In the bay are three anchoring grounds, that named _Talcaguana_ is the most frequented by all vessels, as they lie secure from the north winds. It has a small town at its termination two leagues from the capital, and to which it gives its name; the two other roads are not so well sheltered from the north winds, and have not such good bottom as Talcaguana. The tides rise six feet three inches, but the water is smooth, and the current is scarcely felt. Though this celebrated harbour is so good, yet it is necessary to have an experienced pilot to conduct a ship into it, as there are several reefs and shoals off the entrance. _PROVINCE OF HUILQUILEMU._ Huilquilemu is the thirteenth and last department of Continental Chili, and is bounded by Chillan on the north; by the Cordillera of the Andes on the west, Puchacay on the east, and the Biobio on the south. The rivers _Biobio_, _Puchacay_, _Itata_, _Claro_, _Laxo_, and _Duqueco_ are its chief streams, and the first named may be said to be the boundary between the Spanish possessions and the country of the Araucanian confederacy. It rises in the Andes near the volcano of Tucapel, and runs into the Pacific, a short distance south of the city of Concepcion, where at a league above its mouth it is four leagues in breadth. The Biobio may be forded on horseback in summer, but in winter it is deep, and generally navigated with balsas or rafts. On the northern and southern shores of this river, the Spaniards have constructed a chain of frontier forts to restrain the Indians; these works are generally strongly built, and well furnished with arms, ammunition, provisions, and a competent garrison of cavalry, infantry, and artillery. The principal forts are _Arauco_, where the commanding general resides, _Santajuana_, _Puren_, _Los Angelos_, _Tucapel_, _Yumbel_, _Santabarbara_, _St. Pedro_, _Nascimiento_ and _Colcura_. Huilquilemu is rich in gold, which is procured by washings in the numerous streams flowing from the Andes; its plains are very fertile, and yield grains and fruits in great plenty, and an excellent muscadel wine is made from the vines grown in its settlements. The Indians are of the same tribe with those of Itata, and having been long accustomed to defend their country against the Araucanians; they are warlike and courageous. The capital is _Estancia del Rey_, or _St. Luis de Gonzaga_, lately built near the Biobio in 36° 45', south latitude. It has a parish church, and a college erected by the Jesuits. The other places of Huilquilemu, are mostly small villages, and it contains the four frontier forts, Yumbel, Tucapel, Santa Barbara and Puren. The Spaniards possess no other part of Chili on the continent, in proceeding to the south of the Biobio river, till the 39° 58' of south latitude, where they hold the city of Valdivia and the country in its vicinity, but as their tenure is by no means certain without the walls of the town, it cannot be called a province.