PROGRESSIVE CHILE

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.

[Pg 11]

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[Pg 12] 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[Pg 13] 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,[Pg 14] 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[Pg 15] 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[Pg 16] 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.[Pg 17] 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[Pg 18] 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[Pg 19] 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[Pg 20] 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[Pg 21] 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[Pg 22] 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[Pg 23] 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[Pg 24] 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.

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[Pg 26] 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[Pg 27] 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[Pg 28] 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[Pg 29] 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[Pg 30] 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.

[Pg 31]

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[Pg 32] 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[Pg 33] 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[Pg 34] 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[Pg 35] 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[Pg 36] 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,[Pg 37] 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[Pg 38] 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[Pg 39] 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[Pg 40] 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[Pg 41] 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[Pg 42] 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[Pg 43] 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[Pg 44] 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[Pg 45] 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.

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[Pg 148] 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[Pg 149] 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[Pg 150] 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[Pg 151] 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[Pg 152] 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[Pg 153] 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.

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[Pg 155] 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[Pg 156] 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[Pg 157] 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[Pg 158] 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[Pg 159] 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[Pg 160] 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.

[Pg 161]

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[Pg 162] 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[Pg 163] 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[Pg 164] 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[Pg 165] 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[Pg 166] 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.

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[Pg 168] 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[Pg 169] 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[Pg 170] 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.[Pg 171] 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.

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.[Pg 173] 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[Pg 174] 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[Pg 175] 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[Pg 176] 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[Pg 177] 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[Pg 178] 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 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[Pg 180] 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[Pg 181] 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[Pg 182] 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[Pg 183] 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.

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.[Pg 185] 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[Pg 186] 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[Pg 187] 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[Pg 188] 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.

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[Pg 190] 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.

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[Pg 192] 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[Pg 193] 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.

[Pg 194]

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[Pg 195] 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[Pg 196] 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[Pg 197] 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[Pg 198] 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[Pg 199] 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[Pg 200] 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.

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[Pg 202] 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[Pg 203] 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[Pg 204] 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.

[Pg 205]

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[Pg 206] 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[Pg 207] 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[Pg 208] 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.

[Pg 209]

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:

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:

[Pg 210]

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.

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[Pg 212] 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[Pg 213] 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[Pg 214] 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[Pg 215] 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,[Pg 216] 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.

[Pg 217]

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.

[Pg 218]

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[Pg 219] 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,[Pg 220] 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.

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[Pg 222] 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[Pg 223] 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[Pg 224] 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[Pg 225] 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[Pg 226] 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[Pg 227] 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.

[Pg 228]

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[Pg 229] 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,[Pg 230] 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.

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[Pg 232] 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[Pg 233] 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[Pg 234] 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.

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[Pg 236] 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,[Pg 237] 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[Pg 238] 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[Pg 239] 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[Pg 240] 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[Pg 241] 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.

[Pg 242]

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[Pg 243] 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[Pg 244] 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.[Pg 245] 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[Pg 246] 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.

[Pg 247]

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:

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

Translation from La Union, Valparaiso:

[Pg 249]

(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 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

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,
[Pg 253]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.

[Pg 254]

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.