iii 



time deprived not only of his collections in natural 

 history, but also of his manuscripts. The most im- 

 portant of the latter relative to Chili he had, how- 

 ever, the good fortune to regain by accident some 

 time after his residence in Bologna, in Italy, whither 

 he had gone on his arrival in Europe. 



Furnished with these materials, he applied himself 

 to writing the History of that country, which was 

 published at two different periods ; the lirst part, 

 comprising the Natural History, in the year 1787, 

 and the second, containing the Civil, for reasons 

 mentioned in his preface, not until some years after. 

 This work, which was written in Italian, has obtained 

 a very high reputation on the continent of Europe, 

 where it has been translated into the French, Ger- 

 man and Spanish languages. The celebrated Abbe 

 Clavigero, in his history of Mexico, in referring in a 

 note to that of Chili, mentions it in the most respect- 

 able terms, and calls the author his learned fiiend. 



In rendering this work into English, reference 

 has been had both to the French and Spanish verr 

 sions, which contain some valuable additional notes. 

 Through the politeness of a gentleman of his ac- 

 quaintance, the translator has also been furnished 

 with an anonymous compendium of the history of 

 Chili, printed in Bologna in 1776, from which the 

 supplementary notes to this volume are taken. 



