Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara Volume Iii Part 15

XXI.

Valparaiso.

Stay from 17th April to 11th May, 1859.

Importance of Chile for German emigration.--First impressions of Valparaiso.--Stroll through the city.--Commercial relations of Chile with Australia and California.--Quebrada de Juan Gomez.-- The roadstead.--The Old Quarter and Fort Rosario.--Cerro Algre.-- Fire Companies.--Abadie's nursery-garden.--Campo Santo.--The German community and its club.--A compatriot festival in honour of the _Novara_.--Journey to Santiago de Chile.--University.-- National Museum.--Observatory.--Industrial and agricultural schools.--Professor Don Ignacio Domey Ko.--Audience of the President of the Republic.--Don Manuel Montt and his political opponents.--Family life in Santiago.--Excursion trip on the southern railroad.--Maipu Bridge.--Melepilla.--The Hacienda of Las Esmeraldas.--Chilean hospitality.--Return to Valparaiso.-- Quillota.--The German colony in Valdivia.--Colonization in the Straits of Magellan.--Ball at the Austrian Consul-general's in honour of the _Novara_.--Extraordinary voyage of a damaged s.h.i.+p.--Departure of the _Novara_.--Voyage round Cape Horn.--The Falkland Islands.--The French corvette _Eurydice_.--The Sarga.s.so sea.--Encounter with a merchant-s.h.i.+p in the open ocean.--Hopes disappointed and curiosity excited.--Pa.s.sage through the Azores channel.--A vexatious calm.

The free State of Chile enjoys a higher degree of tranquillity than any of the former Spanish dependencies of South America, and in climate, in fertility, and in liberal inst.i.tutions, transcends all others in affording the European emigrant the best prospects of a prosperous future.

Chile possesses a const.i.tution which many a European state might envy, the civil freedom, which forms the basis of all laws, and just now is so eagerly debated and investigated in some parts of Europe, having been in practical operation here for upwards of a quarter of a century, during which it has materially contributed to develope the resources of the country and the prosperity of its inhabitants. Owing to the disturbed state of the American Confederation, hitherto the El Dorado of European emigration, countries such as Chile, of an extent similar to that of England and Greece together, and with a population barely exceeding one million of men, possess the very highest attraction. True, at the period of our visit the long-enjoyed political tranquillity was for a while disturbed by a revolutionary convulsion, but it has cost neither time nor trouble to suppress it, upon which the leaders, more ambitious than patriotic, took to flight, and public order and safety were reinstated upon the broad basis of a const.i.tution, which was wisely drawn up so as to admit of keeping pace with the times.

We beheld Chile under anything but its normal favourable aspect; many of the leading families of the country had been plunged by political troubles into grief and mourning; trade was falling off; the ordinary buoyant disposition of the Chileno had given place to painful anxiety; yet all we heard and saw during our stay at so unpropitious a period, only served to strengthen our conviction that a great and splendid future awaits this delightful country.

He who merely lands at a seaport such as Valparaiso, and wanders through its lengthy but elegant streets, carries away with him no just conception of Chile and the life of the country beyond the Andes. Everything about the town, houses, shops, and population, has quite a European aspect, so that the stranger walking through some of the streets with their lofty grey edifices, gay signs, and large and splendid magazines, abounding in everything that can minister to human luxury, might readily fancy himself transported to some northern European capital. Nothing is here to tell of its being the native country of the Araucanian, nothing recalls that singular national aboriginal type, and it is only when contemplating the majestic forms of the surrounding landscape that he can realize that he is actually in the proximity of Andes, "giant of the Western Star."

One of our first walks through the city, the buildings of which extend, row after row, for a considerable distance along the bay, and surmount the hillocks (_Quebradas_) which rise at a short distance from the sh.o.r.e, brought us to the _Aduana_, or Custom-house, one of the most extensive, beautiful, and commodious buildings in the city, which, commenced in 1850 by a Frenchman, was finished six years later by an American, named John Brown. The ground on which the various buildings are erected was quite recently gained from the sea by embankment, as was also done in the case of the existing _Plaza de Armas_, and the wide and graceful _Calle de Planchada_, both which sites were under water less than twenty years since!

