Besides the palace of the captain-general who is obliged to reside at Concepcion occasionally, it contains a cathedral, convents of all the religious orders established in Chili, a nunnery, a college founded by the Jesuits, public schools, and a seminary for the nobility.
The inhabitants amount to about 13,000; and the climate of this city is delightful, the temperature being always mild.
The bishop of Concepcion has a jurisdiction extending over all the islands and continental settlements of the Spaniards south of the province of Santiago; but what renders this city of the greatest importance, is its bay, which is one of the best in Spanish America. Its length from north to south is about three leagues and a-half, and the breadth from east to west three. In the mouth of it lies the island of Quiriquina, forming two entrances, of which that on the east is the best, being two miles broad.
In the bay are three anchoring grounds, that named Talcaguana is the most frequented by all vessels, as they lie secure from the north winds. It has a small town at its termination two leagues from the capital, and to which it gives its name; the two other roads are not so well sheltered from the north winds, and have not such good bottom as Talcaguana. The tides rise six feet three inches, but the water is smooth, and the current is scarcely felt. Though this celebrated harbour is so good, yet it is necessary to have an experienced pilot to conduct a ship into it, as there are several reefs and shoals off the entrance.
PROVINCE OF HUILQUILEMU.
Huilquilemu is the thirteenth and last department of Continental Chili, and is bounded by Chillan on the north; by the Cordillera of the Andes on the west, Puchacay on the east, and the Biobio on the south.
The rivers Biobio, Puchacay, Itata, Claro, Laxo, and Duqueco are its chief streams, and the first named may be said to be the boundary between the Spanish possessions and the country of the Araucanian confederacy. It rises in the Andes near the volcano of Tucapel, and runs into the Pacific, a short distance south of the city of Concepcion, where at a league above its mouth it is four leagues in breadth. The Biobio may be forded on horseback in summer, but in winter it is deep, and generally navigated with balsas or rafts. On the northern and southern shores of this river, the Spaniards have constructed a chain of frontier forts to restrain the Indians; these works are generally strongly built, and well furnished with arms, ammunition, provisions, and a competent garrison of cavalry, infantry, and artillery.
The principal forts are Arauco, where the commanding general resides, Santajuana, Puren, Los Angelos, Tucapel, Yumbel, Santabarbara, St. Pedro, Nascimiento and Colcura.
Huilquilemu is rich in gold, which is procured by washings in the numerous streams flowing from the Andes; its plains are very fertile, and yield grains and fruits in great plenty, and an excellent muscadel wine is made from the vines grown in its settlements.
The Indians are of the same tribe with those of Itata, and having been long accustomed to defend their country against the Araucanians; they are warlike and courageous.