IV

This country is, so to speak, the Ita-
ly, or rather the garden of South
America, where everything one could de-
sire to enjoy a comfortable life shines with the
same perfection and abundance as in
Europe; for since the most
considerable portion is situated under the same degrees of
latitude, it enjoys the same climates; and
extending, in the same manner as Italy, much
further in length than in width, it has the
necessary proportions to receive and ma-
ture every kind of desirable product. The Andes, known by the other
name of the Cordillera Spanish for "mountain range," specifically referring here to the massive chain of the Andes., which surround it
to the east, serve the purpose of the
Alps and the Apennines, direct-
ing, just as they do, a great num-
ber of rivers to brighten and fer-
tilize its fields; and just as the pros-
perity of Italy is derived without doubt from
the two aforementioned chains of mountains, that
of the Kingdom of Chile During the colonial period, Chile was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire known as the Captaincy General or Kingdom of Chile. depends entire-
ly on its mountain ranges; being so inti-
mately persuaded of this truth