Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 February 1892 — CHILIAN CITIES. [ARTICLE]

CHILIAN CITIES.

A GLANCE AT SANTIAGO AND VALPARAISO. The Former Is Iftre Capital and the Paris «f South Ameriea. —The Latter is a 'Commercial Center. IVe-cities anflttowns of Chili are ao> numerous. The largest center of populatrau is found at Santiago, the capital of Chili. The population is some 2©0,000. The nest in size is Valparaiso, tingreat commercial port of the State, and j wear the coital, with a population ol i 120,000. The other places of importance, Talco, Conception, Iquique, Civil-! lan, Serena, Copiapo, San Felipe, Cnrico, j ihave a population of from 2< I,oooto 100,- 1 000. Many of the smaller towns are •centers -of mining industries, where the peon laborers make up the 'batik of the population. Santiago,'which is a distance of 'Some ■fourihours by express Iran frosn Valpa raiso,-has all the appearance of a capital. it is n weulthy city, tend the haudsomest one south of the equator. It is the Paris of South America. Santiago has many fine public and private build ings, aud handsome equipages are numerous. -It is sitfuted in u'bro.ul plain, •hemmed in by giountuius. Tih.; climate .is superb, the meat: summer being -seventy degrees Fahrenheit, and in winter fifty-two degrees Fahrenheit. Tho city is laid out •in .chessboard style, and the •blocks aro known us cusiilras. The great centre of life in the Chilian capital is the plaza. Here.the tramways -start and- ihe hackney couches are ■stationed. Of evenings, when the bi.nl plays, it is the fusAionuble promenade. As in all bouth American 'cities having •any ,pretensions, around the Santiago plamare groped the cathedral, the uiwn!nnll and the Go ernor's palace. The proper ions of this plaza are good, and shade'trees numerous. What are called itheibaratillos ure the -great feature of this place. These are booths built under one -side of a long arcade, and here unsold all thoso indispensable trifles which -delight the Santiago men and women. Sign-boards over-shops show the cosmopolitan character-of tho city, aud you -can read uames'whieh you have spelled out before on Bond street or on the Boulevard. Englishmen, Frenchmen and German shopmen busily engaged dispensing their goods are common in Santiago.

If there aro many fine houses occupied by aristocratic and wealthy families, much of Santiago is built up with structuros.made of udobo or sun-dried brick. Ornamentations of ihe outside of houses are .not in good taste, studeo being in too common use. It must bo borne in mind, however, that Chili is an earthquake country, and in lightness there is ■safety. The genuine Chilian city houses of the past, following the plans of thoso in Seville, still existing in Santiago, ure gloomy and cloistral. The Alameda of Santiago is a superb avenue, shaded by trees, aud bears a faint resemblunce to tho Champs Elysees. Along tho Alameda have been reared tho statues of Chilian heroes— Genoral San Martin, Bernardo O’Higgins, Carrera, Bello and Freire. As the centre of education, the capital of Chili possesses numerous schools. If ihe lato President Balinaceda had faults, he believed most in tho general education of tho Chilians. There is a museum of natural history, of fine arts, and a yearly Salon is held. There is a eonservutory of music, and a fair public library. Santiago may be said to be a city with a great future before it, but where matters arestill in somewhat of an inchoate condition. Progress is marked in some directions, and there is retrogression in others. Valparaiso is the city which, after all, plays the great role in Chilian matters. The commercial entrepot of this South American State is situated on a bay, ex- * posed to the high winds which sweep down.it from the north. . The quays on the water side are numerous, there ure -many streets running parallel with the quays,.aud back rise the hills, dotted with houses.' From these residences a fine view of the buy can be had. These •spurs of hilly ridges are known as cerros. The wealthier people of Valparaiso have selected tlie.greener or more fertile portions of these,hills, leaving to the poorer the more arid cerros. Valparaiso is essentially.a business town, aud as thorouglily engrossed in commerce ns is Liverpool. There are certain streets well provided with-shops, but offices, banks, warehouses, and merchants’ quarters are ors greater importance. There is a nvole, the Muelle Fiscal, some little of a protection for shipping, built to facilitate the landing .of goods and passengers, but it is inadequate for the increasing,commercial wants .of the citv..

Near the Muelle Fiscal stand the huge •custom house .and bonded warehouses. From the top .of .a hill on which siuuds a ' military school maylbn seen 'he fleet of steamers, sailing ships, the lighters that ea%«n the business of Valparaiso, und tbe floating defences of ChiLi —her warships and ironeflads—and fur, far beyond fi'ietch the jagged promout<a - ies, which slope toward the blue waters of the ocean. Valparaiso, if literally translated, means The Vale of Faradiso.,” but the poeiical conception is quite lost as far as the city is concerned, for within it there is nothing which is pleasing to the eye. The business town is indifferent to architectural display- What /Strikes the American most is the constant sound of English. In all the more important South American cities you will find abundance of German, French and Italian, but the English in Valparaiso: rule the roast, and have for their share the largest interests in Chilian commerce. It is the foreign element which, in a large mcastire, controls the orgau-_ izatiou and management of- all great Chilian enterprises. It is from the City, or moneyed London, that tho plans have originated, and the capital subscribed to work the copper or the nitrates. Chiliuns -may have originally owned the sources ot mineral wealth, or be still interested in them, but it is the manager who hails from Great Britain whose word or will is law. The Chilian temperament inclines towards “passive enjoyment,” and therefore the native inhabitant of Santiago, if he is not in copper, or hides, or nitre, or politics, leads an iudolent life. Trade in Valparaiso is heavy, for in exchange for the raw Chilian exports there are imports of every variety of goods. Mnnufac' uring but little, Chili's demands—that is, during her period •of prosperity —were immense, and ninetenths of her entire imports have found an entrance in Valparaiso. The .'ower classes have few needs, but the wants of the richer and higher-bred Chilians are numberless, from a bottle of perfume to the last French novel.—[Harper's Weekly. This progress of death was uniquoly reported by the dying Dr. Richct to his

sou, « of *ind hit physician. As his end approached he carefully Ascribed to thorn -every perceptible sensation. At Ike moment when observed unmistakable signs of immediate dissolution, -surprised them by saying. “You see l«m dying.”