98 



COMMEBCB. 



two htindred. There was consequently a balance of twenty- 

 one thousand two hundred piastres against the viceroyalty of 

 Lima. 



The only intercourse kept up with Valdivia, which has not 

 any exports, is by two vessels that sail thither annually, one - 

 from the port of Valparayso with provisions, and the other 

 from Lima, with pay for the troops composing the garrison. 

 This entire want of commerce is riot owing to a sterility of 

 soil. At a little distance from the city, towards the Cordil- 

 lera, there are vallies which abound in every description of 

 grains and produ6lions. The mountains are covered by holm 

 oaks, and other trees, which are in great request for build- 

 ing ; and the gold mines of this distri6l have been cited for 

 the fine quality of their metal, tlie standard of which, at the 

 tinje they were worked, was never beneath twenty-three ca- 

 rats. The population having, however, been destroyed by 

 the neighbouring Indians, at the close of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, and not exceeding, at the present time, two thousand 

 souls, the condition of Valdivia has become truly deplorable. 

 With a view to the re-establishment of its commerce, it has 

 been recently declared a free port, subje6l to the presidency of 

 Chile. 



The ports of Realexo and Sonsonate are the only ones 

 which are frequented for the exportation from Callao to the 

 coast of the southern extremity of the kingdom of Goatemala. 

 The amount of the exports, which consist of furs ; wines ; 

 brandies; oil, &c. is so very inconsiderable, that in 1789 it 

 did not exceed twenty- eight thousand three hundred and fifty 

 piastres. On the other side, the importation, from the above 

 ports, of mdigo ; pimento ; pitch ; cedar planks ; brazil 



wood ; 



