LatAm Digital Edition and Gazetteer

COP

COP

515

of a hot and moist temperature, and inhabited by 107 families of Indians ; being 15 leagues n.e. of its capital.

Copan, a river of the province and government of Cumaná. It rises in the serrama of Imataca, runs s. and enters the Cuyuni on the side.

COPANDARO, Santiago de, a settlement of the head settlement of Tuzantla, and alcaldia mayor of Maravatio, in Nueva Espaha. It contains 34 families of Indians, and is 10 leagues to the s. of its head settlement. In it is a convent of the religious order of St. Augustin, Avhicli is one of the best convents in the kingdom.

COPENAME, a river of the province and government of Guayana, in the Dutch possessions or colony of Surinam. It runs n. and unites itself with the Sarameca at its mouth, to form another mouth, and enter into the sea.

COPER, a small settlement of the Nuevo Reyno de Granada, in the road which leads from Santa Fe to Muzo ; situate upon an height, near the mountain Apari, where, upon the descent which is called Cuesta de Macanazos, and at its skirt, runs the river Villaraisar. Near it has been found a mine of earth, esteemed an excellent antidote against poisons.

COPERE, a settlement of the province and jurisdiction of Muzo, in the corregimiento of Tunja, of the N uevo Reyno de Granada. It is of a benign temperature, produces maize, cotton, yucas^ plantains, and the other fruits of its climate. In the territory of this curacy rises the river called Villamisar, memorable for the battle fought there by the Indians and Captain Luis Lanchero, in which the former were routed. It contains 150 housekeepers, and 30 Indians.

COPIA, one of the ancient provinces which were formed by that of Popayan in the time of the Indians ; and bounded by the province of Cartama. At present its limits are not known, since the Spaniards have changed both the divisions and names.

COPIAPO, a province and corregimienlo of the kingdom of Chile ; bounded n. by the province of Atacama, of the archbishopric of Charcas, and kingdom of Peru ; e. by the territory of the city of Rioja, of the province of Tucuman, the cordillera running between ; s. by the province of Coquitnbo, and w, by the Pacific ocean. Its extent is 60 leagues n. s. and from 20 to three e. w. It very seldom rains here ; cattle is therefore scarce, although it nevertheless produces every sort of grain, of excellent quality, and fruits of various kinds. The temperature is very benign throughout the year.

it has many mines of copper, most pure and rich sulphur, loadstone, lapis lazuli, and gold ; some of wliicJi are worked ; and it is not many years ago that some silver mines also were discovered. It produces a kind of small frees, which are planted and cultivated upon the banks of the streams and aqueducts, called jonM/o hobo, and which distil a liquor, which, being prepared over the fire, serves instead of pitch for lining the vessels in which the wine in that kingdom is kept. The conger eel abounds upon the coast, and there is a particular tribe of Indians, called Changes, who are devoted to this kind of fishery, living the whole year upon the coasts, and carrying about their wives and children upon rafts, until they find out a creek likely to afford them what they are in search of: these fish are then bought by the natives, and carried to be sold at the capital of the kingdom, Santiago. Here is also a trade of sulphur, since it is so fine that it needs never to be purified, and is consequently worth three dollars the canlaro [a cantaro is about four gallons]. It abounds no less in nitre, on which account all the waters here are brackish, and there is little indeed that is sweet. This province is very thinly peopled, since it has no other population than such as is found in the capital, which is called, San Francisco de la Selva. Its inhabitants, which should amount to 5000, of all sexes and ages, are dispersed about in country farms. (The province of Copiapo owes its name, according to the Indian tradition, to the great quantity of turquoises found in its mountains. Though these stones ought, with propriety, to be classed amongst the concretions, as they arc only the petrified teeth or bones of animals, coloured by metallic vapours, we may place them amongst the precious stones. The turquoises of Copiapo are usually of a greenish blue ; some, however, are found of a deep blue, which are very hard, and known by the name of the turquoises of the old rock. The amazing fertility of the soil of this province has given rise to assertions, which, on the first blush, might appear fabulous. Mr. Sanson, of Abbeville, in his Geography, asserts that its valleys frequently yield 300 for one. See Chile.)

Copiapo, a port of the above province and corregimiento.

Copiapo, a settlement of the same.

Copiapo, a mountain, in which there is a volcano, which at different times has occasioned much mischief, and is in lat. 26°. (This mountain consists entirely of a marble, striped with bands of various colours, which have a very beau3 u 2

516

C O Q C O Q

tifni appearance. A mountain similar to this is found in the marshes of Maule.]

