house, and opposite to it is the church, also built of stone.
On the side next the sea is the Yntendente’s residence, a low
range of wooden buildings, erected without regard to taste,
convenience, or comfort ; and opposite to this are two or
three dwellings, very little superior to common huts, or
ranchos.
Within the last few years, however, some substantial buildings
have been erected by the more wealthy people in the town,
an example which is likely to be followed. During our visit,
several were built equally creditable for strength and convenience;
and not a little remarkable for the rapidity, with
which they were completed.
Wood, being abundant, and cheap, as well as easily worked,
is the only material used in the construction of houses, which,
with the exception of the provision-store, and the church, are
all built of it ; and notwithstanding the perishable nature of
the material, which is not protected by paint, or any external
coating, from the humidity of the climate, they are of extraordinary
durability. The treasury, one of the oldest houses in the
place, has been built upwards of seventy years ; and is even now
tight, and dry, and by no means unserviceable ; but its removal
has been ordered, and, probably ere this, it has been replaced
by another. In Chacao, where, in former days, the Yntendente
resided, the greater number of the government-buildings, not
less than sixty or seventy years old, are still standing. This
durability can only be accounted for by the nature of the wood,
and the practice of charring the ends of the timbers before they
are inserted in the ground. The lower frame is of ‘ Roble ;’ (f)
the beams are of laurel, and the floors and partitions, as well
as the weather-boarding and shingles, of ‘ Alerse the latter
forms an excellent substitute for tiles, or slate, being much
lighter, and almost as durable. Some of the houses are thatched
with reeds ; but this shift is only used by those who cannot
aflbrd the expense of shingling.
The inclosures, round the houses, are fenced with stakes of
CV A kind of beech, found ever}' where on these shores. T h e literal
meaning of Roble, is oak.—H . F.