eing good boatmen and fishermen; and there are remnants of a people
called Changos, on the desert coast, and traces of Calchaqui blood in
the neighbouring Andean foothills.

There is a wide difference in every respect between the upper or ruling
class and the common people. The former includes the landed proprietors,
professional men and a part of those engaged in commercial and
industrial pursuits. These educated classes form only a small minority
of the population. Many of them, especially the landed proprietors, are
descendants of the original Spanish settlers and are celebrated for
their politeness and hospitality. The political control of the republic
was secured to them by the constitution of 1833. The common people were
kept in ignorance and practically in a state of hopeless servitude. They
were allowed to occupy small leaseholds on the large estates on
condition of performing a certain amount of work for the landlord. Every
avenue toward the betterment of their condition was practically closed.
The condition of the itinerant labourers (_peons_) was still worse, the
wages paid them being hardly sufficient to keep them from starvation.
The Chilean _peon_, however, comes from a hardy stock, and has borne all
these hardships with a fortitude and patience which go far to
counterbalance his faults. Recent reforms in education, &c., together
with the growth of manufacturing industries, are slowly leading to
improvements in the material condition of the common people.

The political organization of the country has not been favourable to the
development of artistic or scientific tastes, though Chile has produced
political leaders, statesmen and polemical writers in abundance.
Historical literature has been enriched by the works of Diego Barros
Arana, Benjamin Vicuna Mackenna, Miguel Luis Amunategui, Carlos Walker
Martinez, and others. One of the earliest native histories of Chile was
that of Abbe J. Ignacio Molina, an English translation of which has long
been a recognized authority; it is full of errors, however, and should
be studied only in connexion with modern standard works. Among these
must be included Claude Gay's monumental work, _Historia General de
Chile_, and Sir C.R. Markham's admirable studies on special parts of the
subject. In science, nearly all the important work has been done by
foreigners, among whom are Charles Darwin, Claude Gay, Eduard Poeppig,
Rudolph A. Philippi and Hans Steffen, who deserves sp