CHILI. 



101 



In July, 1872, a transandine line, connecting 

 Santiago and Buenos Ayres (the capital of the 

 Argentine Republic), was opened to the public 

 service. 



About the close of 1871 an exclusive privi- 

 lege was granted to Carlos D. Gibbs, for the 

 introduction of a new method of illumination 

 by means of purified naphtha. 



The President of the republic decreed that 

 in every one of the Catholic cemeteries a 

 space should be set apart for the interment of 

 dissenters, who will be buried according to 

 the rites of their respective churches. This 

 measure was denounced by the press as un- 

 constitutional, and against the canonical laws, 

 as depriving the Church of a portion of her 

 property, and devoting it to the sepulture of 

 the bodies of her declared enemies. 



In January, 1872, a bill was presented to 

 Congress conceding to one C. D. Ramirez, as 

 discoverer of guano at Magellan's Straits, the 

 right to remove and sell 3,000 tons of that 

 fertilizer from the islands of Santa Magdalena 

 and Cuarto Maiter, for the sum of $8,000, 

 within the space of one year. A controversy 

 was likely to arise between Chili and the Ar- 

 gentine Republic respecting the Straits terri- 

 tory, the discovery of guano having already 

 caused much noise in the Argentine press, 

 which is clamoring for the Government to 

 examine the question of sovereignty. 



About the beginning of the year an offer 

 was made to the Brazilian Government to con- 

 struct a railway, eighteen hundred miles in 

 length, across Brazil, for 10,000,000. The 

 object proposed to be realized was the union 

 of this line with another to cross Peru, and 

 thus put Rio Janeiro in connection with 

 Lima. The councillor Manuel da Guncha 

 Galvao reported favorably on the subject. 



The Chilian Government announced its in- 

 tention of applying to that of the United 

 States for permission to send on board their 

 ships-of-war a few Chilian youths destined for 

 the naval service, as has been done with 

 respect to the English men-of-war. 



Large deposits of coal were discovered in 

 Cobquecura, in the department of Itata. 



By virtue of an act of Congress passed in 

 February, the Government was shortly to call 

 for tenders for the construction of a mole in 

 the port of Valparaiso, the cost of which was 

 not to exceed $400,000. 



The Council of State approved of the bills 

 passed by Congress for the navigation of the 

 river Yaldivia, and the construction of the 

 Huasco & Yallenan Railway. 



A measure was adopted by the Legislature 

 in March, by which religious instruction would 

 no longer be obligatory in private educational 

 establishments, and a spirited discussion was 

 maintained in the periodical press concerning 

 the expediency of that act. 



Some of the principal inhabitants of the de- 

 partment of Elqui, which contains a popula- 

 tion of 13,000, petitioned the Government to 



raise the town of Vicuna to the rank of a 

 city, and the petition was granted. 



At the port of Tres Montes, in the island of 

 Guaitecas, in the archipelago of Chiloe, an es- 

 tablishment has been commmenced for the pur- 

 pose of preserving shell-fish, among which the 

 white muscle, which grows so large and fine 

 on this coast, is perhaps the best; $25,000 

 were already invested in the enterprise, and it 

 was the intention of the proprietors to invest 

 in it $25,000 more. 



The President of the republic visited the 

 city of Valparaiso in the early part of the 

 year, for the purpose of inspecting in person 

 the different institutions in that city, with 

 a view to the promotion of the material and 

 intellectual progress of that part of the state. 



On the 4th of March died, at his country- 

 seat, the General of Division, Don Manual Gar- 

 cia, aged 70 years, forty-three of which had been 

 spent in the service of his country; he had 

 lived in absolute retirement from public affairs 

 since 1862, when he ceased to occupy the 

 position of Minister of War and the Navy, in 

 the discharge of which functions he gained 

 much honor. He particularly distinguished 

 himself in the war of independence ; and his 

 uprightness and bravery throughout his long 

 military experience elicited universal admira- 

 tion and esteem. He was several times 

 deputy, and twice minister of state, in which 

 latter capacity his determined and patriotic 

 spirit enabled him on numerous occasions to 

 render signal service to his Government. 

 Another hero of the independence died at 

 Santiago about the same time as General 

 Garcia, at the advanced age of 130 years. 



Some idea of the mineral wealth which still 

 abounds in the district of Copiapo* may be 

 gathered from the fact that one steamer took 

 from the port of Caldera alone upward of 

 $9,000,000 worth of gold, silver, and copper. 



It was decided that the Caracoles Railway 

 should have Mejillones for its terminus. 



The appointment of Sefior Don Benjamin 

 Vicuna Mackenna as Intendente of Santiago, 

 in March, was universally hailed with satisfac- 

 tion. It was now to be hoped that a new era 

 of enterprise and prosperity would dawn upon 

 Santiago. Seiior Mackenna is acknowledged 

 to be a man of talent as well as energy. Hav- 

 ing returned from abroad shortly before his 

 appointment to his new post, he is undoubted- 

 ly imbued with the spirit of enterprise of 

 other lands, and will not fail to see that 

 that wealthy and beautiful city requires many 

 radical improvements. 



The streets of Iquique were shortly to be 

 lighted with gas, a twenty-years privilege for 

 which had been granted by the Government. 



Several important coal-mines were dis- 

 covered along the Gulf of Arauco, particularly 

 on both banks of the Carampangue River, near 

 its mouth, where important labors were in 

 prosecution with a view to their working. 

 The coal i's considered not inferior in quality 



