666 ulloa's voyage to south America. 



proceeding from a want of attention in the pilots in obferving the dire£Uon of the cur- 

 rents ; and as thefe carry the fhip towards the fouth-weft, the pilots, when in the offing, 

 begin to compute their diftance from the coall. But this being in reality much greater 

 than that given by the rhumb, they are afterwards under a neceffity of fteering towards 

 the eaft, and thence their reckoning makes the port farther to the eaflward than it 

 really is ; and the currents running fometimes with a greater velocity than at others, 

 pilots often differ in placing the meridian of Conception, fo that very few at firft make 

 the Cape, though affifted by that chart, which they confider as the beft. For all thefe 

 draughts are laid down from the falfe conclufions of erroneous journals, no allowance 

 having been made for the fetting of the currents. The difference of latitude proves, 

 beyond contradiction, the reality of the currents, and the degree of their velocity, as 

 I have already noticed. 



On the 26th of January, the Efperanza, a Spanilh frigate, commanded by Don 

 Pedro de Mendinueta, came to an anchor in the harbour of Talcaguano, after her voy- 

 age from Monte- Video in the river of Buenos Ayres, round Cape Horn, which flie had 

 performed in fixty-lix days. On our arrival at Puerto Tome, an officer came on board 

 the Belin, the very fame night we came to an anchor ; and the day following, being 

 the fixth of February, our two frigates joined the Efperanza at Talcaguano, and form- 

 ed a little fquadron under the command of Don Pedro de Mendinueta, according to 

 orders from the Viceroy, who had received an account that the Efperanza lay ready at 

 Monte- Video, to proceed on her voyage that fummer into the South Sea, and that Com- 

 modore Don Jofeph Pizarro, with other officers, were travelling over-land to Santiago 

 de Chili 5 which he had reached at the time of our arrival. 



CHAP. V. — Defcription of the City of Conception, in the Kingdom of Chili j with an 

 Account of its Commerce, and the Fertility of the Country * 



CONCEPTION, otherwife called Penco, was firft founde'd by Captain Pedro de 

 Valdivia, in the year 1,^50. But the powerful revolts of the Indians of Arauco and 

 Tucapel, obliged its inhabitants to remove to Santiago. They cannot, however, be 

 chargdd, with having quitted their fettlement, till they had been defeated feveral times 

 by the Indians, in one of which they loft the above-mentioned P^dro de Valdivia, who, 

 as governor of that kingdom, was commander-in-chief of the forces employed in the 

 conqueft of it. The fame unhappy fate alfo attended Francifco de Villagra, who, as 

 Valdivia*s lieutenant-general, had fucceeded in the command. Thefe misfortunes, and 

 the fuperiority of the allied Indians, obliged the Spaniards to abandon Conception. 

 The inhabitants, however, being defirous of poiTeffing again their plantations in the 

 neighbourhood of that city, and of which they ufed to make fuch large profits, peti- 

 tioned the audience of J^ima for leave to return to their original city ; but had foon 

 fufficient caufe to repent of not having exerted their induftry in improving the place 

 whither they retired ; the Indians, on the firft notice that the Spaniards were returned 

 to the city, forming a powerful alliance under a d-aring leader, called Lautaro, took by 

 ftorm a fmall fort, which was the whole defence of the city, and put all to the fword, 

 except a fmall number who had fortunately efcaped to Santiago. Some time after, 

 Don Gracia de Mendoza, fon to the Viceroy de Mendoza, Marquis of Canete, arriv- 

 ing as governor of Chili, with a body of forces fufficient for making head againft the 

 Indians, reftored the inhabitants of Conception to their former poiTeffions, with the 

 greateft apparent fecurity. But the year 1 603 gave birth to a new and more general 



confederacy, 



