The excessive moisture of the climate., though no way injurious to its salubrity, is extremely- unfavourable to the interests of agriculture. On account of the weather, it is always necessary, in order to save the crop, to cut it down before it is perfectly ripe, Often Nvhcn it is yet green, and to dry it in sheds and barns. Wheat, notwith standing these disadvantages, gives a tolerable crop, yielding, at an average, twelve for one. • Maize and bar ley succeed well ; several kinds of pulse are cultivated with SUCCCS5 ; but the principal crop is potatoes, which are large, and of the very best quality. Bread is consi dered as a luxury, especially wheat bread, and is confin ed almost exclusively to the houses of the more wealthy inhabitants. An excellent substitute is afforded by the luche, a marine plant, which being sufficiently dried, is afterwards, by some unexplained methothof preparation, converted into loaves. From their barley, reduced to meal, the Chilotes obtain a pleasant sort of ale, called chica, which will intoxicate if taken in considerable quan tity. Of fruits, the number is very small, and none of them reach maturity except apples and strawberries, whi to grow wild, and in great abundance. The woods supply tile alerce, or red cedar, a large and beautiful tree, of which a single stein will afford from six to eight hundred boards, each twenty feet long. Its wood is of a very singular quality, and, from its peculiar evenness of grain, can be divided as exactly, with the assistance of a few wedges, and formed into boards as smooth and level as if the finest saw had been used in the operation. The bark is emplop.d as oakum, and serves the purpose well for those parts of a ship that remain under water, but it will not stand exposure to the sun or atmosphere. We may notice also the hazle, the cypress, the luma, a spe cies of myrtle, and the ciruelillo, all of them used as ar ticles of commerce.
Of domestic animals, the most numerous are sheep and hogs. The wool of the sheep gives employment to the female Indians, who manufacture it into ponchos. The hams of Chiloe are reckoned the finest in South America. All attempts to introduce the ass have proved ineffectual ; those transported having constantly perished a short time after their introduction. '1' he horse and the ox have succeeded better, and their number is now able. The principal wild animals are otters, deers, and foxes, of which the last are black, equal in size to the European fox, and corresponding with the blue fox of Fowls also are numerous, both wild and domestic. One of the most useful is the queihrt, a species of penguin about the size of a common duck : its body is furnished with a soft ash-coloured plumage, the texture of which approaches so near to wool or fine hair, that it is spun by the natives, and woven into beautiful bed covers. It is about the size of a domestic goose, never appears in flocks, but remains always in pairs. The sea, as if to compensate for the natural deficiencies of soil and climate, supplies, in the most profuse dance, almost every sort of fish. A very summary thod is employed to obtain them. A large extent, at the mouths of rivers and other favourable situations, is closed with palisades, the vacuities between which are occupied with a sort of basket work ; an opening is left towards the sea, and this is carefully secured before the tide begins to ebb. By this simple contrivance, such
quantities of fish arc sometimes taken, that numbers will remain untouched in the enclosure, after all the tants in the neighbourhood, and others from a able distance, have supplied their wants. Whales of a great size have been cast ashore on the opposite tinent. Among the numerous Phoex that inhabit these seas, the hone, or sea elephant, which occurs in the Archipelago, is by much the largest. Individuals have been taken of this species measuring in length 22 feet, and 15 feet in circumference.
The Chilotes possess few materials for manufacture ; their principal articles are ponchos, bed coverings, blan kets, rugs, carpets, embroidered girdles, and linen cloth. Much industry and neatness of workmanship are em ployed in weaving a poncho: this manufacture is per formed by the women, without the assistance of a loom, the warp being extended and made fast by means of pegs : the operation, however, is altogether so tedious, that two ponchos are commonly the whole production of a woman's labour during a year. Besides the above article of manufacture, the Chilotes export hams, pil chards, drieti, shell-fish, and ambergris; white cedar boxes, cedar boards, the wood of the luma for poles of coaches and axle-trees, and hazle for ship-building ; these they barter for sugar, wine, brandy, tobacco, salt, herb of Paraguay, and some European commodities. This small commerce was carried on in 1792 by four vessels from Chili and Peru, which paid an annual visit to the Archipelago. \Viten any of these vessel;; arrive at San Carlos, the natives assemble from all quarters to dispose of their surplus goods ; and, in order to prevent imposition, the exchange is regulated by the Cabildo or municipality of the town, who set a value upon the articles for barter.
The affairs of the province are placed under the ad ministration of a Spanish governor, who resides at San Carlos, and is immediately dependent on the captain-ge neral of Chili. A commandant is stationed in the island of Calbuco ; and in the city of Castro, there is a magis trate or cabildo, whose office it is to determine the private suits of the Indians. The Indians are divided into seventy-six ulmenates, some of which are subject to the Chuens of the district ; but most of thant are under the immediate cognizance of Spanish officers. Though the feudal practice of requiring personal service be no longer enforced in the other provinces of Chili, fifty days service is still rigidly exacted throughout the Archipelago. San Carlos is furnished with a garrison of fifty-three dragoons, lifty-three infantry, and thirty three artillerymen. The militia of the province ;amounts in all to 1569 men, who must perform garrison duty without pay-. In its religious concerns, the Archipelago belongs to the diocese of Conception, and contains three parishes. There are two convents, one of Franciscans, the other of Mercedarii, which are the residence of a few monks. The Jesuits had a parish church and ricollege.