OVALLE*S HISTORICAL RELATION OF CHILE. 



U7 



the bottom, having about their necks a bag full of flones, that they might fink the 

 iafter ; and it ferved them for a ballaft to keep them fteady while they gathered the 

 oyfters, that the water might not buoy them up. The greateft oyfters are about ten 

 fathom deep ; for when they do not go to feed, they keep as low as they can, and flick 

 fo faft to the rocks, and to one another, that it is very hard to loofen them ; nay, it 

 happens fometimes, that while they fpend too much time in doing it, their breath fails 

 them, and they are drowned : but, generally fpeaking, they are not in danger, becaufe, 

 as they gather the oyfters, they put them in their bag, and lighten it of the ftones, and 

 before their breath fails, they come up again with their fifh. They open the oyfters, 

 and take out the pearls, which ufe to be many if they are fmall, and few if they are 

 large. • They fay, that among thofe they prefented the Caftilians at this time, were 

 feveral of the bignefs of large peafe and hazle-nuts ; with which they returned very 

 well pleafed to have made a difcovery of fo rich a treafure, as well as of the rich one 

 they had given in exchange to the King and his people, by making them Chriftians. 



CHAP. X. — Of the Difcovery of the River of Plata, and the Coafl of Chile, by the 



Straights of Magellan* 



WE have hitherto gone by the North-Sea to the Terra Firma, and the difcovery of 

 the South-Sea, with intent to follow the difcoveries of this new world to its utmoft 

 bounds, which is the kingdom of Chile, to which all this narrative is direded. We 

 fhall follow this order by the fame fteps that the firft conquerors went ; but while they 

 are difpofmg all things for this great enterprife, it will not be amifs to leave the 

 South-Sea, and follow thofe who endeavoured to difcover the coafts of Chile by the 

 North-Sea. The firft we fhall follow is Captain Juan Dias de Solis, who failing from 

 Spain the eighth of Odober 1515, ran along the coafts of Brafil, till he difcovered 

 the famous river of Plata, which was fo named, not from any filver that is found near 

 it, or on its banks, but from fome plates of that metal which the Indians gave the 

 Spaniards ; which filver they had brought from the country about Potofi, with which 

 they had communication by the means of the Tucuman Indians, who are the neareft 

 to that fide to Peru. Solis entered that mighty river, which, if I am not miftaken, 

 is threefcore or feventy leagues over at its firft entrance, and is known at fea by its 

 frefh water, at^ firft ; till being further in, they can fee the mountains and land that 

 bound it. This river is one of the moft famous in the world, of fweet and excellent 

 water, being obferved to clear the voice and lungs, and is good againft all rheums and 

 defludions ; and all the nations of the Paraguays, who drink this water, have admi- 

 rable voices, fo tunable, that when they fing they appear organs ; and therefore they 

 are all inclined to mufic ; and thofe who come from abroad mend their voices by 

 living there. I know one who was born in Chile, and had naturally a good voice, 

 which he mended extremely by living in Paraguay ; but when he left that country, 

 and came to Tucuman, he loft his improvement, as he himfelf told me. This river 

 has another property, which is, that it petrifies the branches of trees which fall into 

 it. The governor Hernan Darias, born in Paraguay, a gentleman of a fingular talent 

 for government, had in his houfe a whole tree all of ftone which had been taken out 

 of this river. Likewife there are formed naturally of the fand of this river, certain 

 velTels of various figures, which have the property of cooling water. There are alfo 

 certain cocos de terra, which contain ftones in them, which at a certain time are, as 

 ^t were, ripe, and burft, dicovering amethyfts within them ; they burft open with 

 a great noife. 



u 2 There 



