Fest of Chili, with the islands, though a great proportion of the inhabitants are Pagans. There is a court of inquisition at St. Jago.

The religious system of the Araucanians is simple, and well adapted to their free mode of thinking and living. They believe in a Supreme Being, whom they call Pillan, which signifies the Supreme Essence. They call him also the Spirit of Heaven, the Great Being, the Thunderer, the Omnipotent, the Eternal, the Infinite, and the Creator of all.

Government. Chili is a province of Spain. It is governed by an officer who combines the titles of president, governor, and captaingeneral of the kingdom of Chili. He resides at St. Jago, and is solely dependent on the king, except in case of war, when in certain points he is under the direction of the viceroy of Peru. He commands the army, and appoints the chief officers of the country.

The Spanish part of Chili lies principally between the river Biobio, in lat. 36 30, and the confines of Peru, and, including Valdivia, in the country of the Araucanians, is divided into 15 provinces.

These provinces are governed by prefects. In the capital of each there is a municipal magistracy, called the cabildo, which has original jurisdiction, in causes both of a civil and criminal na

ture.

The government of the Araucanians is a species of aristocracy. Their country lies between the rivers Biobio and Valdivia, extending from lat. 36 44 to 39 50 S. is 480 miles long, from east to west, and 210 broad, and contains 78,120 square miles. It is divided from north to south, into four parallel tetrarchies. These tetrarchies are independent of each other, but confederated for the public welfare. They are governed each of them by a magistrate called a toqui; who possesses but the shadow of sovereign authority. The provinces are governed by officers called apo-ulmenes, and the counties by those called ulmenes. All these dignities are hereditary in the male line, and proceed in the order of primogeniture. Every important national question is determined by a general diet or council. In time of war, the diet elects the general, and during his continuance in office, the toquis and all other civil officers are divested of their authority. The laws of the Araucani ans are few in number. Treason, murder, adultery, robbery, and witchcraft, are punished with death. Inferior crimes are punished by retaliation.

Population. Very little is known of the present amount of the population of Chili. In 1778, there were not more than 80,000 white inhabitants, and about 240,000 negroes, and those of a mixed race. Since that period, in consequence of the privileges which commerce has received, they have rapidly increased. It will be observed that the aborigines of Chili are not included in this estimate.

Army. In 1792 the number of veteran troops in Chili was 1796 men, consisting of two companies of artillery, nine of horse, and the rest infantry. The regular militia at the same period amounted to 15,856 men. Beside these, are many city militias command

ed by missionaries. The Araucanian army in time of war usually amounts to 5 or 6000, exclusive of a body of reserve.

Revenue. One fifth of the gold yielded by the mines, amounting to 800,000 dollars, is annually paid into the royal treasury.

Manners and Customs. The inhabitants are luxurious in their mode of living. The men dress in the French, the women in the Peruvian fashion. The peasantry dress like the Araucanians.

The Araucanian dress is made of wool, and consists of a shirt, a vest, a pair of short close breeches, and a very convenient cloak, opening in the middle for the head. Marriage is with them an amicable kind of rape. The bridegroom, with the assistance of the bride's father, seizes unexpectedly on the bride, and carries her off, while she affects to call for assistance. Polygamy is universal. Their women are scrupulously neat in their houses and persons. Bathing is universally practised both by men and women. They bury their dead the third day after death, covering them with earth or stones in the shape of a pyramid. The corpse, if a man, is surrounded with his arms; if a woman, with a plenty of provisions, and her ornaments.

Language. That of the whites is Spanish.

The natives, except those of Cujo, have but one language throughout the whole country, the islanders and the mountaineers, those in the 24th and those in the 45th degrees of latitude. This, considered as the language of a barbarous nation, is singularly rich, flexible, melodious, and regular. It has also great precision and strength. Its alphabet has all the proper letters of the Latin, together with the of the French, and the e mute, the nasal g, the ch and the th of the English. It has no guttural letters and no vocal aspirate. The accent usually falls on the penultimate vowel.

Its syntax is like that of the modern European languages, except that it will admit of greater involutions in the arrangement of words.

Literature. The Spaniards in Chili have made but little prograss in the cultivation of the sciences.

Few barbarous nations have made as great advances in science, as the Araucanians had made at the time of the first Spanish inva

sion.

Universities. There is a royal university at St. Jago.

