be a very lucrative speculation. Soap bears a high price in Peru, and in almost every part of the country, being seldom under forty dollars the quintal or hundred pounds weight in Lima, and higher in the interior. The facility of procuring good lime and plenty of fuel would be of importance to such an establishment, besides which, the cheapness of copper, from the mines of Coquimbo and Copiapo, for making the necessary utensils, is an advantage of some consideration.
Of all the Spanish writers Herrera alone makes mention of the existence of coal in the province of Conception. In Dec. 8, 1. 6, c. 11, he says, "there is a coal mine upon the beach near to the city of Conception; it burns like charcoal;" and he was not mistaken, for the stratum does exist on the north side of the bay of Talcahuano, near the anchorage on that side, and very near the ruins of Penco Viejo, which was destroyed by the earthquake in 1730, and not rebuilt, because the present anchorage was considered preferable. To what extent the coal reaches has never yet been ascertained; all that has been used has been obtained by throwing aside the mould which covers the surface. This coal is similar in appearance to the English cannel, but it is reasonable to suppose, that if the mine were dug to any considerable depth, the quality would be found to improve, and that the work might be productive of immense wealth to its possessor.
There is a custom-house at Talcahuano, and the necessary officers for collecting the importation and exportation duties; barracks for the garrison belonging to the small battery, a house for the residence of the commanding officer, a parish church, also about a hundred houses, with several large stores, bodegas, for corn, wine, and other goods. The population consists of about five hundred inhabitants, principally muleteers, porters, and fishermen.
The bay abounds with excellent fish; the most esteemed are the robalo; this fish is from two to three feet long, nearly of a cylindrical form, having angular scales, which are of a gold colour on the back, declining to a very beautiful transparent white on the belly: it has a bluish stripe along the back, bordered on each side with a deep yellow; the flesh is delicately white, and has a delicious taste. The corbina is generally about the size of the robalo, though sometimes much larger; its body is of an oval form, covered with broad semi-transparent white scales, on which are some opaque white spots; it is encircled obliquely with a number of brownish lines, the tail is forked, and the head small; its flesh is white and well tasted. The lisa is a kind of mullet; it is found both in fresh and in salt water; the latter, however, is much better than the former: it is about a foot long, its back is of a dirty greenish colour, its sides and belly white, with large scales; its flesh is white, very fat, and is excellent. The peje rey is very similar to a smelt, but when full-grown is of the size of a herring; it has not the same odour as the smelt, but is equally nice when cooked.
In the vicinity of Talcahuano is the gold fish, about ten inches long, flat and of an oval form, with small scales; it is of a bright gold colour, and has five zones or bands surrounding it. One round the neck is black, two others about the middle of the fish are grey, one near the tail is black, and the fifth, at the juncture of the tail with the body is grey; its flesh is very delicate. The chalgua achagual, called by the Spaniards peje gallo, cock fish, is about three feet long; its body is round, rather thicker in the middle than at the neck or near the tail; it is covered with a whitish skin, but has no scales; on its head it has a cartilaginous crest about three quarters of an inch thick—its flesh is not good. The tollo, a species of dog-fish, is about three feet long; it has two triangular dorsal spines, remarkably hard, but no other bones; it is salted and dried, and sent to the Lima market, being rarely eaten fresh, although it is then very good. On the coasts the natives catch a variety of species that are common to other seas, such as the skate, the dog-fish, saw-fish, old wife, conger eel, rock cod, whiting, turbot, plaice, bonito, mackerel, roach, mullet, pilchard, anchovy, &c.
Among the mollusca tribe the muscle is very fine; I have frequently seen them eight inches long, and their flavour is excellent. They are often salted and dried; after which they are strung on slender rushes, and in this manner large quantities are exported. The white urchin is of a globular form, about three inches in diameter, with a whitish shell and spines; the interior substance is yellow, but very good to eat. The pico is a kind of barnacle, adhering to steep rocks at the water's edge: from ten to twenty of them inhabit as many separate cells of a pyramidal form, made of a cretaceous substance, with a little aperture at the top of each cell; they receive their food at this hole, where a kind of small bill protrudes, similar to that of a bird, and hence the animal receives its name of pico, a bill. They are very white, tender, and most delicate eating. The loco is oval, and its shell is covered with small tuberosities: it is from four to five inches long, and the interior or edible substance is white, and very excellent. Of the molluscas the piuri is the most remarkable, in respect both to its shape and habitation; the latter is formed of a coriaceous matter, adhering to the rocks, and which is divided into separate cells, by means of strong membranes. In each of these, in a detached state, is formed the piuri; it is about the size of a large cherry, which it so much resembles in colour, that the following anecdote is related: a native of Chiloe had never seen any cherries until he came to Conception, and observing an abundance there he exclaimed, "What a charming country this is, why the piuries grow on the trees!" This animal, if it deserve to be so called, is eaten either roasted or boiled, and has a taste similar to that of the lobster: great quantities are annually dried for exportation.
Of the crustaceous fishes, the xaiva, crab, has a shell that is nearly spherical, about three inches in diameter, and two inches deep, furnished with spines upon the edges. The apancora, another of the crab species, has an oval shell, denticulated, and generally larger than the xaiva; both are red when boiled, and their flesh is well tasted. Crawfish, camarones, are sometimes caught of the enormous weight of eight or nine pounds each, and are very good.
The principal commerce between this port and some of the other Spanish colonies consists in the exportation of wheat, with which article about six ships, of not less than four hundred tons burthen each, are annually laden, making an average of two thousand four hundred tons, which in an infant country, and for colonial consumption, may be considered very great. Nearly the whole of this wheat is carried to Lima. Of jerked beef, charqui, about six thousand quintals, with a proportionate quantity of tallow and fat, grasa; and of wine, on an average, two thousand jars, containing eighteen gallons each, are annually exported. The minor articles are raw hides, wool, dried fruits, salt fish and pulse. The imports are a small quantity of European manufactured goods, sugar, salt and tobacco; the taxes on which produce from one hundred and two to one hundred and five thousand dollars per annum.
I have already mentioned the benefit which would result from a soap manufactory being established at Talcahuano; another establishment, however, of still greater importance, might be formed either on the banks of the Bio-bio, or on those of the Maule: I mean a sawing mill. Both of these rivers have a sufficient current for the purpose, and an abundance of good timber in their vicinity. A dock yard on a trifling scale has been established and small craft have been built at Maule; but Guayaquil is the great dock yard on the western coast of South America, and vessels of eight hundred tons burthen have been built there; beside which the timber markets of Peru have been almost exclusively supplied with wood from the forest of Guayaquil: this article is becoming scarce in that district, and recourse must soon be had to some other parts, and there are none that present the same facilities as the two I have now mentioned. The forests of the province of Conception are as yet untouched; the price of labour there does not exceed one-third of that at Guayaquil; the hire of cattle for bringing the wood from any part of the forests to the river side bears the same proportion as the price of labour; the advantage of superiority of climate is also attached to this province, as well as that of the total absence of ravenous beasts and poisonous reptiles, which abound in the woods, rivers and estuaries of Guayaquil. The conducting of timber to the port of Talcahuano for embarkation, and its shipment in small vessels in the Maule, are facilities of considerable importance; to which we may add the short passage from either of these two places to the principal established market of Lima, the passage from Guayaquil being of a treble duration. Small vessels only can get out of the Maule, because a bar at the entrance of the river would prevent the egress of
