VOLCANOES, LAKES, AND RIVERS. I7 



Earthquakes are frequent, and have caused great des- 

 truction. Those of 1647, 1730, 1 75 1, 1822, and 1835, have 

 been terrific, and destroyed the cities of Santiago, Val- 

 paraiso, and Concepcion. 



The Andes, of which the most southerly peak forms 

 Cape Horn, (where they say that gold has just been dis- 

 covered in large quantity), present in Chili an immense 

 range, their course being north and south. Their base has 

 a uniform breadth of about one hundred and fifty miles. The 

 rivers rising in them run almost parallel at right angles to the 

 Pacific, and cut the mountains with immense gorges and 

 canons. The mean altitude of the Andes is from eight thou- 

 sand to ten thousand feet. Not less than seventy volcanoes, 

 extinft and 'a6live, crown the range of the Chilian Andes. 

 The most noted peaks are the following : Mount Aconcagua, 

 24,418 feet. Mount Tupuns^ato, 21,104 ^^^^^ Mount Maipo, 

 17,660 feet, Mount San José, 18,145 feet, in activity since 

 1 88 1. Mount Villa Rica, 15,990 feet, and several others, 

 ranging from 6,000 to 10,000 feet. 



Chili possesses many islands, the most notable of which 

 are JUAN FERNANDEZ, four hundred miles west of Valparaiso, 

 Mocha Island, Pascua Island, and Chiloe Islands, with 

 its numerous Archipelagoes. 



The rivers of Chili are counted by the hundred, but very 

 few are navigable. The principal ones on the northern zone 

 are the COPIAPO, watering the valley and city of that name ; 

 the COOUIMBO, the Llmari, the Choapa, and the LiGUA. 



From the Maule, south, the larger rivers are navigable, 

 but only for small vessels. The Maule is navigable to 



Perales, the Bio-Bio to Concepcion, the Valdivia to 

 Valdivia City, at whose wharves the ocean steamers call ; 

 and the BuENO to OSORNO. 



The population of Chili, according to the last census, 

 1890 ? was 2,766,747, which shows an augmentation of 

 690,776 since the census made in 1875, of which about 50,000 

 are foreign born. There are 41 cities, 78 corporate towns, 

 186 villages, 83 hamlets, and 35 ports belonging to seventeen 

 provinces, 60 departments, 682 sub-delegations, and 2738 

 districts. 



The principal provinces are those of SANTIAGO, VAL- 

 PARAISO, CoouiMBO, Concepcion, Colchagua, Nuble, 

 and Aconcagua, with a population of about 1,500,000. 



