THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.

757

The bulk of the property is held by the church, and a small minority of the peo­ple, who make the laws and place only a nominal tax on the realty. To meet gov­ernment expenses, heavy duties are imposed on the necessaries of life, but the lux­uries escape with a small tribute.

Nearly all business is in the hands of foreigners. Every store and shop, even to a cobbler’s stall, must pay a license or patent for revenue. An auctioneer pays one thousand dollars and upward per annum. This burdens the tradespeople and the poor, and there is no redress, the despotism of the rulers being proportioned to the ignorance of the people as a mass. There is no provision made for the indigent poor; the halt, the lame and the blind all meet in the marketplaces and other conspicuous points and beg for aid. Yet the religion of these people is noticeable in all relations of life. Even business houses are dedicated to a patron saint, whose name is deeply cut in the pavement, and his figure placed in the window where goods are exposed for sale. Private houses often have a niche in the outer wall, in which is placed an image of the Blessed Virgin, surrounded by plants and cut flowers, and lighted at night by a gas jet. Cemeteries are filled with tombs built above ground, descending two or three stories, under which is a receptacle for the bones of the “ oldest inhabitant.” These tombs are fashioned like Greek temples, and are guarded by a favorite saint and the Virgin cut in marble. Some of them are very expensive. One belonging to the De Soto family, built wholly of white marble, surmounted by a life-sized angel exquisitely carved, cost twenty-five thousand dollars. The poor have no permanent burial place; a hole is made in the ground, the same being rented for a certain length of time, but at the expiration of the lease, the body is thrown into the Gehenna beyond the wall, and covered with lime. The cities have no beautiful suburbs. There are quintas and chacras of a block or a few acres, surrounded by high adobe walls to ■exclude the “Goths and Vandals.” These grounds are highly cultivated by the aid of irrigation. Statuary is largely used for decorating the grounds as well as the houses. Except in the parks, there are no fine driveways; the country is in a state of nature, and during the rainy season the roads are wellnigh impassable. Agriculture is con­ducted on the chacras or small farms in the most primitive manner. The old Abra- hamic plow is used to tickle the ground that is expected to laugh with the harvest. Donkeys with their panniers, and clumsy carts drawn by oxen, carry the fruits and vegetables to market. In the month of September I spent the diez e ocho holiday of ten days on a large hacienda of five thousand acres, valued at six hundred thousand dollars, which formerly belonged to Balmaceda. Three thousand acres were in wheat in all stages of growth. Peons were plowing for the last sowing, twenty in a field. These haciendas are superintended by practical Scotchmen or Englishmen, who require the peons to use modern plows. They are stubbornly opposed to change of tools or fashion. Thousands of horses, cattle and sheep roamed over the foot-hills, often straggling across the mountains to the other side. Once a year the cattle of the country are driven in by herdsmen to an appointed place, and, as each owner has his brand, they are easily assorted, taken where they belong and sold.

The peons live for successive generations on the same hacienda. Each family has an adobe house and a plat of ground, and they close together in a sort of village. They work for hire, and are faithful servants. No provision is made for the intellect­ual and moral elevation of these people. They amuse themselves on Sundays with horse-racing, etc. Bull-fighting is prohibited in Chili, but not in Peru or Mexico. The Chilians are experts in the use of the lasso.

Manufactures are limited to a few necessary articles of but inferior quality. Americans have built most of their railroads, the French improved their harbors, and these, with the German and English, established their commerce.

Briefly outlined, this is the social and political condition of a typical Spanish- American country, which, after an existence of over three hundred and fifty years, is walking in the beaten paths and living after the manner of its ancestors. With a desire for liberty and independence, it threw off the yoke of Spain, but among them-