is a graduate of the Ecole Centrale of Paris, and his indefatigable activity speedily insured the prosperity of the undertaking. It is divided into two departments, a school of agriculture proper, and a veterinary college. The course, which comprises agriculture, botany, and treatment of diseases of animals, besides the elements of chemistry, physiology, geology, zoology, and geometry, besides geography and drawing, extends over three years, every pupil educated at the expense of the State being required to devote six years to the public service. Government has reserved to itself thirty free presentations, which it may increase to sixty.
The small but well-arranged museum contains an admirably selected collection of the most important esculents and grasses suitable for foddering cattle, as also the conditions of soil which are best suited for growing these, besides a number of different fruits, executed in papier maché, with remarkable fidelity to nature, belonging to trees and plants, cultivated at the Institute, with the purpose of ultimately selling them at the proper time to farmers, and thus not only do justice to agriculture as a science, but increase its own revenue, not to speak of the benefits, direct and indirect, to the country at large. The purchaser is thus enabled to judge for himself what description of fruit will be likely to prove most remunerative to him, while the establishment at the same time realizes a considerable sum by this sale of seedlings, plants, and seeds, in a country where hitherto so little attention has been bestowed on high-class agriculture.
The zealous and far-seeing director is also endeavouring to induce the Chilean landowner to grow turnips, and other tubers, which might be used for foddering the cattle in winter, and so lead to a more economical system of cultivation, and consequent improvement of the race of farmers themselves. At present, where this kind of farming is utterly unknown, as soon as winter sets in, many a landowner finds himself compelled, year after year, to sell or kill his cattle owing to want of fodder, while he himself goes out as a day labourer, till the return of spring. The introduction and extension of such a system, which would enable him to maintain his herds and flocks all the year round, would put a stop to his present unsettled mode of life, improve his farm, and impart increased comfort and security to every relation of his business.
At this Escuela normal we likewise found the sorgho, or Chinese sugar-cane, in course of cultivation with great success. Though the temperature is occasionally so low in Santiago as to form, during the winter, ice[111] about two lines in thickness, the sorgho does not seem to suffer any damage, but gives its three crops each year, besides being much used for fodder. The first seeds of this species of grass, which has within four years made the circuit of the globe, and is now profitably cultivated
in almost every part of the world, were imported into Chile from the free States of North America.
Professor Domeyko, who possesses a most admirable geological and mineralogical collection, presented the Expedition with a choice selection of interesting and costly ores from the copper, silver, cobalt, and quicksilver mines of the country; and although the rich stores of publications and geological specimens with which the director of the Geological Institution of the Austrian Empire, Counsellor Haidinger, had provided for the purpose to present them to scientific institutions in the different foreign countries visited, was already exhausted and done away with, yet we had at least the satisfaction of learning that the Imperial Institute of Geology,[112] whose eminent director has extended throughout the world the renown of Austria, as a pioneer of geology, maintains already an active correspondence with the managers of the museum of the Chilean Republic.
Very soon after our arrival at Santiago, our Commodore was honoured with a special audience by the President of the Republic, H.E. Don Manuel Montt. The Commodore was accompanied by the Austrian Consul-general and the author of this narrative. The reception came off in a plain but
elegantly-furnished apartment of the palace-like Government House, the style of which is quite modern. Don Manuel Montt, a short, under-sized gentleman, with dark strongly-marked features, and straight, somewhat bristly, hair, had during the recent troubles displayed more courage and energy than his external appearance would have led one to expect, and used his dictatorial authority with such discretion and prudence, as to excite the astonishment and respect of all well-wishers of his native land. He was attended at the interview by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Don Jerónimo Urmeneta, a man of frank, attractive manners, whose youth was spent in the United States, and who speaks English fluently.
The conversation turned chiefly upon the proposed commercial and navigation treaty projected by the Imperial Government, a sketch of which in the Spanish language was read over to the President by the Commodore. Don Manuel (as the highest authority in the free State of Chile was called by the people) expressed the utmost readiness to carry out this arrangement, and repeatedly avowed his wish to enter into intimate relations with the Austrian Government, and execute all necessary papers, which could assist an object fraught with such benefits to both nations. He also spoke of the desirability of endeavouring to increase the intercourse between the scientific institutes of Chile and Austria, and in token of the interest he took in the objects of the Expedition, presented a copy of Gay's splendid work, as also