

102 zoology. [1839 



and olive, where they are properly cultivated, yield an abun- 

 dance of good fruit; but the manufacture of wine and on 

 is in a very rude state. 



The art of agriculture is greatly behindhand in Chili, and 

 the implements of husbandry are of the most primitive models. 

 The plow consists of the part of a trunk of a tree, with a crooked 

 branch projecting from it which serves as a handle ; the fore- 

 part of the trunk is wedgeshaped, and has a flattish pointed 

 piece of iron nailed to it which performs the double duty of 

 colter and share. For the harrow, a heap of brushes, weighed 

 down with stones, is substituted ; and the blade-bone of a 

 sheep is the principal implement used for weeding the garden. 

 The greater part of the labor at the haciendas, or farms, is 

 performed by oxen ; mules being principally employed in car- 

 rying burdens, and horses kept for riding and similar purposes. 

 The yoke is fastened not to the shoulders, but to the horns of 

 the cattle, according to the ancient Spanish method. Reap- 

 ing is done with a rough sickle, and the grain is thrashed, or 

 stamped out, with horses, on a hard dry spot of ground. 

 From eight hundred to a thousand bushels are thrashed at 

 one time. The grain is generally left in the open air till the 

 rainy season begins. 



Cattle-breeding, however, is probably the most important 

 branch of agricultural industry. In the middle provinces, 

 from ten to twenty thousand head of cattle are often fed on 

 a single hacienda, and the smallest grazing farms support 

 from four to five thousand head. Horses, mules, asses, goats 

 and sheep, are likewise plentiful. Hogs are not so common, 

 and are of an inferior quality. 



Llamas and guanacoes, the puma, the jaguar, and other 

 wild animals found in South America, inhabit Chili. There 

 are likewise numerous varieties of the monkey tribe. Foxes 

 are very common. A kind of beaver which frequents the 

 rivers, and the chinchilla abounding in the deserts at tin- 

 north, are hunted for their furs which are much prized. The 

 country is comparatively free from venomous quadrupeds, and 

 noxious insects and reptiles ; the skunk being almost the only 



