100 



CHILI. 



In an official report of April 19, 1865, the area 

 of the republic is estimated at 132,622 square 

 miles. The total area of the fourteen prov- 

 inces, as given above, is 123,594 square miles, 

 leaving for the province of Chiloe, not com- 

 prised in that statement, an area of 9,028 

 square miles. In the census of 1865, the area 

 of Ohiloe is set down at 2,400 square miles ; 

 since then, however, the entire western-coast 

 district of Patagonia, up to the ridge of the 

 Cordilleras, as well as some small adjacent 

 islands, has been added to it. 



During the year 1869 the construction of 

 railroads was carried on with considerable 

 energy. The following lines were completed 

 and in working order at the close of the year : 



Miles. 



From Santiago to Valparaiso 110 



Curico 11(J 



" Caldera to San Antonio 94 



" Pabellon to Chanarcillo 27 



1 Coquimbo to Las Cardas 89 



Total 392 



The first two roads are almost entirely 

 owned by the state, while the four others have 

 been built by private companies. During the 

 year 1870 the mountain-range of the Cordilleras 

 between Chili and Argentina has, for the first 

 time, been traversed by a train of loaded wag- 

 ons led by Don Indalecio Castro, who arrived 

 at San Juan on April 3d, with forty-one wag- 

 ons, to the great surprise of the inhabitants, 

 who had hitherto considered it impossible to 

 pass the Cordilleras in any other way than 

 with mules or llamas. Castro had started on 

 his daring travels from Copiapo on the Chilian 

 coast, after having carefully searched for every 

 available pass in the mountain-range, and after ' 

 making all necessary preparations during six 

 entire years. He was forty-five days on the 

 road from Copiapo to San Juan. Chili intends 

 to cooperate with the Government of the Ar- 

 gentine Eepublic in building a railroad across 

 the Cordilleras at an early date ; the road from 

 Cordova to Tucuman, now in course of con- 

 struction, will reach the base of the mountains. 

 By order of the Government, Professor Emilio 

 Rosetti has made a minute survey of the Andes 

 Mountains with the assistance of the land-sur- 

 veyor Pefla, to ascertain the practicability of 

 making a railroad over the Planchon Pass. 

 The celebrated Chilian Professor Domeyko, a 

 Lithuanian by birth, and Mr. Pissis took part 

 in the expedition, which was intrusted to the 

 care of the experienced guide Navarrete. We 

 condense the following from Professor Roset- 

 ti's report about the general direction agreed 

 upon for the road across the Andes : The rail- 

 road, completed so far, reaches from Buenos 

 Ayres to Chivilcoy. From the latter point it 

 must be built across the Pampas in a westerly 

 direction to a point a little above the junction 

 of the Rio de las Barrancas with the Rio 

 Grande, which there assumes'the name of Rio 

 Colorado. The road is to go along the right (or 

 southern) shore of the Rio Grande up to where 

 it is called Tordillo, formed by the junction of 



Valenzuela and the Las Cuevas Rivers near the 

 Planchon Pass. Thence it is to lead up the 

 valley of the Valenzuela until it reaches the 

 Azuela Valley at the southern limit of the Va- 

 lle de los Ciegos. This is the highest point on 

 the entire line of the road, which now winds 

 around the western base of the volcano of 

 Peteroa, or Planchon, for a distance of forty- 

 three English miles. Here it reaches the Chi- 

 lian slope, and starts in a northerly direction 

 through the ravine of Vergara to where the 

 Vergara River flows into the Rio Teno at a 

 point called Las Toscas, a mining district 

 where copper and argentiferous lead are found. 

 Thence the road leads along the shore of the 

 Teno to the station of Curico, where it con- 

 nects with the road of Santiago. 



We would here remark that, besides a pass 

 recently discovered by Germans travelling 

 from Chili to Patagonia, there are no less than 

 ten mountain-passes across the Andes : 1. The 

 pass from Antofagasta in Catamarca through 

 the Portezuela de Come Cavallo to Guasco and 

 Copiapo, about 14,500 feet above the level of 

 the sea ; 2. A pass leading from San Juan over 

 the Portezuela de la Laguna to Coquimbo, 

 15,575 feet; 3. The pass of Los Patos, on the 

 northern side of the Aconcagua ; 4. The Paso 

 de la Cumbre, which leads from Mendoza by 

 way of Uspallata to Santiago (445 miles), 

 12,530 feet, passable from November till May; 

 5. The Dehesa Pass, seldom used ; 6. The Tor- 

 tillo Pass, much used from the beginning of 

 February till the end of April, leads from 

 Mendoza to Chili, to the valley of the Maypu 

 River ; 7. The pass of La Cruz de la Piedra, 

 which leads into the Portillo road on the west- 

 ern slope of the Andes ; 8. The pass of Las Da- 

 mas, through which a road might be led with- 

 out great difficulty; highest point 11-,600 feet; 

 9. The Planchon Pass, leading along the Claro 

 and Teno Rivers to Curico, 11,600 feet. Gillis 

 (who surveyed this pass in 1827) says that vege- 

 tation reaches it, but that its slope isvery rough 

 and steep ; 10. The pass of Antucofrom Concep- 

 cion to Chili. The report of Rosetti was to be 

 published in full at an early date, with a map on 

 which all the passes are designated ; it contains 

 descriptions of the various roads, and shows 

 conclusively that the Planchon is the most fa- 

 vorable for the construction of a railroad. The 

 length of the road by the line indicated will 

 be 1,023 miles, and its cost is calculated at 

 $26,000,000 for the Argentine division, and 

 $6,000,000 for the Chilian, and the time requi- 

 site to complete the road is estimated at four 

 years. 



Elections for a new Congress took place on 

 the 3d of April. The Government and its sup- 

 porters were in the main triumphant, but at 

 the same time the opposition party largely in- 

 creased the number of its representatives in 

 both Houses, and elected a class of men vastly 

 superior to that which formerly represented 

 its views. Indeed, the very best and foremost 

 men appeared as candidates on either side. 



