Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial Period; Vol. 2 of 2

by Robert Grant Watson

1742.

Chili was ruled over for fifteen years with wisdom and humanity by Don Gabriel Cano; and his successor received instructions to gather the Spanish inhabitants into more compact societies. For this purpose he founded, in 1742, the cities of Copiapo, Aconcagua, Melipilla, Rancagua, St. Fernando, Curico, Talca, Tutuben, and Angeles, and was rewarded by the dignity of Viceroy of Peru. From 1753 date Santa Rosa, Guasco-alto, Casablanca, Bella-Isla, Florida, Coulemu, and Quirigua; whilst at the same time a settlement was formed on the island of Juan Fernandez, which till then had been the retreat of pirates.

1773.

Don Antonio Gonzaga, whilst governor of Chili, undertook to bring the Araucanians to live in cities, with the only result, however, of forcing that brave people to take up arms once more in defence of their liberties. An accommodation was at length arrived at, by which things reverted to their previous state, the Araucanians, in acknowledgment of their autonomy, being conceded the right of keeping a minister-resident in St. Iago. Thus has this brave people, although inconsiderable in point of numbers, succeeded in maintaining its independence, after having cost Spain a greater sacrifice of blood and treasure than sufficed for all her conquests in the New World.

1792.

The Spaniards in Chili now confined their views to consolidating their settlements in the region lying between the southern frontiers of Peru and the Bio-bio, a sufficiently extensive area, since it occupied the space between degrees 24 and 36½ of southern latitude. This territory was divided into thirteen provinces. The Captaincy-General of Chili likewise included the fortress of Valdivia, the archipelago of Chiloë, and the island of Juan Fernandez. The Captain-General[12] was responsible to the King alone, unless in case of war, when he had to act in subordination to the Viceroy of Peru. The provinces were respectively governed by prefects, who possessed jurisdiction over both civil and military affairs. In each provincial capital there existed a municipal magistracy called the Cabildo. The inhabitants were divided into regiments, which were obliged to march to the frontier or to the sea-coast in case of war. In the year 1792 there were in the royal service fifteen thousand eight hundred and fifty militia troops; and besides this regular force there were likewise city bands of militia; and in addition to both there was a sufficient force of imperial troops to provide for the defence of the country.

Chili was divided into the two dioceses of St. Iago and Conception, the bishops resident in these cities, respectively, being suffragans to the Archbishop of Lima. The Court of Inquisition of Lima had a commissioner at St. Iago. The first ecclesiastics in Chili were the monks of the Order of Mercy, who were soon followed by Dominicans and Franciscans, and later by Augustins and Hospitalers of St. John of God. The Jesuits who were introduced in 1593, with the nephew of their founder, were expelled in 1767. St. Iago and Conception were the only cities which, in the colonial period, contained convents of nuns. The churches were more remarkable for the wealth which they displayed than for their architecture.

The population of Chili presented the usual mixture of Europeans, Creoles, Natives, Negroes, and Mustees, or half-castes. The Creoles, or colonial Spaniards, displayed a laudable desire for education, to complete which they, in many instances, proceeded to Lima. The peasantry, though for the greater part of Spanish origin, wore the Araucanian costume. Their lot was a happy one. Possessed of perfect liberty, and dwelling in a delightful climate, they lived on the produce of a fertile soil, and were robust, healthy, and lively. The language of the country was Spanish, excepting on the frontiers, when Araucanian or Chilian was likewise spoken. Lima was the Paris of South America, and prescribed the fashions for Chili. It may be added that Chili alone, of all the American provinces, could boast of two of its citizens being exalted to the dignity of Grandee of Spain.

The Chilians had the reputation of being exceedingly hospitable to strangers, and of having been such good masters to their negro slaves that the greatest punishment which could be inflicted on these latter was to lose their protection; and it is stated that in many instances they refused to avail themselves of the liberty afforded to them. The masters exercised over them an authority similar to that of the Roman pater-familias over his familia. In correcting their faults the degree of punishment was left to the master, unless in cases of capital crime. The word slavery, so repugnant to our ears, may imply widely different conditions of existence. Domestic slavery amongst the Turks, for instance, may mean that the slaves are treated merely as children—that is to say, that although a certain restriction is placed upon their movements, they receive every kindness and care, whilst as Moslem they may appeal to the laws of the Koran, &c. Very different, however, was the lot of the field labourer in the transatlantic colonies or of the mines in Peru. By all accounts the lot of the Chilian slave was of the former character, and affords a pleasing contrast to that of the natives of Mexico in the hands of the conquerors.

This chapter may conclude with some notice of the native tribes which have been repeatedly alluded to as taking part in the war between the Spaniards and the Araucanians. The Pehuenches inhabit that part of the Chilian Andes lying between the 34th and 37th degrees of south latitude, to the east of the Spanish provinces of Calchagua, Maúle, Chillan, and Huilquilemu. The dress is very similar to that of the Araucanians, except that instead of breeches they wear round the waist a piece of cloth after the fashion of the Japanese. Their boots, or shoes, are all of one piece, and made from the skin of an ox. These mountaineers, although having occasionally shown themselves to be valiant soldiers, are nevertheless fond of decorating themselves like women. They wear ornaments of glass beads upon their arms and amongst their hair, and suspend around their heads little bells. Although possessing herds of cattle and sheep, they prefer, like the Tartars, horseflesh to any other, but, more delicate than that people, will only eat it when cooked. They dwell in tents made of skins, disposed in a circular form, leaving in the centre a spacious field in which the cattle graze during the continuance of the herbage. When that begins to fail they remove to another situation, and in this manner they traverse the valleys of the Cordilleras.