back to France. All this were quite
inconsiderable for so fine a country, were it better peopled; since
the land is so extraordinarily fertile, were it well cultivated, that
they only scratch it for the most part, by means of a plough made of a
crooked stick, and drawn by two oxen; and, though the seed be scarcely
covered, it produces seldom less than an hundred fold. Neither are
they at any more pains in procuring their vines, in order to make good
wine. Besides which, as they have not the art to glaze their jars in
which the wine is secured, to make them hold in, they are under the
necessity of pitching them. And this, together with the goat-skin bags
in which it is carried from the estancias, gives it a bitter taste
like treacle, and a flavour to which it is hard for strangers to
accustom themselves. The grasses also are allowed to grow without any
attention or industry being employed in grafting. Apples and pears
grow naturally in the woods, and in such abundance as it is hard to
comprehend how they could have so multiplied since the conquest, as
they affirm there were none in the country before.

The mines of _Quilogoya_ and _Quilacura_ are within four leagues of
this port, and afford vast quantities of gold. At the _Estancia del
Re_, or king's farm, which is at no great distance, there is by far
the most plentiful _lavaders_, or washing-place for gold in all Chili,
where sometimes they find lumps of pure gold of prodigious size. The
mountains of the Cordelieras are reported to contain a continued chain
of mines for many hundred miles, which certainly is highly probable,
as hardly any of these mountains have hitherto been opened without
vast quantities of metal being found in them, especially fine copper,
of which all the artillery in the Spanish West Indies is constructed,
at least all that are used in the countries on the South Seas.

The most considerable port in Chili is Valparaiso, which is esteemed
one of the best harbours on the whole coast of the South Sea. It lies
on a river fifteen leagues below St Jago, the capital of Chili.[5]
To this port all the riches of the mines on every side are brought,
particularly from those of _Tiltil_, which are immensely rich, and are
situated between St Jago and Valparaiso. The gold here is found in
a very hard stone, some of which sparkles and betrays the inclosed
treasure to the eye; but most of it does not shew the smallest sign
of gold, appearing merely a hard harsh st