nians, the Cunches, and the Huilliches. The Araucanians do not, as M. de Pauw pretends, inhabit the barren rocks of Chili, but, on the contrary, the finest plains in the whole country, situated between the rivers Bio-bio and Valdivia. Araucania lies upon the sea-coast, and is calculated to be 186 miles in length; it is generally considered as the most pleasant and fertile part of Chili; its breadth, from the sea to the foot of the Andes, was formerly estimated at 300 miles, but the Puelches, a nation inhabiting the western part of the mountains, having joined the Araucanians in the last century, it cannot at present be less than 420 miles in breadth, and the whole of their territory is calculated to contain 78,120 square miles.

The Araucanians have divided their country into four principalities, or uthanmapu, to which they have given the following names: Lavquenmapu, or the maritime country; Lelvunmapu, or the flat country; Inapiremapu, or the country at the foot of the Andes; and Firemapu, or the country of the Andes. Each principality is divided into five provinces, or ailla-rehue, and each province into nine commanderies, or rehue. The maritime principality contains five provinces; Arauco, Túcapel, Ilicura, Boroa, and Nagtolten. The principality of the plain, Encol, Puren, Repocura, Maquehue, and Mariquina. The principality at the foot of the Andes, Marven, Col

hue, Chacaico, Quecheregua, and Guanahue. The principality of the Andes comprehends all the valleys situated between the limits heretofore mentioned. The country of the Cunches extends along the coast, between the Valdivia and the Archipelago of Chiloé. Cunches is derived from the word cunco, which signifies a bunch of grapes, and is allusive to the great fecundity of that nation. The Huilliches occupy all the plains to the east of the Cunches, from whom they are separated partly by an imaginary line, and partly by that chain of the Andes which extends from the Valdivia to the extremity of Chili. They are called Huilliches, which signifies southern men, from their country being the farthest towards the south. Both the Cunches and the Huilliches are warlike nations, and allies of the Araucanians, to whom they have rendered important services in their wars with the Spaniards.

Chili is one of the best countries in America. The beauty of its sky, the constant mildness of its climate, and its abundant fertility, render it, as a place of residence, extremely agreeable; and with respect to its natural productions, it may be said, without exaggeration, not to be inferior to any portion of the globe. The seasons succeed each other regularly, and are sufficiently marked, although the transition from cold to heat is very moderate. The spring in Chili com

mences, as in all the countries of the southern hemisphere, the 22d September, the summer in December, the autumn in March, and the winter in June.*

* That part of Chili which may properly be deemed a Spanish province, is a narrow district, extending along the coast from the desert of Atacamas to the island of Chiloé, above 900 miles. Its climate is the most delicious of the New World, and is hardly equalled by that of any region on the face of the earth. Though bordering on the torrid zone, it never feels the extremity of heat, being screened on the east by the Andes, and refreshed from the west by cooling seabreezes. The temperature of the air is so mild and equable, that the Spaniards give it the preference to that of the southern provinces in their native country. The fertility of the soil corresponds with the benignity of the climate, and is wonderfully accommodated to European productions. The most valu able of these, corn, wine, and oil, abound in Chili, as if they had been native to the country. All the fruits imported from Europe attain to full maturity there. The animals of ou hemisphere not only multiply, but improve in this delightful region. The horned cattle are of larger size than those of Spain. Its breed of horses surpasses, both in beauty and in spirit, the famous Andalusian race, from which they sprang. Nor has nature exhausted her bounty on the surface of the earth; she has stored its bowels with riches. Valuable mines of gold, of silver, of copper, and of lead, have been discovered in various parts of it. A country distinguished by so many blessings, we may be apt to conclude, would early become a favourite station of the Spaniards, and must have been cultivated with peculiar predilection and care. Instead of this, a great part of it remains unoccupied. In all this extent of country, there are not above eighty thousand white

SECT. V. Of Rain, &c.---From the beginning of spring until autumn, there is throughout Chili a constant succession of fine weather, particularly between the 24th and 36th degrees of latitude; but in the islands, which for the most part are covered with wood, the rains are very frequent even in summer. The rainy season on the continent usually commences in April, and continues until the last of August. In the northern provinces of Coquimbo and Copiapo it very rarely rains; in the central ones it usually rains three or four days in succession, and the pleasant weather continues fifteen or twenty days. In the southern the rains are much more frequent, and often continue for nine or ten days without cessation. These rains are never accompanied with storms or hail; and thunder is scarcely known in the country, particularly in places at a distance from the Andes, where, even in summer, it is seldom ever heard.* Among those mountains, and near the sea, storms occasionally arise, which, according to the direction

inhabitants, and about three times that number of negroes and people of a mixed race. The most fertile soil in America lies uncultivated, and some of its most promising mines remain unwrought.-Robertson's History of America, vol. iv. chap. 7.

• cc Lightning is wholly unknown in the province of Chili, notwithstanding thunder is occasionally heard at a great dis▾ tance over the Andes."-American Gazetteer. }

of the wind, pass over, and take their course to the north or south.

In the maritime provinces snow is never seen. In those nearer the Andes it falls about once in five years; sometimes not so often, and the quantity is very trifling; it usually melts while falling, and it is very uncommon to have it remain on the ground for a day.

In the Andes, on the contrary, it falls in such quantities from April to November, that it not only lies there constantly during that time, but even renders them wholly impassable during the greater part of the year.* The highest summits of these mountains, which are constantly covered with snow, are distinguishable at a great dis

* Those who venture to pass the Andes in the depth of winter, when overtaken by snow-storms are frequently frozen, as happened to the Spaniards under the command of Diego de Almagro, in the year 1535. This has led some authors to assert confidently, without attending to the difference of places, that such is the severity of the winter in Chili, that men frequently perish with cold; yet it has been repeatedly proved, that in those parts not comprised within the Andes, the weather is so mild, that it is very unusual for the mercury in Réaumur's thermometer to sink to the freezing point, and none of the rivers or streams are ever frozen. Abbé Gauri says, in his Treatise upon Natural Philosophy, that the cold is so extreme in the plains of Chili, that the inhabitants are compelled to forsake their houses, and, like the wretched inhabitants of the polar regions, to shelter themselves in caverns; a story which betrays no less ignorance of the real situation of Chili, than a total disregard of probability.