CHAPTER XVIII.

TOMÉ-TALCAHUANO-BAY OF CONCEPCION-BAY OF VINCENTE-PAPS OF BIOBIO-RIVER BIOBIO-SIERRA

BIOBIO SIERRA VELLUDA-VOLCANO OF ANTUCO-CITY OF CONCEPCION-COAL MINES OF CHAMBIQUE, LOTILLA, AND LOTA-PENCO.

TOMÉ, in latitude 36° 40′ S., is situated at the foot of the Coast Range of mountains, on the northeast shore of the Bay of Concepcion, which shall be described hereafter, and four miles to the east of its main entrance. This flourishing little seaport contains four thousand inhabitants, a few neat among many indifferently built houses, and several bodegas-large warehouses for the storage of wheat, wool, and wine, the principal products of the neighboring rich provinces of Concepcion and Nublé, brought here for exportation. Flour, manufactured in the vicinity, also enters largely into the exportation of Tomé. Here, too, are received large importations of foreign merchandise for the interior, particularly for the provinces above named, and for the southern departments of the province of Maulé. For purposes of general commerce Tomé is the chief seaport of this part of Chile, both from the ready access to it from the ocean, and from its intimate interior relations, while Talcahuano at the southwest part of the same bay is a greater resort for whaling vessels, in consequence of the greater facility afforded by its tranquil waters for the transshipment of oil, and for refitting. The former of these towns is increasing in size and importance; while the latter, long the favorite resort of mariners, seems to be on the decline; its streets, when we crossed the bay ten miles to it the day after our arrival at Tomé, presenting a deserted appearance, and none of the commercial activity that characterized its bustling little neighbor.

A small plaza, a fountain, and alameda, and a pantheon which has a semblance of Christian charity, in that it tolerates a Protestant cemetery in its neighborhood, with a ceaseless clatter of cracked church bells faithfully pummelled with stones by noisy religionists; these seem to put forth a quasi pretension to superiority for Talcahuano over its ambitious and enterprising little neighbor Tomé.

But to observing foreigners it is apparent that unless a greater degree of stability is secured in the administration of the Government of Chile; unless the perpetually recurring outbreaks of revolution can be prevented, and greater attention be given by public functionaries to the cultivation of the arts of peace, and to the development of natural resources; and further, unless there shall be effected a permanent good understanding with the neighboring warlike Indians, who have defied the power of the republic as they did that of Spain, and who effectually paralyze the hand of agricultural industry and mining enterprise to the south of the Biobio River, closing, too, avenues whereby Talcahuano and Concepcion, of which the former is the natural seaport, are cut off from interior trade; unless these desirable results can be secured no prospect of commercial resuscitation can dawn upon this declining city; no chance be af forded of its profiting by the advantage it possesses in its safe and capacious harbor, over every other seaport of the republic except Tomé, on the same magnificent bay.

With some friends in Talcahuano a visit was made to adjacent heights, to obtain a view of surrounding points of interest. The range of hills to the west of the town stretch northward, forming the peninsula bounding the Bay of Concepcion on the west, and terminate at the distance of seven miles, in Tumbes Point. The most elevated of the hills is called Sentinela, from three hundred to four hundred feet high, situated at the base of the peninsula, and was formerly occupied by the old Spanish fortification, "Castilla"-which commanded the harbor and city of Talcahuano; and with the circumvallation bristling with cannon stretching across the foot of the hill behind the city, from the moro on Concepcion Bay across to the Bay of San Vincente to the south, commanded also the entire land ap

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proach to the city, as well as the Bay of San Vincente itself. This was the fortification to which the Spanish General Osorio made his escape with only one hundred of his followers, after his disastrous defeat at the battle of Maipú, before spoken of; and where he remained until the following September, 1818, when he destroyed the fortifications and sailed for Callao with the men-o'-war and merchantmen in port, and all the royalist families of this province who could raise money to accompany him, the prospect of maintaining the Spanish power in this part of Chile being considered hopeless. But two places were thus left unsurrendered to the Republicans; these were Valdivia and Chiloe in the extreme south, which were captured in 1820, freeing the country entirely from Spanish possession, with no probability that its reconquest would ever again be attempted.

