A GROUP OF CHILEAN GIRLS.
The colonies of Chile, such as Valdivia, Osorno and others around Lake Llanquihue, are principally made up of Germans and Dutch. Most of these were poor and ignorant when they came to their new homes, and some have remained so. They have built up several prosperous communities, however, and there they will be found, a quiet, peaceable and an intelligent population. This frontier had quite a boom at one time, and thousands were attracted here by the seductive literature sent out by the wily agents stationed in Europe. Town after town sprang up. Men who had never done a day’s work on a farm and ne’er-do-wells came over. Few of them had any money. For several years there was much hardship. The government was not always prompt in carrying out its pledges, for the officials could not see why “to-morrow” would not do just as well. Some finally returned, and others drifted into the larger cities. But many were very successful and now have good farms to show as a reward for their industry. After the war with Peru many of the disbanded soldiers were granted tracts of land here. Considerable lawlessness followed, as they robbed the unresisting Germans of their cattle and other animals. The outlaws being in league with the officials, no redress could be secured, and the colonists complained with good reason. These conditions have ended. The Teutons have generally remained apart from the Chileans, and the percentage of intermarriage has been small. Some have not even mastered the Spanish tongue, and few take any part in the government. These two races may become amalgamated eventually, and it would be a good thing for Chile to receive into its fold this sturdy Teutonic blood.
Of all the nationalities, other than Spanish, that have entered Chile, the British is the most prominent and has been the most prosperous. It is likewise the most numerous. Britons, such as the O’Higgins, Lord Cochrane and Captain Prat, have helped to fight Chile’s battles, and their financiers have advanced the money that has developed her resources. Hence it is not surprising that one will find the characteristics of that tight little island impressed upon the country, and, in many instances, upon the people. English names are quite common among prominent Chilean families, for they have become nationalized. Men who came there a generation or two ago married the daughters of Chile, and the families are essentially Chilean, although bearing English names. Many of these English-Chilenos are very prominent. One man, who had been a member of the Chilean Congress, told me that one-fourth of the members of that body, at the time of his membership, had had English fathers or grandfathers. The progress of Chile in many lines can be traced to this influence.
Valparaiso bears many British characteristics. A walk along the principal business streets will show almost as many English signs as those in Spanish. The English language will be heard on every corner. The Anglo-Saxon face is a familiar sight. In the banking and shipping quarters nearly everything is British, with a sprinkling of the Teuton. At Iquique and Antofagasta it is still more marked, for the nitrate and copper interests are almost entirely in the hands of English capital. Each year scores of young men come out from the home land and accept positions with the banks, railroads and manufacturing interests. Some of them remain permanently, and others claim only a temporary domicile. Most of them do not assimilate very readily with the Spaniard. There is both a racial and religious antagonism. This wears away after a while with many, for they are shut off from home ties and the restraints of society.
Homes in the proper sense are not open to these aliens, and their quarters are devoid of home comforts. Hence the young Englishmen seek companionship where they are sure to be welcome. Always criticising the loose morals of the Chileans, they generally do nothing to better conditions, and oftentimes end by taking a part in the dissipation. They frequent the bars and clubs and indulge in great quantities of strong liquors. Shut off by social customs from the better homes, they oftentimes unite themselves with the freer and easier strata of society. As an English writer expresses himself of his own countrymen: “We have done much to aid in developing the country along certain defined lines; but we have done little or nothing to ingratiate ourselves with the people, or to aid in raising the moral tone of those we affect to despise. The English in Chile commonly remain like a bed of cabbages in a Chilean flower-garden—self-satisfied and self-aggrandizing, usurping all the nourishment they can obtain, and neither specially ornamental nor specially interesting.” Chile has provided homes and, in many instances, fortunes for the English, and they should return more to such a hospitable mother than has been done heretofore.
CHAPTER X
AN UNCONQUERABLE RACE
The most indomitable of the native races in the New World, with the exception of the red men of North America, have been the Araucanians of Chile. They are the proudest, richest and bravest of the Indians of South America. At the time of the conquest this race occupied the greater part of Chile, and had spread across the Andes into a part of Patagonia, which country they shared with the Tehuelches, the so-called giants. For three hundred years they waged a successful warfare against the Spanish invaders, and the republic of Chile which later succeeded the Spanish province. It was not until 1884 that they were finally conquered, and submitted to the Chilean government after certain rights and privileges were guaranteed to them. So long as the Chileans attempted to conquer the Indians by brute force they failed, just as had the Spaniards before them. It was not until some tact and judgment were used that any real progress was made in the subjugation of these people.