exceeding a hundred men, and at other
times falling short of that number. This city militia supplies guards
for the prisons and for the escort of prisoners, and performs the duties
required by the police, without being exempted from military service
when occasion requires; and from these companies recruits are drawn to
supply vacancies in the regular militia. Every one capable of bearing
arms is thus enrolled either in these companies or in the regular
militia, except such as are indispensably necessary for cultivating the
land and taking care of the cattle. Besides this militia, the crown
maintains a regular force of veteran troops part at St Jago and part at
Conception for the protection of the Araucanian frontier. In 1792, all
the veteran troops in Chili amounted to 1976 men, divided into two
companies of artillery, nine troops of horse, including a regiment of
dragoons at St Jago, and the rest infantry. The cavalry is commanded by
a brigadier-general, who is quarter-master-general of the kingdom, and
intendant of Conception. The infantry and artillery are under the
command of two lieutenant-colonels. Besides these royal troops, the city
of St Jago keeps several troops of dragoons in constant pay for its
particular protection.

In regard to ecclesiastical polity, Chili is divided into two extensive
bishoprics, those of St Jago and of Conception, the bishops of these
dioceses being suffragans to the archbishop of Lima. The bishopric of St
Jago extends from the confines of Peru to the river Maule, and includes
the province of Cujo on the east side of the Andes. The bishopric of
Conception comprises all the rest of Chili and the islands; but the
greater part of this extent is inhabited by pagans, being the
confederacy of Araucania and its auxiliaries. The two cathedrals have a
competent number of canons or prebendaries, whose revenues as well as
those of the bishops depend upon the tythes. The _holy_ tribunal of the
inquisition at Lima, has a commissary and several subaltern officers or
familiars resident at St Jago. Upon his first coming into Chili,
Valdivia brought with him several monks of the order of Mercy. About the
year 1553, the Dominicans and Franciscans were established in the
country, the Augustins in 1593, and the Hospitallers of St John of God
in 1615. These orders all have a number of convents, and the three first
form distinct jurisdictions under their respective provincials. The
brothers of St John have