Preface

Those who have arrived at its shores at different times have not failed to speak of that Kingdom; but their reports are too brief for one to form a just idea of Chile from them. Father Louis Feuillé Louis Feuillé (1660–1732) was a French Minim friar, explorer, and botanist who traveled to western South America., a member of the Minim Order and a most learned Frenchman, described with extraordinary accuracy the principal plants that grow there, and some of the animals that propagate there. He did this with descriptions so certain and so consistent with the objects they encompass, that I have not found the slightest oversight in everything that great man wrote. However, his history—printed at the King's expense with a grand display of very fine plates—has not been reprinted, and is hardly known to more than a few people.

Nor have the natives The author likely refers to "Criollos," people of Spanish descent born in Chile, rather than indigenous peoples. neglected to illustrate their country with their own writings. There are many accounts formed with this aim, both in the last century and in the present one; but for reasons that we shall mention in their proper place,