SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
219 
from some field-pieces which had been drawn out to do 
honour to the English visitors. The guide sent to us by 
the Intendente led us through several streets, whose de¬ 
solate appearance told a melancholy tale of the ravages com¬ 
mitted in the late contests with the Spaniards, and also by 
those inveterate enemies of the European inhabitants, the 
Araucanian Indians. It was a feast-day, and crowds of 
well-dressed people were walking and standing about; but 
they scarcely took from the air of utter desolateness of this 
ill-fated city, which has passed no less than six times from 
the hands of one party to those of another during the civil 
war. One half of it is totally ruined, and in the other 
long grass grows in the streets, and mantles the walls. The 
quick vegetation of the climate lias partially covered the 
ruined houses with shrubs and creeping plants, hiding, in 
some measure, the deformity of a ruin, from which nothing 
has been safe, the churches themselves bearing the marks of 
violence. As usual in the Spanish colonies, all the streets of 
Conception are at right angles, each mass of houses being of 
exactly the same extent; the Plaza or public square oc¬ 
cupies the space of one of these masses; it serves for mili¬ 
tary parade, and is usually the place where the courts of 
justice, the palace of government, and other public build¬ 
ings are situated. When we arrived there, we found a body 
f f 2 
