Concepción is the supply centre of Southern Chile, and does a large wholesale business as well as some manufacturing on a small scale. Quite a foreign colony is found there, and there are as good clubs and hotels as in Valparaiso, its northern rival. It has forgotten all about earthquakes and has risen above its former disasters. It is arranged very much as other Chilean cities. There is an alameda bordered with poplars, and there is a plaza. Lord Cochrane (pronounced Coch-rah-ne by the Chileans), and Admiral O’Higgins are remembered in the nomenclature of the streets. You can sit under municipal vines and fig-trees, or the pear or cherry loaded with blossoms, if you happen to be there in September. The markets are overflowing with fine vegetables, such as cauliflower, lettuce, artichokes, carrots, radishes, potatoes, cabbage, etc., etc. Indian faces are very numerous at the market and on the streets. Bands play two or three nights in the week and the music is good. The flat plain on which the town is situated is not especially beautiful, but it gives unlimited opportunity for growth, and the Bio-Bio, especially when at flood, is an impressive stream. The galvanized iron used so extensively in construction does not add much to the beauty of the town. As Southern Chile develops, Concepción becomes of greater and greater importance, and it has a steady and healthy increase each year. Osorno is a thriving city a little ways inland on a branch of the Rio Bueno, and was a place of considerable importance in the Spanish days. Corral is at the mouth of the river that leads back to Valdivia, a dozen miles inland. It has a trade of considerable importance with the other ports, and is distant from Valparaiso almost five hundred miles. The coast is not so densely wooded as farther south, and the tide is not more than one-fourth as high on the average. Puerto Montt is a prosperous and progressive little town situated on Reloncavi Bay. It has a well protected harbour and enjoys a considerable trade in lumber, wheat and leather. The lofty Andes are plainly visible on a clear day, especially the volcano Cabulco, which is only twenty-two miles distant. A half century ago this port had a commerce of considerable value and was even then exporting food products, although its population did not much exceed a couple of thousand. [Illustration: VIEW OF PUERTO MONTT. Courtesy of Bulletin of the Pan American Union.]