"At Valparaiso there was no Winter, but there was in the port instead a great galleon just come in from Peru. The galleon's crew took him for a Spaniard, hoisted their colours, and beat their drums. The 'Pelican' shot alongside. The English sailors in high spirits leapt on board. A Plymouth lad who could speak Spanish knocked down the first man he met with an 'Abajo perro!' 'Down you dog, down!' No life was taken; Drake never hurt man if he could help it. The crew crossed themselves, jumped overboard, and swam ashore. The prize was examined. Four hundred pounds' weight of gold was found in her, besides the plunder."   "The galleon being disposed of, Drake and his men pulled ashore to look at the town. The people had all fled. In the church they found a challice, two cruets, and an altar-cloth, which were made over to the chaplain to improve his Communion furniture. A few pipes of wine and a Greek pilot who knew the way to Lima completed the booty."

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      "The "Beagle" anchored late at night in the bay of Valparaiso, the chief seaport of Chile. When morning came, everything appeared delightful. After Tierra del Fuego, the climate felt quite delicious - the atmosphere so dry, and the heavens so clear and blue with the sun shining brightly, that all nature seemed sparkling with life. The view from the anchorage is very pretty. The town is built at the very foot of a range of hills, about 1600 feet high, and rather steep. From its position, it consists of one long, straggling street, which runs parallel to the beach, and wherever a ravine comes down, the houses are piled up on each side of it. The rounded hills, being only partially protected by a very scanty vegetation, are worn into numberless little gullies, which expose a singularly bright red soil."  

      "I had the good fortune to find living here Mr. Richard Corfield, an old schoolfellow and friend, to whose hospitality and kindness I was greatly indebted, in having afforded me a most pleasant residence during the "Beagle's" stay in Chile."

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      "Since the revolution many English conveniences and luxuries in dress and furniture, as well as improvements in the manners of the inhabitants have been adopted, and almost anything a la Inglesa meets with approbation."  

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      In front of the anchorage is a high bluff, or block of land, formed by the 'quebrada' running on either side of it, called Monte Alegre, and sometimes reproachfully, 'Cerro de los Judeos,' or Jews' Hill. Upon it are built several fine dwellings, occupied by English and American residents, who live there, almost entirely apart from the natives, forming a sort of foreign colony." "Farther to the right, the high land is divided by quebradas into several bluffs, called by English and American sailors, 'the fore, main, and mizen tops.'"  

      The English-speaking foreigners, in Valparaiso, who pretend to be of substance, and somewhat aristocratical withal, have formed little coteries amongst themselves, and never admit the Chilians into their society, except on some grand occasion, or unless the ladies are married to some Englishman or North American. All the English and American ladies here, are married; therefore the young men seek amusement in the society of the natives, at least till they acquire the language. Few of them are able to speak it on their arrival, and even after a long residence in the country, they rarely learn to speak well."   

      "The Spanish society is more fitted to please and amuse naval officers during their short visits; but for a long sojourn, the English and North American, met with in Valparaiso, is preferable."

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      "Valparaiso (the Valley of Paradise) is not situated in a valley, and bears no resemblance to a Garden of Eden, for it contains no garden of any size or importance. One portion of the city is certainly called the Almendral (or Almond Grove), but it is doubtful if the closest investigation could find such a tree within miles of the place; but although possessing few, if any, of the attributes of its namesake, we found it an agreeable and prosperous city, of then about 60,000 inhabitants, of whom probably one-tenth were foreigners, for a number of leading English, American, or German mercantile houses were represented here; the principal shopkeepers were English, French or German, while the vessels in the bay bore mostly the English ensign.  The houses seldom exceeded then two stories in height, the lower one being generally offices or stores, the upper one dwellings.  The streets were rather narrow, but were clean, and better paved than in New York. There was an English and a German club, two or three hotels, a spacious theatre, and a large newsroom; while a cricket club and an excellent pack of fox-hounds supplied means of recreation, and there existed both an English and Spanish newspaper, so that on our arrival we at once felt perfectly at home - the more so as we found living both reasonable and good, while the climate appeared to be all that could be desired, even in the worst season in that latitude."

