which is daily increasing [250,000 in i8go], make it the principal city of the Republic and one of the best in South America. It is surrounded by mountains called the Crown of Santiago. Above their summits appear the snowy peaks
of the Great Andes, rising 22,000 feet above sea-level. On the east of the city stands a lofty rock, divided in the middle, which serves as a citadel: a little dilapidated wall is visible, a small and poor chapel, two barracks or rather sheds for shelter to the soldiers -were it not for the four cannon that surmount it one would hardly guess that it is a citadel. The streets of the city are wide and straight, and water circulates abundantly everywhere. The public place is a vast square, in the center of which is a beautiful fountain representing the goddess of liberty crowning Chile. The principal buildings are the Government House, the treasury building, which is very large, the archbishop's palace, a stately cathedral, still unfinished, and a former church and college of the Jesuits: the latter now belongs to the city. There are ten other rather large and good-looking churches. Before the suppression, we had here four houses of the Society. At present there are two convents of Dominicans, two of Augustinians, three of Franciscans, and two of the Order for the Redemption of Captives. There are also eight monasteries of religious ladies, namely, of Barefooted Carmelites, of St. Augustine, of Ste. Claire, of Ste. Rose of Lima, of Capuchinesses and of the French ladies of the order of Picpus. The ladies of Picpus are the only ones that keep a boarding-school, conducted on the same prin
ciples as that of Valparaiso. They give a finished education to the young ladies belonging to the first families of the country, and they give gratuitous instruction to about 300 children of the inferior classes. The people seem to be gifted with an excellent character and happy disposition, and are warmly attached to the religion of their fore fathers. The Government prospers under the shadow of peace, and the wisdom of a well-conducted administration.