nean passages communicating with the volcanoes of the Andes, which are so many vent holes for the inflamed substances, and serve to counteract their effects. Were it not for the number of these volcanoes, Chili would, in all probability, be rendered uninhabitable.

Some pretend that they can foretell an earthquake from certain changes in the atmosphere. Although this does not appear to me impossible, I must acknowledge that my own experience has furnished me with nothing to induce me to credit it. I was born and educated in Chili, and while in that country paid great attention to the state of the air during earthquakes: I have known them occur both in the rainy and dry seasons, during a storm as well as

a calm.

SECT. X. Salubrity of Climate.—The inhabitants of Chili, notwithstanding the frequent occurrence of earthquakes, are very well satisfied with their country, and I am convinced would not readily be induced to quit it for any other exempt exempt from

this calamity.

This preference is not founded solely upon that natural attachment to country, which is common to all men, but is derived from some advantages peculiar to Chili; a soil naturally fertile, and well adapted to every useful and valuable production, a mild and almost equable temperature of climate, and a remarkable salubrity, are the bles

sings enjoyed by this delightful country. Before the arrival of the Spaniards contagious disorders were unknown: the small pox, which occasionally makes its appearance in the northern provinces, and is known by the name of the plague, was first introduced by them. At such times, the inhabitants of the neighbouring provinces oblige every person

* If Chili is not populous, it cannot be attributed to the fault of its climate, which is one of the most salubrious of any known, the contiguity of the Cordilleras communicating to it a delightful temperature, which, from its latitude, it could not be expected to enjoy. Nor does Spain possess a province more pleasant and agreeable as a place of residence.---Philosophical History of the European Establishments, book viii. chap. 2.

There are two reasons which have impeded the population of Chili, and counterbalanced the advantages it has received from nature: The first, the almost continual wars between the Spaniards and the Araucanians from its first discovery, which have destroyed an infinite number of people. The second (and the principal) the commercial restrictions which were imposed upon that country, as for a century the Chilians had no direct communication with Europe, nor were they permitted to send any of their produce to any other place than Callao, from whence it followed, that every species of exportation and importation was conducted by the merchants of Peru, who of course reaped all the profit of this trade. This pernicious system discouraged industry, and had a sensible effect upon the population; but of late, since a direct commerce has been carried on with European ships, which arrive every year in some of the ports of Chili, that delightful country begins to increase in numbers, and, in some measure, to raise itself to that important station which its natural advantages claim. In the year 1755, in the province of Maúle alone, there were calculated to be 14,000 whites capable of bearing arms, and the population of the other provinces had increased in a degree proportionate to the extent of their limits. The estimates, therefore, made by Dr. Robertson and the Abbé Raynal, in their histories, are, in this particular, incorrect, being founded on accounts furnished during the last century.

coming from the infected district to perform a rigo rous quarantine, and by that means have preserved themselves from the ravages of that destructive malady. Whenever the Indians suspect any one to be attacked with it, which sometimes happens from their intercourse with the Spaniards, they burn him in his own hut, by means of fiery arrows. By this method, which is truly a violent one, they have hitherto prevented its progress, and been exempted from this disorder.

A physician of the country, Matthias Verdugo, a monk of the order of St. John, was the first who, in 1761, introduced inoculation, and since that period it has been practised with great success. Tertian and quartan fevers are also unknown there; and the inhabitants of the neighbouring provinces who are afflicted with them, are accustomed to come into Chili for the benefit of their health, where they very soon recover. A violent fever, accompanied with delirium is sometimes prevalent among the country people, particularly in summer and in autumn. This complaint which the Indians cure with certain herbs, whose properties they have learnt by experience, bears the name of chavo longo, which signifies the disorder of the head. The venereal disease is but little known in the Spanish settlements, and still less among the Indians. As the last have no word in their language expressive of it, there is every reason to presume that this malady was not known among them until after the arrival of the Spaniards. The rickets, a disease which for three centuries has been such a scourge to Europe,

is as yet unknown within the boundaries of Chili, and lame or deformed persons are very rarely to be met with.* To many of the maladies, peculiar to hot countries, such as the Siam fever, the black vomit, and the leprosy, its inhabitants are likewise equally strangers. No instance of the hydrophobia has ever occurred, and M. de la Condamine justly observes, that in South America the dogs, cats, and other animals are never afflicted with madness.

Chili produces none of those dangerous or vencmous animals which are so much dreaded in hot countries; and it has but one species of small serpent, which is perfectly harmless, as the French Academicians ascertained when they went to Peru, in 1736, to measure a degree of the meridian.† 'The lions which are sometimes met with in the thickest

The Creoles are generally well shaped, and there are scarce any of those deformed persons, so common in other countries, `to be seen among them; besides which, they almost all possess great flexibility and activity of limbs.-Philosophical History, book xi. chap. 18.

Not only the Creoles, who are descended from the Europeans, but also the aborigines of the country, display equal perfection of form. Some authors pretend, that the reason why none who are deformed, or cripples, are to be found among these people, is owing to the savage custom which the parents have of destroying such unfortunate children at their birth; but this is a mere picture of the imagination; at least, among the Chilians no trace of so inhuman a practice has ever been discovered, as numbers who have lived with them for years have positively assured me.

†This country is not infested by any kind of insect except the chiguas, or pricker, or any poisonous reptile; and although in the woods and fields some snakes are to be found, their bite is by no means dangerous; nor does any savage or ferocious beast excite terror in its plains.-Ulloa's Voyage, part ii. vol. 3.

and least frequented forests, are distinguished from the African lion, both by their being without hair, and their timidity; there is no instance of their ever having attacked a man, and a person may not only travel, but lie down to sleep with perfect security, in any part of the plain, and even in the thickest forests of the mountains. Neither tygers, wolves, nor many other ferocious beasts that infest the neighbouring countries, are known there. Probably the great ridge of the Andes which is every where extremely steep, and covered with snow, serves as a barrier to their passage. The mildness of the climate may also be unfavourable to them, as the greater part of these animals are natives of the hottest countries.