The Custom-house buildings, including the vast solid warehouses, cost the State more than 1,000,000 Spanish piastres (210,000), but form the finest and most convenient edifice of the kind throughout South America. An enormous quant.i.ty of the most valuable merchandise, which used to be scattered about among private houses or disposed of, are now stored in large, dry, well-lighted apartments, and can without much trouble or delay be got at and taken away. About 200 officials are at work in s.p.a.cious offices registering the trade of the State, which is in a very flouris.h.i.+ng state, owing to the immense importation of the most various foreign fabrics, paid for in a not less extensive export of Chilean products, chiefly corn and precious metals. The start taken by the country in commerce and agriculture, as also the development of its natural resources, dates from the period of the discovery of the Californian gold-fields. Chile, so admirably suited for agriculture, very speedily became the granary of the gold-country, and set about making the most of its manifold advantages. Wheat, barley, beans, increased so much in value, that many fields which, on account of comparative poverty, had been suffered to lie fallow hitherto, now got under cultivation, and the former scanty means of the majority of the proprietors of the soil was at once exchanged for unexampled prosperity. The influx of specie did not fail to stimulate activity in every other occupation as well, and was mainly instrumental in working the mines more systematically, and thus making them more productive than hitherto.

The exportation to California speedily increased ten-fold, and within two years had increased nearly 2,500,000 piastres (525,000).

When the gold fever had a few years later abated somewhat in California, and the settlers there began to grow grain for themselves, the Chilean exports thither dwindled away, till, about 1857, they had sunk to a minimum hardly worth mentioning. But meanwhile a second, though rather more distant, market was found for Chilean exports, by the discovery of not less productive gold-fields in Australia, the imports into which from Valparaiso, despite the enormous distance, proved so immensely remunerative that the ventures of former years to California were quite eclipsed.[101]

Leaving the Custom-house buildings, we climbed up the Quebrada de Juan Gomez, one of the numerous narrow valleys or clefts which, spangled on both acclivities with villas, usually thatched with s.h.i.+ngle, impart to the environs of Valparaiso so peculiar an appearance. The most extraordinary of these is the _Cerro de Carretas_, a hill from 200 to 300 feet high, to the slopes of which cling a variety of filthy wicker huts of the poorest sort, which, regarded from a distance, have a picturesque effect. On a closer inspection, however, they exhibit utter dest.i.tution and degraded poverty. At the highest point of the steep Quebrada de Juan Gomez are some fortified lines recently thrown up, together with the artillery barracks (_Cuartel de Artilleria_), with accommodation for 800 men. The Chilean troops are pretty well equipped, but have a by no means imposing air; they appear to be patient and persevering, fit for encountering great privations and overcoming obstacles, rather than courageous, or eager for the fray. There is, in short, a total absence of "dash" about them. From the barracks one enjoys a magnificent view over the city and the environs, hemmed in on all hands by the ocean. The roadstead greatly resembles that of Trieste, and, like the latter, suffers much from N.W. winds. The merchantmen lie at anchor in pretty regular order, with the double object that, in case of a sudden "norther," they may not suffer from s.h.i.+ps dragging their anchors, and may be able at once to make sail if necessary.

Although at the commencement of the winter season (May to October) of the southern hemisphere, when frequent storms from north and north-west make the roads of Valparaiso, if not dangerous, at least hazardous, the majority of sailing vessels make for other better-sheltered harbours along the west coast, yet there were still about 180 vessels of all sizes and every flag lying at anchor off the town. The most unpleasant and severe months are June and July, although it is at that period less the violence of the gales than the tremendous sea, which occasionally hurls a s.h.i.+p, if not properly made fast, into a position of danger, and occasionally interrupts all communication with the sh.o.r.e for days together. A season sometimes pa.s.ses over, however, without the occurrence of any elemental strife. It would be of the highest interest to be able to ascertain the periodicity of the return of severe winters, which there can be little doubt obeys some natural law.

