Nevin O. Winter

“ Politics is the most genteel occupation in Chile to-day, for the army, navy and church, formerly so popular with the Spaniards, no longer appeal to the Chileno of good and influential family. A government appointment means easy or no work, fair pay, and less danger than martial occupations, where the call to arms might come at any time. It is not because of lack of courage, for no braver or more courageous people can be found in South America than these same Chileans, who sit in the cafés and drink their spirits or puff tobacco wrapped in thin paper. ”

“ It is in the market-places that one can best study the common people. There are two markets in Santiago, both of them on the bank of the Mapocho. At the newer one one will be sure to find some newsboys plying their trade. “La Union” and “El Mercurio” are the cries of these busy little newsboys, as they flit in and out among the marketers of Santiago. They are barefooted ragamuffins, most of them, but they industriously ply their trade. Their complexions are of different shades, for some of the boys have Indian blood in their veins, which gives them a deeper colouring. ”

“ It is the Lago del Inca, the Lake of the Incas. Pure as crystal, and clear as an unclouded sky, this little body of water rests tranquilly amidst as harsh and severe a setting as one could well find. Masses of rock seem poised on ledges ready to project themselves down into valleys with destruction in their path. The mad gods who formed these eternal peaks must have paused for a moment in their work in order to add this one touch of real beauty to the landscape. ”

“ Nothing can surpass these vast ridges clad in their winter dress. White and cold, they form a veritable valley of desolation. It is the cold of death, the white mantle of annihilation—something that the brain can scarcely compass. The feeling of solitude in the midst of the whiteness everywhere almost overwhelms the traveller with despair. In places the snow is frequently as much as fifteen feet in depth, deep enough to bury a horse and rider. Sudden storms are likely to overtake the traveller, and he would be snowed in in one of the casuchas. ”

“ Flower-bearing bushes are numerous, and genuine field daisies are as plentiful in places as on a New England meadow. Cataracts are everywhere in sight and mark the mountain sides like long white streaks. At times when the boat is near the shore their roar can be heard. An occasional wreck may be sighted, but more of them lie unseen, buried beneath countless fathoms of water, for the shore descends down in an almost perpendicular line to fathomless depths. Few vessels thread these narrows, but it is a sight never to be forgotten by one who has had the privilege of making the trip. ”

“ Unlike the camel the llama never sulks, although sometimes stubborn. I have seen camels grunt and groan as the loads were placed on their backs. They will sometimes snap viciously at whoever passes near, and at other times tears will flow down a camel’s cheeks like a baby’s, so it is said. The llama always carries his burden with a proud air, scanning the landscape as he goes, and pricking up his ears with interest at every new or strange thing. ”

“ If animal power is employed it is almost invariably oxen, and not horses or mules. They plough the ground, haul the timber, and behind them the thousands of bushels of grain produced in this valley are conveyed to market. These animals are yoked by the horns, which seems a very cruel way to treat these humble but faithful servants of man. It looks to the onlooker as though every jar of the great carts must give pain to the oxen, and oftentimes their eyes seem almost darting from their heads. ”

“ It seems to be a veritable hothouse of nature, where plants and trees wage a desperate war for existence against the vines, mosses and other parasites that attack them. This is the end of such scenes, however, for days and days. It would be difficult to find a more dreary aspect than the coast of South America from the boundary of Ecuador almost to Valparaiso. From the water’s edge to the Andes chain of mountains stretches a yellow and brown desert, unrelieved by a tinge of green, except where irrigation has been employed. ”

“ Few places on the earth’s surface within easy reach can compare with the Straits of Magellan. This channel has become the great trade route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Few boats, except sailing vessels, now take the longer route around Cape Horn, because of the storms that lash the Antarctic seas into fury. For several hundred miles the Straits furnish a succession of beautiful scenes; green shores alternating with the eternal glaciers of the mountain peaks, blue waters contrasting with the shimmering crystal of the floating icebergs. ”

“ Soon after leaving Callao the tedium of the voyage is relieved by the flight of millions upon millions of birds. There are gulls, ducks, cormorants, divers of all kinds and great pelicans with huge pouches under their bills. The sea is as animated as the air, and schools of fish, innumerable in numbers, may be seen darting through the water with their fins showing above its surface. ”

