pleasant vale, formed by some beautiful hills, near the coast, in lat.
36° 42' S. long. 73° 4´ W. After suffering severely in the long wars
with the Araucanians, this city was destroyed in 1730 by an earthquake
and inundation of the sea, and again by a similar calamity in 1751; and
was rebuilt in 1764 in a beautiful situation a league from the sea.
Owing to so many calamities, its inhabitants scarcely exceed 13,000, who
are attracted to this place on the frontiers of the warlike Araucanians,
by the great abundance of gold that is procured in its neighbourhood.
The climate is always temperate, the soil is fertile, and the sea
abounds in fish of all kinds. The Bay of Conception is spacious and
safe, extending above ten miles from north to south, and nearly as much
from east to west. Its mouth is protected by a beautiful and fertile
island, called Quiriquina, forming two mouths or entrances to the bay;
that on the north-east called the _bocca grande_ being two miles wide,
and that on the south-west, or _bocca chica_, little more than a mile.
The whole bay affords safe anchorage, and a port at its south-east
extremity called Talcaguano is chiefly frequented by shipping, as being
not far from the new city of Conception.

13. _Huilquilemu_, commonly called Estanzia del Rei, or the royal
possession, has Chillan on the north, the Andes on the east, the river
Biobio on the south, and Puchacay on the west. This district is rich in
gold, and produces an excellent wine resembling muscadel. To protect
this province against the warlike and independent Araucanians, there are
four forts on the north side of the Biobio, named Jumbel, Tucapel, Santa
Barbara, and Puren; and as the boundary line is to the south of that
river, the Spaniards have likewise the forts of Aranco, Colcura, San
Pedro, Santa Joanna, Nascimento, and Angeles beyond that river.

14. _Valdivia._ This province, or military station rather, is entirely