The barometer is, at Valparaiso, a pretty correct index of the wind that may be expected. The more the mercury sinks, the more perceptible will be the N. or N.W. wind. Rain and foggy weather usually precede these winds, and continue till the wind draws somewhat to the west, upon which the mercury rises and the weather improves. North or north-west winds are, however, as a rule never of long continuance, and indeed frequently continue only a few hours, because so soon as the first burst is over, the trade-wind, upon whose limits it has encroached, soon begins to drive it before it, under the influence of an air-wave from the southward, and s.h.i.+ps which, with the view of suffering as little as possible from north or north-west winds, keep as far from the lighthouse as possible, have nothing to dread from even a heavy "norther," if all proper precautions are taken, and their anchors and cables hold.[102]

In the harbour were the screw steamers _Maipu_ and _Esmeralda_, and the paddle screw steamer _Maule_, belonging to the very insignificant navy of the Chilean Republic. From the barracks we pa.s.sed up several Quebradas to the ancient "Cuartel" and Fort Rosario, two buildings remarkable enough in their way, the erection of which dates back to an early age, as they in fact belong to the period when Valparaiso had only 400 population, and was part of the a.s.size-circuit of Casa Blanca. The latter, however, which we pa.s.s on the road to Santiago, is still an insignificant settlement, while Valparaiso has become the wealthiest and most important commercial emporium along the whole west coast of South America, and boasts a population of above 60,000 souls. There are also in this vicinage numbers of small filthy one-storeyed huts or _ranchos_ built of cane, which seem as though hanging to the acclivities, and are not intended to last any time. As it rarely rains at Valparaiso, and then but little, and the temperature being tolerably mild throughout the year, the poor have little occasion to provide themselves shelter against cold or boisterous weather, or to build strong and solid habitations. Moreover, there is perceptible among the Chilean populace, as among all other Spanish Americans, an innate trait of character, in the shape of indolence and indisposition to labour, as they usually strike work for the day as soon as they have earned enough for the daily necessaries of life, which they can supply for a trifle. Nay, we are told that it is by no means unusual for day-labourers, as soon as they have earned their day's wage for their princ.i.p.al want, to reply in an indifferent tone to the offer of farther work, "Tengo mis dos reals" (I have my two reals)![103]

Not all the Quebradas, however, round Valparaiso are infested with wretched huts; some are occupied by tasteful and comfortable residences, especially the Cerro Algre, where at present a considerable number of Germans reside, and which is conspicuous for the number of elegant little villas, as also by the cordiality and hospitality there lavished upon strangers. Cerro Algre is one of the most charming, delightful, and salubrious spots in the neighbourhood of Valparaiso, with a magnificent panorama, although not so fas.h.i.+onable a resort as the Almendral, which, since the recent appalling conflagration of 1858, reducing within a few hours the finest portion of the city to ashes, has been rebuilt with numbers of handsome edifices, and has at the same time been widened and extended.

The frequency of fires, and the totally inadequate means and appliances for their extinction at the disposal of the authorities, led to a number of foreigners settled in Valparaiso organizing a Fire-brigade (_Pomperos_), in which the _elite_ of the community shortly after were enrolled. The founders and first company were the English, after whom came the Germans, French, Spaniards, Italians, and lastly the Chilenos following suit. A hook and ladder company, consisting of English, Germans, and North Americans, was set on foot in 1850. All the arrangements are modelled after the Fire Companies of the United States. The engines were imported from New York, and cost over 800 a piece. The French displayed the greatest luxury in the splendid uniforms of their company and the elegant fittings of their very beautiful engine; the Germans, on the other hand--not always the case with them--show but a very simple attirement, but are behind no other nation in the zeal and courage with which their fire company performs its self-imposed duties.

Valparaiso is sadly deficient in suitable promenades, and consequently strangers must not be surprised, should they be invited to take a walk to the Cemetery (_Campo Santo_), in order to promenade there among cypress alleys, and pretentious-looking memorials of the departed.

The Campo Santo is situated on one of the rising grounds behind the city, and with its clumps of trees and flower-plots, looks in fact much more like a promenade-garden than a grave-yard. Each Catholic fraternity (_hermandad_) has its own place a.s.signed it for interment of the dead.

Beautiful and costly monuments are raised over some of the recent graves, like so many testimonies in marble of the influence exercised even upon the resting-places of the dead, by the acc.u.mulated wealth of the last twenty years. Close beside the Catholic cemetery is that of the Protestants, which, like the other, is neatly laid out and kept in excellent order, but on the whole impresses the visitor less by the splendour of the monuments and the elegance of the inscriptions, than by its air of solemn simplicity.

