174 JOURNAL. 
while not a boat is employed for carriage. The enormous taxes laid 
on water carriage under the name of port dues, &c. in Valparaiso, 
and which bear more upon small vessels conveying even provisions 
than any others, prevents not only the trade which should be a nur- 
sery for the seamen of Chile, but also the cultivation of many fertile 
tracts along the coast. The nearness of the mountains to the shore, 
and their very abrupt descent, prevent the existence of very large 
rivers or such as are navigable for any extent, but the mouths of the 
smaller streams form little harbours, whence’ the produce of their 
astonishingly fertile banks being floated down from the interior might 
be embarked with convenience. Yet I do not know one, where any 
thing approaching to acoasting trade is encouraged. Hence, the coal 
of Conception, though abundant and good, and worked within 300 
miles, is dearer in Valparaiso than that brought from England. 
Hence, too, the tracts of alluvial soil, washed from the nearer hills by 
the winter rains, and kept fruitful by the fresh lakes which are formed 
every where by those rains collecting in the valleys, are left uncul- 
tivated, though fit for the production of every vegetable ; and now 
these tracts only contribute to the summer grazing of the cattle ; 
whereas, if applied to the culture of the more nourishing and pro- 
ductive vegetables, sheep, concerning which the greatest difficulty 
here is winter fodder, might be encouraged to any extent; and the 
wool, which is of excellent quality, would become a valuable article 
of trade. But who will grow turnip or beet, when he must pay as 
much for the harbour dues of a boat to carry it to market as the 
whole culture has cost ? Or who will feed sheep when the wool, if 
dyed or manufactured, pays a duty on exportation higher than the 
price of cloths imported into the country? I particularly recollect 
that at Coquimbo, in the Copper-mine country, Don Felipe de Solar 
paid more in duty upon some copper vessels that he was exporting 
than the price of equally good and weighty articles imported from 
Bengal. This is a direct and most oppressive tax on industry, and 
by its effects retards the population of the country, as well as its 
civilisation. These reflections were suggested naturally by the sight of 
