The administration of the Spanish provinces is com mitted to an officer, residing one half of the year at St Jago, and the other at Conception, who is invested with the combined authority of president, governor, and cap tain general of Chili. During war, he is subordinate in some particulars to the viceroy of Peru, but is otherwise dependent only on the king. In his military capacity, he is at the head of the army, having under him the tour governors of Chiloe, Valdivia, Valparaiso, and Juan Fer nandez, the quarter-master, the serjcant-Inajor, and thc commissary. In quality of president and governor, his jurisdiction is supreme in matters of a civil nature ; he superintends and presides over the superior tribunals of St Jago, whose authority extends over [11C rest of the kingdom. Of these, the principal is the Royal Audience, celebrated for its justice and impartiality. It is divided into a civil and criminal court, the decisions of both of which are without appeal. Every province, besides a sub-delegate who nets both in a civil and military capa city, has, or at least is directed to have, a municipal ma gistracy, called the Cabildo, established in the chief city of the province.
The regular forces maintained in Chili by the king of Spain originally amounted to 2000 men, which number was afterwards reduced to 500, but has since that time been considerably augmented, to what particular extent we are not informed. There is, besides, a regular city and country militia. The number enrolled in amounted to 16,000 picked men, who were not required to perform the inferior duties of sentinels and patroles, but to exercise continually in arms, and to hold them selves in readiness for any sudden emergency.
The produce of the revenue offices was, in 1746, in sufficient to defray the expenccs of the regular force, which did not then exceed 500 men. Since that period, however, the revenues have greatly increased : but we arc not in possession of such data as might enable us to compute the amount.
The religion of Spanish Chili, like that of the mother country, is the Roman Catholic. Among the numerous orders of the Runtish church, only five have succeeded in obtaining permanent establishments. The monks of the order of Mercy accompanied Valdivia from Peru. The Dominicans and strict Franciscans were shortly af ter introduced, under the same authority. The Augus tines procured admission in 1595 ; and the Brothers of St John of God in 1615. The three first orders form sepa parate jurisdictions. The Jesuits had established them selves in 1593, but upon the dissolution of the order, they were expelled from the territories of Spain. The Chi Hans are extremely averse to the admission of new fra ternities, and have always resisted their establishment. The two bishoprics of St Jago and Conception compre hend under their jurisdiction, the whole of Chili, besides the province of Cujo. To the diocese of St Jago belong Cujo, and all the provinces betvvecn Peru and the river Manic. The diocese of Conception comprehends, with the islands, the rest of Chili ; the inhabitants, however, of this jurisdiction are chiefly pagans. At St Jago there is a commissioner of inquisition, with several in ferior oflicers, delegated by the court of inquisition at Lima.
From the scarcity of scientific books and instruments, as well as the enormous expellee of printing, literature and the fine arts were, about the year 1792, in a very low stage of Law is a favourite study, and many young men, after completing their academical course in Chili, proceed to Peru to be instructed in that science at the schools of Lima. The peasants compose a sort of rude verses, which though wanting in elegance and polish, are yet interesting from their extreme sim plicity. They have also among them a sort of improvi satori, called Palladores, whose extemporaneous effu sions obtain for them a high character, and form their only occupation. The mechanical arts, excepting those of carpentry and the working of metals, have made but little progress. A favourable impulse, however, has of late years been given to the arts and sciences in general, by a liberal patronage on the part of government, of -which the good effects have already appeared.
The population of Chili consists principally of Spa 7,1ards, Indians, and Mustecs, besides whom are a icw French, English, and Italians, and some Negroes. T1,ere exists no proper estimate of the general amonnt, nor any sufficient data by which to compute it ; but it is certain, that the country is yet very far from being stocked with inhabitants. The encouragement given to commerce
has proved particularly favourable to the Spanish popu lation ; that of the Indian provinces, however, has been considerably retarded by the immoderate use of spiritu ous liquors.
The Spanish provinces were anciently pos'sessed by the Copiapins, Coquimbancs, Quiliotanes, Mapochinians, Promaucians, Cures, Canques, and PelICODS most of which, once flourishing tribes, are now almost completely extinct, and the only remains of them are a few the principal of which is Laro, in the province of ntu16. These tribes, before the arrival of the Spaniards, had evi dently attained some degree of civilization. They had established themselves in villages, each of which had an Climen or chief magistrate. They seem to have made considerable progress in agriculture : convenient and well-constructed aqueducts were employed in soma dis tricts to irrigate the fields ; and there still remains a ca nal in the vicinity of St Jago, which, in its extent and workmanship, may be regarded as a standing monument of their industry and skill. They were acquainted also with the process of fermentation, and from their grain and berries obtained several kinds of liquors. In the manufacture of cloths, they used the spindle, the distaff, and two sorts of looms. They employed a variety of nets, the cord of which was procured from the plant gnochia. Hatchets of bell-metal-copper sometimes oc cur in the ancient sepulchres. They employed dyes, both vegetable and mineral, and of all colours ; and fixed them by means of the stone called polcura. Their lan guage was rich and harmonious, and contained terms to express the numbers ten, a hundred, and a thousand. But of all their attainments, the knowledge they display ed in astronomy and physic is by far thc most remarka ble. Of these, and of their religion, music, and military skill, a detailed account will be found in the article AnnucA To this article we must refer also for a description of their manners and customs ; the Arauca nians, as Molina observes, being still the faithful deposi tories of all the science and ancient customs of the Chi lians. • The tribes of native Chilians that still maintain their possessions and independence are the Araucanians, com prehending the Puddles, to an account of whom we have just referred ; the Pchuenches, Chiquillanes, Clinches, and Fluilliebes, allies of the Araucanians, but in some respects differing from that people in their manners and customs. The Pchucnches occupy that. part of the southern Andes lying between the 34th and 37th degrees of latitude. They dwell in tents made of skins ; and, for the convenience of pasturage, are continually changing their situation. They arc expert riders, and spend the clay on horseback : the-bits which they use, as also the stirrups and spurs, arc of wood. They frequently em ploy themselves in hunting the guanaco and ostrich, and use the /aqui both in this exercise and in war. In dress. they differ from the Araucanians, by covering the waist with a piece of loose cloth in place of drawers ; and de lighting in ornament, they paint their bodies, faces, and particularly their eye-lids. Though possessing nume rous herds of sheep and horned cattle, they live in gene ral upon the flesh of horses. Of the other tribes, there is little mentioned deserving particular notice. Molina observes in general, of the mountaineers who inhabit the eastern vallies of the Andes, (including under that de signation the Puelches, Pehuenches, Huilliches, and Chi quillanes,) that their complexions are much redder than those of their countrymen, who dwell to the westward of that mountain ; that they all dress themselves in skins, paint their faces, live in general by hunting, and lead a wandering and unsettled life ;" that they arc, " generally speaking, of a lofty stature and great strength, and no other than the celebrated Patagonians, who have occa sionally extended their wanderings to the Straits of Ma gellan, and have at one time been described as giams, and at another as men little above the common stature." The colour of the Indians, in general, is a copper brown ; but the inhabitants of Boroa, a tribe in the heart of Araucania, arc white, and in their features and com plexion little inferior to the northern Europeans.