Page:A history of Chile.djvu/119

THE COLO. VIAL PERIOD 107 as the alliance was against the king's interests. To settle the matter the king sent out the Marquis of Navamorquende, who sent Meneses to Peru and in- stalled himself in his place. From 1670 to the end of the century the captains-- general were Montero (second time), Juan Henriquez, Don Jos^ de Garro, and Don Tomas Martin de Poveda. Nothing of importance occurred during this period. Nor, for that matter, is there much of importance to record during the governments of Francisco Ibanez de Peralta, Juan Andres de Ustariz and Jos6 de Santiago Concha, to the year 1717. Ibanez was banished to Peru for taking sides in the war of the succession against the House of Bourbon. The islanders of Chilod once revolted, but were subdued by Don Pedro Molina, who was sent against them. From 1707 to 1717, during the wars of the succes- sion, the French blockaded all the Chilean ports and took possession of the commerce of the nation. It is said they took from the country large sums of gold and silver, and that many of them settled there per- manently v.^hen the fleet was withdrawn. Father Feuill6, the French naturalist, made extensive botani- cal and other scientific investigations during a three years' residence in the country, at the time the French were occupying the ports. At the close of the seventeenth century, Chile was behind other South American countries in material ad- vancement. The population was scattered and the only towns of any importance were Santiago, the capi- tal, Concepcion, Chilian, La Serena, Castro and Val- divia. These were little more than villages separated by wide stretches of almost uninhabited country. In Valparaiso there were only a few small warehouses and a row of poor buildings; Santiago had a popu-