Cities and Towns. ST. JAGO is the capital. It is situated in lat. 33 31 S. and in lon. 69 35 W. 90 miles from the ocean, and 21 from the Andes. It stands on the southern bank of the Mapacho, in a delightful plain, of 72 miles in extent. The city is about 10 furlongs in length, and 6 in breadth. A mountain, called St. Lucie, stands almost contiguous to the houses on the E. The streets, like those of all the other cities and villages of Chili, are straight and intersected at right angles. They are paved, and are 36 feet in breadth. St. Jago contained, in 1776, 46,000 inhabitants, and since that period their number has very much increased. The private houses are handsome and pleasant, usually of one story. This is true of all the towns in Chili. There are 11 convents, 7 nunneries, 4 parochial churches, 3 hospitals, a royal university, a

mint, and barracks for the soldiers in St. Jago. The building of this town commenced in 1541.

CONCEPTION, in the province of Puchacay, is the second city in rank in Chili. It lies in lat. 36.43 S. and, in 1776, it contained 13,000 inhabitants.

VALPARAISO, the port of St. Jago, and the most commercial city in Chili, lies in lat. 33 3, and in lon. 77 29 W. The harbor is capacious, and so deep that ships of the largest size can lie.close to the shore. Its convenience for traffic, and the salubrity of its atmosphere, have rendered it populous. It has a parish church and several convents of monks. It lies in the province of Quillota.

VALDIVIA, or BOLDIVIA, in lat. 39 58 S. and lon. 73 20 W. is one of the largest and most populous cities in Chili. Its harbor is the safest, the strongest by nature and art, and the most capacious of any on the western coast of America. The city is 9 miles from the sea, on a river of the same name.

MENDOZA, the capital of Cujo, is situated on a plain at the foot of the Andes, in lat. 33 19 S. It contained, in 1776, 6000 inhabitants, several convents, and a parish church. This city carries on a considerable commerce in wine and fruits with Buenos Ayres, and its population is continually increasing from its vicinity to the famous silver mine of Uspallata, which the inhabitants work to great profit.

ST. JUAN, which is 45 leagues from Mendoza, is also situated near the Andes, in lat. 31 4 S. Its population, in 1776, was 6000. It trades with Buenos Ayres in brandy, fruits, and vicuna skins. CASTRO and CHACAO are situated in the island of Chiloe, and are considerable for their size and commerce. The island of Chi

loe is populous.

Roads. Two roads lead from Peru to Chili; one by the sea coast, which is destitute of water and provisions, the other by the mountains. This last, for the distance of 120 miles, passes over the Andes.

There are 8 or 9 roads which cross the Andes. The best of these is that which passes from Aconcagua, through Mendoza, to the little town of St. Luis, and thence to Buenos Ayres. The mountains cannot be crossed in less than 8 days, and the road is so steep and narrow, that, in many places, travellers are obliged to quit their mules, the only animals that can be employed, and preceed on foot.

Manufactures and Commerce. The commerce of Chili with Peru employs 23 or 24 ships of from 5 to 600 tons each, and in return for the grain, wine, fruits, provisions, tallow, leather, wood, and copper sent to Peru, it receives iron, cloth, and linen, made at Quito, hats, baize, of which there are also manufactures in Chili, sugar, cacao, sweetmeats, tobacco, oil, earthen ware, and all kinds of European goods.

It receives from Paraguay the Paraguay herb, tobacco, wax, and tallow. In exchange for these commodities, Chili sends to Buenos Ayres linen, woollen stuffs of its own manufacturing, sugar, snuff, wine and brandy.

In return for European goods Chili sends to Spain, by the way of Buenos Ayres, gold, silver, copper, vicuna wool, and dressed leather. The gold remitted amounts annually to 656,000 dollars ;* the silver to 244,000; the copper to 10,000 quintals. The amount of European goods annually sent to Chili is more than a million of dollars.

Climate and Seasons. The climate of Chili is remarkably salubrious. Contagious diseases were not known before the introduction of the small pox by the Spaniards.

The seasons of Chili are divided into rainy and dry. The rainy season commences in March or April, and continues till the last of August. From September to March they enjoy an almost uninterrupted succession of fine weather. In the northern provinces, however, it rarely rains, even in the rainy season; in the midland ones, during that period, it usually rains but 3 or 4 days in succession, and the pleasant weather continues 15 or 20. In the southern the rains are much more frequent, and often continue 10 days without intermission.

