256 A VOYAGE TO Book VIII. 



The city of Santiago, originally called Santiago de 

 la Nueftra Eftremadura, was founded by captain Pe- 

 dro de Valdivia, who began the foundation on the 

 524th of February 1541, in the valley of Mapocho, 

 near that of Chill, which gives its name to the whole 

 kingdom. It has not been fubje6b to the revolutions 

 of other places, but ftill ftands on its original fpor, 

 which is nearly in 33^ 40^ fouth latitude, and about 

 twenty leagues from the harbour of Valparaifo, the 

 neareft port to it in the South Seas< Its lituation is one 

 of the moft convenient and delightful that can be ima- 

 gined, ftanding in a delightful plain of twenty-four 

 leagues in extent, watered by a river flowing in mean- 

 ders through the middle of it, and called by the fame 

 name of Mapocho. This river runs fo near the city, 

 that by means of conduits, the water is conveyed from 

 it through the ftreets, and alfo fupplies the gardens, 

 which few houfes here are without, aad hence the de- 

 lightful fituation of the place, and the pleafure of the 

 inhabitants are greatly heightened. 



The city is a thoufand toifes in length from E. to 

 W. and fix hundred in breadth from N. to S. On the 

 fide oppofite the river, which wafhes the N. part of ir, 

 is a large fuburb, called Chimba ; and on the E. fide, 

 almoft contiguous to the houfes, is a mountain of a 

 middling height, called Santa Lucia. The ftreets are 

 all of a handfome breadth, paved and ftrcight ; fome 

 run exadlly in an E. and W. direction, and are crofted 

 by others, lying exactly N. and S. Near the middle 

 of the city is the grand piazza, which, like that of Li- 

 ma, is fquare, with a very beautiful fountatnr in the cen- 

 ter. On the N. fide are the palace of the royal audi- 

 enc^» where the prefidents have their apartments, the 

 town-houfe, and the public prifon. The W. fide is 

 taken up by the cathedral and the biftiop's palace. The 

 S. fide confifts of iliops, each decorated with an arch ^ 

 and the E. is a row of private houfes. The other parts 

 of the city are divided into infulated fquares of houfes, 

 2 - . regular. 