“ At the present time peace prevails, although there are continual mutterings in Peru, and that country only needs a hot-headed leader to bring about another war with Chile over the lost revenue from the nitrate fields.
The Chileans are a brave and a courageous people. The natural boundaries have no doubt aided in developing a national spirit and love of independence. Truly no people in South America have fought so long and so hard to achieve national independence. ”

“ Of course it cannot compare with the streams on the Atlantic coast, but it is a striking river. Dancing mountain streams join it here and there—sometimes with a leap from the hills, thus forming numerous cascades. These white streaks of the cascades are visible on the mountain slopes in many places. The mists keep shifting and shimmering around the various peaks,—now revealing and again hiding the silent glens or gullies. The abundance of wooding oftentimes almost overcomes [115] the beholder with the helplessness of humanity in such a region. ”

“ It is little wonder that lawn-mowers are a drug on the market in Iquique. The sun is fierce, and its unrelenting rays, absorbed and reflected by the vast area of desert waste, inflame the air to almost furnace heat. The streets are dusty and the fine particles get into your ears and nostrils, and you can almost taste it on your tongue. ”

“ As the boats remain at Callao for a day the traveller is able to spend a few hours in the “City of the Kings,” as Pizarro christened it. Lima is a wonderfully interesting city, and its history is full of romance. It preserves in wood and stone the spirit of old Spain as it was transplanted into the New World. Carved balconies, which were patterned after their native Andalusia, still overhang the narrow streets of the Peruvian capital. [28] Up-to-date electric cars whirl past old monastery walls where life has scarcely changed in three centuries. ”

“ Then, as darkness slowly falls over the landscape, the electric lights of the city flash forth beneath you like visions in fairy land. The whole scene, with its variations and transformations, is one that will long linger in memory. ”

“ The great desert of Tarapacá, which stretches along the coast of Chile for hundreds of miles, has proven to be the most valuable of its entire possessions. And yet it is as barren a desert as one could find on the surface of the globe. ”

“ Out of the white sea of snow there mount, under the uplift of hot air currents, great towers of cloud, which rise high into the air like the smoke-discharge from a volcano. Huge caves and cloud avenues are formed, wherein dark-blue shadows gather, with occasionally a high mountain top peeping forth like the foundation stone of a gigantic cloud castle. ”

“ The surface of the bay is always dotted with vessels from almost every quarter of the globe. One can at any time see the flags of a half dozen or more different nations floating from the mastheads. Then there are hundreds of small lighters which are used to carry the freight between vessel and shore, as no docks have been constructed at which vessels can unload. In the far distance may be seen, on a clear day, the backbone of the continent, the Andes, with its serrated ridges and snowy summits glistening in the sunlight. ”

“ Many lives have been lost by devotees of this science, while pitting skill and strength against nature and her secrets. It has not been long since the elevations of the southern half of this continent were an unknown land; some lofty peaks were unexplored and unnamed, and only dim suggestions of their majesty and splendour had reached the scientific world, but they now hold an interest second to none. ”

“ South of Punta Arenas there is only one settlement of any importance, and that is Ushuaia. This town is situated on the Argentine side of Tierra del Fuego, and, small as it is, it is the capital of that territory. It stands nearer to the South Pole than any other civilized village in the world. The barriers created by nature are almost insurmountable. To the south is the unknown Antarctic, to the north the impassable barrier of snow-clad peaks, and in all other directions are the fathomless channels separating it from the other islands. ”

“ Some have not even mastered the Spanish tongue, and few take any part in the government. These two races may become amalgamated eventually, and it would be a good thing for Chile to receive into its fold this sturdy Teutonic blood.
Of all the nationalities, other than Spanish, that have entered Chile, the British is the most prominent and has been the most prosperous. It is likewise the most numerous. Britons, such as the O’Higgins, Lord Cochrane and Captain [209] Prat, have helped to fight Chile’s battles, and their financiers have advanced the money that has developed her resources. ”

