and hardly do eight days pass at any other season without rain.  The atmosphere is consequently extremely moist, yet salubrious, and the climate is exceedingly mild and temperate.  Owing to the great humidity, grain and fruits are by no means productive, yet the inhabitants raise sufficient grain, mostly barley and beans, for their support, and grow abundance of excellent flax.  The town of Castro, on the eastern shore, in lat. 42 deg. 44’ S. is the capital of the island, and was founded in 1565, by Don Martino Ruiz de Gamboa, and is built entirely of wood, containing only about a hundred and fifty inhabitants, yet has a parish church, a church formerly belonging to the Jesuits, and two convents.  The port of Chaco, near the middle of the northern extremity of the island, in lat. 41 deg. 53’ S. and about the same, longitude with Castro, has good anchorage, and enjoys the whole trade with Peru and Chili, which is not subjected to the duties which are paid in other ports of Spanish America.

Besides the southern Archipelago of Chiloe, there are a few islands of no great importance on the coast of Chili, not worth notice.  The two islands likewise of Juan Fernandez are considered as dependencies on Chili.  The larger of these, called Isola de Tierra, is at present inhabited by a few Spaniards, who have a small fort at La Baya or Cumberland harbour.  The smaller island, or Masafuera, otherwise called De Cabras or Conejos, is uninhabited.

S2. The Province of Cujo.

Although the province of Cujo, on the east side of the Andes, be not strictly within the limits of Chili, yet as dependent on the presidency of that kingdom, it is proper to take notice of it in this place.  Cujo is bounded on the north by the province of Tucuman, on the east by the Pampas or desert plains of Buenos Ayres, on the south by Patagonia, and on the west by the southern chain of the Andes.  Being comprehended between the latitudes of 29 deg. and 35 deg. south, it is about 400 miles in extent from north to south, but its limits towards the east are uncertain.  In temperature and productions, this province differs materially from Chili.  The winter, which is the dry season, is extremely cold; and the summer is excessively hot both day and night, with frequent storms of thunder and hail, more especially in its western parts near the Andes.  These storms commonly rise and disperse in the course of half an hour; after which the sun dries up the moisture in a few minutes.  Owing to this excessive exsiccation, the soil is extremely arid, and will neither bear trees nor plants of any kind; unless when irrigated by means of canals, when it produces almost every vegetable in astonishing abundance.  By these artificial means of cultivation, the fruits and grains of Europe thrive with extraordinary perfection, and come a month earlier to maturity than in Chili; and the wines produced in Cujo are very rich and full-bodied.