LEAVE VALPARAISO. 173 



Port^) shared the same fate^ and was at this 

 time having its ruins cleared away for building 

 upon. We found the dreadful effects of the 

 winter had been severely felt at Valparaiso. 

 The wrecks of three fine vessels lay strewed on 

 the beach, having been driven from their anchors 

 in a heavy gale of wind from the northward^ 

 which sends the sea sweeping into the bay with 

 great fury, being open to northerly winds. 

 Twelve hands perished on board one of them, 

 in sight and hail of thousands of persons assem- 

 bled on the beach, who could do nothing to save 

 them. The population of Valparaiso is immense. 

 To look at the town, no person could imagine it 

 was half so great ; but when the quebradas or 

 hills are looked into, (which lay above the town,) 

 swarming with wretched hovels, and population 

 of the lowest description, astonishment no longer 

 exists. It has been estimated from sixteen to 

 eighteen thousand souls. 



Tuesday y September \th. Having engaged a 

 passage on board the Orion Merchant Brig, that 