“ Only a few years ago the geographers labelled Patagonia “no man’s land.” To-day millions of sheep graze over its fertile plains. It is as large as several of our western states. It is a land of big distances and enormous holdings. In the pasture section it is often a ride of three or four days from one ranch to another. Most of these ranches are near the coast or along the few rivers. As one travels into the interior a white face becomes more and more rare; empty leagues surround you on every hand. One accustomed to cities only would find it very lonely indeed on these plains. ”

“ It is a fact, however, that the cities of Santiago, Valparaiso and Concepción will frequently show a mortality rate of fifty to the thousand of population. The average for the whole republic is about thirty-five per thousand, which is nearly double the death rate for countries in the temperate zone. As Chile is not in the torrid zone, it is not subject to epidemics of yellow fever or other tropical scourges. Foreigners who live there find the climate, especially in the central part, not only delightful, but healthful, and very old people are quite common. ”

“ It was near Guayaquil that Pizarro landed with one hundred and eighty men to conquer the empire of the Incas. The capital of Ecuador, Quito, lies in a saucer-shaped cup at the foot of Mt. Pichincha, with many other lofty peaks in sight. It perhaps retains more of the original characteristics than any other city of South America. It vies with the City of Mexico the distinction of being the oldest city of the Americas. For centuries prior to the coming of the Spaniards it was the capital of one of the branches of the Incas, and Atahualpa used to eat his meals off plates made of solid gold. ”

“ In addition to the Spanish blood a large percentage have more or less of the blood of the Araucanian Indians, who were the most stubborn race to conquer of any that the Spaniards encountered in South America. As soldiers the Chileans have no sense of mercy, and this characteristic has shown itself in all of their wars. They are impetuous, impulsive, passionate and generous, but have very little self-control. Many of them fight simply for the love of fighting, just as do many of the Irish, who seem to scrap simply for the sake of scrapping. ”

“ Valdivia succeeded in establishing a permanent settlement, but himself fell a victim to the hardy tribesmen of the central valley of Chile, who were far different from the soft and mild Incas enslaved by Pizarro. He had found that it was no easy task he had undertaken, and the sturdy race of Araucanians was still [vi] unconquered when the Spaniards were driven out of the country by the generations that had grown up from the time of its first settlement.
The Chileans have ever been independent in thought and action, and they have proved to be the best soldiers of South America. ”

“ Chile still has a wealth of undiscovered mineral treasures within her boundaries. The labour, transportation and fuel problem have heretofore been the drawbacks, as well as isolation from the world’s consumption. In the northern part of the republic, at the coast ports, coal costs almost ten dollars per ton, a price that does not stimulate its use. In the interior it is still higher because of the cost of transportation. The government has enacted [362] very favourable mining laws. A discoverer of a new claim is entitled to fifteen hectares, or about thirty-six acres. ”

“ Through the north central part of Chile the government roads have all been built upon the narrow gauge plan, one metre in width, because the occasional transverse spurs of the Andes, which run toward the coast, have made construction more difficult, and it has been easier to make the necessary curves by using that gauge, so that the line could be built as inexpensive as possible. At the present time nearly all of the energies of the government are being applied to the completion of this great project, which has already cost it many millions of dollars. ”

“ Many claim that South America is not a legitimate field for Protestant missionary work. Their theory is that the country was at one time evangelized by missionaries, and therefore should not be touched by other missionary effort. The fact is that religious conditions in South America savour much of the darkness of the Middle Ages. There is to-day an unbelief and utter indifference to spiritual things among the men, which is hard to realize until one has had actual contact with it. Whatever effort can better these conditions, and thereby improve the morals of the people, should be encouraged. ”

“ The railroad equipment of the Chilean railroads is generally quite good, and one will find the only real Pullman [400] cars in South America. Chair cars will be found on some of the State Railway trains, and sleepers also in the long journeys. The railroad fare is exceedingly cheap, and one wonders how the service can be provided at such a low cost.
The money of Chile is arranged on the same system as our own, the standard being the peso, which is divided into one hundred centavos and has a value of about twenty-one cents, but the rate of exchange varies somewhat from day to day. ”