PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 27 



of the state, and quartered in the town : they retain chap. 

 their own weapons, and continue their own tactics, v—^-w 

 A specimen of their extraordinary and barbarous i^^ 

 warfare was exhibited at Conception during our 

 stay. 



Since the trade of Chili has been thrown open, a 

 remarkable change in the costume of the inhabitants, 

 and also in the furniture of their houses, has taken 

 place ; and an Englishman may now see with pride 

 the inferior manufactures of his own country prized, 

 to the exclusion of the costly gold and silver tissue 

 stuffs of Spain, which, Perouse observes, were en- 

 tailed in families like diamonds, and descended from 

 the great-grandmother to the children of the third 

 and fourth generation. Even the national musical 

 instrument, the guitar, has fallen into neglect, and 

 has been supplanted by the English piano-forte. It 

 would have been better for the lower orders of so- 

 ciety, of which a large portion of the population of 

 Conception consists, if the use of this simple instru- 

 ment had been retained ; for it is well known, in 

 foreign countries, how many hours of innocent 

 mirth are beguiled in the happy circles it assembles 

 around the cottage doors ; and how many idle cha- 

 racters its fascination deters from indulging in less 

 innocent occupations, to which the Chilians are 

 equally prone with other nations ; though I am by 

 no means an advocate for its being prized to the 

 extent it once was by the Portuguese, who, after a 

 battle in which they were defeated, left 14,000 gui- 

 tars upon the field.* 



The entertainments most frequented in Concep- 



* Mengiana, torn. i. 



