The Spanish inhabitants, in general, are of a hospi table and generous disposition. As but few inns have been established in the country, their houses are at all times open to strangers and travellers, whom they en tertain with a degree of kindness and liberality unequal led almost among any other people.
We may here notice a garment of very general use, both among Indians and Spaniards, which, though differ ing in quality and ornament, according to the rank of the wearer, retains always its peculiar and distinguishing form. It is called poncho, and consists of a piece of quilted cloth about three yards in length and two in breadth, having an opening in the middle just large enough to admit the head. It hangs down on all sides, serving completely the purposes of a cloak, while it leaves the motion of the arms more free and unembar rassed.
The negroes arc wholly employed in domestic ser vices, and treated with a degree of tenderness and !mina nity that greatly alleviates their state of servitude. They are protected from any extreme cruelty on the part of their masters, should these be so inclined, by a law per shitting the slave, in a case of this nature, to demand, and obliging the master to grant, a letter of sale, by which the former is authorised to seek a purchaser. There exists also another regulation in their favour, which has the force of law among the inhabitants, that, when any one has, by his industry or good conduct, ac quired a sum of money sufficient to purchase a substi tute, his master is bound to receive it, and set him at li berty. Negroes born in the country, and mulattos, are
preferred to such as have been imported, as more readi ly attaching themselves to the families of their owners.
No contagious disorder was ever experienced in Chili, till the arrival of the Spaniards, when the small-pox was first introduced, and raged, in some provinces, with the fatality of a pestilence. Since that period the Indians have contrived to save themselves from *its ravages. When any one is suspected of having, from intercourse with the Spaniards, caught the infection, they immediate ly sct fire to his hut by means of flaming arrows, and thus, by the violent sacrifice of an individual, arrest the progress of a distemper, which, if at first neglected, might depopulate their provinces. Inocula tion was introduced in 1761, by Matthias Verdugo, a monk of the order of St John. Chili is entirely exempt ed from many diseases peculiar to warm climates, such as the leprosy, the siam fever, and the black vomit. The rickets, hydrophobia, tertian and quartan agues, are unknown in the country. The most formidable disease to which the inhabitants are subject is a violent fever, sometimes prevalent among the peasantry, termed cha cao longo, or the disorder of the head, from its being ac companied with delirium. The Indians cure it by cer tain herbs.
See 'Molina's Natural and Civil History of ; By ron's Narrative; Ulloa's Voyages ; English Universal History ; Perouse's l'oyage round the World ; Hum boldt's Political Account of .Velo Spain ; and Kcrr's Voy ages and Travels. (u)