381 
SOUTH AMERICA. 
The grape has been always cultivated with success, but 
the wine is generally of indifferent quality. That kind 
which is made near Conception, and called vino de penco, 
is coftsidered the best; it approaches more nearly to Malaga 
than to any other wine known in Europe. The fig and the 
olive are of superior flavour and most abundant; peaches, 
melons, water-melons, and strawberries, are among the 
variety of fruits which abound. 
By far the largest proportion of the gold found in Chile, 
where it is much more abundant than silver, is procured by 
means of washing the beds of rivers. It is of a very pure 
quality, in large flattened grains of a peculiarly bright colour. 
Some of these beds have produced extraordinary quantities 
of metal; and if agriculture were more extended, they would 
be met with more frequently. 
The silver mines of the Chilian Cordillera are almost en¬ 
tirely worked in veins running through a clay-slate, very 
similar to that in which the celebrated mine of Potosi exists. 
Those mines, which are situate near the Pacific, such as 
Huasco and some others, are worked through a mountain 
lime-stone. Huasco produces extraordinary rich speci¬ 
mens of native silver, with the muriate and carbonate of 
lime. The two metals, lead and silver, do not appear so 
much united in this country as in others. 
It is a well known fact that none of the South American 
mines produce, at the present day, that vast quantity of 
metal which they used to do in former times. When first 
discovered, the metal was in great abundance, and within a 
few feet of, and in some instance on, the surface of the 
earth. All this has been removed, and the great excavations 
subsequently made have become full of water, from which 
the proprietors have not a sufficiency of capital to clear 
them. From this cause many of the mines which yielded a 
large proportion of silver have become entirely unproduc¬ 
tive and closed up. Molina states that the value of the 
gold and silver raised in his time (1780) was not under four 
millions, exclusive of what was smuggled. In 1821, the 
roduce of the mines, including an allowance for contra- 
and, according to D. Manuel de Salas, did not exceed a 
million and a half of dollars 
The taxes paid to government on the precious metals 
being moderate, about 8 per cent., it is supposed that little 
contraband is carried on. 
It is from the mines of Coquimbo and Copiapo that the 
large quantities of Chilian copper are imported. The tax 
paid upon copper is five per cent. 
The trade of Chile, considering the size and limited 
population, is of an extended nature, and its produce 
is sent to very different and remote corners of the globe. 
To begin with the ancient commerce of Chile. From the 
circumstance of this country extending so far to the south¬ 
ward, and producing corn and other articles of food in 
greater abundance than to the north, it has at all times 
furnished provisions in large quantities to Peru, of which, 
in fact, it has always been the granary. Since the expe¬ 
ditions have left Valparaiso to expel the viceroy, severe 
prohibitions have been laid on the exportation; and the 
natural trade of the country has become very much dis¬ 
ordered. When, however, affairs are settled, it must re¬ 
sume its old form. In return for hemp, wheat, salted pro¬ 
visions, and other articles of subsistence, it takes from Peru, 
sugar, cocoa, and coffee. 
The traffic across the Cordillera is of a very varying 
nature, although goods of some description or other are 
always passing. When the Paraguay tea was to be obtained, 
Chile sent 400,000 dollars annually to purchase it; but as 
that traffic has been of late years confined to the Portuguese 
manufacture, and not sent from Paraguay by the way of 
Tucuman, as it used formerly, it has been generally shipped 
at Montevideo and landed at Valparaiso. 
The direct commerce between England and Chile, con¬ 
sists of cargoes of every description of manufactured goods; 
and in return gold, silver, copper, tallow and hides, are 
the usual remittances. The value of exports to Valparaiso 
in the year ending January 5, 1818, was 32,000/.; and 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1577. 
that of the year ending January, 1823, was 162,850/., show¬ 
ing an immense increase. But it must be understood that a 
proportion of this sum was only exported and not con¬ 
sumed there, but remained until circumstances might open 
other ports. The direct British trade has a competitor of 
no small weight in the Indian trade carried on across the 
Pacific. Although, hitherto, this trade has not put on a 
regular form, which may be chiefly owing to the novelty 
of it, yet large quantities of Indian cottons, nankeens, and 
Chinese goods are met with in Valparaiso. Rice and sugar 
are also brought from the East Indies, and sold at a lower 
rate than the Peruvian. In return, the precious metals and 
copper are very acceptable articles in the eastern markets :• 
and should any appearance of a scarcity present itself in 
India or New South Wales, Chile can always afford an 
abundance of corn to supply their wants. It is not easy to 
see what the trade will consist of when the affairs of Peru 
are settled, and the amount which Chile can produce of 
staple articles better ascertained. The consumption of the 
country must increase as the home manufactures disappear; 
which, purchased at a high price, are made to last a con¬ 
siderable time. The number of ships under the Chilian flag 
is very limited; and foreigners have all the coasting trade 
in their hands. Every article of English produce is retailed 
at a most inordinate profit by the shopkeepers, who proceed 
on the same prices they obtained twenty years ago, when 
the ports were closed and the value of money very differ¬ 
ent. There are no native merchants, and the foreigners 
sell only wholesale; otherwise the shopkeepers would be 
ruined. The duties on manufactured goods were for some 
time so high, that it was scarcely possible to sell any large 
quantity ; but in 1822, they were lowered to 26b per cent. 
ad, valorem, which is not made too high by the importers. 
Gold and silver in coin are permitted to be exported, on 
payment of five per cent, duty; but as the authorities have 
not yet been able to view these articles as common merchan¬ 
dize, the exportation in the rough (pina, or pasta,) is still 
prohibited. There is no duty on the exportation of corn, 
but there is a small demand on exported provisions. 
From this statement it will be seen, that no great wealth 
has been accumulated by the Creoles. The mining part of the 
community here, as in all countries, is generally the poor¬ 
est, from that disposition to lavish which it always pos¬ 
sesses: and although many, more particularly the old 
Spaniards, have large territories in various parts of the coun¬ 
try, yet they are not of any great value. Even near the 
town, the value of a quadra, equal to nearly four English 
acres, did not exceed 100 dollars; and at a distance from 
it, the price was comparatively less. 
Torn as this country has been by wars and factions for 
the last ten years, the individual happiness of the people 
has been as much abridged as the fineness of the climate and 
their few wants would permit. The huts of the lower 
classes are formed of wood and reeds; and those of a better 
description, of large unburnt bricks (adobe). The doors are 
frequently formed of hides. The furniture varies little. It 
is generally comprised in one bed, two stools and an old 
table. The bed, which is scarcely deserving the name, is 
occupied by the oldest of the family, and may be called the 
dying place of whole family; for, in turn, all occupy it. 
The language of the Chilians is far superior in pronun¬ 
ciation and elegance to the Spanish spoken on the eastern 
shore. 
The only public library is that in the institute, under the 
immediate care of Don Manuel de Salas, a man of much 
information, which he liberally communicates to others. 
It consists of several thousand volumes, a proportion of 
which belongs to the College of the Jesuits, and some 
MSS.; many of which, relating to the early history of the 
country, are of a curious and interesting nature. 
In the month of May, 1818, the late Supreme Director, 
D. Bernardo O’Higgins, appointed a committee of the best 
informed and most patriotic men, to form a Provisional 
Constitution for the State. Two months afterwards, a pro¬ 
ject was submitted for his approbation, and subsequently 
5 E sent 
