Llanquihue

Llanquihue (pron. lan-kè-wa), a province of southern Chile bordering on the northern shores of the Gulf and Straits of Chacao, and extending from the Pacific to the Argentine frontier. The province of Valdivia lies N. and is separated from it in part by the Bueno river. Pop. (1895) 78,315. Area 45,515 sq. m. It is a region of forests, rivers and lakes, and the greater part is mountainous. The rainfall is excessive, the average at Puerto Montt being 104 in. a year, and the temperature is singularly uniform, the average for the summer being 58½°, of the winter 47½°, and of the year 53° F. There are several large lakes in the eastern part of the province—Puyehue, on the northern frontier, Rupanco, Llanquihue and Todos los Santos. Lake Llanquihue is the largest body of fresh water in Chile, having an extreme length from N. to S., or from Octai to Varas, of about 33 m., and extreme breadth of nearly the same. There is a regular steamship service on the lake between Octai and Varas, and its western shores are well settled. The volcanoes of Calbuco and Osorno rise from near its eastern shores, the latter to a height of 7382 ft. The outlet of the lake is through Maullin river, the lower course of which is navigable. The other large rivers of the province are the Bueno, which receives the waters of Lakes Puyehue and Rupanco, and the Puelo, which has its rise in a lake of the same name in the Argentine territory of Chubut. A short tortuous river of this vicinity, called the Petrohue, affords an outlet for the picturesque lake of Todos los Santos, and enters the Reloncavi Inlet near the Puelo. The southern coast of the province is indented by a number of inlets and bays affording good fishing, but the mouths of the rivers flowing into the Pacific are more or less obstructed by sand-bars. Apart from the lumber industry, which is the most important, the productions of Llanquihue include wheat, barley, potatoes and cattle. The white population is composed in great part of Germans, who have turned large areas of forest lands in the northern districts into productive wheat fields. The capital is Puerto Montt, on a nearly land-locked bay called the Reloncavi, designed to be the southern terminus of the longitudinal railway from Tacna, a distance of 2152 m. An important town in the northern part of the province is Osorno, on the Rahue river, which is chiefly inhabited by Germans. It exports wheat and other farm produce, leather, lumber and beer.