COMMERCE. Q7 



price rose to thirty piastres the bushel. From this public ca- 

 lamity originated the present traffic in corn ; the ships en- 

 gaged in the transport of which, were before laden with com- 

 modities of a very different nature. 



It would appear that the commerce of corn, for the con- 

 sumption of the Peruvian capital, absorbs nearly the one half 

 of the gross amount of the imports. In 1789, two hundred 

 and eighteen thousand bushels of wheat, of the value of two 

 hundred and seventy-five thousand piastres, were imported 

 from Chile. Its other produ6lions, which are less plentiful, 

 and not of so prime a necessity, would constantly have ren- 

 dered that kingdom dependent on Peru. Those forwarded to 

 the ports of Iquique, Arica, Ilo, and Aranta, commonly 

 named the intermediate ports, to supply the provinces of Are- 

 quipa, and those, contiguous to them, belonging to the ju- 

 risdi6lion of Buenos-Ayres, do not exceed the amount of 

 forty-six thousand six hundred and seventy-five piastres. From 

 this estimation is to be dedudled the value of the herb of Pa- 

 raguay, which is not a produ6tion of Chile, but is brought 

 thither by two vessels that sail annually from the port of Pa- 

 easmayo, chiefly laden with tobacco on the account of his 

 Catholic Majesty. 



Although the island of Chiloe is annexed to the viceroyalty 

 of Lima, its proximity to the kingdom of Chile has occasioned 

 it to be considered, but improperly, as constituting, in a com- 

 mercial point of view, a part of that government. The 

 amount of its commerce cannot be precisely ascertained, its 

 productions being blended with others that are foreign to its 

 soil. The exports from this island amounted, in 1789, to 

 thirty thousand piastres ; and the imports to fifty-one thousand 



o two 



