Chapter 10

To some degree the flora of central Chile is of a transition character between the northern and southern zones. It is much more than this, however, for it has a large number of genera and species peculiarly its own. A large majority of the 198 genera peculiar to the South American temperate regions belong exclusively to central Chile. This zone extends from about the 30th to the 36th parallel, perhaps a little farther south to include some characteristic types. The evergreens largely predominate here as well as in the extreme south, and on the open, sunburnt plains the vegetation takes on a subtropical aspect. One of the most characteristic trees of this zone is the _peumo_ (_Cryptocarya peumus_), whose dense evergreen foliage is everywhere conspicuous. The _quillay_ (_Quillaja saponaria_) is another characteristic evergreen tree of this region, whose bark possesses saponaceous properties. In earlier times the coquito palm (_Jubaea spectabilis_) was to be found throughout this part of Chile, but it has been almost completely destroyed for its saccharine sap, from which a treacle was made. One of the most striking forest trees is the _pehuen_ or Chilean pine (_Araucaria imbricata_), which often grows to a height of 100 ft. and is prized by the natives for its fruit. Three indigenous species of the beech--the _roble_ (_Fagus obliqua_), _coyhue_ (_F. Dombeyi_), and _rauli_ (_F. procera_)--are widely diffused and highly prized for their wood, especially the first, which is misleadingly called _roble_ (oak). Most of the woods used in construction and manufactures are found between the Bio-Bio river and the Taytao peninsula, among which are the _alerce_ (_Fitzroya patagonica_), _ciprés_ or Chiloé cypress (_Libocedrus tetragona_), the Chilean cypress (_L. Chilensis_), _lingue_ (_Persea lingue_), laurel (_Laurus aromatica_), _avellano_ (_Guevina avellana_), _luma_ (_Myrtus luma_), _espino_ (_Acacia cavenia_) and many others. Several exotic species have been introduced into this part of Chile, some of which have thriven even better than in their native habitats. Among these are the oak, elm, beech (_F. sylvatica_), walnut, chestnut, poplar, willow and eucalyptus. Through the central zone the plains are open and there are forests on the mountain slopes, but in the southern zone there are no plains, with the exception of small areas near the Straits of Magellan, and the forests are universal. In the variety, size and density of their growth these forests remind one of the tropics. They are made up, in great part, of the evergreen beech (_Fagus betuloides_), the deciduous antarctic beech (_F. antarctica_),[3] and Winter's bark (_Drimys Winteri_), intermingled with a dense undergrowth composed of a great variety of shrubs and plants, among which are _Maytenus magellanica, Arbutus rigida, Myrtus memmolaria_, two or three species of _Berberis_, wild currant (_Ribes antarctica_), a trailing blackberry, tree ferns, reed-like grasses and innumerable parasites. On the eastern side of the Cordillera, in the extreme south, the climate is drier and open, and grassy plains are found, but on the western side the dripping forests extend from an altitude of 1000 to 1500 ft. down to the level of the sea. A peculiar vegetable product of this inclement region is a small globular fungus growing on the bark of the beech, which is a staple article of food among the Fuegians--probably the only instance where a fungus is the bread of a people.

It is generally conceded that the potato originated in southern Chile, as it is found growing wild in Chiloé and neighbouring islands and on the adjacent mainland. The strawberry is also indigenous to these latitudes on both sides of the Andes, and Chile is credited with a species from which the cultivated strawberry derives some of its best qualities. Maize and quinoa (_Chenopodium quinoa_) were known in Chile before the arrival of Europeans, but it is not certain that they are indigenous. Species of the bean and pepper plant are also indigenous, and the former is said to have been cultivated by the natives. Among the many economic plants which have been introduced into Chile and have become important additions to her resources, the more prominent are wheat, barley, hemp and alfalfa (_Medicago sativa_), together with the staple European fruits, such as the apple, pear, peach, nectarine, grape, fig, olive and orange. The date-palm has also been introduced into the southern provinces of the desert region. Among the marine productions on the southern coast, a species of kelp, _Macrocystis pyrifera_, merits special mention because of its extraordinary length, its habit of clinging to the rocks in strong currents and turbulent seas, and its being a shelter for innumerable species of marine animals. Captain FitzRoy found it growing from a depth of 270 ft.

