ministers and presented to Congress. A failure to approve by their votes any measure coming from the executive branch is taken as a vote of lack of confidence in the administration, and the only course left for the president is to dissolve his ministry. The power bestowed upon Congress to overthrow ministries, and defy the president by refusing to coöperate with the executive branch of government, was never indulged in to any considerable extent until Balmaceda’s time. Then the political elements opposed to the administration policy allied their interests and exercised their power to defeat the progressive measures presented, thereby repeatedly rejecting the ministry. Since that time the custom of obstruction has grown into such a gigantic abuse that it is now almost impossible for the president of Chile to maintain a ministry for a sufficient length of time to carry out any general plan or policy of government. In fact it has become one of the crying evils of the country which the press denounces vigorously and persistently. During the administration of President German Riesco, 1901-6, ministerial changes became so frequent that a cabinet crisis was not regarded as a matter of any interest or consequence by the public.

During the first years of Balmaceda’s administration, Chile enjoyed an era of golden prosperity and national progress. Numerous reforms were proposed, which had for their purpose the improvement of the government service. One project was to prohibit senators and deputies from having an interest in any public contract; another that neither the president nor any cabinet minister should appoint a near relative to office unless the person possessed the necessary qualifications for the position. Believing himself secure in the performance of his duties and the administration of government affairs, President Balmaceda prepared to utilize a portion of the large income from the nitrate fields in the construction of public works. He contracted for the building of new lines of railway in the central and southern provinces at a cost of $30,000,000; built schools and colleges in every city in the Republic, amounting to $10,000,000 in value; ordered the construction of three modern warships and two torpedo boats in Europe. He also continued and completed the work of constructing a government dry dock at Talcahuano; armed and equipped the army with modern rifles and munitions of war, and improved the coast defenses, to which were added new modern batteries at Talcahuano and Iquique.

The questions affecting the prerogatives of the members of Congress and cabinet ministers, together with the extravagant policy of the administration caused much political agitation and exciting debate in the Senate and House of Deputies. The constant attack of the clerical party, the bitter denunciations of the press, added to the conservative opposition finally created dissension among the liberals, who had elected and until then supported the president. Charges of usurpation of power and dictatorship were made against Balmaceda, and the political situation became such that a revolt was imminent. Various ministries had been rejected by Congress because of the policy pursued in erecting costly public works instead of employing the government revenues in reducing the foreign debt and redeeming the paper currency, and the president found himself in the embarrassing situation of having entered upon a policy of extensive government improvement and industrial development without the support of Congress. An extraordinary session was called for the purpose of providing government revenues. Other measures were taken up by Congress and the appropriation bill deferred until the president should recede from his arbitrary position. Balmaceda refused to compromise, and the ministry again resigned. He then appointed a new cabinet in harmony with his views and declared the session closed, maintaining that Congress when called in extraordinary session for the express purpose of passing an appropriation bill had no constitutional authority to go into the consideration of other measures. In explaining his action he said: “Congress by the express terms of the constitution has no more right to dictate to me what ministers I shall appoint than it has to advise what food I shall eat or clothes I shall wear.”

The Constitutional Advisory Committee was convened and as a result of its deliberations the president was advised to again convene Congress in extraordinary session. Balmaceda hesitated, fearing that Congress if again convened might declare the office of president vacant. While he and his ministers deliberated, the Constitutional Committee arrogated to itself the authority to call an extra session. The opposition was rapidly securing support from various political elements throughout the country and by popular sympathy among the people. The dictatorial attitude of the administration aroused intense feeling and there was a clamor for the deposition of the alleged dictator. Realizing that summary action was necessary to maintain his power and aggressive policy, the president issued a manifesto on January 1, 1891, declaring his intention to exercise his constitutional powers and functions,—to stand by the strict letter of the law. He declared that he had nothing to do with the effete provisions of the constitution, nor with new theories of parliamentary government until they were enacted into law. He maintained that under the constitution the appropriation bill passed by the previous Congress held good until another was passed. The supreme court declared the acts of the president unconstitutional. He ignored the court. This assumption of authority on the part of the executive was contrary to precedent and to republican ideas, even if constitutional, and the cry of “dictator” was raised. Thus the machinery of government was disabled, and while the Ship of State lay stranded upon the rock of party politics, Congress declared the country in revolution, and the tempest of war struck the Republic on January 7, 1891, when the navy, under command of Señor Don Jorge Montt went over to the revolutionists. The squadron sailed for the north with the presiding officers of the Senate and House of Deputies on board, and a floating Congress was established.

The Congress which declared Balmaceda deposed, empowered Don Jorge Montt to assume provisional command, and a junta was organized on board the warship Blanco Encalada, composed of Señor Montt, Don Waldo Silva, vice-president of the Senate and Don Ramon Barros Luco, president of the Chamber of Deputies.

The revolution started by Balmaceda’s manifesto of January 1, 1891, was apparently poorly prepared to cope with the government. The insurgents had no military organization, no arms or munitions of war. The junta proceeded north and took possession of the provinces of Tarapaca, Atacama and Antofagasta, which include the rich nitrate fields and wealth producing mineral territory of Chile, the revenues from which were employed in purchasing arms, provisions and equipment for an army. They also had possession of the majority of the naval squadron. By the middle of the year 1891 the government had 45,000 troops in the field, four thousand of which were cavalry. The revolutionists had only about twelve thousand soldiers, which encouraged the sanguine Balmaceda to believe that he could easily suppress the uprising.

Congressional elections were held in May, and a majority of the members elected were in sympathy with the administration. In June presidential electors were chosen, and they selected as the candidate for president Don Claudio Vicuña, who was Balmaceda’s choice for his successor. Señor Vicuña, who was of an old and distinguished family, was declared duly elected president on July 25, 1891, but the final success of the insurgents prevented him from ever taking his seat.

As the struggle continued the revolutionary cause gained strength and reinforcements from various sources. The superior skill of the military officer directing the opposition forces made itself manifest, and the position of Balmaceda and his government became daily more and more menaced with dissolution and overthrow. On August 20, ten thousand revolutionary troops were disembarked at Quintero, a few miles from Valparaiso, and on the following day a decisive battle was fought, at Concon, situated at the mouth of the Aconcagua River, resulting in the defeat of the government forces. This crushing defeat, in which about 2,500 of the government troops were killed, practically caused the fall of Balmaceda. He made a strenuous and brave effort to recover from the disaster, but the railway communication having been destroyed, it was impossible to send reserve troops from the south, where they had been stationed, in time to save the situation.

After the battle of Concon the opposition forces advanced upon Valparaiso, and two days later endeavored to capture Fort Callao, at Viña del Mar, a beautiful suburban place six miles from Valparaiso. The fortress, which commands the bay of Valparaiso, the valley and surrounding heights, being equipped with modern guns, and well-nigh impregnable, resisted the attack of both warships and artillery, and a repulse prevented a direct advance upon Valparaiso, the objective point of the Congressional army. Retiring from Viña del Mar, Generals Canto and Korner, commanding the revolutionary forces, fell back to Salto, a few miles distant, where they destroyed a railway bridge spanning the river, thus cutting off communication with Santiago, and preventing the possibility of Balmaceda forwarding troops from the capital. Making a detour of some thirty miles, the revolutionists endeavored to approach Valparaiso from the south, but encountered the government forces, under command of Generals Barbosa and Alzerreca, occupying a formidable position upon the hills near Placilla, a few miles from the city of Valparaiso. This was on August 27th. On the 30th the election of Señor Claudio Vicuña would be formally ratified by the Senate, and he would become president. It was important to the revolutionists to force a decisive engagement and overthrow Balmaceda before the newly elected president should take his seat. Before daylight on the morning of the 28th, under cover of the darkness and protection of the hills, the revolutionists got into position to give battle without being seen by the government forces. Early in the morning as the advancing army was crossing an open plain Balmaceda’s troops opened an artillery fire upon it, and the battle of Placilla, the final and decisive engagement in the revolution, was begun. The opposition forces numbered about twelve thousand and the government, nine thousand. The former, flushed with success and inspired with the hope of final victory, fought like demons, while the latter, discouraged and disheartened with failure, menaced with disaster and annihilation, showed lack of order, discipline, and courage manifested and displayed on previous occasions. Some companies even deserted and joined the enemy during the battle. After a few hours’ terrific fighting, in which more than a thousand men were killed and a greater number wounded, on the government side, the Balmaceda army was put to rout. The victorious forces which had lost five hundred killed and over a thousand wounded, pursued the fleeing remnants of the routed army, driving many of them into the quebrades (ravines), where they were unmercifully slaughtered. Generals Barbosa and Alzerreca were both killed in the engagement. On the evening of the 28th, Valparaiso was in possession of the revolutionists and the Balmaceda government was overthrown.

Leading government supporters, including Don Claudio Vicuña, president elect, and who only lacked a few days of being formally declared the chief executive of the Republic, sought refuge on board foreign warships in the harbor.

That night Valparaiso was the scene of a Bacchanalian rabble that would have shamed Rome in the reign of Nero. The city was in possession of a mob, intoxicated with success, drunk upon wine and athirst for blood, that murdered with impunity and sacked the town without restraint. Drunken men and women reeled through the streets, shooting at each other as a matter of sport, and on the following morning four hundred victims of the mob’s violence were found dead in the streets.

The scenes enacted in Santiago were equally as wild and tragic as those witnessed in Valparaiso. The houses of Balmaceda, Claudio Vicuña and other Balmacedistas were attacked, looted and everything they contained destroyed or carried away. A statue of the deposed president was dismembered and kicked through the streets. From balconies ladies cheered the performance, while opprobrium was heaped upon the inanimate form by the drunken mob. Beggars and thieves appropriated with impunity works of art and beautiful articles of furniture found in the residences of those who had remained loyal to the administration.

That night President Balmaceda left the Moneda (Government Palace), and sought asylum in the Argentine Legation, where he remained until his legal term as president expired, September 18. On September 19 he took his own life by firing a revolver-shot into his brain, thus avoiding the chronicle in history that he committed suicide while president of the Republic.

Thus the tragic and untimely death of this strong, brave man, who was called a tyrant and dictator by his enemies, but was loved and revered by his friends. Through the vista of years that intervene between the present and the close of the revolution, the official acts of Balmaceda and the monuments he left to his memory in the form of government works and public enterprises, loom large and conspicuous when compared with the works of those who have succeeded him. Public opinion and sentiment in Chile have undergone wonderful changes since the day a shot from a revolver in his own hand crashed into and stilled forever the fertile, creative brain of Jose Manuel Balmaceda, and an ungrateful Republic is now beginning to set its seal of approbation upon his official life and private character. History will yet write the name of Balmaceda large upon the roll of honor reserved for Chile’s patriots, statesmen, diplomats and scholars.

At the close of the revolution the “Junta de Gobierno,” with Captain Jorge Montt at its head, took charge of the government. On October 18, a general election was held, and on November 18 the electors met and named Don Jorge Montt president. President Montt, while a man of mediocre ability, possessed a high sense of honor, and was conscientious in the strict performance of his official duties. While he did nothing to distinguish himself as a man of great intellectual attainments, his administration marked a period of national tranquillity and general prosperity, securing for him the good will and political support of a majority of the citizens of the Republic. After serving one term as president he was placed at the head of the navy, where he served as a most efficient and popular officer. He held the position as ranking admiral of the navy until 1905, when he was sent on a special government mission to the United States, Japan, Europe and England.

President Montt was succeeded by Don Federico Errazuriz in 1896. There was little in President Errazuriz’ administration worthy of special mention. He was a man of brilliant intellect, cultivated tastes, charming manner and attractive personality, but lacked in the moral qualities that characterized the private and official life of his predecessor.

President Errazuriz died in July, 1901, and was succeeded by Don German Riesco, who had been formally elected a month previous. President Riesco had not been conspicuous in national politics previous to his nomination, and had few political enemies when inaugurated in September, 1901. He was known as a good lawyer, had occupied the position of judge of one of the courts of appeal, and was universally respected for his honesty, industry and high moral character. Being a man of mediocre ability, lacking in precision and firmness, his administration was early embarrassed by politicians who employed obstructive measures to prevent the passage of laws recommended by the executive branch of the government.

The president found it difficult to maintain a ministry for a sufficient length of time to accomplish anything in the way of needed legislation, or to carry out important government policies. He was constantly forced into compromising with various political factions and coalitions. In an effort to secure political influence he lost the support of a majority of the members of the legislative bodies, and also the confidence of the people. The result was a condition of political chaos in the Republic. Ministries were overthrown with frequency, Congress was hopelessly divided into contending factions and there was a general lack of united and concerted effort in the various branches of government.

Chile made substantial commercial progress during the Riesco administration, however, and there prevailed throughout the country a condition of general prosperity. New and important industries were established, many new companies with large capital were organized, and money was plentiful during most of the period. The only disturbing feature of the commercial and financial situation was the constantly fluctuating value of the paper currency.

Another feature of President Riesco’s administration is the fact that it closed with a national calamity, caused by the great earthquake that occurred in August, 1906, causing serious loss of life and great destruction of property in the cities and towns throughout the country.

In the general election of 1906, Don Pedro Montt, son of Manuel Montt, President of Chile from 1851 to 1861, was elected president by a larger majority than that received by any candidate in the history of the Republic.

Señor Montt was for many years previous to his election regarded as the most able and conservative statesman in the country. He was born in Santiago in 1846, and was graduated from the University in his native city in 1870. In 1874 he was elected a member of the House of Deputies, where he remained for several years. He also served as Speaker of the House, Minister in different cabinets and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States. With a long and successful political career to his credit he was inaugurated under more favorable and auspicious circumstances than any president since his father, to whom history gives the credit of being one of the ablest executives ever elected to the office.

It was President Montt’s ambition to improve the industrial and financial conditions of the country by establishing the gold standard, and thereby do away with the ruinous fluctuations in the currency values. But in this commendable undertaking he was doomed to disappointment, being defeated in his plans for accomplishing that most desirable reform by the factions that dominated the politics of the Republic, and in 1908-9, the exchange rate reached its lowest level, the Chilean peso being worth at one time only 20 cents U. S. currency, whereas upon a gold standard basis it represents a value of 34 cents.

In May 1910 President Montt attended the inauguration of the centennial exposition of the Argentine Republic in Buenos Aires, making the trip by rail over the Transandine Railway, which was opened to traffic about that time. In July he started on a trip to Europe, going by way of the United States, arriving in New York, August 3. On August 9 he sailed for Europe, arriving in Hamburg on the 16th, where he died soon after his arrival.

After the death of President Montt, Vice-President Elias Fernandez Albano became president. On September 6, of the same year President Albano died and Senator MacIver Como, vice-president of the Council of State became the acting president.

At the regular election in 1910, Don Raymon Barros Luco was elected to the presidency.

INDIANS

The indigenous races of Chile consist of the following tribes: Araucanians, Chilotes, Chonos, Onas, Fueginos, Yahgans, Alacalupes and Patagonians.

The Araucanians, the most powerful, brave, and warlike tribe of South American Indians, formerly occupied all the territory now constituting the northern half of Chile. In the Araucanians the Spaniards met a strong resistance to their invasion of the territory. The tribe then numbered one million, and for three hundred and fifty years they maintained a warfare against the occupation of their country by white men. The Spaniards were unable to subdue them, and even after the war of independence and the establishment of the Republic, they maintained a hostile attitude. Although being gradually and peacefully subjugated they still maintain a sort of independence, living under a form of government agreeable to their common tribal laws and customs. They are now generally engaged in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture.

The Araucanian government consists of a confederation constituted by the union of three independent tribes, each of which is governed by a hereditary chief, called Toqui, or Cacique. A few years ago the territory was divided into sub-districts, for each of which there is a subordinate chief. The Caciques are elected by their respective tribes. They hold armed diets, like the ancient Poles and Germans. In the formation of laws governing their actions, and determining upon military operations, every member of the confederation has a vote.

In more recent years these erstwhile savages have manifested a friendly disposition towards foreigners, some of whom have been admitted to membership in their tribes. These “white Indians,” who usually possess superior intelligence, education and knowledge of the world, sometimes rise to eminence among the tribes. A French lawyer named De Tonneins, once humbugged the Indians into believing in his alleged magical and spiritual attainments to such an extent that the Araucanian tribes proclaimed him king, which distinction he assumed under the title of King Orelie Antonio I, and reigned for several years. The small court by which he was surrounded paid him great deference. His Fraudulent Highness made war against the Chilean government, was captured and deported to his native country, where after several uneventful years, he died in an asylum in Bordeaux.

The Araucanians are a sturdy race, with fine physiques. They are tall, muscular, agile and possess wonderful power of endurance. They are brave to foolhardiness, but lack intelligence, ambition and creative genius. Their stupidity combined with their passions, cruel natures and natural characteristics have prevented them from rising little above the low level of animals in their domestic life. A study of their past history and present conditions has a tendency to disillusionize one who has formed ideas of the Araucanians from descriptions written by historians and tales related by travelers who have never visited the habitations of that peculiar people. In general appearance the Araucanians resemble the other indigenous tribes of North and South America. They are copper colored, have black, straight, coarse hair and deep set, piercing black eyes. There is a trace of foreign blood apparent in many of them, due to their association with the Spaniards who first invaded the country, and shipwrecked sailors, many of whom cast their lots with the Indians, and lived peacefully among them, frequently marrying Indian women.

When America was discovered, the indigenous tribes wore little clothing, but contact with white men has wrought some changes in their customs and habits, and taught them the propriety of wearing at least a semi-civilized garb. The costume of the Araucanian consists of a shirt, a loin cloth, a manta or poncho of dark blue or black fabric, and a scarlet turban, all woven by hand and from natural wool, and colored from dyes extracted from the roots of plants and bark of trees. The women wear long, scarlet petticoats, and over the head a blue manta, which drapes over the body down to and below the waist. Their costumes are also made of hand-woven wool cloth, which is soft and warm, and very durable. A unique feature of the cloth made by the Indians is the variety and peculiarity of colors woven into the fabric. The designs are odd and quaint, and not infrequently weird figures representing animals, serpents and imaginary gods and devils are worked into the patterns. A peculiar feature of the fabric is that the designs are never duplicated, no two pieces of cloth being made of the same pattern. Hence, if one buys an Indian poncho, he has the satisfaction of knowing that no one else will have one like it in design. The mantas worn by the men and women are in plain colors, as a rule, but they are unique garments, the feature of which is a long nap on the outer side of the fabric, which makes it almost impervious to water. These mantas are usually fastened with a huge silver pin, ornamented with a round, flat disk. Both men and women wear silver earrings of huge proportions, very heavy and of varied and odd design. The women wear various other silver ornaments in the form of necklaces, bangles, crosses and pendants. These articles are all made of hammered silver and have an intrinsic as well as a decorative value. The usual aversion of Indians in general to familiarity, or to become communicative, the traditional stolidity of the race, holds good with the Araucanians. They are averse to selling any of their personal apparel or adornments, and all efforts to purchase such articles are resented.

These people, constituting the remnant of a once powerful and proud race, live in miserable huts, the roofs of which provide little protection against rain, and the walls of which are sometimes conspicuous by their absence. In a climate where it rains one half the year, and where the temperature frequently drops to zero, these places of habitation afford little comfort. In these miserable “rucas” live the family, not infrequently consisting of a large number of children, together with donkeys, pigs, dogs and fowls, in sanitary conditions that are shockingly disgusting.

In the Araucanian country, which extends from the River Bio Bio on the north to Valdivia on the south, and from the Cordillera to the sea, some strange sights may be witnessed. Almost the entire country is covered with forests, and there are hundreds of miles of solitude and unbroken wilderness, save the little cultivated patches, where the Indians engage in farming. Their farms and ranchos are usually back from, rather than along the trails where travelers pass. There is little bird or animal life in the forests, and one may ride for days through those solitudes, with little or nothing to attract attention or relieve the oppressive silence and monotony, save the sight of an occasional Indian. The strange, mysterious manner of the Indians only adds to the uncanny aspect of the wilderness. They are mysterious, and undesirable as companions, ignorant, superstitious, and by nature vicious, but like animals, they are dangerous only when disturbed in the pursuit of life.

The deeds of heroism, acts of valor and bravery, which caused the Araucanians to be immortalized in verse and recorded in the more sober lines of prose and history, were enacted during the days of the Spanish conquest.

In 1535, Don Diego de Almagro, the ally and rival of Pizarro, the despoiler of Peru, set out on a mission of conquest of the territory which now constitutes the Republic of Chile. He came not as a peaceful conqueror, as did the Incas long before, but as a tyrant and butcher, endeavoring to strike terror to the hearts of the Indians by acts of cruelty and inhuman treatment. They were treated as so many beasts to be enslaved or slaughtered at the pleasure of those who invaded the country in quest of gold, only. The attitude of Almagro and his followers aroused all the latent fierce combative spirit and resentful feelings that had been smoldering in the hearts of the aborigines during centuries of peaceful occupation of the country, and they resisted the invasion with a heroism and determination that finds few parallels in primitive warfare in the history of the world.

There were then no horses in the country, save those brought by the Spaniards, and the Indians had to fight on foot. The only weapons they possessed were bows and arrows, and lances made of long, flexible bamboo poles, the latter being the weapons of war. They had no military training or leaders and were ignorant of the arts of war, not even appreciating or understanding the advantages of combined or orderly attack. They depended entirely upon impetuous charges, ambush and secret night attacks. They had no fear of death, and not infrequently in battle they continued the conflict until every man engaged was killed. After years of warfare against the Spaniards, they learned the advantages to be gained by the use of horses in battle, which they adopted to some extent, but they did not follow the example of their enemies in the use of saddles, always riding bareback. After many generations of resistance to the invaders, they became more clever and systematic in attack and defense, having learned the importance of better preparation, councils of war and leadership. The Araucanian war extended intermittently over three centuries, and as the case in all wars, whether among barbarians or civilized nations, brought conspicuously to the front individuals who by superior intelligence and bravery were recognized as natural leaders. Chief among those who achieved fame as warriors, and whose deeds of daring form thrilling chapters in Chilean history, were Lautaro, a young brave who at the age of twenty was recognized as the leader of the Indian forces. It was Lautaro who first attempted to organize the various tribes and bands into something like a military force. After many successful battles he was surprised in a night attack by the Spaniards, near Talca, where almost the entire army under his command was annihilated, he being among the killed. He was decapitated, and his head taken to Santiago, where it was placed upon a pole and paraded through the streets as a victorious trophy.

Later Caupolican, one of the bravest of his race, assumed the leadership of the Araucanians. He was finally captured, and his enemies wishing to make an example of the chief cut off both his arms at the elbows, after which he was released. Caupolican pointing the stumps of his amputated arms at his persecutors said: “Be careful, be careful, murderers and persecutors, I will return to avenge these wrongs.” And notwithstanding his maimed condition he later returned to the attack with renewed courage and fierceness, and in many battles, Caupolican was first in the fray, and when beaten, was the last to retire from the field.

Since the days of the conquest of Chile, the Araucanian Indians have been hedged about and encroached upon with modern civilizing influences. Under these conditions they have degenerated until their greatness is only a memory. They now have fixed places of residence, and live upon the proceeds of their labor or lands.

Some of these Indians own large tracts of land, portions of which they cultivate, and upon which they raise large numbers of cattle and horses. The methods employed in farming are crude and primitive. The rich landowners are personages of note in the section of country where they live. And when one of them starts on a trip from his ranch, always on horseback, he is adorned with much silver in the way of ornaments. He is usually accompanied by five or six “mocetones” (servants), and travels in grand style.

Having few wants these Indians work only when it is necessary to supply their needs. Missionaries have tried in recent years to improve their moral condition, but have made little progress. The Araucanian ideas of a serious life are not deep-rooted; there is more stubbornness than intellect in their composition. The Incas who were the first foreign nation to invade Chile, taught them to worship the sun, but in their present degenerate condition they seem to worship only the God Bacchus. Strong drink and its attendant abuses, the curse of all barbarous races, when once introduced by civilized nations, is causing degeneration and a decrease in numbers. It will no doubt continue to aid materially in the consummation of their final extinction.

In 1890, during the administration of President Balmaceda, rail and wagon roads were built through the Araucanian country, and many towns, populated by Chilenos and foreigners sprung up along these routes of communication. Special European immigration was solicited and encouraged by government aid, for the settlement of portions of the territory. Foreign association and influence, changed conditions and environments affected radical changes in the character, customs, habits and beliefs of the Indians. They were brought face to face with the on-marching hosts of civilization, and confronted with the problem of accepting and adapting themselves to the new order of things, or extinction. The ultimate result will be the latter.

With the indigenous races of Chile, and the same is true of other countries, vices tread fast upon the heels of civilization. With the influx of peaceful neighbors, the martial valor of these warlike Indians seems to have disappeared. They have acquired a passion for the cheap brands of liquor introduced by foreigners, and in the indulgence of their appetites for strong drink they have become indolent, and are neglecting their farms and ranches. Many of them have turned their lands over to the colonists, to work on shares, and are thus enabled to lead lives of indolence and excessive indulgence. The raw liquor which they drink is called “Blanco Toro” (white bull); the vile tobacco they smoke is “peclen,” and their pipes are called “guitas.” They still consume large quantities of the ancient Indian drink, “chicha mascada,” which is made from corn that is first chewed by old women, and then put through a process of fermentation. A drink is made from flaxseed by the same process. They are determined and inveterate gamblers, their favorite game being cards, “cayo.” The game they play is peculiar to the tribe, and is called “achaco.” Among the traditional customs to which they cling tenaciously are their Indian dances, “loncomeos,” which are indulged in to the music of an instrument called “cuntum.” This instrument is odd in design and peculiar in tone, being a sort of combination banjo and tambourine.

The Araucanians are as improvident as they are dishonest, and as proud as they are lazy. Yet there is little extreme poverty and there are no beggars among them. Until recent years they were strict vegetarians, and still abstain from eating the flesh of cattle, but they have become so far civilized as to develop a fondness for horse meat. An Indian will willingly exchange a cow or bullock, regardless of value, for a horse, if the equine is sufficiently fat to make it desirable for food. Although many of them are skilled in the use of firearms, which have been generally introduced in recent years, they still manifest a fondness and preference for their bamboo lances, the weapon of war used by their ancestors. They frequently indulge in personal encounters, but always without weapons. These fights are questions of force and endurance, science being left out of the contest, and the belligerent methods employed are not sufficiently violent to result in death. The combatants clutch each other by the hair of the head and indulge in a game of pull-and-haul, the performance being accompanied usually with a volley of wrathful words uttered in a high shrill voice. Unlike the North American Indians they seldom resort to the use of a knife as a weapon of offense or defense.

The system of counting is strictly decimal—from one to ten. Twenty is two tens, fifty, five tens, and one hundred is ten tens; two hundred is two tens of ten, etc.

In case of sickness the “machi” (doctor) is called. That functionary passes his mouth over the entire body of the patient, pinching the flesh with his lips to ascertain the location of the affliction. When that portion is reached where the disease is supposed to be located, an incision is made, from which the “machi” sucks the blood with his mouth. Very few medicines are employed, the chief medicinal remedy used being the leaf of the canelo (wild cinnamon) tree, which is considered a cure for almost every ill.

The treatment of the body after death, previous to burial, is one of the queer and barbarous customs prevalent among the Araucanians. The body is hung up in a building, usually the house in which the person dies, and a slow wood fire built under the corpse. This process of smoking is kept up for several weeks. When the antiseptic principle of the creosote has completely cured the flesh, the body is taken down, and is considered ready for burial. A rope is then attached to the corpse, and a yoke of oxen employed to drag the body to the place of burial. This grewsome procession is preceded by a number of men armed with lances, who march in advance in order to drive away any enemies or evil spirits, that they may not be buried with the dead to disturb their future.

CHILOTES AND CHONOS.

