CHILE.

CHAPTER I.

DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY.

INVASION OF CHILE; ITS LIMITS; ORIGIN OF THE NAME.-MOUNTAINS; VOLCANOES: ANTUCO AND ITS NEW CRATER;
LLAYMA; LLOGOL.-MOUNTAIN PASSES: THE CUMBRE; THE PORTILLO; COME-CAVALLO; LAGUNA AND DOÑA ANA;
LA DEHESA; LOS PATOS; EL PLANCHON; ANTUCO.—TABLE SHOWing the heights, Latitudes, and longitudes
OF THE PRINCIPAL SUMMITS.-LAKES; LLANQUIHUE; RUPANCO; PUYCHUE; RÁNCO; HUITAHUE; GUANEGUE; RINIHUE;
PIREHUECO; LAJARA; VILLARICA; GUALLETUE; LAJA; AMARGO; TOTORAL; MAULE; MONDACA; LAS GARZAS ;
TAGUATAGUA; CAUQUENES; ACULEO; INCA; THE LAKES OF COQUIMBO AND ATACAMA.
ATACAMA.-RIVERS: ORIGIN OF
NEARLY ALL THE CHILE STREAMS: THE BUENO; VALDIVIA, OR CALLE-CALLE; TOLTEN; IMPERIAL; BIOBIO; ITATA;
ÑUBLE; MAULE; MATAQUITO; RAPEL; MAYPU; ACONCAGUA; CHUAPA; LIMARI;~~~ COQUIMBO; HUASCO; COPIAPO.—
BAYS AND HARBORS: VALPARAISO; TALCAHUANO; COQUIMBO; HERRADURA; HUASCO; COPIAPO AND CALDERA;
PORT YNGLES; CONSTITUCION; VALDIVIA; ANCUD; PORT FAMINE.-ISLANDS: CHILÓE AND THE SURROUNDING
ISLANDS; MOCHA; SANTA MARIA, QUIRIQUINA; JUAN FERNANDEZ; SANTA CLARA; MAS-AFUERA; PAJAROS.

With an arid desert on its northern frontier-successive ranges of mountains, whose summits are covered by everlasting snows, on the east; Cape Horn, with its appalling storms of ice and sleet, to the south; and the vast unexplored Pacific ocean washing its western shore, the holy fathers, who accompanied Pedro de Valdivia to the Chilean territory in 1540, may well have regarded themselves at "la fin de la Christiandad." No terrestrial obstacles, however, were of sufficient magnitude to overcome the thirst for gold and conquest which enticed so many sons of Spain from their homes during the sixteenth century; and the desert of Atacama, with scarcely a drop of water or a particle of sustenance for man or beast in many hundred miles, was traversed by a handful of Spaniards, with a few Peruvian allies, confident in their success against the host which had virtually expelled Almagro but a year or two previously. Valdivia, meeting with little resistance from the natives in the northern portion of the country, only halted in his march to leave a dozen men, with a few allies, in the valley of Coquimbo river; and there, in the vicinity of Serena, was established the first colony of his new possession. The main body, numbering one hundred and forty of his own countrymen and the Peruvians, pushed on toward the plain in which lies the present city of Santiago; neither the ornaments of the natives about Copiapó, nor Coquimbo, being sufficiently rich to gratify their avarice.

In the body of the commission conferred by Valdivia on Pasteñe, in 1544, the territory of Nueva Estremadura, as the country was then called, was only recognised to consist of the "valley of Posicion, which, in the Indian tongue, is called Copayapo; the valley of Coquimbo, Chile, and Mapocho; and provinces of Promaocaes, Rabeo, and Quiriquino, with the island of Quiriquina, now ruled by the chief Leochengo,"-that is to say, from the desert of Atacama to the parallel of Concepcion. Indeed, even a part of this territory was still in possession of unsubdued Indians. During the preceding four years, his sway over the natives of the northern

and central provinces had been acknowledged. To the south dwelt the Promaucanos and Araucanos, over whom neither the Inca Yupanqui nor Almagro had been able to obtain decided advantage by attacks on the land side; and the tenor of his orders to Pasteñe renders it certain that his conduct was instigated by military tact and necessity, as well as "for the better service of his Majesty, whose subjects will be gratified with knowledge that there are lands to repay their labors, of which I have taken possession." He then goes on directing him to proceed from the port of Valparaiso to the Straits of Magellan, making examination of the coast and ports; to land with armed men, and take possession whenever he may consider it expedient; to bring back with him a cargo of provisions and live stock; and to render, at his return, an accurate account of his doings.

After sailing to the southward thirteen days, finding himself beyond 41° south latitude, Pasteñe bore up for the coast, and landed at a port which he baptized "San Pedro," as well in compliment to the governor as to the name of the ship that bore them. This was to the northward of Chilóe, and would coincide nearly with Puerto Estaguillas of the maps, though M. Gay has actually marked on his map of the province of Valdivia, published under the auspices of the Chilean government, a small creek and indentation of the coast, "Ensenada y rio de San Pedro." A subsequent attempt was made to penetrate southward, as well by land as by sea, and the parties did succeed in seeing one of the islands composing the Chonos archipelago; but the claim of Chile to the territory as far as Magellan is based on the instructions to Pasteñe. As the Portuguese were the only nation to dispute the right-and they suffered their title to be lost by non-occupation-a penal colony was established by the republic within the straits, and the jurisdiction of Chile has thus been perfected. Apparently, without regard to the varying distance of the Andes-a natural boundary known to exist at the time of the invasionthe eastern limits of Chile were fixed at one hundred leagues from the coast. But the spirit which had instigated the foray from Peru was not less restless in the breasts of Pizarro's lieutenants, than when they braved the privations of Atacama; and though constantly harassed by attacks from the most warlike race they had ever encountered in America, yet, in the twenty years that followed, the Andes had been repeatedly traversed by small armed bands, and all the country, as far east as the sixty-third meridian from Greenwich, had been formally added to Valdivia's government. True, there were controversies and contests, on territory far within. this limit, between subordinates of President Gasca, who had succeeded the Pizarros, and Francisco de Villagra, who was under the authority of Valdivia; but before the close of 1560, the provinces from Tucuman to Cuyo, inclusive, and west of the Rio Dulce, had acknowledged immediate allegiance to the last. The last added were the first lopped off from the new confederation. Almost incessant wars with the Araucanos during the next two centuries permitted few succors to be sent to colonies offering so little in recompense as did those to the eastward of the Andes; and so completely do they appear to have been lost sight of, that even the epochs at which they severally separated are not noted by the historian of Chile.* Mendoza was last. Its people having expressed a preference for the Argentine republic about the time that Chile accomplished its independence of the mother country, no obstacle was interposed; and the eastern boundary, which until then was at the foot of the Andes, on the Argentine side, was withdrawn to the crests of the highest range. Long before this, however, the name Chilewhich, at the time of Valdivia, belonged properly but to the basin in which lies Santiago-had been applied to the entire territory. The derivation of the name is in dispute. Some assert that it was given by the Peruvians, in whose language Tchi-li signifies "snow;" whilst others believe that the aboriginal tribes so called it because of the constantly-repeated cry, resembling Chi-li, uttered by a species of thrush, the Trille (Agelaius thilius), though the former derivation seems most probable.

Thus, when the republic took its place among the nations of the earth, Chile consisted but of

* Sir Woodbine Parish says, that San Luis, San Juan, and Mendoza were added to the vice-royalty of Buenos Ayres in 1776.