Talcahuano

“ Talcahuano, or Turkeywarner, as it is oddly enough called by sailors, though hardly known to the civilised world, has long been the favorite resort of ships engaged in the whale fishery. They generally remain a week or more in port to recruit and lay in a stock of fresh provisions, and the town has hence become the very hot bed of vice. As we walked through the filthy narrow streets, the open doors on each side were full of women, who kept up an incessant cry of "come in, Californe;" ”

“ It is the commercial centre of a rich agricultural region, but because of obstructions at the mouth of the Bio-Bio its trade passes in great part through the port of Talcahuano, 8 m. distant by rail. The small port of Penco, situated on the same bay and 10 m. distant by rail, also receives a part of the trade because of official restrictions at Talcahuano. Concepción is one of the southern termini of the Chilean central railway, by which it is connected with Santiago to the N., with Valdivia and Puerto Montt to the S., and with the port of Talcahuano. ”

“ On the 15th of January 1838 they sighted the Antarctic ice, and soon after their progress southward was blocked by a continuous bank, which they vainly coasted for 300 m. to the east. Returning westward they visited the South Orkney Islands and part of the New Shetlands, and discovered Joinville Island and Louis Philippe Land, but were compelled by scurvy to seek succour at Talcahuano in Chile. ”

“ A WEEK after they had doubled the Cape Pilares, the DUNCAN steamed into the bay of Talcahuano, a magnificent estuary, twelve miles long and nine broad. The weather was splendid. From November to March the sky is always cloudless, and a constant south wind prevails, as the coast is sheltered by the mountain range of the Andes. In obedience to Lord Glenarvan's order, John Mangles had sailed as near the archipelago of Chiloe as possible, and examined all the creeks and windings of the coast, hoping to discover some traces of the shipwreck. ”

“ Talcahuano was by nature a strong position, but was made stronger still by art. The garrison consisted of 1,700 men and seventy heavy guns were mounted on the forts, while a frigate, a brig of war, and five gunboats in the bay, and a boat with one heavy gun on the western side of the peninsula, enfiladed the approach from the South. It was called by O’Higgins the Chilian Gibraltar, and here it was that Ordoñez by far-seeing prudence, held the united forces of Chile and the United Provinces in check for three years. ”

“ Wealth in coal has brought a large number of factories and mills to the prosperous city of Concepción, was a factor in the establishment of the chief naval station of Chile in the fine bay of Talcahuano—the best-sheltered port of Chile—and developed smelting and metal-refining works at Tomé, to the north of Talcahuano, and in Coronel and Lota, farther south. ”

“ The river Bio-bio, which is two miles in breadth at San Pedro, rises in the Cordillera, and enters the sea about five miles to the south of Talcahuano, the port of Conception, having two mountains at the mouth called las tetas de Bio-bio, paps of Bio-bio. It is navigable by canoes and flats to a considerable distance from the mouth. The finest timber grows on its banks, which the wars of conquest and emancipation have repeatedly deluged with blood! ”

“ 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 large ships when deeply laden. ”

“ So far as its ostensible object was concerned the mission was a complete failure, but Torres succeeded in communicating with the Patriots of Peru, and took back with him in January, 1818, full particulars of the expedition which followed close upon his heels.{167}
Three thousand four hundred well equipped men reached Talcahuano early in January, in four ships mounting 234 guns. Most of these were veteran troops, and were commanded by General Osorio, the conqueror of Chile in 1814, who was sent to supersede Ordoñez. ”

“ The city is built on a level plain but little above the sea-level, and is laid out in regular squares with broad streets. It is an episcopal see with a cathedral and several fine churches, and is the seat of a court of appeal. The city was founded by Pedro de Valdivia in 1550, and received the singular title of “La Concepción del Nuevo Extremo.” It was located on the bay of Talcahuano where the town of Penco now stands, about 9 m. ”

