OVALLE*S HISTORICAL RELATION OF CHILE. 4I 



The fruit that exceeds all the reft for bearing is the apple, of all kinds, of which 

 there are prodigious orchards ; and of thefe, though they lefTen the number, yet the 

 others increafe fo much in weight, that the trees are brought down to the ground ; fo 

 that there are many windfalls, filling all the ground about them, and the very rivers 

 on which they ftand, and ftopping the courfe of the water. 



All the crops of oats, wheat, maize, and all other garden produft, begin to be cut 

 in December, and fo on to March ; and they feldom produce lefs than twenty or thirty 

 for one, nay, fome a hundred for one, and the maize four hundred for one ; and it is 

 very feldom that there is any fcarcity of grain, but it is very cheap moft commonly. 



As for the fruit of the gardens, it is never or rarely fold, but any body may, without 

 hinderance, ftep into a garden or orchard, and eat what they will ; only the ftrawber- 

 ries, which they call Frutilla, are fold ; for though I have feen them grow wild for 

 miles together, yet, being cultivated, they are fold very dear : they are very different 

 from thofe I have feen here in Rome, as well in the tafte as in the fmell ; and as for 

 their fize, they grow to be as big as peers, moft commonly red j but in the territory 

 of the Conception, there are of them white and yellow. 



About this time, alfo, the herbs that fatten the cattle grow yipe j and then they be- 

 gin to kill them with great profit, it being the chiefeft riches of the country, by 

 reafon of the tallow and hides which are fent for Peru. They kill thoufands of cows, 

 flieep, goats ; and the flefti, being fo cheap that it is not worth faving, they throw it 

 away into the fea or rivers, that it may not infedl: the air ; only they fait the tongues 

 and loins of the cows, which they fend for Peru as prefents for their friends ; and 

 they who are able, and underftand it, fend likewife fome dried falt-flefh for the king's 

 forces, or keep it to feed their own flaves or fervants. 



Autumn begins about the middle of February ; fo Lent proves the moft delicious 

 time of the year ; for befides lobfters, oyfters, crabs, and other forts of fhell-fifti and 

 fea-fifh of all kinds, they fifti in the ponds and rivers for trouts, Vagres, Pejereges, 

 and other very choice river-fifti of feveral kinds j and at the fame time there is a great 

 plenty of legumes, and garden product, as gourds, all forts of fruit, particularly 

 quinces, which are as big as one's head, and another kind called Lucumas, of which 

 they make fo many difhes, that the mortification of fafting is hardly perceived. 



In the end of autumn, they begin to gather the olives and the grapes ; and this ' 

 iafts the months of May and June. The wines are moft noble and generous, and 

 famed by the authors who write of this country : there is fuch plenty of them, that 

 the plenty is a grievance, there being no vent for fuch quantities : it kills the Indians, 

 becaufe when they drink, it is without meafure, till they fall down ; and it being very 

 ftrong, it burns up their inward parts : the beft kind is the Mufcatel. I have feen 

 fome that look like water ; but their operation is very different in the ftomach, which 

 they warm like brandy. 



There are white wines alfo very much valued ; as thofe of the grape called Uba 

 Torrontes, and Albilla : the red and deep-coloured are made of the ordinary red grape, 

 and the grape called Mollar. The bunches of grapes are fo large, that they caufe ad- 

 miration ; particularly I remember one, which, becaufe of its monftrous bignefs, was 

 by its owner (a gentleman) offered to our lady's fhrine : it was fo big as to fill a bafket, 

 and to feed the whole convent of friars for that meal, and they are pretty numerous. 

 The branches of the vines are by confequence very big, and the trunk or body of 

 them is in fome places as thick as a man's body ; and no man can incompafs with 

 extended arms the heads of them, when they are in full bloom. 



VOL. XIY, G CHAP. 



