OVALLE S HISTORICAL RELATION OF CHILE. 



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Chile is thought a neceflary purge of the too great abundance of it. This may feem 

 a paradox ; but yet is founded upon experience, becaufe the cattle increafing as it does, 

 and the land being fo good, that it fattens them to a wonderful degree, (there being 

 often taken out of one cow an hundred and fifty pounds weight of tallow, each pound 

 of fixteen ounces,) there is enough to do to get a vent for it. The fame may be faid 

 of the hides ; for though Peru, where the beft part of the confumption is made, is fo 

 great, yet fuch is the produft of Chile, that it wants another Peru to confume it ; for 

 this reafon it is a gain to lofe the increafe of the cattle, for then the profit is more, 

 with lefs trouble and cofl of fervants. In the beginning of the fettlement in Chile, 

 Don Antonio de Herrera fays, that horfes were commonly fold for a thoufand pieces ^»^^ 

 of eight a horfe ; and Gareilaflb fays, that at firft a horfe did not ufe to be fold in 

 Peru at all, except upon the death of the owner, or upon his returning to Spain ; and 

 in that cafe they were fold for four, five, or fix thoufand pieces of eight a horfe. He 

 fays, he himfelf knew a foldier who had an excellent horfe, and that a negro going one 

 day by with him in his hand, a gentleman, who faw them, fent to offer the foldier ten 

 thoufand pieces of eight for the horfe and negro, which he refufed with contempt : 

 but fince that time horfes have multiplied fo, that there being not people enough to 

 feed and tend them, they are fallen extremely. The cows too have increafed fo as to ' 

 cover the fields ; and it is a wonderful thing to fee in thofe great plains of Tucuman 

 and Buenos Ayres, vaft herds of them feeding, without any other mailer than the firft 

 that will take them if he can. I have feen in Chile, in the territory of St. Jago, horfes 

 already dreffed for war, fold for two crowns a-piece, to fupply the army, and yet for 

 ftiape, courage, and good qualities, they yield to no Neapolitan horfe I ever faw ; no, 

 nor to the Andaluzes, from whom they are defcended j for they have had no reafon 

 to degenerate in fo good a land. The cows too, which were at firft out of all price, 

 I have feen fold for a crown a piece, and the calves for half a crown : the ftieep, fuch 

 as I have feen bought in flocks for Cuyo and Tucuman, have been fold for three- 

 pence, or three-halfpence a piece. 



. Theodore, and John de Bry, do mention fome author who fays, that rats were 

 likewife ft rangers to Chile, and were carried thither by an Antwerp ftiip that paffed 

 the ftraights of Magellan : they muft not mean the ordinary houfe-rats and mice, 

 but thofe great ones which have a large tail, and are about a foot long : they are 

 called Pericotes, and are very mifchievous. This ftiip, without doubt, took port 

 in fome of thofe of Chile, where it left thefe animals, fo prejudicial and hard to 

 deftroy ; for they refift the cats, and it is a ftout one that can kill them. But it is a 

 wonderful thing to obferve, that though in fea-towns the magazines, fhops, and 

 warehoufes, are full of them, yet they never go further into the land, which they 

 might eafily do, by fo much carriage as the commerce of thofe parts requires. I 

 believe the air of the Cordillera does not agree with them, and fo may have killed 

 thofe which have been carried by chance with goods ; for I do not'^remember I ever 

 faw one in St. Jago, nor in any town far from the fea fide. 



Among the animals that are proper to Chile, the firft may be reckoned thofe _ y, 

 which are called the fheep of that country : they are of the ftiape of camels, not ^ 

 fo big, nor vaft, and without the bunch that camels have : they are white, black, 

 brown, and fome are afti-coloured. The authors above cited fay, that anciently 

 they ferved to plow the land in fome parts, before there were oxen in it ; nay, in 

 the relation of George Spilberg and his fleet, it is faid, the Dutch pafling by the ifland 

 of Mocha, faw the Indians ufe them in that work. 



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