208 CHILL 
The number of foreign vessels employed in the trade is about 
two hundred and seventy, the same vessels arriving generally twice. 
They are of the following nations : 
English, 90 
American, ........ 80 
French, . . 70 
Hamburg, Dutch, and Sardinian, .... 20 
Mexico, Colombia, and Sandwich Islands, . . . 10 
Total, 270 
The population of Chili may be estimated at one million two 
hundred thousand. 
Santiago contains about sixty thousand inhabitants, and is one 
of the few South American capitals, perhaps the only one, that is 
increasing in wealth and population, ft has various private semi- 
naries for both sexes, a national institute or college, on a liberal 
footing, an extensive hospital, a medical college, and a military 
academy. The Congress meets on the 1st of June, every year, when 
the President delivers his message. 
Valparaiso numbers thirty thousand inhabitants, and is one of the 
most flourishing seaports in the world. Its population has quintupled 
within the last twenty years, and it is rapidly advancing in every 
improvement, growing out of an increasing foreign commerce, and 
the enterprise of its inhabitants, fostered and encouraged, as they are, 
by government. 
The mining districts are to the north, and the grain country to the 
south. Extensive flour mills are now at work in Concepcion and 
its neighbourhood: the machinery is brought from the United 
States. 
The recognised internal national debt is about $2,000,000, of which 
sum $800,000 is consolidated, bearing an annual interest of from 
two to six per cent. The government was about to consolidate the 
remainder, when their attention was called to other expenses abroad. 
The foreign debt is a loan from England, taken in 1822, of 
£1,000,000, with the interest now due, will not fall far short of 
$8,000,000. 
There is very little variation in the climate. During what is 
called the winter, when the rains prevail, between the 1st of May 
and the 1st of September, the thermometer occasionally falls for a 