_Fauna._--The fauna of Chile is comparatively poor, both in species and individuals. A great part of the northern deserts is as barren of animal life as of vegetation, and the dense humid forests of the south shelter surprisingly few species. There are no large mammals in all this extensive region except the Cetacea and a species of the _Phocidae_ of southern waters. Neither are there any dangerous species of Carnivora, which are represented by the timid puma (_Felis concolor_), three species of wildcats, three of the fox, two of _Conepatus_, a weasel, sea-otter and six species of seal. The rodents are the most numerously represented order, which includes the _coypu_ or nutria (_Myopotamus coypus_), the chinchilla (_Chinchilla laniger_), the tuco-tuco (_Ctenomys brasiliensis_), a rabbit, and 12 species of mice--in all some 12 genera and 25 species. The coypu, sometimes called the South American beaver, inhabits the river-banks, and is highly prized for its fur. It is also found along the river-courses of Argentina. The ruminants are represented by a few species only--the guanaco (_Auchenia huanaco_), _vicuna_ (_A. vicugna_), _huemul_ (_Cervus chilensis_), which appears on the Chilean escutcheon, and the _pudu_ deer, a small and not very numerous species. There are two species of the Edentata, _Dasypus_ and _Pichiciego_, the latter very rare, and one of the opossums. European animals, such as horses, cattle, sheep, swine and goats, have been introduced into the country and do well. Sheep-raising has also been inaugurated with some degree of success in the vicinity of the Straits of Magellan. The avifauna, with the exception of waterfowl, is also limited to comparatively few species. Birds of prey are represented by the condor, vulture, two species of the carrion-hawk (_Polyborus_), and owl. The Chilean slopes of the Andes appear to be a favourite haunt of the condor, where neighbouring stock-raisers suffer severe losses at times from its attacks. The _Insessores_ are represented by a number of species. Parrots are found as far south as Tierra del Fuego, where Darwin saw them feeding on seeds of the Winter's bark. Humming-birds have a similar range on this coast, one species (_Mellisuga Kingii_) being quite numerous as far south as Tierra del Fuego. A characteristic genus is that of _Pteroptochus_, of which there are three or four species each characterized by some conspicuous peculiarity. These are _P. megapodius_, called _El Turco_ by the natives, which is noticeable for its ungainly appearance and awkward gait; the _P. albicollis_, which inhabits barren hillsides and is called _tapacollo_ from the manner of carrying its tail turned far forward over its back; the _P. rubecula_, of Chiloé, a small timid denizen of the gloomy forest, called the _cheucau_ or _chuca_, whose two or three notes are believed by the superstitious natives to be auguries of impending success or disaster; and an allied species (_Hylactes Tarnii_, King) called the _guid-guid_ or barking bird, whose cry is a close imitation of the yelp of a small dog. The southern coast and its inland waters are frequented by several species of petrel, among which are the _Procellaria gigantea_, whose strength and rapacity led the Spaniards to call it _quebranta huesos_ (breakbones), the _Puffinus cinereus_, which inhabits the inland channels in large flocks, and an allied species (_Puffinuria Berardii_) which inhabits the inland sounds and resembles the auk in some particulars of habit and appearance. There are numerous species in these sheltered channels, inlets and sounds of geese, ducks, swans, cormorants, ibises, bitterns, red-beaks, curlew, snipe, plover and moorhens. Conspicuous among these are the great white swan (_Cygnus anatoides_), the black-necked swan (_Anser nigricollis_), the antarctic goose (_Anas antarctica_) and the "race-horse" or "steamer duck" (_Micropterus brachypterus_).

The marine fauna is less known than the others, but it is rich in species and highly interesting in its varied forms and characteristics. The northern coast has no sheltered waters of any considerable extent, and the shore slopes abruptly to a great depth, which gives it a marine life of no special importance. In the shoal waters about Juan Fernandez are found a species of codfish (possibly _Gadus macrocephalus_), differing in some particulars from the Newfoundland cod, and a large crayfish, both of which are caught for the Valparaiso market. The sheltered waters of the broken southern coast, however, are rich in fish and molluscs, especially in mussels, limpets and barnacles, which are the principal food resource of the nomadic Indian tribes of those regions. A large species of barnacle, _Balanus psittacus_, is found in great abundance from Concepción to Puerto Montt, and is not only eaten by the natives, by whom it is called _pico_, but is also esteemed a great delicacy in the markets of Valparaiso and Santiago. Oysters of excellent flavour are found in the sheltered waters of Chiloé. The Cetacea, which frequent these southern waters, are represented by four species--two dolphins and the sperm and right whale--and the _Phocidae_ by six species, one of which (_Phoca lupina_) differs but little from the common seal. Another species (_Macrorhinus leoninus_), popularly known as the sea-elephant, is provided with short tusks and a short trunk and sometimes grows to a length of 20 ft. Still another species, the sea-lion (_Otaria jubata_), furnishes the natives of Tierra del Fuego with an acceptable article of food, but like the _Phoca lupina_ it is becoming scarce.

