SPANISH AMERICA. * 535 



Population, inhabitants... .This country is very thinly inhabited. 

 The original natives are still in a great measure unconquered and 

 uncivilized ; and leading a wandering life, attentive to no object but 

 their preservation from the Spanish yoke, are in a very unfavourable 

 condition with regard to population. According to some accounts the 

 Spaniards do not amount to above 20,000; and the Indians, negroes, 

 and mulattoes, not to above thrice that number. The Abbe Raynal, 

 however, says there are 40.000 Spanish inhabitants in the city of St. 

 Jago, in which case the aggregate number in all the provinces of 

 Chili must be much more considerable than has generally been sup- 

 posed. Other accounts estimate the population of this country at 

 80,000 whites, and 240,000 negroes. 



Chief towns. ...St. Jago, the capital, is a large and handsome town, 

 situate on the river Mapocho, which runs through it from east to 

 west, in the midst of an extensive and beautiful plain. Baldivia or 

 Valdivia is another large town, situated between the rivers Cala- 

 calles and Portero, where they fall into the South Sea. There are 

 several strong forts and batteries to defend the entrance of the har- 

 bour, as it is considered as the key of the South Sea. 



Trade.. ..Chili supplies Peru with hides, dried fruits, salted meat, 

 horses, hemp and corn ; and receives in exchange tobacco, sugar, 

 cocoa, the manufactures of Quito, and articles of luxury brought 

 from Europe. Paraguay, receives from Chili wine, brandy, oil, and 

 chiefly gold : and returns in payment, mules, wax, cotton, negroes, 

 &c. The commerce between the two countries is not carried on by 

 sea, it having been found more expeditious, safer, and even less ex- 

 pensive to go by land, though it is 354 leagues from St. Jago to 

 Buenos Ayres, and more than 40 leagues of the way are amid the 

 snows and precipices of the Andes. 



Government. ...The seat of government is at St. Jago : the com- 

 mandant there is, however, subordinate to the viceroy of Peru in all 

 matters relating to the government, to the finances and to war; but 

 he is independent of him in the administration of justice, and as pre- 

 sident of the royal audience. 



History. ...This country was first discovered by Diego Almagro, 

 in 1525. He passed the Andes from Peru; and, though he had lost 

 a great part of the soldiers who attended him in his expedition, he 

 was received with great submission by the inhabitants of the country, 

 who had formerly been under the dominion of the Peruvians. The 

 Spaniards again entered Chili in 1541, under their general Baldivia, 

 the founder of the city which bears his name. They at first met with 

 no opposition, the people of the country being gathering in their 

 harvest; but when that was finished they took up arms, and never 

 laid them down for ten years. The natives have at all times bravely 

 defended themselves against the Spanish yoke : they are still in a 

 great degree unsubdued, and are engaged in frequent struggles for 

 their independence. 



