building with a tile roof, supported by columns, under which meats of all kinds are sold. In the center are sold vegetables, fruits, flowers, poultry, and small wares; the market-women are seated under awnings, screens, and large umbrellas, to keep off the sun. The market is clean. The average price of a horse is twelve dollars, but some that are well broken are valued high. The climate of Chili is justly celebrated, that of Santiago is delightful; the temperature is usually between 60° and 75°. The country round is extremely arid, and were it not for its mountain streams, which afford the means of irrigation, all Chili would be a barren waste for two-thirds of the year. Rain falls only during the winter months, (June to September,) and after they have occurred the whole country is decked with flowers; the rains often last several days, are excessively heavy, and during their continuance the rivers become impassable torrents. At Santiago the climate is drier and colder, but snow rarely falls; on the ascent of the Cordilleras, the aridity increases with the cold; the snow was found much in the same state as at Terra del Fuego, lying in patches about the summits. Even the high peak of Tupongati was bare in places, and to judge from appearances, it seldom rains in the highest regions of the Cordilleras, to which cause may be imputed the absence of glaciers. Art. II.-COMMERCIAL CITIES AND TOWNS OF THE UNITED STATES. NUMBER XXXIII. THE CITY OF NEW YORK.-PART III. In the statement following, is given the approximate measurement, in feet, of the several wards of the city, deducting public and other reserved grounds, below Fourteenth-street, which may be considered the limit of dense population-the number of square feet per head to the inhabitants, upon the census numbers of 1850-the side of the square of the same area and the rate of population to the square mile in each ward, and in the city, aggregately :- Sq. feet. Side of Pop. to per head. 436 square. Feet. square Wards. 81,042 Area. sq. feet Side of Pop.to per square. square mile. 135,382 sq. feet. head. Feet. X. 4,800,000 206 14 XI. 8,575,000 196 14 142,287 8,450,000 122 WEAT 78,090 XIII. 199,131 Wards. I. II. Area. 181 21 III. 3,700,000 357 19 11 IV. 3,250,000 140 VIII. 6,050,000 266 XIV. 11 228,511 4,650,000 184 13 151,513 XV. 10,350,000 426 211 61,137 12,850,000 293 17 95,148 123,904 Total. 100,225,000 249 154-5111,961 IX. 12,700,000 312 17 3-5 89,354 The density of the lower wards is really much greater than here appears, as a large part of their area is occupied by stores, warehouses, &c. Thus in the First Ward, it is probable that the dwelling houses do not occupy above one-half of the ward, including all the upper parts of store-buildings used as such. Nearly the whole body of the population in this ward, is, in fact, compressed within about one-third of its area, and it would be nearer the actual case to state the square feet per head, within the districts occupied by dwellings, at 100, the side of the square being 10 feet, and the population, per square mile, 275,000. The following is a similar statement for the city of Boston, embracing all that part of the city within the peninsula, or all the portion north of Beach and Boylestone streets, and comprised within the first nine wards, excluding the islands attached to Ward IV. : The measurement of the ward we have calculated from an accurate map of the city, and although the result can be only an approximation, yet it is sufficiently precise for the purpose, as the aggregate obtained varies very slightly from the estimated area of this portion of the city, given by Dr. Shattuck. We may add, also, that the same circumstances exist in several of these wards, noticed in the case of the First and Second, and other lower wards in New York, a great part of them being occupied by stores and warehouses, and the population being thus crowded into much narrower limits than is apparent from the table. In comparing the two cities, it will be seen that the densest ward in Boston (the Fifth) has 200 square feet to the inhabitant, or equal to 139,392 inhabitants to the square mile, while the densest of New York (the Thirteenth) has 122 square feet to the individual, equal to 228,511 inhabitants to the square mile. In the whole area of dense population, New York is also more compact than Boston; but it is probable that Boston has quite as dense or even denser localities. Dr. Shattuck mentions a section of Ward VIII., of Boston, which in 1845 contained one individual to every seven square yards, and an average of thirty-seven persons to a house. In New York, a portion of Ward I., and one or two other small localities, may equal this rate, or if they do not, will not fall greatly behind. The comparison of these two cities with Philadelphia and London, is as follows: By which it will be seen that the American cities have less than one-half the compactness of the ancient city of London, (the city proper,) and are still much below her density, greatly as it has decreased since the first period named, by the absorption of the territory within the city for business purposes. The statement next given presents a view of New York, in its whole area, compared with a similar view of Boston, the city and county of Philadelphia, London, with its proper suburbs, other European cities, &c., &c.: PROPORTION OF HOUSES TO INHABITANTS. The number of dwelling-houses in New York, with the average number of occupants to each, has been at different periods as follows: The number of houses in each ward, in 1850, and the average of families and persons to a house were: In Boston there were, in 1742, 1,719 houses, with a population of 16,382, or 9 individuals to a house; in 1810, there were 8 persons to a house; in 1830, 9 to a house; in 1850, the statement for that city, and its several wards, is as follows:- NUMBER OF OCCUPANTS PER HOUSE IN SEVERAL OTHER CITIES, STATES, AND COUNTRIES. The excess of occupants to each house in the case of New York city, is, however it may be in certain localities, less the effect of overcrowding the tenements than would be inferred from the statement. The houses in New York are higher, generally, than in perhaps any other city, and while with reference to territorial area, or availability of ground-room to the population, the fact is just what the figures indicate; yet by elevating a large portion through successive stages to a very considerable altitude, in the upper strata, although new evils arise, a great many of the worst ones, that would otherwise result, are avoided. PROGRESS OF BUILDINGS. The subjoined figures show the number of buildings erected in the city of New York, of all descriptions, in each year, from 1834 to 1850: As has been often remarked, New York has, of all cities of the American Continent, the greatest diversity of population. Almost every nation of the earth, and race and sub division of the general family, is represented in the motley assemblage. According to the census of of 1845, the leading components of the mass were of- Of the foreign population, 60,946, or about one-half, were unnaturalized. There were of colored people, in 1850, 13,724; an increase of only 811, or 4 per cent from 1845; and a decrease of 2,034, or 13 per cent from 1840. FOREIGN IMMIGRATION. The following table shows the number of passengers at New York, from foreign ports, betwen the years 1840 and 1851 The number of deaths and the ratio to population in every 1805, have been as follows: fifth year, since In 1851, the number of deaths was 22,024, equivalent to about 1 in 25 of the population, allowing 30,000 for the increase of the population over the census of the previous year. This very large rate of mortality is not to be taken as an absolute indication of the health of the city; for although there has been a rapidly progressive increase of deaths for a few years past, it will be seen on referring to a longer period that there has been no steady progression upward of the rate of mortality in correspondence with the growth of the city; and that the recent fatality is owing mainly to causes, which, however effective in themselves, and however much strengthened of late, admit of remedy, and it is to be hoped will, by the adoption of a bet ter sanitary system than has hitherto prevailed, be speedily obviated. The ratio of deaths in 1850 was but little in advance of that which prevailed so far back as the years 1805 and 1825. The rates of deaths in several other cities and States were at different periods as follows: |