187 



threads, which they hang for some time in the smoke. 

 In this mode they keep very well, and are carried to 

 Cujo and other places at a distance from the sea. 



As soon as the Christian religion was preached in 

 Chiloe it was readily embraced by the natives, who 

 have ever since continued faithful and obedient to 

 its precepts. Their spiritual concerns are under the 

 direction of the bishop of Conception, and their 

 temporal are administered by a governor appointed 

 by the captain -general of Chili.* The Spaniards at 

 present established in this Archipelago amount to 

 about fifteen thousand, and its commerce is conduct- 

 ed by means of three or four ships which trade there 

 annually from Peru and Chili. To these they sell 

 large quantities of red cedar boards, timber of dif- 

 ferent kinds suitable for carriages, upwards of two 

 thousand ponchos of various qualities, hams, pil- 

 chards, dried shell-fish, white cedar boxes, cloaks, 

 embroidered girdles, and a small quantity^ of am- 

 bergris which is found upon the shores ; and receive 

 in exchange wine, brandy, tobacco, sugar, herb of 

 Paraguay, salt, and several kinds of European goods. 



* The temporal government of these islands at the present 

 time (1792) is vested in the viceroyalty of Lima Sfie/iith Trtvn, 



