The Republican journal., 1904-01-21

clamS} Tor ten centS-and cheap enough
they are. To the right are long rows
| of fruit merchants, mostly women. The
finest of cherries,-plump, fresh and
ruby-red-are tied up on sticks in a
bunch, SO closely that they resemble
miniature club-balls. The price is un
centavo, zone cent? for stick, or about
half a pint of cherries. There are heaps
of ripe figs, each the size of your fist
black, shining and luscious, five cents
per dozen. Watermelons are piled up
by the cortland such melons! Thirty
Founders are common fruit and fifty
Founders not unusual. There are fine
potatoes, but the heaps of green pep
pers are higher, indicating that the lat
ter are in greater demand; aprcots,
peaches, oranges, lines, black olives,
cabbages, geese, ducks and chickens,
alive and cackling bleating kids and
long nosed black pigs, strange earthen-
ware, coarse boots and oX-hide sandals,
cheap handkerchiefs, lace and printed
Nolloil. CDclIlouo vi
fish of various kinds, sea-urchins (Which
are hereabouts highly priced for food)
ocean crabs and river camarones, infe-
rior wines, and stalls where steaming
stews of chile con-carne, peppers with
meat, are waiting to scar the elmer
man" of whoever is hardy enough to
devour them.
This province of Conception is of I'M
told fertility. 1t produces immense
quantities of wheat of the finest quail
ity, besides barley, beans, corn and
vegetables of every description, as well
as fruits and wine cattle and sheep. A
great deal of wine called music, which
resembles Burgundy in flavor, is made
in this part Of Chill. From the forests
of apple trees that grow without cult
walton, and also from grapes, the
national beverage called chica is made.
1t differs as much in taste from the
chica of Peru, (Which is made from
CORN, as from the pulque of Mexico,
which is the fermented juice of the
agave Americana, though the effect Of
all is about the same.
As in al. Chili, the police regulations
of Conception are admirable. An av
erage specimen of 'the finest" stands
in front of my window-a half bred In
dian, dressed in full military toggery.
10 Ic Inr Gin ct oh ri or
slouching lin gait. with general hang
dog air, and countenance ugly enough
to stop a clock; but somehow he and
his equally hang-dog fellows manage
to preserve perfect order whatever be-
tide Perhaps this is largely due to the
great body of secret police, who, ununi-
troll the city in every part. But more
likely it is due to the medicine" which
an apprehended criminal is forced to
take. For petty larceny-the common
est crime he is bound to a post with
a good stout rope and given Il
hundred or more quick, smart strokes
on the bare back, we'll laid on by a
burly man who seems to enjoy his bust
ness. the muscles of whose arms have
become wonderfully developed by this
sort Of exercise. The instrument of
, punishment is short whip-stock, to
which is fastened a leather strap as
| wide as the palm of your hand, having
| the end cut into many strips. An Eng
| lish sailor who received this dose the
other day for stealing ham, was heard
to solemnly declare that he would rath-
er starve to death, or stand for the
same length of time ''neck-dee in help
! than take the medicine a second time
Each policeman carries a small bone
whistle, whose shrill blast can be heard
/ mile OF more; and he is required to
execute a pigeon-wing on it every fit
| teen minutes throughout the night, to
let the world know he is not sleeping at
his post.
The educational system of Chilli is
something of which any country might
be proud. Early as 1888 there were
754 primary schools in this little repub-
| lie, giving instruction to about 10000
children. A few years ago the Nat
ional Congress appropriated s150,000 tc
introduce the best method of teaching,
and sent learned professor to the
United States and various parts of Eu
rope to study the systems of those
countries and decide upon the best.
Public education is div ided into three
b, grades-the higher, the intermediate,
and the primary. The seat of learning
is the National University at Santiago,
which has a Council of Education
whose duty is to superintend all the high
er and intermediate schools of the coun
try. They are all free, the government
owning the buildings and paying thu
teachers. In order to meet the de
mand for the best instructors, the gov
ernment maintains number of young
men, at great expense, at some of the
most celebrated colleges in Europe, t(
educate them for that purpose; while
the female teachers are trained in the
excellent Normal schools that have