The Chilote Indians inhabit the Island of Chiloe, and a portion of the coast country in the province of Llanquihue, in which territory they constitute the working population. They are a light copper color, and differ materially in physical appearance from the Araucanians. They are short in stature, heavy-set, broad, square shoulders, thick necks, large heads, hands and feet. They have no chiefs or tribal government, being peculiarly unrestrained in their personal lives by traditional laws or government. They are peaceful and industrious. Each person pursues such occupation as he may find or desire, that will afford a living, without regard to the wishes or requirements of others. The chief occupation of this small tribe in recent years is the manufacture of a rough grade of lumber and timbers from a species of red pine, called alerce. This wood has a beautiful straight grain, and the boards are made by riving, instead of sawing. This rough lumber is transported long distances upon the heads of the Indians, to the coast and interior towns, where the product is exchanged for articles of food and clothing.

The Chono Indians, inhabiting the archipelagoes of Guitecas and Chonos, are few in numbers and live in a barbarous state. They live in caves and small brush huts, and subsist entirely upon fish, which they procure along the island coast. The Chonos are small in stature, repulsive in appearance, and in intelligence, and their manner of living ranks little above animals.

FUEGUINOS OR CANOE INDIANS.

The archipelago of Tierra del Fuego, which consists of the large island of the same name, and numerous smaller islands, many of which are rocky, ice-bound and forbidding in aspect, constitutes the extreme southern territorial limits of the continent, and is separated from the mainland by the Strait of Magellan. The aborigines of this far southern territory are divided into three tribes,—the Onas, Yahgans and the Alacalupes. It is among these tribes, inhabiting a wild and forbidding country, undisturbed by the march of progress and civilization, that one may find the indigenous races living under the same conditions and maintaining the traditions and customs that prevailed before the coming of the white man to the western world.

ONAS.

The Onas are physically a fine race of people, the average height of the men being a little over six feet; the women are also tall and muscular. They have no system of tribal government, and are nomadic. Their only occupation is hunting the guanaco, a fur-coated herbivorous animal found in great numbers in the lower ranges of the Andes Mountains in the south. The meat of the guanaco constitutes the chief food supply of the Onas, and many of them subsist upon it entirely. The skins of the animals are made into a sort of manta, which constitutes the only costume worn by the men. They discard this costume when at war, or in pursuit of the guanaco. The women wear only a small piece of guanaco skin about their loins. The Onas live in families, one man usually possessing several women. There is little regard for marriage rites or usage, the more powerful and valiant of the men selecting such women from the tribe as they may desire, and are able to maintain against their rivals.

Their only weapons are bows and arrows, slings and harpoons, the latter being pointed with barbed bone spikes. The number of Onas is now estimated at three thousand five hundred, but like the other tribes in Chile they are decreasing.

YAHGANS.

The coast of the Beagle Channel and all the archipelago south of Tierra del Fuego to Cape Horn is inhabited by the Yahgan Indians. They have no chiefs nor tribal laws and are perhaps the lowest grade of human beings, in point of intelligence, and in the manner and customs of living, existing on the American continent. They are dwarfed in stature, have very dark skins and are repulsive in appearance. A peculiar feature of the Yahgans is the extraordinary projection of their front teeth, which are used for opening the shells of oysters and mollusks. These bivalves and crustacea, their sole article of food, are eaten raw.

The Yahgans, like their neighbors, the Alacalupes of the western channels of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, live almost constantly in their canoes, their only means of transportation. For their fishing expeditions they rarely pass the night on shore, traveling long distances in their frail barques. Considering the turbulent waters in the channels of the archipelago, and the fact that their canoes are made of trunks of trees, propelled with paddles, and that a single frail craft is sometimes laden with a family consisting of several persons, their feats are little less than marvels of navigation.

About fifty years ago English missions were established at Usuhaia, on the Wallston Islands, and later at Takanika, where some favorable results were obtained in distracting the natives somewhat from the pursuits of their nomadic life. A few of them utilize the knowledge acquired from the missionaries in the cultivation of the soil. But the missionaries having practically ceased their efforts in that inhospitable country, most of the Indians have lapsed into their traditional nomadic life, and their condition is perhaps worse to-day than ever before. To add to the misfortunes of these miserable nomads, who have sterility of soil and a rigorous climate to contend with, many of them have been placed in actual slavery in recent years by foreigners, who have acquired interests in the far south, and taking advantage of the helplessness of the Indians have impressed them into service without justification in moral or statutory law.

The Chilean government, apparently indifferent to their fate, has failed to interest itself in the cause of those unfortunate pariahs of human society, whose ranks are being rapidly decimated and whose utter extinction, under present conditions, is only a question of a few years.

In 1882, Mr. Bridge, the missionary, calculated the Yahgan population of the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego at three thousand, but in 1883, the scientific expedition of the “Romanche” estimated the diminishing population at one thousand three hundred. This estimate was based upon the number of canoes counted in the channels, approximately two hundred, each of which was manned by a family of six persons on the average. From later data, which has been furnished by people living in the archipelago, who have endeavored to make a census of the population, the number of this tribe is calculated at seven hundred.

On several occasions the Yahgans have requested foreigners who have visited the islands to present their case to the Chilean government and ask for relief from existing conditions. But so far nothing has been done in the way of providing for or improving the condition of these unfortunate people.

ALACALUPES.

The Alacalupes occupy the coast of the Patagonian Cordilleras to the northwest of the Straits of Magellan. They are also nomads, practically living in their canoes. Like the Yahgans they are small and are very dark, their color being that of mahogany. Notwithstanding the severity of the climate they wear no clothing, and their appearance is one of misery and total depravity. Their only food is fish, which they are most dexterous in catching, and which is eaten raw. This tribe has no chiefs, nor has it any laws governing or restricting individual action. They have no religion and observe no religious rites. All property, such as they have, is individual. Agriculture is unknown among them. When not in their canoes they remain along the shore, never going far inland. They sometimes cut branches from trees and arrange them as a protection against the fierce winds that sweep the coast in winter, but they never use fire, either as a protection against cold or for cooking.

Notwithstanding the fact that these poor, depraved human beings wear no clothing, they are not dead to a sense of modesty, as is sometimes evidenced when in the presence of foreigners. Marriage is a question of reciprocal sentiment, without ceremony or demonstration. Each of these tribes speaks a different language, which like all Indian languages is euphonious, and attractive in its simplicity.

PATAGONIANS.

The most intelligent and progressive race of aborigines in southern South America, a tribe that raises to considerable extent the general low level of life that exists in that section, is the Patagonians. They live in well-constructed, portable tents, called “toldos,” made from guanaco skins, fastened to wooden supports by rawhide thongs, and staked to the ground with pieces of bone. These toldos are so arranged that they can be easily taken apart and removed as necessity may require. Their food consists of the meat of the ostrich, guanaco and deer, all of which abound in the territory inhabited by them.

Physically the Patagonians are a superior race, the average height of the men being considerably over six feet, and many of them are fully seven feet tall. They are well proportioned, deep chested and muscular. They have intelligent faces, regular features, aquiline nose, high forehead and square chin. Their facial expression is one of amiability and good nature. The complexion of the men, when their faces are clean of paint, is a reddish brown; that of the women a healthy, ruddy hue. The young women are often good-looking, but the severe climate and their manner of living make them prematurely old and ugly. The men’s costume consists of a woolen cloth worn next to the body, and a heavy cloak made of guanaco skins, fastened at the neck and extending to the ankles. Their high boots, “buskins,” are made from the skin of the lower part of the hind legs of horses, and worn in the natural form. These buskins are procured from the wild horses, thousands of which roam over the pampas of Patagonia. The costume of the women is practically the same as that worn by the men, except that the clothing beneath the guanaco cloak is a little more elaborate.

They possess the Indian characteristic fondness for jewelry and personal adornment. They wear huge silver earrings, the pendants of which are sometimes eight inches square; they also adorn themselves with silver necklaces and quantities of beads. A Patagonian Indian six and a half feet tall, robed in a beautiful guanaco cloak with flowing folds, and adorned with huge silver ornaments, presents a picturesque and striking appearance.

The Patagonians differ from most Indian races in their observance of certain hygienic laws. They sleep upon beds made of guanaco skins, in tents that are kept fairly clean. Men, women and children indulge in a cold bath every morning in the year. This practice, in addition to aiding materially in building up and maintaining the splendid physical constitutions for which they are noted, enables them to withstand more easily the rigors of the severe climate. Their occupation is that of hunting the ostrich, guanaco and other animals indigenous to the territory. The flesh of the game is used for food, and the skins converted into robes and rugs, which they market at Punta Arenas, and for which they receive good prices. They are skillful hunters and the method they employ in hunting ostriches and guanacos is unique. They possess firearms, both rifles and revolvers, and are not unskilled in their use; they also carry swords, daggers and lances, which are used only when dismounted, and none of which are employed in the chase. Ostriches and animals are pursued on horseback, the hunter carrying a “bola,” which on near approach to the object of his pursuit he hurls with unerring aim, seldom failing to stun and entangle the bird or beast until it becomes an easy victim to his knife or lance. The bola, which is peculiar to Patagonia, consists of three round stones, or metal balls, the size of an orange, covered with rawhide. To each of these is fastened a plaited rawhide rope six feet in length. The ends of these ropes are united and fastened to a lasso. The hunter before casting the bola takes it in one hand and by swinging it rapidly over his head sends the balls rotating in the air with great velocity. He then casts it as the vaquero does his lasso. When it strikes, the revolving balls wrap the thongs tightly about the object of the chase, entangling it and putting a stop to its flight. The hunter then rides along by the side of the entrammeled prey and dispatches it. It is an exciting scene to see a Patagonian mounted upon a fleet pony racing across the pampa in pursuit of an ostrich. It possesses elements of sport that are peculiarly attractive to one who is fond of hunting.

These people have no religious creed and do not believe in a personal God. There is a tradition among them that there is a great good spirit who created them, but they have no well-defined creed, and religious feasts are unknown among them. They believe in the sanctity of animals, but do not worship any of them. They have a superstitious dread of demons, whom they try to propitiate through the mediation of medicine men, to whom only the demons are supposed to be visible. Charms and talismans are worn as a means of warding off evil spirits. They are ignorant of culture and conventionalities, yet they are not ungrateful or inhospitable. They never give presents, nor will they receive favors from others.

One of the queer customs of this peculiar people is that of celebrating marriages. The bridegroom secures the consent of both his own parents and those of the bride. The fathers of the young couple then move their tents near each other. An unsaddled horse is placed in front of each of the tents, and at a prearranged signal the bride and groom rush from their respective tents, mount the horses and gallop away on their wedding trip.

CLASSIFIED HUSBANDMEN

To describe the life of the country people of Chile it is necessary to classify the disintegrate parts which enter into combination with all those who till the soil, and in which each has a personal and common interest. The first grade in the classification is the peon, the lowest class, who owns no land, and is illiterate, hard working, destitute, and docile.

The second, Land Owner No. 1, lives upon a small plot of non-productive ground. The possession is small, but nevertheless his own, acquired by industry, economy, or inheritance. If he works for others as a peon, it is a matter of choice. If he has sons they work where they choose. His land being insufficient to maintain himself and family, is used as a residence only.

The third husbandman in the classification is different only in distinction as to the amount of his worldly effects; his habits, customs and life are the same as Land Owner No. 1, except upon a little more extensive scale. He is perhaps more selfish and self-contained. His ambition is not to improve himself or his family, but to add to his money and possessions. He is facilitated somewhat in his avaricious aims by his small means.

The fourth grade in the agricultural classification is the outgrowth, the evolution of the classes below him. He calls himself a gentleman, but lacks the breeding, manners and education to justify the title. He is of the “roto” type, only richer, and better dressed, on parade occasions. He owns lands sufficient to support himself and family without manual labor. This independence is usually acquired by years of selfish economy and penuriousness, or by inheritance or marriage. His one aim in life seems to be the acquisition of money, no matter by what means.

Fifth and last in the grading of the agriculturists comes the hacendado, or landlord, the owner of large, valuable and productive haciendas. He usually regards himself as the prince of earth, all-powerful and influential. His hacienda is his dukedom, his fortress. No one can enter or leave without his permission and all within its limits do his bidding unquestioned. He is lord and monarch of all he surveys, and takes little heed of those below his social station. The hacendados run politics and make presidents, name congressmen, senators, judges and governors.

PEONS.

It is difficult to describe the peon, or Roto Chileno. He is contradictory by nature, compound and complex in character. He is industrious and lazy, simple and cunning, honest and dishonest, brave and cowardly, true and false. He is homeless, roving, restless, dirty, slovenly, cares nothing for his past life and is without hope or ambition for the future. With limitless improvidence he lives in the present and is a happy-go-lucky, generous, careless, good-natured individual who never wastes time gazing upon the sorry side of life. He roams from place to place in search of a job, earning barely enough to keep soul and body together, and not always sufficient to clothe himself. Russian serfdom is not worse than the life some live in Chile, especially the “inquilinos” (farm laborers), living upon their master’s property. Do not pity the peon; he does not ask for, need nor want it. He possesses the faithful humility of a dog and the cunning qualities of the fox. Do not try to reform, civilize, reconstruct, or otherwise change or reclaim him; he will successfully defy all efforts. The blood of the Incas is in his veins, the old-fashioned way is best for him, and he is content. He wants no changes or innovations, and will admit of none. All he wants is to be left alone. Although he has never known the pleasure of prosperity, he is apparently contented and never unhappy. Born in poverty and humility, so he lives and dies.

The Roto Chilenos not only constitute the laboring class in Chile, but the army, navy and police force are largely recruited from their ranks. As soldiers they possess a reckless bravery that will stop at nothing. With a cry of “viva Chile” they will charge an enemy, never to return, unless victory makes it possible. They are fearless to foolhardiness. They will rush fortifications under fire, scale walls or steep bluffs, swim rivers, and if all are killed the loss is not considered. One single handed will not fight against odds, but in numbers and in hand to hand conflicts the bravery of the Chileno is not excelled by any nationality. They do not fight intelligently, but desperately. Their favorite weapon is a knife, and every Roto Chileno goes armed with a “corvo,” a knife with a long, curved blade, tapering to a sharp point, and usually ornamented with a heavy metal handle. It is encased in a leather sheath, and is carried in the belt or boot of the possessor. It is an article of common utility, as well as a weapon of offense and defense. When angered, or threatened with danger, the Chilean produces a corvo as naturally as the American negro does a razor, and he is exceedingly skillful in its use. It is not an uncommon thing for one peon to disembowel another with one sweep of the corvo, usually leaving a triangular shaped wound, a mark of this weapon that is peculiar to the people. As an evidence of their partiality for the knife as a fighting weapon, it is related that in many instances during the war between Peru and Chile, in time of battle, the Chilean soldiers threw away their rifles and rushed upon the enemy with corvos, fighting in hand-to-hand conflict.

These same men are afraid of a small dog, and will exhibit fear in many ways under most ordinary circumstances. Contradictory elements enter into their composite characters. They are patient, long suffering, and have wonderful endurance. They think nothing of a serious flesh wound, but if one of them has a toothache or headache he will wrap up his head like an old woman with the mumps. Often they wear such a woe-begone, lost look that one would almost believe in their manifest troubles if their cunning ways of shirking a duty were not so well known.

With five centavos in his pocket the roto is a capitalist, and will not work until prompted by necessity. He speaks Spanish badly, and in a mumbling, drawling manner, often using the most vile and profane language in the presence of both men and women of his own class. In stature the Roto Chileno is, as a rule, short, massive and muscular; his skin is an amber brown. He has small, black, beady eyes, slight beard, stiff black hair that grows low upon his forehead. The shape of his head is generally that of a pumpkin, the back of the head being quite flat. He has a short, thick neck, large flat feet, and small tapering hands. The ears, mouth and nose are not out of proportion to his size. He walks with a rapid, ambling gait, body bent forward, legs wide apart and his long arms swinging at his sides. His few, scanty, ragged garments are usually covered with a homemade wool “poncho.” The bottoms of his feet are covered with rawhide sandals, “ojotas,” and he invariably wears a straw hat, “chupalla.” The general appearance of the roto, as one sees him on the road, with dirty face, dingy straw hat drawn well down over his eyes, trousers rolled up at the ankle, shirt open at the chest, a corvo in his belt and a poncho thrown over his shoulders, is that of approaching ruin. His face is more repulsive than ugly, and he is more nearly naked than ragged. Some of the more provident among them, however, wear clean clothes on Sundays and other feast days. They occasionally wash their hands and faces, but never their bodies. They are by nature a pacific people. The fighting spirit is generally aroused in them by the consumption of bad liquor. They help each other in their personal work or difficulties, and are great jokers, one with another.

The “patron” (employer) always furnishes food to his laborers. The universal food of the country for the poor people is “porotos” (beans), and the ration for each man or boy, per day, is all the beans he can hold in his two hands placed together. The rations are cooked together, as many being placed in the pot as there are persons to be provisioned. At meal-time the pot is delivered to the peons who sit on the ground in a circle around the vessel. Each is supposed to have his own spoon, but if not, a flat stick or piece of bark serves the purpose. After all are seated each dips into the pot and eats until the allowance is finished. One meal is all they eat in a day after eight o’clock in the morning, at which hour they eat a loaf of black bread, in exchange for which they may receive a double handful of toasted wheat, “harina tostado.” This diet is never changed, never varied, after they leave the mother’s breast. When the supply of beans is short, “mote” (wheat boiled in lye until the hull is loosened, after which it is removed by rubbing the grains between two stones), is sometimes mixed with the beans.

In the extreme southern part of Chile, the ration is somewhat different. There, “chuchoca” (green corn boiled and dried on the cob) is mixed with the beans. The peons never depart from the established ration. When not working they eat a little parched wheat flour in the morning, or such other food as they may be lucky enough to obtain. If one has no food he goes to some rancho where there is a supply, and where he is invariably served, as they are always generous with each other.

Peons will sleep anywhere, in places wet or dry, clean or unclean. With a stick of wood or a stone for a pillow, and with a poncho spread over him he will sleep the sleep of innocence, without care for the present or thought of the future. An old “mozo” (man servant), known to be honest, through many years of faithful service, went one day to the home of his former employer, where he was given food, and a bed was provided for him in the house. During the night the gentleman was disturbed by sounds of apparent distress in the corridor. Thinking the mozo was ill, he went to inquire the cause of the trouble. The peon informed him that he could not sleep upon that “soft thing,” meaning the mattress, and asked permission to make his bed out-of-doors. He was informed that he could sleep where he pleased. Taking his saddle for a pillow, and a sheepskin for his bed, and spreading a poncho over him he lay down upon the pavement of the patio. In the morning he was found sleeping soundly, his face turned toward heaven, his unkempt beard covered with frost.

Peons in the cities do not receive a daily ration of beans, as is the custom in the country, but are given money, “diario,” with which to buy food. The Chilean peon cannot stand prosperity. As a general rule the worse he is treated and fed, the better service he will render. This applies more directly to the “inquilinos,” than to independent peons.

The rotos are polite to each other and salute when they meet by touching their hats, saying “Buenos dias, Caballeros” (good day, gentlemen). When asking for and receiving a light for a cigarette, they say, “Mil gracias, Dios guarde Ud.,” (a thousand thanks, God guard you). When a peon meets a superior who says, “como le va” (how do you do), the peon answers, “muy bien, para servirle a Ud.,” (very good, I offer you my services). They are rarely insolent to their superiors and when sober, never. They are illiterate to the extreme, having no desire to learn, but they are naturally clever and are capable of rendering good service, where mechanical skill is not required. You cannot out-figure one of them, and he will quickly remind you of any mistake in a transaction, if it counts against him.

Among the roto class, grandfather, father and son all work together, and have always been, as they are now, upon an equality in destitution. Their only apparent ambition seems to be to work enough during the week to secure a few pesos on Saturday night, with which to buy “aguardiente” (raw brandy), “vino” or “chicha” (wine or cider) at the “Cancha de Bola.” When a crowd of peons congregate at any one of the many places where drinks are sold, in the country, first one buys a litro (quart), and after taking a drink, he passes the cup, called “potrillo,” to the friend next to him, and so it is passed until empty. Then another buys a litro and passes it, and they continue to treat each other until all are fighting drunk. This is continued from Saturday night until Monday morning, and not infrequently until Monday night or Tuesday. Employers of labor have learned by experience not to expect anything from or depend upon their workmen for regular service on Monday, as the majority of them are incapacitated from the effects of drink—on Sunday. In the drinking places where the roto spends his Sundays and feast days, in drinking and gambling, there are always a number of women, “cantoras,” who join in the drinking, and between drinks entertain the crowd with dancing and singing, playing accompaniments on guitars.

The Saturday night and Sunday debauch of the peons generally commences after a hard week’s work, and frequently lasts thirty-six hours without sleep, and sixty hours without food. After having slept off the effects of drink, they are ready for business Tuesday or Wednesday morning. When they return to work they give a legal day’s labor, without persuasion to stimulate their activity. All differences are forgotten and no questions asked, knowing that it is only a few days until they will have another spree, and the weekly experience be repeated. They are inveterate gamblers. Men may be seen naked in the road, having lost all their clothing on a game of chance. The game may be cards, dice, topeadura, a cock fight or any contest in which the result is in doubt. The peon is a born gambler, and a cheerful loser. If beaten in a game he accepts the results with the indifference of a stoic or the sang-froid of a professional. He never complains, but bides his time for another chance to recover his losses.

The “Cancha de Bola,” the peon’s clubhouse, is a cemented or smooth floor space, covered with a thatched roof, but not enclosed. The game at the cancha is a sort of Indian billiards, played by rolling large wooden balls over the floor. There men and women meet on Sundays and feast days, to play games, drink and discuss the events of the week. And every cent is coaxed from every pocket to fill the coffers of the owner of the cancha.

Drunkenness is one of the chief curses of Chile, especially among the common people. The moral standard is not of a character that sets a ban upon drunkenness, and the custom of excessive drinking is indulged in by men, women, and not infrequently children. All classes are engaged more or less in the manufacture, sale and consumption of wine, chicha, aguardiente and pisco, the latter being alcohol made from the white grape. Every village store or shop dispenses liquors, and many of the huts along the country roads retail drinks. On Sundays and feast days these road houses are common resorts for peons, huasos and inquilinos. And there viciousness and crime are encouraged by excessive indulgence in cheap, and often adulterated and poisonous wines and liquors.

A new liquor law went into effect in 1902, which had for its purpose a sweeping reform in the manufacture and sale of intoxicants. It takes control of the production, limits the number and location of saloons; prohibits the sale within a reasonable distance of a church or schoolhouse, imposes a fine upon drunkenness and provides a severe penalty for the adulteration, falsifying or placing upon the market a product of the country not up to the standard fixed by law. But reforms and radical changes in customs in Chile are much easier in theory than in practice, and the promoters of the liquor law find it difficult to enforce its provisions. It is, however, a move in the right direction, and much good has resulted from the effort to carry it into effect.

The scene at a country despacho on Sunday or feast days is as picturesque as it is characteristic. There one will see a great number of men and women on horseback, frequently indulging in their cups, while seated on their horses in front of the despacho. The men are dressed in the peculiar costume of the country, wide-brimmed straw hats, ornamented with silk cord or braid, ponchos of brilliant colors, leggings reaching to the thighs, huge spurs and high heeled, pointed toed boots. Their saddles and bridles are richly ornamented, curiously fashioned, and form an interesting feature of the peculiar outfit. To the side of the saddle is usually attached a lasso, made of braided rawhide, strong, supple and ready for instant use. With this article the huaso is an artist. He practices the trick of casting the lasso in his infancy, keeps it up in youth, and becomes a master in the use of it as a man. One end is attached to his saddle, and the pony on which he is mounted is schooled in all the tricks of pursuing the animal or object to be captured, and to stop suddenly and brace itself for the shock when the lasso has been thrown. So accurate is the aim that it is difficult for man or beast to escape the noose of the huaso’s lasso when he sends it circling through the air. He is even more clever than the cowboy of the western plains, for the reason that his education begins earlier in life. His use of the lasso is not always limited to the business of capturing animals. He frequently resorts to it as a means of sport.

Two or more will take sides, and, riding at each other full speed, attempt to drag their opponents from their horses. There is little regard for consequences, and when the noose encircles the arm, neck, or body of one, and he receives the shock that comes from being suddenly dragged from his horse at the end of a rawhide rope, the sensation is not pleasant to say the least.

Unless fired by bad liquor there prevails among the Chilean huasos a general good fellowship and friendly familiarity. They are clannish, with a strong prejudice against all “gringos” (foreigners). When a crowd of huasos congregate in the country or village, they invariably indulge in some exciting games or contests requiring rare skill on the part of the participants, and strength and endurance of the stocky, intelligent ponies on which they are mounted. One of the most common of their sports is “topeadura,” on which large sums of money are frequently wagered—a game which the people for miles around will assemble to see. On feast days it is the common attraction at all the despachos and road houses, and every hacienda of any consequence has its own contest at such times. The game is played at a long pole called “vara,” generally cut from the blue gum, and fixed in Y-shaped supports, the object of the opposing teams being to push each other back to the end of the pole. The captains, or leaders, toss for position, which is important, as the winner places his horse’s head under that of his opponent’s, giving him the advantage of driving his mount like a wedge between the other and the pole. Other members of the two teams range themselves behind the captains, and a perfect pandemonium of clamor arises from the players and spectators as soon as the struggle begins. The horses enter into the spirit of the game, and strive with every nerve and sinew to force themselves forward, and it is a rare thing to see the players use their spurs. The game is far more interesting when it is reduced to a match or wager between two players of note, because they are then splendidly mounted, large sums often being paid for well-trained horses. The terrific straining of two animals to force each other back provides a marvelous study of anatomy with muscle at its highest tension. The horse which has the disadvantage in position will, before the signal to begin has been given, press down upon its adversary’s neck so as to nullify the advantage. A feature of the game is the excitement of spectators, one or more of whom are frequently impelled by zeal or drink, to drive their horses into the struggle and spoil it. Such interruptions usually result in the indiscreet meddler getting roughly handled by the indignant players, whence the Chilean saying that “topeadura is a good game to watch from a distance.”

All the horses of Chile cannot, however, be judged by the standard of these high priced sporting animals. The typical horse of the country is one peculiar to the Republic and when mounted by a huaso in his picturesque costume, the pony presents the appearance of supporting a pair of spurs with rider attached. He is a product of the old Spanish stock, docile, intelligent, and hardy, and though he has not the fine quarters of the improved breeds, he is strong, has wonderful endurance and can climb like a goat. They furnish all the mounts for the Chilean cavalry, and in recent years Great Britain and some of the European nations are adopting Chilean horses for cavalry purposes. They are gentle, obedient, seldom ever vicious, and are easily trained for any kind of service. From this description it would seem that the remarkable spurs invariably worn by the huaso and “vaqueros” might be dispensed with, but they are as much a part of their riding kit as their ponchos and lassos.

The Chilean saddle, “silla,” is peculiar to the country, and is the most expensive part of the huaso’s outfit. Many of them are works of art, covered with patent leather, beautifully and elaborately stitched with silk thread and ornamented with silver. In shape they are not unlike the Mexican saddle, except that they are shorter in the seat, and the front, instead of forming a high pommel with a neck-like projection, to which the lasso is fastened, is oval-shaped like the high back, forming a deep cushioned seat into which the rider fits closely. On either side in front is a leather roll, which prevents the rider from slipping forward. The stirrups, “estribos,” huge affairs made from solid blocks of wood, artistically designed, hand-carved and beautifully ornamented, are supported by single straps, attached to the saddle so far back that they cause the rider to lean well forward. These stirrups, which are perhaps the most unique article of their kind in the world, are usually adorned with silver or inlaid steel mountings. The wooden stirrups prevent the feet of the rider from getting wet and protect them from the “espino,” a bush with harsh, stiff branches and fierce thorns; they also serve as a means of warming the feet on cold days, as the person in the saddle can by striking his feet against the stirrups dispel the numbness resulting from cold. The saddle is always fastened with a rawhide cinch and never with a buckle girth. Many of the saddles have two cinches and are bound so securely that there is little possibility of accident from slipping or turning.