Not far from the spot where repose their dead is the place of wors.h.i.+p of the Protestant community, a slight but neatly-finished edifice of wood, somewhat like the "chapels" of the English colonies. This is a pleasing evidence of the tolerant spirit of the Chilean Government, in strong contrast with most other Catholic states in South America, where religious intolerance of heterodoxy goes the length of prohibiting all public profession of their faith.

Valparaiso is as badly off for fine open squares and monumental erections as for promenades. The Government Square, with its neat Exchange, and Victoria Square, with its Theatre, are neither by their antiquity, nor their general appearance, calculated to make any impression upon the traveller. There is great need of large, good hotels upon the European plan; and as there are no cheerful, comfortable cafes, to serve as a rallying-point for the male s.e.x after the business of the day is over, the traveller is usually dependent for society upon being introduced at the different clubs, founded by the various nationalities. Of these the German was the finest; but, in consequence of their beautiful, s.p.a.cious club having fallen a sacrifice to the recent conflagration, the members had to seek temporary accommodation in rather confined apartments, which greatly hampered their desire to show all due honour to our Expedition. Not less cordial, however, was our reception, nor the warm interest taken by the entire German community of Valparaiso in the scientific attainments of certain of its members.[104] Nowhere did the old German hospitality s.h.i.+ne forth with more serene l.u.s.tre than among the Germans of Chile, nowhere is there a more splendid manifestation of the vigorous intellectual life of the good old stock, nowhere a more thorough expression of German unity in foreign countries! Exercising a powerful influence in society, as merchants, physicians, professors, naturalists, astronomers, chemists, engineers, architects, &c., the activity of the German in Chile in every avocation of life has not been without a permanent influence on the destinies of this free State, and has already left in its inst.i.tutions many a trace of German origin.

One of our most pleasing reminiscences is undoubtedly that of the magnificent natural fete got up by the German residents of Valparaiso in honour of the _Novara_ one heavenly Easter morning, which came off at the beautiful Quebradas of Quilpue, about twelve miles from the port. Quilpue is a station on the railroad which runs from Valparaiso into the interior, and is intended to form the communication between it and Santiago de Chile, 110 miles distant, but of which at present only the first 40 miles have been completed.

A special train, its locomotive neatly decorated with garlands of flowers and banneroles, conveyed the guests, 150 in number, to Quilpue. From this station the joyous party marched with the German flag at the head to one of the neighbouring dells, which seemed intended by nature to serve as the site of pic-nics in the open air. Here, under a number of s.p.a.cious and elegant tents, we found long tables set out, which a cloud of waiters and cooks seemed engaged in loading with every delicacy that could tempt the palate.

The company wandered through the adjoining glades, or lay stretched out in the shade, in a delicious ecstasy of music and song. The alarm of war, which at the moment was booming through Europe, had found its way even to the foot of the Chilean Andes, and imparted to the festival a political feeling. Although the then state of political matters in Austria was by no means such as to fill the mind with enthusiasm for it, yet all the feelings of the German of Valparaiso were enlisted on the side of Austria in her struggle with France; less out of sympathy with her policy as then displayed than out of hatred of Napoleonic a.s.sumption.

Thus, in some of the after-dinner speeches which followed in due course, as well as in the inspiring songs with which the entertainment was enlivened, there was free expression given to this sentiment. A Bavarian physician and pharmaceutist, Dr. Aquinas Ried, whose house we found one of the most pleasant points of cordial re-union for the members of the Expedition, had composed a chorus for male voices, called "Welcome to the _Novara_," which he led himself with some of the members of the German Choral Union, the closing strophe of which,

"Sei einig nur Germania, So stehest du auch einzig da, Das grosse Vaterland!"

was received with enthusiastic applause, and was greeted with deafening cheers.

This widely-expressed sympathy for German nationality found expression in various other ways, not the least conspicuous being the marked courtesy to the Expedition manifested by the natives of Chile itself, and in an especial degree at Santiago, the capital, where public officers, naturalists, and lovers of science vied with each other in welcoming such of our number as went over to spend a few days there, and in aiding them to carry out the object they had in view.

