Regarding the inhabitants, the Chileno is called the Yankee of South America. He is not afraid of work, consequently steamship companies like to employ him, because for less pay he will do more work than any person of any nationality will do, including North Americans. He is the only native south of Texas who if hit will come back at his aggressor. In behavior he is apt to be rough and coarse (this does not apply to the aristocracy), but rarely is he uncivil. Many Chilenos ape the tonsorial adornment of a man who died in the year 33 A.D., but I do not believe their actions jibe with his if what we read in history is true. The women are beautiful; they have no comparison anywhere else in the whole world. They have dark complexions, are finely featured, and are voluptuous. A poor figure is unknown among them. If a man prefers a different type than the average he can go to southern Chile and have the choice of a dark red-cheeked Araucanian maiden or a native girl of German extraction, whose eyes are like the still deep water of a pool, and whose cheeks have that rosy tinge of a ripening apple. In the railway eating-house in Rancagua, I met a man from Thomasville, Georgia, who said that on account of the looks of the Chilean women, he would lose his religion if he remained much longer in the country. I do not know what his religion was, but their beauty is enough to affect a man's head.
One of the Chilean institutions that bears comment is that of the table waiters in the hotels and restaurants. It needs serious improvement. The waiters are a white-aproned, moustached, whiskered set who go after and bring back food on the run. They never walk and vie with one another to make the most noise and bring their feet down heaviest after taking orders. The waiter takes your order on the run, slams the food in front of you on the run, takes your money on the run, accepts his tip and thanks you on the run. In Europe and in the United States, these actions would not be tolerated in a first-class café. In Chile, however, these are the instructions given to the waiters when they seek employment.
In the larger towns, especially in Santiago and in Valparaiso, there is a great illegitimacy of births among the lower classes. This is due to the inconstant actions of the men. For instance a poor laborer will marry a girl and live with her several years, during which time she will become the mother of several children. The husband in the meantime finding that the support of a family leaves him with no pocket money to indulge in his periodical debauches, all of a sudden, without saying anything to his wife, deserts her and strikes out for the country where he obtains employment. He rarely comes back. The poor wife, left destitute with several offspring, has a hard time making a living. Other young women, cognizant of the fickle actions of the men, prefer living with them outside of wedlock, for if the man deserts her a woman still has a chance of getting married, while if she was once married, it would be impossible for her to marry again, because there is no divorce law in Chile. I have known of people in Chile who desired a divorce being obliged to go to Uruguay to live as I understand that is the only republic in South America where divorces are granted. As to morals I imagine Chile is no worse off than any other country, excepting among the lower element. Speaking of them to a friend of mine, one of the most prominent men in Valparaiso and a high official of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, he said: "Among the lower class there is but little distinction between the women who are virtuous and those who are not. The former are always on the qui vive to increase their income providing they do not get caught at it."
Among this stratum the Fiesta of the Angelito (Feast of the Little Angel) plays an important rôle. They maintain that if a child dies it becomes a little angel, and many of the poor to whom the expense of rearing a superfluous child is a burden welcome its decease although they do much wailing at the funeral. They welcome it for they have a chance to make some money and also indulge in an alcoholic debauch. When the child dies the parents invite all their friends to their home. Great quantities of cheap wine are ordered and consumed. Each friend gives as much money as he can afford toward the burial expenses and towards the purchase of the liquid refreshments. A drunken orgy lasting all night takes place. After it is over and the body is buried, the parents have money left over. Owing to the high mortality among infants, on account of neglect, malnutrition, and ever present typhoid fever, these Fiestas of the Angelito are of frequent occurrence in every neighborhood.
Chile is the only country in South America which has strict prohibition laws. There are quite a few localities that are "dry." Saloons are closed all day Sundays; bars also close early at night. The penalties for breaking these laws are heavy, yet in no other country in South America, with the exception of Peru, is there as much drunkenness as in Chile, and all these other countries have no prohibition laws, and their towns are wide open.
The reception given at Santiago to the occupants of the private train from Buenos Aires bearing the special ambassadors and their staff to the installation of Chile's president was tremendous. As the train rolled into the great and high vaulted Mapocho station amid the fanfare and beating of drums, martial music broke out and rent the air with the national march. Great sturdy, powerfully built blonde officers, helmeted, in their full dress uniforms, exact replicas of the German army of a decade ago, grouped themselves on the platform to greet the guests. Their subordinates stood at attention until the last of the officers who had boarded the train at Los Andes left the train. In the background stood symmetrical rows of policemen parting a human aisle down which we passed to the vigorous blasts of a band. Thousands of people cried "Hurrah" which was echoed and reëchoed through the lofty waiting room of the great building. At the windows and on the street behind the iron grating of the train shed were squeezed myriads of faces endeavoring to catch a view of the impressive spectacle. At the curb outside the station doors, to where the guests had already advanced, stood dignified statesmen in Prince Alberts awaiting the arrival of the automobiles from the Ministries of Brazil and of Argentina which were to drive the envoys of those two respective countries away. Soon several limousines arrived, their chauffeurs decorated with large rosettes of green and yellow, and blue and white, the symbolical colors of those two large South American republics. There was no car whose driver was adorned with red, the color of Portugal, for that last-named country has no minister to Chile solely (their representative to Buenos Aires looks after the affairs of Portuguese in Chile), so little Botelho was obliged to take a non-decorated automobile which drove him and de Lima to the Hotel Oddo, to which place Mr. Alexander and myself also went.
The military pageant which continued throughout the ensuing week was most impressive. The Chilean army, trained by German officers, and their navy by British officers, are always prepared and on the alert for any infringements on their national rights. Chile is the strongest fighting power in South America, and has the best military organization. Its men are born fighters who have the advantage of superior training. The whole personnel and equipment of their army can undoubtedly put in the background any country in the world which has a population double that of Chile. The Brazilian and Argentine officers and soldiers taken as a whole show up mighty poorly compared to those of Chile. Here we have a reproduction of the German army on a small scale. The uniforms are similar to those that Germany had before the latter country adapted the gray color. It is interesting to note that von der Goltz, who reorganized the Turkish army at the time of the Balkan War, had been once loaned by Germany to Chile to bring its army to a state of efficiency.
Santa Lucia Hill, Santiago