The “montura,” a peculiar kind of saddle much used in Chile in pioneer days, is now seldom seen. It is composed of six sheepskins, a rather excessive foundation, upon which is placed an “enjalma,” a skeleton saddle made of wood and bound together with rawhide. Over this are spread six more skins with the wool on, the whole being covered with a beautifully dressed kid skin. The montura is fastened with a cinch, into the fabric of which is woven the national colors of the Republic. It constitutes a rather elevated seat, which gives to the rider a peculiarly awkward position. But the montura was designed for and serves more purposes than one. In the early days when roads were few and long trips were made across country on horseback the numerous skins composing the odd saddle were used by the rider for a bed and covering at night.

The “espuelas” (spurs), worn by the Chilenos are the largest in the world, the rowels on some of them being six or eight inches in diameter. In order to prevent the rowels from dragging on the ground, they are worn with high heeled boots on which there is a leather projection back of and above the heel, upon which the spurs rest, and which keeps them at an elevation that prevents their coming in contact with the ground. The rowels are not sharp, however, and are less severe than the smaller spurs with sharp cutting points. They are also used by the wearer as a means of maintaining his equilibrium when a horse attempts to unseat him. This is accomplished by catching the spurs in the saddle cinch.

The bridle, “freno,” made of plaited rawhide, is strong, durable, and artistic. It is frequently ornamented with silver or inlaid steel attachments. Buckles are seldom used in the Chilean bridle. The reins are joined at the ends with a heavy ring to which is attached a single strand of braided rawhide, ending with a flat piece of the same material, called “chicote,” or as is often the case, loaded with lead, when it is called “penca.” The Chilean bit is unlike anything else of its kind. It is an instrument of torture, unique in design and terrible in its effect. It is very heavy, and is so formed that the rider can almost break the jaw of a horse with a hard, quick pull on the reins. They are used unsparingly upon the poor ponies, who serve their masters so faithfully. It is a custom of the huaso to practice bringing his horse from a run to an instant stop. He teaches the animal to rush full speed at any object. In order to accomplish these maneuvers they apply the full force of the terrible bit. It is one of the many cruelties practiced upon the horses. Originally the best of the beautiful and artistic bits used in Chile were designed by a Chilean mechanic whose shop or factory was at Pana Flor, a small village near Santiago. The Pana Flor bits are known throughout the Republic, and the huaso who possesses one is a proud man, especially if it is silver mounted, as many of them are. The owner of one of these much prized articles might be induced to part with his wife, but not with his bridle. This is particularly true now because in recent years the market has been flooded with cheap imitations of the genuine article, and the Pana Flor genius who created the unique bit, so characteristic of the country, has passed from the stage of action, and the product is now regarded as a “recuerdo” of rare value.

With all the ill-treatment imposed upon them, the Chilean horses seem fond of their masters. If left alone unfastened they will wait for hours for the return of their owners. They will gallop long distances over sand roads, up-hill and down, over stones, without shoes, and after a night’s foraging upon scant grass they are fit for another day’s work that may mean many leagues over bad roads.

It is interesting to witness the performance of a drunken huaso trying to reach home on his pony. The animal, perhaps from much experience with drunken riders, seems to understand the condition of his master, and his intelligence and patience in trying to help the man who is helplessly drunk, is both amusing and pathetic. He will stand firmly and patiently until the man is in the saddle, then start gently along, swaying from side to side as the rider loses his equilibrium, and when the man can sit erect no longer, will stop and wait for him to straighten up. Sometimes hours are spent in going a short distance. Cruel spurs rake him, and the terrible bit lacerates his mouth, but he seldom becomes excited, and if the man falls off, the patient beast invariably stops and waits for him to remount.

For general thieving the Roto Chileno has an international reputation, and it is conceded that he is capable of more clever lying and stealing than any known individual. They are not bold thieves, but rather of the sneak-thief order. If useful articles are left unguarded they seem to take wings and fly away. Yet no one has been seen or heard, and the rotos are the meekest of the innocent.

With all his faults the roto has, however, in many things a sense of responsibility. You may place one of them to guard any property (liquors excepted), and he will not steal nor permit others to do so. You may dispatch him with ladened carts, troops of cargo mules, money or other valuables, and under most circumstances your orders will be executed with the utmost fidelity. The responsibility attached to the service, when upon special missions, seems to convey the idea that he is under your eye. His faults may be attributed to ignorance and the custom of bad example rather than an evil heart. If treated kindly and fairly he will show some gratitude and appreciation by rendering faithful service. All work done by the peons is under the supervision of mayordomos. They are not supposed to think, but simply to do as they are ordered. They work with their hands and not with their heads, yet no one can give a better day’s work than the roto when he exerts himself. Their hours are from sunrise to sunset, stopping an hour for the midday meal. The peons formerly received from twenty to thirty cents per day, Chilean currency, the latter sum being paid to those in the country adjacent to the cities, but in more recent years they are a little better paid. They must be paid on Saturday night or they will not work willingly. If not working, they are left without food, but this makes little difference as those who are employed divide with their friends.

The peons are nearly all born out of wedlock; illegitimacy is nothing to them. Many are married, but even then they admit no obligations to support their families. In every district they are nearly all related. Fathers, mothers, if they can be identified, aunts, uncles, nephews, cousins, address each other as “comdares” or “compadres” (comrades). If increased pay tempts the peon away from his district, he will save his money until a few dollars have accumulated, then he will return and spend it with his old friends. In the winter months, when the rain prevents outdoor work, they have many ways to get money. They sell their labor in advance at greatly reduced rates. This is called “en verde,” signifying in green, or while growing. They sell a number of “tareas” of wheat, a certain term used in measuring the cutting of wheat. Animals are often sold before they are born, fowls before they are hatched, and wheat before it is sown.

LAND OWNER NO. 1.

The possessions of Land Owner No. 1 being too small to maintain himself and family, he rents land to till on the shares. The custom is for the landlord to provide the land, the seed and the animals with which to do the cultivating and threshing. The tenant performs the labor and prepares for market the grain, which is divided equally. When not engaged in the necessary work of cultivating and harvesting the crops upon his own or rented land, he works in a “chacra” (vegetable garden), or finds employment in making adobes, bricks, tiles, or wooden stirrups, cutting lumber, curing skins, etc. Sometimes he is sent by neighboring hacendados on errands to the city for cargoes of goods, to mill with wheat, or to the railway with mule trains carrying charcoal. His possessions consist of a horse, a yoke of oxen, and possibly a mule. All the tools that he has or requires are an ax, a shovel, a hoe and a crowbar. His animals are usually pastured in the hacienda, and the “talaje” (pasturage), paid for in work during plowing, sowing, or harvest time. His “rancho” (house), which he refers to as “mi vivienda,” is a creation not defined in the annals of architecture. It is constructed by placing a number of poles in the ground; to the tops of these upright posts other timbers of a similar character are fastened by tying them with rope or pieces of bark. Between the posts, sticks and branches of trees are woven, forming a sort of basket work. Over this a coating of mud mixed with straw forms the walls. The frame for the roof is also made of the trunks of small trees fastened together with bark; over the crude skeleton is woven a straw thatch, which is seldom rain proof. The door is made by tying together sticks or planks, for which pieces of bark or rawhide serve as hinges. The floors are dirt, and there are no windows or chimneys, and when necessary to build a fire in the house the smoke filters out through crevices in the walls and the thatch roof. These miserable huts, which form the places of habitation of the poor, are never perpendicular nor stand at proper angles, for the reason that they are shaped by the crooked timbers forming their framework. The interior presents an appearance quite as barren and devoid of comfort as the exterior. The furniture consists of a crude bedstead, a rickety table, and a few benches or stools. There are no articles of comfort or luxury in the homes of the poor. The men sleep upon the ground, inside or out of the house, as they choose, or as the weather permits. The crude furniture and the burnt clay dishes upon which their food is served are made by the women. The food is usually cooked in an iron kettle over an open fire, or in an oven of brick and mud built outside of the house. A peculiar feature of these squalid ranchos, especially in the interior of the country, is the barrenness of their surroundings. Usually there is not a tree, shrub, plant or flower, or any living, growing, green thing to relieve the dreariness of the desolate surroundings. This is all the more surprising when it is remembered that Chile possesses a prodigious soil, and that all kinds of vegetation grows quickly and prolifically when water is applied to the ground. Along the railways and near the cities a majority of the ranchos are distinguished by the cultivation of a variety of fruit trees, vegetables and flowers. The site selected for a country house is usually with reference to a supply of water.

Viewed from the roadside these rickety ranchos present a picturesque appearance. It is the frayed edge of home life that is always to be found behind the sub-tropical finery of semi-tropical countries. It is not well, however, to examine too closely or inquire carefully into the details of this home life. It is better to be gracious, for squalid as is the peon’s cottage, and unkempt as the family may appear, the extraordinary variety of dirt and the fantastic untidiness of the huts baffle description and escape reproduction. Similar spots may be seen in any land, for every population has its wastrels, but in the far east there is not to be found a lower level of life and greater lack of comfort generally, than that which suffices for the lowest classes in Chile. In a country blessed with a paucity of noxious reptiles and insects, where no beast more formidable than the cowardly puma dwells, and where birds and flowers of rare beauty abound, it seems inappropriate that man should dwell in such domestic squalor.

The male occupants of these houses do not, as a rule, contribute anything to the maintenance of the family. That feature of domestic life is left exclusively to the women, who are a hard working, self-sacrificing, humble and long suffering class. While they are neither honest nor virtuous, their vices are due more to ignorance and circumstances than natural tendencies, and their rewards do not match their merits. They do not feel the necessity of acting with scrupulous honesty at all times, as they are possessed of the belief that the priests will remit all their sins upon the payment of a given sum of money. Their education is narrow and limited, and they have never been well instructed in the virtues of the ten commandments. They spin, weave and dye ponchos for their men folk, and for sale; make blankets, fabrics for clothing, and clay dishes for their own use and for the market. They raise poultry, not for home consumption, but that they may sell the fowls and eggs, which are usually sold in advance.

These people are always in debt to the well-to-do landowners in the community where they live, and from whom they buy cloth, wool, dyes, food, etc. When eggs are laid or fowls are grown they are given in payment for these articles. One not familiar with the customs and conditions would be surprised in traveling through the country to find that it is difficult to buy an egg or a chicken at any of the ranchos, notwithstanding the fact that there seems to be a plentiful supply at every house.

When in need, peons buy on credit, and will obligate anything they possess, present or prospective, in payment. They live from hand to mouth, and seldom have more than one day’s supply of food on hand. Their wants are few, they are easily satisfied and generally contented. In the production of articles requiring intelligence and skill, the women excel the men. In different localities they produce different kinds of articles. For example, in Linares they make a great variety of beautiful baskets and curios from colored horse hair and fine straw; in Talcahuano, Concepcion, Chillan and Quillota the country women devote their time to the production of pretty and durable lace called “minaque,” which is made by hand and in a variety of patterns; along the coast country they make excellent hats from the dwarf palm, called “olma”; in other localities they make baskets, large and small, useful and ornamental; they also make beautiful as well as useful articles from the horns of animals, and of wood, stone and paper. They are clever and adaptive in all of their occupations, but lack in those qualities which lead to independence. Their favorite position is sitting on the ground, and while engaged in their various occupations they carry on a chatty gossip about their personal affairs, or those of their neighbors, which is usually more racy than edifying.

There is a rustic beauty about the Chilean women in their youth, but their manner of living causes their beauty to fade at an early age, and at twenty-five the majority of them begin to look old and grow stout and homely. They acquire an erect carriage and grace of movement from the custom of carrying articles of various kinds upon the head. They have broad hips, well-developed busts, medium-sized feet and small, tapering hands. A bright, smiling, and attractive face, with sparkling eyes, small mouth, cherry lips and beautiful teeth, are some of the features of these peasant women. On Sundays and other feast days, when dressed in their quaint and fantastic costumes, in which brilliant colors form a conspicuous feature, they present an attractive appearance. They are polite, seldom bold and never intrusive. They are devotees of the Catholic church, but their religion is of a flexible character. They often go from the church to the “cancha de bola” to dance, drink and gossip, but are rarely drunk or disorderly. They are superstitious and believe in witchcraft. In their homes they are undemonstrative, but show their affection for their families and friends by their services and sacrifices, and their considerate attendance upon the aged rather than in expressions of sentiment and caresses.

Their love for their offspring is a question that is difficult to solve. If a male child is born they are pleased, because it means that the work of another peon will be added to the family resources. If a girl baby arrives, “it is too bad, but will serve.” In this and other ways they indicate that maternal love corresponds to the prospective benefits to be derived. If a child leaves its home, or dies, the parents show little grief or sorrow. Perhaps their sorrow is concealed from view,—at least it is to be hoped that such is the case.

The common drink among the people is “mate,” made from the leaves of the “yerba mate,” a plant that grows in Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil. Over five million pounds of mate, valued at more than 1,000,000 pesos, is imported into Chile annually. The beverage is made by steeping the leaves in hot water. It is drunk from a mate cup, an article peculiar to the country. They are usually the most expensive part of the household equipment. Many of those used by the better class of people are made of hammered silver, oddly shaped, curiously fashioned and artistically finished. They are frequently ornamented with quaint figures, representing birds, animals or reptiles. Others are made of gourds, artistically carved and ornamented with silver mountings, while common gourd cups serve the poor people. The method of drinking the mate is through a silver tube called “bombilla,” one end of which is enlarged, forming a kind of perforated ball, which serves as a strainer, preventing the dregs of the plant being drawn into the mouth. One of the curious and interesting sights in the country is the women sitting about the little ranchos indulging in their cups of mate.

The men comprising farmers No. 1 are more serious and more honest than the peons. Their food consists of wheat and beans. The wheat, which is roasted and ground into flour with a stone, is called “harina tostado.” It is eaten instead of bread, which they seldom have. When mixed with water or wine it makes a very nourishing drink, called “ulpo.” Sometimes when these poor farmer folk have a desire for bread, they buy a bag of flour, make a quantity of bread and sell it. When they have disposed of enough to pay for the flour, they convert the remainder of the supply into bread for home consumption.

From the families of this class of agriculturists the servants for the cities are obtained. The women act as house servants, in which capacity they have no responsibilities, simply performing such duties as they are given by their masters. They have no initiative, but make good servants, when properly trained. It is the custom to keep everything of value under lock and key, but the house servants, especially the women, are no more dishonest than those of other countries. The boys from the families in this class also go to the cities, where they become carpenters, blacksmiths, tailors, harness-makers, or laborers. They seldom rise to ownership, or positions of greater responsibility than performing a certain kind of labor for specific wages. As they become more proficient in their work or trade, enabling them to command better remuneration for their services, they invariably imitate the better classes, spending more money than they earn, and are always “atrasado” (behind in their accounts).

Few of the poor or middle classes know their ages. No certificate is given of baptism. If a priest is asked why this is not done, he will say that it is useless, as they cannot read. If it becomes necessary to establish the right to an inheritance, the church record is examined, provided that the person whose age is to be ascertained knows where he was baptized, and that the church register is in existence.

LAND OWNER NO. 2.

Land Owner No. 2 possesses more land than No. 1, but his holdings are very small. He owns a cart, a few yoke of oxen, some cows, sheep, hogs and poultry. He freights grain, flour, and charcoal for others from haciendas to the mills or railway stations, thereby adding to his income. The surplus from his earnings he prudently invests in property. These farmers are, as a rule, provident, having always food supplies in their houses, yet they seldom lift their families out of the rut of poverty. Most members of the family, including the head of the house, either go barefooted or wear only rawhide sandals upon their feet the year round, except Sundays, feast days and special occasions. It is only the women who are permitted to indulge frequently in the luxury of shoes and clean gowns. The sons work with the father and not as peons for others. These people associate with Farmers No. 1, and even with the peons as equals. Not, however, without prideful reflection, for they consider themselves above their poorer neighbors, although they do not say so. They are not admitted to the society of Land Owner No. 3, or the hacendados, although they have many interests in common and commercial relations with those classes. If you are his guest he will serve you wine or water in a glass tumbler, but he never uses such an article himself, and perhaps you will be given a knife and fork with which to eat your food. These middle class farmers constitute the best element in Chile. They work honestly to gain a livelihood, and ask no favors from others. They are too poor to engage in politics.

A peculiar feature of the life of this class of people is the methods they resort to to save money and increase their possessions. They live solely upon the products of their little farms, and seldom eat what they can sell. They make bread, but eat very little of it, the family consumption being limited to the equivalent of the profits on that which is sold. They keep liquors in the house, but to sell. If an animal is slaughtered, some kind of a function is arranged, to which the neighbors are invited and the meat disposed of in a feast, their guests being served as long as they have money with which to buy. If a woman desires some article of dress or adornment, and has not the money with which to purchase it, she gives a feast. She will go to a neighbor who has a hog and negotiate for the animal on credit: she also purchases an “arroba” (ten gallons) of “chicha,” for which she gives her promise to pay, the credit extending until the respective articles are disposed of. The hog, “chancha,” is slaughtered, and the feast is announced. There is music and a number of women who dance and sing are there as a special attraction. These feasts always attract a crowd and by the time the chancha and the chicha are disposed of, the woman conducting the affair has made sufficient profit to pay her indebtedness and to purchase the desired article.

LAND OWNER NO. 3.

The transition of Land Owners No. 3, from what is recognized as the inferior classes, to respectable citizens is generally due to the accumulation of property. Wealth constitutes recognized citizenship, and when obtained, they think that the right of sovereignty is theirs in the fullest degree. This transition often carries with it the idea that all law and government should be administered by them. Fortunately their inexperience and lack of education seldom permits them to rule higher than municipal legislation, or perhaps sub-delegate of a district. The phlegmatic temperament of this class of Chilenos is universal. If emotions ever stir the depths of their souls they manage to conceal the fact by an apparent calm composure.

Most of them are illiterate, but to their credit they have in recent years been endeavoring to secure for their children better education than that afforded them. The educational facilities of the country are not good, but the majority of the children of this class of farmers secure sufficient technical training in the schools to suffice for their simple lives. They are orderly, hard working people, and generally honest, as they interpret the meaning of the term. The Chilean characteristic of sticking tenaciously to custom and tradition is exemplified in the home life of these people. Their condition is little better or above that of Land Owners No. 1 and 2. From choice, rather than necessity, they follow the custom of their Indian ancestors by sitting upon the ground, a stone or a billet of wood; the food for the family is served from one dish, there being as many spoons as persons to be served. The materials which enter into the composition of the food of these farmer folk consisting of wheat, corn, beans, fruit, pepper, etc., are ground between stones. In fact the grinding stones are the most useful utensils in the equipment of the kitchen. They consist of one large flat stone with a smooth surface, and a smaller one, oval shaped. The material is placed upon the large stone, and the other in the hand of the operator is used to crush and grind the grain or dried vegetables to the proper consistency. This work is always done by the women. In the kitchen may be found a few pots, clay dishes, tin cups, wooden spoons and quantities of dirt. Occupying the kitchen, and apparently upon the most intimate terms with members of the family are pigs, goats, dogs, and chickens. If there are guests in the house, food is served in the dining room with some show of formality, but when the family is alone, the food is served in one dish from which the members help themselves with spoons until the supply is exhausted. It is then refilled with some other kind of food and the meal continues until all are satisfied. With a change of food the same dish and spoons are used without being washed. Tea and coffee are sometimes served when strangers are present, but when the family is alone, mate only is served as a drink, with their meals. The mate cup is filled and passed to the head of the house who drinks the contents through a “bombilla.” The cup is filled again and again, each member of the family drinking out of the same vessel and through the same bombilla. When there are no guests in the house the servants sometimes form part of the family group, eating out of the same pot, and having their turn at the mate through the family bombilla.

The tile-roofed adobe houses inhabited by this class of farmers are very plain. They are devoid of ornamentation within or without, and there is seldom a tree or shrub to relieve the dreary monotony of the surroundings. There are no windows in these places of abode, and the floor is either dirt or common brick. The furniture consists of beds, one or two home-made tables, and a few chairs of the commonest kind.

If a person of the better class visits the home of one of these Chilean farmers, he must do most of the talking, and it will be necessary to limit the conversation to subjects pertaining to the church, crops, animals, gossip, or questions relating to their districts. They know little of the great world lying beyond the narrow horizon of their local environments. The methods employed by this class of farmers in cultivating the soil are crude and primitive. The wooden plow used by the Spaniards and Greeks a thousand years ago, furnishes the model for the implement used by these people in this twentieth century. It is made by mortising one piece of a small tree trunk into another, at an angle of about forty-five degrees. A piece of iron is usually fastened over the point of the portion that is intended to stir the ground. Oxen, attached by a wooden yoke fastened to their horns with rawhide thongs, are employed in drawing the plows. A stick serves as a handle, and holding on to the crude implement with one hand, the other used in directing the oxen, the plowman manages to scratch the ground, but is never able to stir the soil to any depth. When the plowing is done and the grain planted or sown, some branches of trees serve as a drag for covering it. Forks for handling grain and hay are made from branches of trees.

The grain is harvested with reap hooks, and the threshing is done with animals. The wheat or barley is placed upon the ground within a circular enclosure. A number of animals, usually young mares from the farm, are turned into the enclosure, and one or more men mounted upon strong horses, follow them around, shouting, whipping and pursuing them over the grain until the tramping of hoofs has crushed the grain from the straw. Then comes the process of separating the chaff from the grain. This, as are all other methods employed in cultivating and preparing products of the farm for market, is curious and primitive. The wheat and chaff are placed in baskets, which men hold in their hands above their heads allowing the contents to empty slowly. As it falls the chaff and refuse are carried to one side by the wind, leaving the grain, which is heavier and which falls directly to the ground, clean and ready for the market.

Nearly all the land occupied and cultivated by this class of farmers is what is known as “campo de rulo” (dry hill land), which constitutes the greater part of agricultural Chile. The only moisture it has is from the three or four months’ rainfall from June to October. For about half the year these hill lands are brown, sear and desolate looking, but in the autumn, winter and spring, they are covered with a mantle of rich verdure, presenting a landscape scene that is attractive and prepossessing. During the rainy season the mud is deep, roads are often impassable, bridges are carried away by the swift current of the streams and there is little communication between different communities or between country and city.

The theory of these hill farmers is to get as much out of the soil as possible, without expense. The land is never fertilized, and crops are grown alternate years. The plowing is done after the rains set in in the autumn, and the soil being clay, remains very hard and lumpy. This plowed land, called “barbecho,” is left over the winter, the rains having the effect of pulverizing and putting it in condition for the sowing or planting for the next season. Oxen are used for plowing, and it is a novel sight to see a large number of those slow, plodding beasts winding about the hills dragging the crude plows. Fifty yoke of oxen are often engaged in plowing on one hacienda. This method of cultivating is employed until the soil becomes so worn that it will not produce a satisfactory crop. It is then let stand for several years until nature rejuvenates it, and it is again put into service. The grain is harvested by hand, and brought from the hills in primitive wooden carts, or upon the heads of peons. The general appearance of the soil would indicate that this hill land is valueless for agricultural purposes, but it produces annually a large per cent. of the agricultural products of the country, besides maintaining many horses, cattle and sheep.

The farmers of this class live in a narrow world. The majority of them have never been out of the province in which they were born and many of them never saw a railway train; they know the villages in their vicinity, and perhaps the provincial capital, but one who has seen Santiago, the national capital, is the rare exception. The customs prevailing in other countries, or what is going on in the great world, are of little consequence to them; they are interested only in what they are doing. Even if one can read, he seldom subscribes for a newspaper, as that is considered a useless expenditure.

The men engage only in the larger affairs of the business of the family, such as marketing the animals and the grain raised on the farm. The small trade in chicha, liquors, poultry, etc., is attended to by the women. In nearly every house is kept a supply of such articles as may be required by the peons. In the sale of these, the money that is paid out by the farmer, in wages, comes back in small amounts, and with interest. The profit made on this small mercantile business, in the sale of sugar, mate, chicha, etc., pays for the articles of the same class consumed by the farmer’s family. In these transactions they never refuse credit to anyone, but politely say they have not the article called for, notwithstanding the fact that it may be in plain view of the would-be purchaser, or sold to another before his eyes. They understand each other and their method of dealing with delinquent customers furnishes an example that might be emulated with profit by more progressive and up-to-date tradesmen.

These farmers are received at the haciendas, not exactly as equals, but because of a money consideration. They have land, stock, and usually money in the bank. Notwithstanding the fact that many of them have a competency, they resort to a method of economy that is absolute penuriousness,—stinginess personified. They never visit their friends, or entertain their neighbors. They never keep a coach, for two reasons, one being that where they reside, and places to where they journey, there are no coach roads, and for the more general reason that they never spend money for such an unnecessary luxury. The men always ride horseback, and when the women go away from home, which is seldom, they also travel on horseback. Few of them possess sidesaddles, and the common custom is for them to go “en anca,” sitting upon a cloth spread upon the back of the horse, behind the saddle occupied by the man. There is still another class of dry land, hill farmers, who own large tracts of land, and farm upon a large scale. In sandy or loam soil they employ modern machinery and implements. This class often becomes rich, in which case they invariably move to the provincial cities and work their estates through an “administrador.” These hill farmers are autocrats in their respective communities; not in the same despotic manner as the owners of the large irrigated estates, for the inquilinos and peons of the hills are more independent, are treated with greater consideration, and are more nearly on an equality than is the case on the great hacienda.

HACIENDAS AND HACENDADOS.

In the fertile valleys, through which flow the rivers of Chile, are many magnificent estates, some of them including thousands of acres of productive land. Upon an eminence in the midst of broad acres, of golden grain, waving corn and verdant pastures, all framed with avenues of stately alamos, stands the splendid residence of the owner, overlooking the picturesque and pastoral scene. The majority of these country mansions are built upon the same general plan, varying only in size and ornamental elaboration. They represent a letter H in form, with a front entrance in the middle of the bar connecting the main lines of the letter, the drawing-room upon one side and the dining-room on the other. A wide, roomy corridor leads from the main entrance in front to the beautiful patio, upon either side of which is arranged the sleeping apartments. These residences are almost invariably well furnished and finished with artistic interior decorations. Some of them include rare old paintings and splendid specimens of wood carving. The drawing-room and dining-room usually contain the best of the furniture and decorations, as those are the portions of the house most occupied by guests. There is an absence of fireplaces and stoves, due to the mild climate. The house is surrounded by well-kept parks and gardens containing rare trees, shrubs and flowers. There is a peaceful harmony in the beauty of the surroundings and everything in the environment is suggestive of comfort and luxury.

The hacienda constitutes a small empire, with various executive and administrative branches. The territorial limits are usually defined by walls made of loose piled stones or adobes. The irrigated portions are divided into potreros (fields), of from one hundred to two hundred acres each, the dividing lines being indicated by rows of growing trees, usually poplar, or alamos, that grow straight and tall, and which not only add to the beauty of the landscape, but also furnish shade for the animals in the pastures. The hill lands are divided into larger sections, frequently as much as one thousand acres constituting one pasture field or range. These potreros are enclosed with thorned hedges, from the espino which grows abundantly in the low lands. Irrigating canals carry water from the hill streams to the cultivated fields and the pasture land, where clover, alfalfa, and other grasses grow prodigiously in the rich loam soil.

Roads flanked with graceful trees lead out from the residence and from the corrals to various parts of the property. A photographic view of one of these country homes needs only a few touches of the artist’s brush to make it an idyl. A home glimpse in Chile, even on an hacienda, is no exception. Sunlight through a camera glorifies vistas and ennobles foliage; it promotes stucco and plaster to marble and gives grace and beauty to commonplace things. The lumbering teams of oxen and the huge two-wheeled carts add to the picturesque placidity of the scene which presents an appearance of perpetual summer and glorious afternoon. But the photograph says nothing, and it is well for the chronicler to omit any mention of the dust through which the carts creak and groan at harvest time, in a country where rain falls only between May and September.

