DISTRIBUTION OP INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES. 51 



sent daily from this \ i< -inity to the Valparaiso market ; and the traveller who stops at its best 

 "fon</ \\ill ha\- no reason to complain cither of the jiiiility of th- fare culled for, of of the 

 charge made fur it. AH the town is m<-nti..iu-d m.r<- th;ui our.- in the subsequent narrative, 

 thi-ir remains only tn add, that most of the hmise.s along its principal Htreet are shops, having 

 .ili- Midi ui-tit 'Irs as are most sought by the constant stream of cartmen and muleteers 

 from Santiago and Melipilla, on their way to the port. Its population is rather less than 

 2,000 souls. Besides these cities, the villages are Concon, Tavalonga, San Pedro, and Li- 

 inachr, in tin- department of Quillota; Vifia la Mar and la Plazilla, in that of Valparaiso; 

 and las Dichas and Vinilla, in Casa-blanca. None of them are scarcely more than small as- 

 semblages of very common houses, whose proprietors are mainly supported by the sale of pro- 

 visions and drink to the public carriers. 



The province of Valparaiso is almost entirely indebted to the valleys of the Quillota, Limache, 

 and Casa-blanca, not only for all that it has of agricultural wealth, but also for the vegetables 

 ami fruits consumed by its entire population, nearly one half of which is concentrated within 

 the city of the same name. In the first of these valleys, especially, there is a succession of 

 luxuriant orchards, vineyards, gardens, meadows, and fields of grain, from the ocean to the 

 province of Aconcagua, nearly 2,000 feet above it a soil that yields from 40 to 60 for one, and a 

 climate more equable, yet charming, than the sun and mountains have elsewhere power to effect. 

 Here the cherimoya, the date, and the lucuma attain perfection, rivalling the growth of native 

 localities ; and nectarines, olives, oranges, grapes, and strawberries, a size and profusion almost 

 incredible ; whilst cereals and esculents, alike of the temperate or torrid zone, amply repay the 

 husbandman for their culture. So great was the surplus in 1850, that we may safely estimate 

 one third of all that passed over the road between Quillota and Valparaiso as the product of 

 this little valley. From the toll returns, this amounted to 3,520 loaded carts and 200,606 

 loaded mules, or about 43,500 tons, of which the proportion afforded by Quillota was 14,500 

 tons ; the other two-thirds consisted of merchandise to and from Valparaiso, Aconcagua, and 

 the Argentine Republic. Genial as is its climate, and fruitful as is its soil, these were not the 

 attractions which led Valdivia to attempt its colonization. The great gold deposite of the time 

 was in the valley of Quillota! Frezier says : "The vale of Quillota did so abound in gold, that 

 Gen. Valdivia thought fit to erect a fort there, for the security of the settlement, and to curb 

 the Indians he employed to get the gold. But they possessed themselves of it by a very 

 ingenious stratagem. One of them, on an appointed day, carried thither a pot-full of gold 

 dust to excite the curiosity and covetousness of the garrison soldiers. In short, they all soon 

 gathered about that little treasure ; and, whilst they were busy contending about their private 

 interest to divide the same, an ambuscade of Indians, concealed and armed with arrows, rushed 

 in upon them and found them defenceless. The victors then destroyed the fort, which has 

 never been rebuilt since, and they have given over searching for gold there." I do not find 

 any authentic account of a fort built there ; but Valdivia certainly did cause a brigantine to be 

 constructed at the mouth of the Aconcagua, which appears to have been completed and in 

 charge of a dozen men, who fell a sacrifice to their cupidity in the manner stated by Frezier. 

 In nine months he had obtained from the mines of Margamargo, situated just to the south- 

 ward of the Aconcagua, and eight or nine miles from the sea, more than $75,000 in gold. 

 Since Frezier' s time (1712) much gold has been obtained from lavaderos, not only in this, but 

 also in other districts of the province ; and though the value of the more precious metal obtained 

 at these deposites is now inconsiderable, there are many mines which annually send quite a 

 large quantity of pure copper to the Valparaiso market. 



COLCHAGUA. This province, next in importance to Santiago in population, and superior to it 

 in agricultural resources, is separated from it by the rivers Cachapual and Kapel ; from the 

 Argentine republic by the crests of the Andes ; from the province of Talca by the rivers Lontue 

 and Mataquito ; and its western boundary is the sea. Its superficial extent is about 3,900 square 

 miles ; and although there are some very lofty ranges of mountains, and the bases of the 



