DISEMBARKATION AT TALCAGUANA. 77 
consisting of about fifty small and poor houses, 
and another still smaller, called Pencu, have 
been the only settlements on this bay since the 
destruction, in the year 1751, of the old town of 
Conception by an earthquake—no uncommon 
occurrence in these regions. The new town of 
this name has been built farther inland, on the 
banks of the beautiful river Biobio, and is seven 
miles distant from Talcaguana. 
Karly in the morning on the 18th of January, 
I went with Dr. Eschscholtz to Talcaguana, 
where horses were in waiting to take us to Con- 
ception. The heavy, clumsy cars drawn by 
oxen, which I believe I described in my former 
voyage, are the only kind of carriage known 
here; and as even the ladies use these only on 
state occasions, they perform all their jour- 
neys, as In days of old, on horseback. 
The Russian flag having waved here but twice 
since the foundation of the world, curiosity had 
brought a great crowd to witness my disembark- 
ation; and as it was now ascertained that the Cap- 
tain was the same who, eight years before, had so 
much delighted the inhabitants with a ball, many 
