The Republican journal., 1904-01-14

legal holiday, for nobody dreams of
working at such time. With the first
peep of dawning all the bells are rung,
and in every church the usual six
clock mass is celebrated. The largest
sanctuary in the place has been deco
rated beforehand for the occasion, with
flags and flowers and votive offerings
around the shrines of the holy fisher
man. At ten a. m. the people congre-
gate, and procession is formed to
march down to the ocean. A life-sized
wax or wooden figure richly dressed,
representing the apostle Peter, is car
ried at the head of the procession with
great pomp and ceremony. Arrived at
the waters edge, the image is placed in
a boat and held over the sea, and at
Talcahuano it is rowed all around the
bay, while priests bless the waters that
they may produce fish abundantly.
Those who expect to reap the reward
of this sanity patronage, the poor fish
ermen, are highly taxed to pay for the
performance.
Pone, on the opposite side of the bay,
pronounced Poe-nay, accenting the
final sylable), is a favorite summer re-
sort for the people of this section. A
tiny steamboat, fifty feet long by fif-
teen wide, with a canvas awning to
protect the passengers from sun and
rain, plies continually between Taica-
huano and Pone. 1t was bought one
day by an energetic German, for what
loose change he happened to have in
his vest pocket, and now he realizes no
less than ten thousand dollars year
carrying passengers across the bay. 1t
seems strange that so much of the bus
mess on Chili's coast is in the hands of
foreigners At Pone one hears more
English, French and German spoken
than Spanish; and frequently, when
wrestling with the native dialect in an
effort to buy something, you are sur
prised by the question, Don't you
speak English, madame?" They make
barrels in Pone, and wine, whiskey and
brandy to fill them; also flour, brick, til
ing and an excellent quality of wooden
cloth. The bathing is said to be excep-
tionally good but there are no bath
houses, and l am Informed that it is
the custom for parties coming here to
bring along small tents, in which mat
tiers of dress may be adjusted; or mat
tiers of undress, rather, for strollers on
the beach at almost any hour may see
men, women and children disporting
themselves gleefully in the water in
perfectly nude condition, who appear
neither startled nor embarrassed by
the gaze of beholders.
The city of Conception, formerly
named Pence, was situated on the east
ern side of the bay; but its repeated
destruction by the sea, earthquakes and
the Araucanian Indians, finally drove
the inhabitants nine miles inland,
where they located the present city
upon the northern bank of the river
Bio-Bio, a large, navigable stream. Old
Pence, as the former town is now
called. possesses peculiar interest from
its historical associations, for it was
here that Pedro de Naldivia first raised
the Cross of Spain in Southern Chill, in
the year 1850. All that is now to be
seen OF its former greatness are the re-
mains of an ancient fort, or waterfall
terry, with walls six feet thick and of
great extent. On the facade the Span
ish coat of arms, covering space eight
feet square, is cut in stone. The road
from Talcahuano to Conception trav-
erses a sandy plain, dotted here and
there by bushes and dwarf trees. AS
the traveller approaches he sees what at
first appears to be few scattered huts
at the base of range of sand-hills and
not far off the mighty Bio-Bio; and is
amazed to find himself almost immedi-
ately afterwards in the midst of a city
of 10000 people. 1t was noon when we
reached Conception, and in passing
through long street to our hotel we
saw only three animated objects-a
muleteer, boy and donkey. 1t was
the siesta hour, and the whole city was
asleep; and in broad day, among thou
sands of human beings, utter silence
reigns. The hotel to which we were
directed is quaint enough to merit
description. There is passage in the
center, through which donkeys, laden
with wood, bags of water, sacks of coal,
baskets of vegetables, dead pigs, sheep,
ETC., are driven on their way to the
kitchen. The only room to sit in is the
dining room, which is floored with
brick and has bar of liquors in one
corner. All the bedrooms open on the
central court, and if you are partial to
light and air enough to keep door or
window open, their interiors may be
scanned at leisure by all the neighbors.
That the quaint old city has made
many advances in civilization the fol-
lowing true story will show: A little
more than 40 years ago, beautiful
girl, whose parents were among the