( 245 ) 



CHILI. 



(See Plan, p. 140.) 



FISHEKIES. 



THE very extensive Coast of Chili abounds with fish" 1 of infinite* variety. Her lakes and 

 rivers are also well stocked with trout and pejereyes, the latter very delicious and peculiar to 

 Chili. Along a great extent of the coast the sea is usually very calm, and therefore fishing is 

 carried on with little difficulty. The boats used for the purpose are generally simply 

 constructed and not remarkable for any peculiar shape. Formerly, a sort of twin-boat called 

 a "balsa" was very much in use. It was made of seal skins, inflated with air introduced 

 through a leather or india-rubber tube, and was very well adapted for shores where the sea 

 breaks roughly, as it was by construction unsinkable. These boats have long ago, however, 

 been superseded by wooden ones, much the same as those used in England. The " balsas " 

 are still to be seen in different places along the coast, chifly in the north. 



It would be difficult to enumerate the immense variety of excellent fish which are caught 

 off the coast of Chili. The kinds most preferred are corbina (a species of white salmon), 

 lenguado (flat fish), pescada (Chilian haddock), jerguilla (rock fish), and pichihuen. 



The sea around the island of Juan Fernandez is still richer in fish, the amount being 

 prodigious. Some of the varieties of crabs and lobsters to be found there attain an 

 immense size. 



The Chilian fisheries not only produce a plentiful supply of fresh fish for the home con- 

 sumption, but there is also a large trade done in dried fish, which is in great demand for the 

 numerous trading vessels which constantly arrive at the different ports of the Kepublic. The 

 shell and other fish, preserved in tins, are pronounced by many to be unequalled, and the price 

 being exceedingly moderate, there is no doubt but that they will shortly be largely exported 

 to Europe. Bacalao (Hock cod) have been caught at 75 fathoms depth off the Island of 

 Juan Fernandez, weighing 100 Ibs. 



FISH CULTUKE. 



In Chili there is no establishment of a special character for freshwater pisciculture. Doctor 

 Charles Segeth, a German medical practitioner, importer of two varieties of the Cyprinis 

 Auratus, which has become very extensively propagated, and of the Cyprianus Carpio, keeps 

 the latter fish in a common pond ever since it was imported into Chili, some years ago, and there 

 it grows and breeds, giving hope of their being soon in numbers sufficient to sell for its propa- 

 gation all "over the country. It does not appear that in the maintenance of this pond its owner 

 has used any apparatus for the bringing up of the fish. The same gentleman will soon 

 import the European astacus fluviatelis. There are salmon ova just arrived in the country, 

 for the second time, for putting into the rivers in the southern part of the country, which are 

 very well suited for this class of fish. 



The Commissioners in Chili for Freshwater Fish, being under the impression that the 

 London Great International Fisheries Exhibition was one rather of the industrial products of 

 fisheries than collections for the advancement of scientific knowledge, have only collected and 

 forwarded specimens of fresh water produce, which on account of their abundance and quality 

 are articles of commerce for the food of the inhabitants to be had in all markets. 



PAKTICTJLAKS OF THE CHILIAN WHALE FISHEKIES. 



Two or three Chilian Companies own fleets of whaling vessels. The general cruising 

 grounds of these are in the Pacific Ocean, from the Bay of Panama, latitude 8 north to Chiloe, 

 latitude 47 south, and from the west coast to longitude 120 west. 



There are also several whaling stations or shore parties at different points on the south 

 coast of Chili. 



The sperm oil obtained is usually shipped to England for a market, but the other oils are 

 mostly consumed in the country, principally in the mines or in different manufactories. 



