CONCEPCION.
Concepcion, the third city in size and commercial importance in the Republic, has a population of 60,000. It is a characteristic Spanish-American municipality, with some European features, Oriental and indolent in appearance, with long stretches of unattractive streets, flanked with houses painted in many colors.
Situated in the verdant valley of the Bio Bio, near its confluence with the bay of Arauco, it is surrounded by orchards ladened with fruits, and gardens brilliant with the bloom of beautiful flowers. Well tilled, irrigated haciendas, with stone walls and lines of graceful alamos defining their limits, cover the lovely plain, back of which rise tree-crowned hills, adding a picturesque feature to the scene. It is the commercial metropolis of a large section of productive country, and enjoys a business prosperity and trade activity surpassed only by Valparaiso. The ports of entry for Concepcion are Talcahuano and Coronel, a few miles distant and situated on the bay of Arauco.