“ As nothing could be done without troops, with which the Chilian ministers had been careful not to supply me, I determined to sail to Conception, where Governor Freire had a considerable force to keep in check the savage tribes of Indians whom the Spaniards employed, under the monster Benavides and his brother, to murder the defenceless patriots. On the 22nd of January we anchored in Talcahuano bay, where we found the Buenos Ayrean brig Intrepido and the Chilian schooner Montezuma. ”

“ The Spaniards kept possession of Talcahuano, as well as the southern provinces, and received supplies from Peru, principally composed of the regiment of Burgos, one of the finest bodies of troops ever sent from Spain. General Osorio again took the command of the army, and marched towards the capital, while the patriots mustered all their forces to oppose him. The Spanish force was composed of about five thousand regulars, and it gained several advantages, particularly one at Cancharayada, where they surprised the Chilean army in the [Pg 184] night, and completely dispersed it ”

“ It is significant of Chile’s high repute as a trainer of young sailors that cadets from several other South American countries are to be seen in Chilean naval schools.
Besides the Valparaiso establishments, Talcahuano has a Mechanical School for naval engineers, with 200 cadets in training; here also young officers obtain instruction in torpedo work and radiotelegraphy; this school turns out about 120 seamen, 30 wireless operators, and 20 midshipmen, as well as qualifying an average of 10 officers. On board the ex-Cochrane is a gunnery school, training 120 men every year ”

“ The Triumph having been detained in Chilian waters many weeks longer than was then expected, I was afterwards forced to forego the agreeable prospect of a voyage in company with an officer whose varied accomplishments and extensive observation of nature under the most varied136 conditions make his society equally agreeable and instructive.
Leaving Caldera soon after midday, the Ayacucho reached Coquimbo early on the following morning. With only the exception of Talcahuano, this is the best port in Chili, being sheltered from all troublesome winds, and affording good anchorage for large ships. ”

“ Yonder, as far as the eye can reach, is a point of land rising to the view. And as we approach it, there are seen two beautifully rounded hills. We have examined the chart, and find these hills to be the "Paps of Bio-bio," and Talcahuana lies several miles beyond them. We had hoped to reach that port to-day, but now we find the distance too great to be accomplished by daylight, and as Captain J. has never been there, he will not risk the passage by night. So, despite our impatience, we have no alternative but to sail up to the entrance to the harbor, and lay off and on till morning. ”

“ There is nothing but its historical memories of special interest in Tlaxcala. It is a town of some 3000 inhabitants, a few hundred feet higher than Mexico City, with many ancient buildings, mostly of stone, often mere ruins, from the seams of surely half of which sprout grass and flowers, as they do between the cobbles of its streets and its large rambling plaza. I visited the old church on the site of which Christianity—of the Spanish brand—was first preached on the American continent. Here was the same Indian realism as elsewhere in the republic. ”

“ In all that land of warriors there was none so famed as Tlahuicol. To all men he was known as the Tlascalan; but ever to himself and to Huetzin, his son, he whispered that he was Tlahuicol the Toltec. For years he had been the dreaded war-chief of the dauntless little mountain republic of Tlascala, which, alone of all those now occupying the land of Anahuac, had resisted the all-conquering Aztec arms, and retained its freedom. ”

“ The capital town of Tlascala is situated between two mountains, in 19° 16' of north latitude, and 58' east longitude from Mexico, near the only stream of importance in the territory, known as the Rio Atoyac or Papagallo, under which name it passes through the State of Puebla on its way to the Pacific. The ancient numerous population of Tlascala is no longer found within its limits, and perhaps not more than four or five thousand individuals now inhabit it. ”

“ It is three miles from the city. The third causeway, Tlacopan, is quite as memorably historic. The Calle de Tacuba is the ancient causeway of Tlacopan. It was here that the Spaniards were defeated by the Aztecs, and, as is related by all historians, here also Pedro Alvarado made his famous leap, on the terrible night of July 1, 1520—the Noche Triste. It must have been indeed a night of sorrow for the conquerors. A pitiless rain poured down upon the invaders. Neither starlight nor moonlight lent their gentle radiance to a scene so terrible. ”

