Valdivia, situated in 39° 50´ south latitude, and in longitude 73° 28´, is one of the best ports on the western shores of South America: it is also the strongest, both from its natural position and its fortifications. The mouth of the harbour is narrow, and the San Carlos battery on the small promontory on the south, with that of Niebla on the north side, commands the entrance, their balls crossing the passage. There are likewise on the south side the batteries Amargos, the high and low Chorocamayo, and at the bottom of the bay the castle Corral, commanding the anchorage. In the small island of Mansera is a battery for the protection of the mouth of the river leading to the city, besides an advanced post on the south side at Aguada del Ingles, and two, La Avansada and El Piojo, on the north. At the taking of Valdivia by Lord Cochrane in 1820, one hundred and eighteen pieces of cannon, of eighteen and twenty-four pounds calibre, were found mounted. Some of them were beautiful brass pieces, particularly two eighteens at Mansera, which measured eleven feet in length, were handsomely carved and embossed, and bore the date of 1547. His lordship sent them to Valparaiso, where I had the mortification to see them broken up and converted into grape shot, by the orders of Governor Crus; who thus deprived Chile of a noble monument of her naval glory, and Chilean posterity of the pleasure of viewing, as their property, part of those engines brought from the old, for the purpose of enslaving the new world! The anchorage is good, being most completely sheltered, and capable of holding a great number of ships. On the north side of the harbour is the river, which leads to the city. Its banks are covered with trees, suitable for ship-building and many other purposes. Among them are the white and red cedar, _alerces_; the _pellinos_, a species of oak, and the _luma_. The river abounds with fish, particularly the _pege rey_, the _lisa_, and the _bagre_. At its mouth are caught _robalo_, _corbina_, _choros_, _xaiba_ and _apancoras_. The city of Valdivia stands on the south side of the river, and is sixteen miles from the port. On the left, ascending the river, are some few remains of the Dutch settlements. The natives call them _hornos de los Olandeses_; supposing that Henry Brun's vessels anchored here, and that these ruins are the wrecks of the ovens built by the Dutch for the purpose of baking their bread. The tradition is quite incredible, for vessels cannot enter the river, there not being above four feet water in some places, and the channel being so extremely narrow, that a launch cannot pass. Indeed at low water the large canoes of the inhabitants have to wait for the tide.