midable. Of course, M. Buffon has been led into an error in asserting, in his treatise on man, that the Chilians are accustomed to enlarge their ears.

Their complexion, like that of the other American nations, is of a reddish brown, but it is of a clearer hue, and readily changes to white. A tribe who dwell in the province of Baroa are of a clear white and red, without any intermixture of the copper colour. As they differ in no other respect from the other Chilians, this variety may be owing to some peculiar influence of their climate, or to the greater degree of civilization which they possess; it is, however, attributed by the Spanish writers to the prisoners of that nation, who were confined in this province during the unfortunate war of the sixteenth century. But as the Spanish prisoners were equally distributed among the other provinces of their con. querors, none of whose inhabitants are white, this opinion would seem to be unfounded. Besides, as the first Spaniards who came to Chili were all from the southern provinces of Spain, where the ruddy complexion is rare, their posterity would not have exhibited so great a difference.

On examining the harmony and richness of their language, we are naturally led to conclude that the Chilians must have, in former times, possessed a much greater degree of civilization than at present; or, at least, that they are the remains of a great and illustrious nation, ruined by some of those physical or moral revolutions so common to our globe. The improvement and perfection of language con

stantly follow the steps of civilization; nor can it be easily conceived how a nation that has never emerged from a savage state, that has neither been polished by laws, by commerce, nor by arts, can possess an elegant, expressive and copious dialect. The number of words in a language presupposes a correspondent number of ideas in the persons who speak it, and these among a rude people are, and, of necessity, must be very limited.

So copious is the Chilian language, that, in the opinion of those well acquainted with it, a complete dictionary thereof would require more than one large volume; for, besides the radical words, which are very numerous, so great is the use of compounds, that, it may almost be said, in this consists the very genius of the language. Each verb, either derivatively or conjunctively, becomes the root of numerous other verbs and nouns, as well adjectives as substantives, which in their turn reproduce others that are secondary, modifying themselves in a hundred different ways.

Nor is there any part of speech, from which an appropriate verb cannot be formed by the addition of a final n. Even from the most simple particles various verbs are derived, that give great precision and strength to conversation. But what is truly surprising in this language is that it contains no irregular verb or noun. Every thing in it may be said to be regulated with a geometrical precision, and displays much art with great simplicity, and a connection so well ordered and unvarying in its

grammatical rules, which always make the subsequent depend upon its antecedent, that the theory of the language is easy, and may be readily learned in a few days.

This close analogy and regularity, may at a slight view induce an opinion little favourable to the capacity of those who formed or polished this dialect, as the original languages, it is well known, were regular in their rude and primitive state. But a very different conclusion will be drawn by those who examine its structure, and attend to the extent and complexity of ideas necessary to have formed it, and to have modified the words in so many different ways, without embarrassing the particular rules..

The same language also abounds with harmonious and sonorous syllables, which give it much sweetness and variety; this is, however, injured by the frequent recurrence of the u, a defect from which the Latin is by no means exempt. In this respect the latter has, however, been fortunately corrected in its derivatives, particularly the Italian, which has studied to avoid, especially in the finals, the unpleasant sound resulting from the use of that vowel.

The Chilian differs from every other American language, not less in its words than in its construction, with the exception of from eighteen to twenty of Peruvian origin, which, considering the contiguity of the two countries, is not to be wondered at.

But what may appear much more singular is, that it contains words apparently of Greek and Latin

derivation, and of a similar signification in both languages;* I am inclined, however, to think this merely an accidental resemblance.

* If this is not, as our author supposes, merely a casual resemblance of a few words, which frequently occurs in languages radically different, it certainly affords much ground for curious sheculation; and we may, perhaps, be led to consider the tradition of a Phenician or Carthaginian colony in America, as not altogether so destitute of probability, especially, as the language of the Chilians, so different from that of any other of the American tribes, appears to indicate a different origin.........Amer. Trans.

CHAPTER II.

Conquest of the Peruvians in Chili.

THE history of the Chilians does not precede the middle of the fifteenth century of our era; before that period, for want of records, it is lost in the obscurity of time. The first accounts of them are contained in the Peruvian annals; that nation, as they were more civilized, being more careful to preserve the memory of remarkable events.

About that time the Peruvians had extended their dominion from the equator to the tropic of Capricorn. Chili, bordering upon that tropic, was too important an acquisition not to attract the ambitious views of those conquerors. This country, which extends for 1260, miles upon the Pacific Ocean, enjoys a delightful and salutary climate. The vast chain of the Cordilleras bordering it upon the east, supplies it with an abundance of rivers, which increase its natural fertility. The face of the country, which is mountainous towards the sea, and level near the Andes; is well suited to every kind of vegetable production, and abounds with mines of gold, silver, and other useful metals. Favoured by the pleasantness of the country and salubrity of the climate, the population at this period may be readily imagined to have been very nuThe inhabitants were divided into fifteen

merous.