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ported to Peru, very little being used in tlie coun- 

 try ; it is the same with the hides, the greater part 

 of which are sold to strangers. The milk is of the 

 best and richest quality, and the inhabitants make 

 excellent cheese from it, which is no way inferior to 

 the best of Lodi. Of the cheese, that of Chanco, 

 in the province of Maule, is the most celebrated. 

 The cattle are not employed in labour till three years 

 old, and never more than two are tackled to a plough, 

 even in breaking up new grounds. Instead of a 

 yoke being suspended to their necks, a rope, agree- 

 able to the Spanish custom, is run through their 

 horns, by which they draw the plough. The common 

 price of cattle throughout the country is from three 

 to four filippi (fifteen or twenty francs) but in the 

 sea-ports the price is fixed by an ancient regulation 

 at ten crowns, of which the commandant of the port 

 receives four and the owner six. 



The sheep imported from Spain have lost no- 

 thing in Chili ; they are of the same size, and their 

 wool is as beautiful as that of the best Spanish 

 sheep. Each sheep yields annually from ten to fif- 

 teen pounds of wool the mutton, especially that 

 of the wethers, is very fine. They generally breed 

 twice a year, as is common in temperate climates^ 

 and frequently have two at a birth. The sheep have 

 no horns, but rams are frequently seen which have 

 four and even six horns. The owners leave them 

 the whole year in the open fields, without any shel- 

 ter, and only shut them up in a kind of pen to se- 

 cure them from the wild beasts. Those which 



