64 List of the Plants of Chile. 



inhabit it, and offers more resources for the establishment of mer- 

 cantile relations with the principal commercial nations of Europe, 

 than any other country of South America. The coast of the Pa- 

 cific Ocean, is much indented by ports, bays, and the mouths of navi- 

 gable rivers which give to the country a facility in diffusing the pro- 

 ducts of its soil and industry, and of insuring favorable returns without 

 the necessity of recurring to the difficult means to which neighboring 

 people are obliged to resort. The chain of the Andes is a source of 

 incalculable benefit to this region. The difficulties of its passages 

 protect Chile from foreign invasion ; it offers also a barrier to the 

 wind, and by it, all meteoric phenomena are modified advantageous- 

 ly for the inhabitants. The salubrity of the air cannot be greater in 

 any similar latitude. The waters, which, in every direction, irrigate 

 the plains, are precipitated from the summit of the Cordilleras, where 

 the snows have for ages fixed their dwelling. The whole of this 

 immense extent is varied with hills and mountains of every size, 

 which at the same time augment the geographical superficies and 

 give variety to the climate. In a word, Chile may very properly be 

 styled the American Italy. 



Its mineral wealth has, ever since the discovery of the country, 

 occupied the attention of speculators, and is a source of great nation- 

 al benefit. I leave to those who profess this very interesting branch 

 of natural history, the labor of acquiring by their investigations, a 

 correct knowledge of this fountain of riches, and of devising means 

 to explore them with more security and less expense, conditions 

 particularly required to avoid the fatal accidents (and failures ?) which 

 have been unfortunately but too much multiplied. 



The vegetation in this region, flourishes in vigor and affords many 

 very important resources. The precious woods, the esculent plants, 

 and the immense variety of fruits present great advantages to the arts 

 and commerce. Finally, animals, and particularly those most useful 

 to man, have found in Chile a new country and contribute with those 

 proper to it, to augment its resources. 



Among the means used by civilized nations, to increase their com- 

 merce and their felicity, the principal is, without doubt, agriculture. 

 History and the experience of the present time confirm this princi- 

 ple. Every agricultural community renders itself independent of 

 foreign industry, and secures equality among its own people, and re- 

 ciprocity with foreign nations. In a word, a nation is morally free if 

 its people are mainly agriculturists. This branch of national industry 



