squares, but much dilapidated, dusty, and in some places overgrown
with grass. A thousand inmates occupied these wretched dwellings,
who acknowledged the supremacy of a governor, poor, proud, and
independent: and intrusted their spiritual concerns to the care of a
patriot priest. In the principal square stood a church, in character
with the rest of the buildings ; and in front of it a belfry, which for
some time past must have endangered the life of the bellman. His
occupation, however, was less laborious than in other catholic countries,
as it was here called into action but once in the seven days ; and was
then attended to only by the female part of the inhabitants.
It was painful to compare the present circumstances of this place
with the prosperity that once prevailed, and impossible to look upon
the unhappy inhabitants without feelings of pity at the state to
which they are reduced. The other villages in the bay were in a
very similar condition ; and one, Tombé, where there was formerly an
extensive saltpetre manufactory, was entirely deserted.
The day after my arrival, I accompanied the captains of the
squadron, and Mr. Nugent the consul-general, to Conception, pursuant
to an invitation we received from the Intendente to visit that city.
Its distance from Talcahuana is about three leagues. The road, at
first, leads over a steep hill to the eastward of the town, the summit of
which commands an excellent view of the natural advantages of defence
which the peninsula of Talcahuana possesses, and shows how formidable
it might become under judicious management. The royalists were not
ignorant of this, and during the turbulent times of emancipation, sought
shelter amongst them, cut ditches, and threw up temporary works of
defence, all of which are nov/ nearly effaced by the heavy rains that
visit this country at particular periods of the year. At the back of
this range of hills, the country is flat and occasionally swampy, and
continues so, with very little interruption, to the Collé de Chepé, a
small eminence, whence a stranger obtains the first view of the river
Bio Bio and the city. The Intendente met us about a mile outside
the town and accompanied us to his residence, where we experienced
a most cordial and hospitable reception.
Conception, during its prosperity, has been described by the able
pensof.Iuan do Ulloa, La Perouse, and others; and since its misfortunes, CHAP.
by a well-known naval author, who has admirably pictured the ruin
and desolation which the city at that time must have presented. Much «<¡‘»(>9■
of his description would have correctly applied to the time of our visit:
but, generally speaking, there was a decided improvement in every
department. The panic occasioned by the daring associates of the
outlaw Benavides, Peneleo and Pincliero, was beginning to subside.
These chiefs, unable to make head against the people when united,
had of late confined their depredations to the immediate vicinity
of their strong holds among the mountains; the peasants had returned
to the cultivation of the soil; looms were active in various
parts of the town ; and dilapidations were gradually disappearing before
cumbrous brickwork and masonry. Commerce was consequently beginning
to revive ; tliere were several merchant-vessels in the port; and
the Quadra, once “ silent as the dead,” now resounded with the.voices
of muleteers conducting the exports and imports of the country.
The tranquil and improving condition of the state was further
evinced by the equipment of an expedition against the island ofChiloe,
which still maintained its allegiance to the mother country. The preparations
appeared to give general satisfaction in Conception, and
recruits were daily inlisting, and training in the Presidio. I peeped
through the gate one morning, and saw these tyros in arms going
through the ordeal of the awkward squad. They were half Indians,
without shoes or stockings, and witli heads like mushrooms. Their
appearance, however, was immaterial; they were the troops on which
the people placed their dependence, which the result of the expedition
did not disappoint; and the effect upon their minds was equally exhilarating.
Hitherto obliged to act on the defensive against a few
piratical Indian chiefs, they now found themselves lending their troops
to carry on a warfare in a distant province. Such was the prosperous
state of affairs at the time of our arrival; and the liigliest expectations
pervaded all classes of society.
Tlie town of Conception occupies nearly a square mile of ground.
It is situated on the north side of the river Bio Bio, and is distant
from it about a (juarter of a mile. Its site was chosen in 1763, about
twelve years after the old city of Penco was destroyed by an earth-
D