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THE COLONIAL PERIOD 119 duced monks of the Order of Mercy when he arrived and began his settlements. The Dominicans and Fran- ciscans came in 1553, the Augustins in 1595, the Hos- pitallers of St. John of God in 1615, the Jesuits with Loyola in 1593, Loyola being himself a nephew of the founder of the order. All of these orders flour- ished at the beginning of the present century, but re- sistance was made by the Chileans to the introduction of new orders, as the church tithes'were oppressive in the extreme. In 1767 there had even occurred an order expelling the Jesuits. This order, the Company of Jesus, had acquired great riches in Chile by donations from the devout colonists. They had innumerable houses, haci- endas, mills, vineyards, herds and slaves, and exer- cised great power and influence. In consequence of their secret interference in politics, they had been about that time expelled from Spain, Portugal, France and other European countries. In one night their houses in Chile were occupied and about four hundred of them expelled from the country and sent to Italy. The company had produced several eminent names in Chile, Olivares, Lacunza and Juan Ignacio Molina, the celebrated historian who wrote the "Historia Civil y Natural de Chile", also the historians Ovalle and Resales. At the time of their expulsion, the property of the Jesuits was confiscated for the use of the state. The population of Chile at this time in the Spanish provinces was probably not far from five hundred thousand souls. There were a few French, English, and Italian settlers, but for the most part, the population consisted of Spaniards and Spanish-Indian descend- ants. The internal commerce was of little import- ance, but began to increase about this time by the employment of coast vessels in the transportation of