The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1866-03-07
From the Phila Sat. Eve Post
South American Civilization
BY e o 5 VI 0

Gillian Coutes'es - Bn'iiag Good-We-
Cutting Acquamtaaces-Ne,c Recrmts--
a PoiUlot-Aube'g-4 .Se!ish Saca"t
Socially the people Of Chile-no matter
what their status may be-rich, well to
do, dependents or beggars-both Chileans
and Chileanos-take the precedence of
all other Spanish Americans, or the Bra
zlians. The are no more demonstratve
than the Buenos Ayrean Spaniards, no
moro earnest than the Spaniards of Peru
and Bolivia, not a quarter SO boisterous
in their welcomes and courtesies us the
tropical people Of Ecuador, New Grana-
da and Venezuela, nothing like so fast
toward intimate conclusions as the Bra
zilians. But there is always quiet,
frank manner among all classes of Chilli
ans saroae tcoie, if you please, that
carries always evidence conclusive of their
honesty, making the stranger feel from
the first moment of his reception that his
welcome is not simply a word, or mat
ter of mere form. Chilean courtesy is OF
kind that makes you feel comfortable by
first flaicring your egotism-no matter
whether you are the proprietor of the sen
timent or not-Chilean courtesy creates
it, and wherever you are entertain
ed in Chile you are given higher
opinion OF your own value from
the circumstance that your entertainer all
ways makes You feel that he or she is the
obliged party, an it is you that is con-
tcrring the obligation.
Under such conditions you must of me-
ccsrity feel very much at home, quite
sure Of your position, and just trihe
egotistlcal in spite Of yourself Every
man and woman Of Us have a weak point
somewhere i'll the near neighborhood of
scIi-estecu, that properly approached may
be brough ont 10 the best possible advan-
tagc. The Chieans are skilltul sappers
and miners in all these approaches, and
thus dclicately fiattered, we are almost
always happier and better guests. This
is all the secret there is about travellers
almost invariably writing of and believing
that the Chileans are better and more
hospitable people than their South Amer
lean neighbors. 1t is not that they are
in reality, but that they have the natural
faculty of making us tlAnk better OF our
selves first, and per consequence, OF them.
In Chile we do not get rid of friend
or IN acquaintance quite so readily as in
Europe or in North America. Here,
and in most European countries, parting
with acquaintance consists as general
rule, in shaking hands, an adieu, and ii
the sexes are opposite and favorable to
such tamillaritieS, an embrace, kiss or
two, aud the thing is accomplished.
In Chile one does not cut his or her
acquaintance so summarily. There are
good many prelimnaries, ceremonious
approaches, and the final parting, much
like separating one of Allcock's Porous
Plasters-sradually, gently, and with
careful consideration.
We had been but four weeks acquaint-
ed with the cardrdiSle,oS, in whose com
pany we had journeyed from Mendoza,
and it occupied nearly half that length OF
time after we had begun to say good-by,
before we fairly swung clear of the cara
van company, Our friends of the Bueno
Ayrean cavalcade, whom we first met in
the mountains, though our acquaintance
ship including Santiago residence and
all did not amount to more than month
required three weeks of ceremony before
the final dd'OS-Deos res gdrde and as
for the Santiago friends whose acquaint-
ance we had made, we began our 60 ID
byes TO them about as early as they
began to give us their hospitalities. con-
tinung regularly and incessantly every day
until our departure from the Chilean cap
itol. o no-a Chilean acquaintance is
not so lightly shaken off, either male or
female-especially the latter. Separa-
ticns between married couples are of ex-
ceedlngly rare occurrence in Chile