3 



in it, Cujo, Patagonia, and the land of Magellan. But 

 these countries are not only separated from it by 

 natural limits, but their climate and productions 

 differ ; their inhabitants have countenances totally 

 unlike the Chilians, and their language and customs 

 have no resemblance.* 



Sect. II. Name, — The writers upon America 

 have given various derivations of the name of Chili, 

 which are either wholly false, or founded on absurd 

 conjectures. It is certain, however, that it was 

 known by its present name long before the arrival of 

 the Spaniards. The inhabitants derive th-e name 

 from certain birds of the thrush kind, that are 

 very common in the country, and whose note has 

 some resemblance to the word Chili. And it is not 

 improbable, that the first tribes, who settled there, 

 considered this note as a good omen, and named 

 the country accordingly, f 



* Although the principal mountain of the Cordilleras is the na- 

 tural termination of Chili to the east, I comprehend within its 

 confines not only the western vailles of that mountain, as neces- 

 sarily attached to it, but also the eastern ; as, though not compris- 

 ed within its natural limits, having been occupied by Chilian co- 

 lonies from time immemorial. 



t The colonists who went from the southern part of Chili to 

 settle the Archipelago of Chiloé, an emigration that took place 

 some ages prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, called those islands 

 Chil-hue, which signifies a district or province of Chili, infiuenced, 

 undoubtedly, by the desire of preserving the memory of their 

 original country ; and all the Chilians, those who have continued 

 free as well as the subjugated, call their country Chili-m'apu, that 

 is, the land of Chili, and its language Chiii-dugu, the language of 

 Chili. 