With these scientific aims were united others of a political nature, our Commodore having been honoured with H.I. Majesty's commands to enter into a commercial treaty with the free Republic of Chile. For this purpose Commodore von Wullerstorf had gone to Santiago in company with the Austrian Consul-General, M. J. F. Flemmich, and the author of this narrative, the two geologists and the draughtsman of the Expedition having set out thither some days before.

The journey to the capital of Chile is not among the most inviting. There are numerous crests of mountains (_questas_) to be crossed _en route_, which at many points are steep, not to speak of the bad construction of the roads, and the little care taken to keep them in order. Frequently the carriage rolls along the very verge of a profound abyss; the soil seems about to give way, gravel and stones plunge thundering down, while neither wall nor wooden railing intervenes to prevent the traveller from following them. Moreover, the vehicles in ordinary use are not calculated to diminish the perils of such a journey, especially if it is an object to arrive speedily at one's destination, when the regular national coach, the Birloche, as it is called, must be used. It is a sort of double-seated two-wheeled cabriolet drawn by two horses, while five or six horses trot alongside, which furnish the change of horses when required. The driver rides one of the horses, as in Havannah, and is wonderfully skilful in his way. He usually wears the national brown-covered _poncho_ (a quadrangular piece of cloth with an opening in the centre through which the head pa.s.ses), a small straw hat, linen pants, and on his bare feet enormous, heavy spurs, sometimes fastened by a piece of leather, sometimes with a mere cord.

We pushed forward without stoppage as far as Casa Blanca, one of the most ancient settlements of Chile, which, however, as previously remarked, has always preserved its village-like aspect. Here we fell in with several very handsome ladies, elegantly dressed, each sporting a gigantic crinoline. They had come from the neighbouring _haciendas_ to Casa Blanca to be present at a race-meeting. Having dispatched a hasty meal, we pushed busily forwards, and reached the village of Curacavi, where travellers to the capital usually pa.s.s the night. No great provision is made here in the shape of good inns, for considerable as is the traffic of loaded waggons, conveying merchandise and produce, the number of travellers is very limited, and even the few whom business or pleasure induces to visit the capital are for the most part natives of the country, or Europeans long resident, who usually take up their quarters with acquaintances or business connections, and are therefore exempt from all necessity to look after their comfort. Travellers who spend the night in such inns generally carry with them insect-powder, as the number of fleas and other troublesome insects is legion!!

At the capital, Santiago, the traveller is somewhat better off as regards houses of entertainment, and the Hotel Ingles (English Hotel), kept by a Frenchman, may not only boast of elegant apartments and an excellent cuisine, but surpa.s.ses all European hotels in expensiveness.[105]

Santiago de Chile lies in a beautiful fertile valley, and would present a much more imposing appearance, were it not that, owing to the frequency of earthquakes, the majority of the houses were built only one storey high.

The long straight streets intersecting each other at right angles, are in a state calling loudly for sanitary regulation; uneven, badly ballasted, with huge ruts at the sides, so that it is difficult to say whether the foot-pa.s.senger or the charioteer is the worst off. Much of this is due to the number of heavy two-wheeled _carretas_ or country waggons, drawn by six or eight oxen, in which all produce is conveyed from the interior of the country to the harbour, and foreign merchandise transported from the sea-board to the capital. On our journey hither we counted 124 of these lumbering vehicles, creaking and rattling on their way; but there are on the average 300 such on the road between Santiago and Valparaiso. A good deal of the less bulky merchandise is also carried on horse or mule-back.

Of striking public buildings Santiago is almost as dest.i.tute as Valparaiso, the Mint,[106] which dates from the time of Spanish Supremacy, being the sole building worth noticing. The city also boasts of a Plaza, a large quadrangular, open spot, of no special elegance, although it has on one side the Cathedral, still in process of erection, on the other a range of private dwellings with arcades beneath, in which nestle swarms of stall-vendors, besides several Government buildings which are concentrated here. Of public promenades, the Alameda, a long, wide poplar-alley, is, beyond all question, the finest, as well as most frequented, especially on Sundays and holidays. The period of our visit, the winter of the Southern Hemisphere was not favourable to our carrying away a correct impression of the public walks at their gayest, especially when, as in our case, the weather is raw and gloomy, and the mournful rustle of dead leaves sounds like the elegy of departed gaiety. Thus, for example, the dam along the sides of the river, the waters of which in the rainy season swell into a furious torrent, but the bed of which was now quite dry, forms in summer a delightful walk; whereas in winter it is only visited by students, preachers meditative of their next discourse, or lovers oblivious of the elements.

