The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1866-01-17
The Renubiic Of Chile.

Chill, or Chile, as it is indiferently written,
the most populous and important Of theSouth
American Republics, is strip CT land be-
tween the Andes and the Pacific; in length of
coast line about two thousand two hundred
and seventy miles, andih breadth averaging
from two hundred miles to twenty. The har-
bcrs along her extensive coast are neither nu-
merous nor good. The best of them is Tai
cabuano in Talcahuano. Valparaiso, though
the busiest port Of the country, lies open to
winds from the northward, and accidents to
the shipping in the harbor are frequent. Be-
sides Chill proper, the Chilean Government
exercises Jurisdiction over large number of
outlying islands The population, according
to census, taken, probably, with the loose
ness of Depew, in 1851, was ], ,55s,453.
The population is very Heterogeneous. 1t
one.thlrd of the Chillians are Of pure spanish
blood, the remainder being made up Of do
mesticated Indians and the fruit of their in
tercourse with the dominant race.
The industry of the country takes mostly an
agricultural, at least a bucolic turn. The labor
is done by subjugated Indians, who are re-
duced to q sort of peonage and the territory
is chiefly in the hands of great proprietors.
The farms of ten comprise thousands of acres,
and the elevated plains afford pasturage for
immense herds of cattle, which are bred and
SLAUGHTERED for the horns and hides. The
tilage is very rude, and but for the singular
fertility of the soil, would be almost without
profit. But the washings from the mountains
which are spread by the freshets over the
lowlands, and further diffused by Bsten of
irrigation which, like thatof thS egyptians,
is more advanced than the other processes of
the country, makes the soil Sc rich that the
surface scratching which is given to it is re.
warded by a yield of from thirty 10 sixty fold.
The mineral wealth Of Chile is very great.
Gold is found in the CordilIeras, near the
coast, and is mined for after fashion ); but
the region which contains it is soinaccessiole,
and so exposed to the incursions of predatory
Indians, of whom bands infest the whole in
terror country, that the amount obtained
yearly is reckoned at less than half a million
of dollars Silver is worked more successful
ly. =,
In 1858, the last year Of which we have
exact information of their condition, there
were exported of the product Of the mines
over four millions of dollars. But copper is
the most important of the minerals of Chile,
the export in 1858 amounting to $4O,7OO,OO0
considerably more than half the value Of the
entire exports Of the year. '.-,|. .....
The commerce. of the country, against
which the existing blockade is directed, is
not. it would seem, of such extent that its
destruction would seriously cripple Chile. In
1858 the merchant feet. numbered 269 YES
sells ofan sorts. --- -
The Government of Chile is, in name, Sc.
public; but, as always happens when freedom
is thrust upon race not fit to relieveit, it is
g dictatorship. But the forms of freedom are
sedulously preserved-a cabinet of four min
isters-of home and foreign affairs, Of finance,
of war and marine, and of religion and educa-
ton is ordained, to assist the President, in his
exalted functions, and their integrity is sassured
by a constitutional provision that they shall
not depart the realm within six months after
the exp pration of their official term. ~--