The servants on a large hacienda consist of an administrador, a capataz (sub-manager), various mayordomos, vaqueros (cowboys), shepherds and a troop of peons. The administrador, or manager, is the responsible executive head, and has entire charge of the farm. He receives orders only from the proprietor. He suggests to the owner the work and improvements necessary, and when his suggestions are approved he gives orders to his subordinates to execute the plan; he receives from the mayordomos accounts of the work done and wages earned, pays employés, etc. It is also the business of the manager to dispose of the animals raised on the farm, when ready for market. These sales are usually made at auction at the most convenient railway station or shipping point. Sometimes the sales amount to as much as fifty thousand pesos in one day. The owner or his representatives are always present, and animals are never sold for less than they are actually worth.

The service of an hacienda manager consists in whatever the owner may order; he passes most of his days on horseback, as do the other servants, except the peons. The pay of this important personage is three hundred pesos, equal to one hundred dollars United States currency, a year. In addition to this meager money compensation he has the use of ten acres of dry land, suitable for growing wheat, six or eight acres of chacra, or vegetable producing land, and pasture for fifteen to twenty animals. Ten horses of the hacienda are usually set apart for his exclusive use.

The capataz occupies a position next in importance to the manager; his business is to ride over the farm daily, and make reports and suggestions to the manager. It is also the duty of this functionary to impound all animals not belonging to the estate found in the potreros. A fine of so much per head is assessed against all such animals, and the owner is required to pay the amount before they are released.

Vaqueros, who are under the direction of a manager, have certain fields and animals under their charge. Each is held responsible for the animals under his care. A daily count is made, and if any are missing the vaquero is sent in search of them. The vaquero is the cowboy of South America, and represents a type peculiar to the country.

His leggins usually consist of untanned goat skin, worn in the natural form and without attempt to make them conform to the shape of the legs. They not infrequently differ in color and marking, causing the wearer to present a grotesque appearance. He also wears immense spurs and other articles correspondingly fantastic, not the least conspicuous of which is his hat, an enormous cone-shaped sombrero made of felt and embroidered in fancy colors. His lasso of plaited rawhide, loosely coiled in two-foot circles, rests upon the back of his horse. These servants on the hacienda receive as compensation fifty pesos in cash annually, the use of two acres of chacra, four acres of wheat-growing land, and pasture for six or eight animals.

For each department of labor on these properties, including canals, corrals, repairs, storehouse, direction of peons, etc., there is a mayordomo, or foreman. Their pay is the same as that of the vaqueros. The proprietor furnishes horses but not saddles for all of his employés, except the peons.

“Ovejeros” (shepherds), connected with these estates live in the hills and work on contract. They receive twenty-five centavos for each lamb born, or one-third of the lambs. In case one receives a per cent. of the lambs as compensation for his labor, he is compelled to sell them to his master for one peso each. Each shepherd has in his care from five hundred to one thousand sheep.

“Inquilinos,” or farm tenants, comprise the servants living on the farm. They must work when ordered or furnish someone to labor in their stead. The head of each of the families is given an allowance of four acres of wheat-growing land, and pasture for six animals; they receive no cash compensation. The peons on the hacienda are not given land and pasturage for animals, but are furnished with a daily ration of food. The owners of estates furnish houses for their servants, free of rent.

The owners of the large, irrigated and well-equipped haciendas constitute the wealthiest, most cultured and aristocratic class in Chile. Presidents, senators and congressmen are elected from this class, and ministers, judges, admirals and generals are selected from the landed gentry. Prominent and influential professional and business men rely upon their estates for both pleasure and profit. The owners live upon their haciendas a portion of the year, but their homes are in the cities, most of them in Santiago, where they live in mansions and spend with lavish hand the income from their estates. The majority of them spend more than their income and as a result the heavily capitalized mortgage bank of Santiago has its octopus-like hand upon ninety per cent. of the beautiful and valuable country estates in Chile. The extravagance of the wealthy class in the Republic is cause for comment, and a surprise to most foreigners. Their prodigality furnishes a ruinous example to the middle classes, who try to emulate them, producing thereby a cheap, imitative kind of aristocracy. Most of them belong to old and influential families who inherited their fortunes and names from pioneer colonists. Some, however, are parvenu aristocrats who have gained access to the exclusive social circles by means of money, a position which from lack of education and breeding they are not qualified to maintain.

Large landowners give little time to the cultivation of their estates, and as a result the haciendas never produce to their full capacity. The chief occupation of the owners is a calculation of the probable income, with the application of as little capital and labor as possible on the property.

Notwithstanding the fact that Chile owns the richest and most extensive nitrate fields and guano deposits in the world, and that thousands of tons of fertilizing material are exported annually to other countries, to enrich depleted soil, little or none of this valuable re-creative agency is utilized to rejuvenate the sterile soil of the worn hill farms of the Republic. They refuse to return to the soil by artificial means that which is annually drawn from it in the production of crops, and as a result much valuable land has lapsed into disuse, being considered sterile and valueless because its producing quality has been exhausted. Under existing circumstances the farmer’s expenses are heavy and certain and his income decreasing and uncertain. The result is that the handsome estates are fast falling under the bane of mortgages, the payment of the interest on which is sapping the life of the soil. Economy is not one of the ruling characteristics of the Chileno; social and political prestige must be maintained, even if the inevitable result is financial ruin.

Mortgages will not permit of a disunion of the estates they cover, or selling of a portion of the land with which to pay interest, and when the owner is unable to longer meet his obligations the hacienda is sold at auction. The family then retires to a life of seclusion, and thereafter live upon a very meager income. There is no moral; remembering their former achievements and the splendor of past life, they indulge in no regret over present conditions. These families do not as a rule, however, belong to the best blood of Chile. They generally consist of those who go from country to the city and whose vanity leads them into unwonted extravagance.

The artificial and realistic phases of social life among the above mentioned classes furnish some sharp and well-defined contrasts. The phase most commonly known, and the one invariably presented to the world, is the artificial, with stage effects and deceptive lights; the other is the real,—the everyday home life, where the natural characteristics of the actors are presented. In the home, all show, pomp and exhibition can be safely discarded; no stage effects are necessary. A “peep” into the home life of some of these families will reveal the female members sitting in groups upon low stools, or on the floor, around a “bracero,” charcoal fire, the servants squatting in close proximity, discussing in a familiar way the latest social triumphs or the day’s hidden economies.

Another striking contrast in the home life is the different characteristics possessed by the men and women. The women are domestic by nature, patient to a degree, long suffering, good mothers and loyal wives. They are content with little, and either by inheritance or through generations of experience and training they do not expect much from their lords and masters. Their education, which is generally secured in the parochial schools, is influenced by religious prejudice. They manifest little interest in politics or world affairs, and a professional career is not to be thought of by a Chilena. ’Tis considered more respectable for a woman to live proudly in abject poverty than to earn a livelihood in a profession or commercial occupation. Many of the Chilean señoritas possess great beauty, are graceful and vivacious. They know the force and effect of flattery, and are artists in the use of that dangerous weapon of society. They have natural talent for languages, usually speak French and have some knowledge of English, and their own language they use with consummate skill.

The sons in the families of the better class are often educated in the belief that labor is degrading, and encouraged to lead lives of indolence. Instead of being taught that labor is honorable, that the gods sell everything to those who work; that the most useless and uninteresting members of society in this busy world are the drones; that intelligent industry is the chief factor in modern civilization; that honest effort is the advance guard of commercial and industrial progress, the youth of Chile is encouraged in the belief that it is honorable and manly to rely upon paternal dependence. Their education and youthful training too often lead them into the erroneous idea that business is drudgery, and that discipline of mind and will are hardships to be endured only by the servants and poor classes.

The men who constitute the wealthy class in Chile contrast sharply in characteristics with the women in the same social cast. They have an agreeable, dignified manner and polite address. Intellectually keen, they are quick to grasp a theory and clever in presenting it. Super-sensitive, they are quick to take offense, but will keep a smiling countenance, a polite, unruffled exterior, and even manifest a liking for people whom they inwardly detest. They are drawn together by business and political interests and whenever their interests conflict, enmity and even hatred are the result. This is carried to such extent that in the cities the families of the managers or heads of competing commercial houses or business firms will not associate with each other, and friendship between two Chilean gentlemen engaged in opposition business is the rare exception. Political opponents are enemies so long as their interests clash.

It is generally among the hacendados that political schemes, resulting in combinations of far-reaching consequence, have their origin. When a candidate aspires to an elective office, he makes his wants known to the managers of the party to which he belongs, and assures them of his willingness to pay the required sum to carry the election. After securing the nomination the candidate puts himself in communication with the influential men of his party in the province in which he stands for election. Among these men he distributes the amount he is willing to pay for the office. These confidants distribute the fund among their friends, who in turn re-distribute it, each retaining as it passes through his hands what he believes is the value of his services. There is never any accounting, and no questions are asked. On election day, which is a general feast and field day for the peons, each candidate has friends and money representing him at the various voting places. The peons have no political faith or party, probably do not know, much less care, for what the election is being held. Their votes are for sale, either publicly or privately, to the highest bidder. Those from the same farm, district or village, usually band together, one of the number acting as spokesman. When the polls are declared open the inspectors of registration take their places behind the ballot box, and the bidding for the purchase of votes begins. The agent of one candidate approaches a group of peons and asks for their votes, the spokesman for the crowd asking in turn what is bid for their suffrages. After some bargaining an offer is made. Taking that as a basis, negotiations are then opened by a representative of the peons with the agent for another candidate. When convinced that they cannot secure more the peons close with the highest bidder, and march in single file to the voting place. One by one their names are called, and as their right to vote is admitted, the agent of the candidate making the purchase deposits the vote. After the voting is completed according to agreement, the peons receive the money in the presence of the inspectors, politicians and other voters. There is no attempt at secrecy. There is a law upon the statute books making the purchase or the sale of a vote a crime, with severe penalties attached, but it is disregarded and has become almost a dead letter. The laws of Chile also provide for a secret ballot, but it is neither secret nor sacred. The election of a president in Chile is by the electoral system, the electors being selected by popular vote, and apportioned on a basis of population.

The constitution gives to the poor of Chile the birthright of freedom, and all men are supposed to be equal under the laws of the Republic. Many of those living upon the large haciendas, however, have little freedom of action or individuality and some of them are little more than a part of the general farm equipment. They are dependent and apparently defenseless. Inquilinos almost invariably sell their labor in advance to the owners of the property on which they live. They never leave the hacienda, for conditions are everywhere the same. The rich landowners are powerful enough to force into subjugation all within their domains, and they assert their authority with the arrogance of autocrats. The inquilinos have nothing beyond a meager living; they always remain poor. They are not permitted to sow, reap or do any work for themselves until all the work of a similar character on the hacienda is finished.

The majority of these poor people are honest with their patrons. When crimes are committed it is against others and not their master. As a rule the only offense of which they are guilty is that of harboring friendly thieves in their houses on the haciendas, thereby indirectly aiding in theft committed. If an hacienda changes hands, it makes not the slightest difference with the servants, who remain, many of them spending their entire lives upon the estate where they are born. The average wage of these farm laborers is about forty centavos per day. This low compensation is not due to a surplus of farm labor, for in fact there is a scarcity.

The condition of the poor people in the farming communities has resulted in recent years in an exodus of labor to the nitrate fields and mineral districts of Atacama, Tarapaca, Copiapo and Coquimbo, where they receive good wages and are paid regularly. This inviting field for labor, within the territorial limits of the Republic, is encouraging a more independent spirit among the working classes. That, together with the resentment against oppression so long imposed upon them by the hacendados, has already produced a marked effect and is rapidly growing into a condition of open hostility between employer and employés. The laborers are already organizing themselves into unions which opens a fruitful field for the agitator and the political demagogue. This has been evidenced by organized demands for shorter hours and higher wages among the employés in many of the seaport towns within the past few years. It had its most striking and tragic illustration in the riots in Valparaiso in May, 1903, when the city was sacked and property burned by a mob of striking stevedores.

This independent movement, this breaking away from former conditions had its origin in the revolution of 1891, which inaugurated new and worse relations between capital and labor. The uprising gave the Roto Chileno an opportunity to unmask and to manifest his natural characteristics. Not at first upon a strike plan, but in secret combination against those who employ labor; to shield each other in infractions of the law; to organize a class into a union of criminals that includes in its depredations every act in the category of crime. An undeclared war is waged, unexpressed antagonism, and unspoken enmity have been inducted into being. The policy of weak submission, in which they so long acquiesced, is gradually but surely changing to one of open defiance. Generations of smoldering hatred burst forth in the flame of strife and revolution, and the growth and menacing hostile attitude of labor and capital to-day is the outgrowth of that movement.

These labor troubles, felt first in the populous centers, are gradually finding their way to the farms and haciendas, and it is easy to predict the changed condition that will result within a few years; conditions that will reach the other extreme. There is no class of people so tyrannical, so unreasonable and dictatorial, as the ignorant, the poor and oppressed, when once they hold the balance of power. The Roto Chilenos, as an organized force, would be a desperate, dangerous class, a menace to society and good government. Let us hope that the distance between these extremes will be narrowed, that capital will be given the protection and encouragement to which it is entitled, and upon which its existence depends, and at the same time labor will be given the best remuneration, the broadest field and the amplest opportunity possible. This is a problem that should concern the politicians and statesmen of Chile. The time has passed when the working class will submit to intolerance and oppression, and the fact that conditions are changing, even in a country where the common people cling tenaciously to tradition and usage, must be recognized. The sons and daughters of farmers go to the cities and take service with foreigners. When they return to their country homes they take with them manners and ideas acquired from a different people—transplanted customs from another world. And so, slowly, backward and forward among the people passes the shuttle of changing methods, weaving into the fabric of life new and strange conditions. These influences are making themselves felt in many ways. In the typical Chilean village one sometimes sees among the thatched roof adobe huts, a house with some pretensions to ornamentation. Instead of an earthen floor, and the patio occupied by fowls and animals, there is a brick or tile floor, and the walls are ornamented with pictures. The poncho, which was formerly universally worn by the men, has been almost entirely discarded in the cities, and generally so in the villages. The mantilla, that most unsanitary of articles, with which all the women of Chile formerly draped their heads and faces, and which had also the objectionable feature of giving them a common and unattractive appearance, is fast growing into disuse, and is being supplanted by more modern feminine headdress. The country people are beginning to discard sandals for shoes, and in many ways manifest a more progressive spirit.

A Chileno may appear upon the streets of a city in personal attire the same as that prescribed for gentlemen in any country, but custom in the country prescribes a different standard. A gentleman huaso, well mounted and properly equipped, will have several hundred dollars represented in his personal adornment and caparison, for he must appear “a la moda del campo” (in the costume of the country). The cost of the outfit of the average well-mounted Chilean gentleman farmer may be calculated as follows: Horse, three hundred pesos; silver mounted bridle and reins, seventy-five; silver mounted saddle, two hundred; inlaid silver belt and knife, fifty; silver spurs, seventy-five; poncho, fifty; hat, twenty; special riding suit, one hundred; embroidered leggins, seventy-five; boots, twenty-five; watch and other extras, two hundred; total, one thousand one hundred and seventy pesos, equal to four hundred dollars United States currency.

RODEO.

One of the most exciting of the many peculiar practices indulged in by the country people, and one which requires great skill and courage, is the “rodeo” (method of managing wild bullocks in a corral, by men on horseback). It is the Chilean Corrida, taking the place of the Spanish bull fight, and is an inoffensive sport. A rodeo is an event of much general interest, and is usually attended by large crowds of people, friends and invited guests of the owner of the hacienda where it takes place. Special and elaborate preparations are made, and the rodeo is looked forward to with much interest, not only by those who take part in the dangerous proceedings, but also by everyone favored with an invitation or an opportunity to attend. The company first assembles at the residence of the gentleman giving the function, where all the specially invited guests and personal friends are entertained.

The vaqueros have been instructed to collect in a large corral, representing a half circle, all the cattle from the hill potreros. The animals are usually unaccustomed to the sight of anyone except the vaquero who attends them, and are wild and easily excited. When the time arrives for opening the rodeo, the horses of the men who are to participate, are brought out, each attended by a mozo (personal servant), who carefully adjusts the huge spurs always used on such occasions, to the boots of their respective masters. The men then mount and ride to the corrals, each followed by his mozo with several reserve horses to be used in case of necessity. About the corrals, which are decorated with flags and bunting, is a large crowd, including the mounted servants of the hacienda, as well as the inquilinos and servants from other farms, on horseback and in carts. Later the ladies of the household and their friends and guests arrive and occupy seats especially prepared for them, which command a good view of the corral. An order is given for the function to begin and employés of the hacienda enter the corral and drive the animals close together, encircling them to prevent their escape. The men who are to participate in this sport take their positions and a bullock is permitted to pass through the line encircling the herd. It is immediately charged by two of the waiting party, one following and urging it on, the other riding by its side, forcing the beast as closely as possible to the corral fence. When they have traversed the distance of the corral enclosure the person riding by the animal’s side rushes to its head, and by a clever move turns it suddenly around. The positions of pursuing parties are reversed, first one riding at the side of and turning the infuriated beast, and then the other, until it is completely subdued. Until it is conquered the riders must at no time leave the animal. If it bolt through the herd, or amongst the bunch of mounted servants on guard, they must follow, each keeping his respective position. Their horses are well trained and enter into the sport with as keen a zest as the riders. When one animal has been conquered it is driven from the corral and another turned loose, different persons taking part in each separate contest. If a horse is gored, as is often the case, or the rider dismounted and trampled upon, others quickly take their places and the sport continues. During the rodeo the spectators applaud or groan at the acts of the participants, according to their merit or demerit. Rodeos sometimes last for several days. An intermission is given in the middle of the day during which lunch is served, and at night there is always entertainment and much merrymaking at the hacienda residence. This sport is full of surprises, both comic and tragic, as there is always an element of uncertainty in the actions of a wild and infuriated young bull, when pursued and harassed until he becomes desperate. The day’s entertainment often closes with some daring vaquero lassoing, saddling and mounting a big, untamed bull.

One of the purposes of a rodeo is that the owners of cattle in neighboring haciendas may have all of the cattle brought in from the hills, identified and separated. The cattle belonging to each estate bear the registered mark of the owner by which they are identified. Frequently animals stray from their ranges and potreros and join the herds in neighboring haciendas. In these annual rodeos, or round-ups, they are divided and each lot according to mark or brand is returned to the owner. All the vaqueros of the different estates in the locality attend and participate. In this way the hacendados get all the wild young animals from the hills brought in, separated and branded at practically no expense. What is considered sport, and a festival by the vaqueros and employés on the big farms, is in reality the annual collection of cattle, as a matter of business to the owner.

The crowd constituting the spectators at a rodeo is made up of peons, inquilinos and vaqueros from neighboring haciendas. They dance the cuaca, and there is music of primitive harps and guitars. There is much drinking of chicha and exchange of badinage, all mixed with talk of, and comment on the rodeo, and the personal skill and bravery, or the lack of those qualities, displayed by those engaged in the sport. In the evening, after the conclusion of the rodeo, along the dusty country roads leading to the homes of these people one may witness strenuous and exciting contests in topeadura, in which sturdy Chilean ponies and tipsy riders form the component part.

CHACRA.

Chacra (vegetable farm), is usually land rented in small sections by the poor people from the rich landowners. After the servants have been allotted their portion of land in the poorest soil of the hacienda, other portions are rented, usually for a stipulated rental of two thousand kilos of beans for each quadra (four acres). At the harvest time the landowner must be paid his rent, either in the proportion of the products stipulated, or the cash market value of same. This settlement must be made before the “chacrero” is permitted to remove any of the crops. The lessee’s family live in the chacra in huts made of the branches of trees. The hacendado knows the productive capacity of his land, and gauges the rental value accordingly. If the renter manages to save a few sacks of beans, after living and paying his rent, he is fortunate. As a rule this class of tillers of the soil receive nothing more than a meager living for their labor.

HABITS AND CUSTOMS

A careful study of the history of Chile from the time that Pedro de Valdivia attempted to subjugate the Indians, through the colonial period to the revolution of 1810, when Spanish rule was overthrown and Chile took her place in the sisterhood of South American Republics; through the varying vicissitudes of its first half century of national existence, down to the present time, will reveal the fact that certain customs and traditions characteristic of the race have been maintained. In some instances they reflect the influences of changed conditions and environments; foreign ideas have been engrafted upon the social structure and the body politic, but in character, and in general characteristics, the Chileno retains his inheritance from Spanish and Indian ancestors. This is particularly true of their economic use of water. It can be safely said that the majority of the working classes or country people apply water sparingly to their hands and faces only, and never to their bodies, and many of them are utter strangers to its personal application.

This does not apply, of course, to the wealthy, educated and traveled Chilenos, who go annually to the seashore, or other pleasure and health resorts, such as Panca, Cauquenes, or Viña del Mar, the latter being the summer playground of the rich. A visit to any of the pleasure resorts by a Chilean family, be they residents of the country or city, is an event attended with much pomp and ceremony. They take with them their horses and carriages, a retinue of servants and an extra supply of clothes for display for the purpose of impressing other visitors with their financial standing and social importance. The vacation season in Chile is usually from the first of January to the fifteenth of March. For two months government service is transferred from Santiago to Valparaiso, the president and his cabinet taking up their temporary residence in Viña del Mar, a suburb of Valparaiso. The courts are closed and practically all business suspended in the capital. Members of the diplomatic corps follow the Santiaginas to the seashore, and the suburbs of Valparaiso, with their hotels and bathing beaches, are gay with fashionably dressed visitors and social functions. Many people who indulge in this annual seaside frolic are compelled to resort to strenuous domestic economy for the remainder of the year, in order to recuperate from the financial sacrifice made in the effort to compete in the social exhibit with those who can well afford the expense. Others whose financial condition will not admit of their joining the procession of those who appear for a few brief weeks in the year upon the social stage at Viña del Mar, close the front of their city residences, and do not appear in public during the vacation season.

The poor classes who cannot afford a vacation, live in filth and unsanitary conditions the year round, and during their natural lives. The dwellings of the poor are built without regard to architecture, comfort or hygiene, and the domestic condition of the occupants is a menace to health. The floor of a majority of the huts is the ground, which during the rainy season becomes damp, and not infrequently muddy. The refuse water from the houses is thrown any place outside to get rid of it, and there being no drains to carry it away, it becomes stagnant and creates disease. Donkeys, dogs, pigs and poultry maintain intimate social relations with the members of the household, not infrequently being housed with the family at night.

Chile has several dishes peculiar to and characteristic of the country. Cazuela is, strictly speaking, a national dish. It is a sort of soup, served as a first course at any meal, but more particularly for breakfast. It is made of mutton, “cordero,” or fowl, with various kinds of vegetables, all cooked together and served hot. It possesses the merit of including both meat and vegetable, solid and liquid food. In addition to being inexpensive, it is easily made and is very palatable. It is extremely popular with all classes of Chilenos and is a dish that foreigners invariably become fond of after once having tested its good qualities. A breakfast in Chile without cazuela would be considered a poor meal. “Puchero,” is another dish of which the Chilenos are fond, and which is usually served at dinner. It consists of meat boiled with a variety of vegetables, all being cooked dry, and served without liquid. “Empanadas,” a sort of meat pie, is also popular and peculiar to the country.

The zama cuaca is the national dance of Chile. It is danced by all classes, and is made clownish or genteel, coarse or refined, according to the different social grades of the participants. In no case can it be considered vulgar, and when properly danced it is graceful and attractive. It is danced in couples. The lady and gentleman each carry a handkerchief in the right hand, which they wave in front of their partner as they move about the room, keeping time to the lively and inspiring music of harps and guitars. The music of the instruments is usually accompanied with the hum of voices and the clapping of the hands of spectators. The dancers always face each other, except at certain intervals, when they turn suddenly around and then proceed as before. Whether in the parlor, in a despacho, a cancha de bola, or in the open, the zama cuaca is a national favorite, and the music will always arouse the interest and enthusiasm of everyone present. It is indulged in on all occasions where people congregate, day or night, and crowds frequently stop along the country roads to dance the cuaca.

At places where the country and village people congregate on feast days, “fondas,” enclosures prepared especially for dancing, are provided. The fonda is enclosed on three sides and is covered with branches of the arrayan, a flowering bush, which emits a strong, but pleasant odor. In front of the entrance is a “vara” for topear. Most of the people attending feast day demonstrations go on horseback, and there is always a mixed and miscellaneous mounted crowd in front of the fonda. Inside, seated upon benches, are men and women who divide their time between dancing and drinking. Those not engaged in the dance keep up a constant hand-clapping, timing their movements with the music. Sometimes during the dance, when a woman performs a special evolution that is thought to be very clever or unusually graceful, some man in the crowd, perceptibly affected with alcohol, calls out in a loud voice, “aro, aro.” At the sound of this magic word, which means drinks for all, the music and the hand-clapping cease and the dancers stop. Then the woman in charge of the fonda appears and passes to the man who called “aro,” a “potrillo” (a large glass tumbler) filled with chicha, or a mixture of aguardiente and milk. The man takes the brimming potrillo, approaches the dancers, and bowing profoundly, offers it to the lady. She appears shy, makes several courtesies, accepts the cup, takes a sip and returns it to the man. After the women dancers have been served, the cup is passed to the men engaged in the dance, and later to the spectators, all drinking from the same potrillo until it is finished. The man calling aro does the honors in passing the drink, and for anyone present to refuse would be considered an insult that would probably be resented.

A peculiar feature of the cuaca is the solemnity with which it is conducted. There is never a laugh or a joke, and seldom a smile. Levity on such occasions would be considered an indiscretion. The Chilenos take every phase of life lightly and indifferently, except their amusements, which are sacredly serious.

A peculiar custom in Chile is that of offering to a friend any article that he may desire. It is not proper, however, to accept the proffered gift. The would-be donor is given an opportunity to show his generosity, and at the same time made happy by having his offer declined.

There prevails in Chile a pretty custom in salutations, conversation and in summoning persons, in which the christian name is always used. It is practiced between members of families, friends, acquaintances, servants and masters. To strangers it conveys the idea of familiarity, but on the contrary it is the most polite formality. The christian name is always used in social, domestic and commercial intercourse where the parties are known to each other. When strangers are addressing each other it is always Señor, Señora or Señorita. Friends and even acquaintances are profuse in the use of personal and endearing terms. Another method of expressing pleasure when friends or relatives, either male or female, meet, is to embrace, each passing the right hand around and patting the other affectionately upon the back.

Politeness is one of the characteristics inherited by the Chilenos from their Spanish ancestors. Members of the same family, especially among the better classes, are kind and always considerate of each other’s feelings and wishes. Family quarrels and disputes are seldom indulged in, and never in the presence of strangers. Among the middle and poor classes, there are occasional rows, and sometimes encounters between members of the same family, but it is usually due to the influence of drink rather than their natural inclinations. It is a national custom for the right of correction and punishment to rest with parents, so long as they and their children live. A son never becomes too old to be chastised by his father or mother. He may have reached middle age, be the father of a large family, and even venerably gray, but if either of his parents sees fit to box his ears, or even to apply more vigorous methods of punishment for any dereliction of duty or for any offense, the chastisement is administered with impunity and is accepted without resentment.

It is the custom among uneducated country people in calculating their ages, to reckon time from some important event that has taken place in the country, such as the revolution, severe earthquake, or other notable occurrences. The great earthquake of 1851, is often used as a basis for calculating the ages of old people.

An aire is a muscular affliction of the face or neck, which may result from sitting or remaining in a draught when one is warm or perspiring. It is a common affliction in Chile, and to avoid the danger, not only the country people, but those living in cities and towns, are disposed to keep their rooms closed to the exclusion of fresh air, and to the great discomfort of the occupants.

Sometimes foreigners on arriving in Chile find the customs of the country unsatisfactory, according to their theories, and at once constitute themselves missionaries to “convert the natives,” as they put it. They proceeded to introduce ideas and methods that conform to their own standard of ideals. The result usually is the acquisition of an unsatisfactory lot of experience, without having affected any changes in the prevailing customs, or even made any impression upon those for whom the education was intended. The Chilenos are slow to accept innovations, and quick to resent the presumption of foreigners who attempt to engraft new ideas and customs upon the ways and traditions of their country.

