420 A HISTORY OF CHILE inhabitants, and is noted for its baths and as a summer resort. Puerto Montt is one of the most active cities in southern Chile and numbers about fifteen thousand people. It is a German town. La Serena in the north is one of the oldest cities in Chile. It has a population of some seventeen or twenty thousand ; Copiapo has a population not quite as large as that of La Serena. Iquique comes next with a population about the same as that of La Serena, then Pisagua and Antofagasta, each about half the size.* Of the political parties of Chile, perhaps enough has been already said. As we have seen, there are two groups, conservatives and liberals, each with several factions. The conservatives are split into three fac- tions : Conservadores proper, Clericales and Montt- Varis- tas. The liberals have been at different times split into four sections : Liberales del Gobierno, Nacionales, Sueltos and Radicahs. There are then, the Montt-Va- ristas, aristocrats; Clericales, or church party; Conser- vadores, or Conservatives, but not extremists ; Liberales, •consisting of those holding more moderate views; and lastly, radical extremists and factions with varying shades of political belief. The government is representative, and, to a certain extent, popular. The president is elected for a term of five years and is not, under the amended constitu- tion, eligible to' a second term, except after an interval of five years. He is elected b}'^ electors appointed directly by the voters of the provinces, in the propor- tion of three electors for each deputy to which the province is entitled. His salary is Ji8,ooo per annum.
- In giving the population of Chilean cities, it is difficult to arrive at a mathe-
matical degree of accuracy, as the estimates vary fully one-half. The population of Santiago is placed as low as 186,000 and as high as 237,000; that of Valparaiso from 105,000 to 109,000; Concepcion 24,000 to 40,000; Chilian 21,000 to 60,000, etc. The larger estimates, however, appear to be wide of the mark, such, for instance, as accrediting TarapacS with ft population of 33,000. _ Still, it must be remembered that all of these cities have recently made large gains.
