Valparaiso is as cosmopolitan in architecture as it is in population. It possesses no architectural features that can be considered national in character; it has few public buildings worthy of the name, no system of parks or boulevards,--nothing to distinguish it, except a consistent mismanagement of municipal affairs. Being a great seaport, into which sail annually thousands of ships, representing nearly all the nations of earth, it has caught in the net of travel a cosmopolitan conglomeration, and includes in its population all kinds and conditions of people. It is more European than Spanish in appearance, and the languages spoken are as varied and numerous as the nationalities of which its population is composed. The majority of the business is done by foreigners, the British, Germans, Americans, French and Italians taking the wholesale, importing and exporting trade, in the order named, while the small retail business is largely in the hands of Italians and Spaniards. There are few places of amusement, especially for the poor people, and desirable, or intellectual public entertainments are infrequent. The municipal theater is a fine building with a capacity sufficient to accommodate several thousand people, but with the exception of two weeks of Italian opera during the winter it is little used. The municipal government has done nothing in recent years to improve or beautify the city. There is practically no drainage, except for streets receiving the water from ravines coming down from the hills, and they are usually in a state of disorder that renders them useless. The streets are miserably paved and proverbially filthy, and during the rainy season they are filled with sludge washed down from the hills. Notwithstanding the great shipping interests represented, and the fact that Valparaiso is the chief commercial port in the country, the bay upon which it is built affords one of the most insecure harbors on the west coast of South America. There is absolutely no protection to ships and shipping interests against the strong winds and severe storms that prevail during the months of June, July and August. There is no breakwater in the bay, which faces to the north, the direction from which the storms and heavy seas come during the winter, and as a result great damage is done to vessels in port, and to cargo along the water front. VIÑA DEL MAR. The majority of foreigners and many Chilenos engaged in business in Valparaiso find relief from the disagreeable features of life in the port by living in Viña del Mar, a beautiful residence suburb situated on the opposite side of the bay, six miles distant, and connected with the city by steam and electric railways.