Face of the Country. The maritime country is intersected by 3 chains of mountains, running parallel to the Andes, between which are numerous valleys, watered by delightful rivers. The midland country is almost flat; a few isolated hills only are to be seen.

Soil and Agriculture. The soil of Chili is wonderfully fertile, The maritime districts, however, are less productive than the midland, and these less than the valleys of the Andes.

That portion of the Andes, which is between lat. 24° and 33° is wholly desert. The remainder is inhabited by the Aborigines.

Rivers. Few countries are so well watered as Chili. Lying at the foot of the Andes it naturally receives the waters produced by the melting of that immense body of snow, which annually falls upon those mountains. There are 123 rivers of considerable size in the country, which run westward. Of these 52 fall directly into the ocean. The course of all these is necessarily short, yet 8 of them are navigable at least half their distance for ships of the line. There are three rivers in Cujo, the St. Juan, the Mendoza, and the Tuniyan. The two first, after a course of about 90 miles, fall into. the lakes of Guanasache, and at length, through a channel which receives the Tuniyan, lose themselves in the Pampas. The Mapocho, on which St. Jago is situated, runs five miles under ground.

Lakes. There are three salt lakes in Chili, near the coast, each about 20 miles in length. Of the fresh water lakes, in the interior, the largest is the Laquen, in the country of the Araucanians, 80, miles in circumference.

Sea. The archipelago of Chiloe, near the southern extremity of Chili, is upwards of 200 miles in length, and about 100 in breadth. It has two communications with the ocean. That N. of the island of Chiloe is only 3 miles wide. The other is 36.

This is beside the gold annually yielded to the royal treasury, by the mines, which amounts to 800,000 dollars.

Islands. There are 82 islands in the archipelago of Chiloe. Of these 32 are inhabited by Indians or Spaniards. The largest is Chiloe, 180 miles in length, 60 in breadth. The timber found on it is excellent for ship building.

The island of Mocha, in lat. 39° S. is handsome and fertile, and about 70 miles in circumference. The Spaniards have deserted it. The two islands of Juan Fernandez are in lat. 33° S. and between lon. 83° and 84° W. The easternmost, called Terra, 12 miles long and 3 broad, is 330 miles W. of the coast of Chili. It is mountainous, and produces the sandal wood, the yellow wood, and a species of palm. It contains an astonishing number of goats, the descendants of those carried thither by its discoverer, Juan Fernandez. The other island, called Massa Fuera, is 3 miles in length, and 400 miles W. of Chili. It is a high, steep mountain, without a harbor, and without an inhabitant. The coasts of both these islands abound in fish of an excellent quality.

Mountains and Volcanoes. That part of the Andes which appertains to Chili is about 140 miles in breadth. Naturalists assert, that these mountains are more than 20,000 feet above the level of the ocean.

There are 14 volcanoes in Chili, which are in a constant state of eruption, and a still greater number that discharge smoke only at intervals. They all, two excepted, lie nearly in the middle of the Andes from E. to W.

Mineralogy. Gold is the most abundant metal, and is found in the sands of the plains, in the sands of the brooks and rivers, and to a greater or less degree in almost every mountain and hill. The gold dug out of the mines, one fifth of which is paid into the royal treasury, amounts to 4,000,000 of dollars annually, beside what is smuggled, which is very considerable. The quantity washed from the sands is also very great, and of a better color and finer standard than the other.

Most of the rich copper mines lie N. of the 36th degree of latitude. They are found on the plains as well as on the mountains, and are so abundant that none are wrought but such as yield at least half of the weight of the ore in refined copper. More than 1000 mines were worked in 1787, between the cities of Copiapo and Coquimbo. More than 120,000 quintals of copper are annually shipped to Spain, and at least 30,000 quintals to Peru, beside a large quantity sent to Buenos Ayres by land, and a still larger quantity made use of in Chili, in the cannon founderies, and for domestic purposes.

Iron is very abundant in Chili. The mines of lead are numerous and rich, but almost entirely neglected. Quicksilver is very abundant. Antimony is found in considerable quantities.

Pyrites of almost every description are scattered over the whole country. White and red naphtha, petroleum, asphaltos, and two kinds of mineral pitch, are found in many places on the mountains. Jet is very plentiful in Araucania, and pitcoal near the city of Conception, as well as in various other parts of Chili. Ambergris and amber are not unfrequent on the shores. Fossil salt is found in