      Meanwhile the British community were desirous of erecting a church in Valparaiso, and I offered my services and was appointed the honorary architect. This was duly erected from my designs and under my supervision. It was the Early English style, with a lofty hammer-beam roof, and was then an unique example of a roof without a tie-beam in the country.  Its consecration took place in the presence of three British Admirals - Sir E. Harris (our Minister), Sir H. Bruce, and Sir Lambert Baynes - and I was honoured on the occasion, in the church, by the thanks of the congregation."

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      "The city is built along the edge of the sea, upon a narrow strip of land at the base of an abrupt hill overlooking it, and on which many private residences are built."  

      "There is little to interest a traveller in Valparaiso, but the view from the roadstead of the snowclad summit of the mighty Aconcagua in the distance is very fine."

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      "One night at the Valparaiso inn was enough for any one, though the place itself was full of life and work, its quays, iron landing-place, and docks, neat and efficient.  Large ships could anchor close to the town, in the calm land-locked harbour.  Its suburbs extended along the coast for some miles, Salto being the most attractive of them, as there was a valley full of the native palm (Jubaea spectabilis) which used to cover the country forty years ago; now, scarcely a hundred remain."

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      "The foreign trade is controlled by Englishmen, all commercial transactions are rendered in pounds sterling, the English laguage is spoken on the streets and in the shops, an English newspaper is published, and to a stranger the city seems like one of her Majesty's colonies."

​      "The Chillanos have a line of steamers running from Valparaiso up and down the coast. They are the finest ships on the Pacific, built on the Clyde, with all modern improvements, but the engineers and captains are Englishmen and Scotchmen."

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      "The modern town, built in European fashion, with houses of two and even three floors above the ground, on the curved margin of the bay partly reclaimed from the sea, and the older town, chiefly perched on the edge of the plateau some two hundred feet above the main street, and divided by the deep ravines (quebradas) that converge towards the bay, have been described by many travellers; but I do not remember to have seen any sufficient warning as to the frightful peril to which the majority of the population is constantly exposed. Over and over again earthquakes have destroyed towns in western South America."

      "It is frightful to contemplate the amount of destruction of life and property that must ensue if a violent shock should ever visit Valparaiso."

      "Valparaiso has all the air of a busy place...The names over the shops, many of which are large and handsome, are mainly foreign, German being, perhaps, in a majority; but the important mercantile houses are chiefly English, and, except among the poorer class, the English language appears to be predominant."

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      "Up the steep cobbled clope of Cerro Alegre we would go at a sedate pace till we came to the Camino de Cintura. Here we branched off. The Camino de Cintura was a dusty road that unwound itself like a bribbon along the hills of Valparaiso till it finally reached the lovely green valley of Las Zorra. Here among avenues of rustling poplars and sweet-smelling creamy flowered acacia trees, a number of British families such as the Raby's, the Bushnells and the Woodhouses had their country places set in groves and vineyards.

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      "It was the pilot, and as she came alongside with her crew of typical Chilians  - half Indian, half Spanish - clad in the picturesque style of the West-coast - straw hats, white shirts, and white trousers - we gazed, for the first time in nearly three months, at faces and heard voices other than the ship's company of twenty-five souls."

      "A few minutes from the pilot stepping on our poop the bluff of the headland was passed. The straggling huts developed into rows of detached houses, built on the sloping summit of the hills."

      " Valparaiso was not always such a peaceful harbour, and three days after we left a heavy "Norther" burst upon her..."

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      "The origin of Valparaiso trade is in the main British, and especially from Liverpool. After years of, practically, an English monopoly, there is now a strong German invasion."

      "Every traveller used to be impressed by the business-like character of the city and suburbs. Vina del Mar and other places correspond to Wimbledon, Pollokshields, Birkenhead or Wynberg. There were in this pretty little place hundreds of villas into which the wearied and worried man of business returned from his office in Valparaiso. There he found a comfort, and even luxury, probably far greater than that which his London or Liverpool correspondents found in their suburb."

