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creditable to the engineer. It was surrounded by a deep and
wide ditch; and under it lay two small batteries: one, San
Antonio, commanding the passage between the small island of
Cochinos, and the Main ; and the other flanking the anchorage
off the town. At the Mole were two guns, and opposite to it,
under the governor’s house, was the battery, Del Carmen,
mounting twelve or fourteen guns. In the town, in a convenient
situation, there were excellent barracks, capable of containing
more than one thousand men.
The original establishment was at the Sandy Point, on the
western side of the port, where the situation is better sheltered,
and, perhaps, equally capable of being well defended. It is,
also, on the windward side of the harbour, and close to the
safest anchorage which the port aflbrds; but the inconvenience
of water-carriage was found to be so great, that the establishment
was removed to its present site. A still better situation
might have been selected opposite to Sandy Point, at Leche
Agua ; where the anchorage is perfectly safe, and the communication
with Castro could be more advantageously made.
Northerly and westerly winds prevail, and the town is exposed
to all their fury, which, at times, is extreme. The anchorage
nearest to it, for the sake of convenience, and expedition in
loading and unloading cargoes, is often taken up, but is very
unsafe, many vessels having been lost there, from the bottom
being shoal, and rocky; and the swell, during a northerly gale,
is so short and deep, that anchors will not hold.
The town is built on two rising grounds, and in the valley
that separates them; through which a rivulet runs into the
bay, at a mole which aflbrds sufficient protection to the boats
and piraguas frequenting the port. The houses, which are all
of wood, are generally small, and have but little comfort. The
plaza, or square, without which no town in Chile of the least
importance is to be found, is situated on a flat piece of ground
at the summit of the southern hill, and commands an extensive
view. It is about one hundred and eighty yards square, with
a flag-staflF in the centre.
On the north side there is a strong, well-built stone stoi-ef
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