46 



dred ;* while there are those who assure us ttiat 

 it often amounts to three hundred for one.f I am 

 not disposed to question the account of respect- 

 able writers, several of whom have been eye 

 witnesses of what they describe : especially, as 

 instances of fertility occasionally occur that are 

 truly wonderful. I have myself seen lands that 

 produced a hundred and twenty, and even a hun- 

 dred and sixty for one, but these are extraordi- 

 nary cases, and cannot serve as data for a gene- 

 ral estimate. 



The common crop in the middle districts is 



* Another more important source of wealth, although less 

 appreciated by its possessors, is what arises from the fertility 

 of the soil, which is truly astonishing. All the European fruits 

 attain perfection in this favoured climate, and the wines would 

 be excellent were it not for a bitter taste acquired in consC' 

 quence of their being kept in jars smeared with a kind of rosin, 

 and afterwards put into skins for transportation. When the 

 crop of grain does not exceed an hundred for one, it is consi- 

 dered as poor and scanty. Philosophical History, book viii. 



It is not a good year when the crop of wheat does not ex- 

 ceed a hundred for one, and it is the same with all other grain. 

 Ulloa's Voyage, vol.iii. 



t The soil is excellent, but differiHg, in some degree, as it 

 approaches or recedes from the equator. The valleys of Co- 

 piapo frequently yield three hundred for one ; the plains of 

 Guasko and Coquimbo, are nearly as productive, and the lands 

 on the river Chile are so fertile that they have given its name 

 to the country. Sanson s (of AhheviUej Geography j article 

 Chili. 



