17 



instead of chocolate ; from the second they pre- 

 pared cakes, and a bread called by them couque, 

 which they baked in holes formed like ovens, 

 excavated in the sides f the mountains and in 

 the banks of the rivers, a great number of which 

 are still to be seen. Their invention of a kind 

 of sieve, called chignigue, for separating the 

 bran from the flour, affords matter of surprise ; 

 that they employed leaven is, however, still more 

 surprising, as such a discovery can only be made 

 gradually, and is the fruit of reasoning or obser- 

 vation, unless they were led to it by some for- 

 tunate accident, which most probably was the 

 case when they first began to make use of bread. 

 From the above-mentioned grains, and the 

 berries of several trees, they obtained nine or 

 ten kinds of spiritous liquor, which they fer- 

 mented and kept in earthen jars, as was the 

 custom with the Greeks and Romans. This re- 

 finement of domestic econom}', though not origi- 

 nating from actual necessity, appears to be 

 natural to man, in whatever situation he is 

 found ; more especially when he is brought to 

 live in society with his fellow men. The dis- 

 covery of fermented liquors soon follows that of 

 aliment ; and it is reasonable to believe that the 

 use of such beverages is of high antiquity among 

 the Chilians, more especially as their country 

 abounds in materials for making them. 



VOL. II. c 



