idland country consists almost entirely of a uniform plain
of considerable elevation, having a few isolated hills interspersed
which add much to its beauty. The Andes, which are among the loftiest
mountains in the world, are mostly about 120 miles from east to west, in
that part of their course which belongs to Chili, consisting of a vast
number of mountains of prodigious height, as if chained together, and
displaying all the beauties and horrors of the most sublime and
picturesque grandeur, abounding everywhere with frightful precipices,
interspersed with many fine vallies and fertile pastures, watered by
numerous streams and rivers which rise in the mountains. Between the
latitudes of 24 deg. and 33 deg. south, the Andes are entirely desert and
uninhabited; but the remainder as far as 45 deg. S. is inhabited by various
tribes or colonies of the Chilese, called Chiquillanes, Pehuenches,
Puelches, and Huilliches, which are commonly known under the general
appellation of Patagonians.

S1. _Chili Proper._

The political divisions of Chili consist of that part which has been
conquered by the Spaniards, and that which still remains independent in
the possession of the natives. The Spanish portion is situated between
the latitudes of 24 deg. and 37 deg. south, and is divided into thirteen
provinces; of which the following is an enumeration, with a short
account of each, beginning on the north, at the desert of Atacama or
frontiers of Peru. In each of these a _corregidor_, or deputy-governor
resides, to whose command the civil and military officers of the
province are subordinate, and on whom the respective cabildos or
municipal magistracies are dependent.

1. _Copaipo_, is bounded on the north by the great desert of Atacama, on
the east by the Andes, on the south by Coquimbo, and on the west by the
Pacific. It is about 300 English miles long by 120 in breath. It
contains the rivers Salado, Juncal, Chineral, Copaipo, Castagno,
Totoral, Quebradaponda, Guasco, and Chollai. This province abounds in
gold, lapis lazuli, sulphur, and fossile salt, which last is found in
almost all the mountains of the Andes on its eastern frontiers. Copaipo
its capital is in lat. 27 deg. 15' S. and long. 70 deg. 53' W. The northern part
of this province, beyond the river Juncal is hardly inhabited, except by
hunters of the Vicugnas, which they catch by means of large palisaded
inclosures. Besides lead mines to the north of the river Copaipo, th