CHILOE, an island lying near the coast of Chili
in South America, under the 43d degree of south latitude. It is the chief of an archipelago of 40 islands, and its principal town is Castro. It rains here almost all the year, insomuch that nothing but Indian corn, or some such grain, that requires but little heat to ripen it, can ever come to perfection. They have excellent shell-fish, very good wild-fowl, hogs, sheep, and beeves; as also a great deal of honey and wax. They carry on a trade with Peru and Chili; whither they send boards of cedar, of which they have vast forests.