The climate is mild, and the inhabitants cultivate grain of all kinds, vines and fruits, and feed immense herds of cattle. Gold and copper-mines are extremely numerous, and the natives manufacture rope, cords and thread; and these with soap and copper, constitute their principal articles for trade; the number of inhabitants is said to be about 14,000.
The rivers of Quillota are the Limache, the Aconcagua, the Longotoma, the Chuapa, and the Ligua. Its harbours are El Papudo, Quintero, La Herradura, Concon, La Ligua and Valparaiso.
This district contains the city of Quillota, and the towns of Valparaiso, Plaza, Plazilla, Ingenio, Casa-Blanca, and Petorca.
The capital, Quillota, or St. Martin de la Concha, is situated in 32° 50' south latitude, and 71° 18' west longitude, in a fine valley on the banks of the river Aconcagua. It has a parish church, three conventual churches and a college formerly belonging to the Jesuits, but is not a place of much note; the towns of Valparaiso and Petorca drawing away most of the settlers.
Valparaiso is situated in 33° south latitude, and 71° 38' west longitude, 225 miles north of Concepcion, and sixty north-west of Santiago; and was formerly a very small village, with a few warehouses, which the merchants of the metropolis erected for their goods, in order to ship them for Callao. Its only residents were the servants who had charge of the merchandize, but in process of time, the excellence of the harbour drew many foreign vessels to it, and the merchants built themselves houses, since which it has gradually increased, and is now large and populous. Its situation is inconvenient for the purposes of building, as it stands at the foot of a mountain, so near to its cliffs, that many houses are erected in the breaches and on the acclivities.
Valparaiso has a parish church, a convent of Franciscans, and one of Augustins, but very few monks, and the churches of the convents are small and badly built. It is inhabited chiefly by whites, mestizoes and mulattoes who are engaged in the trade carried on with Peru and Europe; and the governor of this city is nominated by the king, being dependent only on the captain-general of Chili.
The ships from Peru all touch here, and take in wheat, tallow, Cordovan leather, cordage and dried fruits: many of these vessels making three trips to Lima during the summer, which lasts from November until June. Valparaiso is well supplied with provisions from Santiago and Quillota, and there is such abundance of game in its vicinity, that the markets are always well stocked with it; the partridges are so numerous in March, and three or four months after, that the muleteers knock them down with sticks without going out of the road. This circumstance is by no means singular, as it is observed, throughout America, that the birds of this species are remarkably stupid, and suffer themselves to be easily taken. The rivers of the country around Valparaiso, as well as the coasts, are very indifferently stocked with fish, which is not so plentiful in the northern as in the southern districts of Chili.
The harbour is every where free from rocks and shoals, except to the north-east, where there is a rock within a cable's length of the shore, and this is dangerous, as it never appears above water.
When the north winds set in, which usually happens towards the end of summer, they blow directly into the bay, and causing a very high sea, render it necessary for vessels to have good hold with their anchors towards the north-north-east, as they are, otherwise, liable to be driven on shore. Three miles from this port is a pleasantly situated and flourishing little town named Almendral.
The last town of importance in Quillota is Petorca, between the rivers Longotoma and Qualimari, in 31° 45' south latitude and 76° 50' west longitude, which is very populous, on account of the number of miners who resort to work in the mines of its neighbourhood; but it is said, that of late the gold has been found to be so much alloyed with silver and other metals, that the works are not in so flourishing a condition as they were, though it has been one of the most productive undertakings in the kingdom. In the country around this town, which is near the Andes, the sides of the mountains produce palm trees of very large size, and the small cocoa not is found amongst them. The merino sheep bred here, yield a wool from which excellent saddles, much esteemed in Peru, are made; and which form an extensive branch of Chilian commerce.