PREFACE. yjî 



fished by the order and at the expense of the king, 

 the copies of it have become very scarce, and are in 

 the possession of but few. 



A number of Spanish authors have treated of this 

 country. The last century produced several, not to 

 mention those of the present ; but few of their wri- 

 tings, however, have been published, for reasons 

 which I shall hereafter assign. Of these, the first 

 in point of merit are those of Don Pedro de Figue- 

 roa and the Abbés Michael de Olivaren and Philip 

 Vidaurre. The two former treat of the political 

 history of the country, from the arrival of the Span- 

 iards to the present time. That of the Abbé Oli- 

 varez merits particular attention, from the great 

 number of interesting facts relative to the long wars 

 between the Spaniards and Araucanians, which he 

 has collected with no less judgment than industrj^ 

 The work of the Abbé Vidaurre is principally em- 

 ployed upon the natural productions and customs of 

 Chili, and displays much intelligence and acute- 

 ness of research. 



Besides the histories, or more properly speaking, 

 the accounts that have been written of this coun- 

 try, there are four poems that have for their sub- 

 ject the Araucanian wars; also an anonymous 

 abridgement in Italian of the geographical and na- 

 tural history of Chili, published in 1776, which, in 

 some respects, particularly with regard to geogra- 

 phy and natural history, furnishes a more complete 

 account of Chili than we have had. But as that 

 compendium is much too concise, I presume I shall 

 render an important service to those who feel an in- 



