AUTHOR’S PREFACE.

Europe currently turns its full attention toward America, desiring to know with scholarly curiosity the diversity of its climates, the structure of its mountains, the nature of its fossils In this 18th-century context, "fossils" refers to any mineral or substance dug out of the earth, not just organic remains., the form of its vegetables and its animals, the languages of its inhabitants; and in short, everything that can engage its attention in those various regions. Among these—by the testimony of the authors who write of that part of our globe—the Kingdom of Chile is one of the most considerable, not so much for its extension, as for having emerged from the hands of nature endowed with partiality and with particular care; and because, sustained and favored by the delights of the climate, nature has scattered there with prodigality her best gifts, exempt for the most part from those inconveniences that usually accompany them in other places.