Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-08-01
LErrRR FROM CHILR.
TALcAHuANo, CHILE, May, 1866

aNN4AoAy ShO AOuu EeSOLleSNOus WuiSh IA
attached to the memory of my once noun
tain home prompt mi to communicat
once'more with the friends and ~acquaint
ances l lef, behind.
1, is impossible that when embarkinI
on the frail craft of fortune, exposed Il
the billowy and c~apricious ocean Of chanc
to foresee or conjecture even the thousand
and one accidents that may happen to tn
adventurous mariner; you must. therefore
not be surprised to find me dating m!
letter from Chile, and from a place thirt!
degrees south of the one Of my origina
destination. Tumbez. Peru. An acciden
which happened to me while riding through
the wilds Of Ecuador impaired my healti
and made a change Of climate necessary
l took passage in a whaleship for Chile.
At the time Of my arrival here a double
excitement had possession OF the minds o
the people: n the blockade OF the chi
lean ports by the Spaniards, and the othei
the discovery Of gold mines a few miles
from the sea coast and twelve miles from
the town of Arauco. which were heraldeo
A second California. Having caught tht
fever, | started for the Chilean FL Dorado,
I was soon satisfied, however, that the
mines would not pay, beside being very
limited. In the mines I found several old
C~alitornians and Washoeites, among whom
John F. Paulk. who, by employing a mum.
Der OF persons at two rails per day, and
working himself very hard, managed to
realize something through the summer
months. This is the only instance Of sue
cess In the mines. In company with Others
I set out for the interior, towards the
main Cordillerss, where rich gold deposits
were said to exist, and having now re-
turned from a prospecting tour OF several
months, after riding. a thousand miles,
crossed and re-crossed the Andes, l will
say that there are no mines in Chile, a:
far as the country can be ~prospected on
account Of hostile Indians, that would pay
50 per day to the hand.
As there are many who believe South
America TO be an Elysium, where one has
Just TO sit down and live off the fat Of the
land that labor and exertion are almos,
unknown in these far .famed regions, q
few words Of what was my experience Of
the life. customs and morals Of the people
may not be out of place.
The population Of the South American
Republics is composed Of a mixture Of
Spaniards, (principatiy Of Moorish origin
negroes and Indians, with now and then
a drop of English or French blood thrown
in-all mixed in such conglomeration that
you can't tell which from 'tother. This
mongrel race has inherited all the bad
qualities Of its progenitors with none oil
their good. The moral standard Of the
descendants of Pizarro and his followers
is easily determined by chasing them as a
race Of natural born thieves, honesty be-
ing a thing unknown among them. BE
he rich or poor, young or old, high or low,
living, stealing and robbing is the motto
Of them all. Neither sex nor age, the
living or the dead are Disseminated by
these hyenas in human shape. 1t is but a
few weeks since a mother, with her two
children, was brutally murdered for the
sake of a pancho not worth five dollars,
and il is of common occurrence that the
graves are opened and the dead Invested
Of a few rags that may be wrapped around
them.
Speaking Of the dead, two-thirds are
buried without a coffin. As l am writing,
the corpse of child, dashed on poles, half
naked, with its head hanging on one side,
is carried to its last resting place. In this
name all the poorer classes, who are
unable to pay somebody for his services,
are buried. 1 was present at the burial OF
a foreigner-a Catholic, else his burial in
the graveyard would not have been per-
mi,ted-when the most horrid spectacle
that could be permitted by a people who
call themselves civilized, was presented.
The grave-more properly an irregular
hole-was only half dug when the dead
arrived. After throwing out a few more
shoyels Of sand the remains OF q half-de
cayed corpse cam in sight, which, with
the greatest indifference, wal thrown out
with the rest, when two more collins be-
came visible, between which that con-
tanning our dead was squeezed by the at.
tending Poems. The grave, only eighteen
inches deep, was then filled with its former
contents.
The social life Of the people is n con,
formity with their moral-the ~concuolnal
predominates. One has but TO enter theii
brush huts to see at a glance the deprayec
condition of the inhabitants. Surrounded
by dirt and 6lth, man and beast live or
an equality ; and lice and heas dispute
the possession of them all. With bound
less wealth around them, they will lay anc
live in idleness, contenting themselves
with what nature spontaneously produces
and living in abject poverty, without max
ing a single effort to shake It OH. Unwii'
ling TO do anything themselves, they WI
throw every obstacle and impeachment II
the way of a foreigner who wishes to es'
tablish himself among them. As ther'
are no public lands in Chile, the emigran
will seek in vain to find q home here, anc
considering the numerous disadvantage
he has 10 contend with, il is altogether
the very worst place TO go to. l ma!
safely state that more than half who com!
here with great hopes and gay spirits hne
themselves disappointed in their expecta
tons, and not wise enough, or unable, Z
return TO their native country, sink grad
ually lower and lower in social and mora
worth, until they fall to a level with III
natives. Such moral wrecks you viii
find all over South America in great mum
bers. -.
In the northern part Of Chile the land il
owned in large tracts by individuals whit
live in Santiago, the capital. The hacien
das are in charge Of overseers, and IN
soil is titled by poems, whose condition
far worse than that Of slaves. BENZ
treated in the most brutal manner, he
unable to change his position. as by keep
ing him in debt his patron exercises al
almost absolute authority over him-th
debtors doom in Chile is the prison. III
agricultural implements consist Of q point
ed stick for a pillow, and a sickle to real
the grain with. The intellectual capaeit
, of the people is Of the very lowest order
, not one in City being able to read, and
|, have met Judges in the interior who wer
unable to read my passport from the CHI
lean authorities. Ignorance. superstitio