30 



valuable production, a mild and almost equable 

 temperature of climate, and a remarkable salu- 

 brity, are the blessings enjoyed by this delight- 

 ful country.* Before the arrival of the Spa- 



* If Chili is not jiopulous, it cannot be attributed to the 

 fault of its climate, wliich is one ot the most salubrious of any 

 known, the contiguity of the Cordilleras communicating to it 

 a dehghtful temperature, which, from its latitude, it could not 

 be expected to enjoy. Nor does Spain possess a province 

 more pleasant and agreeable as a place of residence. Phi- 

 losophical History of the European Establishments, book viii. 

 chap. 2. 



There are two reasons which have impeded the population 

 of Chili, and counterbalanced the advantages it has received 

 from nature : The first, the almost continual wars between the 

 Spaniards and the Araucanians from its first discovery, which 

 have destroyed an infinite number of people : The second 

 (and the principal) the commercial restrictions which were im- 

 posed upon that country, as for a century the Chilians had no 

 direct communication with Europe, nor were tliey permitted 

 to send any of their produce to any other place than Ciilcao, 

 from whence it followed, I hat every species of exportation and 

 importation was conducted by the merchants of Peru, who of 

 course reaped all the prolit of this trade. This pernicious 

 system discouraged industry, and had a sensible eifect upon 

 the population ; but of late, since a direct counnerce has been 

 carried on with European ships, which arrive every year in 

 some of the ports of Chili, that delightiul count ry l)egins to 

 increase in nund^eis, and, in some measure, to raise ilself to 

 that important station which its natural advantages claim. In 

 the year 1755, in the province of JNIunlc alone, there were 

 calculated to be 14,000 whites capable of bearing arms, and 

 the population of the other provinces had increased in a de- 

 gree proportiouate to the extent of their iioiits. The esti- 



