100 



CHILE - MISCEI.LANEOUS 



were confiscated but though they passed from the pubhc treasury into 

 other hands, the area of the estates remained unchanged. 



When the RepubUc succeeded the Viceroys the State continued to 

 make grants of land, and this has also occurred in recent times, (see § 5 ). 



All this explains how in Chili large estates prevail, to which the vState 

 domains form a counterpart. 



The State still possesses very extensive tracts in the nitre zone and the 

 Magellan territory, half of which is still its property. Ti^xcept for some 

 areas situated in the southern part of the central zone (Araucania), the 

 State lands are, however, not adapted for agriculture, but are generally 

 nitrous, and a considerable portion has been ceded to large businesses founded 

 for the extraction of nitrates, and in certain parts the State lands are 

 suitable for sheep-rearing. 



Of the State lands we are unable to give particulars, for not only 

 is there no cadastre, but much of the land is still unexplored. 



2. Distribution of Rural Land. — ■ Notwithstanding the abolition of the 

 encomiendas and of entailed estates, large landed properties still pre- 

 ponderate. It is not rare to find an estate of from five to ten thousand 

 hectares. We are not here speaking of the grazing farms of the Ma- 

 gellan Territory, which are still more extensive. (§ 5). 



We have not statistics sufficient to give an exact idea of the distrib- 

 ution of rural property. 



According to a valuation made some years ago by the Department 

 of Finance, the landed property would be distributed as follows : 



Too much reliance should not be placed on the above valuation, which 

 is certainly only approximate, considering that it was drawn up for fiscal 

 purposes some years ago, when the value of landed property was much 