      "The young Englishman is considered essentially a schoolboy. His real life consists in lawn tennis, cricket, or polo, of which, at Valparaiso, he can obtain quite as much as he ought to receive. The office work corresponds to "lessons." He will, indeed, do his duty by his employer more or less conscientiously in office hours, and he is not lacking in ability or strength, but the idea of working at business matters in his own time would appear to him preposterous and ridiculous.  In most cases he does not trouble to learn Spanish or to understand Chilians. Why should he bother when all his friends are English?"

      "In England all sorts of queer ideas about the savagery of South America still linger. There are many people who may be surprised to learn that llamas, pumas, and ferocious Indians in war-paint are hardly ever to be observed in the streets of Valparaiso."

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      "The origin of Valparaiso trade is in the main British, and especially from Liverpool. After years of practically an English monopoly, there is now a strong German invasion>" "The young Englishman is considered essentially a schoolboy. His real life consists in lawn tennis, cricket or polo, of which at Valparaiso, he can obtain quite as much as he ought to receive. The office work corresponds to 'lessons.' He will, indeed, do his duty by his employer more or less conscientiously in office hours, and he is not lacking in ability or strength, but the idea of working at business matters in his own time would appear to him preposterous and ridiculous. In most cases he does not trouble to learn Spanish or to understand Chilians. Why should he bother when all his friends are English?"  

·

      "The predominance of the British is shown by the prevalence of the English language. Nearly everyone engaged in business has at least a slight acquaintance with that tongue. One can not go far without crossing the path of some ruddy Briton or voluble Irishman. Many of the best stores bear English names, and one will see the same goods displayed as in New York or London. In fact it is more predominantly English in appearance than any other city of South America. There are cafes where they meet to drink their "half-and-half" or other beverages, and there is a club where the  Times, Punch, and other favourites can be read. It is said that the foreign population almost equals the native in numbers. Only a small part of this foreign element is English, as there are many Italians, Germans, French, but the English are the bankers and tradesmen, and have impressed their characteristics more forcibly upon the city than the other nations."  

·

      "Valparaiso is to the west of South America that which Liverpool represents to England."

      "Valparaiso is perhaps the most Anglicized of all towns in the South American Republics.  Indeed, there are not a few streets whose names ring with a homely sound to British ears - with that of Admiral Cochrane well in the forefront."

      ..."the naval officers and cadets, of a strangely British appearance, and the military in uniforms of German pattern..."

      "The foreign element of the city is the most considerable and the most influential in the Republic.  The British Community holds its own here so far as status is conerned, although the industrial and commercial world the Germans are making very serious inroads in the province that was once almost entirely British."

      "The average type of Englishman here, as in many other places in Chile, is, from the social point of view, a far greater success than in many other places in South America." "As a nation we are popular in Chile."

·

      "The Chilean navy is modeled on that of Great Britain.  All the best ships were built in British yards. Chile's navy includes two modern battleships, one older battleship, one first-class cruiser, three second-class cruisers, two gun boats, nine destroyers, five torpedo boats, and 7,500 officers and men."  

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      "Before I began wandering about Valparaiso, I went to the tourist office to buy a map.  ​The man in charge of the office was an Englishman. As I was leaving he called me back, to give me some good advice, and that which he gave was equally characteristic of his nationality. He said, "You eat at the Monico. Good English food. You can get steak and kidney pie there.""

·

      "Another hill was English, as nobody need to be told seeing those brick-walled gardens with lilacs and snowballs along mossy violet-edged walks; uniformed nursemaids with proper children; and an Anglican church."

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      "Colonial Valparaiso was always a city of huts and drinking dives which could not survive for posterity. But, on the other hand, it has a nearer past; an English and Victorian past which is reborn in some of the houses of zinc with white guillotine windowns and the inevitable full curtains. In our childhood we have had these fearful guillotines fall on our heads, or have felt them vibrate with the wind and the earthquakes. They are a part of our life which, like so many others, is slowly disappearing. The English fire engine occupies one of those buildings, and its men still wear the winged helmet of the Liverpool firemen."  

