274 



ORIGINAL ESTABLISHMENT. 



1829. 



creditable to the engineer. It was surrounded by a deep and 

 wide ditch ; and under it lay two small batteries : one, San 

 Antonio, commanding the passage between the small island of 

 Cochinos, and the Main ; and the other flanking the anchorage 

 oiFthe town. At the Mole were two guns, and opposite to it, 

 under the governor's house, was the battery, Del Carmen, 

 mounting twelve or fourteen guns. In the town, in a convenient 

 situation, there were excellent barracks, capable of containing 

 more than one thousand men. 



The original establishment was at the Sandy Point, on the 

 western side of the port, where the situation is better sheltered, 

 and, perhaps, equally capable of being well defended. It is, 

 also, on the windward side of the harbour, and close to the 

 safest anchorage which the port affords ; but the inconvenience 

 of water-carriage was found to be so great, that the establish- 

 ment was removed to its present site. A still better situation 

 might have been selected opposite to Sandy Point, at Leche 

 Agua ; v^^here the anchorage is perfectly safe, and the commu- 

 nication with Castro could be more advantageously made. 



Northerly and westerly winds prevail, and the town is exposed 

 to all their fury, which, at times, is extreme. The anchorage 

 nearest to it, for the sake of convenience, and expedition in 

 loading and unloading cargoes, is often taken up, but is very 

 unsafe, many vessels having been lost there, from the bottom 

 being shoal, and rocky; and the swell, during a northerly gale, 

 is so short and deep, that anchors will not hold. 



The town is built on two rising grounds, and in the valley 

 that separates them ; through which a rivulet runs into the 

 bay, at a mole which affords sufficient protection to the boats 

 and piraguas frequenting the port. The houses, which are all 

 of wood, are generally small, and have but little comfort. The 

 plaza, or square, without which no town in Chile of the least 

 importance is to be found, is situated on a flat piece of ground 

 at the summit of the southern hill, and commands an extensive 

 view. It is about one hundred and eighty yards square, with 

 a flag-staff" in the centre. 



On the north side there is a strong, well-built stone store- 



