'^■^d SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL, 102 



1944. This city has the Cathedral which used to belong to La 

 Imperial, which was abandoned in the month of April 1600 after 

 the second Indian revolt, when they killed Gov. Martin Garcia de 

 Loyola at the end of the year 1598. Don Francisco de Quifiones 

 who was then Governor of that Kingdom, dismantled the city at the 

 instance of its residents, as a sequel to many requisitions ; they would 

 certainly have perished if he had not rescued them from that great 

 tribulation, as I shall relate, God willing, in the book I am writing 

 on wars and events in that Kingdom. 



1945. The Bishop also resides in the city of La Concepcion, which 

 has the Cathedral that used to be in La Imperial ; he resides at the 

 Cathedral and serves it with his Prebendaries. There are five con- 

 vents in this city, Dominican, Franciscan, Augustinian, Mercedarian, 

 and Jesuit ; a hospital for the care of the indigent sick, and a shrine 

 devoted to Our Lady of the Snows. The city will have 200 Spanish 

 residents, and in the neighborhood a few Indian villages, which are 

 small, for they have died ofif in the war. The Governor appoints 

 in the district of this Diocese to five Corregimientos : three of 

 Spaniards — La Concepcion, San Bartolome de Chilian, and the city 

 of Castro ; and two of Indians, which are Itata and Talcahuano, as 

 will be related in due course. 



1946. In the neighborhood there are many establishments with 

 cattle and sheep ranches ; on them they raise quantities of wheat, 

 corn, chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans, porotos, and other cereals ; 

 there are a few vineyards producing wine. Before the Indian revolt 

 the district of this Diocese was large ; at present it is small, on account 

 of the war. The Corregidor appointed by the Governor at La Con- 

 cepcion is an Army Captain with a Spanish garrison ; another is 

 appointed for the city of Chilian, which is I2(?) leagues from 

 La Concepcion, near the Cordillera. This was built by Marshal Ruiz 

 de Gamboa on the bank of a river ; it is surrounded by a wall, on 

 account of the Indian war ; there is a fort there with eight pieces 

 of artillery ; the Corregidor has a garrison of a company of infantry. 

 There are in the city a parish church and Dominican, Franciscan, 

 and Mercedarian convents. 



1947. Another is appointed for the city of Castro, which was 

 founded in 1567, the year when the mercury mines of Huancavelica 

 in Peru were discovered, the Governor of Peru being Licentiate 

 Lope Garcia de Castro, who was succeeded in the governorship by 

 Don Francisco de Toledo. This city is the last in the Kingdom 

 of Chile before the Straits. It is built on the largest island in the Chiloe 

 Archipelago, at 43° S. It will have as many as 40 Spanish residents, 



