1839.] OTHER TOWNS IN CHILI. 97 



is almost as great a rarity on the plains of Maypu, as it would 

 be in the Feejee Islands. 



Santiago contains about sixty-five thousand inhabitants, 

 an- is constantly increasing, — a fact which speaks volumes 

 in favor of Chilian industry and enterprise, since the same 

 cannot be said of another inland capital in South America. 

 Besides Santiago and Valparaiso, there are several other 

 towns in Chili of considerable note. Coquimbo, or La Serena, 

 in North Chili, has a population amounting to nearly ten 

 thousand ; it is the chief port of the mining country, and its 

 copper is esteemed the best in the world. The town is re- 

 markably clean, and well laid out — the streets intersecting 

 each other at right angles. It has several churches, a public 

 school, and a hospital ; the houses are built of sun-dried 

 bricks, with few exceptions, and are one story in height. 

 Numerous gardens of fruit-trees and evergreens, give the 

 place a refreshing and agreeable look. Huasco, still further 

 to the north, is famed for its rich silver mines. Concepcion 

 and Valdivia, in the southern part of the republic, are noted 

 for their fine harbors. The former, was once a flourishing 

 town containing twenty thousand inhabitants, but it has 

 latterly declined in trade and manufactures, and the popula- 

 tion does not now exceed eight thousand. It stands on a 

 low neck of land between the river Biobio and the bay of 

 Concepcion ; it is laid out like Coquimbo, and the houses 

 are constructed in the same manner ; previously to 1835, it 

 possessed a large cathedral and several other fine buildings, 

 but, in that year, these, with the greater part of the town, 

 were destroyed by an earthquake. Valdivia is rather an 

 insignificant collection of wooden huts, but it contains five 

 thousand inhabitants, and has the finest, and one of the most 

 strongly fortified harbors, in the South Pacific ; this consists 

 of an estuary, formed by the Valdivia and several smaller 

 rivers, entered by a narrow strait, the shores of which are 

 garnished with batteries, mounting, in all, one hundred and 

 thirty guns; ships of the line ride here in safety — there being 

 from six to seven fathoms of water in the centre of the bay, 



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