1809, with the addition of several
notes and appendixes from various sources by the English editor. In the
present abridged version of the second part of that work, or civil
history of Chili, we have collated the whole with An Historical Relation
of the Kingdom of Chili, by Alonzo de Ovalle, or Ovaglia, likewise a
native and a Jesuit, printed at Rome in 1649, of which an English
translation is inserted in Churchill's collection of voyages and
travels, Vol. III. p. 1-146. In other divisions of this work, more
minute accounts will be furnished, respecting the country of Chili and
its inhabitants and productions, by means of several voyages to that
distant and interesting country.

SECTION I.

_Geographical View of the Kingdom of Chili._

The kingdom of Chili in South America, is situated on the coast of the
Pacific Ocean or Great South Sea, between 24 deg. and 45 deg. of south latitude,
and between 68 deg. 40' and 74 deg. 20' of west longitude from Greenwich; but as
its direction is oblique from N.N.E. to S.S.W. between the Andes on the
east and the Pacific Ocean on the west, the middle of its northern
extremity is in 70 deg., and of its southern termination in about 73 deg. of W.
longitude. Its extreme length therefore is 1260 geographical, or 1450
statute miles; but its breadth varies considerably, as the Andes
approach or recede from the sea. In the more northern parts, between the
latitudes of 24 deg. and 32 deg. S. the average breadth is about two degrees, or
nearly 140 English miles. Its greatest breadth in lat. 37 deg. S. is about
220 miles; whence it grows again narrower, and the continental part of
the country, opposite to the Archipelago of Chiloe, varies from about 50
to 100 miles. These measures are all assumed as between the main ridge
of the Andes and the sea; but in many places these mountains extend from
60 to 100 miles farther towards the east, and, being inhabited by
natives of the same race with the indigenous Chilese, or confederated
with them, that transalpine region may be likewise considered as
belonging to Chili.

Chili is bounded on the north by Peru, whence its lower or plain
country, between the Andes and the Pacific, is divided by the extensive
and arid desert of Atacama. On the east it is separated by the lofty
chain of the southern Andes, from the countries of Tucuman, Cujo, and
Patagonia, on the waters which run towards the Southern Atlantic.
Through these lofty and almost impractic