In Valparaiso, and in Santiago the capital, which lies about fifty miles inland as the crow flies, but over double that distance by rail, the Englishman finds himself very much at home. In nearly all the shops he can hear his native tongue spoken, and at the social functions many of the fashions and customs of his country
AN ARAUCANIAN FAMILY.
are followed and observed. At the watering-places Vina do Mar and Miramar, not far from Valparaiso, the beach scenes might well be likened to those on the shores of retiring English watering-places, whilst the sturdy children who romp upon the sands display a healthy vitality that only temperate climates seem to develop. Valparaiso is a busy town, where the inhabitants are all on business bent; and although they live upon an earthquake zone, they have expressions free from the anxiety which one might expect to see upon their faces. Many of the buildings, both in the city and suburbs, have many scars and cracks, received during the great upheaval of 1906, and nervous persons prefer to live in structures that are light and low, than to trust to the higher though solidly built buildings that offer little chances of escape in the terrible moments of a shock.
Horses are cheap in Chili; and the beautifully situated racecourse, near Vina do Mar, is well patronised by all classes. Though not so imposing or so ostentatious as the famous course at Buenos Ayres, it is more fortunate in its setting, and the beauty of the surrounding scenery, with the great background of the Cordillera towering into the sky, gives it a character which many race-courses lack. In some respects it might be compared with the one at Rio, but, if anything, it has a more distinguished loveliness. Many tennis courts and a golf course are well patronised by both sexes, and riding is an almost universal form of exercise. In Santiago the government classes make the society more brilliant in its display, and although the city still retains many characteristically Spanish buildings, its inhabitants are cosmopolitan in their tastes and education. The Alameda, an avenue over five miles in length and lined with beautiful trees, is a promenade much affected by the fashion of the capital, and the horses and carriages are only exceeded in elegance and beauty by the women, who are as beautiful as their distant cousins in Argentina. In the evenings the Plaza is a blaze of light and life, and no one can dispute the Chilians’ capacity for social enjoyment. Public monuments to illustrious natives are numerous, and one to O’Higgins, seated on his prancing steed and flourishing his sword, is strongly reminiscent of the numerous replicas of the San Martin monuments which are scattered through the neighbouring republic of Argentina.
These two men had a large share in the emancipating of the continent from the degenerate government of Spain, and their deeds of valour, ever fresh in the minds of their countrymen, continue to animate the spirit of independence.
AN ARAUCANIAN INDIAN.
When the Spaniards first set foot in Chili they found a large portion of the country under the sway of the Incas, for although that dynasty is generally associated with Peru, at the height of its power it exercised domination over Ecuador and Chili in addition. Almagro, the gallant General who fell a victim to the insatiable ambition of his former comrade Pizarro, was the first of the conquerors to enter the country, but his stay was not prolonged, for the climate was inhospitable, and there was no gold to be had for the seeking. It remained for Valdivia, a lieutenant of Pizarro’s, to carry on the work which Almagro had attempted in a half-hearted fashion. He found the task a particularly perilous one, and before he could complete it he was captured by the Araucanians and slain by the war club of an old chief. Spain, however, persisted in her project, and her eventual conquest of Chili certainly makes one of the proudest records in the variegated page of her exploits in the New World. In the early years of the nineteenth century Chili went through an experience which was common to every other South American country—it battled for its independence. The struggle was long and desperate. The resemblance of the Chilians to the English has already been noted, and it was therefore appropriate that two men of British descent should have lent incalculable aid to Chili in securing her enfranchisement. The names of Bernardo O’Higgins and Lord Thomas Cochrane are deservedly honoured in the country to-day.