TOPOGRAPHS. 



321 



topographically. The department of Chichas lies to the 

 N. N. E. of Potosi, in the intendency of which it is compre- 

 hended, and by which it interse6ts the royal road of Buenos 

 Ayres. Its length, from north to south, is forty-eight leagues, 

 from the small river of Quiaca, a branch of the Tucuman, to 

 Quirve, on the confines of Porco. Its breadth, from east to 

 west, is a hundred leagues, from Esmoraca, in the depart- 

 ment of Lipes, on the western side, to Chuquiaca, the station 

 of the mission of las Salinas, belonging to the missionaries of 

 Tarija, on the banks of the river San Juan, which separates it 

 from that province. 



Its principal rivers are the Toropalca and the Tarija, which, 

 having received the Pilcomayo and the Bermejo, on the con- 

 fines that divide the two provinces, take a northern dire6tion, 

 and enter the territory occupied by the Chirihuanos, thence 

 proceeding to incorporate themselves with the river of la Plata. 

 This department contains nine parochial distri6ts, five of 

 which are situated in la Puna, and the remaining four in the 

 vallies of Tarija. The former properly constitute its division ; 

 but the latter are most abundant in wood and corn. 



The first parochial distrid; of la Puna is Tolina, in a country 

 intersedfed by small streams, which bears the same name. It 

 is distant from Potosi seventy leagues ; affords a small produce 

 of maize and wheat, and contains several gold mines, which 

 are, however, gone to decay, through the ignorance of the mode 

 of separating the metal from the ore, and for want of the funds 

 requisite to work them. Its inhabitants, consisting of Indians 

 and mestizos, derive the greater part of their subsistence from 

 the transport of merchandizes. 



Tupiza, in a territory of the same description, is distant 



T t from 



