Chili

“ That part of Chili which remains unconquered reaches from the river Biobio in the north to the Archipelago of Chiloe in the south, or between the latitudes of 37° and 42' S. This country is inhabited by three independent nations, the Araucanians, the Cunches, and the Huìllìches. The territory of the Araucanians, contains the finest plains in Chili, and is situated between the rivers Biobio and Callacallas, stretching along the sea-coast for about 186 miles, and is generally allowed to be the most pleasant and fertile district in the kingdom of Chili. ”

“ GEORGE. "Poor man! what ignorant people they must be. Are we to stop at the Island of Chiloe?"
MR. BARRAUD. "Most certainly, as you will agree when you hear what I have to say. It lies near the south coast of Chili: its length is 120 miles, average breadth 40 miles. It is mountainous and covered with cedar, which is exported in great quantities to Peru and Chili. The climate is healthy, but damp, as it rains ten months out of the year. Money is here almost unknown, and traffic is conducted by barter, or payment in indigo, tea, salt, or Cayenne pepper. ”

“ Such a sudden birth of love would appear strange in northern countries, where this exquisite feeling is only developed in conformity with the claims of the laws of civilization; but in Chili, as in the whole of South America, love, ardent as the fires of the sun which illumines it, bursts forth suddenly and displays itself in its full power. The look of a Chilian girl is the flush which enkindles hearts of fire which beat in breasts of iron. ”

“ According to Frezier, the Indians of Chili are of a tawny or coppery complexion, but different from Mulattoes, who being produced by a white man and negro-woman, or a white woman and a negro-man, their colour is brown, or a mixture of white and black. In South America, on the other hand, the Indians are yellow, or rather reddish. The natives of [330] Chili are of a good size; their limbs are brawny, chest large, visages disagreeable, and beardless; eyes small, ears long, and their hair black, straight, and coarse. ”

“ It is not intended in this place to give a description of the large kingdom of Chili, but only some account of the nature of its trade, and the manner in which that is connected with the general commerce of Peru, by which the wealth of Chili is transmitted to Europe. Chili extends in length about 1200 miles from north to south, but its breadth is uncertain. The air is very temperate and wholesome, unless when rendered otherwise by pestilential exhalations, that are most common after earthquakes, to which this country is peculiarly liable. ”

“ CHAPTER XI. Chili continued.—​Customs, manners, arts, character, religion, language, &c., of that nation of Chili called Araucanians.
The word auca signifies free; and the Araucanians pride themselves on their liberty and independence. They possess great strength of constitution, and enjoy their health and faculties till they are very old. They rarely begin to be gray before they are sixty or seventy, and are not bald or wrinkled till eighty.
Their complexion is of a reddish brown, but much clearer than that of any other Indians. ”

“ If climate and environment have a great influence on the moulding of racial character, it is not unnatural to suppose that the exceptional characteristics of Chili have had their due effect upon the inhabitants. The Chilians have been called the “English of South America,” and it has been put{158} forward that they derive their origin from the natives of Northern Spain, whereas other South American States were colonised by adventurers from the southern part of the Peninsula. ”

“ In the Spanish provinces of Chili, no other language than Spanish is spoken, except upon the frontiers, where the peasants speak both Araucanian and Spanish. The men dress in the fashion of Spain, and the women in that of Peru; only that the women in Chili wear their garments longer than is usual in Peru. Lima prescribes the fashions for Chili, as is done by Paris for the rest of Europe; and the inhabitants of Chili and Peru are equally luxurious, as in both countries the wealthy make a splendid display in their dress, titles, coaches, and servants. ”

“ 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 impracticable mountains, there are eight or nine roads which lead from Chili towards the east, into the vast plains which depend upon the viceroyalty of La Plata, all of which are exceedingly difficult and even dangerous. ”

“ The Breadth of it varies, and the broadest Place from East to West he makes about 150 Leagues, tho’ Chili properly so call’d is not above 20 or 30 Leagues broad, from the Chain of Mountains named Cordillera to the South Sea; but when the King of Spain divided America into particular Governments, he added to Chili the vast Plains of Cuio, which are of an equal Length, and twice as broad as Chili it self. The Country in general Ovalle places in the 3d, 4th and 5th Climates; the longest Day in the 3d is 13 Hours, and in the 5th above 14. ”

“ The description given by Nephi of the region where the colony landed exactly corresponds with what we know of the country now called Chili; and it was on its coast, the Prophet Joseph Smith informs us, that the Nephites landed, and there they established their first homes. Chili is favored with one of the finest and healthiest climates in the world. The soil is exceedingly fertile, and the productions of both hemispheres seem to thrive equally well there. The most delicious fruit grows in abundance—the apple, peach, grape, strawberry, etc. ”

“ It appears probable that the whole of Chili had been originally peopled by one nation, as all the native tribes, however independent of each other, speak the same language, and have a similar appearance. The inhabitants of the plains are of good stature, but those who dwell in the valleys of the Andes, usually surpass the ordinary height of man. ”

“ Favoured by the fertility of the country and the salubrity of the climate, the population of Chili may be readily supposed to have then been considerable, as we know that the whole extent of its territory was occupied by fifteen independent tribes or communities, each of which was governed by its respective chiefs, or Ulmens. These, tribes, beginning at the north on the confines of the desert of Atacama, were called Copaipins, Coquimbans, Quillotans, Mapochians, Promaucians, Cures, Cauques, Pencones, Araucanians, Cunches, Chilotes, Chiquilanian, Pehuenches, Puelches, and Huilliches ”

