he party, as were all of our scientific
brethren, and as many of the officers as duty permitted to be absent.
Very early, on a beautiful morning, we distributed our party in three
large boats, and rowed, in two hours, to the destined point. We landed
at the village of Pencu, which, like Portici upon Herculaneum, is built
upon the ruins of the former town of Conception, and whose inhabitants
live quietly and cheerfully over the graves of their unfortunate
predecessors, and disturb themselves little with the thought, that the
same fate may bury them one day in a living tomb.

About fifteen houses, surrounded by gardens, lie scattered here over a
lovely plain, watered by the small river St. Peter. Nature here appears
more luxuriant and productive than at Talcaguana. The mountains which
encircle this valley rise gently to a moderate height, and delight the
eye by the freshness of the shrubs with which they are covered.

While we gave chase to many kinds of birds and insects for the
improvement of our collection, the sailors threw out a great net, and
took a quantity of shell and other fish with which the sea abounds in
this neighbourhood, and which make the chief subsistence of the poorer
classes of people. The environs of this village are considered the
loveliest district round the bay, and infinitely surpassing Talcaguana
in the beauty of its scenery. Few remains of the old town are visible.
The earth seems to have actually opened and swallowed it up, leaving
scarcely a trace behind. Even the yawning gulph in which it sunk has
filled again, so that it is only here and there upon the plain that some
fragment of a former dwelling reminds one of the fearful catastrophe.

The inhabitants of Talcaguana and Conception make excursions to Pencu,
to examine, as a curiosity, a water-mill established there by some
foreigner. We found it so out of repair as to be unserviceable, and the
owner complained that he could find no one capable of mending it. The
wheat is here ground to flour by beating it in stone pots with heavy
wooden clubs; which may serve to give some idea of the progress the
Chilians have made in the useful arts.

Mendiburu possessed an estate near Pencu, where we partook of a pleasant
meal under the shade of fruit-trees. After dinner the whole company went
shooting, and in the course of a few hours had killed several hundred
water-birds of various kinds. The flocks in which they fly are sometimes
so numerous as to d