RELIGION

The sanctity of the church is considered forbidden ground to all those who attempt to portray the life and customs of the people of any country. To criticise religious forms or customs is to incur the displeasure, arouse the combative spirit and the resentful nature of the communicants of the church under discussion. It means to bring down upon the head of the offending scribe the wrath of those who have found consolation in the church. Religious views and ideas, with prejudices deep rooted and strong, are generally inherited.

Believing that there is good in all churches, that the Christian religion is the foundation upon which the superstructure of good society and modern civilization is based, the writer wishes to preface his comments on the Church in Chile, with the statement that it is not the purpose to criticise the Christian religion, but to point out some of the peculiar, and what would seem to the disinterested observer, objectionable practices in the dominating church.

The Catholic religion has been so closely interwoven in the fabric of Chilean history that it forms a feature of every chapter in the Republic’s record. It is impossible to accurately describe the life and customs of the country, and at the same time omit so important an influence as that exercised by the church on the political and social life of Chile.

Article 4 of the constitution (1833), says: “La Religion de la República de Chile és la Católica Apostólica Romana, con exclusión del ejercicio publico de cualquiera otra.” (The religion of the Republic of Chile is the Roman Catholic Apostolic with the exclusion of the public exercise of whatever other.)

Under constitutional authority the public exercise of all religious worship, except the Catholic, was excluded from Chile until 1865, when the right was conceded to establish non-Catholic schools within private property, and to be supervised by a Catholic board. Later came another innovation in the civil register law.

In Chile the State sanctions, helps to support and maintain the Catholic church, and the church participates in politics and the affairs of state. Reaching out through its various ramifications the church extends its influence to the farthest limits of the country, both socially and politically. The union of Church and State is strong, and the day seems far distant when they will be divorced. Able and courageous men, individually and in party groups, have tried to loosen the hold Catholicism has on Chile, and have in some instances weakened its influence upon the body politic, but it is still powerful. President Balmaceda endeavored to separate Church and State, not by destroying the church, but by directing each in its legitimate channel. The result was defeat, revolution, disaster and death.

One of the Popes said concerning the Catholic church: “Its catholicity is its credentials to Divine origin and authority.” It is not the intention of the writer to challenge this statement, but the broad, liberal Catholic idea would seem to suggest that the influence of the church should be directed along lines laid down in the Divine Law, and not exerted in an effort to control political policies.

It is not the purpose to discuss here the individual merits of the clergy, but to consider it as a body politic, its influence for weal or woe with the people and upon the nation. It is a significant fact that every law on the statute books tending to secure greater liberty of action, freedom of thought and speech, has been opposed by the political element of the church. Such progressive measures as the civil register law, providing for a public record of births, deaths and marriages, and requiring civil marriage ceremonies; the establishment and maintenance of public and private schools, and the designation of non-Catholic cemeteries, where Protestants might receive burial, have received the opposition of the clergy.

To try to lift the veil and look into the private lives of the clergy would seem little less than sacrilege. It would reveal acts pure and noble, lives worthy of example and emulation, and it would also show startling and shocking scenes enacted in the name of religion. There are those who are sacrificing their lives in the cause of the Master, others living vicious and licentious lives under the cloak of Christianity. The illiteracy and superstition of the people give to the unworthy and insincere opportunities to practice deception and imposition. Upon the other hand, these same conditions afford an ample field and unlimited opportunities for good, with those who are conscientious and possess the true Christian spirit.

There are more than ten thousand monks of different orders in Chile. During the summer months they go about the country in pairs or in trios, holding mission services, which they conduct without price or reference to money. The expenses of these itinerant clergymen are paid from the funds of the order they represent. They do much good in the way of instructing the poor country and village people in the rudiments of civilized life, cleanliness, and how to rear their children. These mission services usually continue for a week or ten days in one place, during which time many of the women and children of the community remain about the church, sleeping upon the ground at night. These mission fathers in no way clash with the regular priests, everything being understood and prearranged. Medallions and colored prints of their patron saints are freely distributed, and never fail to create a pleasing effect upon the women and children. The children are gathered into classes and turned over to the more intelligent of the women of the church, who teach them the catechism, and to sing the chants. If the children appear indifferent, or especially stupid in these first instructions and church discipline, their minds are brightened and their memories sharpened by whacks with a stick in the hands of the monks. But alas, these poor children only memorize the printed prayers, no explanations of their true meaning being made, and so through life they go on repeating prayers without knowing the significance of the words. Not infrequently this smattering of an education, gained through the mission teachings of the traveling monks, is all that many of them receive. It is through these methods of early instruction that the prolific growth of superstition prevalent in Chile is cultivated and kept alive. Children are taught that the several saints on the calendar, the anniversary of each of which is celebrated with a religious feast, are all powerful, and that the good offices of the saints can be secured through the intermediary of the priests.

FEAST DAYS.

The chief national feast in Chile is September 18th, the anniversary of the independence of the Republic, known as “El Diez y ocho.” There are, however, numerous other anniversary celebrations, commemorating victorious battles and historic events, which are observed with much demonstration in the cities and thickly populated districts. All other holidays, of which there are something like seventy in the year, are called religious festivals. Every saint has his or her feast day, known as church feasts, except the patron saint of the local church, in which event the festival lasts for a week or more.

Ordinary feasts are held at private houses. The adobe walls of the room selected for the service are covered with paper, and an improvised altar arranged by placing lighted candles upon a table. Upon the wall above the table is hung a colored print of the particular saint whose anniversary is being celebrated. Those taking part in the services are usually seated around the room upon stones or blocks of wood, and if such seats are not available they squat upon the dirt floor, the crowd frequently extending into the open in front of the house. There are harpists, guitar players and singers. The feast, which is held after the service, consists of boiled beans mixed with hulled corn, and as extra, boiled dried peaches mixed with flour or toasted wheat. After the food has been served someone in the crowd gives a “chaucha” (twenty cents), to one of the players and music is rendered in praise of the donor. Someone then buys wine or chicha and the health of the saint is drunk. When the singers have rendered what they consider the value of the donation, another person contributes, and by this means the music is kept up. Liquor is passed and repassed until the supply is exhausted, and the festival continues until the candles are burned out and the crowd lapses into a state of innocuous desuetude, to sleep off the effects of the debauch.

Religious ceremonies and feast day demonstrations are events of much general interest to the country people. Easter on a farm brings about the annual festival of “Correr á Cristo” (running to Christ). A mounted procession with waving flags and banners, and weird shouting, makes a tour of the farm, and the day is given over to a saturnalia of noise. Sometimes the procession will stop by the roadside, or in the garden in front of the farmhouse to hear mass, or long enough for those in attendance to receive the blessings of the priests. The procession is usually headed by a cart draped with palms and decorated with flowers.

PROCESSION OF THE PELICAN.

One of the peculiar religious festivals of the country is “La Procesión del Pelicano” (procession of the pelican), a passion play held annually at Quillota, one of the first communities established by the Spaniards in Chile. To the old city in the valley of the Aconcagua, there is an annual pilgrimage of thousands of devout Catholics, and others attracted by curiosity, to witness the strange procession.

The Procession of the Pelican has no mythological origin or significance, as is generally supposed, but derives its name from the colossal bird, which has figured in the demonstration for more than a century. The Cathedral of Quillota was built by the Bishop of Romero, in the beginning of the eighteenth century. By the influence of the Bishop the ladies of the community formed the society of the “Santo Sepulcro” (Holy Sepulchre), and by collecting alms raised the funds for this traditional procession. The annual arrangement was always placed in charge of one of the ladies of the society, and as only those from the first families were selected it was considered a great honor.

About the year 1776, Doña Amilia Alverez de Araya, whose family founded the original town of Quillota, was selected to direct the demonstration. Previous to that time the Santo Sepulcro, on which the figure representing the body of Christ was placed, on being lowered from the cross, was a common wooden box. With the help of a San Franciscan monk, who was a good joiner, Doña Amilia planned the receptacle since used, which represents a swan with wings extended. The huge image, constructed of wood, represents the bird with arched neck, picking at its breast upon which there is a bright red spot, in imitation of a blood stain.

On Good Friday a cross is erected in the Plaza, on a miniature mount, covered with green. During the day it is guarded by huasos, dressed to represent the Jews. Previous to the procession a man is placed upon the cross in imitation of the Crucifixion. In the evening the Cura, standing upon the steps of the cathedral, preaches a sermon on the “Passion of Our Lord,” after which the procession is formed. The “andas” (floats), carried upon the shoulders of men, represent scenes in the life of the Savior, such as “Christ Before Pilate,” “Christ Carrying the Cross,” “The Virgin Surrounded by Angels,” etc. The feature of the procession is the Pelican, which is borne by twelve men. The procession marches from the cathedral to the mount, and the body of the man representing Christ is lowered from the cross and placed in the Holy Sepulchre, the Pelican. During the procession the wings of the Pelican, which are covered with mirrors, open and shut mechanically, adding a spectacular feature to the scene. After marching around the Plaza, and through the principal streets the procession returns to the cathedral, and the Pelican is placed back of the altar where it remains until the recurrence of Good Friday, when it is again brought into service in “La Procesión del Pelicano.”

The hotels in the provincial town are inadequate to accommodate the people who journey annually to Quillota to witness the strange scenes presented in the procession of the Pelican, and when the ceremony is concluded there is an undignified rush for trains. The crowd, that stands quietly with bared heads during the passion play, resolves itself into a mob, each individual scrambling and fighting for the most advantageous position at the railway station. Those who cannot secure accommodation in the trains must spend the night in the streets, and following “La Procesión del Pelicano” the usual quiet of Quillota is turned into a drunken rabble. The police are unable to control the crowd, and the scene of religious fervor and devout Christian spirit shown by the multitude during the procession representing Christ crucified, is changed to a bacchanalian carousal. The event brings out the peculiarities of the Chilean character. One hour they are intoxicated with religious excitement and the next on aguardiente, entering as enthusiastically into the spirit of one condition as the other, with never a thought, apparently, of the inconsistency of their actions.

FEAST OF THE PATRON SAINT.

The celebration of the anniversary of the patron saint of the parish church is an important event. The little vice-parroquia (district church), where the annual feast is held, is generally whitewashed, and has a tile roof, blue doors, and yellow painted windows, and is topped by a square belfry tower. It is usually situated upon a slight elevation from which the ground slopes down to a nearby country road. The only relief to the monotony of the dreary surroundings is a few flowering shade trees. About the time the “novena” is concluded, carts begin to arrive and form in line along the roadside. As the crowd augments the scene resolves itself into one of animation and activity. People are constructing out of tree boughs, places of temporary residence, in which they sleep and where they conduct a small business during the festival. Women are engaged in bringing in firewood and jugs of water, which they carry on their heads. Oxen are unhitched from carts and driven home, as the feast lasts many days. Often as many as fifty carts, covered with canvas, branches of trees or skins are arranged side by side in close proximity. They serve as places of shelter for the owners, who remain throughout the feast. Each cart is supplied with a barrel of chicha, wine and aguardiente, and also with fowls and vegetables, from which is made cazuela, to supply the hungry crowd.

During all the day before, and up to the hour of the feast, which begins at midnight, active preparations for the event continue. People are arriving from every direction, those from a distance on horseback, and those from the neighborhood on foot, each carrying a quantity of supplies to eat or drink, and each expecting to do a little business on the morrow, and succeeding days, in the way of catering to the appetite or thirst of the mixed multitude. Some are ladened with skin bags filled with wine or chicha, others carry earthen pots or baskets containing such articles as they may have to dispose of. Fires are blazing, pots are boiling, and the scene along the roadside resembles a miniature military camp, with active preparations for the customary meal of soup and beans going forward.

Later the crowd is divided into groups, squatting upon the ground and eating from black earthen dishes. There is a tapping of barrels, uncorking of skin bags and earthen jugs, in which the supplies of liquor are stored. Small groups of gentlemen, or families, possessing a little more money than the average persons present, are seated at home-made tables, which are covered with coarse sacking. All are merry, and apparently happy to renew acquaintances, many of which have been neglected since the last feast of our lady of mercy, Santa Mercedes, the patroness saint of the little church where the feast is being held.

The parish priest has not yet arrived from his parochial residence, hence the feast has not formally begun. A murmur along the line of feasters announces the approach of the cura, the church bells peal joyously, and the crowd files into the little church, where lighted tapers and gilt images add a spectacular effect to the scene. The priest preaches a pleasing sermon, for the purpose of conciliating his congregation, which has not yet made its offering to the virgin. At the conclusion of the service the people give to the priest such money as they think they can afford to contribute, or that which has been entrusted to them by others who could not attend. They have come from every section of the surrounding country, some from great distances, who wish to show their gratitude to this particular saint, for favors they may have received, or may desire to receive in the future. The priest is not made aware of the object of the donations. The donors place their faith implicitly in the saints, believing that they will execute the bequests. These poor contributors for the most part have nothing to do with the particular church where the offering is made. As an example, in case of serious illness or threatened calamity in a family, the friends or relatives, as the case may be, make a vow that if spared the impending trouble, they will give a certain amount to a certain saint for a given number of years. These promises are usually redeemed, and the obligation is discharged at the particular church patronized by the saint to whom the promise is made. Many individual instances might be cited to illustrate the fidelity with which these people make offerings to the saints.

The day following the midnight services is “La Mercedes,” and the early morning shows hundreds of additional votaries en route to the church. After the morning mass the image of the virgin Mercedes, bedecked with flowers, is removed from the church altar, and carried at the head of a procession that marches about the church. The priest, leading the procession, and reciting prayers, is showered with flowers. After this parade the image is again placed upon the altar, there to remain until the following year, September 8th, which is the date of the anniversary of Mercedes. The priest then goes his way and the real fiesta, for which a majority of those present have come, that of eating, drinking, dancing and carousing uninterruptedly for several days, begins. The scene about the church presents some features peculiarly novel and picturesque. The hundreds of people dressed in the costumes of the country, in which bright colors predominate, dozens of clumsy bullock carts, and hundreds of horses huddled together in the church grounds, where they remain for days without being unsaddled, and in many instances without food or water, are some of the features of this feast day picture. There are improvised dance halls, bowling alleys, and every cart and temporary hut is turned into a shop where is dispensed such articles as those in possession may have to offer. At each place where liquors are dispensed there is singing, dancing and music of guitars. Everyone seems to have something to sell, and money with which to buy. Having made their contributions to our lady of mercy, they pursue the god Bacchus with enthusiasm and reckless indulgence. Good fellowship prevails, drinks encourage generosity and the feast goes merrily on.

This festival falls upon a date that marks the approach of spring in Chile. The espino is in bloom, and the odor of the yellow blossoms of that repellant, thorny bush, which grows abundantly throughout the country, fills the air with sweet perfume; birds in the mating season are revelling in the first green of the trees and the bloom of wild flowers. Under clumps of blossoming trees women are cooking cakes and vending sweets, while señoritas send winning glances at young men who, too often under the influence of liquor, are easy preys to the arrows of cupid. The feast continues to increase in interest and enthusiasm for three or four days, continuing night and day, when it reaches the climax, after which from loss of sleep and deficiency of drink, the tide begins to recede, and the crowd to decrease. At the end of the sixth or eighth day, at the farthest, the last of the crowd disperses, leaving only the trodden grass and the blackened remains of camp fires as evidences of the greatest and merriest local frolic of the year.

SUPERSTITIONS

In Chile there are large tracts of sparsely populated territory where there are neither doctors nor drug stores, and in such communities it is necessary in case of illness for the people to resort to home remedies. In these rural communities there are many old women who assume the rôle of doctresses, calling themselves “Medicas.” They are absolutely ignorant of medicine or its effect upon the human system, yet with their odd preparations of herbs they sometimes effect cures within a very short time. However, it is said that they more frequently kill than cure the persons they treat. Should the patient live for several days under the treatment of the Medica, and then die, nothing is said by the friends of the deceased, but should the victim succumb with the first dose the doctress is asked to change her residence at once.

“Brujeria,” or witchcraft, is common among the women in the lower classes in Chile, many of whom claim to be “brujas,” or sorceresses. The women profess to be able to inflict strange and wonderful punishment upon their enemies, or persons who refuse to accede to their demands. The most common delusion of these superstitious people, especially the women, is the power of the “brujas” to place reptiles or insects in their stomachs. Frequently when one becomes ill or distressed with a pain, she is possessed with the idea that she has been bewitched, declaring that she has a frog, a toad, a snake, spider, or other object in her stomach, placed there by a sorceress. These poor women believe that they cannot recover from an illness of this sort until they have made peace with the person having bewitched them, which means the giving of money or its equivalent in presents. It is a sort of faith cure, and any other treatment seems useless, as it will not dispel the delusion. The man or woman with dropsy or other affliction will almost invariably attribute the malady to an evil sorceress. These superstitions even extend to matters of business and chance with the country people. The methods employed by these witches are curious and ridiculous. Many claim, and the claims are accepted as true, to be able by slipping into the presence of an enemy and burning a certain kind of herb or vegetable, to place the person in their power. In some cases persons so bewitched assume a form of madness, which unfits them for service, and sometimes makes them dangerous. Many of these people claim to cure disease by prayer.

There are few diseases among the ignorant country people attributed to legitimate causes. They are believed to be due to the influence of witches; to be ill from any cause is to be bewitched. It is one of the many superstitions inherited from Indian ancestors, and is deep rooted in the minds of the people.

To predict the elimination or uprooting of these primitive customs would be hazardous, as they are countenanced, fostered in the minds of the people and encouraged by the priests. They preach and teach the supernatural, and in the rural districts the clergy sell “santitos” (small images representing saints), and medallions that are alleged to have been consecrated by them, as cures and preventatives for all kinds of diseases and maladies. Sometimes when a liberal donation has been made to the church, the donor is given one of these consecrated objects, which is highly prized, and the curative powers of which are never doubted by the possessor. Although the laws of the Catholic church prohibit its members from eating meat on Fridays, the priests sell privileges, called “bulas,” which permit purchasers to eat whatever kind of food they like on that day. A very poor person can secure a bula for fifty centavos, while a well-to-do member will pay according to his ability, and very rich people in Valparaiso and Santiago have paid as much as one thousand pesos for the privilege of violating a fundamental law of the church. With the encouragement of such beliefs and practices by those who are accepted as teachers and who should stand as exemplars of moral and intellectual progress, it is little wonder that the masses among the poor and ignorant cling tenaciously to customs that seem obsolete in this age of enlightened progress.

Superstitions are generally prevalent among the better classes also, particularly those engaged in agricultural pursuits. It is believed that sowing, reaping, planting, wood cutting, grafting or pruning trees, storing of crops, etc., should be done during the last quarter of the moon. Seed planted during the new moon will not grow, crops harvested will be damaged, trees pruned will die, etc. The weather for the following month is always judged by the Indian sign indicated in the position of the new moon on its first appearance.

A curious superstitious custom in Chile is the manner of marking the place where a person has been killed by accident or murdered. Along the country roads one frequently comes upon a crude sort of altar by the roadside, which marks the last resting place of some victim of violence. It may consist of a little enclosure made of rough boards and covered with the same material, in which lighted tapers are kept burning practically all the time. In each of these places there is a small box for the reception of coins, and many passers-by add small contributions to the collection, and when the candles have burned out, the money in the receptacle is used to purchase more. A strange feature of this practice is that no sneak thief, of which there are many in every community, will ever rob one of these houses of the dead. He has a superstitious belief that the money is sacred, and that the one who steals it will be cursed.

The cry of the “chuncho,” a sort of night owl, is regarded as an evil omen by all classes. People who are otherwise apparently sane on hearing the cry of this bird in the night indulge in actions indicative of a peculiar form of madness. If in bed they leap out, get down upon their knees, cross themselves, pray, beat their chests and appeal to God to save them from impending calamity. The origin or significance of this particular superstition has never been satisfactorily explained.

One of the superstitious customs that still prevails, and which is practiced on religious feast days, especially that of San Juan, is fortune telling. Matrimonial fortunes are told with three potatoes, one of which is peeled, from one, half the peeling is removed, and one is left in its natural state. These potatoes are placed in a dark room, and the woman seeking her fortune is directed to go into the room, and to take the first potato with which her hand comes in contact. If it is the peeled potato, she is to marry a poor man; should it be the half-peeled tuber, she will marry a man who can clothe and support her, and should she be lucky enough to secure the unpeeled potato, she is destined to marry a man who can keep her in comfort and plenty. So firm is the faith of many of the people in the fulfillment of these superstitious prophecies that they invariably preserve the potatoes thus drawn, to be eaten on their wedding day. Another superstition among the country women is that of washing their hair at daylight on the morning of the feast of San Juan. They believe that the practice will cause the hair to grow luxuriantly during the year.

MARRIAGES

In Chile marriage is simply a contract, entered into between two persons of opposite sex, regarding exclusive possession, society and service, and who by a civil, legal ceremony are pronounced husband and wife. The contract does not by implication, or actually, necessarily include protection or affection. This does not refer to marriages among the better classes, where money, social position or advantage are taken into consideration, but the poor, or middle classes, with whom marriage is a matter of convenience. With these people fidelity is not expected or demanded. The women have little to claim their attention, beyond domestic duties and personal adornment. Inherited characteristics and the influence of environments make them an easy prey to flattery, in the dispensing of which the Chilenos are artful and crafty. Evil motives, wrapped in delusive words, suggesting no interpretation of their true meaning, are the common weapons used by the men to ensnare trusting hearts guided by uneducated minds. Manly protection to woman is so rare in the sub-stratum of Chilean society as to be almost unknown.

Twenty-five years of age constitutes a legal majority for both sexes, after which marriage may be contracted at the pleasure of the interested parties. A boy of twelve or a girl of fourteen years may legally marry with the consent of parents or guardian. Once married the law declares them of legal age.

Previous to the year 1885, marriage ceremonies were celebrated only in the Catholic churches, which was recognized by the government as legal. After a prolonged and bitter discussion, a law was passed on January 10, 1884, requiring a civil registry of all births, deaths and marriages, and which deprived the church of the right to legalize marriages. This act, which went into effect January 1, 1885, recognizes as legal only marriages solemnized by the “Oficial del Registro Civil,” residing in the same municipality or sub-delegation as the contracting parties. The ceremony must be witnessed by two or more persons. Although a marriage ceremony performed by the priests has no legal import or effect, women of the Catholic faith always demand it, and most legal weddings are celebrated by two ceremonies. Even yet in some instances the civil, or legal service is disregarded, and only the church ceremony performed. Such marriages are not recognized in the courts, however, and in case of inheritance by the children born of such a union, they are barred from sharing in property rights.

There was much conflict and contention between Church and State during the first few years of the civil registry law. The priests preached violently against it, directing their efforts principally to the female members, who are the loyal supporters of all church organizations, and with whom they made the law offensive and objectionable, by refusing in many instances confession and absolution to all those who were married according to the civil law only. They were given the ultimatum of defying the law of the land and accepting a church marriage ceremony as binding, or excommunication. The result of these church teachings was, that for several years after the law went into effect most Catholics, and especially those representing the aristocracy, were married by the church only, not realizing, apparently, the complications that would result from such defiance of law, until their children were declared illegitimate by the courts. This created a dilemma, and a serious effort was made to legalize their marriages and legitimatize their children by a repeal or modification of the law, but without success. In the meantime the more radical members of the clergy declared that it were better to live together as husband and wife under sanction of the divine order, than to resort to civil marriage. As a compromise members of the Catholic church are now married before the “Registro Civil,” and afterwards in the Catholic church. But even now, in the rural districts of Chile, many people are married by the church only.

The party constituting the Liberal-Alliance, which was in power, and organized the ministry at the sitting of the Ordinary Session of the National Congress in June, 1904, in outlining a programme for the party, declared itself in favor of a law that would prohibit the church from celebrating marriages, without the presentation of a certificate attesting the fact that the marriage had been previously celebrated before a Civil Registrar. The Conservative party in Congress announced through its leaders its intention to vigorously oppose the measure, showing that there is still a political element in Chile in favor of empowering the church with authority to legalize marriages.

In discussing this phase of social life, reference is made to the common people of the country, and not to the rich and educated few, where wealth, family connections, or social position may enter into and influence the question of matrimonial alliances, and among whom wedding ceremonies are conducted much as they are in other civilized countries.

Courtship is short; there are no long years of waiting. Once the question is decided the matter is consummated and all doubts as to congeniality or advisability are left for future consideration. The custom of courtship is the same as that prevailing in other Spanish-American countries. It consists more in impassioned glances, smiles and actions on the part of the participants to attract each other than in conversation or a discussion of mutual interests. Sometimes the proposition is made and accepted after the first meeting, and not infrequently it is arranged by the families of the interested parties. Whether the majority of marriages in Chile are contracted from motives of affection, passion, or material interests is difficult to determine. There would seem to be little love in the motive that inspires, for among the poorer classes the object appears to be mutual care, service and protection. During religious festivals, where men and women are brought into close relationship and intimate association, under the influence of liquor, marriages are generally arranged, proposals accepted, and bans simultaneously published by the contracting parties and the priests. Their past lives have been more or less the same and there are no sacrifices on the part of either. There is no demonstration to make the event conspicuous; what to expect and how to meet it are conditions well known to both. There is no foolish sentiment exhibited. The wedding is consummated and celebrated because it is mutually convenient. Their standards of honor, honesty, fidelity and veracity are about equal. Should either of the contracting parties hesitate or refuse to comply with the agreement, he or she, as the case may be, is accused before the priest of the parish church, who commands the delinquent to respond, and the marriage is celebrated at once. Protests are in vain, the marriage contract once having been announced, like the sentence in court, must be carried out, under ecclesiastical authority. Illegitimacy among the poor of Chile is no disgrace, and is not a bar, or even a disadvantage when it comes to the question of marriage. Children born to women previous to marriage are treated by the husband upon terms of equality with those of the legal union. An examination of the baptismal record of the churches in the country districts will reveal the fact that a large per cent. of the children are inscribed as “El padre desconocido” (the father is unknown).

Be it said to the credit of the women in the sub-stratum, as well as in the upper-crust of Chilean society, that, as a rule, they respect their marriage vows. With the men it is the rare exception instead of the rule. After marriage, people of the common class resume their accustomed life and habits, living as a rule under the paternal or maternal roof of one or the other. The man is not necessarily expected to contribute to the support of his wife, the custom being for that member of the family to provide maintenance for the pair, and invariably to support herself. They seem to enjoy a careless, bohemian sort of contentment that meets the requirements of their simple lives. Little is expected, each seems entirely satisfied with the acts of the other and the stream of domestic harmony runs on uninterruptedly. Such is life among these simple folk, who mate as do the birds, and with whom mutual interests, simplicity and natural instincts are the controlling influences in matrimonial alliances.

An inventory of all property possessed by each of the contracting parties at the date of the wedding is carefully taken. It may be a horse, a cow, pig, fowls, a bed, or other articles. This property does not enter into the marriage contract and become a part of the common fund. On the wedding day the bride and groom are accompanied to the church by friends and neighbors, usually on horseback. There is singing and music of guitars, firing of shooting crackers and guns and other demonstrations. There is frequent drinking to the health of the couple, with “viva los novios.” Anyone who desires may participate in the wedding feast, as all refreshments are disposed of at a price. The profits on the feast are given to the bride as a wedding gift. These celebrations sometimes last three or four days and nights, with drinking, singing and dancing. Among the middle classes wedding ceremonies are the same, except that invitations are not quite so general. And among the more prosperous of the middle classes, the refreshments served at the wedding feasts are free.

A married woman never goes by the name of her husband. If Señorita Carmen Valenzuela is married to Don Jacinto Nuñez, she is afterwards Señora Carmen Valenzuela de N; if she becomes a widow she retains the foregoing name with the addition of the letter V before the de N, meaning widow of Nuñez.

BIRTHS AND DEATHS

Births and deaths do not constitute an attractive subject, but a description of country life in Chile would be incomplete without some mention of the entrance into the world and the exit of the people whose customs and characteristics are under discussion.

BIRTHS.