Copiapo, a river Avhich rises in the cordillera. It runs two leagues to the w. passes near the settlement of its name, and empties itself into the S. sea, serving as a port for vessels.

Morro de Copiapo, a mountain, called Morro de Copiapo, in the coast, at the side of the port of its name.

COPILA, a small settlement or ward of the alcaldia mayor of Guachinango in Nueva Espana ; annexed to the curacy of Naupan.

COPORAQUE, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Canes and Canches or Tinta in Peru.

COPORAQUE, another, in the province and corregimiento of Collahuas of the same kingdom.

COPORAQUE, another. See Vilcomayo.

(COPPER Mine, a large river of New Britain, reckoned to be the most n. in N. America. Taking a n. course, it falls into the sea in lat, 19P n. and about long. 119° a;, from Greenwich. The accounts brought by the Indians of this river to the Rritish ports in Hudson bay, and the specimens of copper produced by them, induced Mr. Hearne to set out from fort Prince of Wales, in December 1770, on a journey of discovery. He reached the river on the 14th July, at 40 miles distance from the sea, and found it all the way encumbered with shoals and falls, and emptying itself into it over a dry flat of the shore, the tide being then out, which seemed by the edges of the ice to rise about 12 or 14 feet. This rise, on account of the falls, will carry it but a very small way within the river’s mouth ; so that the water in it has not the least brackish taste, Mr. Hearne had the most extensive view of the sea, which bore n. w. by w. and n. e. when he was about eight miles up the river. The sea at the river’s mouth was full of islands and shoals ; but the ice was only thawed away about three-fourths of a mile from the shore, on the 17th of July. The Esquimaux had a quantity of whale-bone and seal-skins at their tents on the shore.)

COPTA, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Aricá in Peru.

COPTOS, silver mines of the province and corregimiento of Guamachuco in Peru ; they are most abundant, and have yielded immense wealth.

COPUENO, a settlement of the province and government of Quixos and Macas in the kingdom of Quito.

COQUEROSO, a settlement of the province and captainship of Sergipe in Brazil ; situate on the shore of the river Cirti.

COQUE-UIELLE, a shoal of the n. coast of the island of St. Domingo, in the French possessions, between the point Roche-a-Picoler and the river Grande.

COQUIBACOA, Cabo de, a point of land which runs into the sea, on the coast of the province and government of Venezuela, distinct from that of Chichibacoa. ‘

COQUIMBO, a province and corregimiento of the kingdom of Chile ; bounded e. by the province of Tucuman, of the kingdom of Peru, tho cordillera running between ; s. by the province of Quillota; and w. by the Pacific ocean. It is 80 leagues in length s. and 40 in width e, w. Its temperature is very benign ; and on account of its not raining much in the sierra,, through the low situation of this part of the province, the snow and frost is not so common here, nor does it stay upon the ground so long as it does upon the parts which lie s. of Santiago. For the same reason the rivers are few, and th# largest of them are those of Los Santos or Limari, and that which passes through its capital. Many huanmos and vicunas breed here. The territory is for the most part broken and uneven, and produces, although not in abundance, the same fruits as in the whole kingdom, such as grain, wine, and oil of excel* lent quality. It has many gold mines, likewise some of silver, copper, lead, sulphur, white lime, and salt ; but the most abundant of all are those of copper; large quantities of this metal having been sent to Spain for founding artillery, and indeed from the same source has been made all the artillery in this kingdom. This metal is found of two sorts, one which is called campanal, and is only fit for founding, and the other, which has a mixture of gold, and is called de labrar,, or working metal, and which is known only in this province. Here also they make large quantities of rigging for ships. Its inhabitants may amount to 15,000. [In this province is found tlie quisco tree, with thorns of eight inches long ; the same being used by the natives for knitting needles. It is noted for producing the best oysters, and for a resin which is yielded from the herb chilca. See Chieb.] The capital bears the same name, or that of La Serena. This was the second settlement of the kingdom, and founded by the order of Pedro de Valdivia, by Captain Juan Bohon, in 1543, in the valley of Cuquimpi, which gave it its name, and which, being corrupted, is now called Coquimbo, and El Segundo de la Serena, in memory of the country of Valdivia in Estremadura. It lies at a quarter of a league’s distance from the sea, and is situate