CHILE OF TO-DAY 419 bonded warehouses, government buildings, and, a lit- tle farther in the background, the city itself, built on terraces of the hills. Concepcion is a city of over 25,000 people; it pro- mises to be one of the chief cities of Chile. It has a pushing and energetic class of inhabitants. There are three main streets running parallel with each other, well paved and lined with business houses. It has a fine large railway depot, tramways, telegraphs, tele- phones and electric lights. The city is situated at the head of Concepcion Bay on a charming spot, twenty minutes by rail from Talcahuano, its port. The latter is one of the best ports in Chile and bids fair some time to become a formidable rival of Valparaiso. Tom6 and Penco are also ports of Concepcion. From these southern ports are exported vast quantities of wheat, wool, wines, barley, oats, linseed and honey. Trans- portation facilities are excellent. Beside the railways to the capital and the towns to the south, the steam- ers of five European lines stop there on their regular trips north. Between the capital and Concepcion, the provincial cities, situated in the midst of rich agricultural dis- tricts, are all thriving. Such are Chilian, Talca, San Fernando, Rengo and Rancagua. So are also the cities farther south in the old Araucanian territories, Los Angeles, Angol, Traiguen, Valdivia. The first three of these towns are of about the same size, each num- bering some six or seven thousand inhabitants. Val- divia, a German city, numbers about 23,000 population. These places are situated in a country but recently opened to settlement, and, surrounded as they are by a rich agricultural zone, are destined to become fore- most among the cities of Chile. Cauquenes is a place of from seven to ten thousand
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