The advent of an atom of humanity into the world in Chile, is not considered an event of sufficient importance to cause any disturbance of the current of affairs that flows on with customary indifference. The fact is accepted and recorded, but there is neither expression of regret nor rejoicing. The parents seem to regard the circumstance from a purely economic point of view, and not one to be invested with sentiment or feeling. It means another member of the family to feed and clothe, and another pair of hands that in time may serve, and contribute something to the scanty household supplies. The poor country women have no medical attention in childbirth, and in most instances they lack the attention and necessary provisions to protect the life of mother and child. They rarely go to bed, but wrapped in a heavy manta, sit on the floor or ground, as the case may be, for a few days, near a fire kept burning in a “bracero.” The only medicine they take is a little burnt sugar in hot water, seasoned with aromatic leaves. In a few days they resume their domestic duties, and life flows on in the even current of its way, the addition to the family being regarded as inconsequential.

The children of the poor are inured to hardship from the time of birth. In infancy they are wrapped up like little mummies, receiving little maternal attention, usually being committed to the care of older children, when there are such in the family. When old enough to walk, they are permitted to run where they please, characterized chiefly by the scanty clothing they wear, and inattention they receive. These neglected infants rarely cry or complain, learning early in life that such demonstrations of dissatisfaction with their lot avails nothing. The mothers of these children are not cruel or inhuman in the treatment of their offspring, except from neglect and lack of care through ignorance.

DEATHS.

Away from the cities, where pride or custom holds sway, a death is little more than a signal for a crowd to assemble at the home of the deceased for a drunken spree. In case of death the interest and sympathy manifested by friends and neighbors depends upon the amount of money forthcoming for the purchase of chicha. Should there be liberal provisions for this important feature of the funeral service a large attendance is assured. Should the death be that of a baby it is generally understood that there is to be a grand feast. The dead infant, robed in white and bedecked with flowers, is placed in a sitting position upon an improvised altar, where, surrounded with burning candles it remains for twenty-four hours. During this time there is much drinking and singing by those who assemble to mourn the death of the child. Usually on the day following the death, the body is wrapped in a cloth and placed in a candle or soap box, which serves as a coffin, and carried to the cemetery. The procession is accompanied by women who sing, and add to their vocal efforts the music of guitars. The crowd often stops en route to the cemetery to drink and indulge in demonstrations. Women never accompany the funeral procession of an adult.

There are never any preparations in advance for a burial, and the interment is made in the crudest possible manner. The pall-bearers carry with them a crowbar and shovel, and the corpse waits while the grave is being prepared after arrival at the cemetery. Graves are dug anywhere those preparing them may choose, not infrequently in the same place where other burials have been made, and if human bones are encountered in the excavation they are thrown aside as so many stones. After the corpse is laid to rest, perhaps to the great disturbance of another previously buried in the same spot, the crowd departs to some place where more liquor can be secured, and where the final celebration of the event takes place.

Should a poor man die, leaving no money with which to provide the customary drinks at his funeral, and having no friends who will perform that very necessary service for him, the manner of his burial is something like that accorded to animals. The method of conveying the bodies of these unfortunates to their last resting place, in many instances is not unlike that of taking a sack of potatoes to market. The corpse is tied upon the back of a mule, and with head nodding, hands and feet waving in the air, as if in mute protest against the custom of administering the last rites of the poor, they are conveyed to the cemetery by someone to whom the disagreeable duty is delegated. A hole large enough to receive the body is dug in some obscure corner of the cemetery, and without a coffin, without ceremony or service of any kind, the unfortunate is committed to earth, which receives him back to its bosom, as it does all those who inhabit it for a brief period.

Without plan, ornament, or official keepers, the cemeteries of rural Chile present an unattractive prospect, and a scene of dreary desolation. Usually they are nothing more than enclosed plots of ground, neglected and overrun with weeds and brambles, without markings to indicate the location of individual graves. There is little reverence for those who journey to those dreary spots for the last time.

In the many sharp contrasts presented in the lives of the different classes in Chile, none are more striking than that shown in the disposition of the dead, and in the ceremonies attendant upon funerals. In the cities, where the rich and cultured bury their dead, the cemeteries are beautifully kept, and adorned with flowers and shrubbery, and magnificent tombs and monuments mark the last resting places of wealth and respectability. Elaborate, solemn and impressive services are held at the home of the deceased, or in church, the body is borne to the grave in a funeral car, while extra coaches and hearses are employed in carrying the floral offerings and decorations provided by the family and friends.

The civil register law conferred great benefits upon the poor, in the matter of births and deaths. Previous to that there was no record of births, except in the church records, made by the priests when they found it agreeable and convenient. Then, as now, a large per cent. of the children born were illegitimate, and if the parents did not want the birth inscribed in the record, it was conveniently omitted. Then there was no law to compel those in charge of the cemeteries to issue burial permits, and usually the priests demanded a fee before permission was given to bury the Catholic dead in the consecrated grounds, while non-Catholics were denied the right of burial in the cemeteries on any terms.

Fortunately the civil law makes the registration of births, deaths and burials free and compulsory. In every municipal district there is a civil registrar, whose business it is to keep these records, and to issue burial permits. Private burials are prohibited by law.

SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

There is no compulsory educational law in Chile. Several attempts have been made to secure the passage of such a measure, but without success. The failure to secure such an enactment may be attributed to the indifference of the majority of the citizens of the Republic, who take little or no interest in the question of providing better facilities for educating the youth of the country.

Primary instruction is provided by the government, which maintains two kinds of schools in this class, elementary and superior. In the elementary, the alphabet, reading, writing, gymnastics, singing, and the first rules of arithmetic, geography and grammar are taught. In the superior, in addition to the branches taught in the primary grades, instructions are given in manual training, physical and natural science, and other general studies, which prepare the pupils for entrance into the secondary colleges, “liceos,” and other higher educational institutions. The number of pupils in attendance at these schools is about one hundred thousand.

Teachers in the primary grades, masculine and feminine, are prepared in five normal schools, located in different parts of the country. When they have finished their studies and passed their examinations, they receive the title of “Professor” from the State as evidence of their qualification for teaching. Primary teachers receive a salary of 1,200 pesos per year. After ten years’ service they are entitled to a pension from the government, and after thirty years they can retire on full pay.

UNIVERSITY OF CHILE.

Previous to the formation of the Republic, the only institutions in Chile possessing facilities for instruction in the sciences and higher branches of education were the monasteries, the school at San Filipe being recognized as a national university. But the monastic education was not in harmony with the modern republican ideas of the progressive Chilenos, and the San Filipe institution was abolished by official decree in 1839, and in its place there was established a group of schools under the name of the University of Chile. The new institution which was formally opened in 1842, marked an era in the educational system of the country. The original building, in Santiago, fronting on the broad Alameda, with its rows of trees and wide park-way, adorned with statues of national heroes, is a fine architectural creation of the Spanish style, with interior patios and galleries. The University, which has an annual attendance of from 1,500 to 2,000 students has special and well equipped departments of Philosophy and Letters, Law and Political Science, Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Engineering, Architecture, Pedagogy and a Normal school.

The State also maintains schools of secondary and superior instruction, the latter being under the direction of the University, which maintains thirty-six different colleges in the Republic, and gives courses in practical and special branches, and also industrial training. In the first six years of the course in these colleges the pupils are instructed in branches designated in the program prepared by the Council of Instruction, a corporation whose members are appointed by the government, and which is required to hold weekly sessions.

The course of instruction in the secondary institutions consists of the following, worked out according to the German concentric system: Physical and natural science, mathematics, Spanish, French, German and English languages, drawing, geography, history, gymnastics and singing. The pupils who pass the general and final examinations satisfactorily, receive the degree of Bachelor of Arts, which admits them to the superior courses of Law, Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture, etc., in the University.

All this instruction is provided by the State, free of expense, except 250 pesos per year which the pupil is required to pay for board. The government has secured a competent corps of teachers and instructors for the secondary colleges and the University, the majority of them coming from Germany and Belgium under contract. Their pay is about 6,000 pesos, equal to $2,000 United States currency, annually.

Chile also maintains a number of Industrial and Commercial schools. Among these special institutions are four Commercial and Industrial, three Agricultural, three Mining, and two professional schools for women, an Art Institute and a school of Fishery. The pupils attending these institutions are trained in the various professions and industries taught in the respective schools. This part of the system of public instruction, especially in the establishments in which the poorer classes receive their education, is very deficient. But this particular branch is now receiving the attention of the government authorities, and there is a prospect of decided improvement in the standard of these schools. One of the defects of these liceos is the fact that the number of pupils in each is so great that it is impossible for the masters to hear all the recitations of each pupil, or to give them individual attention in their studies.

In addition to the public schools and higher educational institutions maintained by the State, there are many private schools and colleges, which offer fairly good facilities for general and special educational training. The Catholic church provides many schools that are well equipped for primary education.

A weak feature of the educational system of Chile, which possesses many excellent and commendable qualities, is the fact that the State schools are crowded with pupils from the wealthy families, to the neglect and exclusion of the children of the poor. The result is the education of a class in which the majority are ambitious to engage in the professions, rather than in the trades, agricultural and commercial life.

What Chile needs for the development of her varied and rich resources is engineers, mechanics, and men trained in agricultural and commercial pursuits, instead of musicians, artists, professors and politicians, for whom the government is expected to provide employment.

The fact that over sixty per cent. of the population is illiterate is due to various causes. The Chilean Roto is without ambition for himself or his family, and until education is made compulsory he will not attempt to lift his children above the low intellectual level in which he and his ancestors for generations have been content to live. He has yet to learn the importance to himself, to the State and society, of education, and mental training. Another drawback to primary education in the rural districts is the geographical and climatic conditions of the country. In many places the territory is sparsely settled and schoolhouses far apart. The country is mountainous, and in the winter season streams become raging torrents from the excessive rains, making journeys across country impossible for children of school age.

LANGUAGE

Spanish is the language of Chile, as it is of all South American countries, except Brazil, but in Chile it has taken on idioms until it differs in many particulars from the pure Castilian. Like all Latin languages it lends itself to elaborate speech, pleasing compliment, plentiful platitude, vague and uncertain meaning and is a charming means for the exchange of polite pleasantries. It possesses qualities that commend it especially for diplomatic usage, as the ordinary sentence, written or verbally expressed, can be construed to mean one thing or another to suit the desire or convenience of the person giving it utterance. These qualities, however, render it unsatisfactory as a commercial language, which should be direct and definite in meaning.

Perhaps no other language is so easily acquired by foreigners, and none is more beautiful and attractive when correctly spoken and properly enunciated than Spanish. There are no silent letters, and each word is pronounced as it is spelled. The verbs are irregular, but once the rules of grammar are learned, it is a matter of comparative ease to acquire facility of speech.

The Chilenos, like all Spanish speaking people, emphasize all verbal expressions with elaborate gestures. Their gesticulations are graceful, and instead of being objectionable, are attractive. They are born orators, and the average Chileno can deliver a most effective speech on any and all occasions, on short notice or with small provocation. Even small boys will harangue a crowd with well-chosen words formed into beautiful sentences, and delivered with splendid oratorical effect. This is true in the larger sense also, and the speeches delivered on public occasions, and in the legislative halls are as a rule excellent examples of the art of oratory. The meaning is often vague, and the language ambiguous, but the diction good. A speech delivered in Spanish in a well modulated voice, emphasized with sweeping and graceful gestures, is both pleasing and dramatic in effect.

In Valparaiso, the principal port and commercial city in the Republic, English is more generally used in the transaction of business than any other language, Spanish not excepted.

COURTS AND LEGAL PROCEDURE

In the formation of the Republic of Chile, the system of law courts and legal procedure was patterned after that prevailing in Spain, and included all of its antique, slow and cumbersome processes. The Spanish law was modeled after the Roman code, and the custom of the race to cling tenaciously to precedent, seldom accepting innovation or change in any practice once established, even to meet the exigencies of changed conditions, manifested itself in the administration of law in Spain. So, Chile inherited and adopted the system with all its crudities, slow processes and impracticable features. The Roman law was improved and amplified to meet new conditions and requirements, and Spain made changes in her laws, but Chile continues under the old and obsolete system copied from the mother country.

The courts, with their respective jurisdiction, are as follows:

FIRST.

Juzgado del Distrito (District Judges). This court, first in the order, has jurisdiction in civil cases up to an amount equal to fifty pesos. The procedure is verbal, but the result, which is delivered orally must be put in writing, as a record. All judgments must be in writing. No criminal cases are tried before these courts. There is no appeal in cases where the amount involved does not exceed twenty pesos. The judges receive no salary.

SECOND.

Jueces de Subdelegacion (Substitute Judges). The procedure in this court is practically the same as in the first mentioned, except that the amounts involved in cases tried therein, range from fifty to two hundred pesos, and all can be appealed. In rural districts, these courts have jurisdiction in petty criminal or police cases.

In certain cities, notably Valparaiso and Santiago, there are “Jueces de Apelacion” (Judges of Courts of Appeal), to whom go appeals from the first mentioned courts. They have jurisdiction in commercial cases involving an amount equal to two hundred pesos, and also in cases relating to pawn shops, governing which there is a special law, allowing only a certain per cent. to the holder, on articles pawned. If pawns are not redeemed within the time specified, they are sold at auction. With the proceeds the pawnholder is paid, and the residue, if any, is paid to the person pawning the article. If the money thus obtained is not claimed within a reasonable time it is turned into the general government fund. Where there are no Jueces de Apelacion, their functions are performed by Jueces de Letras. Jueces de Apelacion receive salary.

Jueces de Letras (Judges of Letters): These courts have jurisdiction in probate cases where there is no litigation; civil cases where the amount involved exceeds two hundred pesos, common mining and fiscal cases involving any sum, and criminal cases. In the more important cities and populous districts there are special Jueces de Letras for criminal cases.

The following named persons are not subject to jurisdiction in courts presided over by Jueces de Letras: Commanders of Military and Naval Forces; General Officers, whether of the Army or Navy; Inspector General of Military and Inspector General of National Guard; Members of the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal; Public Prosecutor, Jueces de Letras, heads of church districts and their secretaries or vices; Consuls General, Consuls and Vice-Consuls; also municipal corporations and charitable institutions.

These judges also have jurisdiction in cases appealed from Jueces de Subdelegacion, and without appeal settle cases annulled in lower courts. Where there are no Jueces de Apelacion they perform these last named functions. Where there are two or more judges of the same class in one district, they hold court by weekly turns, except in Valparaiso, where the court of appeals sends each new case to a certain judge.

Courts of Appeal are located at Santiago, Valparaiso, Concepcion, La Serena and Tacna. In Santiago, the capital, these courts have twelve judges, and in Concepcion they have eight; the others five judges each. These courts have jurisdiction as follows:

FIRST.

In the second instance (that is to say on appeal), of the civil and criminal cases tried in the first instance by Judges of Letters within their district.

SECOND.

In single instance (no appeal allowed), of petitions for the nullifying of sentences rendered by Judges of Letters.

THIRD.

In the first instance, of the civil and criminal cases, in which may have an interest or be a direct party, the President of the Republic, the ministers of State, the governors of the provinces and governors of departments, the Chilean diplomatic agents, foreign diplomatic agents credited before the Chilean government or in transit through the territory; the archbishops, bishops, vicars general; and of accusations or civil claims against Judges of Letters to make effective the criminal and civil responsibility resulting from their official acts.

The Supreme Court, which is located in Santiago, has jurisdiction as follows:

FIRST.

In single instance (no appeal), of the petition for the nullification of judgments pronounced by the Courts of Appeal.

SECOND.

In the second instance, of the cases corresponding in the first instance to the Courts of Appeal, or to one member of the Supreme Court. One member of the court, according to the turn established by the court itself, judges in the first, including accusations and civil claims against one or more members of the Court of Appeals, to make effective their criminal or civil responsibility, and of the capture of prizes, extradition, and other cases to be judged according to international law.

Ministers of the Supreme Court, Ministers of the Courts of Appeal and Judges of Letters are appointed for an indefinite period, subject to good behavior. Judges of Subdelegations and of Districts are named for a term of two years.

The Supreme Court is composed of ten ministers. Judges of the Supreme Court and of the Courts of Appeal are named by the President. The high court prepares a list of persons possessing the necessary qualifications, which is presented to the Consejo de Estado (Council of State). From this list the Council selects three names, which are submitted to the President, and from which he may choose whoever he pleases. In the appointment of a Judge of Letters, the Judges of the Courts of Appeal, in whose jurisdiction the vacancy exists, prepare a list of fifteen persons who have the necessary qualifications and send it to the Consejo de Estado, which prepares therefrom a list of three, from which the President names the judge.

Judges of Subdelegations and Districts are named by the governors of the respective provinces, from lists of competent persons prepared by the Judges of Letters within their jurisdiction.

NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS FOR JUDGES OF LETTERS.

Natural or acquired citizenship in the Republic; twenty-five years of age; the title of “abogado” (lawyer); judge in a department wherein is not the capital of the province; to have practiced law for two years in a department in which is located the provincial capital; to have practiced law six years, or served for two as department judge, or judge of a department wherein is a Court of Appeal; to have practiced law nine years, or served as judge for five years in a department, or for two years in the capital of a province.

MEMBERS OF COURTS OF APPEAL.

Natural or acquired citizenship; thirty-two years of age; the title of lawyer; to have practiced law for twelve years, or served for six as judge in a department, for four years in the capital of a province, or for two years in a city wherein there is a Court of Appeal.

TO BE A MEMBER OF THE SUPREME COURT.

Natural or acquired citizenship; thirty-six years of age; the title of lawyer; to have practiced for fifteen years, or served for eight years as judge in a department, for six years where there is the capital of a province, for four years where there is a Court of Appeal, or for two years as a member of one of these courts.

DISTRICT JUDGE OR JUDGE OF SUBDELEGATION.

Twenty years of age; reside within the district, and know how to read and write. A person who has obtained a title in one of the liberal professions may be District Judge, even if conditions one and three are lacking.

Each member of the Court of Appeal and of the Supreme Court becomes president by turns for the period of one year.

Judges of the Supreme Court receive salaries of 15,000 pesos annually, with an honorarium of 1,000 extra to the president of the court. The secretary gets 7,500 pesos a year. Ministers of Courts of Appeal, 9,000 pesos, with 500 gratuity to the president of same; secretary, 3,000. Judges of Letters, where there is a Court of Appeal, 7,500. Judges of Letters in the capital of a province, 6,000. Judges of other departments, 4,500.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR LAWYERS.

The necessary qualifications for engaging in the practice of law are: Twenty years of age; the title of “licentiate” in the faculty of laws and political sciences in the University of Chile; to have never been condemned in the courts, nor actually to have a case pending for a crime which demands corporal punishment. A five years’ course of study in one of the Liceos (colleges) is required. After an examination in one of the subjects included in the course, according to subject drawn by lottery, the student receives the degree of Bachelor in the University. After five years’ study in a University as Bachelor of Laws and Political Science, another year’s study is required before the degree of lawyer can be obtained. Only lawyers are permitted to plead in the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal, unless the principal himself wishes to plead his own case.

Unfortunately there is a class of individuals other than lawyers who can appear for defendants in all the courts. They are known as “tinterillos,” and are the plague of the courts and a curse to the country. As a class they are without equal or comparison in any country. They are, as a rule, ignorant of the law, unscrupulous and dishonest. Their special prey is the poorer classes who have not the means to employ lawyers. Once a victim in the hands of a tinterillo, the unfortunate individual finds himself enmeshed in a maze of unscrupulous proceedings that are neither regular nor legal, and are calculated to draw him deeper into the intricacies of Chilean law. Their knowledge of practice is gained from observation, and not from the study of law or proceedings. They usually get cases mixed in an inextricable tangle, lengthen the proceedings, carrying them through wrongly, employ unlawful means in the way of false witnesses, etc. They are permitted to engage in their despicable practices in the courts under the democratic theory that in a Republic, liberty should be denied to none, though generally the evil effects of such liberty are painfully apparent. Because of this theory the evil continues, and nothing is done to eliminate the objectionable practice from the courts.

PRACTICE.

In ordinary civil actions the complaint is made in writing, with the petitions clearly specified. A demurrer to the complaint may be made by the defendant on certain legal grounds, but only once. Then comes the answer to the complaint, with possibly a counterclaim. After the answer comes the reply, with answer to counterclaim, if there be any. Then reply to the reply. Next comes the verification of pleadings. The judge decides the points to be presented. Within five days the parties to the suit present their list of witnesses, the judge orders thirty days for them to declare in, fixing within that time certain days wherein they are to be examined and cross-examined through the judge.

When the time expires, the plaintiff is given the papers for ten days for him to sum up the case in writing, and then ten days are given to the defendant for the same purpose. The judge then makes it known to the parties that he is going to pronounce sentence, which he is supposed to do within sixty days according to law. This is not always carried out according to the intent, however.

On appeal, in the upper court, the plaintiff presents a complaint and the defendant an answer, and a day is set for the case to be heard. Then the lawyers plead, after which comes the final sentence, from which there is no appeal, although possibly a petition for nullification, to be heard before the Supreme Court, may be presented.

In criminal cases there comes first the secret proceedings, or “sumario,” of which the accused has no cognizance till the judge has exhausted his means of investigation. So the evidence does not prove the existence of a crime and does not tend to fix it upon the accused. The case is either marked “sobresimiento” or else, when there are not enough proofs against the accused, he is “absuelto de la instancia” (absolved in this instance). Should there be proofs against the accused, the public prosecutor accuses (unless it is a private case, when of course the interested party does so). The accused answers, and proofs are received for a given number of days at the judge’s discretion (not above thirty). The hearing of the procedure is secret. Witnesses declare before the judge and alone, according to questions formulated in writing by the accused (if they are his witnesses). Proofs are likewise received at the same time in regard to the ability of the witnesses to act as such. When sentence is pronounced, whether an appeal is made or not, the case goes to the Court of Appeals for final decision,—final unless nullification of the decision is asked for, when it goes to the Supreme Court.

CRIME

Drink is the primary cause of much of the crime committed in Chile. It is in the despachos and roadhouses that secrets are divulged, confidences exchanged and robberies planned. There peons and inquilinos employed on farms and large haciendas reveal to the thieves, with whom they are often on friendly terms, the plans of their master’s properties, private roads, where animals are pastured, means of gaining entrance into houses, when sales of stock were made, the amount of money received and where it is kept. A robbery is proposed to the intoxicated servants, who readily acquiesce, more out of drunken gratitude for the liquor furnished by the thieves, than any motive of crime or gain. They are often induced to act as guides in directing the bandits to the home of their master. In this manner the cunning thieves protect themselves by making a shield of the servants, claiming in the event of detection before an assault is made, that they were only accompanying their friends home. When the house is reached one of the robbers goes to the door and raps. When the summons is answered he invents some plausible story of friendship, to induce those within to admit him. If refused he pleads that it be opened far enough to enable the persons addressed to recognize him. If the door is opened the robbers rush in, usually firing several shots in the house to terrify the inmates. Once inside no resistance is made to their helping themselves and pillaging the place, as the people know too well the cruel and heartless nature of the roto bandit. In the meantime the servants who piloted the marauders to the house have gone to their respective huts, as nothing could induce them to commit an assault upon their master’s house; neither do they share in the benefits of the robbery.

When satisfied that they have secured all the money in the house, and helped themselves to such food, drink, clothing or riding equipment as they may find and fancy, the robbers leave, threatening to return and murder the entire family, if an attempt is made to identify and punish them.

Bandits have private roads, usually on the higher ranges of hills, and as far as possible from the main thoroughfares. These bridle paths are much used at night, and if closed by a fence, are at once reopened. The men who infest these secret by-ways leading out from main traveled highways, and from one community to another, cannot be considered brave. They usually depend upon superior numbers, or the non-resident character of their victims, aided by cunning and diplomatic deceit. In self-defense, to avoid arrest or to secure their freedom, they will fight desperately, and without regard for life.

Many well-to-do people find it convenient to recognize this lawless class, for the reason that life and property are much more secure to friends of the bandits than is the case with those who seek to rid the country of their presence.

Land Owners Nos. 2 and 3 are usually the victims of these robbers. They seldom attack the residences on the large haciendas, confining their depredations in such places to the stealing of animals, or robbing their victims from big estates, on the roads. Another reason is that the houses on the haciendas are more strongly built and better arranged for resisting attacks. Then there are numerous servants about the house, some of whom are always on guard, and savage dogs roam about the gardens and grounds at night. The hacendado and his employés are usually well armed and know how to use their weapons. The windows of the fine country residences are protected with heavy iron bars. The doors of these houses are never opened after the family retires at night until the following morning, and the buildings are so well constructed that it is not an easy matter to gain admittance by force. Another reason why thieves seldom molest the hacendados in their homes is the fact that it would take too large a party to surround the house and guard it.

These freebooters are a part of every rural district in Chile. They generally own houses and small tracts of land which serve as a blind to their real occupation. Those who do not own property are protected and sheltered by those who do. As cattle thieves they have no rivals. They will go into the “potreros” of a farm at night, drive the animals into a “quebrada” (wooded ravine), where they kill and skin them and pack the meat into sacks prepared for the purpose. With a sack of meat behind each saddle and the skin of an animal in front, the robbers mount their horses and ride away. When day dawns they are leagues away from the scene of their depredations, and have disposed of their spoils for cash. They then seek some secluded spot where they spend the day sleeping, and resting their horses. There is no lack of “fences” and “underground systems,” where the bandits can readily dispose of their plunder. When seen at their humble homes these night marauders present the appearance of hard working, law abiding citizens, and any one of them can promptly prove that he has not been absent from home for many weeks. There is no means of procuring evidence against them, as they can secure as many witnesses as they desire in their defense. And it is impossible to get any damaging information from their families, even from the smallest children. No one can confess them; they are trained from infancy to observe discreet silence or give misleading information. Threats or punishment are of no avail.

The boldest, most fearless and notorious of the bandits have no fixed places of residence. Large private and government rewards are placed upon the heads of some of these desperadoes. Some of the more clever ones do not participate personally in the robberies and attendant crimes, but employ their talents in planning and directing the deeds. These clever managers often live what appears to be a most respectable life, having no fear of detection or interruption in the management of their reprehensible business. They are clever, cunning, subtle, penetrating, and always cautious. They have their trusted agents, through whom their plans are executed, and through whom they receive their profits in the business. These men levy tribute upon farmers, merchants and professional men.

Savage dogs are the best protection to country property. Many bandits who have no fear of armed resistance will not venture into an enclosure guarded by fierce dogs. It is the purpose of the robbers to always surprise their victims in an assault, or to gain admission to a house by stealth, and the barking of dogs frustrates their plans.

A curious custom among Chilean bandits, who operate in bands, is the taking with them on their thieving raids what is known as a “loro” (parrot). This individual is usually selected for his cowardly or cautious traits, rather than because of his bravery. When a robbery is planned the loro is placed on guard to keep watch and give the alarm, in the event of danger or discovery. Fearful of being caught, he is keenly alert and quick to sound a warning if anything suspicious is observed.

Bandits are seldom known by their real names, and some of the cognomens applied to them are as characteristic of the individual as they are curious. One who is a clever talker is called a “Pico de Oro” (golden beak); “cojo” (lame); “Tenorio” (ladies’ man); “El Tuerto” (squint eye), etc.

As previously stated there are few great commercial robberies, embezzlements or forgeries in Chile. This may be due to the fact that escape is difficult. The Cordilleras forming a natural barrier on one side and the ocean upon the other, it is only necessary to guard the mountain passes and watch the departure of ships to prevent persons from leaving the country. Men connected with commercial interests, which give them the opportunity to steal or embezzle large sums of money are, as a rule, unfamiliar with the mountainous country or the ways of bandits, and are therefore unable to escape by going to the interior.

There is another class of bandits or brigands who are more clever, daring and desperate than those already described. They follow the more well-defined roads of travel, are well dressed, mounted on good horses, intelligent and generally present a very genteel appearance. They usually hunt in bands, covering a wide range of territory, know all the people living within the country covered by their depredations, and are familiar with every road and by-way. They always have knowledge through their accomplices of strangers traveling through the country, or of servants sent upon important missions. They roam about the mountainous regions, or in close proximity to the Cordillera ranges, where escape is easy, in case of pursuit. Some of these highwaymen are notorious for the desperate deeds committed.