Of Reptilia Chile is singularly free, there being recorded only eleven species--five saurians, four ophidians, one frog and one toad--but a more thorough survey of the uninhabited territories of the south may increase this list. There are no alligators in the streams, and the tropical north has very few lizards. There are no poisonous snakes in the country, and, in a region so filled with lakes and rivers as the rainy south, only two species of batrachians. The insect life of these strangely associated regions is likewise greatly restricted by adverse climatic conditions, a considerable part of the northern desert being absolutely barren of animal and vegetable life, while the climate of Tierra del Fuego and the southern coast is highly unfavourable to terrestrial animal life, for which reason comparatively few species are to be found. Writing of a journey inland from Iquique, Charles Darwin says (_Journal of Researches, &c._, p. 444): "Excepting the _Vultur aura_, ... I saw neither bird, quadruped, reptile, nor insect." Of his entomological collection in Tierra del Fuego, which was not large, the majority were of Alpine species. Moreover, he did not find a single species common to that island and Patagonia. These conditions subsist with but few modifications, if any, from the Straits northward to the 42nd parallel, the extreme humidity, abnormal rainfall and dark skies being unfavourable to the development of insect life, while the Andes interpose an impassable barrier to migration from the countries of the eastern coast. The only venomous species to be found in central Chile is that of a spider which frequents the wheat fields in harvest time.

_Population._--The population of Chile is largely concentrated in the twelve agricultural provinces between and including Coquimbo and Concepción, though the next six provinces to the south, of more recent general settlement, have received some foreign immigrants, and are rapidly growing. In the desert provinces the population is limited to the mining communities, and to the ports and supply stations maintained for their support and for the transport, smelting and export of their produce. The province of Atacama has, in addition to its mining population, a considerable number of agriculturists located in a few irrigated river valleys, which class is largely increased in the adjoining province of Coquimbo. The more northern provinces, however, maintain their populations without the support of such small cultivated areas. In the southern territories unfavourable conditions of a widely different character prevail, and the population is restricted to a few small settlements and some nomadic tribes of Indians. Here, however, there are localities where settlements could be maintained by ordinary means and the population could be greatly increased. Since the census of 1895 the population of Punta Arenas has been largely increased by the discovery of gold in the vicinity. The twelve provinces first mentioned, which include the celebrated "Vale of Chile," comprise only 17% of the area of the republic, but the census of 1895 showed that 72% of the total population was concentrated within their borders. The four desert provinces north of Coquimbo had only 8% of the total, and the seven provinces and one territory south of Concepción had 20%. According to the census of 1895 the total population was 2,712,145, to which the census officials added 10% to cover omissions. This shows an increase slightly over 7% for the preceding decennial period, the population having been returned as 2,527,320 in 1885. The census returns of 1875 and 1866 gave respectively 2,068,447 and 2,084,943, showing an actual decrease in population. During these years Chile held the anomalous position of a country spending large sums annually to secure immigrants while at the same time her own labouring classes were emigrating by thousands to the neighbouring republics to improve their condition. Writing in 1879, a correspondent of _The Times_[4] stated that this emigration then averaged 8000 a year, and in bad times had reached as many as 30,000 in one year. The condition of the Chilean labourer has been much improved since then, however, and Chile no longer suffers so serious a loss of population. In 1895, the foreigners included in the Chilean population numbered 72,812, of which 42,105 were European, 29,687 American, and 1020 Asiatic, &c. According to nationality there were 8269 Spanish, 7809 French, 7587 Italian, 7049 German, 6241 British, 1570 Swiss, 1490 Austro-Hungarian, 13,695 Peruvian, 7531 Argentine, 6654 Bolivian, 701 American (U.S.), 797 Chinese. According to residence, 1,471,792 were inhabitants of rural districts, and 1,240,353 of towns. The registration of births, marriages and deaths is compulsory since the 1st of January 1885, but the provisions of the law are frequently eluded. Notwithstanding the healthiness of the climate, the death-rate is high, especially in the large cities. In Santiago and Valparaiso the death-rate sometimes rises to 42 and 60 per 1000, and infant mortality is very high, being 73% of the births in some of the provincial towns. This unfavourable state of affairs is due to the poverty, ignorance and insanitary habits of the lower classes. The government has made repeated efforts to secure immigrants from Europe, but the lands set apart for immigrant settlers are in the forested provinces south of the Bio-Bio, where the labour and hardships involved in establishing a home are great, and the protection of the law against bandits and criminal assaults is weak. The Germans have indeed settled in many parts of these southern provinces since 1845, and by keeping together have succeeded in building up several important towns and a large number of prosperous agricultural communities. One German authority (Hüber) estimates the number of Germans in two of these provinces at 5000. The arrivals, however, have been on the whole discouragingly small, the total for the years 1901-1905 being only 14,000.

