Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1843-10-26


virginian, now resi- ding Santiago. the capital OF
rho q ,public Of Chill. give. a concise ard nteres'
ting view Of the habits, manners and political con-
dlion Of people who not very well known and
understood in tho United States:
SANTIAGO DE CnlLt, June rs, l8i3
santiagai. for Spanish city. handsome one
with a population Of hundred thousand souls
and with mo,e resources than Gun be commanded
by any inland tosn in either North OF South Amer
ica. 1t lies at the foot a the Andes oa the border
of an extensive aiu hundr eds OF miles long
by an average OF fom Thirty TO hty miles in width
and capable Of being subjected, in its whole eH
tent, 10 an abundant artificial irrigation / he land
i.as,ich as the baaks of the Nile. and produces CIV
cry thing that is attempted in great abundapcc.--
The priacipal crop is wheat have nat been 10
the best provinces at harvest time bat in the nesh
borhood of the capitol, where took some pains to
inform myself by actual observat'on--ihe average
crop Of the present, year from forty live 10 siS-
,y bushels PER acre, (not less) and Of a qaah'y
ve,v much better than any mnde 10 tie United
States.
The whole system Of agriculiate is The rudes'
er brokrn two inches deep--the seed Wheat scratch
e, in with brush snd the yield often very much di
rninished by the number Of rhisies and brush per-
mitted to grow The Indian corn IS OF very 'nts-
,or qualify, for the vty sufficient reason thai IL Il
soyed like wheat, and never ploughed afterwards
nor cultivated in any manner, Except by le'uns
water on TO ii. The great plain of Santiago, Of
f..l-p Z la lev
an immense chain d mountains lnnning from North
,osDuth. parallel withth5 Andes, i~Passabls hu, at
ye,v few points, and thus compelled TO be ('he
whale of lt) tributary he Capitol
Mos, of the houses Of Santiago but one $40
~ high. on account of the frequency o! earthquakes,
I'm, Of great extent, and furnished in style oi
.nasn6cence greatly exccedi'g any king wlich !
have seen ia the United States. The reason OF
this il. that an the better families of Chiii live IN
Santiago Whether the head Of the family be a
merchant in Valparaiso, miner in Cc4uimooi an
H.eienarro' Of tho country, still his house Is IN
Santiago, if he is man Of any means ana There
hs fani, lives the whole year. except ~ tie case
Of the Ilaeieodcro" Cor great landed proprietor
and even in his case they live in The eily Mus
inontas of the twelve.
The whola country Is in the band. Of large FRO
r,ietors aud their estaies are worked by their o"i
tcnaots. after the fashion Of The Feudal system.
ghors is no ciass II small farmers, no intermediate
c,ade between she "Hlcendrro'' and the : Peon
81 common peasant.
The uppe, class, without being thoroughly edu-
eavd, Is yet cell bred obsevant OF the laws
uf-,.o5cncss and coutcry than own people
and Ihuus IN fac, but ye,y Htle Informed yet with
All tie exterior appearance and mauners Of gentle
psu--s cls.s which, in any Spruish co'atfy. %oad
be described. as a class, MAY Cabelioro"--as a
pevrle, IN common English, decidedly gentle foiks
Thess ate psrhsPs a. one to G'e Of the entire pop
uls,ion af The country. For the rcs,, the entire
mos.. 10 appearance, dress, Installations, manners
and morals are about such people the Cherokee
or Choctaw indians, any other of the Indian
4ribes which. cor two or three generations, have
b,rniu occasional contact with civilized people -
In fac, they are mixed with ahe Araueenian, or ma
tive ttibes. in about equal degrees Of Indian 0nc
Spanish blood and If eilheE prevails Il IS the lndr
"a. There is perhaps not one ieon 70 INC county
of pure Spanish blood
The wonder is, that IA such community 'he''
should be government Of Psrely republican 'heo
~ operating particularly as mildly regularly ane
eauitsbly as any government 10 the world. YET
such is the fact. The elections are held Without
Characteristic laws enacted with proper delbera'
lion. aad executed with prompiness and without