The common weapon of the Chilean bandit, like his methods, is peculiar to the country. During the revolution in 1891, nearly every Chileno was engaged in the war, upon one side or the other. After peace was restored, the arms were retained by the individuals, and practically every man in the country possessed a rifle. These weapons were too large and cumbersome for the bandits, so they cut off a portion of the barrel, to render them more convenient, and so they could be more easily concealed under their ponchos. These guns are called “rifles recortado” (re-cut rifles).

The fact that crime is common leads naturally to the question of law and its enforcement. Why are there not laws for the punishment of crime? There are. And why are they not enforced? That is another question, and one involving various phases of life in the Republic. A large per cent. of the people are honest, observing and obeying the law, and would be glad to see it universally enforced. The lawless element aid and protect each other, and even the more honest of the poor people look upon a notorious criminal as a hero, rather than a disgraced member of society, whose companionship is to be avoided. These people if called upon to testify in court against a man whom they know to be guilty of numerous crimes, will give evidence as to his good character. Another thing that operates in favor of the criminal is the fact that the law requires two disinterested eye-witnesses to establish the guilt of any person accused of crime.

If a person catches a man in the act of robbing his house or his property and takes the thief into custody, his evidence will not be sufficient to convict the robber. He must have two witnesses who saw the thief in the act. The evidence of members of his family, or of servants employed by him will not be admitted. The burden of proof rests with the prosecutor, and not with the accused. The slow operation of the law is also responsible for a lack of the enforcement of statutory provisions. There are so many delays and difficulties incident to securing the conviction of a criminal, that honest people frequently refuse to follow to a conclusion cases in which they are personally interested.

When convicted and sent to prison, the fact has no detrimental effect upon the social standing of the convict in the community in which he lives. Like a horse that has made a record upon the turf, his performances furnish a fruitful topic of conversation to his friends, the details of which are discussed with animated interest. When released from prison, and he returns home, which is invariably the case, the convict becomes the hero of the community. There is no shame or disgrace connected with his imprisonment. The question of treatment, the quality and quantity of beans served in the prison fare, are discussed as if they were common phases of everyday life.

If a thief is killed and his friends and accomplices secure possession of the body, which they invariably try to do, the skin is cut from the face of the corpse, and all clothing removed from the body. These precautions are taken for the purpose of preventing identification.

It was once a common custom, and still prevails to some extent in the rural provinces, to liquidate the crime of a wound or even murder by cash payment. It is claimed that the law is slow of execution, expensive and unsatisfactory, giving nothing to the victim or his family. If a poor man is killed, the assassin or his representatives will settle the affair for a few dollars, sometimes not more than five or ten dollars. If a man of means and social standing in the community meets a violent death, the price is from twenty-five to fifty pesos. These liquidations in former times were not private. Public interest was often aroused and the neighbors entered into the negotiations to see that a fair price was paid. If a person was stabbed a few times it was not considered of sufficient importance to require a money payment; a few drinks canceled the account for damages.

So notorious has become the commission of crime, in recent years, that El Mercurio, the most widely circulated and influential paper in the country devoted much space to the subject a few years ago. The following is an extract and translation from an article appearing in that journal in February, 1903:

“The alarm produced in all classes of society due to the extraordinary development which is taking place in the criminality in Chile, especially in the capital, has induced us to open an investigation as to the causes of such a deplorable social condition. A study of the causes which have tended to foster such a great increase in the number of criminal acts is undoubtedly due to the complete disorganization of public affairs in this country, and should serve to call seriously the attention of the government to the imperious necessity of attempting some course of action which would tend to remedy in part, at least, the disastrous condition of the nation at large. The enormous development of criminality in this country is not only the manifestation of a very grave social condition, nor is it only the symptom of a social dissolution in its worst form, but it is the visible cause of the discredit which our country is suffering among foreign nations.

“The European press avails itself of all data relative to the number of terrible crimes committed in Chile, and also of their sanguinary and atrocious character, and denounces them to their fellow citizens as proof of the insecurity of life and property in this country.”

El Mercurio, in its endeavor to ascertain the reason for the extraordinary criminal condition of the country, interviewed Mr. Luis Urzua Gana, public prosecutor for the department of Santiago, who made the following statement:

“I believe that the first and foremost cause of the existing criminal condition is due to the fact that a large proportion of the crimes remain unpunished. I believe that eighty per cent. of the offenses committed are not punished, and that a large proportion of them are not even denounced. As the greater the probability that a crime will not be punished, so law and justice lose their deterrent effect.

“Another cause of criminality is the large number of vagrant children, either in complete idleness or in some kind of work which enables them to gain in a few hours enough money for their food and vices. Boys of twelve years of age and even under, exhibit in this country, the same moral monstrosities as do men old in sin and crime. Among them, gambling has reached a surprising development, and there seems to be no form of immorality which has not its adepts among them. And worse still there are people who foster their vicious practices and make a business out of their degradation.”

Soon after his election in 1901 President Riesco secured the passage of a bill in the national congress providing for the establishment and maintenance of a specially selected and well equipped cavalry regiment, to be used in suppressing lawlessness. This troop is subject to service in any part of the Republic where the protection of life and property is required. The usefulness and effectiveness of this kind of service is due to the fact that a better class of men is selected, than is found in the municipal and provincial police. It is too small in numbers, however, to properly guard and protect any considerable portion of the mountainous country constituting the territory of Chile.

RAILWAYS

The primordial need of every country is good roads and ample transportation facilities. This is more especially true of Chile, than of most countries, because the long strip of territory between the Andean range of mountains and the Pacific is characterized by narrowness and length, a configuration which is peculiarly lacking in continuity between productive centers. The nitrate fields and other rich mineral producing sections of the north are, by nature, completely isolated from the agricultural districts of the central valley, where the principal cities and towns are situated, and also from the timber zone and grazing lands of the far south.

During the first half century of the Republic’s existence little progress was made along the line of industrial development because of a lack of railway communication. The first link in the chain of Chile’s present, extensive railway systems, a line extending from the port of Caldera to Copiapo, a distance of fifty miles, was built in 1851. Later other roads were constructed, chief among which was the line extending from Valparaiso to Santiago, and from the capital south through the central valley, the great agricultural district of the country, into the coal producing and timber regions, connecting them with the seaports and commercial centers. This section of the State railways, which for many years had its terminus at Concepcion, was in recent years extended to Valdivia, an important industrial and commercial center, and in 1912 was completed as far as Port Montt. Since the building of the first line, little more than half a century ago, the railway system of Chile has grown until it now comprises over four thousand miles of fairly well equipped roads, the ramifications of which reach into every part of the country, with the exception of the territory constituting the southern limits of the Republic, including Patagonia. A little more than one-half of the railway mileage is government ownership, the other portion being owned by individuals and corporations.

TRANSANDINE RAILWAY.

The first step in the progressive policy of railway building in which Chile has been engaged in recent years, was the construction of the Transandine Railway via Uspillata Pass. This important line, connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific, and giving to the Republic rail connections with countries to the east of the Andean range, brought the importance of better interior transportation facilities more closely to the minds of the people, and the result has been a period of railway building surpassing the expectation of the most radical advocates of an aggressive industrial policy.

The history of the Transandine Railway will probably never be written, unless it be given to the world by the Clark Brothers, who conceived the idea, and labored for more than a quarter of a century to enlist the assistance of the Chilean government in a plan to build the road. Every succeeding administration, during the period in which the Clarks were working on the scheme, was apparently favorable to the plan. The rejection of proposals and the failure always to vote aid or subsidy, however, was evidence of the fact that there was always secret opposition.

During much of the time while the Transandine scheme was under consideration, a war cloud, arising from a disputed boundary question between Chile and the Argentine, loomed large and ominous over the Cordillera, creating a feeling in the minds of the Chilenos that Argentina was quite near enough, without an additional connecting link in the way of a railroad across the Andes.

In 1901 the Transandine Railway, including the portion already in operation, from Los Andes to Salto del Soldado, passed into the hands of W. R. Grace & Company. Then John Eyre, manager for Grace & Company in Chile, took up the work of promoting the undertaking. With indomitable courage, tireless energy, and full confidence in ultimate success, he started in to enlist government aid in building the road.

In February, 1903, Congress passed a law authorizing the President to advertise for a term of one year, from the first of May, 1903, for sealed proposals for the construction of the Transandine Railway. The law also provided for a government guarantee of five per cent. annually on a capital not to exceed $7,250,000. Grace & Company were the only bidders. The proposal was for $6,500,000, being $750,000 below the maximum sum on which the government guaranteed five per cent. interest. A special commission was appointed to examine the proposal, and on June 7, 1904, the tender was accepted by the government, thus insuring to Chile railway communication with countries beyond the mountain barrier that had so long restricted commerce and the development of her natural resources.

On November 27, 1909, five and a half years after the contract was approved by the Chilean Government, the last section of rock in the tunnel, separating the two gangs of workmen operating from different sides, was removed, and a line of communication which had been the dream of years was established; a line that has had a marked effect, not only upon the two republics which it directly connects, but upon the world. On May 25, 1910, the first train was run through the tunnel and an all-rail route opened between Valparaiso and Buenos Aires, a distance of 888 miles,—the first railroad across the South American continent. Thus after thirty-seven years of work and planning, vicissitudes and discouragements, the hopes of the promoters of this great enterprise were realized and the Transandine Railway an accomplished fact. The date will remain a memorable one in the history of Chile, as it occurred in the year of the one hundredth anniversary of the Independence of the Republic.

The Chilean terminus of the tunnel, which is 10,385 feet long, is at El Portillo, at an altitude of 10,450 feet above sea level, and on the Argentine side at Las Cuevas. On the Chilean side the road ascends the mountains 7,615 feet within a distance of 46 miles, between Los Andes and the summit, an average of 166 feet to the mile. Directly over the tunnel, on the Uspillata pass, at an altitude of 13,000 feet stands the “Christ of the Andes,” a statue erected in 1904, as a symbol of perpetual peace between the two republics. It was cast in bronze from cannons contributed by both nations. It stands upon the international boundary line established by a commission appointed by King Edward, after war between Chile and the Argentine had been imminent for years. The figure representing Christ is twenty-six feet high, and placed upon a colossal column it makes an imposing and impressive monument. In one hand is held a cross, while the other is extended in a blessing of peace. The inscription on one of the tablets is: “Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust than the people of Argentina and Chile break the peace to which they have pledged themselves at the feet of Christ the Redeemer.”

The Transandine line in Chile is made up of two systems with different gauges of track. From Valparaiso to Los Andes the route is over the State railways, which is of standard gauge; from Los Andes to the Argentine frontier, including the tunnel, a distance of 50 miles, the road is narrow gauge, 39 inches, a portion of it rack and pinion system.

This route shortens the distance to Buenos Aires, and consequently between Europe and Chile, by about twelve days, as formerly, during a considerable portion of the year traffic from the Atlantic and the east coast was by way of the Straits of Magellan.

ARICA, LA PAZ RAILWAY.

Another important division of the State railways is the line extending from Arica to La Paz. This road, constructed in accordance with stipulations in the treaty celebrated between Chile and Bolivia, October 1904, was built at the expense of the Chilean government at a cost of $11,900,000 U. S. currency. The treaty agreement providing for this road caused a vigorous protest from the Peruvian government, as the route lies through the province of Arica which, previous to the war of 1879, was Peruvian territory, and which is still involved in the Tacna and Arica question. The contract for the construction was awarded on March 4, 1906, and the road was completed in 1912.

The engineering difficulties encountered were numerous and complicated, the gradient in some places being exceedingly steep. At one point the line rises 3,610 feet, within a distance of 25 miles. The total length of the line is 267 miles of which 28 miles is of the Abt rack system on a six per cent. maximum grade, which constitutes the longest continuous stretch of rack system railway in the world. The highest altitude reached is 13,986 feet, at a distance of 112 miles from Arica and 155 from La Paz.

The road passes through an undeveloped country that is rich in mineral resources, and furnishes direct communication between Chilean ports on the Pacific and the capital of Bolivia. This line, connecting the two republics, and supplemented as it is with numerous branch roads leading into the various mining districts, forms a railway system that has contributed materially to the development of the territory through which it passes.

Under treaty agreement it is to be operated by Chile for a period of fifteen years, after which time the section in Bolivia becomes the property of the Bolivian government.

LONGITUDINAL RAILWAY.

The most important division of the government railway system in Chile, however, because of its relation to the industrial and commercial interests of the country, is the longitudinal line extending from Tacna to Port Montt, a distance of over two thousand miles, and constituting the great central artery of communication, uniting the mineral zones of the north with the agricultural regions of the central valley and the timber sections of the south. This road has as feeders over thirty transverse lines of varying length connecting the productive centers of the Republic with all the principal seaports of the coast. Notwithstanding the fact that transport is maintained by sea along the entire length of the territory constituting the Republic, a north and south railway was felt to be a necessity. In addition to commercial needs there are strategic reasons for a longitudinal line: to facilitate the transportation of troops and armament from one end of the Republic to the other in case of war.

As far back as Balmaceda’s time the building of this road figured among the government’s projects, and in succeeding administrations plans were made for the execution of the work. It was President Don Pedro Montt, however, who took up the task of carrying out the idea and, with characteristic perseverance, succeeded in getting the National Congress to pass a law in 1908, authorizing him to call for public tenders for contracts for the construction of the Longitudinal Railway. In 1909 contracts were let for the building of over eight hundred miles of the road at a total cost of $35,000,000.

The completion of this longitudinal line leaves only the territory lying south of latitude 42 degrees, and forming the greater part of what is known as Chilean Patagonia without a railway.

The service on the railways in Chile is, as a rule, unsatisfactory, and on some of the lines it may be designated as bad. This is due to the fact that the management of the government roads is influenced by politics. The compensation of government railway employés is very low, and payment of salaries not infrequently long delayed and somewhat uncertain. The tenure of service depends upon political influence, and there is little in the system to encourage honest industry. Employés feel no personal responsibility and to cheat the government, particularly in the failure to render good service, is a common practice that is not considered a crime.

First class fares correspond to those prevailing in the United States, but second and third-class fares and freight rates are very low. The express trains from Valparaiso to Santiago, and from the capital south to Concepcion carry American chair cars in the day, and on the southern section, Pullman cars on the night trains.

The lack of facilities for carrying freight, the unsatisfactory service in cargo trains, and the slow method of unloading and loading cars, is a serious handicap to business depending upon the prompt delivery of merchandise and material. The freight service on the government roads is generally bad. The yard and track facilities in all the important commercial centers are wholly inadequate to the requirements. It is frequently impossible to secure cars, and when once the freight is loaded and accepted by the railway, there is much uncertainty as to when it will be forwarded to its destination. If the freight consists of perishable goods the chances are that it will be seriously damaged or entirely destroyed before delivery. In either event there is no recourse in law for damages.

In 1904 there was a great shortage of freight cars in Valparaiso. Merchants and manufacturers were demanding cars in which to ship cargo long overdue in delivery. When the manager of the State railways was appealed to for relief, he stated that all freight cars on that section of the road had been ordered to Santiago where a census of the rolling stock was being taken. Complaint against abuses in the service is useless.

One redeeming feature of the railway service in Chile, is the cheap passenger fares for the poor people, who are ill able to pay high rates, and who do not expect much in return for their money. Time is no object to them, and if trains run slowly and not up to schedule, there is no complaint.

ELECTRIC ROADS.

The use of electricity as a motive power in Chile, is in its incipiency. Electric car systems now in operation are, the street railways in Santiago, Valparaiso, Concepcion and Talca, and their respective suburbs, a few lines in mountainous districts, used for carrying ores from the mines to the reducing stations, an interurban line connecting Concepcion with the ports of Talcahuano and Coronel, and one extending from Valparaiso to Viña del Mar. A government concession has been granted for the building of an electric railway from Santiago to Valparaiso, and plans are being made for the electrification of some of the government roads.

Connecting with the railways of the country are cart roads, the best of which may be classed as bad, and the branches connecting with the principal highways are nothing more than trails over a rough mountainous country. Few new roads are being built, and little attention is given to the improvement or maintenance of those already constructed.

TRAVEL.

The only means of travel in many localities is on horseback. Long or short distance, singly or in numbers, the country people traveling on horseback, will often follow poorly defined trails over the mountains for great distances, seldom losing their way or deviating from the shortest route. They seldom carry any baggage, except such articles of clothing as they require for the trip, which is transported in bags or baskets.

The country people are generally hospitable, usually offering to passing strangers such food and accommodations as they may have, and without expectation of remuneration.

INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS

From the earliest history of the Republic, the energies of the Chilenos have been devoted largely to agricultural and horticultural pursuits, stock raising and mining. The conditions of soil and climate, and the natural resources of the country have encouraged the people to interest themselves in those lines rather than in industrial occupations. The result is that there are few large manufacturing interests in the country. The majority of the more important manufactured articles are imported. There are, however, various small industrial institutions, most of which are closely related to the agricultural and mining interests. The methods employed are more or less primitive, as is frequently the case where a low value is placed upon labor.

Practically all of the manufacturing interests in Chile are operated by foreigners and controlled by foreign capital. This may be attributed to the fact that the Chilenos do not possess the taste for industrial pursuits. Another cause is the irresponsibility of laborers and mechanics. The average Chilean workman has no sense of responsibility. If given a task to perform, he cannot be made to understand that any importance attaches to the time when it is to be completed. Individually and collectively, the workmen are afflicted with the “mañana” disease. This condition has existed from the time of the earliest history of the country and continues to be one of the serious drags upon industrial and commercial progress. If remonstrated with for indifference to his employer’s interests or his procrastination of time, the workman will declare his willingness to leave his position. To discharge him does not improve the situation, as the man employed in his stead will entertain similar ideas as to his rights and duties. He cannot be encouraged by kindness, or even an increase of wages to change his habits. He is without ambition, and does not expect to improve his condition. It is useless to manifest any sympathy for him, he does not want it. He is satisfied, and will not accept innovations. That which was good enough for his father and grandfather, is satisfactory to him. He believes that he was born to his station in life, and he sticks to it stupidly and stolidly. Another drawback to the manufacturing business is the fact that the Chilean workman or mechanic seldom learns his trade properly, and takes no pains to improve himself or his condition.

In Chile a lad is put to work in a shop, and in a few weeks or months he tires of the job, and tries something else. After a time he tires again and tries another trade. And so he goes on changing until the time arrives when he should be a competent journeyman tradesman, and he goes forth a jack of all trades and master of none. The Chilean workman has his good qualities, however, as well as his faults. If properly encouraged he will render excellent service as a laborer. He does not work intelligently, and where skill is required he is unsatisfactory. Inured to a life of toil, hardship and deprivation, he does not hesitate to engage in any kind of labor, no matter how menial or trying. He has wonderful endurance, and can subsist upon the plainest food, in limited quantities, while performing tasks requiring the greatest exertion. In handling heavy freight or cargo he has few equals. He has great strength in his arms, back and legs, and the enormous weights he can carry is cause for comment among those who witness his feats of strength. A roto will trot along the street carrying a box or bale of merchandise upon his back that weighs three or four hundred pounds, and is apparently not distressed with the burden. It is at labor where strength and endurance count that he is valuable as a workman.

Organization among the working classes in Chile is in the formative stage; yet even in its incipiency, unionism has proved itself to be a dangerous political element and a serious menace to society. The working classes are not sufficiently educated to appreciate the responsibilities, or to enable them to direct with intelligence and judgment, an organized force. The roto has little idea, and no appreciation of obligation to his employer, to society, or to the State; no regard for his word and little for the law. He is illiterate, intemperate and superstitious. He is not lazy, but improvident, and works because necessity prompts it, rather than for the purpose of bettering his condition. He can neither be persuaded nor forced to understand the importance of reporting for duty at a fixed hour for a given number of days in the week. He is independent and clannish, and has an exaggerated idea of his republican citizenship. His hatred of foreign workmen is intense, and he will not stop short of murder, if that be necessary, to prevent the “gringo” from coming into competition with him. He is an apt pupil in the ethics of trades unions, in so far as it applies to his side of the question. He believes that the province of the union is to force shorter hours and more pay, without giving in turn good and steady service. He has yet to learn the commercial value of truth; the beneficial effects to himself of personal industry, of rendering an honest day’s labor for his wage. He must learn the good result of applying new methods to his work, and also lessons of economy and providence. In short, he must join the onmarching procession of industrial and commercial development before he is qualified and competent to assert his authority and make demands as an organized force. A dangerous phase of the labor union problem is the fact that when encouraged by clever leaders and enforced by numbers, the Roto Chileno is not slow to resort to violence.

The most serious charge made against labor organizations in Chile, and one that is well founded is, that they do not seek to elevate the standard of excellence among their members, or to better their individual condition. Neither do they encourage temperance, and obedience to law, or protection to society.

VINEYARDS.

Grape culture and the manufacture of its products constitutes one of the principal industrial interests of Chile. In this, as in other industries, there are no statistics available on which to base satisfactory calculations concerning the acreage, production of wine, “aguardiente” and “chicha,” manufactured annually. It is estimated that there are now about 20,000 acres of producing vineyards, and the acreage is being annually augmented. The soil is especially adapted to grape culture. Vines thrive and produce well both on the dry hill lands and in the irrigated sections. The grape vine was introduced in Chile by the Spaniards during colonial times, but the cultivation of it has become a national and profitable industry only in recent years. There is already a large export trade in wine, which is annually increasing. On the large estates the French method is employed in the manufacture of wine, and most of the distilleries are in charge of expert wine-men from France.

There are few more interesting sights than that of a large estate devoted to vineyards. The vines, planted in even rows, are carefully wired and trimmed and gracefully festooned. On the terraces of the hill farms the vari-tinted foliage presents an artistic appearance, particularly so when from the vines are suspended millions of amber and purple clusters ready for the vintage.

The grapes are picked from the vines by women and children, and placed in baskets. Two-wheeled ox carts, equipped with large tanks made of animal skins, are used for conveying the grapes to the winery. The first process consists of passing the fruit through a machine that mangles the grapes but does not crush the seeds. From these machines the pulp and juice fall into fermenting vats. If red wine is to be made the liquid and stems are left to ferment together; if white wine or chicha, the liquid is drawn off through a strainer. The method of fermenting, bottling, seasoning, etc., is the same as that employed in large wineries in other countries.

In the smaller vineyards, different methods are used; there, the primitive process of making wine by hand is still employed. The vats for holding the wine, instead of being made of cement or wood, are the skins of bullocks, removed from the animals with as little opening as possible. While green these hides are placed upon poles, hammock fashion, and filled with stones, which stretch them into the desired form, and in which position they are left to dry. When seasoned these skins form natural tubs or vats, to which the portion originally covering the tail forms a faucet, or outlet. In some instances these primitive wine producers employ the original method of crushing the grapes, by throwing them into vats, where naked men trample them, often walking neck deep in the pulpous mass. The wine is fermented in casks, and when ready for use is stored in large earthen jars, made by hand and baked in crude kilns.

VEHICLES.

There are no large manufactories for the production of vehicles. Most of the vehicles used in Chile are primitive in design, crude in construction and finish. Two-wheeled carts, which are almost universally used as transports for freight, are manufactured in all the towns and villages. Most of them are clumsy, with high wheels, heavy, rough spokes, broad, thick fellies, and wide tires. The box or frame is fastened to the axle, without springs or other means of relieving the jolting sensation produced by the wheels passing over the rough country roads or uneven streets.

In the country, oxen are used almost exclusively for drawing carts. The pole of the cart is a piece of timber fastened firmly in the center of the axle, and extending forward a sufficient distance for the animals to be harnessed to the vehicle. The yoke by which the oxen are attached, instead of resting upon the neck of the beast, as is common in most countries, is placed upon the head just back of the horns, and fastened with strips of rawhide passed around the horns and over the forehead. This method of harnessing gives to the animal no freedom of action of the head. The frame of the cart being firmly fastened to the tongue, all the jarring sensation produced by the motion of the vehicle comes upon the head, causing great torture.

Vehicles used for transporting goods in the cities and towns are the same as those employed for similar purposes in the country, except that they are not so heavy. They are provided with shafts and are drawn by horses. One horse works between the shafts, and another is attached by a single trace, upon the left, or near side. A saddle constitutes a part of the harness of the animal on the left, on which the driver is mounted.

One of the common methods of transporting cargo in the towns and cities, is upon the backs of horses. Groceries, meat, milk, in fact all classes of freight from barrels of oil and cement to huge timbers and piles of lumber, are carried upon horses. In the country, mules are employed for the same purpose, as they are more sure footed upon the hills, and will carry heavy loads for greater distances.

COAL.

Outcroppings of coal were discovered in Talcahuano, Coronel and Lota, all of which are situated upon the Gulf of Arauco, Province of Concepcion, department of Lautaro, as nearly as 1840. The first attempt to work the mines was made by Don Antonio Memparte, in the vicinity of Lota, in 1850. Two years later the property passed into the possession of Don Matais Cousino, who finally succeeded in establishing the reputation of the Lota coal for smelting, steam and domestic purposes. Later other mines were opened, and the district known as the Lota and Coronel country now produces coal in large quantities, supplying nearly all the steamships passing that way, as well as the government and corporation railways of the country. The development of the coal industry at Lota encouraged the establishment of various manufacturing industries in that locality. Among the more important industrial concerns are brick and pottery works, which were established in 1855, and a large copper smelting plant that has been in operation since 1860. Later a glass factory, the only works of the kind in Chile, was added to the industries of the place. These concerns are all operated by the Lota Company in connection with the coal mines.

The first practical teachers and pioneer miners at Lota were Scotchmen, very few of whom now survive. They were about thirty in number. Their original destination was the island of Vancouver, but owing to some difficulties that occurred on the voyage, the ship on which they were traveling put into Valparaiso, where they remained for some time, and from where they were later engaged for the mines at Lota. There they founded what is still designated the British colony. It is now, however, British in name only, there being but few of the original colonists or their families left. The remaining few abandoned their national customs and language for the customs of the country in which they lived. To such an extent have they adapted themselves to local conditions and influences that very few of the residents at Lota bearing English names can speak the English language.

The coal from the Lota district is of a low grade, producing an unusual amount of cinders and refuse. The Arauco Company which operates mines in the same district, and which has a railroad running from Coronel to Colico, a distance of some twenty miles, is also producing coal in large quantities.

MINING AND MANUFACTURING.

Owing to the extensive working of the great nitrate of soda deposits, mining takes first place among Chilean industries. Although producing nearly a million tons annually, coal mining has not developed sufficiently to supply the needs of the country, the importations amounting to about one and a half million tons a year. Copper is the most important of the metals mined, although gold and silver are mined in considerable quantities.

In recent years more attention has been paid to manufacturing. In 1909 there were 5,000 manufacturing establishments, large and small, with a capital of $45,000,000, and an aggregate output valued at $64,000,000. There are 960 establishments in the shoe and leather industry, 870 in food supplies, 670 in metal industries, 555 in the manufacture of garments, 440 wood working industries, 210 in paper and printing and 200 in the manufacture of alcoholic beverages.

The value of imports into Chile in 1909 was approximately $95,000,000 and the export values for the same year $110,000,000. Of the total imports Great Britain supplied 32 per cent., Germany 22 per cent., and the United States 10 per cent. Of the total exports, amounting to $110,000,000, Great Britain purchased 45 per cent., Germany 24 per cent., and the United States 20 per cent. Europe and the United States bought over 90 per cent. of the exports, and furnished 80 per cent. of the imports.

Nitrate of soda constitutes about 75 per cent. of the total exports from Chile, and copper, 5 per cent. The four articles of import showing the largest values are, steel and manufactures of, coal, cotton goods and industrial machinery. Eighty-five per cent. of the imports consist of manufactured articles.