There is in Santiago a surprising degree of intellectual activity, and great readiness in promoting scientific discovery. The philosophical works, which have of late years made their appearance, are deserving of the highest praise. The educated foreigner is not regarded askance here with envious eye, nor, because he happens not to be a native, kept in the back-ground, and refused admission to positions of public trust and influence; he is rather encouraged in his exertions by the example of such men as Domeyko, Philippi, p.i.s.sis, Moesta, &c. The well-known costly work in 24 volumes, describing the physical and political history of Chile, was composed by a Frenchman named Claudio Gay,[107] the expense of printing it in Paris being borne by the Government. The annals of the University of Chile appear in regular publication each year from 1843, and comprise choice though miscellaneous information upon almost every topic of scientific interest.

One of the leading and most highly informed professors in this princ.i.p.al seat of education, Don Ignacio Domeyko, a Pole by birth, but who has made Chile his second home, very kindly acted as cicerone to our Expedition, and furnished us with most valuable details as to the present state of public instruction.

The University of San Felipe was founded in 1738, but the present system of instruction has only been in operation since 1842. The joint Council of the five professors of the faculties of philosophy and the humanities, physical and mathematical science, medicine, judicial and political instruction and theology, are intrusted with the supervision of the entire national education, each faculty having also the privilege of naming corresponding members, and in other respects occupying the position of similar inst.i.tutions in Europe. The President of the Republic is the chief patron. The amount expended by the State annually in public instruction, is upwards of 120,000, an enormous amount considering the small population.[108]

The University is also charged with the custody of the national library of 32,000 volumes, embracing works upon every subject of scientific inquiry,[109] and the museum of natural history, in which are very complete ethnographical and geological collections. The most remarkable object in the latter is undoubtedly the native stag, _Huemul_, or _Guamul_ (_Cervus Chilensis_), which figures conspicuously on the Chilean escutcheon, and was long regarded as a fabulous animal, as it had never been seen alive. However, in the year 1833, the specimens (male and female) at present in the museum were shot in the Cordillera de Campania, within a short period of each other.[110]

The observatory was in temporary quarters on an eminence in the midst of the city, but within a few years the new building would be completed, which was being constructed by Government for astronomical purposes, outside the town not far from the school of agriculture. The instruments in use were chiefly provided by the well-known North American traveller Gillis, who for many years carried on astronomical observations for the American Government in South America, especially in Chile, and when his labours were completed, left his instruments with the Chilean Government by way of indemnity. The management of the observatory is intrusted to Dr. Moesta, a German astronomer well-known in astronomical circles.

The school of Technology (_Escuela de Artes y oficios_), founded in 1845 by a French gentleman named Jariez, and, like the preceding, a.s.sisted by a grant from Government, has met with great support and success. In this eminently practical inst.i.tution upwards of a hundred pupils are being taught the construction of machinery, and the various processes connected therewith, the children of poor parents having a preference. The pupils are boarded, lodged, and clothed gratuitously, and have therefore nothing to do but to remain four years in the establishment, after which they serve Government six years longer, a.s.sisting in the public works at a given remuneration, or if there should be no need for their services in the latter department, they are at liberty immediately on the expiry of their apprentices.h.i.+p to follow what occupation they please. One young Chileno was pointed out to us who had risen from being a pupil to the position of foreman, and was now engaged in imparting instruction in drawing and mathematics.

