+-------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber's note: | | | |Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+ [Illustration: VIEW OF CALLAO, AND DISTANT VIEW OF LIMA. _Engraved for Stevenson's Narrative of South America._] A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVE OF TWENTY YEARS' RESIDENCE IN SOUTH AMERICA, _IN THREE VOLUMES_; CONTAINING TRAVELS IN ARAUCO, CHILE, PERU, AND COLOMBIA; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE REVOLUTION, ITS RISE, PROGRESS, AND RESULTS. BY W. B. STEVENSON, FORMERLY PRIVATE SECRETARY TO THE PRESIDENT AND CAPTAIN GENERAL OF QUITO, COLONEL, AND GOVERNOR OF ESMERALDAS, CAPTAIN DE FRAGATA, AND LATE SECRETARY TO THE VICE ADMIRAL OF CHILE,--HIS EXCELLENCY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD COCHRANE, &c. VOL. I. LONDON: HURST, ROBINSON, AND CO. CONSTABLE & Co. AND OLIVER & BOYD, EDINBURGH. MDCCCXXV. TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE RIGHT HON. THOMAS LORD COCHRANE, Marquis of Maranham, AS A TESTIMONY OF RESPECT FOR THE IMPORTANT SERVICES RENDERED TO SOUTH AMERICAN EMANCIPATION, AND TO THE COMMERCIAL INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN, THIS WORK IS (BY PERMISSION) HUMBLY DEDICATED. PREFACE. The interest which the late successful revolution in Spanish America has awakened in Europe renders any genuine account of the new world so highly acceptable to the British nation, that it has become an almost imperative duty in those who may possess original matter to communicate it to the public; for it may be said, without the least exaggeration, that although the countries thus emancipated were discovered in the sixteenth century, they have remained almost unknown till the beginning of the nineteenth. Fully convinced of these facts, and being urged by my friends, when I was on the eve of again crossing the Atlantic, to publish my collection of notes and memoranda--the gleanings of a twenty years' residence--in order to contribute my quota to the small stock of authentic matter already laid before an anxious public, I have been induced to postpone my voyage, and to embody my observations in the manner in which they now appear. It is undoubtedly of great importance to become acquainted with the features of a country which has undergone any remarkable change in its political, religious, or literary career, before that change took place; and it is equally important to know the cause of and the means by which the change was effected. I have therefore given a succinct history of the state of the colonies before their fortunate struggle began to germinate, by describing their political and ecclesiastical institutions; the character, genius, and education of the different classes of inhabitants; their peculiar customs and habits; their historical remains and antiquities; and lastly, the produce and manufactures of the country.