VALPARAISO. 
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which has, indeed, been twice visited by disastrous earthquakes during this century, in 1822 
and in 1851. The red barren hills—here and there clothed with patches of low shrub—which 
hem in the town on all sides, by no means suggest the idea of a “Vale of Paradise.” This 
epithet, however, might be more justly applied to the district of San Jago, connected by a 
railway with Valparaiso. Abundant vegetation prevails there, and the snowy Andes form a 
majestic background to the scene ; for the mountains roll inland in successive waves, rising 
higher and higher, until they finally culminate in the great cone of Aconcagua, 23,910 feet 
above the level of the sea. 
The forest of shipping in the bay, the railway trains, the tramway cars traversing the 
busy streets, reminded us that we were once more within the limits of Western civilisation, 
and very far from the idyllic scenes through which we had been lately wandering. The 
rickety, dark, and unsavoury hovel of the poor Chilian contrasted unfavourably with the 
roomy, airy hut of the Tahitian, its floor covered with clean cocoa-nut matting, and its neatly- 
thatched roof; and the comparison in regard to manners and hospitality was no less 
unfavourable to the South American. Besides, the frank open smile with which the 
Polynesian welcomes you to his home is decidedly preferable to the indifferent stare of his 
“ civilised ” neighbours. 
VIEW FROM PLAZA VICTORIA, VALPARAISO. 