“ If Peru had been as merciless as Chili the struggle would have been shortened and the result would have been different. Along the coast from Guayaquil, Ecuador, to Coquimbo, Chili, a distance of more than two thousand miles, stretches a desert on which a drop{436} of rain never fell. Occasionally a stream, born of a union between the burning sun and the eternal snows of the Andes, finds its way to the sea, bringing nourishment to the soil and making a little oasis where men can live. ”

“ After the independence of South America, when the several republics were being divided, Bolivia was given a little strip of land between Peru and Chili in order that she might have a pathway to the sea. It lay between the twenty-third and the twenty-fifth parallels, and was so recognized on all the maps of Chili, as well as those of other nations. It was a barren, waterless desert, worthless in every respect, as was originally supposed, but some years ago the rich deposits of silver and nitrate of soda were discovered. ”

“ Chili is as singular in its landscape as any, and perhaps more so than most other parts of America, as on the east it is shut out from La Plata by the Andes, which, rising to an enormous height, has its surface covered with pinnacles, which are in general volcanic. This Cordillera scarcely ever depresses itself in its course through the country, till it approaches Peru; and it seems probable that it attains a greater elevation in this kingdom than in Quito ”

“ Horses, asses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, dogs, cats and even mice have been introduced into Chili by the Europeans, and the first cat was given to Almagro by Montenegro, who received six hundred pieces of silver for it.
The horses of Chili are fine, strong, and very active. Those bred in the plains are the fleetest, whilst those in the mountains are the best for draught. These noble animals are necessary to the very existence of the Chilians, as they never perform any journey on foot, and would be unable to catch their cattle without them. ”

“ The climate of Chili is probably superior to that of any other country in Spanish America, as the air is remarkably salubrious, the inhabitants being troubled with few contagious diseases, and the extremes of heat and cold are not felt in continental Chili. The spring commences in September, summer in December, autumn in March, and winter in June. From September till March, south-east or south winds prevail, during which time the sky is clear and serene, but the north and north-west winds regularly occasion rain, and chiefly occur during the remaining months. ”

“ Chili is the third member of the trinity and is everything else but chilly—it is hot. It includes every kind of green, red and yellow pepper, and is cooked with nearly every article of food, and is cooked by itself and is eaten raw, but is hot always. The natives eat so much chili that it acts as an antiseptic, and I was told by a man who ought to know that in the Mexican war soldiers left on the field lay dead for weeks and could not decay but dried up. That is true now, but it is not chili but altitude that prevents dissolution. Fresh meat cannot spoil nor can vegetables rot. ”

“ The valleys, wherever they have any moisture, wear a perpetual verdure; and the hills are covered with odoriferous herbs, many of which are very useful in medicine. The country also produces trees of all sorts. Thus Chili, independent of its gold-mines, may well be accounted one of the richest and finest countries in the world. ”

“ When asked in Chili respecting any settlement of the Spaniards in the inland country, they certainly give accounts of towns and white people, meaning Buenos Ayres, and other places to the eastwards of the Andes. And vice versa, on being asked in the east the same question, their answers refer to Chili or Peru; not having the least idea that the inhabitants of these distant countries are known to each other. Upon questioning some Indians on this subject, I found my conjecture perfectly right ”

“ It is true that the peculiar character of the Chilian climate makes it very difficult to express by averages the facts that mainly influence organic life. Between the northern desert region, where rain in a measurable quantity is an exceptional phenomenon, and the southern forest region, extending from the Straits of Magellan to the province of Valdivia, Central Chili has in ordinary years a long, dry, rainless summer, followed by rather scanty rainfall at intervals from the late autumn to spring. ”

“ Unless a liberal immigration can be induced, Chili must annually decrease in population. As regards the foreign whites and the educated natives who indulge in no extravagant excesses, living with a reasonable regard for hygiene, doubtless Chili is as healthy as most countries, but there is still to be remembered the erratic exhibitions of nature, a possibility always hanging like the sword of Damocles over this region. A whole town may, without the least warning, vanish from the face of the earth in the space of five minutes, or be left a mass of ruins. ”

“ From this city we travel four hundred leagues by land along the coast of the South Sea to the province of Chili, which was discovered and in part colonized by the governor Pedro de Valdibia, or Baldivia. In the language of the Indians the word Chili signifies cold; and it was so named by the Peruvians because of the terribly cold mountains which were necessary to be passed on the way thither from Peru, as will be particularly mentioned when we come to detail the perilous enterprize undertaken by Don Diego de Almagro when he marched to discover that distant country. ”

“ With these advantages of abundant provisions in a fertile soil and mild climate, it appears that the first writers who treated of Chili cannot have greatly exaggerated in saying that it was filled with inhabitants at the first arrival of the Spaniards. Even the circumstance of one language being spoken through the whole country, is a proof that all the tribes were in the habit of continual intercourse, and that they were not isolated by vast unpeopled deserts, as is the case in many other parts of America. ”

“ The three girls, attired in gaucho costume, set out on horseback, and not with side-saddles, to cross the Cordillera of the Andes. The trip was successful. They entered Chili without meeting any obstacle to mar their happiness, and after having passed a few weeks with friends, started to return to the Argentine Republic. The guides warned them of coming temporales, but they had tarried from home too long to protract their stay; perhaps to be obliged to remain in Chili until the winter’s snows were gone. ”

“ Chili, in arts and civilization, is far ahead of any other South American republic. There are many young men of native families, educated in the best manner in Europe, who would be ornaments to any society ”