132 



and shall merely observe in this place thát the spe- 

 cies of wheat most generally cultivated is one with- 

 out beard called mutica ; this is sowed in August 

 and the crop reaped in Î3ecember. Hemp and flax 

 grow extremely well in Chili, but as the exportation 

 of it is rigorously prohibited, the inhabitants raise 

 no more than is wanted for internal consumption. 



The vine produces wonderfully, and the soil ap- 

 pears to be peculiarly favourable to it, as the thick- 

 ets are filled with wild vines (the seeds having been 

 carried thither by birds) from whose grapes the 

 country people obtain a very good wine ; but the 

 cultivated vines produce delicious grapes of the best 

 quality. From the borders of Peru to the river of 

 Maule, the mode of cultivating the vines is by rais- 

 ing the sets to the height of three or four feet by 

 means of props or forked stakes which support them ; 

 but beyond that river they are planted upon the de- 

 clivities of hills and reclined on the ground. The 

 grapes in the highest estimation are those that grow 

 upon the shores of the Itata. The wine obtained from 

 them is the best in Chili, it is called Conception 

 wine, and is usually red, of a good body, an excel- 

 lent flavour, and not inferior to the first wines in 

 Europe.* A great quantity of this wine is annually 

 exported to Peru, but it loses much of its pleasant 

 flavour from being put into casks that are daubed 

 "over on the inside with a kind of mineral pitch, 



* The country is full of hills, with fine vineyards on their tops, 

 •which produce very excellent wines, — Feuillé-, vol. ii, 



T!"ie wines of St. Jago are of several kinds, and altliough inferior 

 to those of Conception, are very well tasttTi, and of a gooá 

 Hody,— ^wc nVan Gaztt.teer ^ article Chil?. 



