LatAm Digital Edition and Gazetteer

ALB

A L C

29

state to maintain itself. Thus the colonists lived for some years, and in time the productions in which their commerce consisted, increased to such a degree as to have caused them to excel all the other English colonies,

ALUEMAur.E, another county or part of Vir ginia, washed by the river Fluvana on the s. which divides itself into several branches, and adds much to the fertility of the country. It is bounded e. by the county of Goochland, w. divided by a chain of mountains of Augusta, and by that of Louisa on the «. [It contains 12,585 inha bitants, including 5579 slaves. Its extent, about S5 miles square.]

Albemarle, a strait, which is the mouth or entrance into the sea of the river Roanoke.

ALBERTO, a small settlement or ward of the head settlement of the district of Tlazintla, and alcafdia mayor of Ixmiqailpan, in Nueva Espana.

[ALBION, New, the name given by Sir Francis Drake to California, and part of the n. w. coast of America, when he took possession of it. A large uncertain tract of the n. w, coast is thus called. Its limits, according to Mr. Arrow smith’s chart, are between 27° 12' and 41° 15' 71. lat. Humboldt asserts, that, agreeably to sure historical data, the denomination of New Albion ought to be limited to that part of the coast which extends from the 43° to the 48°, or from Cape White of Martin de x\guilar, to the entrance of Juan de Fuea. Besides, he adds, from the mis sions of the Catholic priests to those of the Greek priests, that is to say, from the Spanish village of San Francisco, in New California, to the Russian establishments on Cook river at Prince William’s bay', and to the islands of Kodiac and Unalaska, there are more than a thousand leagues of coast inhabited by' free men, and stocked with otters and Phocre! Consequently, the discussions on the extent of the New Albion of Drake, and the pre tended rights acquired by certain European na tions, from planting small crosses, and leaving inscriptions fastened to trunks of trees, or the burying of bottles, may be considered as futile. The part of the coast on which Capt. Cook landed on the 7th of March 1778, and which some desig nate as Nezo Albion, is in n. lat. 44° 33'. e. long. 235° 10', which he thus describes : “ The land is lull of mountains, the tops of w hich are covered with snow, while the vallies between them, and the grounds on the sea-coast, high as well as low, are covered with trees, which form a beautiful prospect, as of one vast forest. At first the natives seemed to prefer iron to every other article of

commerce; at last they preferred brass. They were more tenacious of their property than any of the savage nations that had hitherto been met with ; so that they would not part with wood, water, grass, nor the most trifling article without a compensation, and were sometimes very unrea sonable in their demands.” See Calii^ornia, New.]

ALBOR, a small island of the N. or Atlantic sea, one of the Bahamas, between those of Neque and 8. Salvador.

ALBUQUERQUE, Santa Rosa de, a settle ment and real of the silver mines of the alcaldia mayor of Colotlan in Nueva Espana. It is 19 leagues s. w. of the head settlement of the district of Tlaltcnango.

Albuquehque, a townof New Mexico, situate on the shore of the Rio Grande (large river) of the N. [opposite the village of Atrisco, to the w. of tlie Sierra Obseqra. Population 0000 souls.]

Albuquerque, a small island, or low rocks, of the N. sea, near that of 8. Andres.

ALCA, a settlement of the province and corre gimienlo of Condensuyos of Arequipa in Peru.

ALCALA, a settlement of the province and alcaldia mayor of Chiapa, and kingdom of Gua temala, in the division and district of that city.

ALCAMANI, a branch of the head settlement of the district and alcaldia mayor of Igualapa in Neuva Espana, and two leagues to the n. of the same.

ALCANTARA, S. Antonio de, a town of the province and captainship of Maranam' in the kingdom of Brazil. It luis been frequently invaded by the infidel Indians, who destroyed its work shops, so that its inhabitants have been much reduced.

Alcantara, S. Antonio de, another settle ment in the province and district of Chanco, in the kingdom of Chile, near the shore of the rivec Mataquino.

ALCARAI, a small river of the province and government of Buenos Ayres. It runs e. and enters the river La Plata between those of Lay man and Gomez.

ALCATRACES, Ishmd of the, one of those which lie n. of St. Domingo, between the s. point of the Caico Grande, and the Panuelo Quadrado, (square handkerchief).

ALCIIICHlCd, 8 . Martin de, a ward of the head settlement erf the district and alcaldia mayor of Izucar in Nueva Espana, belonging to that of Santa Maria de la Asuncion.

