CHILI. '23 



and dirttisive. Molina writes, with an attacliment to 

 his country, a liistory wliich cannot be read without 

 interest; and truly the history of a people whicli 

 is still in the state where man is appreciated at his 

 just value, and appears in independent greatnesvS 

 and energy, must be more attractive than those 

 civilized states where calculation presides, the 

 character disappears, and man only weighs, or is 

 weighed. 



Among the authorities for the history of Chili, are 

 several Spanish epic poems, of which the Araucana, 

 by Don Alonzo de Ercilla, has the first rank. This 

 work is mentioned with honour in Don Quixote ; 

 Voltaire has praised it; and an edition of it has 

 appeared in Germany, (Gotha, 1806-7.) This ele- 

 gantly-versified historical fragment, whose author 

 celebrates wars in which he himself fought, deserves 

 less the attention of the German literati than of 

 the inquirer into history. Historians refer to it 

 with confidence, and in Chih, where it is considered 

 as a national poem, it is more read than any other 

 book. 



As a supplement to the historians of Chili, w^e 

 communicate the notices for which we are indebted 

 to Father Alday, a missionary, who spent a part of 



language. We have found occasion in another place, to mention 

 and compare the nations and languages of South America, with 

 those of the islands of the (ireat Ocean, and of the eastern part 

 of Asia ; and observe, that our researches Jiavc not led us to 

 rind a community between them. 



