A LONGITUDINAL JOURNEY THROUGH CHILE 



230 



is conveyed by an electrically operated 



railroad to the pier and loaded directly, 



through chutes, into specially constructed 

 steamers. 



HOW THE CHILEANS TRAVEL 



From Coquimbo the railroad again 

 strikes inland. Two locomotives urged 

 our train up the steep grade to the cinnbrc, 

 the rack system being used for some 30 

 miles. Our fellow-passengers on the day 

 train were middle-class Chileans. The 

 elite patronize the express. In Chile, as 

 in other of the South American countries, 

 the middle class has gained strength since 

 my first visit, in 1903. 



The aisle was crowded with hand-bags 

 of huge proportions, as very little luggage 

 can be checked free of charge. We heard 

 much grumbling about the terrific increase 

 in fares — 75 per cent for passengers and 

 50 per cent for freight. Since then there 

 has been still another increase. Our car 

 was the average day coach that one sees 

 in the "States" — a little cleaner, perhaps. 

 A placard on the wall gave the date when 

 the car was last disinfected. 



Each family carried an enormous lunch- 

 basket, well stocked with cold meats, 

 chicken, bread, fruit, wine, sweets, and 

 other edibles. 



The dining-car, used only at meal time 

 in our country, is filled all day long in 

 Chile, the tables being utilized for cards 

 and dominoes. Smoking is permitted in 

 the diner, as well as in the coaches. Our 

 train carried no second-class coach. In 

 the third class were four benches running 

 the length of the car. 



"Red caps'' to carry luggage and uni- 

 formed armed guards for police duty were 

 in evidence at the stations. 



We entered a mountainous region where 

 graceful palms covered the hillsides. This 

 is the palm from which the famous miel 

 dc palma (honey of the palm) is obtained. 

 The tree is not tapped, as in the produc- 

 tion of maple sugar, but is felled. The 

 sap obtained is converted into a syrup, in 

 great demand to serve with hot cakes, 

 here known as "panqueques." Featured 

 also on the menu we find two other old 

 acquaintances — "cau-ktailes" and "beef- 

 teackes.'' 



It takes six days of daylight travel 

 from Antofagasta to Calera. Here we 



meet the lateral railway in the Aconcagua 

 Valley, connecting the town of Los 

 Andes, at the foot of the mountains, with 

 Valparaiso. 



The Aconcagua Valley is Chile's gem. 

 a lovely vale where a merry little river. 

 dashing down from crystalline heights, is 

 bordered by velvety green hills. We are 

 now in the rich agricultural region which 

 stretches far south to the Bio-Bio River. 

 This and adjoining valleys, the geologists 

 tell us, are the remains of ancient fiord- 

 like those we still see in far southern 

 Chile. 



In ages long past, all this country was 

 a maze of fjords and archipelagoes. In 

 the Tertiary period the Sequoia, mam- 

 moth of the plant world, to-day repre- 

 sented only by our "Big Trees" of Cali- 

 fornia, grew on these Andean slopes. 



Where the coast range of the Andes 

 dips its feet in the sea Valparaiso, South 

 America's chief port on the Pacific, rises 

 like an amphitheater from the crescent 

 shore. 



To me this city has never seemed typ- 

 ically South American or even distinctly 

 Chilean. There are so many Britishers 

 and Chileans of British blood here that 

 the place has much in common with Brit- 

 ish colonial ports. Cochrane and O'Hig- 

 gins, Simpson and O'Brien, are a few of 

 the many British names in Chile's Hall of 

 Immortals. Ever since the war of inde- 

 pendence, men of their blood have here 

 played star roles. In the late World War 

 thousands of men of British blood left 

 South America to serve in His Majesty's 

 forces. 



ELEVATORS CONNECT THE STREETS OE 

 VALPARAISO 



Like Hongkong, Valparaiso is formed 

 of a few level streets on land in part re- 

 claimed from the sea, and a residential 

 section on the hills above. Elevators on 

 inclined planes, known Jocally as "ascen- 

 sors," connect the streets by the shore 

 with those on the heights. 



These lifts are the first objects in the 

 port to claim the traveler's attention and 

 the ones that dwell longest in his memory. 

 They are operated in the open, all day 

 long and far into the night, lifting and 

 lowering thousands. The view from one 

 of these nearly perpendicular inclines, of 