POPULATION AND COLONIZATION

Pedro Valdivia, in a letter to Carlos V. of Spain, dated at La Sarena, September 5, 1545, described the beautiful climate of Chile as one where man could work under the summer sun without inconvenience, and expressed the belief that there could be developed and maintained a strong, virile, superior race of people that would be an honor to, and the pride of the mother country. He also expressed the belief that in the conquest of Chile he would secure territory where he and his companions might leave a lineage that would honor their memories.

In some respects this seems to have been a prophetic view of the situation. The mixing of the blood of those bold, intelligent, but cruel and unscrupulous “conquistadores,” with the strong, courageous qualities of the Araucanian Indians, has left in Chile a distinct type, a characteristic race of people. They possess the romantic tendencies and diplomatic qualities of the Spaniards, combined with the independent natures of the Araucanians.

They are a hospitable people, but are clannish, and have a strong prejudice against all foreigners. This prejudice, apparently inherent, and deep rooted in the minds of the people, while it has contributed materially to the maintenance of racial characteristics, has also discouraged and restricted immigration. As a result of this antagonistic feeling against foreigners coming to the country, the increase in population has been small, and the progress of commercial and industrial development correspondingly slow.

At the time of the Spanish invasion, in the sixteenth century, the Indian population was estimated at 1,000,000. The aggregate number of inhabitants is now calculated at 3,500,000, an increase of 2,500,000 in two hundred and seventy years. This very slow increase in population in a country possessing an equable and healthful climate may be attributed to several causes.

During the period of the conquest the ranks of the indigenous races were greatly decimated by war. Later, the utter disregard for hygienic conditions, the proverbial uncleanliness of the common people and the unsanitary manner in which the majority of them live, have increased the death rate to abnormal proportions. This is especially true among the children, many of whom die from inattention, cold or lack of proper food. Tuberculosis is a common malady, and annually claims thousands of victims. The prevalence of this disease is also due largely to the manner of living. In the homes of the majority of the poor people there are no floors, except the ground upon which the houses are built. In the winter, or rainy seasons, the cold and dampness of the dirt floors cause pneumonia, and colds that prove fatal to delicate children and adults of weak constitution, or those suffering from hereditary pulmonary diseases. The number of births in Chile in recent years has been little in excess of the number of deaths.

As a means of increasing the population, and hoping thereby to promote the development of natural resources and industrial interests of the country, the government of Chile adopted a colonization law for the purpose of inducing emigrants from Europe to settle in the agricultural and timber regions of the south. The law contains some liberal provisions, and attractive features, including free transportation for colonists from European ports to their destination, one hundred and sixty acres of land for the head of each family, and a government subsidy of five hundred pesos, with which to buy farm implements, build a house, etc. To promote this scheme of colonization, the Chilean government maintains agencies in Europe, through which the advantages to be gained, and the attractive features of colonial life in the Republic are liberally advertised. Through this plan a number of important foreign colonies, especially German communities, have been established throughout southern Chile. Valdivia, which has grown into an important manufacturing city, as well as the highly developed and cultivated country surrounding it, are settled almost exclusively by Germans. In more recent years the Italians have established large communities in the southern provinces, but they have been less successful than the Germans, and much dissatisfaction is the result. Among the early settlers in Chile, under the colonization law, were communities of Scotch, the majority of whom were disappointed with the conditions and with what they claim was a lack of protection of their personal interests, and their property rights.

A book published by an anonymous writer, entitled “La Raza Chilena” (The Chilean Race), and signed “Chileno,” bearing date 1905, is devoted to a discussion of the race question, population and colonization. The writer criticises severely the colonization plan, and the evils that have crept into the system, citing many instances of dissatisfaction among colonists, and cases of corruption and jobbery on the part of immigration agents, in support of his demands for reforms in the law, and a change in the plan for encouraging colonists to settle in the country.

VILLAGES AND CITIES

All the villages in Chile are similar in appearance and general aspect. There is little variety and few attractive features to distinguish any of them, or one from another. The one story houses are almost invariably built of adobe, and roofed with tile or thatch. The architecture, if the style of the village buildings can be dignified with the term, is Spanish. The houses front directly upon and are flush with the sidewalk, most of them being built round a patio.

There is an unattractive sameness about Chilean villages, even to the disagreeable smells. There is usually one long, straight street upon which are located the shops and better class of dwellings. This main thoroughfare is backed by a few other streets, flanked with low, rambling huts, the habitations of the poorer classes. In the center of the town is the plaza, the chief feature of every Spanish-American municipality, large or small,—the common meeting place of the village people and playground for the children. Ornamented with trees and flowers, it forms a pleasing contrast to the dull gray of dusty streets and adobe walls. In the more pretentious of the municipalities, the plaza is frequently enlivened in the evenings with music by a band, which never fails to attract a crowd. On such occasions the plaza presents a scene of lively interest and animation. There the people congregate to visit, gossip and enjoy the music. Black-eyed señoritas and stout matrons, with faces framed in mantillas, join in the promenade, passing and repassing the caballeros with whom they exchange knowing looks and significant glances, the method employed in love-making and conducting flirtations in Chile. Upon the green sward, beneath the friendly trees, happy children engage in juvenile sports and youthful pleasures. It is in these public meeting places that the village people are seen at their best; there they abandon themselves to the simple pleasures and enjoyments to which their environments limit them.

A curious feature of every Chilean village is the varied and violent colors used in painting the houses. Shades of blue, red, yellow, pink and green frequently appear in strange contrast in the same row of buildings. Intermingling with these peculiarly contrasting hues are red tile roofs, the lighter shades of thatch, and the gray of undecorated adobe walls, relieved by occasional stretches of whitewashed houses and garden enclosures.

The little “despachos,” with their inartistically decorated windows and curious assortment of bottles of “chicha,” wine, “aguardiente,” dry goods, provisions, firewood and charcoal, are a feature of every town in the country. In the front of these shops where articles of various kinds are dispensed, is a sort of hitch-rack which may be used as a place for customers to leave their horses when on business, or as a means of engaging in the common sport of the country, “topiadura.” It is in the village drinking places that the country people meet to exchange news and gossip of the neighborhood, and to indulge in a social cup. On feast days and Sundays crowds congregate in these places where drinking is indulged in to excess. There are few places of amusement, and perhaps no place where the opportunities for entertainment of an intellectual or elevating character are more limited and restricted than in a Chilean village. The despachos with their gambling, drinking and accompanying vices, afford the only relief from the monotonous home life of the poor people, which has little in it to encourage mental or moral improvement.

The population of the villages varies from three to five thousand in the departmental centers, and from one to two thousand each in the others. They have no industries except a few shoe shops, blacksmith and carpenter shops. Some of the general stores have well assorted stocks, and in some of the small towns there is a drug store with a billiard room and cafe. These together with the drinking places fill the commercial list. The business of the villages depends entirely upon the people living in the adjacent farming country. When in the towns they spend their time in eating, drinking, talking politics, singing, dancing and playing cards.

The crops of the adjoining farms do not enter into the business of the towns and villages, but are shipped to the nearest mill, railway center or seaport. In all the towns there is wealth, not extensive, but considerable, when the necessities and modes of life are taken into account. In Chile, as in other countries, there is a predisposition on the part of the country people to congregate in the towns and villages, be they great or small; in close proximity to any of the municipalities, any day in the week, one will meet all classes and conditions of rural residents on horseback, in ox carts and on foot, wending their way to town. It is another evidence of the universal desire of mankind to seek companionship and association with his fellow man, even though the contact furnishes no novelty or new sensation.

Every village has a Catholic church, and the female portion of the population finds relief in the “iglesia,” from the monotony of domestic life. They attend every service, and on Sundays and feast days the scene about the village church suggests a convent, as the women all wear mantillas draped over their heads, giving them the general appearance of nuns.

SANTIAGO.

There are few municipalities of sufficient size and commercial importance to entitle them to be classified as cities. Santiago, the capital, is a beautiful city of over 300,000 inhabitants, charmingly situated in the verdant valley of the Mapocho, and surrounded by rugged, snow-crowned mountains. Few cities possess so many natural advantages in situation and environments. All around loom giant peaks of the Andes, their white crests among the clouds. In the smiling valley, clothed in the green of perennial summer, is Santiago. Long, quiet streets, badly paved, are lined with handsome houses, French and Spanish in architectural design; many of them palatial in proportions. The lack of industrial life and commercial activity, and the peaceful repose of this daughter of Latin America, give to the capital of Chile more the appearance of an indolent Oriental city than the metropolis of an ambitious young Republic.

Situated in the center of a great natural amphitheater, in a beautiful fertile plain, through which flow several streams, supplied with crystal waters from melting snow in the higher ranges of the Cordilleras, Santiago, viewed from any of the many points of advantage, presents an attractive, picturesque and prepossessing appearance. In the center of the city, rising abruptly from the level plain upon which it rests, is “El Cerro Santa Lucia,” a precipitous, rocky hill, four hundred feet high, and covering at its base an area of eight acres. This wonderful natural formation, often described as a freak of nature, is one of the most remarkable of its kind in the world. The entrance to the “cerro” is through a gateway of artistic design, with approaches of fine stone columns and buttresses. The summit is reached by winding carriage roads of easy grade, which are flanked with stone walls, towers and battlements. There are also shaded walks, lined with many hued flowers, by which the hill may be ascended. From the summit one looks down upon tile roofs, flower bedecked patios, adobe walls green with moss and overrun with rose-vines, streets and avenues fringed with poplars and alamos. The Alameda, one of the finest avenues in the world, with its wide roadways, fine old trees and shaded promenades, starting at the foot of the Santa Lucia, extends for a distance of three miles, cleaving the city in halves, marking the center and focus of traffic in the metropolis. The Cathedral with its double towers and central dome, fronting upon the Plaza de Armas, in the heart of the city is a good viewpoint from which to trace and locate other objects of interest. In the near distance are the parks and the “Quinta Normal,” the government agricultural and horticultural propagating station, all robed in the gorgeous green of semi-tropical verdure and adorned with a variety of beautiful flowers that grow luxuriantly and bloom most generously in the soft, sweet air and golden sunshine of temperate Chile. This lovely picture, this charming ensemble of city and plain, hill and river, parks and gardens, this municipal mosaic with emerald green settings, crowned with a dome of turquoise blue, is framed in a wall of wonderful mountains composing a part of the Andean range.

In detail Santiago is not unlike other cities, resembling in many features some European municipalities. Being the capital it has attracted to and includes in its population the rich landowners, the aristocratic classes, political elements, literary and cultured people and the exclusive society of the country. The homes of these well-to-do, traveled and cultured people are equal in appearance, appointment, furnishing, decoration and equipment to those occupied by similar classes in older countries. The social life of the rich and seclusive classes in Santiago is composed of a pleasure loving people, with an inherent love of display. They are musical by nature, with a keen appreciation of, and an aptness for acquiring quickly a little knowledge of music, and other accomplishments, conveying the impression that they are clever, if not brilliant. They lack, however, the industry and application that lead to thoroughness, and few of them develop great talent for any art or profession. Their knowledge is more general than genuine, more superficial than special.

The life of the poor people in Santiago, the manner in which they live, their customs and habits, the misery and vice, the depravity, the disregard for law, and the low level of intelligence that prevails, form a sharp contrast to the picture presented in the homes of the rich.

VALPARAISO.

Valparaiso, the principal commercial port in Chile, and the second city in population in the Republic, is picturesquely situated upon a poorly protected harbor on the Pacific. It is crescent in shape, describing a semi-circle around the bay. The business section occupies a margin of low lying ground along the water front, the residence portions extending back over a series of high, rugged hills. Viewed from the harbor it presents an attractive appearance. Along the “malecon” are the business houses, uniform in height, and presenting a straight stiff sky line, back of and beyond which rise rugged, terraced hills. Adobe houses, painted in various colors, red tile roofs, and patios green with verdure and brilliant with the bloom of flowers, are some of the features of the scene presented in a view of the hills forming the residence districts of Valparaiso. Conspicuous objects in the view are the church of El Espiritu Santo, a large, inartistic building topped with a huge, single, square tower, and situated in the center of the city, and the “Escuela Naval” (naval school), a fine architectural creation crowning one of the numerous hills that surround the bay.

Valparaiso is as cosmopolitan in architecture as it is in population. It possesses no architectural features that can be considered national in character; it has few public buildings worthy of the name, no system of parks or boulevards,—nothing to distinguish it, except a consistent mismanagement of municipal affairs. Being a great seaport, into which sail annually thousands of ships, representing nearly all the nations of earth, it has caught in the net of travel a cosmopolitan conglomeration, and includes in its population all kinds and conditions of people.

It is more European than Spanish in appearance, and the languages spoken are as varied and numerous as the nationalities of which its population is composed. The majority of the business is done by foreigners, the British, Germans, Americans, French and Italians taking the wholesale, importing and exporting trade, in the order named, while the small retail business is largely in the hands of Italians and Spaniards.

There are few places of amusement, especially for the poor people, and desirable, or intellectual public entertainments are infrequent. The municipal theater is a fine building with a capacity sufficient to accommodate several thousand people, but with the exception of two weeks of Italian opera during the winter it is little used.

The municipal government has done nothing in recent years to improve or beautify the city. There is practically no drainage, except for streets receiving the water from ravines coming down from the hills, and they are usually in a state of disorder that renders them useless. The streets are miserably paved and proverbially filthy, and during the rainy season they are filled with sludge washed down from the hills.

Notwithstanding the great shipping interests represented, and the fact that Valparaiso is the chief commercial port in the country, the bay upon which it is built affords one of the most insecure harbors on the west coast of South America. There is absolutely no protection to ships and shipping interests against the strong winds and severe storms that prevail during the months of June, July and August. There is no breakwater in the bay, which faces to the north, the direction from which the storms and heavy seas come during the winter, and as a result great damage is done to vessels in port, and to cargo along the water front.

VIÑA DEL MAR.

The majority of foreigners and many Chilenos engaged in business in Valparaiso find relief from the disagreeable features of life in the port by living in Viña del Mar, a beautiful residence suburb situated on the opposite side of the bay, six miles distant, and connected with the city by steam and electric railways.

Viña del Mar, which includes the stations of Mira Mar and Chorrillos, is the popular pleasure and seaside resort of Chile. It is attractively situated in a verdant valley, surrounded by rugged hills, has a fine bathing beach, a number of large hotels, many beautiful residences and cottages, and during the summer season, December to March, it is thronged with visitors from Santiago and other interior cities, who go annually to that favorite resort for the baths and the social pleasures incident to a season at Viña. Among the attractive features of the resort are a fine race course, where are held two race meetings a year, polo, cricket, football, tennis, golf, etc.

CONCEPCION.

Concepcion, the third city in size and commercial importance in the Republic, has a population of 60,000. It is a characteristic Spanish-American municipality, with some European features, Oriental and indolent in appearance, with long stretches of unattractive streets, flanked with houses painted in many colors.

Situated in the verdant valley of the Bio Bio, near its confluence with the bay of Arauco, it is surrounded by orchards ladened with fruits, and gardens brilliant with the bloom of beautiful flowers. Well tilled, irrigated haciendas, with stone walls and lines of graceful alamos defining their limits, cover the lovely plain, back of which rise tree-crowned hills, adding a picturesque feature to the scene. It is the commercial metropolis of a large section of productive country, and enjoys a business prosperity and trade activity surpassed only by Valparaiso. The ports of entry for Concepcion are Talcahuano and Coronel, a few miles distant and situated on the bay of Arauco.

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.

Under the constitution of Chile, municipalities constituted a part of the general government, and until recent years were controlled by national authority. Article 127 of the Constitution, 1833, says:

“The governor is the chief of all the municipalities in his department, and president of that one in which his capital is established. The sub-delegate is president of the municipality in his sub-delegation.”

The Intendentes, or governors of provinces, with jurisdiction over the cities and towns in their respective territories, are appointed by the president, and they in turn appoint the sub-delegates. All public improvements and municipal works were formerly authorized by the government and paid for out of the general fund. The purpose of the framers of the constitution was apparently to keep the municipalities out of politics. The authority of the legislative branches of the municipal government, whose members are elected for three years, was limited and their duties perfunctory.

The politicians of Chile were not satisfied, however, with leaving the management of municipalities with the national government. City offices were attractive political plums, and the control of public works and improvements could be used to advantage in influencing election results, and a means was found for placing them in the hands of officials elected by popular vote.

The scheme for changing the plan of municipal government originated with Senator Irrazaval, who having traveled in Switzerland, thought to engraft the system employed there upon the laws of Chile. After his return from Europe he secured the passage of a measure by Congress which provided for the election of municipal officers by accumulative vote. Under this system one man can cast as many ballots for a single candidate as there are names on the ticket. If there are ten offices to fill, the voter may cast ten ballots for one candidate instead of voting once for each of the ten different aspirants to office. This gave politicians an opportunity to deal with the lower classes, to encourage unscrupulous men to engage in questionable political practices, and the working classes now dominate municipal politics. Having become a political factor in the cities and towns, they aspired to higher positions, and in recent years a number of representatives of organized labor have been elected to Congress. There is an encouraging sign, however, in the fact that a better class of people is beginning to manifest greater interest in political affairs. There is also a strong public sentiment in favor of abolishing the law providing for the accumulative vote in municipalities.

As a result of the present political system the management of municipalities in Chile is proverbially bad. As an illustration of this fact, there could be no better example offered than Valparaiso. The business portion occupying a narrow strip of land along the water front, the residence districts extending over and occupying the hills that rise abruptly all around, Valparaiso affords natural facilities for drainage which should render it an easy matter to establish and maintain an excellent sewerage system. Yet it is proverbially and notoriously filthy, and it is only the influence of a salubrious and healthful climate that prevents the population from being annually decimated by contagion and epidemics.

A most tragic example of municipal mismanagement was witnessed in Valparaiso in 1905, when the smallpox plague visited the port. Finding there in the filth of the streets, in the general lack of sanitary observance, in the crowded, foul, disease-breeding condition of the “conventillos” (apartment houses) and in homes of the poor, a prolific atmosphere for contagion, the plague spread so rapidly that the number of cases reached into the thousands, and the death rate was two hundred daily. When the municipal authorities found the city in the throes of a disastrous epidemic, and the public was demanding ways and means for combating and checking the plague, and caring for those stricken with the malady, the municipal government proved utterly impotent, absolutely incompetent to handle the situation. The result was a national tragedy in which thousands of lives were sacrificed. The municipal treasury which from various sources is annually augmented by two millions of pesos, was found empty, and to make a showing at combating the epidemic the national government was requested to provide means for establishing a vaccination service, hospitals, ambulance and medical corps. Speaking of the first appropriation by the central government for this purpose, amounting to ninety-two thousand pesos, La Union, one of the leading dailies of Valparaiso, under date of July 12, 1905, discussed the question in an article from which the following is an abstract and translation:

“Ninety-two thousand pesos in sand, mud and mire. This fact is in reality worthy of mention in history, because one who reads in foreign lands of the project of law passed by the President to Congress, to solicit the above sum to clean drains and carry away sand, mud and mire from the streets of the first port of Chile, cannot but feel the horror and dread for the country whose principal port on the Pacific lies in a pestilential pool. Years go by, cruel and compassionless plagues and calamities afflict us, the government money is squandered upon frivolous matters which are far from curing the evils, and Valparaiso lies in her muddy bed, inhaling the breath of death evaporated from the infested and unhealthy drains and streets.”

The following is an extract from and translation of an editorial that appeared in El Mercurio of Valparaiso, July 8, 1905:

“The foreign press is beginning to occupy itself with the situation of Valparaiso, and take note of the sad state in which the first port of the Republic finds itself, and in which reigns a deplorable and filthy abandon that helps the devastating work of smallpox that is decimating its population. Valparaiso with its infested streets, sidewalks destroyed, pavements removed and full of holes, with the enormous piles of dirt and mud accumulated in residence districts; Valparaiso, where there is no municipal street sweeping nor watering, or even carrying away of dirt; with infested public buildings (like the prisons), without organization to resist an epidemic, must create the impression in the minds of people in foreign countries, who read of its deplorable condition, that it is not the city of 200,000 inhabitants, described in geography as possessing an advanced and cultivated population and situated in an agreeable climate; as not being the port of so much commercial and maritime movement, which, as a bitter irony has sometimes been called the ‘Jewel of the Pacific.’”

Translation from La Union, Valparaiso:

“Valparaiso is again unfortunately under the weight and opprobrium of the great calamity of every winter. Mud covers all the streets, traffic is interrupted, social life is suspended, and one touches on every side mud and filth. To this is added the calamity of administrative corruption, and life is little more than a fight of a few civilized elements against barbarism, which destroys everything, morally and maternally.”

(The foregoing refers to Valparaiso before the earthquake in August, 1906, which destroyed the greater part of the business portion of the city, which has since been practically rebuilt, and the sanitary conditions somewhat improved.)

These and similar arraignments by the press of Chile of the management of municipalities, give a better idea of the existing conditions than any criticism that might be offered by a foreigner.

THE NATIONAL HYMN

The first National Hymn of Chile was written in 1819, by Bernardo Vera, y Pintado. It was well received by the public from the first, and enthusiastically so when sung on September 18th, the anniversary of Republican Independence.

The hymn was first sung to the music of the Argentine National Anthem, but in 1820 Manuel Robles, a Chilean composer wrote appropriate music for the patriotic words. His composition was used until 1828, when Ramon Carnicer composed the music since used.

The verses as first written expressed the bitter feelings of the Chileans towards the Spaniards, but later when public sentiment became less hostile, the wording of the hymn was modified. In 1847 it was again rewritten. The following is a copy in Spanish, and a translation:

THE NATIONAL HYMN

(La Cancion Nacional)

Dulce Patria, Recibe los Votos
Con que Chile en tus Aras Juro;
Que o la Tumba Sera de los Libres,
O el Asilo Contra la Opresion.

1

Ha cesado la lucha sangrienta.
Ya es hermano el que ayer invasor;
De tres siglos lavamos la afrenta,
Combatiendo en el campo de honor.
El que ayer doblegabase esclavo
Libre al fin y triunfante se ve:
Libertad es la herencia del bravo,
La victoria se humilla á sus pies.

2

Alza Chile, sin mancha la frente,
Conquistaste tu nombre en la lid:
Siempre noble, constante y valiente
Te encontraron los hijos del Cid!
Que tus libres, tranquilos coronen
A las artes, la industria y la paz,
Y de triunfo cantares entonen,
Que amedrenten al despota audaz.

3

Vuestros nombres valientes soldados
Que habeis sido de Chile el sosten.
Nuestros pechos los llevan grabados,
Los sabran nuestros hijos tambien:
Sean ellos el grito de muerte
Que lancemos, marchando á lidiar;
Y sonando en la boca del fuerte,
Ilagan siempre al tirano temblar.

4

Si pretende el canon estranjero
Nuestros pueblos osado invadir,
Desnudemos al punto el acera
Y sepamos vencer ó morir.
Con su sangre el altivo araucano
Nos lego por herencia el valor.
Y no tiembla la espada en la mano
Defendiendo de Chile el honor.

5

Puro, Chile, es tu cielo azulado,
Puras brisas te cruzan tambien,
Y tu campo de flores sembrado
Es la copia feliz del Eden.
Majestuosa es la blanca montana
Que te dio por baluarte el Señor,
Y ese mar que tranquilo te banas
Te promete futuro esplendor.

6

Esas galas oh Patria! esas flores,
Que tapizan tu suelo feraz
No las pisen jamas invasores,
Con su sombra las cubra la paz.
Nuestros pechos seran tu baluarte
Con tu nombre sabremos vencer,
O tu noble y glorioso estandarte
Nos vera combatiendo caer.

TRANSLATION

(Chorus)

Sweet Country, Receive the Vows
To which Thou Didst on Thy Altar Make Oath,
That Chile Shall Be the Tomb of the Free,
Or an Asylum Against Oppression.

1

The bloody fight has ceased and
Yesterday’s invader is now a brother.
Of three centuries we wash the affront,
Fighting on the field of honor.
He that was yesterday called slave
Is seen at last free and triumphant,—
Liberty is the inheritance of the brave,
Victory humbles herself at his feet.

2

Lift, O Chile, thy stainless brow,
For thou didst win thy name in battle;
The sons of the Cid did ever find thee
Noble, constant, true and brave.
Let thy children tranquilly crown
Industry, peace and the arts,
And sing hymns of victory
To terrify the audacious despot.

3

Your names, valiant soldiers,
Who have been Chile’s support,
Shall be engraved on our hearts
And on those of our children as well.
Let them be the war cry of death
On our march to the battle,
And out of the mouth of the strong,
May they ever make the tyrant tremble.

4

Should the foreigners’ cannon
Dare to invade our lands,
Let us draw the sword at once,
And know how to conquer or die.
With the blood of the Araucanian
We have inherited our valor;
The sword shall not tremble in the hand
That defends the honor of Chile.

5

Pure, O Chile, is thy azure sky,
Purest breezes do cross thee as well,
And thy flower-embroidered fields
Are the happy copy of Eden.
Majestic are the snow-covered mountains,
Given by God for thy bulwark,
And the ocean that washes thy shores
Is a promise of thy future splendor.

6

Those graces, O Chile, those flowers
Which carpet thy fruitful soil,
Let them never be trod by invaders,
But sheltered by the shadow of peace.
Our hearts shall be thy walls,—
With thy name we shall know how to win,
Or thy noble and glorious standard
Shall see us fall fighting.

Transcriber’s Notes

A few minor errors in punctuation were fixed.

Page 65: “Vina del Mar” changed to “Viña del Mar”

Page 69: “Don Fedrico” changed to “Don Federico”

Page 117: “in Uraguay” changed to “in Uruguay”

Page 127 & 128: “alemos” changed to “alamos”

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Table of Contents

PROGRESSIVE CHILE
PREFACE
CONTENTS

GEOGRAPHICAL

- NAME.

- DIVISION OF TERRITORY.

- RIVERS AND WATERWAYS.

- TIERRA DEL FUEGO.

BRIEF HISTORY

- FORM OF GOVERNMENT.

- THE WAR OF 1879.

- THE TACNA AND ARICA QUESTION.

- ELECTION OF BALMACEDA.

INDIANS

- CHILOTES AND CHONOS.

- FUEGUINOS OR CANOE INDIANS.

- ONAS.

- YAHGANS.

- ALACALUPES.

- PATAGONIANS.

CLASSIFIED HUSBANDMEN

- PEONS.

- LAND OWNER NO. 1.

- LAND OWNER NO. 2.

- LAND OWNER NO. 3.

- HACIENDAS AND HACENDADOS.

- RODEO.

- CHACRA.

HABITS AND CUSTOMS

RELIGION

- FEAST DAYS.

- PROCESSION OF THE PELICAN.

- FEAST OF THE PATRON SAINT.

SUPERSTITIONS

MARRIAGES

BIRTHS AND DEATHS

- BIRTHS.

- DEATHS.

SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

- UNIVERSITY OF CHILE.

LANGUAGE

COURTS AND LEGAL PROCEDURE

- FIRST.

- SECOND.

- FIRST.

- SECOND.

- THIRD.

- FIRST.

- SECOND.

- NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS FOR JUDGES OF LETTERS.

- MEMBERS OF COURTS OF APPEAL.

- TO BE A MEMBER OF THE SUPREME COURT.

- DISTRICT JUDGE OR JUDGE OF SUBDELEGATION.

- QUALIFICATIONS FOR LAWYERS.

- PRACTICE.

CRIME

RAILWAYS

- TRANSANDINE RAILWAY.

- ARICA, LA PAZ RAILWAY.

- LONGITUDINAL RAILWAY.

- ELECTRIC ROADS.

- TRAVEL.

INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS

- VINEYARDS.

- VEHICLES.

- COAL.

- MINING AND MANUFACTURING.

POPULATION AND COLONIZATION

VILLAGES AND CITIES

- SANTIAGO.

- VALPARAISO.

- VIÑA DEL MAR.

- CONCEPCION.

- MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.

THE NATIONAL HYMN

- THE NATIONAL HYMN

- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6

Transcriber’s Notes

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE