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The above are the principal towns of this extended government, which contains many others, most of them are however either missionary or military stations; the former abounding on the banks of the Parana and Uraguay, while the latter are chiefly on the north-west, towards the Llanos de Manso and Tucuman, and on the east towards the Portuguese frontier.

The provinces of this government have not been enumerated, they are little known, and many of them are only divisions of the missions, such as Guarania, which extends along the south shores of the Parana, and contains about thirty villages of the Guaranis Indians. On the south-east of Buenos Ayres, the country is named Tuyu; it however contains no Spanish settlements of any importance, and seems to be a tract crossed by a chain of mountains, which divide it from the coast of the Atlantic; much has been written concerning the Abipons, who occupy the north-west corner of this government; they appear to be a tribe consisting of about 5000 souls, who are of a very warlike disposition, frequently disturbing the settlements. Their language is distinct from that of the neighbouring nations, and they exist by the chase, preferring the flesh of the jaguar or American tiger to any other animal, and retire to the islands and high trees, when the annual inundations commence in their country. The Patagonians on the southern frontier have also excited much curiosity; but it seems to be proved beyond a doubt, that they are merely a race of Indians of a stature rather above the middling size, and that they do not differ in their general habits from their neighbours.

The limits of this work will not permit any farther description of the Indian nations who inhabit and surround Buenos Ayres. Of many of them, the Spanish settlers know nothing more than the names, and of the rest, it is observed, that the more the settlements spread, the less the Aborigines are seen, and the thinner their numbers become; most probably owing to the new diseases they acquire, and the more wandering and uncertain life they are obliged to lead; not so the Indians who settle in the missions, their life becoming one of peace and tranquillity, their wants being supplied by their own labour, and not being constantly exposed to the burning sun or chilling rains of the southern regions, their numbers continually increase; and though the Spaniards formerly used very harsh methods, to convert them either to their faith or their profit, it cannot be denied, that they have within the last century, wiped that blot from the historic page, and with a few exceptions, have conduced very materially to the welfare of a race, remarkable for their general inaptitude and unwillingness to assist in bettering their own condition.

Having therefore detailed every subject concerning the extensive governments of the viceroyalty of La Plata, which has been deemed interesting or novel, with the exception only of particular descriptions of the animals which are peculiar to it, and to the other southern regions of America, it now remains for us, only to treat of the last great political division of the Spanish colonies in that country, and in so doing, we shall give a more extended account of some of the most singular zoological objects; as they are equally common to the territory about to be treated of, as to Buenos Ayres.

The kingdom of Chili will therefore now engage our attention.

CAPTAIN GENERALSHIP OF CHILI

The kingdom of Chili or Chilé is the last and most southerly of the governments which compose the empire of Spanish America.

EXTENT AND BOUNDARIES

It extends between the 24° and 45° of south latitude, and comprises the continent bounded by the ocean on the west, and the Andes on the east; and the islands on its coasts. Its greatest length being about 1260 miles, and its greatest breadth 300. The extent has been estimated to be equal to 22,574 square leagues.

It is bounded on the north by La Plata, and from Peru it is separated by the desert and province of Atacama; on the east it is bounded by the Buenos Ayrean provinces of Tucuman and Cuyo, and by Terra Magellanica, or Patagonia; on the west, the Southern Pacific washes its shores; and on the south, the unconquered and desert countries of Terra Magellanica complete its limits.

POLITICAL AND TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS AND GOVERNMENT

Chili is governed by a Spanish officer, appointed by the court of Madrid, and holding the title of Captain General of the kingdom of Chili, having under his orders all the inferior governors of departments and military posts; he is likewise commander in chief of the Chilian forces, and president of the court of royal audience of Santiago.

The country he governs is divided into continental and insular partidos, or departments, over which intendants or lieutenants preside.

The continental part, or Chili Proper, is divided into thirteen partidos, which extend from the twenty-fourth degree to the thirty-seventh degree of south latitude, and are named Copiapo, Coquimbo, Quillota, Aconcagua, Melipilla, Santiago, Rancagua, Colchagua, Maule, Itata, Chillan, Puchucay, and Huilquilemu; from the thirty-seventh degree to the islands of Chiloe, the country is chiefly under the power of three native tribes, the Araucanians, the Cunches, and the Huilliches.

Insular Chili, comprehends the archipelagoes of Chiloe, and Chonos or Guaytecas, and the Andean part of Chili is inhabited also by independent tribes.

DISCOVERY AND HISTORY

The origin of the native inhabitants of Chili is involved in impenetrable obscurity. They had traditions respecting their ancestors, which were so vague and uncertain as not to merit notice; so that nothing can be advanced concerning the history of Chili, prior to about the middle of the fifteenth century.

In the year 1450, the country was occupied by fifteen independent tribes, governed by caciques or ulmens; they were named Copiapins, Coquimbans, Quillotans, Mapochians, Promaucians, Cures, Cauques, Pencones, Araucanians, Cunches, Chilotes, Chiquilanians, Pehuenches, Puelches, and Huilliches. The Peruvians were at this period governed by the Inca Yupanqui, who having extended his empire to the borders of their country, was ambitious to possess a territory, of which his subjects gave a highly favourable report. He accordingly moved southward to Atacama, and dispatched Sinchiruca, a Peruvian prince, from thence with a large army, to the northern territories of Chili; this general reduced the Copiapins, Coquimbans, Quillotans, and Mapochians, but was interrupted in his career by the Promaucians, who defeated his forces in a sanguinary battle.

From henceforward the Peruvians were foiled in all their attempts to proceed southward, and a fort being erected on the Rapel river, the four first tribes became tributaries to the Incas. Though the Peruvian form of government was never introduced into their territories, which were still presided over by the Ulmens or caciques.

On the arrival of the Spaniards at Cuzco, the Chilese were mostly an agricultural nation, subsisting on the plants their labour had brought to perfection; they had aqueducts to irrigate their fields, and they turned up the soil with a rude sort of plough, which they pushed forwards by a handle opposed to the breast. The Peruvian camels were used as beasts of burden, and these people made bread, fermented liquors, and boiled or cooked their victuals in earthen pots of their own manufacture.

The Chilese lived in large or small villages, and they knew and practised the laws and rights of hereditary property; they had also advanced so far in the knowledge of some of the useful arts, that they were able to form hatchets and implements of copper, vases of marble, and they worked mines of gold, silver, copper, tin and lead.

Their religion consisted in the acknowledgement of a Supreme Being, whom they named Pillan, from pilli, the soul; and for whom they had also names equivalent to the Great Being, the Thunderer, the Eternal, the Creator, the Omnipotent, &c.

Pillan was said to be the king of Heaven, the lord of all the inferior spirits, who were both males and females, and whose offices consisted in guiding the destinies of man in battle, in peace, &c.; and in producing harvests; each person had his attendant spirit or genius, who protected them from Guecebu the evil one.

Being extremely independent in their notions, their ulmens or caciques had no power to impose contributions on the people they governed, and were merely sages or warriors who guided the tribes in council or in the field.

No temples were erected in Chili, the Great Being and his subordinate agents were invoked in times of need, and on occasions of great distress sacrifices of animals and offerings of fruits were made. As well as their neighbours, the Peruvians, they had a tradition of a great deluge, in which only a few persons were saved.

They had words to express units, tens, hundreds, and a thousand, with all the intermediate numbers, and preserved the memory of transactions by the Pron, a bunch of threads of several colours, resembling the Peruvian quippus.

In treating of the Araucanians, we shall give some further account of a people, who, though they had not attained the degree of civilization acquired by their northern neighbours, were, nevertheless, very far from being in a state of barbarism, and who are probably the only American nation, surrounded by European colonies, who have hitherto retained the same customs, manners, language and independence which they possessed before the conquest of the New World, as the Spaniards have scarcely made more progress in subduing them than their predecessor, the Inca Yupanqui, did.

From the determination of Almagro to conquer the country possessed by the Peruvians south of Cuzco, in consequence of the reports constantly received by himself and Pizarro, of the riches it contained, may be dated the discovery of Chili by Europeans.

Don Diego de Almagro de Malagon having collected a force of 570 Spaniards, and 15,000 Peruvians, set out from Cuzco, in the year 1535, attended by Paullu Inca, and choosing the road of the mountains, reached the province of Copiapo in Chili, after a march in which they had to contend with the Indians at every step; this, together with the inclemencies of the weather, the rugged nature of the road, and the winter overtaking them on the summit of the Andes, caused the death of 150 of the Spaniards and 10,000 of the Peruvians.

On the arrival of the army in Copiapo, Paullu Inca obliged the natives to deliver up all the gold in their possession, which amounting to the value of 500,000 ducats, he presented to Almagro.

The natives every where received the Spaniards with respect, amounting almost to adoration, as they imagined the new comers were a divine race sent by their gods to govern them, till after the arrival of Rodrigo Orgonez, with a reinforcement from Peru, when two of the soldiers committing acts of violence near the river Huasco, were slain by the people.

This, the first blood shed on either side, so irritated the Spaniards, that Almagro ordered the ulmen, his brother, and twenty of the chief people to be brought before him, when warning the natives to beware of similar transgressions, he committed his unfortunate victims to the flames; but the army disapproving of this cruel step, the affairs of Almagro soon became unprosperous.

At this juncture, Juan de Rada arrived with fresh troops from Peru, and with the letters of the king appointing Almagro governor of the territory south of that claimed by Pizarro. The Inca Paullu having reinforced his army with the Peruvian garrisons in Chili, Almagro penetrated as far south as the Rapel or Cachapoal, the boundary between the Independent Chilians and the Peruvian colonies: at this place the Inca endeavoured to persuade the general not to hazard an attack, as he was convinced, from what the Peruvians had experienced for a hundred years, that it would be unavailing; but Almagro persisted, a battle was fought, the Promaucians were victorious, and the Spaniards, disgusted with the event and with their general, returned to Peru, to which Almagro marched by the coast road through the desert of Atacama, and arrived near Cuzco, in 1538, with little loss; his subsequent history has been already related.

After the defeat and death of Almagro, Pizarro, wishing to extend his conquests, ordered Pedro de Valdivia to undertake an expedition to Chili with 200 Spaniards, a numerous body of Peruvians, women, monks and European quadrupeds, in order to settle such districts as he might deem proper.

Valdivia departed from Cuzco in 1540, and pursued the mountain road, taking the precaution of passing it in summer, on his arrival in Copiapo, so far from receiving the hospitable reception which Almagro met with, his army was attacked by the natives with great resolution, but as they had been too long in subjection to the Peruvians to be able to afford an effectual resistance, Valdivia soon reduced Copiapo, Coquimbo, Quillota and Melipilla, and with little loss arrived in the country of Mapocho, now called Santiago, where he laid the foundation of the city of Santiago, on the 24th of February, 1541.

The Promaucians assembling some forces to attack the Spaniards, Valdivia set out from Santiago to repel them, and left the new city in the care of Alonzo de Monroy; he was no sooner gone than the Mapochians attacked the place, and burning the settlement, forced the inhabitants to retire into the fort, but the commandant was relieved after a desperate siege by the return of Valdivia, who, hastening to the town, attacked the Mapochians and utterly defeated them.

During this attack a woman named Iñez Suarez killed several chieftains who were prisoners in the fort, with an axe; as she perceived they were about to take advantage of the distressed state of the Spaniards.

The Mapochians continued at intervals to annoy the colony for six years, after which being utterly defeated they destroyed their crops and habitations and retired to the mountains.

Valdivia being harassed by the natives as well as by the mutinous conduct of his men, sent messengers to Peru for succour, and to show the riches of the country he caused the bits, spurs and stirrups of his two messengers to be made of gold; but they were intercepted in their route by the Copiapins, from whom they did not escape till after a length of time, and arriving in Peru where Vaca de Castro was governor, who immediately dispatched succours by sea and land to Valdivia; with this assistance he reduced some of the surrounding tribes and founded Serena or Coquimbo, in 1544.

In 1545 he entered into a treaty with the Promaucians, who thenceforward became allies of the Spaniards, and in 1546 he passed the river Maule and reduced the natives from that river to the Itata; here he was however attacked by the Indians, and forced to retreat to Santiago, from whence, hearing of the civil wars in Peru, he went to that country, leaving Francisco Villagran governor in his absence.

Valdivia acted so meritoriously under De Gasca in Peru, that after Gonzalo Pizarro was subdued the president sent him back to Chili, with the title of Governor, abundance of stores, and two ships filled with soldiers.

The Coquimbans and Copiapins having revolted, the governor sent Francisco Aguirre against them, who succeeding in his expedition, rebuilt the city of Coquimbo, in a more convenient place in 1549.

Nine years from this period were passed in constant exertion by the governor, before he could consider his power as fully settled in the northern provinces of Chili; when having distributed the lands and Indians among his followers, he turned his arms against the southern portion of his government, and after a march of 250 miles, arrived at the bay of Penco or Concepcion, where he founded the city of Concepcion, on the 5th of October, 1550. No sooner had he colonized this settlement, than the toqui or chief of the Araucanians, attacked him with an army of 4000 men; but after a battle of several hours, Aillavalu, the toqui, was slain, and the Araucanians forced to retreat. In the following year, 1551, Valdivia was attacked in Concepcion, by Lincoyan, the new toqui, or general of the Araucanians, but they retreated, after displaying much valour.

Valdivia now occupied himself in strengthening his post, and having received succours from Peru, he marched into Arauco, where, arriving at the river Cauten, he founded the city of Imperial, after which he traversed the country to the territory of the Cunches, in which he founded the town of Valdivia; and satisfied with his success, returned to St. Jago, having fought several battles with the natives, in which his troops were always victorious.

He now dispatched Aguirre, with 200 men to conquer Cuyo and Tucuman, and returning with fresh troops into Araucania, he built the city of La Frontera; and having effected this object, retired to Concepcion, and dispatched a messenger to Spain, with an account of his conquests, a solicitation of the government, and of the title of Marquess del Arauco, and he sent Francisco de Ulloa by sea, to explore the Straits of Magellan, by which he hoped to carry on a communication with the mother-country, independent of Peru.

Occupied with these affairs, he did not perceive the increasing power of the Araucanians, who having deposed Lincoyan, elected Caupolican, a warlike chief, to the supreme command of their army.

Caupolican then attacked the fort of Arauco, which the Spaniards abandoned in the night; he also compelled them to evacuate Tucapel, both of which he destroyed. Valdivia immediately collected what force he could, marched against him, but sending an advanced guard of ten horsemen to reconnoitre, they were cut off, and their heads fixed in the road through which the Spanish army was to pass. This army arrived in sight of the Araucanians, on the 3d of December, 1553, when a fierce contest immediately commenced. The Araucanians were put to flight, but in their confusion, a young chief who had been baptized and employed as page to Valdivia, suddenly deserted the Spanish army, and brandishing a lance, called out to his countrymen to turn and follow his example; this so encouraged the enemy, that they immediately commenced a fresh attack, with such success, that the Spaniards and their Promaucian allies were cut to pieces, only two of the latter escaping.

Valdivia retired with his chaplain to a convenient spot, and having received absolution, prepared himself for death. He was soon taken prisoner, and his late page, begging that he might be spared, was on the point of obtaining his release, when an old Ulmen, indignant at the fate of his countrymen who had fallen in the battle, put an end to the conference, and the existence of Valdivia by a blow with his war-club.

On the news of the defeat and death of the governor arriving at Concepcion, Villagran was appointed to the chief command, and marching with a force against the Araucanians, he was defeated by Lautaro, the page before mentioned, and losing 700 men, was forced to retreat to Concepcion, which place he abandoned and proceeded to St. Jago. By his wise measures and resolute conduct, as well as by the dreadful ravages of the small-pox which had been communicated to the Araucanians, the Spanish possessions were once more established, but battles were constantly fought between the natives and the settlers, which though they generally terminated in favour of the Europeans, were the means of their losing many settlements, and Lautaro the toqui, was slain in 1556, in an action with Villagran.

In 1557, the viceroy of Peru sent Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza his son to Chili, with a great force of cavalry, infantry and shipping. The new governor landed on an island in the bay of Concepcion in April; here he remained during the winter, making overtures of an amicable nature to the Araucanians, but not receiving a determinate answer, he landed 150 men at Monte Pinto, and erected a strong fort to command the harbour; this place was immediately attacked by the Araucanians, under Caupolican, when a tremendous battle ensued, in which the army of the toqui were defeated.

Don Garcia then proceeded into Arauco, where he fought another desperate action, and defeating the Araucanians, marched to the southward, through the province of the Cunches, a tribe hitherto unsubdued. In this expedition, they discovered the Chiloe Islands, and returning from thence, he marched through the country of the Huilliches, and founded the town of Osorno.

About this time, Caupolican the great toqui or general, was taken prisoner, impaled, and shot to death with arrows, but his son was elected to the chief command, and exasperated by the cruel death of his father, attacked the Spanish forces under the officer who had slain Caupolican; in this attack, the young chief was victorious, and immediately besieged Imperial, in which he was however foiled.

Many battles occurred in 1559, the last of which was peculiarly favourable for the Spanish cause, all the best leaders of the Araucanians being slain in it.

Don Garcia now rebuilt the cities which had been destroyed; sent Castillo to conquer Cuyo, and at last, embarked for Peru, in which country he had been advanced to the viceregal rank.

Villagran who had been to Spain returned to Chili, with the title of governor, but meeting with reverses, his spirits sunk, and dying soon after, he left his son Pedro as governor; at which period, the Araucanians were once more getting the better of the Spaniards, who founded the town of Castro, in Chiloe, in the year 1566.

In 1567, the court of royal audience was established in the city of Concepcion, their first act was to depose Quiroga, who had dispossessed the younger Villagran in his government, and to appoint Ruiz Gamboa, to the command of the army.

The natives had now become exceedingly powerful under the conduct of a Mestizo, named Alonzo Diaz, who had been raised to the rank of toqui by the name of Paynenauca, and who had been joined by the Chiquillanians and the Pehuenches. This chief fought many actions with the Spanish troops, but was at last taken prisoner and beheaded.

On his death, Cayancura was elevated to the dignity of toqui. In his time, the Araucanians besieged the fort of Arauco, and being defeated, the toqui resigned his command to Nangoniel his son, who was killed in attacking another fortress.

Cadaguela was then unanimously proclaimed general, and in his time, the English under Sir Thomas Candish landed on the coast of Chili, and endeavoured to enter into negociations with the natives; but being attacked by Molina, the corregidor of Santiago, they were forced to reimbark, after losing several men.

Several chiefs succeeded Cadaguela, each of whom were engaged in desperate actions with the Spaniards. In 1593, Don Martin Loyola, nephew of the celebrated founder of the order of Jesuits, having married the daughter of Sayri Tupac, the last Inca of Peru, was appointed governor of Chili; he was slain five years after his arrival, on the 22d of November 1598, by Paillamachu the toqui, in whose country he had imprudently ventured with too small an escort. On this event which had been previously planned, the whole Araucanian country, with the Cunches and Huilliches, their allies, suddenly rose, and put to death every Spaniard who had the misfortune to be without the forts; the towns of Osorno, Valdivia, Villarica, Imperial, Canete, Angol, and Arauco, were all attacked, and Conception and Chillan were burnt.

Amid all these misfortunes, the Dutch landed in the Chiloe Islands, plundered Chiloe, and put the Spanish garrison to the sword; but landing in an island where the Araucanians were posted, these people attacked them and killed twenty-three of their men, mistaking them for Spaniards.

All the Spanish cities above-named, were also taken by Paillamachu the toqui, and the Spaniards were completely expelled from the territories of the Araucanian confederacy.

Luis Valdivia, a Jesuit, who had been employed in converting the Chilese, finding it impracticable to prevail on the Araucanians to listen to him, went to Spain, where he instigated the emperor to take measures to procure a peace; and returning to Chili, in 1612, this zealous missionary nearly effected the object he had taken so much trouble about, and in a short time peace was about to be proclaimed between the Spaniards and the Indians, when an unforeseen circumstance occurred, which rendered the war more active than before.

