PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 23 



Conception, during its prosperity, has been de- 

 scribed by the able pens of Juan de Ulloa, La Pe- 

 rouse, and others ; and since its misfortunes, by a ^g^ 61 ' 

 well-known naval author, who has admirably pic- 

 tured the ruin and desolation which the city at that 

 time must have presented. Much of his descrip- 

 tion would have correctly applied to the time of our 

 visit ; but, generally speaking, there was a decided 

 improvement in every department. The panic oc- 

 casioned by the daring associates of the outlaw Be- 

 navides, Peneleo and Pinchero, 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 di- 

 lapidations were gradually disappearing before cum- 

 brous brickwork and masonry. Commerce was con- 

 sequently beginning to revive ; there 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 expedi- 

 tion against the island of Chiloe, which still main- 

 tained 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 

 with heads like mushrooms. Their appearance, how- 



