448
j795* o f your conduft I give you all due thanks. What I theii promifed I
'_____1 likewife have ftriftly performed; I have recommended the four Butalmapus
to the proteftion of the king ; I have fupplicated him to continue
to them his paternal affiftance ; and His Majefty, with that great-
nefs of foul, and piety of heart, which fo eminently dillinguifh his royal
charafter, has been pleafed to order, that you lhall be fupported and
protected fo long as you may deferve the bleffings of his favor, by adhering
to the good, feparating yourfelves from the bad, and evincing, by
the general tenor of your condudl, your fubordination and obedience.”
The humanity, good fenfe, patience, and perfeverance, o f the Captain
General, very confpicuoufly appear upon this occafion ; and it is not
lefs pleafing to obferve, that, even amongft thefe untaught nations of the
earth, their political engagements are fcrupuloufly fulfilled ; and that
the diftrefles confequent on intefline warfare, have not the power to
make them violate their treaties, or to break thofe promifes which they
folemnly pledge themfelves to perform.
The territorial pofleffions of fuch of the Indians as have fubmitted to
the authority, and placed themfelves under the protection, o f the Spanifh
crown, have been all confirmed to them by treaty ; to be ufed, cultivated,
or difpofed of, agreeably to their own withes or determinations ; and,
as an incitement to their future induftry and repofe, I was informed by
Don Ambrofio, that he had purchafed from them a large traft of land,
which he had divided, and laid out advantageoufly,- for the purpofes
of agriculture and breeding cattle; and had left it in their polfeffion,
under the direftion of proper perfons to fee his defigns carried into
(dieet.
Whilft we were under the hofpitable roof of the Prefident, I had an
opportunity of feeing a chief and fix of the Indians, who had come to
the palace to pay an annual vifit of refpeft to the Captain-General.
Thefe people were of a middling ftature, they were flout and well made,
of regular features, and not unlike the North-Weft American Indians;
they were dreffed after the Spanifh fafhion of the country; but if an
opinion can be correftly formed of the tribe they belong to from fo fmall
a fijmple, they would, by no means, anfwer the expe&ations I had formed
<ed o f their prowefs and military character. Thefe Indians were accom- ^795-
panied by a Spanifh gentleman, who refides amongft them in one of 1— v----1
their villages, and is called Captain of Indians; and I underftood, that
to each tribe an officer, of fimilar rank, is attached, who prefides over
their interefts, correfponds with the Captain-General, and, on all occa-
fions, afls as their advifer and interpreter.
The exterior commerce of the kingdom is principally carried on from
the fea-ports of Conception, Coquimbo, and Valparaifo ; but the latter
has the greateft ffiare of the trade, arifing from its central fituation, and
its vicinity to the capital t- the diftance from St. Jago was formerly thirty
leagues ; but it will be decreafed, when the new line of road is completed,
to twenty-two leagues. From St. Jago, to the top of the firft
hill towards Valparaifo, a diftance of about fix leagues, the road is
finifhed ; between the foot o f the hill and the city there are three bridges
built with bricks over three fwampy places, which before were frequently
almoft impaflable, and in many other parts, where the road is
deprefled, it is paved acrofs, to give a free courfe to the rain waters, and
at the fame time, to prevent any damage from their paffing over the
loofe materials of which the road is compofed. This extent of road is
now become the general refort of the inhabitants, either for walking,
riding on horfeback or in carriages ; and the valuable character who
firft projected it, whenever the multiplicity of his bufinefs will allow him
to take any recreation of this nature, is conftaritly attended thither by a
numerous company of the inhabitants, and on fuch occafions he derives a
confiderable degree of fatisfaftion in proving how eafily he can travel up
the firft hill from St. Jago in his coach, with the affiftance of four mules
only.
The meafured diftance between St. Jago and Buenos Ayres I could
not learn, but I underftood that the poll travels from thence to the capital
of Chili in twenty days ; and that the country, from Buenos Ayres until
it reaches the foot of the Cordilleras, which run in a northern and
fouthern direHion, and pafs to the eaftward of St. Jago, is one intire
defert, without trees or any other fort of vegetation; and that it is fo
completely a level plain, that even a hillock does not appear on its fiirface.
V ol. III. 3 Ivl The