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