“ For ten hours we rode, without even stopping for lunch, through Sabina and Pichataro, San Juan Tumbio and Ajuno, back to comfortable Patzcuaro.
CHAPTER VIII
TLAXCALA (1898)
We have always loved the State of Tlaxcala and its quaint little capital city of the same name. For more than a dozen years its governor has been Prospero Cahuantzi, a pure-blood indian, whose native language is Aztec. He is a large, well built man, with full face and little black eyes that are sunken deeply into the flesh. He is a man of some force and energy. ”

“ There never were more valiant men than these soldiers of Tlascala."
"Of a surety," said Don Amador, "I begin to think the captain Gomez of the caravel was somewhat mistaken as to the courage of these barbarians."
"Thou seest the second chief,—he of the green penacho, with whom Cortes confers so very courteously! That is Talmeccahua, chief of the tribe Tizatlan, a very young warrior, but second in fame only to Xicotencal; and being more docile and friendly, he is much a favourite with our general, and doubtless will be selected to accompany us to the great city. ”

“ Naturally a people holding such a belief would look elsewhere than within their own borders for the material wherewith to placate their deity. This could be most suitably found among the inhabitants of a neighbouring state. It thus became the business of the warrior class in the Aztec state to furnish forth the altars of the gods with human victims. The most suitable district of supply was the pueblo of Tlaxcallan, or Tlascala, the people of which were of cognate origin to the Aztecs. ”

“ It is not gloomy; there are no forests; the country is open and rolling; and the name "Tlaxcala," it now appears, is fertility, the "Land of Bread." I left at 11 A.M., and arrived at the village of Santa Ana, on the railroad to Apizaco, in a couple of hours. After a time a conveyance was to be had, in the shape of a dilapidated hack drawn by three horses, in the lead, and two mules. This was run as a stage-line to Tlaxcala; and in an hour more, largely of floundering over ruts and following the beds of swollen brooks—for nobody ever thinks of mending a road in Mexico—we were there. ”

“ The city was likewise divided into four districts, in which people of the separate tribes lived, each under its own chief. As the country was hemmed in on all sides by the Aztec Empire, there was no commerce, and the chief pursuit was agriculture. The Tlascalans were a brave, hardy, and war-like people, well advanced in military science, and having something very like a feudal system of chivalry, in that the different chiefs or lords had each his own standard and crest, and the soldiers were uniformed in their leaders' colours and owed him allegiance; Xicotencatl's. ”

“ I, the undersigned, Don Pancho Bustamente, general of division, ex-minister at war of the Chilian republic, engage, in favour of Antinahuel, grand Toqui of the Araucanos, to abandon, in all proprietorship, to him and to his people, to enjoy and dispose of at their pleasure now and for ever, without anyone being able to contest with them the legitimate proprietorship: first, the province of Valdivia; second, the province of Concepción, to within twenty miles of the city of Talca. ”

“ BEFORE advancing further with the Spaniards into the territory of Tlascala, it will be well to notice some traits in the character and institutions of the nation, in many respects the most remarkable in Anahuac. The Tlascalans belonged to the same great family with the Aztecs. [103] {*} They came on the grand plateau about the same time with the kindred races, at the close of the twelfth century, and planted themselves on the western borders of the lake of Tezcuco. Here they remained many years, engaged in the usual pursuits of a bold and partially civilized people. ”

“ Talca, the sixth city of Chile with a population of 42,088 inhabitants, and San Javier in the Province of Linares which has 4898 people. This town lies about three miles east of the railroad track but is connected to the depot by horse [276] cars and to Villa Alegre, the next town south of it, by trolley.
The Andean Province of Linares and its southern neighbor Ñuble are very important agriculturally, both being two of the best in the republic. Their crops are diversified, run high in percentage of measure to the hectare and are of good quality. ”