CHAPTER II. 



POLITICAL DIVISIONS, AND DISTRIBUTION OF INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES. 



PROVINCE OP ATACAMA: ITS BOUNDARIES, TOWNS, MINERAL WEALTH, AND BALANCE OF TRADE. PROVINCE OF COQUIM- 

 BO: ITS BOUNDARIES, TOWNS, SOIL, ROADS, PRODUCTS, AND TRADE. PROVINCE OF ACONCAGUA: ITS BOUNDARIES, 

 TOWNS, SOIL, AND PRODUCTS, MINES, AND TRADE. PROVINCE OF SANTIAGO: ITS BOUNDARIES, TOWNS, FERTILITY 

 OF SOIL, AGRICULTURAL AND MINERAL WEALTH, AND PROPOSED RAILROAD. PROVINCE OF VALPARAISO: ITS 

 BOUNDARIES, TOWNS, THE VALLEY OF QUILLOTA AND LAVADEROS. PROVINCE OF COLCHAGUA: ITS BOUNDARIES, 

 EXTENT, DEPARTMENTS, TOWNS, AGRICULTURE, CATTLE, AND REVENUE. PROVINCE OF TALCA: ITS BOUNDARIES, DE- 

 PARTMENTS, TOWNS, AGRICULTURAL SURPLUS, AND MINERALS. PROVINCE OF MAULE: ITS BOUNDARIES, EXTENT, 

 TOWNS, AGRICULTURE, STATISTICS, CATTLE, MINERALS, AND MANUFACTURES. PROVINCE OF NUBLE: ITS BOUNDA- 

 RIES, TOWNS, BATHS OF CHILLAN, AGRICULTURE, CATTLE, MINES. PROVINCE OF CONCEPCION: ITS BOUNDARIES, 

 TOWNS, FERTILITY, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, WINES, TIMBER, MINES, COAL, FLOUR MILLS. PROVINCE OF ARAUCA- 

 NIA: ITS LIMITS, THE PEOPLE, PHYSICAL DIVISIONS OF THE PROVINCE, SKETCH OF THE NATURAL FEATURES ALONG 

 THE TWO ROADS THAT TRAVERSE THE COUNTRY, PHYSIOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INHABITANTS, THEIR DWELL- 

 INGS, AGRICULTURE, AND PROBABLE MINERAL WEALTH. PROVINCE OF VALDIVIA: ITS BOUNDARIES, TOWNS, SMALL 

 AMOUNT OF CULTIVATED LAND, GERMAN COLONISTS, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, MINES, FORESTS, AND COMMERCE. 

 PROVINCE OF CHIL&E: ITS BOUNDARIES, TOWNS, CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO, FORESTS, CULTIVATION, APPLE ORCHARDS, 

 SHELL-FISH, MINES, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE. STATISTICS OF POPULATION AND MORTALITY FOR EACH DE- 

 PARTMENT OF THE REPUBLIC. 



The territory. of the republic is separated into thirteen principal portions, styled Provinces. 

 These are divided into Departments, the departments into Sub-delegations, and the sub- 

 delegations into Districts ; each having its appropriate ruler, whose commission is held, either 

 directly or by delegated authority, at the sole will of the President. Several of the provinces 

 have been created subsequent to the organic law at the declaration of independence, and one of 

 them so lately as July, 1852. 



ATACAMA. This, the most northern, erected into a separate province in 1843, originally 

 formed part of the province of Coquimbo. It is bounded on the north by Bolivia, south by 

 the department of La Serena, in the province of Coquimbo, east by an imaginary line passing 

 through the culminating points of the Andes, and west by the Pacific ocean. Elsewhere it 

 has been said that Chile claims to the 24th parallel of latitude. In the instructions from Capt. 

 Fitzroy, R. N., to one of his officers about to leave on detached service, he says: "Remember 

 that Paposo is the northernmost inhabited place over which the government of Chile has au- 

 thority ;" and by the observations of that officer, Paposo was found to be in latitude 25 02' 

 30". Native writers on geography, speaking of the boundaries, say : "On the north by the 

 desert of Atacama," a broad tract several degrees in width ; so that where Bolivia begins 

 and Chile terminates, is yet to be decided. I have copied a boundary line, as far as it is laid 

 down, from a MS. map in my possession, compiled from data furnished by Don Bartolome 

 Navarete. 



Atacama comprises three departments Copiapo, Vallenar, and Freirina divided into 25 

 sub-delegations, and 82 districts. Each department has a capital city of the same name, to 

 which is usually prefixed that of a titular saint. Copiapo or, as it was christened, San 

 Francisco de la Selva is also the capital of the province, and, by consequence, the residence 

 of the Intendente. Besides these interior towns, Caldera and Huasco are its commercial 

 ports; and there are villages, with more than 1,000 inhabitants each, at the Chanarcillo and 

 Tres Puntas mines, and smaller assemblages in other mineral districts. Coasting vessels and 



