latitude 41° 06′ S.* on the south, the Andes and Pacific, respectively, on the east and west. Its three departments-Valdivia, Osorno, and Union-embrace a superficial area of 12,000 square miles. These are divided into 14 sub-delegations and 48 districts, a large number of which are in possession of subdued but not conquered aborigines. The city of Valdivia, founded by the invader of the south, in 1551, stands on a point of land of the southern bank, and about eight miles from the mouth of the river of the same name, called by the aborigines Calle-calle. Several times destroyed by them and a power more irresistible-the earthquakes-once in possession of the Dutch, and at another time regarded by government as a sort of penal colony, its prosperity has been retarded, in spite of many natural advantages; and it is yet scarcely more than a village, amid apple-orchards, most of whose houses are of boards. Many of its best houses, and a large stone church, were overthrown by the earthquake of November, 1837; but a large and more elegant edifice, to replace the latter, was in course of erection, on the plaza, in 1851. Its Liceo literario-the provincial collegenumbers among its professors a very able German naturalist, who preferred remaining near the body of his own countrymen to a more lucrative post in the "Instituto Nacional," at Santiago. As yet, the population is small, and little thought is given by the mass to the education of their children. The cur On the island of Manzera, and about the mouth of the river, there are one or two settlements, principally of half-breeds, and villages at Arique, ten miles above Valdivia, on the same river, and at Cruces and San José, on the Cruces river. Each village, with its suburban agriculturists, numbers from 1,000 to 1,300 souls. Though thirty miles from the sea, boats ascend to San José, and canoes descend from a like distance above it, at all seasons. rent is not stronger than that of the Maule; but forests prevent the use of drag-ropes to ascend, as on that stream. Cruces was formerly defended by a fort; but the latter is now in ruins, and only one of its old iron guns remains. In the departments of Union and Osorno there are settlements of the same name, which are dignified with the title of cities. That at the latter place has only been permitted by the Indians within the last five and twenty years; and, in fact, neither of them is more than a straggling village. La Union is on the great plain, five miles to the northward of Rio Bueno, and Osorno is at the junction of the Damas and Rahue, an affluent of the first-named water-course. The native tribes of the province having been found more tractable than their countrymen on the north, the missionaries have many stations. among them, and numbers receive annual presents from government for their good behavior. Besides the custom-house at Valdivia, coasting trade is permitted with the Rio Bueno, which is navigable for about twelve leagues; but a bar across its mouth excludes all except small craft. Excepting the more elevated portion of the Andes and an occasional swampy tract, all the remainder of the land in this province may be rendered useful to the economy of man. But the long resistance of the aboriginal possessors to the white race, many of whom would have become agriculturists, has greatly prevented the increase of population beyond the range of a musket-ball from the forts; and their own aversion to more labor than will produce supplies for themselves, has almost confined cultivation to the borders of streams within the intermediate plain. Beyond it there is very little cleared land, and for thirty miles from Valdivia there is one almost continuous forest. In many parts the undergrowth of creepers, vines, and reeds is so dense, that they can only be passed by circuitous routes. Yet, nearly all the trees are useful, and would readily command purchasers if conveyed to market, whilst the land would be left ready for farming purposes. In consequence of the abundance of rain that falls, and the virgin fertility of the soil, the extensive tract that lies between the Calle-calle and Cruces rivers is * The Repertorio Nacional (official) says: “On the south by Rio Negro." But this cannot form a southern boundary. Both Major Philippi and M. Gay, who visited that region, and have published maps under the auspices of government, found only a short river of that name, which emptied into the Rahue, after a nearly north course. As this boundary would throw half of the department of Osorno into the province of Chilóe, I have preferred to adopt the boundary indicated on the maps of those gentlemen. perhaps more peculiarly adapted to agricultural improvement than even those of the central provinces; and still this great body of land is almost untouched by the hand of the husbandman. Here it is that government has been urged to locate the colonists who come from Germany, in accordance with inducements and promises by its agent. Should it be done, there will be interposed between the Creoles and their warlike neighbors a hardy and temperate race, whose industrious and frugal example will do more towards breaking down the jealous pride, warlike propensities, and exclusivism of the Araucanians, than a regiment of missionaries armed with crosses, or twice that number of soldiers in all the panoply of war. At present, the larger cultivated fields are parts of the plain in the departments of Union and Osorno, which are also the most populated portions of the province. Many of these tracts belong to Indians, who acknowledge Chilean authority, and are nominally Christians; though they neither attend mass voluntarily, nor willingly conform to the Christian law of marriage. Dr. Darwin found them good-sized men, with prominent cheek-bones, resembling the great American family, to which they belong, though with physiognomy slightly different from any tribe he had previously seen. Their expression was generally grave, and even austere, and possessed much character. Those he met on the road had none of that humble politeness he had witnessed in the Chilóe tribes, and were neither inclined to respond to his salutations, nor to acknowledge favors received—a deportment which might be construed into honest bluntness, or fierce determination. They cultivate mostly wheat, beans, and potatoes, and have herds of horses and cattle, but are not as wealthy as the independent tribes. With them, as in every part of the globe where the white and red men come in contact, drunkenness and disease have followed, and, as a distinct race, they are rapidly disappearing. Flax, barley, peas, and