Ctí. X. SOUTH AMERICA. -83 



iflánd to be abfolutdy deflitute, t!ie fangninc colour of 

 the flarv)e, inclined me to t!i!nk there might be fome 

 volcano; but having never leen any ih\n^ of thac 

 kind before, nor he;ird from gcÍicjs that there was x 

 ever any eru{)rion, 1 was far from being tenacious of 

 my opinion. We h-d indeed all our conjeilures ; but 

 the difficulty was not cleared up till my fi'th and lafl: 

 voyage to this ifland, when Don Jofeph Pizarro, fent 

 fome people on fhore to take an accurate furvey of this 

 place, and the ground was found to be burnt, full of 

 fiivjres and hot, which verified my firil opinion of a 

 volcano. 



Ont the 2\ñ after coafiing along this ifiand, we 

 continued our courfe'for Valparail"), where our little 

 fquadron came to an anchor on the 2 ^th, and wee the 

 more plealed as we foufid there the prefidenc of Santi- 

 ago, Don Jofeph Manfo, and our commodore; and 

 in the harbour, befides the Callao fleet, three French 

 iliips, called the Louis Erafme, Notre Dame de la 

 Delivrance, and the Lys, which had been freighted 

 by four merchants as regifter ihips ; and Vaiparaifo 

 was the firil pon they had touched at, for vending 

 their cargoes. 



From feveral obfervations made in this harbour by 

 Don George Juan, m the ¡aft vovan;e of 1744, its lad- 

 tude appears to be 33° 02' 36" 30'" and father Fevillee 

 fettled its longiiude at 304° i t' ^5'' from the meridian 

 ofTeneriiF. This town was at hi ft very mean, con- 

 fifting only of a few warehoufes built by the inhabi- 

 tants of Santiago for laying up their goods till lliipped 

 off for Callao, the harbour <)f Vaiparaifo being the 

 neareil port to that city, from which it is only twenty 

 leagues diilant, though the natives will have it to be 

 more. The only inhabitants at that time were the 

 few fervantb left by their relptclive mailers for taking 

 care of the warehoulcs, and uiauaging their mercantile 

 affairs. But in proccls of time, lac merchants thcm- 

 felves, together with feveral other families, removed 



from 



