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14 



inhabitants. It is a fact that there was but one lan- 

 guage spoken throughout the country ; a proof 

 that these tribes were in the habit of intercourse 

 with each other, and were not isolated, or sepa- 

 rated by vast desarts, or by immense lakes or 

 forests, which is the case in many other parts of 

 America, but which were at that time in Chili, as 

 they are now, of inconsiderable extent. 



It would seem that agriculture must have made no 

 inconsiderable progress among a people who pos- 

 sessed, as did the Chilians, a great variety of the 

 above mentioned alimentary plants, all distinguished 

 by their peculiar names, a circumstance that could 

 not have occurred except in a state of extensive and 

 varied cultivation. They had also in many parts of 

 the country aqueducts for watering their fields, which 

 were constructed with much skill. Among these, 

 the canal which, for the space of many miles, bor- 

 ders the rough skirts of the mountains in the vicini- 

 ty of the capital, and waters the land to the north- 

 ward of that city, is particularly remarkable for its 

 extent and solidity. They were likewise acquainted 

 with the use of manures, called by them vunalti^ 

 though from the great fertility of the soil but little 

 attention was paid to them. 



Being in want of animals of strength to till the 

 ground, they were accustomed to turn it up with a 

 spade made of hard wood, forcing it into the earth 

 with their breasts, but as this process was very slow 

 and fatiguing, it is surprising that they had not dis- 

 covered some other mode more expeditious and less 

 laborious. They at present make use of a simple 



