A LONGITUDINAL JOURNEY THROUGH CHILE 



243 



In this part of Chile 

 are many mountains 

 whose summits can be 

 won by Alpine en- 

 thusiasts. The view 

 of green fields, blue 

 ocean, and surround- 

 ing ranges from one 

 of these crests is 

 worth the most strenu- 

 ous climb. 



Californian poppies blow- 

 ing in the breeze, 



Arching blue of heavens, 

 curving blue of seas, 



Line on line of mountains, 

 rising crest on crest, 



Steeped in golden sun- 

 shine, Chile at its best. 



Mount Aconcagua, 

 the highest peak in the 

 Americas, just across 

 the line in Argentina, 

 wears its eternal snow- 

 helmet. Aviators 

 crossing the Andes fly 

 past the volcano Tu- 

 pungato. Up to the 

 time of my writing, 

 eight bird - men and 

 one bird-woman have 

 successfully dared the 

 Transandine flight. 

 Five were Chilean, two 

 French, one Argentine, 

 one Italian. There 

 have been a number of 

 unsuccessful attempts 

 and two of the avia- 

 tors lost their lives. 



Since this is the 

 story of my journey 

 through Chile from 

 tip to tip, we cannot 

 linger in the capital, but must entrain 

 again at Santiago, once more headed 

 south on the longitudinal. 



We are now in the long agricultural 

 valley between the Coast Range and the 

 Andes. \\ neat-fields and vineyards bor- 

 der the track. Stately rows of Lombard}' 

 poplars and eucalyptus inclose the fields. 



At the stations are female fruit-sellers 

 uniformed in white. They have melons 

 for sale — big yellow melons — which, like 

 the grapes, take first rank. Last year a 

 consignment of Chilean fruit — melons, 

 peaches, apples, and grapes — arrived in 



IN MEMORY 



Photograph fron 

 OF ROBINSON 



Harriet Chalmers Adams 

 CRUSOE 



This memorial slab to Alexander Selkirk, immortalized as Robinson 

 Crusoe, is on the largest of the Juan Fernandez group of islands. 

 lying 260 miles southwest of Valparaiso. Here, in 1704, Selkirk, a 

 Scottish sailor, was dropped ashore, at his own request, from an 

 English galley. 



the port of New York. Some of the 

 melons, weighing seventeen pounds, sold 

 for six dollars each. At the same time, 

 Chile was importing oranges and lemons 

 from California. Ripe olives, for which 

 California is noted, have long been a 

 product of Chile. 



We pass Rancagua, a famous battle- 

 ground in the war of independence, to-day 

 the junction with a branch railway lead- 

 ing to a big North American copper prop- 

 erty high up in the mountains. Now 

 come the industrial towns of Talca and 

 Chilian, with many one-story buildings. 