      "Facing the central portion of Valparaiso, the hills are covered with bungalows and chalets. There is an Anglican church and a Lutheran one. Englishmen and Germans share the hills of Concepcion and Alegre, in an entanglement of crossroads, terraces, and stairways which cross furtively between old chalets with white shades; some of them seem to be suspended in the air."

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      "El nombre se ha explicado por el aspecto del lugar, muy grato, gracias a las casas con jardines de la numerosa poblacion ingles que lo habitaba. La colonia era tan gravitante  que alguien llego a decir, naturalmente con cierta exageracion, que 'Ningun porteno que no tenga segundo apellido ingles es porteno de verdad.'"  

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      "Cerro Alegre should be declared a national monument because, apart from all the rest, it is. Not because the first football match between the English crew and the natives was played there. There stood one of the historic forts, the Concepcion, buit by the Spanish, just to cite one fact, precisely in the sector of Paseo Atkinson. Being that some of the streets are monumental, good taste and the traditional profile should be defended."

·

      "The houses on Valparaiso's Cerro Alegre are characterized by their European-styled constructions with their attics, galleries, and glassed in halls. They surprise the traveller particularly because of the detailed work: conucopias, plaster carvings, staircases of fragrant cedar and shining wooden railings."   

      "For the most part, foreigners have acquired and renovated them, valuing them as architectural patrimony."   

      "Climbing up Montealegre Street from Paseo Yugoslavo, one can appreciate these lovely nineteenth century mansions, amidst the silence of freshly-watered gardens. Just on the corner of Lautaro Rosas - formerly Santa Victorina - there existed an English nuns' school, Santa Isabel, where British families from the hill sent their girls to be educated." "Constructed in 1916, this establishment operated until 1943 when it was acquired by the San Luis Gonzaga parish."

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      "We are in Paseo Atkinson, one of the most lordly sections of the port, which has been perpetuated through the palette of Alfredo Helsby with his little girl playing with a hoop in that world of British display. Today there exists a complete climate of restoration, as if all those neighbors agreed among themselves to create a revival that has a great deal of nostalgia: crocheted and latticed curtains, lace tablecloths, and anis cookies. It would seem that everyone wanted to return to the era of that picture."

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      "If there was anything specifically English about Chile it was the legacy of the large numbers of English people drawn to the country from the nineteenth century onwards."   

      ​"Under a fast-brightening sky we sped past the bustling resort of Vina del Mar, then at the height of its season.  The beaches ended, the warehouses began, and within minutes of leaving Chile's Marbella, we had gone back 100 years or so and entered the port of Valparaiso.  Everything was dusty, dirty and decayed.  Faded letters over crumbling ornamented plasterwork indicated old customs offices, shops once owned by Croatian and Jewish traders, hotels that had been grand in their time but looked today like brothels."   

      "We continued our stroll into the adjoining Cerro Alegre, entering the sturdy Anglican church of St. Paul's, admiring the huge organ donated by Queen Victoria, walking onto the funicular lift named after her, and beholding what I almost thought was an English-induced mirage when we reached the esplanade of the Paseo Atkinson, with its tiny front gardens, net curtains, dormer windows, a 'bed and breakfast' sign, and overall look of a slice of Southern England as recreated by a German expressionist."   

      "The one-storeyed columned house which might or might not have belonged to Lord Cochrane briefly claimed my now wandering attention, which was soon drawn away from the building and into surrounding streets lined by a very un-English jumble of brightly painted corrugated-iron walls."   

      "When the evening started to set in, and a fog bank could be seen advancing from the sea, Valparaiso became a seedy, menacing place that had seduced Che (Guevara) completely."

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      "The body of men and women , of British descent or tradition, who have in common an affiliation with Chile through past or continuing residence there."

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