WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES — VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 665 



1746. There are in this district 12 Spanish settlements: the city 

 of La Plata, the town of Potosi, the town of Porco, that of San 

 Felipe de Austria called Oruro, that of Oropesa in the Cochabamba 

 Valley, the town of Toniina, that of San Juan de Rodas, El Villar, 

 Tarija, the town of Paspaya, Berenguela, San Vicente en Los Lipes, 

 and other Spanish settlements, forming 14 Corregimientos. Two 

 of these are in the appointment of His Majesty, in consultation with 

 the Royal Council ; these are Potosi and Oruro, and also the Alcaldia 

 Mayor of the Potosi mines. Eleven are filled by the Viceroy: Los 

 Amparaes, Chayanta, Tomina, Tarija and Chichas, Los Lipes, Ata- 

 cama, the town of Porco, Paria, Carangas, Cochabamba, Pilaya, and 

 Paspaya. The Archdiocese of the Charcas has five sufifragan dioceses : 

 that of La Paz known as Chuquiabo, that of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 

 that of Tucuman, that of Paraguay, and that of Buenos Ayres. 



1747. The Circuit Court located in this city is the last in Peru. 

 It has very wide jurisdiction: N. and S., from the Moquegua Valley, 

 where it touches the Court of Lima, to the Copiapo Valley, which 

 is at 27°2o' and belongs to the district of the Circuit Court of Chile ; 

 along the sierra, likewise N. and S., from the Province of Paucar- 

 colla in El Collao, where it borders on the villages of Ayaviri and 

 Orcosayo in the Province of Cabana and Cabanilla, which are in 

 the Diocese of Cuzco and the Circuit Court of Lima, and then 

 running through the Provinces of El Collao to the end of those of Los 

 Lipes and Atacama, more than 200 leagues ; E. and W., from the 

 Pacific at the Moquegua Valley (for Arica belongs in the Lima 

 Circuit Court) as far as Buenos Ayres on the Atlantic, 600 leagues, 

 and the same to the city of Asuncion, capital of the State and Diocese 

 of Paraguay. Accordingly it comprises in its district those of the 

 Archbishopric of the Charcas, the Diocese of La Paz, the Diocese 

 of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, San Lorenzo or Misque, the Diocese of 

 Tucuman, the Diocese of Paraguay and the Diocese of Buenos Ayres, 

 and other States and Corregimientos among them which will be 

 described in their proper place. 



Chapter XXXII 



Of the Province of Atacama and the Remarkable Things in It. 



1748. The Province of Atacama is 80 leagues WSW. of the city 

 of La Plata, on the Pacific coast ; it is the last plains province in 

 Peru. On the N. it is bounded by the Tarapaca and Pica Valleys, 

 from which it is separated by 40 leagues of desert ; on the E., by 

 the Province of Los Lipes, 30 leagues away ; on the S. by the Copiapo 



