My wearing a hat was, however, quite as much against all church rules
as a similar proceeding on the part of a man would have been. The
women of this city are almost always good-looking when young, and they
glide gracefully about the streets in their long black clinging gowns
and _mantos_, by which they are completely enveloped from head to
foot.
In the afternoon we went for a drive in the park, and to see Santa
Lucia, of which, as the only hill in Santiago, the inhabitants of the
city are very proud, and from thence drove to the Cousino Park, an
extensive piece of ground near the Alameda, laid out and arranged
under the direction of the late Don Luis Cousino, and presented by him
to the city of Santiago.
After a stroll round the park, Mr. Long took us to an emporium for
Panama hats, which are made in Lima, Guayaquil, and other states of
Chili, as well as in Panama, from a special kind of grass, split very
fine, and worn by almost everybody on this coast. The best made cost
340 dollars, or about sixty guineas, and fifty pounds is not at all an
uncommon price to pay, though the inferior kind may be had for two
pounds. Those ordinarily worn by the gentlemen here cost from twenty
to thirty pounds each, but they are so light, pliable, and elastic
that they will wear for ever, wash like a pocket-handkerchief, do not
get burnt by the sun, and can be rolled up and sat upon--in fact,
ill-treated in any way you like--without fear of their breaking,
tearing, or getting out of shape.
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