Among the most remarkable objects in Valparaiso may be numbered the moveable prison. It consists of a number of large covered wagons, not unlike those used for the conveyance of wild beasts. In the inside of each wagon, planks are fixed up like the board bedsteads in a guard-house, affording resting-places for eight or ten prisoners. A guard is stationed at the door, which is at the back of the wagon; and in the front a sort of kitchen is constructed. These wagons are drawn by the prisoners themselves, who are for the most part destined to work in the streets and roads, and, accordingly, they take their prison with them when they are ordered to any considerable distance from the town. To a country in which there may be said to be no winter, this sort of nomad prison is exceedingly well-suited, and the prisoners may be conveyed from place to place at very little expense.
I went into some of these moveable prisons, and I must confess that I never beheld such an assemblage of ill-looking faces as were collected within them. In the countenances of some of the prisoners unbridled passion and degrading sensuality were so plainly and so odiously portrayed, that one shuddered to reflect that such features could be an index of the human mind. Most of them were Creole Indians; but there were a few Europeans among them. To me it was melancholy to behold the European, who might be supposed to possess some little share of education, mounting the prison steps chained to his fellow-criminal, the uncivilized Chileno.
In Valparaiso, as in all seaports, there is a heterogeneous mixture of different countries, nations, languages, and manners, amidst which the national character of the country is entirely lost. The trade in European goods is very extensive, but almost exclusively in the hands of a few great North American and English houses, who supply the whole country with the articles they import. At times, such is the overstock of importations, that goods are sold at lower prices in Valparaiso than in Europe. The warehouses are so filled with some sorts of merchandise, that without any fresh supplies there would be sufficient for some years to come.
Among the clerks in the mercantile houses I met with a great number of Germans, who all maintain an intimate association with each other. They have formed themselves into a union, and they have a very commodious place in which they hold their meetings. Following their example, the English have united together and established several clubs. The French have not gained any considerable footing in this part of South America, in which there are scarcely two French mercantile houses of any consequence. On the other hand, there is abundance of French hairdressers, tailors, shoemakers, jewellers, confectioners, and Chevaliers d'industrie. Neither is there any want of Modistes Parisiennes et Bordelaises.
Valparaiso is yearly increasing in extent and in the numbers of its inhabitants; but the town makes little improvement in beauty. That quarter which is built along the Quebradas is certainly susceptible of no improvement, owing to the unfavorable locality, and it is only the newly-built houses on the heights that impart to the town anything like a pleasing aspect. In laying out buildings in a place like Valparaiso, the aid of art should make amends for the defects of nature. My visits to Valparaiso did not produce a very favorable impression on me. The exclusively mercantile occupations of the inhabitants, together with the poverty of the adjacent country, leave little to interest the attention of a mere transient visitor. The case may be different with persons who, having longer time than I had to stay in the town, may enjoy opportunities of entering into society, and occasionally visiting the pleasant valley of Quillota and the interesting capital Santiago.
The latter is thirty leagues distant from the port; but a very active communication is kept up between the two places, and better roads would, no doubt, increase the intercourse. A few years ago the roads were very unsafe; but now the journey may be performed without danger if the Birlocheros (coach-drivers) are in the least degree careful.
The zoology of the neighborhood of Valparaiso is not very interesting, though more so along the sea-shore than in parts further inland. Among the Mammalia are sometimes seen the fox (Canis Azaræ, Wild.), and the pole-cat. In the immediate vicinity of the town a very large mouse is seen in the burrows of the ground; it is of the eight-toothed species (Octodon Cummingii, Benn.), and has a brush-formed tail. As the fields round Valparaiso are not cultivated these animals do no harm, otherwise they would be the plague of agriculture, and probably are so in the interior parts of the country. Now and then a sea-dog may be observed in the bay; but the whale is seldom seen, and whenever one appears he is immediately killed, as there is always a whaler at anchor and not far off.
In the market, live condors are frequently sold. These birds are caught in traps. A very fine one may be purchased for a dollar and a half. I saw eight of these gigantic birds secured in a yard in a very singular manner. A long narrow strap of leather was passed through the nostrils of the bird and firmly knotted at one end, whilst the other end was fastened to a wooden or iron peg fixed in the ground. By this means the motion of the bird was not impeded: it could walk within the range of a tolerably wide circle; but on attempting to fly it fell to the ground head foremost. It is no trifling matter to provide food for eight condors; for they are among the most ravenous of birds of prey. The owner of those I saw assured me that, by way of experiment, he had given a condor, in the course of one day, eighteen pounds of meat (consisting of the entrails of oxen); that the bird devoured the whole, and ate his allowance on the following day with as good an appetite as usual. I measured a very large male condor, and the width from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was fourteen English feet and two inches—an enormous expanse of wing, not equalled by any other bird except the white albatross. (Diomedea exulans, Linn.). The snipes (Scolopax frenata, Ill.) found on the little plain between the bay and the light-house are in color precisely like those of Europe, from which, however, they differ in having two more feathers in their tails. Small green parrots, little bigger than finches, are tamed and brought to Valparaiso from the interior of the country. These parrots are very docile, and are easily taught to speak; but they cannot endure cold, and require to be tended with very great care. In the bay itself there are numerous cormorants, and occasionally penguins and large flights of the cut-water or shear-bill (Rhynchops nigra, Linn.). The latter is distinguished by a sharp-pointed bill closing laterally, the under mandible being about double the length of the upper one. But the most beautiful bird in the bay of Valparaiso is the majestic swan (Cygnus nigricollis, Mol.), whose body is of dazzling white, whilst the head and neck are black.
On the 13th of August we at length obtained leave to sail. Early on the morning of the 14th we weighed anchor; and, as we sailed out of the Bay of Valparaiso, the summit of Aconcagua soon disappeared in the blue horizon.