A Panorama of the New World - v. 2 Author:Kinahan Cornwallis Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XXV. The city of Santiago, whose foundation dates from 1541, is laid out in regular squares of four hundred and eight feet on each side, and divided b... more »y streets forty-two feet broad, crossing each other at right angles, in nearly the direction of the cardinal points. Their pavement is of small round stones, with a trottoir of flags on one side. The river Mapocho skirts it to the north and west. The architecture of both private and public buildings is chiefly Moorish in its style, and the houses, both single and two-storied, are built of adobes and whitewashed. Instead of being provided with fireplaces, the rooms are warmed when required by portable brazeros of charcoal. The plaza is an entire square, with a large fountain in its centre, and situate near the heart of the city. On its north-western side stands a fine white building, embracing the residence of the president, and the palace of the government, the prison, and the law courts, before the respective doors of which military sentinels are always stationed. The cathedral and the old palace of the Bishop of Chili occupy the south-western side; the former, already alluded to, is a handsome stone structure of modern build. A portico and shops distinguish the south-eastern side of the square. The north-eastern side is also occupied by shops. From the hill of Santa Lucia, at the eastern side of Santiago, a full view of the city can be obtained; and owing to the circumstance of nearly every house having a garden attached, it would be almost possible to count them, and this is the cause of the city extending over an area so much greater than would otherwise be the case. The Alameda de la Caiiada is the fashionable afternoon promenade, just as is the Alameda del Acho leading to the bull-ring at Lima; and all the beau...« less