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lowing year lie sent the Marshal Ruiz Gamboa> 

 with sixty men to su])ject the inhabitants of the 

 Archipelago of Chiloe ; that officer encountered 

 no rfeig^ance^, and founded in the principal island 

 the city of Castro and the port of Chacao. 



The islands of this Archipelago amount to 

 eighty, and, like most other islands, have been 

 produced by earthquakes, owing to the great 

 number of volcanoes with which that country 

 formerly abounded. Every part of them ex-^ 

 hibits the most unquestionable marks of fire. 

 Several mountains in the great islaiid of Chilo^^, 

 which has, given its name to the Archipelago, are 

 composed of basaltic columns, which, whatever 

 may be said to the contrary, could have been 

 produced only by the operation of fire. 



The native inhabitants, though descended froip 

 the continental Chilians, as their appearance, 

 their manners, and their language all evince, are 

 nevertheless of a very different character, being 

 of a pacific or rather a timid disposition. They 

 made no opposition, as we have already observed, 

 to the handful of Spaniards who came there to 

 subjugate them, although their population is 

 said to have exceeded seventy thousand ; nor 

 have they ever attempted to shake off the yoke 

 until the beginning of the present century, when 

 an insurrection of no great importance was ex- 

 cited, which was soon quelled. The number of 

 inhabitants at present amounts to upwards of 



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