The Spaniards in _Chili_ now confined their views to consolidating their settlements in the region lying between the southern frontiers of _Peru_ and the _Bio-bio_, a sufficiently extensive area, since it occupied the space between degrees 24 and 36½ of southern latitude. This territory was divided into thirteen provinces. The Captaincy-General of _Chili_ likewise included the fortress of _Valdivia_, the archipelago of _Chiloë_, and the island of _Juan Fernandez_. The Captain-General[12] was responsible to the King alone, unless in case of war, when he had to act in subordination to the Viceroy of _Peru_. The provinces were respectively governed by prefects, who possessed jurisdiction over both civil and military affairs. In each provincial capital there existed a municipal magistracy called the _Cabildo_. The inhabitants were divided into regiments, which were obliged to march to the frontier or to the sea-coast in case of war. In the year 1792 there were in the royal service fifteen thousand eight hundred and fifty militia troops; and besides this regular force there were likewise city bands of militia; and in addition to both there was a sufficient force of imperial troops to provide for the defence of the country. _Chili_ was divided into the two dioceses of _St. Iago_ and _Conception_, the bishops resident in these cities, respectively, being suffragans to the Archbishop of _Lima_. The Court of Inquisition of _Lima_ had a commissioner at _St. Iago_. The first ecclesiastics in _Chili_ were the monks of the Order of Mercy, who were soon followed by Dominicans and Franciscans, and later by Augustins and Hospitalers of St. John of God. The Jesuits who were introduced in 1593, with the nephew of their founder, were expelled in 1767. _St. Iago_ and _Conception_ were the only cities which, in the colonial period, contained convents of nuns. The churches were more remarkable for the wealth which they displayed than for their architecture. The population of _Chili_ presented the usual mixture of Europeans, _Creoles_, Natives, Negroes, and _Mustees_, or half-castes. The _Creoles_, or colonial Spaniards, displayed a laudable desire for education, to complete which they, in many instances, proceeded to _Lima_. The peasantry, though for the greater part of Spanish origin, wore the Araucanian costume. Their lot was a happy one. Possessed of perfect liberty, and dwelling in a delightful climate, they lived on the produce of a fertile soil, and were robust, healthy, and lively. The language of the country was Spanish, excepting on the frontiers, when Araucanian or Chilian was likewise spoken. _Lima_ was the Paris of South America, and prescribed the fashions for _Chili_. It may be added that _Chili_ alone, of all the American provinces, could boast of two of its citizens being exalted to the dignity of _Grandee_ of Spain.