108 PRODUCTIONS OF CHILL [1823. 



where it first becomes navigable, and from whence to its mouth, a 

 distance of thirty-three leagues, its course is nearly due west. 



The soil of Chili, and this part of it in particular, is celebrated for 

 its fertility, its average increase being sixty to one. The plains are 

 covered with innumerable flocks, which multiply almost in the same 

 proportion. All the metals, earths, and precious stones are found in 

 abundance among the mountains : there are also coal-mines near the 

 site of the former city. The productions of the soil are maize, rye, 

 barley, pulse, wine, oil, sugar, cotton, and fruits of various kinds. 

 There are no dangerous or venomous animals in the country, — there 

 being only one specimen of the serpent genus, and that is a little harm- 

 less reptile like our garter-snake, and even smaller. The climate is 

 mild and salubrious ; the natives are healthy and robust ; the spring 

 continues from the latter part of September to December, when the 

 summer of the southern hemisphere begins. 



The mountain-forests are full of lofty trees ; and all the fruits of the 

 United States, with a great many aromatic shrubs, grow in the valleys. 

 Chili is said to be the only country in the New World where the culture 

 of the grape has succeeded to perfection. The apples are of extraor- 

 dinary size ; and I have seen peaches here nearly as large as those 

 described by Bonnycastle, who mentions fourteen different kinds of 

 them. The trees of the forest certainly grow to an immense size ; but 

 I can hardly credit the story, so often repeated, that a certain mission- 

 ary made out of a single trunk of one of them a chapel more than 

 sixty feet in length, including beams, floors, laths, doors, windows, 

 seats, altars, and two confessionals ! 



The extensive and fertile plains for which this country is celebrated 

 are not visible from the coast, as they lie between the two ranges of 

 mountains before mentioned,— the Sierra Belluda and the Andes. Some 

 of these vast plains are said to be nearly as high as those of Quito, in 

 the republic of Peru ; being, in fact, extensive table-lands, far above 

 the level of the sea. 



July 26th. — Finding neither materials nor facilities to aid me in 

 repairing the damages which the Wasp had sustained during our year's 

 cruise, I prepared to leave Talcaguano, confident that Valparaiso could 

 furnish every thing of which I stood in need. Accordingly, on Satur- 

 day, the 26th, at eleven A. M., we got under way, and steered once 

 more in a northerly direction, with a light breeze from south-by-west, 

 and fair weather. Valparaiso is about eighty leagues from the Bay 

 of Conception, and the coast between them runs in the direction of 

 north-north-east and south-south-west. Our passage was considerably 

 retarded by northerly winds, so that it was not until the afternoon of 

 the fifth day that we finally cast anchor in the harbour of Valparaiso, 

 or the Valley of Paradise— lat. 33° 3' S., long. 71° 42' W. Varia- 

 tion 15° 41', E. 



July 3\st. — On Thursday, the 31st, at five, P. M., we anchored in 

 seven fathoms of water, sand and muddy bottom. I immediately landed, 

 and repaired to the American consulate, to pay my respects to Mr. 

 Hogan, the consul-general of the United States, who received me at 

 his office with that politeness and urbanity of manners which have ever 