As important in its way as the Escuela de Artes, and equally useful in the interests of science and industry, is the _Quinta normal_ for the landed proprietary. This model farm, founded in 1851, and arranged upon the French system, is situated outside the town, and consists of a tolerably extensive plot of land, which includes within its limits the new observatory and the botanical gardens. The present director is a graduate of the Ecole Centrale of Paris, and his indefatigable activity speedily insured the prosperity of the undertaking. It is divided into two departments, a school of agriculture proper, and a veterinary college. The course, which comprises agriculture, botany, and treatment of diseases of animals, besides the elements of chemistry, physiology, geology, zoology, and geometry, besides geography and drawing, extends over three years, every pupil educated at the expense of the State being required to devote six years to the public service. Government has reserved to itself thirty free presentations, which it may increase to sixty.

The small but well-arranged museum contains an admirably selected collection of the most important esculents and gra.s.ses suitable for foddering cattle, as also the conditions of soil which are best suited for growing these, besides a number of different fruits, executed in _papier mache_, with remarkable fidelity to nature, belonging to trees and plants, cultivated at the Inst.i.tute, with the purpose of ultimately selling them at the proper time to farmers, and thus not only do justice to agriculture as a science, but increase its own revenue, not to speak of the benefits, direct and indirect, to the country at large. The purchaser is thus enabled to judge for himself what description of fruit will be likely to prove most remunerative to him, while the establishment at the same time realizes a considerable sum by this sale of seedlings, plants, and seeds, in a country where hitherto so little attention has been bestowed on high-cla.s.s agriculture.

The zealous and far-seeing director is also endeavouring to induce the Chilean landowner to grow turnips, and other tubers, which might be used for foddering the cattle in winter, and so lead to a more economical system of cultivation, and consequent improvement of the race of farmers themselves. At present, where this kind of farming is utterly unknown, as soon as winter sets in, many a landowner finds himself compelled, year after year, to sell or kill his cattle owing to want of fodder, while he himself goes out as a day labourer, till the return of spring. The introduction and extension of such a system, which would enable him to maintain his herds and flocks all the year round, would put a stop to his present unsettled mode of life, improve his farm, and impart increased comfort and security to every relation of his business.

At this _Escuela normal_ we likewise found the sorgho, or Chinese sugar-cane, in course of cultivation with great success. Though the temperature is occasionally so low in Santiago as to form, during the winter, ice[111] about two lines in thickness, the sorgho does not seem to suffer any damage, but gives its three crops each year, besides being much used for fodder. The first seeds of this species of gra.s.s, which has within four years made the circuit of the globe, and is now profitably cultivated in almost every part of the world, were imported into Chile from the free States of North America.

Professor Domeyko, who possesses a most admirable geological and mineralogical collection, presented the Expedition with a choice selection of interesting and costly ores from the copper, silver, cobalt, and quicksilver mines of the country; and although the rich stores of publications and geological specimens with which the director of the Geological Inst.i.tution of the Austrian Empire, Counsellor Haidinger, had provided for the purpose to present them to scientific inst.i.tutions in the different foreign countries visited, was already exhausted and done away with, yet we had at least the satisfaction of learning that the Imperial Inst.i.tute of Geology,[112] whose eminent director has extended throughout the world the renown of Austria, as a pioneer of geology, maintains already an active correspondence with the managers of the museum of the Chilean Republic.

Very soon after our arrival at Santiago, our Commodore was honoured with a special audience by the President of the Republic, H.E. Don Manuel Montt.

The Commodore was accompanied by the Austrian Consul-general and the author of this narrative. The reception came off in a plain but elegantly-furnished apartment of the palace-like Government House, the style of which is quite modern. Don Manuel Montt, a short, under-sized gentleman, with dark strongly-marked features, and straight, somewhat bristly, hair, had during the recent troubles displayed more courage and energy than his external appearance would have led one to expect, and used his dictatorial authority with such discretion and prudence, as to excite the astonishment and respect of all well-wishers of his native land. He was attended at the interview by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Don Jeronimo Urmeneta, a man of frank, attractive manners, whose youth was spent in the United States, and who speaks English fluently.

The conversation turned chiefly upon the proposed commercial and navigation treaty projected by the Imperial Government, a sketch of which in the Spanish language was read over to the President by the Commodore.

Don Manuel (as the highest authority in the free State of Chile was called by the people) expressed the utmost readiness to carry out this arrangement, and repeatedly avowed his wish to enter into intimate relations with the Austrian Government, and execute all necessary papers, which could a.s.sist an object fraught with such benefits to both nations.