grapes are also cultivated; the juice of the latter being made into chicha, wine, and aguardiente. But the great crop for chicha is apples, of which an amazing quantity are grown, and there is probably no part of the world where the trees thrive better or with less trouble. Nor is the manufacture of chicha the only use to which this fruit is applied. By one process they extract a white and finely-flavored spirit from the refuse pulp; by another, a sweet syrup, or, as they call it, honey; and their children and pigs seem almost to liye in the orchards when the fruit is ripening. Though not so numerous in proportion as in the more populous districts, their herds of cattle are rendered more valuable. Few of the cows of the north give milk; here the greater abundance of nutritious pasturage all the year increases the lacteal secretion: larger numbers are kept for dairy purposes, and cheese forms one of their principal articles of domestic export. Although there are frequent reports of the discovery of mines, Dr. Philippi had not found any traces of auriferous deposites in the partial examination which he made of the coast range near Valdivia. Iron pyrites abounded, and coal or rather lignite formations are frequent. He had found one on the road between Valdivia and Osorno, of which the stratum was of great extent and thickness, and there are two or three others in the same department near the mission of San Juan. That the more precious metals abounded during the middle of the sixteenth century, we have ample historical evidence; and present ignorance of the mines from which they were drawn is to be attributed solely to the jealous care with which the natives have concealed them. The forests of Valdivia have hitherto proved its greatest source of wealth. Here the Araucaria disappears, and the Alerce, a sort of cypress, takes its place. In some parts of the Andine woods, they are said to attain diameters of 7 to 10 feet, five feet above the ground, and grow 80 or 90 feet without a branch, above which the summit rises 50 feet more. The tree has short, stout branches, with leaves of a bluish-green color, like those of the pine, but which are only half an inch in length and one twentieth of an inch wide. The color of its wood is a darker red than the heart of cedar, and becomes nearly the color of slate after exposure to the weather. Like cedar and cypress, it is somewhat odorous, and as its grain is remarkably straight, with the aid of iron wedges the natives are able to split it into thin planks. These, some four feet long, six inches broad, and half an inch thick, are made into bundles, and find ready markets. throughout Chile, as well as at nearly every port on the west coast of South America. As the wood does not shrink or warp, it is used for partitions, weather-boarding, shingling, casks, and almost universally for the ceilings of rooms, mortar being objectionable for the last purpose in earthquake countries. Here, also, is found, in the greatest profusion, the Coligue-a cane resembling the bamboo of Brazil. It grows in clusters, and ornaments the banks of some of the streams in a very pretty manner, often attaining a height of more than 20 feet. Being durable, light, flexible, and very strong, they are used as supports for the tiles in roofing houses; and it is of these that the Indians make their long, tapering, and terrible lances. The other trees and plants are much the same as in the province of Concepcion. During the year 1850 its commerce with domestic ports consisted of the following articles, of which the home valuation is also given: To foreign ports it sent, in the same period, to the value of $2,379, receiving to the value of $6,892; of which sum $6,190 was in common salt, and $270 in iron cut-nails. The foreign naturalized goods brought from Valparaiso amounted to $31,816, leaving a balance in its favor of nearly $30,000. CHILÓE-This province, created by the law of division of the territory, is composed of the island of the same name, the Chonos archipelago, and the continent from the southern boundary of Valdivia to Cape Horn. Chile claims jurisdiction over all Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, with the intermediate Straits of Magellan ;* so that, according to the above official * The author has recently forwarded to me a copy of a pamphlet written at the request of the Minister of the Interior of Chile, in which is set forth the "Titulas de la República de Chile á la soberania y dominio de la estremidad austral del continente Americano "-(Titles of the republic of Chile to the sovereignty and dominion of the southern extremity of the American continent.) His arguments in answer to a preceding publication in Buenos Ayres are supported by documents, and appear to be conclusive. Assuming as a principle that "las nuevas repúblicas tienen por limites las mismas que corresponden á las antiguas demarcaciones coloniales de que se formaron, salvo las modificaciones que la guerra de la independencia hizo esperimentar á algunas de las mencionadas demarcaciones"-(the new republics have as limits those corresponding with the colonial demarcations, from which they were formed, except as modified in some instances by the war of independence); he concludes as follows: "La república de Chile puede presentar titulas de la misma especie de las que ostenta la república Argentina; pero ésta no puede, como lo hace Chile, apoyar sus pretensiones en leyes claras, precisas y terminantes, que realmente marcan las divisiones territoriales. Siempre que el monarca español se ha propuesto deslindar sus provincias ultra-marinas? á quien le ha asignado la Patagonia, el estrecho de Magellanes y Tierra del Fuego? A Chile, en todas ocasiones desde la conquista hasta la independencia. Nuestra soberania sobre ese territorio es pues indisputable; y pierda cuidado Señor Anjelis (the author of the pamphlet insisting on the right of Buenos Ayres)-Chile, si en esta cuestion debiera oirse la voz del cañon con preferencia á la voz de la justicia, sabria hacer respetar por la fuerza una propiedad cuya posesion le garantiza la lei.”—(The republic of Chile may present claims (titles) of the same character as those of which the Argentine republic boasts; but the latter cannot, as Chile does, support its pretensions on plain laws, precise and definite, which really mark territorial divisions. Whenever the Spanish monarch proposed to delineate his ultra-marine provinces, to whom has he assigned Patagonia, the Straits of Magellan, and Tierra del Fuego? To Chile, on all occasions, from the conquest to the independence! Our sovereignty over * |