children, but it took
some time to collect them, as each individual had only one to offer.
They are the work of the women, in the intervals of household labour,
and as soon as one is completed it is sold, in order that materials
for a fresh one may be purchased. We also bought some of the carved
wooden stirrups, made in the country, and used by all the natives.
They are rather like a small coalscuttle in shape, and must be heavy
and cumbersome.

From the market we went to hear high mass at the cathedral. This is a
fine building, though the interior seemed very dark. The high altar
was illuminated by hundreds of candles, whose light shone on a crowd
of kneeling women, all dressed in black, and with black veils over
their heads, the contrast between their sombre appearance and the
gilding and paintings on the walls--handsome at a distance, but tawdry
on a closer examination--being very striking. The organ is of splendid
tone and quality and reverberated grandly through the aisles, and the
whole scene was not without a certain impressiveness. I had not
thought of paying a visit to the cathedral when I went out this
morning, and it was not until I saw every one staring at me that I
remembered I had committed the terrible mistake of going to church in
a hat, and without any veil; but we remained in a dark corner most of
the time, and emerged into open daylight again before any of the
authorities of the place had time to observe or remonstrate with me.
My wearing a hat was, however, quite as much against all church rules
as a similar proceeding on the part of a man would have been. The
women of this city are almost always good-looking when young, and they
glide gracefully about the streets in their long black clinging gowns
and _mantos_, by which they are completely enveloped from head to
foot.

In the afternoon we went for a drive in the park, and to see Santa
Lucia, of which, as the only hill in Santiago, the inhabitants of the
city are very proud, and from thence drove to the Cousino Park, an
extensive piece of ground near the Alameda, laid out and arranged
under the direction of the late Don Luis Cousino, and presented by him
to the city of Santiago.

After a stroll round the park, Mr. Long took us to an emporium for
Panama hats, which are made in Lima, Guayaquil, and other states of
Chili, as well as in Panama, from a special kind of grass, split very
fine, and worn by almost everybody on this coast. The best made co