VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA, PERFORMED BY ORDER OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, IN THE YEARS 1817 AND 1818, IN THE Frigate Congress. BY H. M. BRACKENRIDGE, ESQ. SECRETARY TO THE MISSION. 1 "The glimmerings which reach us from South America, enable us only to see IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II Baltimore: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. JOHN D. TOY, PRINTER. 1819. DISTRICT OF MARYLAND, 88. BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the fifteenth day of October, in the forty-fourth year of the Independence of the United States of America, H. M. Brackenridge, of the said District, hath deposited in this office, the Title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as Proprieords and figures following, to wit: SEAL. tor, in the "A Voyage to South America, performed by order of the American government, in the years 1817 and 1818, in the frigate Congress. By H. M. Brackenridge, Esq. secretary to the mission. "The glimmerings which reach us from South America, enable us only to see that its inhabitants are held under the accumulated pressure of slavery, superstition, and ignorance. Whenever they shall be able to rise under this weight, and to show themselves to the rest of the world, they will probably show that they are like the rest of the world."-JEFFERSON'S NOTES ON VIRGINIA. In conformity to an Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned," and also to the Act, entitled, "An Act supplementary to the Act, entitled, 'An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of Designing, Engraving, and Etching historical and other prints." PHILIP MOORE, TO VINU VOLUME II. The commissioners visited by the principal inhabitants- Manifesto directed to all nations, by the general constituent Congress of the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata, Exposition of the proceedings of the supreme government 242143 UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA. A VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA. CHAPTER 1. THE COMMISSIONERS VISITED BY THE PRINCIPAL INHABITANTS— CELEBRATION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF CHILI-THE BULL FIGHTS AND THEATRE, AFTER an ineffectual search of several days for a furnished house, where the mission might be accommodated, our consul, Mr. Halsey, had politely made an offer of his, which was large and commodious. It was accepted, though not without reluctance, from an unwillingness to put him to inconvenience. Several houses had been previously examined, but were not found suited to our purpose, not to speak of the extravagant demands of the owners. Some of the gentlemen who had taken lodgings, were glad to change their situations, in order to avoid being teazed to death by a certain race, not to be named in good housewifery. The brick floors of the chambers are supposed to favor the multiplication of these tormentors. For my part, I had been fortunate enough to procure |