20,000 marcs, a marc being eight piastres or dollars. The gold mines are neglected, as much by reason of the great profit derived from the copper mines as because of the difficulty and cost of exploiting the mines of the precious metal.
The climate of Chile seems to be delicious, especially in the central portion - a region which the fertility of its soil renders one of the most agreeable residence places in America. In the northern part sugar-cane, yams, wheat, and corn are raised successfully, and legumes and fruit-bearing plants
and trees come to perfection. Never have I eaten anywhere
better bananas and melons. Peaches, oranges, lemons, apples, quinces, strawberries, and an infinity of other fruits
grow here in the greatest abundance. I have seen thickets of grapevines, which, though they were untended, produced
excellent grapes. There are ninety-five varieties of forest trees known, of which only thirteen lose their leaves in winter. Chile abounds in horses, sheep, and pigs of excellent
kinds. The rivers are well stocked with fish: the Andes form a nursery for birds of prey, and in general the different species of birds are innumerable in Chile.
Spring begins here about the 21st Of September, summer in December, autumn in March and winter in June. In the northern part, between twenty-four and thirty-six degrees of latitude, during spring and until the middle of summer, hardly a drop of rain falls: the sky is always clear: but from about the middle of April to the end of August the rains are
abundant. In the southern provinces it often rains for nine
or ten days at a stretch. Thunder is seldom heard, except in the neighborhood of the Andes. There are very heavy
dews in spring, summer and fall. No venomous reptiles are met with in all Chile, nor any wild beasts dangerous to man.