the charge of the hospitals, under the
direction of a commissary, dependent on the provincial of their order in
Peru. The Jesuits came likewise into Chili in 1593, along with Don
Martin Loyola, nephew to their founder, and formed a separate province,
but were afterwards suppressed along with the rest of their order in all
parts of christendom. Other orders have several times attempted to form
establishments in Chili, but have always been resisted by the
inhabitants. There are several convents of nuns in the cities of St Jago
and Conception, but none are contained in the other cities of the
kingdom.

Though the cities are in general built in the most fertile districts of
the kingdom, many of them might have been more conveniently situated for
trade upon the banks of the navigable rivers; as is more particularly
the case with those of recent erection. The streets in all the cities
are laid out in straight lines, intersecting each other at right angles,
and are generally about forty feet wide. The houses are mostly of one
storey, yet are very commodious, are all whitewashed on the outside, and
handsomely painted within, each being accommodated with a pleasant
garden, irrigated by means of an aqueduct or canal, which likewise
furnishes water for the use of the family. Those houses which belong to
the wealthier classes, particularly the nobility, are splendidly and
tastefully furnished. Noticing that old buildings of two stories had
resisted the most violent earthquakes, many of the inhabitants have of
late years ventured to construct their houses in the European manner,
and to reside in upper rooms; employing bricks and stone in the
construction of their new buildings, instead of clay hardened in the sun
which was formerly supposed less liable to injury. By this change the
cities have a much handsomer appearance than formerly. Cellars, sewers,
and wells, were of old much more common than now; and the want of these
may have contributed to render the buildings more secure from the
effects of earthquakes.

The churches in Chili are in general more remarkable for their wealth
than their architecture; but the cathedral and the church of the
Dominicans in St Jago are both built of stone and in a handsome style.
The cathedral was recently constructed at the royal expence, under the
direction of the bishop Don Manuel Alday. The plan was drawn by two
_English_ architects, who superintended the work. It is built in a
masterly styl