ALCHIDOMAS, a settlement of the province of the Apaches in Nuevo Mexico, situate on the

C H A

the natives make friezes. The low part, looking upon the coast, enjoys a temperature equal in mildness to that of Lima. It is very fertile, and in the many estates which are in it maize grows in great quantities, and it, besides serving as food for the labourers, and independent of that which is devoured by the wild pigeons with which those fields are filled, serves to fatten numbers of pigs, which are carried to supply the markets of Lima ; those animals, one year with another, amounting to 22,000 head, and producing an emolument of 300,000 dollars to the proprietors of the estates. Here are also some estates of sugar-cane, and others of French beans and wheat, of which the crops were formerly very great, and used, together with the vines, to be reckoned amongst the chief productions of this country, though they have now made room for a more general cultivation of maize. What conduces much to render the soil fertile, is what the Indians call huano^ and which, in their language, signifies dung, this being brought from some small islands at a little distance from the coast towards the n. It is thought to be the excrement of some birds called huanaes^ who have been accustomed to deposit it in the above places from time immemorial. Some of it has also been found in various other islands of the coast of Canete, Arica, and others. Of this it is certain, that a handful being put at the root of a plant of maize, it becomes so invigorated as to produce upwards of 200 for one, and that not less than 90,000 bushels of this valuable manure is used yearly. In the centre of the province, and upon the coast, are some fine salines^ which supply some of the neighbouring districts ; and amongst the rest, those of Canta, Tarma, Caxatambo, Huamalies, Huanuco, Conchuco, and Huailas, are the most noted. The salt is not only used in the workingof the metals, but for preserving the cattle from a venomous insect called alicuya^ which preys upon their entrails until it destroys them. The population consists of 37 settlements ; the capital of which is the town of Arnedo or Chancay. Its repartimiento amounted to 122,000 dollars, and its alcavala to 976 dollars per annum.

Arnedo or Chancay,

S. Juan de Huaral,

Huaura,

Mazo,

Vegueta,

Iluacho,

Barraste,

Auccayama,

Sayan,

Tapaya,

Cauchaz or Maráz,

Yurayaco,

Picoy,

Parquin,

Yucul,

Canin,

Mollobamba,

Panun,

Turpay,

Tongos,

Chiuchiu,

Auquimarca,

Paccho,

Yguari,

Ayaranga,

Yancay,

Huacar,

Otequet,

Muca,

Huachinga,

Yacsanga,

Yunqui,

Apache,

Santa Cruz,

Acotama,

Huaycho.

Huanangui,

Chancay, the capital of the above province, founded in a beautiful and very healthy valley, at a league and a half’s distance from the river Pasamayo, by order of the viceroy Count of Nieva, in 1563 ; who destined it for the honour of being an university, at which however it never attained. It has a tolerable port, frequented by trading vessels, a convent of monks of the order of St. Francis, and a good hospital. It is well peopled, and its inhabitants consist of several noble and rich families. One league from the sea, and 15 from Lima. Lat. 11° 30' 5.

(CHANCEFORD, a township in York county, Pennsylvania.)

CHANCHAMAIU, a settlement of the province and government of Tarma in Peru, with a fort upon the river Tapo, in the part washed by this river, called El Balseadero de Chanchamaiu. The Chunchos Indians of this province took possession of it in 1742, and abandoned it in 1743.

Chanchamaiu, a river of the province of Caxamarquilla. It rises in the province of Tarraa, to the n. of the capital, runs n. and enters the large river Perene, in the country of the Campas Indians.

CHANCO, CAPILLA DE, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Itata in tbe kingdom of Chile ; situate near the coast.

CHANDUI, a settlement of the district of Santa Elena in the province and government of Guayaquil ; situate on the sea-shore, with a port which is frequented by vessels only in stress ; it having some extensive shoals which lie just at its entrance. Here it was that the admiral’s ship of the Armada del Sur foundered and was wrecked in 1654, as it was dropping down to Panama, for the purpose of dispatching the galleons under the charge of the Marquis de Villarubia ; although, through the opportune assistance of the viceroy of Peru, Count de Salvatierra, and of tlm president of Quito, Don Pedro Vazquez de Veljixco, the greater part of the property on board was saved. Likewise, in 1721. another ship was lost here, carrying the salaries to the Plaza of Panama, without a single thing on board being saved ; until, in 1728, a furious wind from the s. w. blew ashore several fragments of the