TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



IMPORTANT and interesting as has ever been 

 the History of the Spanish settlements in America, 

 particularly to the inhabitants of the same continent, 

 that importance and interest is at the present period 

 greatly increased, by the occurrence of events of 

 such magnitude, as will most probably be attended 

 vi^ith the total severance of those colonies from 

 Europe, and the establishment of a new empire in 

 the west. Of these settlements, Chili is in many re- 

 spects one of the most important. Blest with a soil 

 fertile beyond description, a climate mild and salu- 

 brious in the highest degree, productive of every 

 convenience and most of the luxuries of life, and 

 rich in the precious metals, Nature appears to have 

 been delighted in lavishing its bounties upon this 

 favoured portion of the globe. In its minerals, its 

 plants audits animals, the naturalist will find an in- 

 teresting and copious field of research ; and the cha- 

 racter of its natives furnishes a subject no less curi- 

 ous and interesting to the moralist. The proud and 

 invincible Araucanian exhibits some characteristic 

 traits altogether new in the aborigines of this conti- 

 nent, and scarcely to be parallelled in any nation of 

 the old. The long and successful resistance of this 

 brave people to the arms of Spain, even in the meri- 

 dian of its military glory, is a wonderful instance of 



