170 CHILI. 
exertion was made to supply our wants, and through the kindness 
and attention of our consul, G. G. Hobson, Esq., this was effected 
in the shortest possible time. The northers are greatly dreaded, 
although I think without much cause. One of them, and the last of 
any force, I had myself experienced in June, 1822, (whilst in com- 
mand of a merchant vessel.) In it eighteen sail of vessels were lost. 
But since that time vessels are much better provided with cables 
and anchors, and what proved a disastrous storm then, would now 
scarcely be felt. I do not deem the bay as dangerous as it has the 
name of being. The great difficulty of the port is its confined 
space, and in the event of a gale, the sea that sets in is so heavy, that 
vessels are liable to come in contact with each other, and to be more or 
less injured. The port is too confined to accommodate the trade that 
is carried on in it. Various schemes and improvements are talked 
of, but none that are feasible. The depth of water opposes an almost 
insuparable obstacle to its improvement by piers. The enterprise of 
the government and the inhabitants of Valparaiso are, I am well 
satisfied, equal to any undertaking that is practicable. 
From the best accounts, I am satisfied that the harbour is filling 
up, from the wash off the hills. Although this may seem but a small 
amount, yet after a lapse of sixteen years, the change was quite 
perceptible to me, and the oldest residents confirmed the fact. The 
anchorage of the vessels has changed, and what before was thought 
an extremely dangerous situation, is now considered the best in the 
event of bad weather. The sea is to be feared rather than the wind, 
for the latter seldom blows home, because the land immediately 
behind the city rises in abrupt hills to the height of from eight 
to fifteen hundred and two thousand feet. 
Valparaiso has greatly increased in size and consequence within 
the last few years, and has become the great sea-port of Chili, and, 
indeed, of the whole coast. Although it labours under many disadvan- 
tages as respects its harbour, which is inferior to others on the coast, 
yet it is the nearest and most convenient port to Santiago, the capital. 
I have had some opportunity of knowing Valparaiso, and con- 
trasting its present state with that of 1821 and 1822. It was then a 
mere village, composed, with but few exceptions, of straggling 
ranchos. It has now the appearance of a thickly settled town,°with 
a population of thirty thousand, five times the number it had then. 
It is divided into two parts, one of which is known by the name of 
the Port, and is the old town, the other, by that of the Almendral, 