From the Sentinela may be seen to the east and below, the irregularly oval Bay of Concepcion, ten miles long and seven wide, and a depth of water and capacity sufficient to accommodate the entire naval and commercial marine of the republic, where, and where alone in Chile, if the entrances were properly fortified, they would be safe from capture by a stronger maritime power. The town of Talcahuano is on the southwest shore of the bay; Tomé on its northeast; Penco and Lirquen on its southeast; and the island of Quiriquina, three miles long and one wide, like a natural breakwater, protects it on the northwest toward the ocean, leaving two entrances, one between the north end of the island and the main land, the chief passage about three miles wide, and a smaller one a mile wide, between the south end of the island and Tumbes Point, the extremity of the peninsula bounding the bay to the west. To the south of Sentinela, beyond the little Bay of San Vincente at its foot, may be seen from that height those two mamillary eminences called the Paps of Biobio, nearly one thousand feet high, which form the remarkable and well known landmarks to mariners on this coast; and south of these the mouth of the Biobio, the largest river of Chile, navigable for steamers of fourteen inches draught a distance of one hundred and twenty miles. From thirty to thirty-five miles further off in the same direction, the island of Santa Maria is visible protecting the Bay of Arauco, on the

shores of which are the towns of Coronel, Playa Negra, Playa Blanco, Lotilla, and Lota, all famous for the inexhaustible supplies of bituminous coal in their immediate vicinities, and from which large quantities are shipped; an article of vast value to Chile, for without it the steam marine of this coast would become oppressively costly, the copper interest languish, and furnaces cease to realize to their proprietors the immense wealth contributing largely to the general welfare. Still further off stands Arauco, one of the earliest colonial settlements, now, as then, contributing to hold in check the aggressive and revengeful spirit of the unconquered aborigines. Following the windings of the Biobio River to the eastward, as seen from the Sentinela, the eye rests on the white walls and waving alamos of Concepcion, deemed immaculate by its boastful citizens, with the village of San Pedro on the opposite bank. And away in the dim distance in the same direction the Sierra Velluda was observed lifting its snow-clad summit above the horizon, with its less lofty but fiery consort of Antuco at its side. Active as the latter is known to be, the sentinel from this natural watch-tower might be pardoned for attributing possible ocular illusions at so great a distance to volcanic phenomena; and unwonted refractions of light to reflections from the mirrored surface of the picturesque lake, which, in its fearful sport, that volcano has formed to cool its burning sides. It is known that the volcano of Antuco within a recent period poured out a flood of fire which crossed the bed of the River Laja; and by congelation this lava walled in the river, forming thus by the accumulated waters a lake, which, I am informed by Col. Blakey, the intelligent United States Consul at Talcahuano, who visited it in December, 1859, now covers an extent of surface twenty-one miles long by from two to six miles wide, forming in adjacent valleys miniature bays, and insulating smaller detached summits, making of them islets covered with verdure, the resorts of innumerable water-fowl. It is not without reason that the inhabitants of the province through which the river runs into which this stream formerly flowed, are apprehensive that the dam of lava, deep and wide as it is described to be, may give way from enormous pressure, or from slower but not less certain causes, and

overflow the country in its course, producing great destruction of life and property. For scarcely a quarter of a century has passed since a flood of the Cachapoal River, separating the provinces of Santiago and Colchagua, was attended with such results in the month of December-the summer of this region-when there had been no rain to account for it. And the Government of Chile sent an able engineer, Señor Condarco, to investigate the cause of so extraordinary an occurrence; who, after a diligent prosecution of his labors in the Andes, finally discovered that the natural embankments of a mountain lake had given way, from the great accumulation of water incident to an unusual thaw, and sent down the torrent that laid waste the country below.

Our enjoyment of the outspread magnificence of sea and land was interrupted by the notice that friends, who had preceded us to the hacienda de Tumbes at the northern point of the peninsula, were delaying breakfast for us. A bracing ride along the undulating ridge in the early morning air, with the sunny bay gleaming in silvery ripples that danced in very joy of the balmy breeze that kissed their dimples, on our right; and the broad ocean, breaking its blue swells to bathe the rocky shore in showers of foam, on our left, soon brought us to our destination. Although the mansion of the hacienda had not been oc cupied for some time by its owners, we were not long in perceiving that where the will exists Chilenas have a ready, pleasant, and effective way of extending hospitalities. From this new standpoint we soon discovered that, although some objects of interest that had contributed to recent gratification were unseen, yet we were repaid for their loss by the sight of others; and among these we recognized one of the majestic mountains. of the Cordillera, for days an object of admiration and wonder while descending the great valley, inspiring a feeling akin to reverence in the memories of the past; and now again seen, looming above and beyond the Coast Range to the east-northeast, with his snowy cowl drawn over his head, as he lifted it proudly and peerless above other gigantic monuments of surrounding nature. I had almost touched the hem of the glittering garment of the Nevada de Chillan; and now that his bold