Bustamante is a post house, where travellers often pass a night when on their journey to or from the capital; the accommodations are indifferent, but a few years ago nothing of the kind existed: it must therefore be considered an improvement. After leaving Bustamante the road gradually ascends, and at the distance of about a league from the house the cuesta de Zapata commences. From the top of this eminence the view of the Andes is most enchanting; the snow-covered mountains rise majestically, one range behind another, until their summits are lost in the clouds, or, when the sky is clear, till they are most exactly defined in the azure vault of heaven. When nearly at the foot of the cuesta, the city of Santiago, the capital of Chile, makes its appearance; it is situated in a large plain, having a small rocky mountain, called Santa Lucia, almost in the centre of which is a small battery.
The excellent road from Valparaiso to Santiago was made by the order and under the direction of Don Ambrose Higgins, when president of Chile. Before the formation of this road all goods were carried to and from the capital or the port on the backs of mules, but the greater part is now conveyed in heavy carts, carretas, drawn by two or three yokes of oxen. A coach was established in 1820 by Mr. Moss, a North American; it went from Valparaiso to Santiago, and returned twice a week. The distance is thirty leagues.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] From the very first proclamation this promise was made to the Peruvians; but we shall soon see how it was fulfilled by San Martin.
[5] This town was completely destroyed by the earthquake in 1823.
CHAPTER VI.
Santiago....Foundation....Description of the City....Contrast between the Society here and at Lima....State of Chile....Manners and Customs....Revolution....Carreras....O'Higgins....Defeat at Rancagua....Chileans cross the Cordillera....Action of Chacabuco....Of Maypu....Death of Don Juan Jose, and Don Luis Carrera....Murder of Colonel Rodrigues....Formation of a Naval Force....Death of Spanish Prisoners at San Luis....Naval Expedition under Lord Cochrane....Failure of the Attack on Callao....Attack at Pisco....Death of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles....Capture of Vessels at Guayaquil....Squadron returns to Chile.
Santiago, the capital of Chile, was founded on the 24th February, 1541, by the Spanish conqueror Pedro de Valdivia. Its situation is in an extensive valley called de Mapocho, bounded on the east by the Cordillera, on the west by the hills or mountains de Prado and Poanque, on the north by the small river of Colina, and on the south by the river Mapocho, or Topocalma, which passes the city on one side, and feeds many asequias, small canals for irrigation; it also supplies the city with water.