Battle succeeded battle, with no extraordinary result on either side, till the Dutch made a second attempt on the islands, in which they were repulsed as before, the natives again mistaking them for Spaniards.

Some wars took place after this, till the arrival of Don Francisco de Zuniga, Marquess of Baydes, who assumed the government in 1640. By his exertions, the preliminaries of a peace were arranged and finally settled on the 6th of January 1641, between Lincopichion, the Chilese general, and the Marquess, by which the two nations mutually agreed to suspend all hostilities, and the Araucanians, on their part, engaged to prevent any foreign power whatever from landing in their territories. In 1643, the Dutch made a third and last attempt to colonize this country, by building two forts, and taking possession of Valdivia; but being deprived of provisions by the Cunches, and hearing that a powerful army of Spaniards and Araucanians were marching against them, they evacuated Chili.

The peace thus happily settled, lasted until 1655, when war again broke out with all its former fury, being carried on by both parties for ten years with equal spirit. At the end of this period, Meneses a Portuguese noble, who held the reins of government, again persuaded the turbulent natives to consent to a peace. This was more lasting than the former, and the history of Chili presents nothing worthy of notice till the commencement of the eighteenth century, when the inhabitants of the islands of Chiloe revolted, but were soon quelled. The famous war of the succession happening in Europe at this epoch created much internal discussion in the Spanish colonies; several governors were removed for favouring the Bourbon party, but when a prince of that house was at last placed on the Spanish throne, the ports of Chili were filled with French ships, and from 1707, to 1717, many persons of that nation settled in the country.

About this time, the Araucanians began to show some symptoms of an inclination to break the treaty, and in 1722, they elected Vilumilla their toqui or war-chief. So actively did this chief employ himself, that he gained to his party, nearly the whole of the Indians from Peru to the river Biobio, causing them to agree to rise against the whites, at a certain moment, which was to take place when they should see the watch-fires on the mountains: accordingly on the 9th of March 1723, these fires blazed from Copiapo to Itata, but from some reason, which has not been related, the natives of the northern provinces did not join, and his scheme was put into execution by the Araucanians only, who took some places, and then made overtures of peace.

The year 1742 was famous for the arrival of Don Josef Manso, the new governor, who collected all the scattered colonists, and placed them in several cities which he founded, and which are now the capitals, and chief towns of the different provinces.

His successors continued this line of conduct, and in 1753, several new towns were built, and Don Domingo Rosa sent a colony to occupy the island of Juan Fernandez, which had remained uninhabited till that time.

In 1770, the governor, Don Antonio Gil Gonzago, created a new war, by endeavouring to force the Araucanians to live in towns, giving them materials to build with, appointing workmen to assist them, and sending a force to compel them to do so, and entering into a treaty with the Pehuenches, he attacked them on all sides. The Pehuenches were defeated, and instead of becoming the eternal enemies of their conquerors, they have since that time been their most faithful allies. The Spanish governor being thwarted by these warlike people in all his schemes, a peace was resorted to after a dreadful battle in 1773, and on this occasion the Araucanians insisted on being allowed to retain a resident agent at Santiago, which was granted.

A native of Ireland, Don Ambrosio Higgins, was appointed captain-general of Chili, in 1787, and being still at peace with the natives, this governor built several new towns, opened the mines, and encouraged commerce and agriculture.

In his government, the regular militia of Chili, amounted to 15,856 men. The veteran troops, or royal guard, was 1976 men; and beside these, each city has an armed force, with a local militia, the former being kept in constant pay.

Since the year 1792, several governors have presided over Chili, and nothing material occurs in its history, until 1810, when a partial revolution took place. Spain being overrun by the French armies, the creoles of this country judged it a favourable moment to throw off their allegiance, and accordingly, being the most numerous, they effected their object with little trouble. Since that period, the royal armies have subjected the kingdom, which has been thrown into fresh convulsions by the appearance of San Martin, with a detachment from the insurgent force of Buenos Ayres; at present the government is decidedly Spanish, though the capital and several strong places are occupied by the revolutionists, but very little is known concerning what particular cities, towns and forts they hold.