22 VOYAGE TO THE 



chap, tended to only by the female part of the inha- 



-— - y— ; bitants. 



°i8°2 b 5 e . r ' I* was painful to compare the present circum- 

 stances 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 were reduced. The other villages in the 

 bay were in a very similar condition ; and one, 

 Tombe, where there was formerly an extensive salt- 

 petre manufactory, was entirely deserted. 



The day after my arrival, I accompanied the cap- 

 tains 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 east- 

 ward of the town, the summit of which commands 

 an excellent view of the natural advantages of de- 

 fence which the peninsula of Talcahuana possesses, 

 and shows how formidable it might become under 

 judicious management. The royalists were not ig- 

 norant 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 now 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 con- 

 tinues so, with very little interruption, to the Colle 

 de Chepe, a small eminence, whence a stranger ob- 

 tains 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. 