Although Chileans claim a comparatively small admixture with the native races, it is estimated that the whites and creoles of white extraction do not exceed 30 to 40% of the population, while the _mestizos_ form fully 60%. This estimate is unquestionably conservative, for there has been no large influx of European blood to counterbalance the race mixtures of earlier times. The estimated number of Indians living within the boundaries of Chile is about 50,000, which presumably includes the nomadic tribes of the Fuegian archipelago, whose number probably does not reach 5000. The semi-independent Araucanians, whose territory is slowly being occupied by the whites, are concentrated in the eastern forests of Bio-Bio, Malleco and Cautin, all that remains to them of the Araucania which they so bravely and successfully defended for more than three centuries. Their number does not much exceed 40,000, which is being steadily reduced by drunkenness and epidemic diseases. A small part of these Indians live in settled communities and include some very successful stock-raisers, but the greater part live apart from civilization. There are also some remnants of tribes in the province of Chiloé, which inhabit the island of that name, the Chonos and Guaytecas archipelagoes and the adjacent mainland, who have the reputation of being good boatmen and fishermen; and there are remnants of a people called Changos, on the desert coast, and traces of Calchaqui blood in the neighbouring Andean foothills.

There is a wide difference in every respect between the upper or ruling class and the common people. The former includes the landed proprietors, professional men and a part of those engaged in commercial and industrial pursuits. These educated classes form only a small minority of the population. Many of them, especially the landed proprietors, are descendants of the original Spanish settlers and are celebrated for their politeness and hospitality. The political control of the republic was secured to them by the constitution of 1833. The common people were kept in ignorance and practically in a state of hopeless servitude. They were allowed to occupy small leaseholds on the large estates on condition of performing a certain amount of work for the landlord. Every avenue toward the betterment of their condition was practically closed. The condition of the itinerant labourers (_peons_) was still worse, the wages paid them being hardly sufficient to keep them from starvation. The Chilean _peon_, however, comes from a hardy stock, and has borne all these hardships with a fortitude and patience which go far to counterbalance his faults. Recent reforms in education, &c., together with the growth of manufacturing industries, are slowly leading to improvements in the material condition of the common people.

The political organization of the country has not been favourable to the development of artistic or scientific tastes, though Chile has produced political leaders, statesmen and polemical writers in abundance. Historical literature has been enriched by the works of Diego Barros Arana, Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna, Miguel Luis Amunátegui, Carlos Walker Martinez, and others. One of the earliest native histories of Chile was that of Abbé J. Ignacio Molina, an English translation of which has long been a recognized authority; it is full of errors, however, and should be studied only in connexion with modern standard works. Among these must be included Claude Gay's monumental work, _Historia General de Chile_, and Sir C.R. Markham's admirable studies on special parts of the subject. In science, nearly all the important work has been done by foreigners, among whom are Charles Darwin, Claude Gay, Eduard Pöppig, Rudolph A. Philippi and Hans Steffen, who deserves special mention for his excellent geographical work in the southern Andes.

_Divisions and Towns._--Chile contains 23 provinces and one territory, which are subdivided into 75 departments, 855 subdelegations and 3068 districts. The territory north of the Bio-Bio was originally divided into 13 provinces, besides which the Spaniards held Chiloé, Juan Fernandez and Valdivia, the latter being merely a military outpost. During the years which have elapsed since the War of Independence the territory south of the Bio-Bio has been effectively occupied and divided into six provinces, Chiloé and the neighbouring islands and mainland to the east became a province, and four provinces in the northern deserts were acquired from Bolivia and Peru. In addition to this, Chile claimed Patagonia and the adjacent islands, and has finally secured not only the forested strip of territory west of the Andes, but also a large piece of the Patagonian mainland, south of lat. 52° S., the larger part of Tierra del Fuego, and all the western islands. This extensive region, comprising an area of 71,127 sq. m., has been provisionally organized as the territory of Magallanes. For a list of provinces, their areas, reduced from official returns, their populations, and the names and populations of their capitals, see the bottom of this page.