PREFACE, 



greater extent in length than in breadth, and that 

 they are both divided by a chain of mountains. The 

 Cordilleras or the Andes are to Ghiii, what the 

 Apennines are to Italy, the source of almost all 

 the rivers that water the country, and diíFuse over 

 it fertility and abundance. This chain of mountains 

 has as sensible an influence on the salubrity of the 

 air of Chili, as the Apennines have upon that of Italy ; 

 and so firmly are the inhabitants convinced of this 

 fact, that whenever they attempt to account for any 

 change in the state of the atmosphere, they attribute 

 it to the effect of these mountains, which they con- 

 sider as powerful and infallible agents. 



A country so remarkable, both for its natural 

 productions, and its political state, certainly merits 

 to be well known ; yet, the accounts that we have 

 of it are merely superficial, and little is to be found 

 respecting its natural productions in writers upon 

 natural history. Of the language and the customs of 

 the inhabitants we are equally ignorant, and scarcely 

 any thing is known of the exertions which the Chi- 

 lians have made, even in our days, to defend their 

 liberties. 



A few well informed travellers who have been in 

 the country, have published some valuable accounts, 

 but too concise to furnish a competent idea of it. 

 Father Louis Feuille, a French Minim friar, has 

 given a scientific description of the plants that he 

 found upon the coast, to which he has added an 

 account of several animals that he noticed there. 

 This is a work of great merit; the descriptions are 

 precise^ and perfectly correct; but as it was pub- 



