increasing in population, owing to its vicinity to the celebrated silver
mine of Uspallatta, which is worked by the inhabitants to great profit.
This city carries on a considerable commerce in wine and fruits with
Buenos Ayres. The city of San Juan near the Andes, in lat. 31° 40' S.
and long. 68° 34' W. is equally populous with Mendoza, from which it is
about 160 miles due north, and trades with Buenos Ayres in brandy,
fruits, and Vicunna skins. Its pomegranates are greatly esteemed in
Chili, to which they are sent across the Andes. This city is governed by
a deputy from the corregidor of Mendoza, assisted by a cabildo. In 1596,
the small city of La Punta, or San Luis de Loyola, was founded in the
eastern part of Cujo, in lat. 33° 47' S. long. 65° 33' W. Although the
thoroughfare for all the trade from Chili and Cujo to Buenos Ayres, it
is a miserable place with scarcely two hundred inhabitants; but its
jurisdiction is extensive and populous, and is administered both in
civil and military affairs by a deputy of the corregidor of Mendoza.
Besides these three cities, the province of Cujo contains the towns of
Jachal, Vallofertil, Mogna, Corocorto, Leonsito, Caliogarta, and
Pismanta[51], which do not merit particular attention.

[Footnote 51: Besides these, modern maps insert the following, beginning
in the north. Betlen, Rioja la Nueva, Mutinan, San Juan de Jaeban,
Guanachoca, all to the north of Mendoza.--E.]

The Patagonians who border upon Cujo towards the south, and of whose
gigantic stature so much has been said, do not differ materially in this
respect from other men. The Pojas, one of their tribes, are governed by
several petty independent princes. A singular species of polygamy
prevails among this people, as the women are permitted to have several
husbands. As to the Cesari, of whom such wonderful stories have been
reported, and who are supposed to be neighbours of the Chilese, they