ovalle's historical relation of chile, 



CHAP. VIII.— 0/ the vq/i number 0/ Rivers which take their Rife in this Mountain and 



e?npty them/elves into the Sea. ' 



- f I"? fi'^V^K-^- °^^?^^"^^ has founded the beft part of the beauty and fecundity 

 of the fields of Chile, m this range of mountains called the Cordillera, in which as in a 

 bank that can never break, he has depofited its treafure and riches, by affurin^ the 

 annual tribute of fo many brooks and ample rivers which are to fertilize the earth • for 

 neither can the country maintain its fertility without fuch moifture, nor fuch a moifture 

 mamtam itfelf all the year without fuch quantities of fnow, as are laid up in trdeep 



fromT " '"^ '^'"'''' '"^ '"^ '^^ ^""'"''' '^^ ""^"^^ "^^'^ '^"^^'^ d^ri^ed 



Who can demonflrate the number of them at their rife ? But one may euefs at the 

 prodigious quantity of fnow which fupplies them ; for though it cannot be feen all in 

 a mafs, becaufe its refervatones are impenetrable, yet its effefts do manifeft it: for 

 befides the feeding of innumerable rivers which run to the eaft, and empty themfelves 

 mto the north fea, and fupplymg prodigious lakes in the province of Cuyo, thofe whLh 

 run to the weft, and enter the South-Sea, (not reckoning what may be by the ftrZht. 

 of Magellan, and the llerra del Fuego,) L above fiftyf which ma^be Jell mHed 

 by tour apiece more which they receive, and fo make two hundred ; which arrive at 

 the fea fo full and deep that fome of them have water enough for the navigation of 

 the galloons and fhips of great burden ; which is the more to be admired, becaufe their 

 courfe IS fo fhort, the moft extended of them not paffing thirty leagues in length. 



The firft river of this kingdom, beginning from the confines of Peru about the 

 25th degree of latitude, is the river called the Salt River, which comes from the 

 Cordillera, running through a deep valley : its waters are fo fait, that they cannot be 

 drank; and when fometimes horfes, deceived by its pure clear colours, happen to 

 drmk of them they are turned into fait by the heat of the fun, fo that the bodies feem 

 of pearl, they beginning to petrify by the tail. 



.J^^ "'f to this is the river of Copiapo, in 26 degrees ; it runs 20 leagues from 

 ealt to weft and makes a bay at its entrance into the fea, which ferves for a harbour 

 for Ihips. In 28 degrees the river of Guafco does the fame, and forms a port. 



After this comes the river of Coquimbo, in 30 degrees, whofe port is a noble bay 

 adorned on the fhore with frefh and beautiful myrtles, and other trees, which continu^e 

 withia.land as far as the town, and make a noble and pleafant grove, which out-does 

 all the contrivances of art There are fifhed in this coaft tunny-fifh, Albucores, and 

 many forts of excellent fifh, as alfo oyfters and great variety of fhell-fifh 



Ihe n^t to the river of Coquimbo are thcfe of Tongoy and Limari, about 30 decrees 

 and a half eaft ; and then m 31 degrees the river of Chuapa empties itfelf into the fea 

 Upon that coaft there is found a fort of delicate fhell-fifh, which they call Jacas 



Between the one and thirtieth degree, and the two and thirtieth, the rivers Loneo- 

 toma and La Liga enter the fea ; and about thirty-three degrees that of Aconcalua 

 which is the great river which comes down, as we have faid, by the way of the Cordil- 

 lera. 1 his is a very deep river; and though it runs through the lar^e valleys of 

 Curimon, Aconcagua, Qmlota, and Concon, which being cultivated with all kinds of 

 produas, particularly, wheat, flax, hemp, &c. and by confequence well watered, yet 

 this river arrives at the fea as full and deep as if they had not drained it by the way to 

 tertihze their fields. ^ ^ 



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