218 
VOYAGE TO THE 
for the little town of Talcahuana. This consists of a small 
fort mounting two guns or thereabouts, a range of store¬ 
houses, and a few houses scarcely better than fishermen’s 
cottages. The tongue of land on which the town stands is 
surprisingly beautiful, and put us in mind of park and forest 
scenery at home, mingled with corn fields, and adorned with 
groups of trees, giving shelter to the cattle, while the noon¬ 
day sun is too hot in the open meadows. 
Two days after our arrival, the naval captains and the 
British consul resolved to visit the Intendente or governor 
of Penco, which is the Indian name, more commonly used 
on the spot than the Spanish title of La Concepcion. The 
town lies in a fine valley nine miles from the port. The 
first four miles of our road lay across a low, and in some 
places, marshy plain; the rest of the way was through a 
woody and very picturesque country, till the pleasant vale 
of Mochita lay before us, where the town stands advan¬ 
tageously at the foot of some little hills. The majestic Bio 
Bio, the boundary of Araucana, flows past the city, and falls 
into the sea to the southward of the bay, from which it is 
separated by the promontory of Talcahuana, and close to the 
harbour of San Vicente, whose entrance is known by the 
Paps of Bio Bio. 
As we approached the town a salute of 31 guns was fired 
